Camelot has fallen. King Arthur and his legendary Knights of the Round Table were fully routed by the dark forces under the command of the evil sorcerer Pewtris Grimm. That was ten centuries ago. The once splendid and pristine Camelot has been transformed into a foreboding ruin of a fortress, now called Shadowrock and inhabited by Grimm's three witch-daughters - the Gories. The entire kingdom has known only fear and oppression under the rule of Grimm and his witch-spawn for the past thousand years. Prior to the collapse of Camelot, the mystical wizard Merlin had entrusted his most powerful magical artifact to his dedicated apprentice, and sent him away to safety. To those who had knowledge of its existence, this enchanted object was called the Chrimeus, and it was a Marble. It was supposedly one of five such mystically powerful Marbles created long before the Ancient Ages, and it was rumored to have been the source of Merlin's magical abilities. In the centuries that followed the fall of Camelot, the existence of the Chrimeus remained a closely guarded secret, and its location even more so. The primary responsibility for this guardianship fell upon the Free Knights, would-be successors to their legendary Round Table heroes. Pewtris Grimm wants the Chrimeus. Badly. For one thousand years he has committed his minions to scouring the kingdom for any sign of the mythical Marble. Eventually, he began rounding up the renegades who openly dreamed of returning his domain to the storied yesteryear of Camelot, especially the Free Knights, and torturing them for information about the Chrimeus. Now, he has reached into an unlikely place to find and kidnap one of the last remaining Knights who might have knowledge of the Marble's location. JoJo Mallory lives in the tough waterfront neighborhood of Ferry Village, Maine, along with her Dad and three sisters. JoJo is a recovering malcontent, which is a lot to ask of a sixth-grader. Her two best friends in the world could not be more different from one another: Trip, the young hockey phenom with an army of admirers, and Marcy, the geeky brainiac with massive social insecurity. When JoJo's Dad goes missing - and is imprisoned in Camelot, according to a Leprechaun! - it is this unlikely trio of middle-schoolers that sets off on the adventure of several lifetimes to set him free. JoJo, Trip, and Marcy find out as much about each other and themselves as they do about magic, mayhem, and Marbles on this wild ride of a journey. In the end, their success comes with a steep price that sets up the succeeding books in the series. The Camelot Puzzle is its own story, but might also be described as somewhat of a cross between A Wrinkle in Time and The Goonies. The story appeals to middle-grade boys and girls alike, with a keen sensitivity toward parents who are concerned about graphic violence and language. Subsequent books in the series will continue to play on the theme of lost kingdoms, such as Atlantis and Shangri-La.
Steve Peaslee happily spent several years of his childhood growing up in the gritty Ferry Village neighborhood of South Portland, ME. As an Army brat, he moved often, attending ten different schools before going to the US Military Academy at West Point, and eventually, Harvard. Steve learned to fluently speak German, Japanese, and Italian during his Army career. Between his childhood and adult life, he lived in three foreign countries and ten states before settling in Louisiana. The father of four daughters (and four more stepdaughters!), he enjoyed a second career as a financial adviser before embarking on his quest to tell the perfect story. In his spare time, he works on creating games that either test one's ability to recall trivia or introduce new aspects to adventure board gaming.
