I'm thrilled today to host author (and fellow YA Scavenger Hunt vet) Joshua David Bellin as part of his blog tour. His new book, Ecosystem, is a thrilling new sci-fi adventure, available now. Read on to find an excerpt from the book! Here's a bit about the story: 

​Seventeen-year-old Sarah is a Sensor, gifted with the ability to survive within the sentient Ecosystem that swept away human civilization centuries ago. While the remnants of humankind huddle in small villages of stone, Sarah uses her psychic connection to the Ecosystem to travel freely in the wild in search of food, water, and fuel. Sarah doesn’t fear the Ecosystem—but she hates it for killing her mother when Sarah was a child. When she hunts, she hunts not only for her people’s sustenance but for revenge.
 
Then Miriam, an apprentice Sensor, is lost in the Ecosystem, and Sarah sets out to rescue her. Joining Sarah is Miriam’s beloved, Isaac, a boy who claims to possess knowledge of the Ecosystem that will help their people survive. The harrowing journey to find the missing apprentice takes Sarah and Isaac into the Ecosystem’s deadliest places. And it takes Sarah into the unexplored territory of her own heart, where she discovers feelings that threaten to tear her—and her society—apart.
 
A thrilling fantasy adventure from the author of Freefall and the Survival Colony series, Ecosystem is the first book in a YA trilogy that includes The Devouring Land (2019) and House of Earth, House of Stone (2020).

Hello and welcome to this spring's Young Adult Scavenger Hunt, a huge biannual event organized by author Colleen Houck. It's a chance for you, the readers, to find out about dozens of authors, discover exclusive, never-before-seen content, and win some pretty outstanding prizes. Below, you'll find a clue you need to win the big prize from this hunt--a copy of a book from every author on Team Blue! (And yes, you can enter to win the grand prize for all six teams--and at twenty authors per team, that is an outstanding amount of new reading material up for grabs to this hunt's winners. The hunt is only life for 120 hours, from noon PST on Tuesday, April 3, through noon PST on Sunday, April 8.  

This is my sixth season participating in the hunt, and I'm thrilled to be back. For those who haven't stopped by this page before, my name is Matthew Phillion. I'm the author of the YA superhero series, the Indestructibles, as well as a spinoff book about Atlantis called Echo and the Sea, and a newly launched novella series called the Dungeon Crawlers. As I said above, I'm part of the Blue Team this hunt, alongside 19 other fantastic authors. You can find out so much more about the hunt at the official Young Adult Scavenger Hunt website, including how to find the other five teams--Green, Gold, Pink, Purple, and Red! Information on all the teams can be found here as well. 

How the Scavenger Hunt puzzle works 

Here's the official stuff you need to know to participate: 

Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the Blue Team, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!). 

Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by April 8th at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Now onto the best part: our featured author! 

Featured Author: Jessica Kapp! 

I'm thrilled to be hosting first-time YASH participant Jessica Kapp. 
Jessica Kapp always thought her penmanship would improve with age. She even wished for it on her eleventh birthday. But after having a hard time deciphering her own writing, she realized she’d never be the girl who stayed in the lines or dotted her I’s with hearts.To improve her legibility and speed, she hijacked her grandma’s typewriter—a really cool one with white correction tape—and started creating fictional worlds.
That same grandma took Jessica to her first writers’ group meeting where she shared a story about fairies.
The writing sucked, but with time, Jessica’s craft began to improve. Sadly, her penmanship has not.
Jessica enjoys writing Young Adult Contemporary and Speculative Fiction. Story ideas often strike at inopportune times, and she’s been known to text herself reminders from under the covers.
She lives on a small farm in Washington with far too many goats and an occasional cow.

Jessica is featuring her book Body Parts, "Never Let Me Go meets The Island for YA―perfect for fans of Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young," which can be found online here. It sounds like a fantastic story. Here's a preview: 

Raised in an elite foster center off the California coast, sixteen-year-old Tabitha has been protected from the outside world. Her trainers at the center have told her she’ll need to be in top physical condition to be matched with a loving family. So she swims laps and shaves seconds off her mile time, dreaming of the day when she’ll meet her adoptive parents.

But when Tabitha’s told she’s been paired, instead of being taken to her new home, she wakes up immobile on a hospital bed. Moments before she’s sliced open, a group of renegade teenagers rescues her, and she learns the real reason she’s been kept in shape: PharmPerfect, a local pharmaceutical giant, is using her foster program as a replacement factory for their pill-addicted clients’ failing organs.

Determined to save the rest of her friends at the center, Tabitha joins forces with her rescuers, led by moody and mysterious Gavin Stiles. As they race to uncover the rest of PharmPerfect’s secrets, though, Tabitha finds herself with more questions than answers. Will trusting the enigmatic group of rebels lead her back to the slaughterhouse?

Bonus Content: A Playlist for Body Parts 

For her bonus content, Jessica has provided an awesome playlist for her book by chapter. Check it out below! Act 1:
Daughter: Drift
Memento Opening music
Abstraction: The House Where You Were Born

Act 2:
The Fray, How to Save a Life

Cold Play/Fix You

Cold Play: Trouble

The Fray: Happiness

Act 3:

Gavin confesses: Cold Play: The Scientist

Point of no return: Piano Sonata no 14. In C Sharp Moonlight

Hoobastank: The Reason

Rihanna: Shut up and drive
AND We found love by Rihanna 

Tabitha’s Song: Skyfall

Paige’s song: Alone In The Dark" Music by Vadim Kiselev

Gladstone City Songs: Theme song Nip Tuck
Cold Play: Don’t Panic

Ry’s song: Daughter /Medicine: The Wild Youth 2011 Pick it up and start over

Gavin and Tabitha’s song (chapter 10): Jasmine Thompson and Gerald Ko Cover

Gavin’s song: The Fray, Say When

Continue the hunt! 

To enter the contest to win a copy of a book by every author on the Blue Team, you'll need to know my favorite number--lucky number seven (7). Add up all the numbers from all 20 authors on the Blue Team and you'll have the secret code to enter to win! 

From here, you'll want to visit the post by authors Leah and Kate Rooper, authors of the book Just One of the Royals. You can find their post here. 

Good luck, and happy hunting! 

Comment below and let everyone know if this is your first YA Scavenger Hunt, or if you're a regular participant. Which teams are you competing to win this year? 

BONUS GIVEAWAY 

Follow me on Twitter at @mattphillion and tweet using the the hashtag #whoisindestructible between now and April 8th to enter to win a copy of the first Indestructibles book! A winner will be chosen at random. Already a fan of the Indestructibles? You can swap out the first book for any one book in the series, winner's choice.