Alien Love Story by AK Dawson
Genre: YA
Currently on Sale
Summary
*** Love at first sighting. ***
Life is a headache for 15-year-old Dan. This isn’t some kind of metaphor. Dan suffers from migraines that make just about everything he does unbearable. Added to that he’s lost almost everyone he cares about. So he feels lonelier than the last puppy in a pet shop.
But one day he sees a mysterious girl digging in the rubbish bins behind his house. Just by being near her, he finds that all his pain goes away. So he wants to see her again, of course. And get to know her. But she’s a bit strange. And her big eyes make her look, well, like an alien.
Does she really exist? Or is she just a figment of an overactive, under-loved imagination?
*** Close encounters of the romantic kind. ***
From Northern England to outer space, and from Dan’s bedroom to the sandwich shop over the road, ALIEN LOVE STORY is about a close encounter of the romantic variety. But there’s more to it than that.
This book is about discovering parts of yourself you never knew existed. It’s about coping with grief and somehow moving on. And it’s about how Dan breaks into a mad scientist’s lab to perform a daring rescue – but that bit comes much later.
For now it’s enough to know there will be excitement, adventure and kissing. Lots of kissing. We did say it was a love story, didn’t we? So fasten your safety belt, put on some background music and enjoy the book.
Available at Amazon
Amazon
Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alien-Love-Story-AK-Dawson-ebook/dp/B01HFI71E2
Excerpt:
Chapter 1
Someone shoved a pencil into Dan’s left nostril. It was big. One of those oversized souvenirs you find in museum gift shops. And it started twisting, as if Dan’s skull was a giant sharpener.
Impossibly, the tip grew.
Lead pierced Dan’s brain. Synapses were severed. Neurons were neutralised. Grey matter was shoved aside as if it didn’t matter after all.
Like Pinocchio’s nose, the lead of the pencil continued to extend. It pushed through bone and scalp. It poked out on the other side.
That’s when Dan shut his laptop.
How was he supposed to watch Hot Nurse Party with this pain?
Some days it felt like a pencil jabbing into him. Other days it was the screwdriver. The worst was the woodpecker. Just thinking about the woodpecker dialled his migraine up a notch.
In the book he kept beside his bed Dan made a note:
5:17pm – 6/10 – PAIN STARTED WHILE DOING BIOLOGY HOMEWORK
Doctors had dug in his ears, sampled his blood, beamed lights into his eyes and subjected him to MRI and CAT scans. If it existed they would have set a DOG on him too.
Nothing.
The only explanation they could come up with was that he was over-sensitive. In other words, the pain in his head was all in his head.
The diary had been his therapist’s idea.
‘There’s an explanation for everything,’ Doctor Maudlin had told him in her office one day, before handing over his new notebook.
The cover was a radioactive shade of green. Words like WOW, GREAT and FANTASTIC popped out all over the place. Just looking at it gave Dan a headache.
Now the book was half full (though in his current mood it felt half empty). And he was no closer to controlling anything. The pain came and went when it wanted. Like a cat. And Dan was more of a dog person.
Holding his forehead, Dan wobbled to his feet. He was 15 years old and felt like a retired boxer. If this was the prime of his life, how would he cope later on?
Drugs, probably.
With his skinny frame and baby face he had yet to be offered anything stronger than cough mixture, but he could imagine how nice it would be to let go. Just kick back and allow whatever he had taken to swim through his system, dulling the pain. From his head to his heart, all his aches would be gone.
Sure, drugs were bad. But they couldn’t be worse than migraines.
The stairs blurred in and out of focus as he staggered down them. What he needed was love. And he knew just who to turn to.
‘Finished your homework?’ Nana said when he reached the kitchen.
Dan winced.
‘Never mind.’ His grandmother closed Telly Mag, which she studied religiously despite never actually watching TV. ‘Rain must be on the way.’
That was Nana’s answer to everything. Headaches, muscle stiffness, colds and possibly even broken legs: rain was coming.
Dan nodded, though he knew the world wasn’t that simple. He just didn’t want to argue. Especially not when she was making macaroni and cheese. Just the smell of it made him feel better.
It was what she had made on that first day, three months ago. He hated thinking about the time before, but that day was special.
He had stepped off the train with only his suitcase and a headache and she had immediately dragged him across to the Life Science Centre. As if he was still a kid.
In that forest of dinosaur bones, DNA strands, magnets and mirrors they lost themselves. Afterwards Nana bought him a chocolate ice-cream – which made his headache worse, but was a nice gesture. In his new home, he was shown to his room. As promised at the funeral, the whole top floor had been cleared just for him.
Nana took such good care of him that Dan sometimes felt guilty for getting migraines.
‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘I just need some fresh air.’
‘In this weather?’ Nana frowned at the kitchen window.
It was so sunny that Dan had to screw up his eyes. ‘Nana, if it rains I’ll come straight in.’
‘Yes, don’t get caught.’ She continued to look at the sky as if at any moment it might burst open and start pouring. But the only thing that looked like a cloud was her hair.
Behind Nana’s house was a narrow lane punctuated by wheelie bins. The backs of houses and shops flew by as Dan rolled along. Other than the weekly rubbish truck, no cars came here – which made it perfect for skateboarding.
Dan tapped his back foot and the board popped up. For a second he was weightless. Already he felt better. Not 100%. But better. He was glad he had come outside. If Nana had her way with him, he would be wrapped in cotton wool and packed in the cupboard along with her Royal Family dinner plates. Still, it was good to know that someone was there for him. He wondered briefly what would happen if she was gone, but quickly stopped himself.
The past and future were off limits.
Dan tried a kickflip and landed feet-on-bolts to thunderous applause from an imaginary crowd.
Then he made a mistake. He wished Kyle had seen that.
Kyle was younger by eighteen months, but better than Dan at everything: skateboarding, football, chess, maths, spitting, pull-ups, push-ups and that game where you stamp on the other person’s feet. The little bugger even had a girlfriend.
Now he was gone.
Dan tried to derail his train of thought, but it was too late. His head began to throb, reminding him of that day. The Worst Day Ever.
Barely able to focus, he stamped his right foot and flicked out his left heel. It was a trick he barely knew how to do. And the board spun. And spun. Practically going into orbit. Dan’s feet connected with the edge of the deck as it clanked down sideways, in the dreaded position known as primo.
Flapping his hands, Dan did his best to balance. But gravity was quick to remind him who the law was around these parts.
He fell.
The back of his head hammered against the tarmac. His ears rang. His ankle hurt. He was sure his left elbow was grazed.
All this was nothing unusual. But today he didn’t feel like getting up.
Today he was just going to lie there.
About the Author
AK Dawson, aka Andrew, was born in South Africa, spent twelve years in the UK and now lives in Warsaw, Poland, where he works as an advertising copywriter. Last year his feature film won ‘Best Screenplay’ at the Sydney Indie Film Festival. When he’s not working on scripts, he writes prose and was given a Northern Promise Award at the 2010 Northern Writers’ Awards.
Blog: www.akdawson.co.uk
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5309282.A_K_Dawson
Amazon.co.uk author page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0081YETV8