My Wizard Buddy: Target Earth

By Brian Wu and Scott Spotson

In this captivating story, Tyler, now 13 years old, has lost his unique friend. Suddenly, he's captured on Earth by an ancient race of galaxy hunters called the Genzi, and must find his own way to escape without the help of Dirk, his wizard buddy. Detained along with fifteen other Earthlings, he must outwit the Genzi as they place dangerous games of skill and agility in his path. Does Dirk manage to find Tyler and save the day—or will Tyler have to fend for himself and his band of fellow humans?

This is the third book of My Wizard Buddy Series, a magic and exciting trilogy that blends eye-popping fantasy along with valuable coming-of-age lessons.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Wu
• Release date: Dec 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310668616

Brian Wu

Brian Wu, a 7th year MD/PhD, is on track to finishing his PhD in 2014 and has a goal to becoming a Sports Medicine Physician with a focus on holistic care and treatment. The idea for writing the Storybook Illustrated Guides first occurred to Brian as a fifth grader, when he wrote a story "Wacky Olympics and Body Wars", which is a personification of the immune system and how our bodies fight disease. Since then, the idea has matured over the years and the result is nothing short of astonishing. Brian has created a revolutionary series of books that raises the bar where children’s health education is concerned. There’s nothing else like the SIGuides on the market today. Brian believes children should understand medical conditions they acquire, so that they can take good care of themselves and lead full lives. He has a way of writing about complex medical topics at a level that children comprehend. Brian understands the value of empowering children with diseases, enabling them to play an active role in their own treatment and recovery process. Brian values the ability for all ages to learn from the power of stories. He has the passion to share his love of science and medicine through these stories with the world. The power of storytelling stems from the fact that stories can teach without overbearing. Learning comes naturally when engaging both logical and creative sides of the brain. The facts surrounding each disease appeal to the logical side, making the story engaging and the learning fun. Brian knows that if he can help even a single person then the project will be well worth it. Brian’s interests include writing and entrepreneurship. He is married and loves his wife dearly. Contact Brian Wu at [e-mail] More information on Brian can be found at http://www.brianwwu.com

Book preview

My Wizard Buddy

Target: Earth

Book Three of the My Wizard Buddy series

by

Brian Wu & Scott Spotson

Target: Earth

Copyright © 2017 Brian Wu & Scott Spotson

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved

Cover Design by Donna Murillo of DHM Designs

Formatting by Daniel J. Weber

Copyright Statement

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts embodied in critical reviews, or promotion of the book, or certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

License Statement

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Chapter One

Thirteen-year old Tyler Dunsmore and his wizard friend, Dirk, also thirteen, relaxed in the recreation room in the basement of Tyler’s home in suburban Providence, Rhode Island. Two dudes hanging out, happy to ignore each other.

Tyler lay on the floor on his back, resting his legs on the worn-out cushions of the green sofa. In his hands was a superhero comic book.

Dirk lay on the sofa, arching his legs to allow Tyler room to rest his feet.

And both dared to rest their dirty shoes on the sofa.

A year ago, Tyler’s parents, Kelly and Brandon, had bought the latest trendy red-and-gold sofa and replaced their battered green couch, which they hauled into the basement. This thrilled Tyler, who liked nothing more than to put his dirt-caked sneakers onto the sofa and eat potato chips without worrying about crumbs. This was now his couch, and no one cared about how it looked.

Dirk, a wizard, loved using his magic. He watched a live-action image of two superheroes fighting it out. Sounds of wham! and pow rang out.

No, Dirk wasn’t looking at a flat screen. Through his magic, he had zapped up a hologram. Everything looked and sounded three-dimensional.

This hologram hovered in the air right in front of him. If any of Tyler’s family came into the rec room and saw the magical show, he or she would have had a heart attack. They didn’t know Dirk had magic.

In this hologram, the good guy, Pureheart, wore a purple tight-fitting costume with yellow hood, boots, and gloves. Pureheart could throw balls of fire and command the wind, giving him a huge advantage.

The bad guy, Hypno, wore a glowing green costume. To combat Pureheart, he created monsters, but sometimes they were just imaginary illusions. This strategy confused Pureheart, who didn’t know which were real and which were fake.

Pureheart fought a minotaur that had suddenly appeared out of thin air, right by Hypno’s side. After throwing one punch, though, Pureheart found out it was an illusion. Hypno chuckled, and sent a centaur after Pureheart to tackle him. This monster was real, and Pureheart moaned after a blow in his ribs.

Dirk laughed as the fight raged on in front of him.

Tyler couldn’t help but shift his attention to Dirk’s fantasy world. His two-dimensional comic book simply couldn’t compete.

Aren’t you going to let him win? Tyler asked crossly.

Just wait, just wait, Dirk said.

Then, Hypno tumbled as Pureheart smacked him in the jaw with a powerful blow. After Pureheart sent Hypno sprawling to the ground, he tied the hands on the villain’s back.

Dirk turned to Tyler. Happy now?

Yeah, I guess. As Tyler gazed at Dirk, he recalled that it’d been about two years since Dirk suddenly popped up in his life, appearing by magic. Back then, Tyler had been resting on a meadow outside his home, wishing out loud for a new best friend. Tyler didn’t want the world to know about Dirk’s magic, fearing that if anyone found out, they could harm him. No one else in Tyler’s family knew of Dirk’s magic, although his strange talk often mystified them.

For example, Tyler’s parents Brandon and Kelly recently tried to start an easy conversation about hockey. Brandon asked Dirk if he enjoyed watching the Pittsburgh Penguins. Dirk’d replied that penguins didn’t live in Pittsburgh. That caused Kelly and Brandon to look at each other with puzzled glances.

Despite the wizard’s strange ways, everyone in Tyler’s family (with the exception of Lily) enjoyed Dirk’s company.

Tyler had two siblings: a rapidly maturing fifteen-year-old sister with raven black hair, Lily, and a bratty eight-year-old brother, Owen, who shared the same color hair as Tyler—sandy brown. Owen delighted in seeing Dirk, but Lily mistrusted the boy wizard. Too many times, she would overhear them talking in Tyler’s room. When she knocked on the door to check on them, she found Tyler alone. Unknown to her, Dirk always vanished through magic.

In a recent incident, Lily was ready to gloat when Tyler hadn’t even started to make a birthday cake for Owen as promised, and the celebration was about to begin. However, the next second Dirk brought in a perfect birthday cake into the kitchen. Lily didn’t know that magic suddenly caused this cake to appear.

But, Tyler smugly told himself, just wait. Undergoing a growth spurt, Tyler was nearly as tall as his sister. Tyler was also changing in other ways. He’d passed on his prized Lego set to Owen, and no longer watched Saturday morning cartoons. And Dirk’d laughed when Tyler told him about a health session at school that informed the boys in his class about puberty and their passage into the rites of manhood.

Brandon, Tyler’s father, still worked as an engineer for a private architecture firm. Kelly, his mother, continued to work as a marketing coordinator for several real estate companies. Now, she was trying to start up a homebaked cookie company, supplying cookies to real estate agents. The house now smelled like a cookie factory as Kelly cooked up new recipes in

Reviews for My Wizard Buddy

[a.berry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tyler, a somewhat unpopular boy, wishes for a best friend and one arrives like magic - a young wizard named Dirk. A great best friend, Dirk protects Tyler from bullies, helps him become one of the coolest boys at school, and takes him on wild adventures.This is a great YA novel!

[arkhamreviews · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Firstly, I'd just like to state a slight confusion as to the target audience of this series. Although Goodreads advises me that this is a young adult series everything about it screams middle grade, from the title to the premise to the age of the protagonist. However, that said, some of the language used in the novel seemed a little complex for 10-12 year olds. It also doesn't localise that well. Being from England, I had to Google several terms because I'd never heard them myself and so this is possibly something to bear in mind if you're buying this novel for a non-American child.This aside, My Wizard Buddy is a fun read that's full of imagination. The protagonist, Tyler, is a convincing 11 year old boy, eager to fit in and be accepted by the more popular kids in his class. I found him to be very easy to relate to, as I think everyone's had that moment in their life where they feel lonely and wish that they could befriend someone magical. Dirk's magic seemingly has no limits and therefore the novel certainly kept me turning the page as I was never sure what he would conjure next.However, while the story is nice for a light read, it really has no depth. Characters range from being undeveloped characatures (such as Tyler's snotty older sister) to simply being indistinguishable from one another (all the boys in Tyler's class). As the adventures are all essentially one shots, there is no over running story and previous adventures are rarely brought up again after they conclude. There were also times when the plotting seemed to completely break down, such as one occurrence when Dirk appeared as asked Tyler if he was forgiven even though they had never previously fallen out. This was a bit of a shame as the quality of prose was generally pretty good and it was just sections like this that really let it down.All in all, I'd say this would make a fun light read for a very young teen but don't expect any depth in plotting or characterisation.

[nadishka-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first in the Wizard Buddy series. A nice idea to get boys to read - which can be a daunting task at times!
The story starts with Tyler Dunsmore worrying about his physical disability (he's deaf) and his inability to make friends. And there appears Dirk, a wizard, literally out of this air. The two immediately bond, although Dirk has a hard time understanding the concept of deafness and makes some blunt remarks. The rest of the tale takes the reader through the next 3 months during which Dirk helps Tyler gain more confidence in class, make new friends and learn some self-esteem.
The story is very sympathetic towards kids with disabilities who have to make their way through regular school. Tyler has to face bullies and unintentional unkindness that makes you really feel for his plight. He also learns to cope better with his problems, and he realizes that others have problems too - one boy has to cope with a parent with mental illness, while another has lost his Dad to cancer. Tyler also learns how to be a good friend in turn, and that true friendship needs work from both parties concerned.
My only negative thought about the book is this - as an adult I can appreciate and enjoy all the above, but would pre-teenage boys feel the same? There are some scenes full of excitement like when Dirk takes Tyler on some adventures, but I wonder if there is enough of that to sustain interest?