Montague âMonty Hillâ Glupie is a sixteen-year-old with autism and a penchant for languages. He found a manuscript that promised to grant his every wish once he translates it. Because no one believes in wishes, he makes an impossible one: he wishes for the princess in the manuscript. If she likes him, magic exists, and if she falls in love with him, miracles happen.
When no one comes, Monty returns to school to face another horrible day until a new girl arrives; Aislinn. Itâs the start of an adventure that takes him to a kingdom in another world where he lands himself in hot water when he fights his own high-school principal. Can he accept that his autism may well be his 'super power'?
Montague âMonty Hillâ Glupie is a sixteen-year-old with autism and a penchant for languages. He found a manuscript that promised to grant his every wish once he translates it. Because no one believes in wishes, he makes an impossible one: he wishes for the princess in the manuscript. If she likes him, magic exists, and if she falls in love with him, miracles happen.
When no one comes, Monty returns to school to face another horrible day until a new girl arrives; Aislinn. Itâs the start of an adventure that takes him to a kingdom in another world where he lands himself in hot water when he fights his own high-school principal. Can he accept that his autism may well be his 'super power'?
Â
I BROKE MARKâS ARM. It bought me a one-way ticket to my high-school principalâs office and its dull, grey-painted walls. The one spatter of color comes from a large floor-to-ceiling window that overlooks a grass field. The dense leaves of one strategically placed tree shields us from an unforgiving sun, but it wonât stop him from roasting me.
âI should grill you over Markâs broken arm,â he says.
His otherwise delicate features get somewhat countered by a fierce hawk nose and intense dark eyes that I evade not to drown in them. Nevertheless, I worry that I somehow disconnected Markâs arm, allowing my principal to use it as fuel to grill me.
âBut I wonât, Mister Montague Glupie,â he pronounces my name with an indeterminable French accent.
Officially Montague means pointed mountain, but because both French and Flemish use qu or âqâ as a slang for behind, pronouncing it as Montaqu changes that into pointed behind. To add to the insult, without its last âe,â my surname translates as âstupidâ in Polish. I never should have told Mark all of that, but not so long ago I considered him my friend.
âInstead, I hope you tell me what happened.â
I focus on his name tag. Damon Royal. Students love him and teachers do what he asks. They call him kind, smooth and sophisticated; everything Iâm not. Damon comes from the Greek word âdaman,â meaning âto tameâ or âsubdue.â Some may even argue it means âto kill.â
âWell?â
His heavy, aristocratic voice echoes through the clean space and drowns out the noises from the corridor. He pushes me, and I donât like that.
âMontague Glupie?â
Again, that slight French accent no one else but me catches. I hate it when he does that. In an attempt to ignore it, I press my lips into a white, thin line and wrench my fingers together. I focus on what really matters; the translation of that last sentence of the Manuscript I found five years ago. Iâm this close to ridding myself of... the one obstacle that stops me from making the friends I so long for.
âOkay. I will respect your silence,â he says.
No, he wonât. To keep me from saying that out loud, I count to ten in as many different languages. It generally soothes me, but not today because of Royalâs unstoppable bullying.Â
â... and therefore, I will tell you what your classmates all told me,â he continues.
He shouldnât say âall.â He never talked to my best
and only friend, Storm.
âPlease correct me if Iâm wrong,â Royal says. Until I do so, he never accepts that.
âMark was playing with his football when you bullied him.â
I make a fist and wish my nails were long enough to scream into my palmâs skin, so I have a reason to scream with my principal present. Thatâs not exactly how it happened. I was waiting for Storm when Mark stepped toward me.
âYou demanded he played somewhere else.â Mark had kicked his football with a nerve-
wracking thud-whizz and aimed it at the post where
it made a painful bham. I asked him to stop. He didnât.
âHe ignored you, so you started calling him names until he walked away. Thatâs when you followed.â
He called me names and I walked away. Mark followed.
âHe tried to ignore you, and thatâs when you lashed out. Does that sum it up, so far?â No.
I press my lips together so hard they turn into another thin, white line to keep that word from escaping. Royal would use it against me.Â
âWhen he defended himself, you kicked him and finally slammed him into a wall. You broke his arm because you felt like it.â
I never âslammedâ Mark into anything. I pushed him. Gently. Itâs not my fault he broke his arm because he has brittle bones. I shift my gaze to a bookcase against the wall, filled with pristine books on childhood development, sensitivity, learning disabilities, and special needs. Books Royal obviously never bothered to read.
âMarkâs a dumhuvud,â I hiss.
It means âmoronâ in Swedish. Originally, I chose the Malaysian term âdungu,â but I decided against that. Royal stopped with âdungâ and thatâs not what I meant. Dung canât be blamed for its shitty situation.
Royal places a heavy folder containing my disciplinary history between us. He adorned it with my official name in red letters. Iâm sure he is aware that I hate that color because of what happened to Dad. Another matter I hope to solve once I translate the last sentence.
âMaybe you feel itâs okay to offend people in foreign languages because you think no one understands. Is that how you use the internet? To learn foul words?â
That would be glupi on my part. The school implements a firewall to keep track of every online move. For our safety, they claim, but they are scared weâd pirate movies and watch porn.Â
He opens my file; probably on the page that lists everything I did. Wrong. He always stresses that last word, as if it matters. To get away unscathed, I better stay silent.
âI expect an explanation of what happened, Montague.â
Again, that slight French accent, as if he mocks me, but not really.
âI hope you realize Markâs parents can charge you with assault and battery? Your claim you have ASD wonât save you anymore.â
My Autism Spectrum Disorder never saved me, and it never will. Wikipedia calls it a social impairment. I lack the intuition about others that many take for granted, fail at communication and take things too literal. Add restricted interests and repetitive behavior and you complete my picture.
âKarut!â Or nonsense in Malaysian because Iâm not impaired.
I fear I said that with my spoken voice, not with my inner voice, as I intended. As a result, Royal uses his French accent again.
âMontague?â
âI pushed Mark because he thud-whizzed and bhammed,â I say.
Iâm losing control and it gets worse as Royal looks at me as if he no longer understands plain English.Â
âThatâs the sound he makes when he kicks his football and hits the goalpost?â I growl. My outburst makes it worse.
âYou do realize I will have a hard time keeping Markâs parents from filing a complaint, which forces me to expel you?â
If he expels me, Mom sends me to boarding school. I. Hate. Boarding school.
âThey donât really want to, because you two were friends once. They want to understand what went wrong between you two.â
Ask Mark about my birthday invitations!
âI told them I had no idea.â
A. Lie. I try hard to evade Royalâs diarrhea-colored eyes. You donât put a kettle on a fire and act surprised when steam sends the whistle in to overdrive.
âIgnoring me wonât make it go away, Montague. I wonât stop asking you about it in much the same way I wonât stop asking you about the Slaughter House.â
A ruined ranch house at the border of town where two decades ago a newlywed couple disappeared. Popular gossip points in the direction of a bloody murder, but they never found the bodies. Still, most town people believe some mysterious sadist slaughtered those newlywedsâhence, the ranch houseâs name. My own research uncovered a fuzzy picture of a male and female on a website dedicated to unsolved crimes. I recognized Royal in the picture, even though he was twenty or so years younger, but everyone else said I was crazy.
âYou found a key in there,â he insists.
I didnât, but that never stopped him from calling me a liar.
âHidden by my twin brother. It holds some importance to me. If you return it, I will still reward you,â he says.
He forgot what happened, but because I found nothing, that wonât happen. My last chance is escape. Fast.
The corridor behind me is out of the question since itâs filled to the brim with students and teachers. Instead, I rise and jump out of the window onto the grass field.
âObey every rule and then donât.â
Â
Fresh and original, this absorbing fantasy focuses on Montague âMontyâ Glupie, an autistic sixteen year-old with a gift for translation and language. As in, multiple languages. In fact, Monty has spent five years transplanting a mysterious manuscript that no one else could understand.
Â
His best â and only â friend, Storm âSherwinâ gets around in a wheelchair. Aislinn is his âdream' Paper Girl. She suddenly shows up in Monty's high school without warning or preamble. Did she really materialize after Monty wished her into existence? What about irascible school principal, âDamon Royal"? (His name has a double meaning thatâs divulged later.) And whatâs up with Bill the Sheriff? Why does Monty hates the color red?
Â
Meanwhile, Montyâs father has⌠disappeared. His Mom has been kidnapped. And thereâs an Open Door into another world and a kingdom teetering on the verge of usurpation by⌠well. Youâll have to turn the pages yourself to figure that out.
Â
Anyway, it gets really crazy when Monty, Storm, and Princess Aislinn uncover a plan to usurp the Kingâs throne and hold the Royal Family hostage. Villainous powers will stop at nothing to find an elusive key that opens a mysterious door â and more.
Â
As events unfold, one question lingers:Is autism Montyâs super power?
Â
With magic, an enchanted kingdom, âpalace intrigueâ and a kingdom under siege, thereâs plenty of action in this quick-moving fantasy. Also invisible body guards. Icy dungeons. Sandstorms. Lying, deceit, and betrayal. Loyalty, love, and sacrifice. Rescue in unexpected places. The plot has a Darkest Part of the Forest, Twilight Zone, Mandalorian feel to it in places.
Â
The author has a command of the language and is well-versed in etymology. Vivid descriptions and robust characterizations abound. Prodigious world-building skills are evident throughout each chapter as Monty and his friends battle other-worldly armies while enemy legions dog their every step. Just when all hope seems lost, MontyâŚ
Â
Oh, wait. To find that out, youâll have to read the book.
Â
This title will resonate with readers who enjoy fantasies featuring adventures in other worlds, original settings, and unlikely heroes. Some readers may find the story a bit overlong and occasionally verbose, to the point of redundant. Overall, however, this is a remarkable achievement for a debut novel. Keep an eye on this author. Heâs going places.