Charlene Allen’s debut novel, Play the Game is one rich with riddles and layered with mystery. It tells the story of Ed Hennessey, a fifteen-year-old game designer with a brain that works like that of a scientist. A Black teenager, Ed is a lover of rebus puzzles, fart jokes, and imagined worlds. In the Ed-i-verse, Ed has created mutants and monsters to make-up for what isn’t working in his life. Sadly, he is tragically shot in the parking lot of Yard restaurant by Phillip Singer, a White huckster of stolen goods. Now, a year later, Singer has been shot, and Victor (aka VZ) Gleason’s friendRead More →

Known as the lonely girl who writes computer code, sixteen-year-old Xia Chan is offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in an incubator program for gifted young programmers. As a young tech prodigy, Xia has developed a predictive outcomes application (app) she calls Wiser. Because of this technology, she has been targeted by the Foundry, an institute run by Lars Lang in Silicon Valley. Only twenty youth are accepted for this all-expense paid experience. For one year, they live on campus in the San Francisco Bay area and compete to be that year’s Founder. Whoever wins will receive “one million dollars in seedRead More →