New Releases by Chris Lynch

Graduation from high school? A senior thesis? A betrayal by someone you love? A loss of innocence? The death of a parent? Losing the family you always wished you had? Facing a harsh reality? What''s the line that separates childhood from the "real world"? And what happens when it''s nothing you imagined it would be? Do you want to be a published author? The editors at HarperCollins invite you to submit a short story about a character who has to face the "real world" for the first time. The story must involve a single, life-changing event. First prize is the opportunity to be published alongside your favorite authors in the paperback edition of the No Such Thing as the Real World collection. All stories must be between 5,000 and 10,000 words long, and all contributing authors must be between fourteen and nineteen years old.

You have to love your family. You do, even if you don''t, right? You don''t have to understand them or play tennis with them, but you have to love them. It''s a rule, and it''s the kind of rule you don''t break unless you''re some kind of animal. My brother happens to be some kind of animal. My sister rides this sweet gold Honda scooter and has amazing hair. You''d hate her. My parents are vegetarian let-the-sunshine-in freaks. Lovable freaks but freaks all the same. My grandu00adfather possesses a shocking comb-over, a kilt, about half of his original marbles, and his own golf complex. This summer, we are all working for him. It is going to be two hot, lucrative, carefree months of paradise. Or, possibly something else.

High school senior and football player Keir sets out to enjoy himself on graduation night, but when he attempts to comfort a friend whose date has left her stranded, things go terribly wrong.

Three best friends--Skitz, Hector, and Drew--find their bond sorely tested by the three priests who run their school, and who are determined to tear them apart, forcing Drew to take action when Hector becomes lost to the darkness of violence and shame.

With the arrival of his Uncle Alex, who his mother always said was dead, fourteen-year-old Elvin learns some important truths about his family and himself.

When overweight thirteen-year-old Elvin Bishop is sent to camp at St. Paul''s Seminary Retreat Center, he and his two best friends are forced to try out various sports in order to find out where they belong.