Press Release

Author of the Gust: Book One of the Antelope (published by AuthorHouse), the new fantasy novel for young adults by Rick Austinson, relates the adventures of 13-year-old Ryo Sansen, an outcast in her native Ninpou for being a half-breed when the world is strictly divided between Ninjas and Pirates.

Ryo hopes to join a ship as most young men and women do at her age, but none of the ships will take her because of her half-breed status. Disheartened, she finds herself listening to the tales of an artifact of great power that could grant whoever holds it one wish.

Ryo meets another youth who is in a similar situation: he too is an outcast, cannot find a ship and has nowhere else to go. Together they concoct a plan to assemble a crew, obtain a ship and find the artifact on the other side of the globe from Ninpou.

They piece together an unlikely crew of misfits and rejects, and they all face monsters, storms and tsunamis, but they also make new friends. At the Pirate city Ryo is taken captive and brought before the leader of the Pirates, the First Chancellor. After only a brief acceptance by the Pirates, Ryo finds herself once again facing intolerance and chooses to escape with her crew, stealing a ship.

Their only chance is to reach the location of the artifact: the hidden city of Utopia.

Will Ryo be rescued? Will the crew ever find the magical artifact to grant their single wish? Will any of the rag-tag group of misfits find a place for themselves in the world? Find out in the gripping pages of Author of the Gust. Ideal for young adults, Author of the Gust is full of adventure and fantasy that is woven into dilemmas of social pressure.