Laurel Leaf, 1998, $5.50, ISBN 0-440-21976-0, 248 pages, paperback

Paulsen writes juvenile sci-fi -- as in sci-fi books for young adults. It’s not taxing for an adult, for it has simplistic plots like most “milled” novels set in TV, movie, or game universes.

A big beam of blue light sends 14-year-old Mark to an alternate time period on Earth. That sounds like Fortschen’s Lost Regiment, doesn’t it? Anyway, young Mark, whose hobby was survivalist training, must face the elements, strange creatures, and other dangers in a new environment. Fortunately, he’s a clever lad, and slays the big bad wolf, meets a pygmy babe, and then gets captured in a slave raid. Like Spartacus, he wins his freedom and becomes a warrior. All the while he searches for the K-mart Blue Light Specials to zap him home. Did I mention the cannibals? Or the evil Overlord?

The ending is rather lame, but mercifully quick. He gets zapped by the blue light back to home. And he becomes a doctor to find a vaccine for the Ebola Virus. The end. One page.

Now, this is better than those dreadful GW books by a long long way. But for grown ups…pass it by even at 50 cents.

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