The Familiars (27 page)

About the Authors

A
DAM
J
AY
E
PSTEIN
spent his childhood in Great Neck, New York, while
A
NDREW
J
ACOBSON
grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The two met in a parking garage out in Los Angeles. They have been writing together for film and television ever since. This is their first book.

One day, Adam asked Andrew, “Are you familiar with what a familiar is?” And from that simple question, Vastia was born, a fantastical world filled with the authors’ shared love of animals and magic. They wrote every word, sentence, and page together.

Adam Jay Epstein lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jane; their daughter, Penny; and a black-and-white alley cat who hangs out in their backyard. Andrew Jacobson lives with his wife, Ashley, and their dog, Elvis, four traffic lights away.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Credits

Cover art © 2010 by Peter Chan & Kei Acedera

Copyright

THE FAMILIARS
. Text copyright © 2010 by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson. Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Peter Chan & Kei Acedera, Imaginism Studios. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Epstein, Adam Jay.

The familiars / Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: When a scrappy alley cat named Aldwyn passes himself off as a magical animal companion to Jack, a young wizard in training, Aldwyn and his fellow “familiars,” a know-it-all blue jay and bumbling tree frog, must save the kingdom after the evil queen of Vastia kidnaps Jack and two other wizards.

ISBN 978-0-06-196108-3 (trade bdg.)

[1. Cats—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Wizards—Fiction. 4. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction.] I. Jacobson, Andrew. II. Title.

PZ7.E72514Fam 2011      2010013686

[Fic]—dc22      CIP

AC

FIRST EDITION

ePub Edition © July 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-200963-0

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Publisher

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)

Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Canada

2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor

Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

New Zealand

HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

P.O. Box 1

Auckland, New Zealand

http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

77-85 Fulham Palace Road

London, W6 8JB, UK

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

10 East 53rd Street

New York, NY 10022

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com