Middle Grade Fiction
W.S. Reed
W. S. Reed (Bill) is a graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Chicago and is retired from a career in Engineering at Baxter Healthcare. He has had a lifelong interest in illustration and cartooning and had a business for a time in the 1990s making animations. Bill’s interest in children’s literature took root while reading nightly to his four children.
Bill lives in Grayslake, IL with his wife Kathy. He is a member of the Grayslake Arts Alliance and SCBWI. To date, he has completed two middle-grade novels and has four published short stories. Bill is also an illustrator with two published books to his credit.
WAG 2816 Alien Robot Dog
WAG 2816 is an alien cyberdog, or simbot —a near-perfect robotic replica of an actual Earth dog. He is the lesser member of a robotic research team from Kitalpha B3 that will travel to Earth. Wag's artificial intelligence, however, is badly screwed up. A sleepy, three-eyed alien programmer named INKY accidentally downloads a mix of canine and human artificial intelligence into Wag and then sends him on the mission.
ZACHARY MORGAN and his best friend SAMMY GARCIA are batting around a ball in a field behind their home near a woodlot. They lose track of the time, and Zack's parents send big sister KELSEY to bring Zack home. The three of them witness Wag's UFO crash-land in the woodlot behind their homes.
Wag is the only simbot to survive the crash. He decides that he can complete the original mission if a human family adopts him. He will, however, need his QEM (quantum entangled messaging) radio transmitter to report back to Kitalpha B3, and he manages to get it off the ship just before the ship self-destructs. Wag makes a terrible mistake, however, that causes the Kitalphans to conclude Earth is hostile and must be destroyed.
Zack, Kelsey, and Sammy see an alien leave the ship, but they can't make out what it is. They get scared, however, and have to go when FBI agents all in black arrive to secure the crash site.
The kids return home but sneak back to the landing site after midnight, past the time when the FBI agents have left. The ship is gone. It's then that they meet Wag. Zack and Kelsey decide to take Wag home. In the morning, Zack and Kelsey's parents agree that Wag can stay with them until they can find his owner.
Zack's family accepts Wag into their home. Wag is happy to spend his days playing with Zack and Sammy, but soon discovers that a Kitalphan battle fleet is on its way to destroy Earth. He needs the kids' help to send a message back to Inky, urging him to stop the Kitalphans from annihilating Earth. Zack's parents, however, brought Wag's QEM transmitter to the resale shop. When they go to reclaim it, Wag gets captured by the FBI agents. Can Wag escape, and can the kids retrieve the QEM transmitter in time?
WAG 2816 Alien Robot Dog is an exciting and surprisingly funny science fiction adventure. It explores issues of artificial intelligence, space travel, responsibility, and the complexities of growing up. It is written for young readers aged 8 to 14 years but also has a humorous appeal to an adult audience.
The Reindeer Conundrum
Written by Mark Zubro and Illustrated by W.S. Reed.
Published by MLR Press.
Currently out of print.
A Cradle Song
Written by Mark Zubro and Illustrated by W.S. Reed.
Published by MLR Press.
Currently out of print.