The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island

"A fantastic coming-of-age thriller." - IndieReader (IR Approved)

2021 First Place for Middle-Grade/Young Adult - Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards

2021 Shortlisted - U.S. Selfies Book Awards

2020 Quarter Finalist for Young Adult Fiction - The BookLife Prize

The summer of 1986. Central Texas. William and his friends should be having a blast. Instead, they are hounded by the Thousand Oaks Gang and their merciless leader, Bloody Billy. William found Billy's backpack. And because of what it contains, Billy desperately wants it back, and he'll do anything to get it. William hatches a plan for his friends to sneak away and hide in an abandoned lake house, except they become stranded on the lake's desolate island without food or water. Will their time on the island devolve into chaos? Will the friends survive and be rescued?

The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island is Lord of the Flies meets The Body by Stephen King, the inspiration for the classic movie Stand By Me.

A gripping suspense story with adventure and danger, tinged with humorous banter between the four friends, the middle schoolers face certain death without adults to protect them from the unrelenting natural elements, as well as the wild creatures that lurk in the wilderness around the lake. With a backpack filled with money and marijuana they stole from the merciless gang leader, it's only a matter of time before the high schoolers come looking for them, too.

From award-winning writer Scott Semegran, The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island is his eighth book. This novel is Semegran's response to William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies, which was Golding's response to The Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne, an adventure novel from 1858. All three novels tackle the premise of boys stranded on an island, with Semegran's novel taking a decidedly modern view of a group of friends in Central Texas during the summer of 1986 working to survive in a situation filled with danger and desperation with only each other to rely on.

Author: Scott Semegran
Publisher: Mutt Press
Published: 10/01/2020
Pages: 316
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.02lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.71d
ISBN: 9781087878645


Review Citation(s):
BlueInk Review 05/19/2020
Booklist 10/15/2020 pg. 30

About the Author
Semegran, Scott: - "Scott Semegran is an award-winning writer of eight books. BlueInk Review described him best as a gifted writer, with a wry sense of humor. His latest novel, The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island, is about four middle school friends who sneak away to an abandoned lake house to evade the wrath of high school bullies, only to become stranded on the lake's desolate island. His previous novel, To Squeeze a Prairie Dog: An American Novel, was the 2019 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Winner: Silver Medal for Fiction - Humor/Comedy, the 2019 Texas Author Project Winner for Adult Fiction, and the 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Gold Medal Winner for Humor. His book Sammie & Budgie was the first place winner for Fiction in the 2018 Texas Authors Book Awards. His book BOYS was the 2018 IndieReader Discovery Awards winner for Short Stories. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, four kids, two cats, and a dog. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English. Scott Semegran is one of the hosts of the web series Austin Liti Limits along with fellow award-winning writer Larry Brill."