I always knew I was different from others. School came way easily, but friends did not. My sister Kadrin and I were the worst twins ever. The identical stopped at our physical characteristics. But that aside, I had my best friend, Charlie, and I was my conspiracy theorist Dad's favorite. My life wasn't bad and my future seemed promising . . . until the Reform. Following 6th grade graduation, the State took over our guardianship and our education, taking us from the only homes we'd ever known, in order to provide us with a distraction-free environment . . . and control every inch of our lives. We were poked, prodded, experimented on, and had to endure test after test after test. Our future depended on those tests, or rather the tests determined every aspect of our lives, present and future, for the rest of our lives. I had the 2nd highest IQ in the global nation for ages 12 to 18. I was the prodigy they were looking for to be the very image of promoting The Modules. That made me special. My personality, on the other hand, was a problem, a big one. I'd tested Purple. A Purple didn't fit into any category and couldn't be controlled in the same manner as everyone else. That made me a threat to the very system they were trying to create. My sister tested Pink. The only thing I cared about was not being separated from her. She was the only family I had left. The only thing they cared about was trying to control me and change my color, by segregating me from everyone else, including my sister, and experimenting on me to find the weapon that would be able to control people like me. They underestimated me though. I would stop at nothing to have my sister, and protect her, even when they turned her against me, even when I was the only Purple remaining. I went where she went, regardless of the tests. I wouldn't stop fighting the tests' makers or manipulating the tests, and I would not be controlled, until they gave me what I wanted. I underestimated them, though, because apparently they would stop at nothing either, and I was in for a very big surprise. The Reform is the first book in The Modules series featuring the brilliant, yet unruly Catina Salsbury.
Almondie Shampine lives in New York with her two children and their animals. She's a proud author of 'Monster Down the Street' in Linden Hills Beyond Time and Place, 'My Son' in a teenage anthology, as well as a variety of short stories, poems, and articles, four of which were contest winners. The Reform is the first book in the Modules Series. When Almondie is not writing, she is enjoying her children with popcorn wars, random dancing, family fun, and is well known for running around in parking lots in the pouring rain while screaming for 'TwoFlix', their car. Check out www.AlmondieShampine.com for contests and first access to new releases & promotions.
