Book Description: The Eye Pocket

Full of smart humor, magic, and real science, this adventure celebrates ingenuity, courage, and a strong father–son relationship: Bobby Humblebeach, son of an unemployed adventurer, thinks he lives in America's most boring town. But when Bobby and two friends stumble across an Eye Pocket – an area of land caught between the past, present and future – Mr. Humblebeach abandons his couch and outfits the gang with the latest adventure equipment. Under cover of darkness, the four explore a world that is everything our planet was and will be. Their mission into the unknown goes awry, however, when Bobby’s dad excavates a gold chest and awakens its wrongful owners.

"Reluctant readers -- you know, those 7- to 12-year-olds who would rather play a video game than read a book -- won't be able to keep their noses out of ''The Eye Pocket'' -- San Jose Mercury News

Just who is EJCrow?

Just who is EJCrow? Nobody knows for sure – even me and I’M HIM! Name dropping aside, I do know that I am an agent of The Fantastic Society of Peculiar Adventurers and now AUTHOR! That’s right, when I’m not on an expedition for The Society I’m hard at work documenting my horrendous adventures!

My latest book is entitled THE EYE POCKET and you can read about it here. I mean right here (click this! not “this” or the “(“ but the word “here” right before the “(“ just click it. C’mon you know what I mean!).

EJCrow Book Signing

When Mr. Crow is not on expedition or burning the midnight oil he’s on his international book signing tour! Here are a few photos from recent signings.

By gum here’s Crow offering to sign a book in Oakland, CA!

Here I am actually signing The Eye Pocket AND I DON’T EVEN KNOW HER!

Acquire THE EYE POCKET

The Ghost Herd

In the spring of 2005 people in the Plains states started reporting sightings of a huge herd of buffalo when the sun was down and the moon was full. Some said the buffalo were white, others said it was the moon that made them look that way, still others said they were the ghosts of the herd that once ranged here and that had risen from the earth to right a terrible wrong. But none disputed the herd was real: Huge swaths of farmland were trampled to dust. Roads were broken as if by steel hooves. Eye witness accounts told of narrow escapes up trees or in drainage pipes as the herd rumbled past in a deafening roar.

In the summer of 2006 The Fantastic Society of Peculiar Adventurers dispatched an expedition to investigate these sightings, and if possible engage the Ghost Herd.

Here are a few photos from the first day of that expedition:

Here is Crow running for dear life. The animal behind him was preparing to attack, Crow claimed, which is why he had no choice but to enact his ‘Me First’ policy and knock over the photographer.


Here is Crow warning all to evacuate the area – these beasts were about to attack he claimed. “Most people don’t know buffalo have huge fangs,” said Crow later. “AND I DON’T EITHER!”

“Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? That sky! Those beasts!” remarked Wren Littlefield, the expedition’s head biologist. At this point someone reminded the party these were just everyday buffalo and not the Ghost Herd, which only comes out at night--they had better get serious if they didn’t want The Society to cut funding.

Custer's Last Stand Hill

After Yellowstone the Ghost Herd Expedition headed north into Montana and visited ghosts of a different kind at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. Here Colonel George Armstrong Custer and a lot of his men met their end at the hands of mostly Sioux and Cheyenne Indians defending their people. The day was scorching hot and smoke from a plains fire shrouded the scene when the expedition rode up. A young park ranger gave a speech at the Visitor’s Center about the battle. He talked about how the people who fought here were complicated, how the forces gathered, how this fight was the last stand for the Indians too, and finally, about the power of peace. It was lucky about that range fire, though, because by the time the ranger finished a lot of full-grown adults were saying the smoke was making their eyes water like crazy …

Here’s a view of the memorial on Last Stand Hill from the memorial to the Indians who died here. The whole area is a sacred and solemn place; unfortunately there’s a road in the middle of the hill so you can drive right over it!

More About THE EYE POCKET

"Reluctant readers -- you know, those 7- to 12-year-olds who would rather play a video game than read a book -- won't be able to keep their noses out of ''The Eye Pocket'' -- San Jose Mercury News

In the summer of 2006 The Eye Pocket was released to worldwide acclaim. Unfortunately, a bitter dispute broke out almost immediately between Crow and his publisher, DNA Press, who Crow claimed had improperly listed his book as a children’s chapter book for 7 to 12 year-olds. Crow argued his book was adult non-fiction. The following press release documents this life or death struggle and its peaceful resolution.

PRESS RELEASE

Outaged Over “Chapter Book” Designation, Author Claims Book "Really Happened" -- Donates Royalties

April 1, 2006 E.J.Crow, author of The Eye Pocket, and who threatened the book’s publisher, DNA Press, with Societal action over what Crow had deemed the “horrendous ‘miscategorization’ of a seminal work of nonfiction,” called off the dogs today. Although Crow claimed his “book would have forced physicists to reexamine the most fundamental assumptions about the natural world" and that the publisher entrusted to bring his treatise to the scientific community had “dropped it off at daycare,” cooler heads prevailed when DNA Press allowed Crow to donate as much of his royalties as he saw fit to the Gift of Adoption Fund.

DNA Press released The Eye Pocket as a children’s fantasy chapter book for 7 to 12 year-olds earlier this spring.

The Eye Pocket tells the story of one Bobby Humblebeach, son of an unemployed adventurer, who thinks he lives in America’s most boring town. But when Bobby and two friends stumble across an Eye Pocket – an area of land caught between the past, present and future – Mr. Humblebeach abandons his couch and outfits the gang with the latest adventure equipment. Under cover of darkness, the four explore a world that is everything our planet was and will be. Their mission into the unknown goes awry, however, when Bobby’s dad excavates a gold chest and awakens its wrongful owners.

“If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times: children are people too. Why, I used to be a child myself,” claims Crow. “But this isn’t fiction. Everything in The Eye Pocket really happened. I didn’t even change the names to protect the innocent. That’s why I was so irritated!”

DNA Press stands by its listing of The Eye Pocket in the children’s chapter book genre.

“I like EJ,” said Alexander Kuklin, Managing Editor at DNA Press. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not delusional. We accepted his book because children will delight at how Bobby and his friends refuse to bow to laziness, and how the enthusiasm of Mr. Humblebeach reveals how some adults aren’t so different from children after all. The book inspires dreamers to action, no matter what boring town they may be trapped in. But now EJ’s claiming it’s all true,” sighed Kuklin. “It’s a wonder he’s let out in public.”“Still,” said Kuklin, “this all worked out for DNA Press in the end. We have retained our right to list The Eye Pocket as children’s fiction, and EJ can donate his royalties to charity. Go figure.”

“It may sound trite, but helping children is really what it’s all about,” ranted Crow. “I’m taking a firm step in this direction by aligning myself with the Gift of Adoption Fund’s objectives. Now you can help us all by buying this book.”

E. J. Crow conducted research on Tanzania’s anti-poaching efforts for his M.A. in International Studies. A field agent for The Fantastic Society of Peculiar Adventurers, Crow divides his time between Pleasant Hill, California, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Novgorod, Russia; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and Lake Oswego, Oregon.