Thunder and Lightning

As Chinese and US spacecraft compete to be the first to land on Mars, a former astronaut, his cousin, and four teens from Florida decide to take matters into their own hands. If they can quickly build their own space-worthy ship using scrap metal, appliances, and power tools, they have a chance to come from behind-thanks to an inventive new power source that can propel them to the Red Planet within three days. No guts, no glory.

It doesn't matter that Ray Garcia-Strickland's father was one of the first men on Mars. The now overdeveloped planet has lost its hip factor, its luxurious hotels - like the one Ray's father manages - overrun with gravity-dependent tourists from Earth. Ray is over the Red Planet. Soon he gets his own chance at interplanetary adventure when an unknown object hits Earth and causes a massive tsunami. Ray heads back to Florida to help family and friends who've survived the devastation - and soon learns the so-called natural disaster could have unnatural consequences.

Navy lieutenant Podkayne, daughter of Ray Garcia-Strickland, is tired of her job as Martian consul in California-and Earth's oppressive gravity. So she's OK with getting called back to Mars, even if it's because her great-grandmother is sick and being put into suspended animation. After a family reunion, Podkayne's next port of call is Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, where she can finally realize her dream of being a singer. But just when her life seems to be improving for the better, disaster strikes and Podkayne is put into her own state of suspension. Awakened ten years later, she will discover a solar system in turmoil-where the very survival of humanity is at risk.

A nearly disastrous car wreck in Germany launches 12-year-old Gabriel Zanadu, Alexander, his 14-year-old brother, and their two dogs, Thunder and Lightning, into a sinister adventure near the famous German castle Neuschwanstein. Unexplained eavesdropping, death threats, and heart-pumping danger drag Gabe, Alex, and the dogs into the clutches of a little-known foreign terrorist network. After they are kidnapped by the terrorists, the scraped and bruised boys battle their captors in underground caverns for freedom. Remembering lessons from their military dad and home-schooling mom, Gabe and Alex struggle to escape the deadly situation.