The Doomsday Archives: The Wandering Hour

by Zack Loran Clark, Nick Eliopulos

Overview

What if your favorite scary story was real?

With eerie illustrations and chilling creepypasta interstitials, The Doomsday Archives: The Wandering Hour by Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos is the first in a deliciously creepy series, perfect for readers of Jonathan Stroud, Christian McKay Heidicker, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

New Rotterdam is no place for a kid―and that’s what Emrys Houtman likes about it. Emrys obsessively documents his town’s urban legends and cryptid sightings in a Wiki, along with his neighbors and fellow horror fans Hazel and Serena. It’s all in good fun until one day, the trio stumbles upon the Doomsday Archives, a collection of relics with dazzling powers and dangerous consequences.

When a mysterious blood-red hourglass begins appearing around town and children begin to go missing, the trio must band together to stop the horrors plaguing New Rotterdam, or risk losing their home . . . and possibly their lives. Because after all this time hunting monsters, the kids have realized the monsters are now hunting them back.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781638932369
Publisher:	Zando
Publication date:	01/28/2025
Series:	The Doomsday Archives , #1
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.56(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Zack Loran Clark (Author)
Zack Loran Clark is a writer and editor of books for young readers. He is the author of The Lock-Eater and co-author of The Adventurers Guild trilogy with Nick Eliopulos. A lifelong fantasy nerd, avid Dungeons & Dragons player, and aspiring sorcerer, he lives with his husband and their dog in Brooklyn, NY.

Nick Eliopulos (Author)
Nick Eliopulos is an author, editor, teacher, and game designer. His writing credits include the shop-simulator video game Potionomics; more than a dozen officially licensed Minecraft books; and, with co-author Zack Loran Clark, The Adventurers Guild trilogy. Nick lives with his husband in Upstate New York.

Editorial Reviews

10/23/2023

A terrifying local legend tests the mettle of a resolute trio of sixth graders in the first installment of this grisly horror series by Loran Clark (The Lock-Eater) and Eliopulos (the Minecraft Stonesword Saga). Emrys is excited to move to New Rotterdam despite the town’s gloomy atmosphere; after all, it’s a “hot spot for urban legends,” and the home of his best friend Hazel, a fellow creepypasta fanatic and cataloger of New Rotterdam lore on the town’s active wiki. Though he feels like a third wheel around Hazel’s childhood friend and cryptid skeptic Serena, Emrys champions teamwork when a power outage prompts the middle schoolers to investigate a shadowy neighbor’s ruined apartment, from which they’re hurled into another dimension embroiled in a conflict between two opposing magical organizations. Guided by a deadpan talking spell book, the friends confront a demonic hourglass named The Wandering Hour that spells gruesome doom for anyone who gazes upon it. This dark plot-driven adventure, sprinkled with insightful New Rotterdam wiki entries, winking humor, and heaps of horror sensibilities, is unsettlingly creepy. Emrys and Hazel are white, and Serena is Black. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Agent: (for Loran Clark) Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary; (for Eliopulos) Josh Adams, Adams Literary. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

A Junior Library Guild Selection
An Indie Next List Pick

★ “Clark and Eliopulos expertly build heart-pounding suspense . . . The book champions accepting each other’s quirks and weirdness, which will resonate with anyone who’s struggled to fit in. A superb choice for fans of Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. series, Tom Booth’s Eerie-on-Sea books, and creepypastas.” —Booklist, Starred Review

“An engaging start to a promising new series. The wiki framing is clever [and] legitimately scary scenes resolve quickly, with resolutions driven by the kids’ strengths and actions.”
―Kirkus Reviews

“This dark plot-driven adventure, sprinkled with insightful New Rotterdam wiki entries, winking humor, and heaps of horror sensibilities, is unsettlingly creepy.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos have summoned the grinning ghost of author John Bellairs and updated him for a generation steeped in the eerie world of online urban legends. Here’s hoping you can all make it out of New Rotterdam alive!” ―Trevor Henderson, author of Scarewaves and creator of Siren Head

“Enter The Doomsday Archives and discover a diabolical mix of menacing monsters, forbidden artifacts, and contemporary chills. This series is guaranteed to keep you up way past your bedtime. I want―no, need―the next installment!” ―K.R. Alexander, bestselling author of Gallowgate and The Collector

“The Doomsday Archives should be marked with a bright red sticker that says, I DARE YOU TO READ THIS. It is the most delightfully frightening book for young people to come along in years! Absolutely brilliant.” ―Dan Poblocki, bestselling author of Tales to Keep You Up at Night

From the Publisher

01/01/2024

Gr 3–7—The coauthors of "The Adventures Guild" trilogy have written a fantastical horror set in New Rotterdam, a small seaside town teeming with urban legends and mysterious disappearances. Eighth grader Brian Skupp encounters an hourglasslike object on his school bench. As he's studying it, he notices everyone is frozen in time. Keys don't fall. People don't move. The only person who seems to see him is a moving ghostlike woman with fangs. The ominous phrase, "He was never heard from again" segues into one (of many to come) wiki articles about mysterious happenings in the area. The book starts again with three present-day friends, Emrys, Hazel, and Serena, and their story of how they found the Doomsday Archives. The hourglass makes a comeback, as do a variety of life-threatening monsters who like to swallow things, and weird occurrences, such as the Midtown Mummy, an ember bishop, and a wandering hour. This would be a good read-aloud for a middle school class for the month of October, especially if paired with their town's local urban myths. VERDICT A story about kids helping keep their town and neighbors safe will speak to those who love to sink themselves into a different realm and play armchair detective/hero, this is a great choice for middle grade shelves.—Tanya Boudreau

School Library Journal

2023-10-07
Three kids gain access to magic in a fight against their town’s evil underbelly.

New Rotterdam has so many strange occurrences that it has its own wiki to keep track of them. Emrys is new to town and delighted to live in one of America’s Most Haunted Cities. He resides in the same apartment building as Hazel, his old camp friend, who shares his interest in all things spooky, and Hazel’s friend Serena, who does not. All three, however, are equally fascinated with their reclusive penthouse neighbor, Mr. Van Stavern. One night, they find his apartment trashed and him trapped within the pages of a grimoire. Mr. Van Stavern inducts the trio into the Order of the Azure Eye—a group dedicated to protecting occult relics—and gives them access to the Blue Reliquary, a magical space holding those items. And just in time, because people are disappearing in New Rotterdam, and Emrys, Hazel, and Serena are the only ones who can stop the evil forces at work. The wiki framing is clever, providing readers with background information and mirroring how many tweens would begin their own research. Legitimately scary scenes resolve quickly, with resolutions driven by the kids’ strengths and actions. A big reveal at the end promises exciting developments in future installments. Emrys and Hazel are white; Serena, who has dads who are Black and Dominican, is Black.

An engaging start to a promising new series. (Horror. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews