Dan Lukiv

Quibils and Quirks, a madcap sci-fi fantasy for kids under 100 Dan Lukiv

Forward, by Paul Bagdon (novelist) // Dan Lukiv must be a kid. Dusty and cranky old adults like the rest of us who worry about bills and the new noise in the car and what the boss will think of the latest project simply don't have the sensibilities-the spark-to realize that creatures who smell strange are funny to young people, and that time travel, teachers named Miss Snapdragon, and idiosyncratic species called Quirks and Quibils are the very stuff of laughter, adventure, drama-and fun. // Quibils and Quirks is a precisely orchestrated chaos of sight gags, weird and wholly engaging characters and creatures, puns and word play, pratfalls and slapstick-and there's a genuine story melded into the pages, as well. The dialogue sings-and gurgles, snuffs, yelps, belches, uluates, and snivels, too. The laughs are frequent, as they must be in a work such as Quibils and Quirks, and in my mind, it's here that Dan Lukiv excels. Because he's a kid himself (I refuse to believe otherwise), his humor is fresh and innocent; the convoluted logic expressed by the critters and characters is hilarious without the taint of guile or innuendo that seems to be so pervasive in current YA efforts. The scenes and situations sparkle because of their incongruity, their lack of adult parameters-and, in many cases because they reflect the stolid silliness of the adult world in a Lukiv-created, wonderfully irregular mirror. // Who is Dan Lukiv? Beats me, but I'd have to describe him as Milne with a case of the giggles, Beatrix Potter on hallucinogens, or Proust with a lobotomy. But, whoever the guy is, he knows what he's doing, and Quibils and Quirks establishes that. // This is a must-read, not only for the intended audience, but for the few of us oldies who haven't forgotten how to laugh. We need to hear more from Dan Lukiv-soon."