{"id":225689,"date":"2025-09-16T13:14:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T03:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.writers-exchange.com\/?p=225689"},"modified":"2026-04-01T15:23:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T05:23:28","slug":"useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror\/","title":{"rendered":"A Useless Series, Book 2: Useless and the Carnival of Terror by Margaret Pearce"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>They called him Useless. He kept proving them wrong.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>Ewen Euston is not the obvious hero. He is the overlooked kid, the one with the world&#8217;s most embarrassing nickname, the one nobody watches closely enough to stop. Which turns out, book after book, to be exactly the right qualification for the job.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>A Useless Series follows Ewen and his friends through five middle-grade science fiction adventures, each one a complete story and each one funnier and more dangerous than it sounds. Fast, dry, genuinely tense. For readers aged 9 to 12 who are ready for books that respect their intelligence and do not slow down.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"product-component-1758633893711\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/*<![CDATA[*\/ (function () { var scriptURL = 'https:\/\/sdks.shopifycdn.com\/buy-button\/latest\/buy-button-storefront.min.js'; if (window.ShopifyBuy) { if (window.ShopifyBuy.UI) { ShopifyBuyInit(); } else { loadScript(); } } else { loadScript(); } function loadScript() { var script = document.createElement('script'); script.async = true; script.src = scriptURL; (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(script); script.onload = ShopifyBuyInit; } function ShopifyBuyInit() { var client = ShopifyBuy.buildClient({ domain: 'xzb5dh-f2.myshopify.com', storefrontAccessToken: '5c9726a1fcff35811c81f0a700aecc59', }); ShopifyBuy.UI.onReady(client).then(function (ui) { ui.createComponent('product', { id: '9029218861274', node: 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src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/barnes-noble-logo-1-200x53.png?resize=114%2C30&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Buy from Barnes and Noble Nook\" width=\"114\" height=\"30\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/barnes-noble-logo-1.png?resize=200%2C53&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/barnes-noble-logo-1.png?w=300&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 114px) 100vw, 114px\" \/><\/a><\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/au\/en\/ebook\/useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-165816\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/rakuten-kobo-landscape%403x.png?resize=157%2C30&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Kobo Logo\" width=\"157\" height=\"30\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/rakuten-kobo-landscape%403x.png?w=628&amp;ssl=1 628w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/rakuten-kobo-landscape%403x.png?resize=300%2C57&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/rakuten-kobo-landscape%403x.png?resize=200%2C38&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 157px) 100vw, 157px\" \/><\/a><\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.everand.com\/book\/919781757\/Useless-and-the-Carnival-of-Terror-A-Useless-Series-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-217377\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/everand-logo.jpg?resize=105%2C30&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Everand (was Scribd) Logo\" width=\"105\" height=\"30\" \/><\/a><\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smashwords.com\/books\/view\/1859671\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/smashwords.png?resize=112%2C30&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Smashwords Logo\" width=\"112\" height=\"30\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-208841 size-full\" \/><\/a><\/td>        <\/tr>\n    <\/tbody><!--ninja_tobody_rendering_done-->\n    <\/table>\n    \n    \n    \n<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Continue the Series:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.writers-exchange.com\/useless-and-the-mandala-trap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-226450 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-1-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=310%2C110&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A Useless Series, Book 1: Useless and the Mandala Trap Continue the Series 2026\" width=\"310\" height=\"110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-1-continue-the-series2026.jpg?w=310&amp;ssl=1 310w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-1-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=300%2C106&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-1-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=200%2C71&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.writers-exchange.com\/useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-226451 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-2-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=310%2C110&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A Useless Series, Book 2: Useless and the Carnival of Terror Continue the Series 2026\" width=\"310\" height=\"110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-2-continue-the-series2026.jpg?w=310&amp;ssl=1 310w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-2-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=300%2C106&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-2-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=200%2C71&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.writers-exchange.com\/useless-and-the-school-fete\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-226452 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-3-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=310%2C110&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A Useless Series, Book 3: Useless and the School Fete continue the series 2026\" width=\"310\" height=\"110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-3-continue-the-series2026.jpg?w=310&amp;ssl=1 310w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-3-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=300%2C106&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-3-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=200%2C71&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.writers-exchange.com\/useless-and-the-seventh-choice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-226453 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-4-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=310%2C110&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A Useless Series, Book 4: Useless and the Seventh Choice Continue the Series 2026\" width=\"310\" height=\"110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-4-continue-the-series2026.jpg?w=310&amp;ssl=1 310w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-4-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=300%2C106&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-4-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=200%2C71&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.writers-exchange.com\/useless-and-the-weird-sect-of-the-blue-triangle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-226454 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-5-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=310%2C110&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A Useless Series, Book 5: Useless and the Weird Sect of the Blue Triangle Continue the Series 2026\" width=\"310\" height=\"110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-5-continue-the-series2026.jpg?w=310&amp;ssl=1 310w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-5-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=300%2C106&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-5-continue-the-series2026.jpg?resize=200%2C71&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2232\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/blue-line-300x8.gif?resize=300%2C8&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"8\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Chapter 1<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It was Saturday morning, and the grand opening of the renovated amusement park. It had been renamed The New Carnival.<\/p>\n<p>Practically everybody in the district was there except my family and Perry&#8217;s Mum and his five brothers. Perry&#8217;s mother had snapped she didn&#8217;t have the money for that sort of foolishness, and my parents weren&#8217;t interested anyway.<\/p>\n<p>After the speeches, everyone clapped, crowded around the ticket office and then started pushing through the turnstiles<\/p>\n<p>It was thirty dollars to get in and that was for kids. Adults were fifty dollars each, and family tickets were even more. This was why Perry and I were still outside.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They reckon there&#8217;s a new ghost train and a new haunted castle,&#8221; Perry said wistfully.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And everything is automated and voice activated and there are not supposed to be any operators,&#8221; I reported.<\/p>\n<p>We hung around a bit longer. No one offered us any free tickets.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Come on Useless,&#8221; Perry grumbled. &#8220;We&#8217;ll get in the back way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Place is like Fort Knox,&#8221; I scoffed. My name happens to be Ewen Euston, but I mainly get Useless. &#8220;What back way?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They dammed the creek to make the lake, right.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They put in a pipe for the runoff under their high wall across to the swamp.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are sure to be inspection hatches down to the pipe from inside.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Worth a try,&#8221; I agreed. We ran around the high wall of the carnival grounds to the swamp. &#8220;If there are no operators, there&#8217;ll be no one to notice us getting in.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Cool!&#8221; Perry agreed.<\/p>\n<p>A few minutes pounding shifted the bars from the big pipe opening from the crumbly cement.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There was only a dribble of water along the bottom of the pipe. We walked through under the high wall.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A special private entrance just for us,&#8221; Perry gloated.<\/p>\n<p>We climbed the iron rungs up to a grating and came up into a lane between one of the rides.<\/p>\n<p>So this is how we joined the carnival through the back entrance, and saved everyone \u2013 not that we got any thanks for it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/46QaQRQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-226463 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-2-useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror-print-cover-2026-800.jpg?resize=800%2C588&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A Useless Series, Book 2: Useless and the Carnival of Terror print cover 2026 800\" width=\"800\" height=\"588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-2-useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror-print-cover-2026-800.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-2-useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror-print-cover-2026-800.jpg?resize=300%2C221&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-2-useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror-print-cover-2026-800.jpg?resize=200%2C147&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-useless-series-2-useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror-print-cover-2026-800.jpg?resize=768%2C564&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They called him Useless. He kept proving them wrong. Ewen Euston is not the obvious hero. He is the overlooked kid, the one with the world&#8217;s most embarrassing nickname, the one nobody watches closely enough to stop. Which turns out, book after book, to be exactly the right qualification for the job. A Useless Series follows Ewen and his friends through five middle-grade science fiction adventures, each one a complete story and each one funnier and more dangerous than it&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[272],"tags":[1263,1239,1260,1234,1233,1264,1261,1236,1265,1262,1252,1256,1257,1258,1253,1259,1251,1255,1254,1250,417],"class_list":["post-225689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mid-grade-primary","tag-alienadventure","tag-booksfortweens","tag-funnybooksforkids","tag-kidlitadventure","tag-middlegradereads","tag-portalfiction","tag-readmorekidsbooks","tag-scififorkids","tag-smartkidhero","tag-strangeworlds","tag-alien-carnival-book-for-kids","tag-books-like-artemis-fowl-or-spaceboy","tag-fast-paced-adventure-chapter-books","tag-fun-books-for-reluctant-readers-age-10","tag-funny-science-fiction-books-for-tweens","tag-humorous-sci-fi-books-for-middle-school","tag-middle-grade-adventure-books-with-humour","tag-mystery-books-for-9-to-12-year-olds","tag-portal-fantasy-for-children","tag-sci-fi-books-for-10-year-olds","tag-writersexchangeepublishing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writers-exchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/useless-and-the-carnival-of-terror-3d-cover-2026-500high.png?fit=359%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tQiy-WI9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225689"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226464,"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225689\/revisions\/226464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/226444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writers-exchange.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}