Just Plain Weird is a rollicking tale of teen love. "It has to do with fate more than with anything else," Upton commented on the book. "It is about how things come to pass in that quirky way that leads us all to where we are in the here and now." Throughout the book, the two main characters, Travis and Eliza, run across fantastic obstacles to their continuing friendship. Eliza's secret, that her father has been hiding an alien spaceship from the government, proves a threat not only to them but to the entire human race.
Upton has the rare gift to blend the horrifying with the hilarious, and offers a story that will proof as engaging to adults as to older teens. Legally disabled, Upton returned to writing after a twenty-year absence. In many ways, his life is every bit as fantastic and colorful and the characters and worlds he creates in his stories. "I really can't do much physically,"
Upton's next novel, Scarecrows, will be released in spring of 2009.
