“Gremlins meets Inside Out in this sneaky parable about courage and self-control. Fun, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt." (Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One)

Steven (Slim) Pickings is on the edge of a breakdown - but then, it always feels like Slim is teetering on the edge of something. The difference this time is that something’s caused Slim’s worries to come alive! 

He’s set loose a bunch of annoying, pesky, outrageously contagious creatures - and they’re infecting everyone they meet and massing to take over the town! 

Slim’s problems began when he and his sister, Lucy, visited their dad's work and Slim was hit in in the face with an experimental medicine, a previously not-yet-human-tested anti-anxiety spray called Personal Vexation Zoners, PVZ. No one knew the side effects before, but certainly none of the experts imagined that the spray would cause anyone infected to literally sneeze out their biggest peeves. 

Now Slim and the rest of the town are trailed by the things that annoy them most. Noisy Peeve, Lazy Peeve, Asking Peeve - they all stick with Slim at all times and left untreated, they’re quickly getting worse and way, way more destructive. 

To stop them, Slim will have to do more than just team up with his family and friends - he’ll have to face his fears, literally. 

Debut author and award-winning screenwriter Mike Van Waes brings original intelligence and wit to a magical coming-of-age story in Peeves, where you have to face your feelings before your feelings have faces.