Spotlight: Unveiling the Wizards' Shroud by Eric Price

Teen/YA fantasy
First book in the series

Winner of the 2014 Literary Classics Award for Best First Novel.

Back Cover

As the only son to King Kendrick, Owen despises the idea of being king one day. Magician may be the only career he’d like less. He has dreaded the days leading up to his fifteenth birthday, when his father will certainly declare Owen heir to the throne. But at the birthday celebration, his father falls ill. The only person in the kingdom that may be able to save him is a magician–the very same magician Owen holds responsible for the death of his mother.

Owen and his companions will have to travel the continent of Wittatun in search of the cure for King Kendrick. On the journey, they will battle strange beasts and harsh climates, befriend extraordinary magicians, and meet a dragon before returning to Innes Castle–where much has happened in the days since they departed.

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Eric shared his visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter on the Travelogue at my blog, J.Q. Rose. Pop over there to see his great photos and narrative. Eric is a true Harry Potter fan. How about you?

About Eric:

Eric Price lives with his wife and two sons in northwest Iowa. He began publishing in 2008 when he started writing a quarterly column for a local newspaper. 

Later that same year he published his first work of fiction, a spooky children’s story called Ghost Bed and Ghoul Breakfast. Since then, he has written stories for children, young adults, and adults. 

Three of his science fiction stories have won honorable mention from the CrossTime Annual Science Fiction Contest. 

His first YA fantasy novel, Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud, received the Children’s Literary Classics Seal of Approval and the Literary Classics Award for Best First Novel. 

His second novel, The Squire and the Slave Master, continues the Saga of the Wizards. It is scheduled for a September 2015 release. 

Find him online at authorericprice.com, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

For more information and to purchase, click the links below:
MuseItUp Publishing 

and

Spotlight: MG Fantasy The Shadow of the Unicorn: The Deception by Suzanne de Montigny

Middle Grade Author Suzanne de Montigny just released the second book of her series, The Shadow of the Unicorn: The Deception. This story about a herd of unicorns (I already like it!) will keep you on the edge of your seat. Here are some words to describe the story: Unicorns, kidnapping, flood, tyrant, bullying, fantasy, dinosaurs, false gods, deception, horses, magic, the great flood, Noah, trust, Christian. Plenty of clues to tell you this is one mighty adventure.

From the back of the book:
How did the Legacy of Azaria transform into the world fear it has, the unicorns barely existing hidden in the depths of the forest? Why is Icharus, the Great Stallion, so cruel and ruthless? And who is Jaresh, the invisible being who takes away their powers? Angry, the young colt Ulysees and his friend Téo rebel, following an abandoned trail where they’re discovered by humans. Now the entire herd must make an exodus. But Ulysees discovers there’s more danger then just humans when he meets a giant creature who warns them of impending doom…

Check out this book and download a sample or order it from
Amazon
MuseItUp Publishing

You can get the first book in the series, The Legacy, for only 99 cents. Meet Azaria and the dinosaur, Darius. 

The Shadow of the Unicorn: The Legacy
Will Azaria save the unicorns from extinction?

Buy Links for The Shadow of the Unicorn: The Legacy
Amazon
MuseItUp Publishing

Story Behind the Story: The Rainbow Ghost Bus by Sue Perkins

Let's give a big Girls Succeed welcome to our guest author today, Sue Perkins! 

She is sharing her story behind the story of The Rainbow Ghost Bus. Let me tell you a little bit about this multi-genre author.

Sue Perkins grew up in Devon, England and emigrated to New Zealand with her family.
Sue and her husband live on a three acre property at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. Her interests include writing, reading, genealogy and aqua aerobics.
Her first romance novel was released in May 2007, quickly followed by a fantasy trilogy, more romance books, young adult and middle grade novels. 

Her aim is to write a full length epic fantasy novel. The outline is complete, and Sue hopes to finish the first draft by mid 2014.

Connect with Sue at her author website and Sue's blog 

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The Story Behind the Story of the Rainbow Ghost Bus by Sue Perkins

In 2011 I visited my family in England and my fascination with the old buildings returned, especially those in London. A glimmer of an idea for a Middle Grade book came to mind. The old bus depots were huge to me when I was a child, so my story combines childhood memories with the my genre of fantasy and developed into The Rainbow Ghost Bus.

MG Fantasy: Jack and his sister travel on the ghost bus through lands of rainbows,
leprechauns and dryads to solve the mystery surrounding the bus company owners. 

The name of the young hero came from my niece's son as he asked for an adventure book. As I'd written the book partly at his request, it seemed only natural to give the young hero Jack's name.

I love writing books for Middle Grade children. Boys or girls, I try to make them attractive to both. They are usually fantas books with a touch of magic and mystery in each. I try to keep things moving reasonably fast as I remember as a child I'd be engrossed in a book only to find a long explanation interrupted the flow. This would really annoy me and I often skipped parts of the book due to the interruptions.

Here is a little sample of The Rainbow Ghost Bus. Enjoy.

Back of the Book

Jack and his family renovate and move into an old Victorian bus depot, but soon the ghost of the Number 13 bus comes to visit. Jack and his sister get caught up in the search for the parts of The Rainbow Bus Company logo and hopefully solve the mystery of the disappearance of the owners, which happened many years before.

Excerpt

The driver's seat was not part of the inside of the bus. The poor man would have to sit outside in all weathers as he drove his passengers through the busy streets. This was a double decker bus, with an upstairs open to the air. The stairs wound up the back of the bus, again on the outside. Jack and Kate peered in the window along the side and saw wooden seats lined up with the backs toward them.

"Do you think it's safe, Kate? Look it's got the number thirteen on the front. Do you think it's the route number?"

Before she could answer a beam of yellow light curved down from the metal clad window above them. The nearer it got to the ground, the wider it became. It took a few curves on the way down and stopped at the front of the bus.

"Hey, that looks like a road." Jack peered intently at the yellow strip.

The bus revved its engine, moved forward a few feet to the base of the road, and then stopped again.

"I think we're being asked to go for a ride." Jack jumped on the rear platform. His sister reached out to grab him but he evaded her hands. Kate followed as he slipped inside the downstairs section, safely out of her reach.

Jack bounced up and down on one of the wooden seats. He saw Kate open her mouth to tell him off in her usual bossy way, but the bus jerked into motion throwing her off balance and she fell into the seat facing Jack.

"It is a road." Jack peered out the window and Kate joined him.

The bus trudged slowly up the slope.

"Come on, it's not going fast, we can still get off." Kate stood and turned to face the platform and Jack reluctantly joined her. He blinked in surprise. Only a yellow mist showed behind the bus. Jack grinned and sat down again.

Behind the driver's area a window allowed them to see forward. Between this window and the one looking out over the engine, a blackboard was attached to the inside wall. Chalky white words swirled across the dark surface.

The last bus of the Rainbow Bus Company ran on Friday 13th June 1913. The reason for the company's collapse is shrouded in mystery.

"Wow, Kate. Perhaps we can solve the mystery."

"Hold on. We have no idea where we're going, or how we're going to get home. What do you think Mum and Dad will say?" Kate peered out the window of the bus, but the yellow mist covered everything.

"Perhaps the bus wants us to solve the mystery. When it stops we'll be in a strange place and have to find clues." Jack grinned at his sister, glad she couldn't force him to return home.

The bus slowly crawled up the yellow road to the top and as the incline leveled out, the yellow fog thinned.

"Look. An archway." Jack pointed to the end of the road.

"It's not an arch." Kate joined him. "It's the frame around one section of the round window. We must have shrunk as we came up the yellow road."

 

Now available at a sale price of $2.99 from MuseItUp Publishing

Book Review: Kiera's Quest Awakenings by Kristy Brown

Kiera's Quest: Awakenings

Book One in Kiera's Quest series

A MuseItYoung Novella by: Kristy Brown

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 75

ISBN: 978-1-927085-91-2

Price: $3.50  

Available at MuseItUp Publishing , Smashwords  and major online booksellers.

Back Cover:

Meet Kiera, a pretty, intelligent, and talented girl, brought up by her uncle, and abandoned by her parents. Life is as normal as she believes it to be, apart from the deep ache inside her, telling her she’s different. For years, Kiera had dreams where she ventures into a different reality. She’s not alone; a presence is always there, keeping her safe, yet she feels vulnerable, and hunted.

Zakk, Prince of Zantar, is under the Witch Queen’s spell as she tries to take over his world. He crosses paths with Kiera, and their fates are entwined.

As their journey unravels, she learns that she is not the only one affected by this prince. Who is on her side? Will she find out why she has been chosen? How can someone so young, defeat such evil? Will she find the strength to save the ones closest to her? Will this be Kiera’s only Quest?

Book Review by J.Q. Rose

If you are a reader of fantasy, then you are in for a great read when you choose Kiera's Quest Awakenings. I loved the really, really wicked Queen and the complete opposite of wickedness, Kiera, the main character. The story is told in a quaint English language which adds to the atmosphere in the tale. 

Kids will identify with Kiera in her contemporary world of school and friends. But her life becomes woven together with Zakk, Prince of Zatar, who is from another world. The story has suspense, mystery, and dark action which may be too intense for young readers. 

The imaginative storytelling kept me turning pages.  I raced to the end of the story to discover what would happen to Zakk, Kiera, and her friends. I was disappointed to discover the story does not wrap up all the loose ends, but rather, Kiera has to go on another quest to discover the answers. There are two more books in the series. If you don't mind reading a serial, I think you would enjoy this lively story.

Meet Kat the Teen Witch from the Witches of Galdorheim Series

Today we welcome author Marva Dasef to the Girls Succeed blog. Talk about succeeding, Ms. Dasef poses the question--How does a fantasy girl succeed, namely, Kat the Witch? She's the main character in  Ms. Dasef's fantasy series, The Witches of Galdorheim.

If you are into magic. imaginative characters, and locations, then you'll love these stories. I mean really, Ms. Dasef has cooked up a stew of amazing characters and situations which will make you laugh and cry. You will cheer for Kat the teen witch and boo the mean old hag. It's a fun read!

Katrina the teen witch with her half-vampire brother, Rune, brave crossing the arctic sea, being attacked by a polar bear, fighting giants, dodging magic attacks by an evil shaman, and that's just in book 1 of this trilogy. Complete in a single volume, follow Kat's adventures from the arctic circle
to the Otherworld in Scotland.

How Does a Fantasy Girl Succeed? by Marva Dasef

It doesn’t seem fair to compare regular humans with fantasy characters. After all, most fantasy characters have some magic to back them up. But if a fantasy girl, in this case a witch, doesn’t have control of her magic, she has to draw on her girl power to succeed instead.

Katrina (Kat) has a witch mother and a regular human father (witches are also human, but just happen to have talents we regular humans don’t). She’s got the witch power churning inside her, but every time she tries to use it...well, it ain’t pretty. Her poor bunny has to put up with being turned into green goo and furniture breaks instead of levitating.

She’s a little jealous of her half-brother’s ability to use his inherited magic and knows she’ll never come up to the high standards of her mother, aunt, or any of the other witches on Galdorheim, the witches’ home island in the Barents Sea.

Her father, frozen in an ice cave when Kat was a tot, came from the Sami tribe of hunters and fishers who live in the farthest northern reaches of Siberia. Kat figures if she’s a magical failure, she should find her father’s family and live with them. So she decides to run away from home. Not an easy feat when you live on a ice-bound island in the Arctic.

She has what it takes to succeed. Not magic, but grit and determination. Nobody succeeds if they’re giver-uppers. She does enlist the assistance of an elderly and crotchety witch, Mordita. Without magic, Kat has to obtain some cold weather gear. Any of the other witches on the island would conjure it up themselves. So think of Mordita has Kat’s answer to having an Eddie Bauer’s store in town.

She also asks her brother for a couple of spells-to-go which she can invoke safely (e.g., without blowing up or turning anything into green goo). When Rune hears about her decision to leave, he insists he has to go along to help. Another thing a girl who wants to succeed can do is to call on others to help. Not to DO her work, but to mentor or provide tools she can use on her journey to success.

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To find out how Kat does in her quest, check out the Witches of Galdorheim series. They’re available in ebook and print formats from Amazon. Here’s a bit about all three books in the series.

Available in eBook format and in print from Amazon

BAD SPELLING

A klutzy witch, a shaman's curse, a quest to save her family. Can Kat find her magic in time?

Follow the adventures of Katrina and her half-vampire brother, Rune, as they chase down an evil shaman. Dodging the shaman's curses on a dangerous trip across the ice-bound arctic seas, they meet both friends and foes. Kat and Rune must find the shaman and stop him before their beloved island home is destroyed.

MIDNIGHT OIL

Shipwrecked on a legendary island, how can a witch rescue her boyfriend if she can’t even phone home?

Traveling with her newly-found grandfather, a raging storm catches them unawares. Kat is tossed into the icy seas, while her brother and grandfather travel on to find help. Kat is rescued by an unlikely creature, and Rune is captured by mutants. Only the magical Midnight Oil can save her brother, but an evil forest elemental is trying to stop her.

SCOTCH BROOM

A magical trip to Stonehenge lands a witch in the Otherworld where an ancient goddess is up to no good.

Kat is on her way to an exciting trip to a faroff land, but is led astray by a jealous rival. Caught in the Otherworld with a has-been goddess trying to kill her, Kat has to defeat the goddess and rescue her brother from the hag's clutches.

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To get links to the series and other books by Ms. Dasef, check out these sites:

Marva Dasef Author Page on Amazon

Marva Dasef Author Page at her publisher’s website

 Marva Dasef's Website