Off the Bookshelf: THE SECRET ZOO, by Bryan Chick

 

Audiobook

Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

Fun adventure book about kids who notice a whole lot more than the adults around them -- and the trouble they get in when they let their curiosity lead them.

Megan notices odd happenings in the zoo next door to her house, starting with monkeys traveling across the rooftops of the neighborhood. When she investigates, she disappears. That's just the prologue.

Noah, her brother, and their two best friends, Richie and Ella, are determined to figure out what happened to Megan. And when some of the animals in the zoo start acting strange -- starting with bringing the children fragments of journal entries in Megan's handwriting -- the tension and danger and clues mount. It takes some courage and determination and a lot of sneaking around and risk, but the children finally get behind the scenes and discover the Secret Zoo behind the zoo.

Then things start moving fast. So fast that most of the book's action takes place in one night. There's danger everywhere, and a big handful of narrow escapes, but nothing that will keep the kids up at night. Or impressionable adults. Guaranteed you and the children listening with you will cheer when Noah, Megan, Ella and Richie make it safely home. And ready for more adventures.

Upcoming release sample: THE KINDNESS CURSE, coming June 1

 

By the third moon of her unfair exile on the other side of the world, Merrigan decided the imbeciles and goody-two-shoes of the world had an unfair advantage over the clever girls and boys who wouldn't stand for any nonsense. Granted, the sweet girls and boys were the ones who actually noticed the shriveled old woman in need of food or a place to spend the night. Several times she considered going back to tell them she was a queen under a terrible curse, and ask if they would put in a good word with the faerie or pixie or minor wizard who had just rewarded them.

Each time, she mentally slapped herself. Asking for the help that should have been hers by right galled her.

She chewed so long on the injustice that had been meted out to her, she got past the sharpness of the ache. She learned to examine the whole situation with less emotion, and tried to determine where the mistakes had occurred. Possibly, she had done something wrong. Of course, not anything bad enough to warrant what she now suffered. Perhaps she was being punished for something Leffisand did? Was being stupid a crime? Or perhaps her husband had been a little too clever, a little too lucky? Could he have brought his ignominious demise on himself because he had broken several rules of magic? She had been deprived of her throne, her home, her beauty, because of something he did?

She would be safely at home in Carlion if she had produced the heir to the throne. Could it be the fault hadn't been with her at all? Perhaps Leffisand was denied an heir because of underhanded things he had done? Things she knew nothing about? After all, she had heard the rumors. There was the whole magical apple tree debacle, and the accusations that Leffisand had been involved in the death of his first wife, Fialla. Merrigan didn't believe any of it, otherwise she never would have married him, but … what if? 

If that were the answer, it simply made her whole situation more unbearable. She suffered for the crimes of others. She had been robbed, cheated, when she was innocent of wrongdoing.

New release sample: BRIDE OF THE LIVING PROOF

 

"What happened? Someone said you were hurt?"

"The slimebags knocked me down, trying to take my computer. I'm okay. My clothes are wet, but I'm okay. They didn't get my computer." She laughed a little unsteadily.

"End of the world as we know it. Want me to call Ford? Or Charlotte?"

"Maybe you should." She sighed. "Campus police just showed up, and it's that ink-for-blood regulation-bound weasel at the wheel, which means reports in triplicate."

The baritone voice started arguing with someone in the background, insisting Athena needed to get checked by a doctor before she gave reports.

I grinned and about half my tension dropped off, because if Athena could say what she did about the one-and-only Julia Irving, head of campus security (voted most likely to bankrupt the college from too much paper-pushing), then she was all right. She might be wet, she might have fallen down, she might be upset about having to fight to protect her computer, but she wasn't hurt, and she wasn't scared.

"Who is that guy?" I had to ask, as the baritone voice got louder, drowning out Julia's whiny voice. She certainly sounded like the chittering of a weasel, and all the slinking, self-righteous little sidekicks of despots ever portrayed in movies.

"I'm not sure, but he does look familiar."

Within two hours, an outraged Ford Longfellow reported that Athena's knight errant was none other than Freddie Grandstone.

Off the Bookshelf: THE ICEBOUND LAND, by John Flanagan

 

The Ranger's Apprentice series, Book 3

Aauugghh!

Warning: if you're a fan of the series and you expected Will and Evanlyn to be rescued by the end of the book, to be headed home from Skandia ... don't hold your breath.

Yes, Evanlyn is in the process of rescuing them both, with some help from an unexpected quarter, but Will has now been separated from his master, Ranger Halt, for two entire books.

And I have to wait until my A Libris order arrives with books 4, 5, and 6 before I can find out how and when they get home! (Sorry, I know I said I wouldn't buy any more books, not even used books, until my to-be-read skyscraper lowers by a couple of floors, but ... well, I need to know!)

Will and Evanlyn ended book 2 as prisoners, heading for Skandia and slavery. Halt and apprentice knight Horace set out on the road in book 3 to make their way to Skandia to try to find the two and bring them home. Unfortunately, they have an entire country full of unchivalrous knights standing between them and their goal -- and then winter sets in, making travel, and eventual escape, even harder.

This reminds me why I often hate the second movie of any trilogy -- things are just left hanging, with a little hope that our heroes will survive and triumph, but ... frustration!

Upcoming release sample: THE KINDNESS CURSE, coming June 1

 By nightfall, she found her way to a village small enough that people noticed the elderly stranger among them. They offered her shelter in the little building that served as a general meeting hall and chapel. The bread and butter, mug of milk and bowl of porridge provided weren't up to her standards, but she said nothing. Demanding better because she was a queen would earn her mockery. She curled up on the bench cushion the circuit judges used, wrapped herself in the blankets several people offered for the night, and told herself she was quite comfortable. She was, compared to how she could have spent the night.

She finally fell asleep, trying to persuade herself that she liked the silence and solitude. The porridge reminded her of her nursery days, before Nanny Starling fell from grace and Nanny Tulip took over. Her dreams were full of her long, secret, magical correspondence with Leffisand, and all the advice he had given her, helping her to grow wise and insightful, to become a queen worthy of him. He had taught her the truth behind all the tales of faeries and godmothers and other majjian folk. He claimed they were lies, sweetened to trick people into trusting magically gifted folk. The witless, ignorant and undeserving always expected to be helped, rather than picking themselves up by their own bootstraps and fighting for what they wanted.

As the days and moons passed while she journeyed, Merrigan thought long and hard about the things Leffisand and Nanny Tulip had taught her. The truth behind the tales of majjian folk. While she trudged from village to town, she had many chances to see majjian injustice at work. It galled her to realize some of the too-sweet-for-their-own good twits who helped her with a loaf of bread, a coin, a ride down the road, were often rewarded soon afterward. 

If faeries were waiting around every corner to reward every village idiot and simpering twit for performing charity, why did none of them show up just ten minutes earlier and help her? She was Queen Merrigan of Carlion, daughter of King Urson and Queen Daylily of Avylyn. Surely she deserved their help.

New release sample: BRIDE OF THE LIVING PROOF

 

Then I heard an unfamiliar baritone voice shouting through the scuffling and deep splashing of multiple feet in slush. At least I had a better idea where Athena was on the campus. There was only one place where slush was deep on the sidewalks, and where the sidewalks were next to deep craters in the road and --

Heck with it, I was going to help Athena. I got to my feet, braced against my desk, and took a deep breath to concentrate and try to remember what it felt like when I could kinda-sorta fly. I needed a running start, though, if I was going to fly without Kurt taking control. That meant I needed to get outside. Oh, heck. Well, at least my legs were steady. Could I get to the door without triggering heart attacks in whoever was still in the office?

By then, the shouting stopped, and I heard the rumbling of an engine gunning as a car raced away, and that baritone voice was asking if Athena was all right.

"Let me take you to the hospital? They hit you." Followed by some semi-mild expletives.

"Athena!" I shouted, and wished I had Kurt's ability to zap electronics and give them extra power. I was determined to make myself heard. "Athena, are you all right? Who's there? What happened to her? Who --"

"I'm okay," Athena shouted over my shouting. 

Several of my co-workers came running up one ramp or down another, from different sections of the building. Not one of my more dignified moments, but I didn't care. Athena was as close as I was ever going to get to having a kid of my own, I figured.

Off the Bookshelf: THE BURNING BRIDGE, by John Flanagan

 

Book 2 in the Ranger's Apprentice series

Apprentice Will and Ranger Halt are separated by the exigencies of war and diplomatic tasks. Halt, despite being very experienced and respected, doesn't seem to have much respect for diplomatic constraints. This, however, comes in handy when dealing with some arrogant, recalcitrant nobles. Especially since war is coming.

Will and his friend, apprentice knight Horace, head off with Ranger Gilan to perform some diplomatic errands as well. But what they find in the country of Celtica adds mystery on top of mystery, and growing danger. 

A long-time enemy has been scheming and maneuvering, and now his trap is about to close on King Duncan and the kingdom of Araluen. Halt is separated from his apprentice at a crucial point in the defense of their country -- and their separation threatens to become permanent.

Does it need to be said? Book 3 is sitting next to my bed, ready to catch up with Will, the apprentice ranger. What's going to happen next?

Goodreads Giveaway -- Starting Today

 Here's your chance to enter a giveaway for 1 of 3 PRINT copies of THE KINDNESS CURSE.

Just click on the link below ....

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Kindness Curse

by Michelle L. Levigne

Giveaway ends May 30, 2021.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Upcoming release sample: THE KINDNESS CURSE, coming June 1

 

The world spun around her, the lights flickered and the ground slid from under her feet. Merrigan let out a most unqueenly shout.

Until you turn, you are forbidden to return, while ungrateful thoughts linger in your mind and pride in your heart, Clara whispered in her memory.

Merrigan landed on her knees in a patch of violets along the side of a tree-lined road. She heard nothing but the whisper of the wind through the leaves, and far off, the songs of sleepy birds. She turned around and settled on her bottom, drew her knees up to her chest, hid her face in her knees, and waited for the tears to come.

None came. Apparently, she was too wrinkled and dry and shriveled up to even cry in frustration.

So she wasn't allowed to go back, once she had turned her back on rustic hospitality and generosity? What common sense was there in that? Where was the justice in the world?

"Fine, then. Have it your way. I'll find someone to take pity on me and help me, no matter how much you interfere," she whispered. 

Such words would have had greater effect if she had leaped to her feet and stomped out of the violets and headed down the road. Merrigan was too tired, and somewhat achy from her landing, so she made herself comfortable and sat and thought for a time. When no wagons came down the road after nearly two hours, she got to her feet and resumed walking.

New release sample: BRIDE OF THE LIVING PROOF

 

That Monday, I was on the phone with Athena. She was a little giddy with excitement about how quickly things were coming together for her trip out to stay with Bethany. Despite her increasing involvement in the weird and wonderful aspects of living in Neighborleee, Athena sounded like a normal college girl planning a trip to hang out with her rising star best friend. I was at my desk at the newspaper and Athena was walking from her dorm to the closest cafeteria on campus.

"Hey, jerk!" she yelped, over the sudden grumble of an engine and what sounded suspiciously like deep slush splashing.

"What happened?"

"Some creep decided to step on the gas going through that huge crater at the -- Hey!"

I heard thuds and feet splashing and a clatter-bang. Athena shrieked that particular fury sound that reminded me of the self-defense classes Gordon had insisted on for our Star Trek club members. Yes, all members, male and female. He figured some of the guys were skinny enough geeks they would get picked on even more than the girls. Along with the self-defense lessons came a course in using volume to increase fierceness.

Athena was a good student.

I sat there, unable to help, because I didn't know where she was. The heck with the rule about not using my superhero powers in daylight. The heck with my inability to really fly since the power drain that had started before Stephanie died, and my broken back and … but wait, the power was coming back, wasn't it? Maybe the tingles in my legs meant I was healing? I hadn't tried walking since I realized I was getting more feeling in my legs. Maybe …?

Off the Bookshelf: THE DIMENSIONEERS, by Doris Piserchia

I discovered this book many, many years ago, at a used bookstore, and over the years wished I never turned it in during one of my moves, in an effort to cut down on the number of boxes and bags I had to haul ...

Ah, the joys of finding some classic spec fic released in ebook!

Our heroine has no name -- no one addresses her by name, and it's told in first person, so she's just "I" and "me." Reviews refer to her simply as "the orphan." 

Very little explanation of her world is given, because she doesn't need explanation. This is her normal world. She's very intelligent, but pretends to be illiterate, lazy, and crude -- and she's able to link minds with a mutated lion-creature (called a gamber) named Wyala. Together they slip through the dimensions, simply referred to as D. Whenever she can get away from the orphanage. She's late for dinner an awful lot. And they adventure all over 100 worlds, all linked by dimensional tunnels. When the nasties at the orphanage don't get in the way.

Then she starts running into nasties in D. They're out to take over every world they touch. Think the aliens in Independence Day. And suddenly there's a rich woman who is showing interest, and the military is out to catch her (well, what do you expect, when she uses her dimension-skipping abilities to steal all sorts of weapons and ammunition from government warehouses, to help the resistance?). Life gets very complicated when the "good guys" out to save the multiple worlds aren't much nicer than the nasties.

This is a short, fun romp with some serious, frightening moments. Worth holding onto. 

SAVE THE DATE! We're having a book launch party for THE KINDNESS CURSE

Hey, I'm having a BOOK LAUNCH PARTY and YOU are invited!

Sunday, June 6 -- from 6 to 8 pm, EST.

Not all the details are in place, but the location has been reserved.

It's on ZOOM, so you don't have to travel.

There will be raffles for prizes, and even a COSTUME CONTEST.

Come as your favorite faerie tale character!

We're going to have fun launching a new fantasy series called Magic to Spare, with Book 1: THE KINDNESS CURSE.

What's it about? Not ready to say yet, but ... there are lots of fractured faerie tales .....

Check out the information page -- and keep checking as the details are updated and finalized:

https://yeoldedragonbooks.com/its-a-book-launch-party/

New Release: Installment #4 -- COMING

 Now to shake things up a little bit, here's a new fantasy novel coming June 1 from Ye Olde Dragon Books.

This is the start of a new series, "Magic to Spare."

THE KINDNESS CURSE

Merrigan wasn't really an evil queen. Her royal siblings referred to her as the brat, and she lived down to it.

 

However, she was married to an evil king. When he lost a fight with a magic apple tree and got himself killed, she did whatever she could to hold onto the kingdom. Including lying to a powerful seer.

 

Big mistake.

 

Merrigan was cursed: turned into an old woman, she was doomed to wander until she learned to care about others. With the aid of a magic book named Bib, she encountered a mermaid trying to regain her tail, a soldier with a magic tinderbox, a merchant obsessed with finding magical cloth, a warehouse full of orphans, and a princess allergic to peas.

 

Forbidden to retrace her steps, she moved from kingdom to kingdom, and totally by accident helped others find their happily-ever-after. 

New Releases: Installment #3

The third book released May 1 from Ye Olde Dragon Books:

Non-Fiction, if you can believe it.

TO ETERNITY (and beyond): Writing Spec Fic Good For Your Soul

Many moons ago, when I was in grad school, I had a dream. An idea, motivated by a statement from C.S. Lewis about using speculative fiction for evangelism.

 

Could I actually use my love of SF, my far-roaming imagination, for the glory of my Savior … and reach people who wouldn't come within a mile of a church if it was the last building standing at the end of the world?

 

If Lewis thought so, why not at least try?

 

Then a classmate decided that my science fiction books had invited demons into my life. This was a year before Peretti published This Present Darkness. So what could a recovering Trekker do, when someone tried to impose their square hole on her star-shaped peg?

 

Contained in the pages of this book is my answer.

My master's portfolio thesis and defense of speculative fiction as not only an evangelistic tool, but good for your soul.

SPEC FIC GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL: Is It?

 

That's the question we'll be discussing here on the blog.

I hope to get some input from you, some questions, some ideas. If there are disagreements, I hope you'll do so politely and with respect for each other's opinions and feelings. And if not ... well, let's be blunt, this is MY playground, and if you're not ready to play nice and operate from the possibility that you might just be wrong (yes, that goes for me, too) ... well, maybe this isn't the place for you.

Okay, now that the unpleasant task is out of the way ...

WHAT DO I MEAN BY SPEC FIC BEING GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL?

In my master's portfolio thesis in grad school (more about that later -- as in the new release being discussed in tomorrow's blog posting: To Eternity (and beyond): Writing Spec Fic Good For Your Soul), I made the statement that speculative fiction, whether science fiction or fantasy, is essentially our modern mythology.

And what is mythology? It's man's attempt to explain the inexplicable, the mystifying, to bring the "other" a little closer into view, within reach, and maybe tame it a little. Frame things in forms we can understand just a little bit better. 

So mythology is basically ... spiritual. Or attempting to understand the spiritual realm.

Roughly twice a month, I'll be posting excerpts from my master's thesis (I told you there'd be more about that later) as well as discussing books I've read with distinctly spiritual aspects, what we can learn about different creative folks' spiritual views, and more aspects of the topic as I think of them.

So please, ask questions, offer ideas, bring up something cool you discovered in the general topic, and let's have some fun while we investigate some pretty deep -- and yeah, controversial -- food for thought.

What do I mean by controversial? Let's leave that for the next blog posting.

New Releases: Installment #2

 Next up in New Releases from Ye Olde Dragon Books:

Neighborlee, Ohio Book 7

BRIDE OF THE LIVING PROOF

Engagements have become a contagious disease in Neighborlee!

 

In between helping friends plan their weddings, Lanie deals with a dog (that is much more than a dog) that has moved in with her.

 

Then there's an unwanted match from a dating service that might be planted by enemies of the guardians.

 

While the guardians slowly make contact with possible allies, they sift through warehouses full of information about their enemies, the Rivals, and discover a new problem: Daniel, Lanie's new boss, might be an enemy spy …

HAPPY STAR WARS DAY!!!!!

New Releases -- Yes, Plural: Installment #1

 This week, I'm showing the cover art and back cover description from three books that released yesterday, May 1 ... AND a new release June 1. I figure, whet your appetite for what's available now and what's coming next month. The next three weeks I'll be providing excerpts, to torment you even further!

Yeah, I've been kind of busy the last few months ...

First up:

WHEN YOUR BEAUTY IS THE BEAST

Fairytale Anthology Book 1 from Ye Olde Dragon Books

A marriage counselor who has never been in love...

A missing beauty queen with an oversized ego...

A hunter crippled by his own ambition...

Settlers on their way to a new home in the Rockies in 1848...

A jeweler's obsession...

A hero-tuber and a mystery man trapped in a haunted house...

Infatuation and ego aboard a space ship bound for a new world...

Curses, plants, and shapeshifters in a South American garden...

A gamers' quest with unconventional challenges...

A castle and a beast being strangled by roses --and a curse...

A princess' problematic seventeenth birthday and the curses surrounding it...

And a castle besieged by ice and basilisks!

 

What do all these things have in common? They are all variations on the Beauty and the Beast retelling. Fall in love with an old fairy tale in a whole new way as you enter their worlds and find enchantment!

Off the Bookshelf: THE UNEXPECTED ENLIGHTENMENT OF RACHEL GRIFFIN, by L. Jagi Lamplighter

 

Free middle grade fantasy from Amazon, on Kindle.

Rachel is English nobility, sent to the hidden island of Roanoke in the US to study magic. Yes, it sounds familiar, but the worldbuilding is intense and intricate and the action happens in the first week of school, so ... not what you're thinking!

This is a fun romp with a lot of dark moments. The heroine is smart and blessed/cursed with perfect memory, so she can look back and get details letter perfect every time, no fading. Helpful with studying, and when it comes to dealing with a lot of treachery and downright nastiness in the magical world. Especially when searching her perfect memory helps her see things that were kept hidden under illusion the first time around.

The discussion of the non-magical people of Earth -- Unwary, rather than the M-word -- can be funny at times, especially when so much of our known history and culture either doesn't exist, or is considered fable. The Unwary don't know about the magical world and its inhabitants, and the same battle to shake off the rules and enslave them is going on there, just like in HP's world. 

There is so much history and social structure and general rules of magic to learn, but the author does a wonderful job of avoiding so many "as you know" moments. Then there's the angst of Rachel as she realizes that adults don't know everything, and some can even be unreasonable. Starting with her father, who she believes she is reporting to and helping him do his job of patrolling the magical world and keeping the evil forces at bay.

Fun story, cramming a lot of action and growing up into just the first week of school. Don't worry -- there are more books waiting to be read!