Tag Archives: Fantasy

Blockbuster Books ~ Middle Grade Mystery and Mahem!

25 Saturday Aug 2018

Posted by in Adventure, Book Reviews, Middle Grade, Mystery

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Summer reads should be full of fun! Great characters with can’t-wait-to-see-what-happens-next adventures, and stories that stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Readers of any age will enjoy these books.

The Parker Inheritance

By Varian Johnson

When Candice finds a letter in an old attic in Lambert, South Carolina, she isn’t sure The Parker Inheritance covershe should read it. It’s addressed to her grandmother, who left the town in shame. But the letter describes a young woman. An injustice that happened decades ago. A mystery enfolding its writer. And the fortune that awaits the person who solves the puzzle.

With the help of Brandon, the quiet boy across the street, Candice begins to decipher the clues. The challenge leads them deep into Lambert’s history, full of ugly deeds, forgotten heroes, and one great love; and deeper into their own families, with their own unspoken secrets. Can they find the fortune and fulfill the letter’s promise before the answers slip into the past yet again? [Synopsis]

What makes this Story great

This story was quieter than I initially anticipated, but also deeper and thoroughly engaging.

  • The characters: Candice and Brandon could be the kids next door, who face real-life issues we can relate to. The parents and grandparents are a strong supporting cast, creating a tapestry of family history as the backdrop for the mystery.
  • The setting: Lambert, South Carolina is small-town USA. A town intertwined with histories from generations past, revealing its secrets to those who fall in love with its roots.
  • The mystery: It starts softly and gains momentum and voice as Candice and Brandon dig into the past to uncover one clue after another. The mystery spans generations, revealing dark injustices and heartwarming resolutions. I was pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns leading to the satisfying ending.

I’d recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a good mystery,
as well as those who appreciate realistic portraits of history.

 

The Lost Books ~ The Scroll of the Kings

By Sarah Prineas

The Lost Books: The Scroll of the Kings, coverTurn the page…and beware!

For years, all the libraries in the kingdom have been locked up. Is it to keep the books safe from readers? Or…is it to keep the readers safe from the books?

Alex, an apprentice librarian, suspects the books have a secret, powerful history. When his elderly master dies under extremely suspicious circumstances, Alex impersonates the old man so he can take up the position as Royal Librarian—a job far more dangerous than he could have ever imagined.

The young queen, Kenneret, is pretty sure this scruffy, obnoxious boy is not who he claims to be, but she gives Alex time to prove himself—enough time for him to discover that books aren’t just powerful, they’re alive. Even worse, some of the books possess an ancient magic that kills librarians.

Alex and Kenneret must figure out who, or what, is controlling the books and their power, or all is lost. The fate of the kingdom lies in their hands. [Synopsis]

What makes this Story great

An edge-of-your-seat fantasy—refreshing fun that’s hard to put down.

The characters: Alex was mysteriously marked as a librarian, a caretaker of books, and he’s not even 16. The other librarians are ancient, and no one takes him seriously, especially not the queen. Alex is strong in character, as is the young queen. Sparks fly in a battle of wills, until they join together to save the kingdom.

The setting: A medieval setting with enormous castles, warring kingdoms, dusty libraries with magical pages, and forgotten books with mystical powers. The richly crafted world sets the stage for this rollicking adventure.

The mystery: What is a Lost Book and how are they infecting other books with evil magic? Two unlikely friends must figure out who, or what, is controlling the books and their power, and stop them—in spite of the ensuing mayhem—before it’s too late.

Swashbuckling swordplay, beastly books, a snarky hero, a fast-paced and engaging adventure. What’s not to love?

Fictional Time Management & Other Relative Topics

06 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by in Story, Writing

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Einstein Nailed It

When I was in grade school, my parents went away for an hour and it felt like an entire day. Seriously. Later that same year when we went to Disneyland for the first time, one day felt like a minute.

Not unlike when we set our clocks forward an hour in the spring for Daylight Savings Time, and it feels like we lose four hours of sleep instead of just one. Yet when we set our clocks back an hour in the fall, the same hour feels like it’s cut in half. What’s up with that?

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in four words: Time is funny stuff.

Clock faces

The Perception of Time is Relative

We often perceive time as expanding or contracting based on our emotions, and our perception creates our reality. Authors have used this to their advantage for quite some time. Telling a story in real-time slows the pace down to focus on a character or story element, or maybe to build suspense. Writers have their ways of accelerating the pace to adjust perception and influence emotion too. Further proof that the pen, and the keyboard, are mightier than the sword. And quantum physics…apparently.

Manipulating fictional time, at its best, keeps readers turning the pages. I wrote a post on Time as a Story Element that discusses these techniques in greater detail, if you’re interested.

Lost Time: Timekeeper

What if time didn’t just expand and contract, but could actually be lost? As in disappear. Vanish. Just freaking gone.

TimekeeperAn intriguing predicament that I hadn’t considered, until I picked up Timekeeper by Tara Sim. The first lines of this alternate Victorian era London run by clock towers cut to the chase:

Two o’clock was missing. Danny wanted it to be a joke. Hours didn’t just disappear.

But they can, and did, in a world where clock towers literally control time. When a clock tower breaks, so does time. And when a clock tower is destroyed, time stops completely. This clockpunk fantasy is infused with magic, woven through with myth, and spiced with mayhem. Danny, our hero, is a clock Mechanic charged with ensuring that time flows according to the natural order. The Mechanics inherit the job, because they can actually feel the strands of time and the weave of its fabric. The existential truths layered throughout the story provide satisfying believability and depth.

Time was everywhere and nowhere at once, making the moment last an eternity.

Stuck in Time: Groundhog Day

There is broken time, and then there is being stuck in time on infinite repeat. A post on fictional time and relativity just isn’t complete without a mention of one of my favorite movies: Groundhog Day.

Groundhog Day movie

Phil (Bill Murray), an egotistical curmudgeon of a weatherman, gets stuck living Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania over, and over, and over…until he finally gets it right. Which for him, takes some doing. I could go on and on and on about this movie, but you’ll enjoy watching the following trailer much more. May time forever flow in your favor.

YA Voice Dilemma ~ by Guest Author Shay Fabbro

16 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Young Adult

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Today I have special guest author Shay Fabbro on board to share her secrets about writing in an authentic YA voice. It might seem easy peasy when you’re reading a great YA novel, but just try it sometime. You’ll find out it’s NOT. Take notes folks. Because Shay’s more than earned her street creds:

  • Shay Fabbro, PhD is published with BookTrope Publishing
  • A Finalist in the Indie Excellence 2011 Book Awards (Fantasy category)
  • The author of the Portals of Destiny series and The Adventures of Alexis Davenport series
  • A Member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers
  • Website: shayfabbro.com

Shay’s new book, Twisted Reflections, just released and is the second in The Adventures of Alexis Davenport series.

Stop back this Friday for a chance to win a FREE autographed copy of Dangerous Reflections and Twisted Reflections!

Authentic vs. Realistic YA Dialog … What’s best?

Take it away Shay…

For me, writing dialog for adults is so much easier. I am, after all, an adult (alright
you guys, quit yer laughing!) so this sorta makes sense. But you can’t write dialog in an adult voice and connect with YA readers. You gotta speak their language, get in their heads and put on paper the way their thoughts sound in their own minds.

The problem is this: if I were to actually write dialog exactly how young people talk nowadays, it would have to be rated R and couldn’t be marketed as YA. I spent a lot of time listening to conversations carried on by teens who had no idea they were being observed as part of a scientific/writerly experiment. The results were not all that shocking to me: teens have filthy little mouths and use language that isn’t appropriate for a YA audience to read. They throw out curse words as well as derogatory comments that I can’t even write down.

They, like, also, like use the word “like”, like a lot! And it’s like so annoying and makes me, like, want to shoot myself. Even writing that was painful. As a professor of college students, it STUNS me how many young people can’t formulate a sentence without throwing in the word “like” after every other word. I think it’s the new “umm”.

So while I totally understand the need to write realistic dialog for a teen audience, I am restrained by the very rules that exist to make YA books appropriate for age 13 and up. Most moms wouldn’t want their teen reading something that has the F-word or the n-word thrown in every time one of my characters opened their mouth. I had to find a fine line between realistic and age-appropriate. My YA series, Adventures of Alexis Davenport, has some mild language (damn, hell, etc) and some mild violence but I think it’s totally fine for teens to read. No worse than Harry Potter.

Now as for the “like” every other word…*sigh*. I had to take s stand as a girl, as a nerd, as an educator to refuse to write characters that sound like idiots. I just couldn’t do it. I think it degrades those teens that are smart enough to construct a complete sentence and sound logical and mature. I would rather write dialog that makes my readers smarter, not encourage them to continue to like, talk like idiots.

So what are your thoughts? Should writers be completely genuine when it comes to teen dialog or is there some room to improve (refusing to use idiotic words)?

Leave your comment below for your chance to win one of two FREE autographed paperbacks of Dangerous Reflections or Twisted Reflections!

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