How does the magical community spend Christmas? Well, they don’t scrub the floors. A simple wave of their had and the house is clean. I would love to be able to do that too.
BUT, Chris isn’t supposed to use magic. He’s a witch, so, like Harry Potter, he feels the need to test his abilities. He’s ahead of his class and easily bored. If he doesn’t quit getting in magical trouble, they’ll strip his powers and send him to human school.
He hates everything about Christmas, except his birthday, until….
He meets Nichole.
At first it’s fun and games, but when Nichole asks Chris for his help, he drops everything.
This sweet and innocent romance shares young puppy love, wonder and adventure, traveling the world through magic, flying through the air in Nichole’s Lamborghini.
What a sight to see.
In the magical realm, all things are possible, which is why I love to read about the paranormal and supernatural, and C K Dawn has done a wonderful creating a world of imagination and dreams that will entertain the young and old alike.
When Oppie and Aurie are faced with a terrible battle between good and evil, they discover that friendship and sisterhood are the most precious things in the world.
In a realm where magic and legend still exist, it’s easy to think that when you’re just an ordinary girl, you’ll never get the chance to be written into the history books. But when Oppie, and her dragon friend Aurie, find themselves on a mission to defeat the evil, oppressive forces of darkness, in the form of the dragon, Royzendeus, they discover that history is never made alone. As they travel, their army of light grows, and Aurie discovers that as a girl, she is blessed with an entire sisterhood she never realised existed.
Alison Clarke is a writer who delves into different fields. She is a children’s author, but is now joining the world of young adult literature. Her latest book, The Sisterhood, chronicles her latest journey in this odyssey. A tale filled with Celtic, Greek, and Ghanaian mythology, The Sisterhood will delight all audiences. Kids, ten and up, as well as adults will be entranced with the story of Oppie and Aurie. Oppie is the daughter of a sorceress, and Aurie, her best friend, is a dragon. In the first book of this trilogy, they go on a journey to save the universe. Alison Clarke’s passion for the Arthurian tales, as well as medieval literature like Chaucer, also fuels her writing. Her first degree is in Sociology with a double minor in French and English. She is now working on a Master’s degree in Children’s literature. Storytelling is her calling, and whether she is writing, painting, or drawing, story is key. Reading is another passion, and many different genres interest her, including biography, fantasy, poetry, art books, and so on. Alison believes that the word is a powerful thing, and this is evident in many different literary forms. She also believes that art, whether it’s literary or visual can change the world, can make the world a better place.
I have been reading Tony Bertauski’s Christmas stories since the very beginning and have loved each and every one, so I was eager to get my hands on Humbug.
Be sure and check out his other books below, where you can find my review links.
Tony Bertauski has come away with another winner in Humbug. This is one of those books that is hard to review without giving away all the goodies inside.
You may think you know the story, but when Tony Bertauski spins a tale, he creates a world of his own, original, unique and highly creative.
I immediately thought steampunk because of all the technology involved, but cyberpunk will do just fine.
Ebenezer is constantly riding around his castle on a Segway. He is overweight and a bit lazy. He wants what he wants when he wants it and expects his androids to deliver. He doesn’t leave his castle and doesn’t want any human contact. No one knows what he looks like because he projects a created image when he talks ‘face to face’.
At times I felt like Ebenezer got what he deserved and other times I felt sorry for him. After all, we don’t always know what happens to shape a person into who they have become.
We do travel to the future, visit the present and go back to the past to find out his story.
The twists and turns kept me entertained and I surely never saw the end coming. I loved it.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Humbug by Tony Bertauski.
4 Stars
AMAZON BLURB: Jacob Marley is dead. His business partner, Eb Scrooge, is left to run Avocado, Inc., an innovative technology business, all alone. An introverted shut-in locked away in a Colorado mansion, he changes the company’s mission statement. Only his servant droids keep him company.
Until the gifts arrive.
Each Christmas, a messenger forces Eb to look at his life in hopes he will change. But change does not happen in a single night. And only Eb can make it happen.
My grandpa never graduated high school. He retired from a steel mill in the mid-70s. He was uneducated, but he was a voracious reader. I remember going through his bookshelves of paperback sci-fi novels, smelling musty old paper, pulling Piers Anthony and Isaac Asimov off shelf and promising to bring them back. I was fascinated by robots that could think and act like people. What happened when they died?
I’ve written textbooks on landscape design, but that was straightforward, informational writing; the kind of stuff that helps most people get to sleep. I’ve also been writing a gardening column with a humorous slant. That takes a little more finesse, but still informational for the most part.
I’m a cynical reader. I demand the writer sweep me into his/her story and carry me to the end. I’d rather sail a boat than climb a mountain. That’s the sort of stuff I wanted to write, not the assigned reading we used to get in high school. I wanted to create stories that kept you up late.
Fiction, GOOD fiction, is hard to write. Having a story unfold inside your head is an experience different than reading. You connect with characters in a deeper, more meaningful way. You feel them, empathize with them, cheer for them and even mourn. The challenge is to get the reader to experience the same thing, even if it’s only a fraction of what the writer feels. Not so easy.
Demons attack him. Spirits protect him. A seer foretells his shocking destiny.
In a primitive land filled with magic, witches and giants, a sixteen-year-old musician named David is summoned to chase away the nightmares haunting the King each night. But more than bad dreams trouble the King. Demons torment him, and David will need more than music to break the curse.
Demons are only the first sign of a deeper and darker evil that plagues the countryside. Bent on revenge and an insatiable thirst for power, the Witch of Endor and a giant named Goliath lead an invading force against the kingdom. King Saul’s army is crumbling and only a champion can save them, but who would be fool enough to face the giant?
Princess Michal is frustrated by the constraints of palace life, but David’s arrival makes things infinitely more interesting. She finds herself drawn to him, but the King strictly forbids her from having a romance with a poor musician. Only by defying her father’s wishes and risking her freedom do they have a chance to be together.
Armed with just his sling and his love for Michal, David must prove his worth by defeating Goliath against impossible odds. Worst of all, he must choose between saving the kingdom or being with the girl of his dreams. He can’t do both.
Look closely at a woman’s face and you can read her entire life story. It’s all there in the crevices and contours, the tiny expressions and doubts. Such little things, but they combine to give away her secrets. Men’s faces, however, were still mysteries to Michal. She’d spent so little time with men that their lines seemed written in a foreign language, unique and indecipherable.
In Hadi’s face, Michal saw rivers flowing down cheeks rich with experience. The canyons carved into her forehead spoke of a tough life, one without the blessing of children, where she had served as a house servant for as long as anyone could remember. The old woman’s walnut eyes sparkled with a hint of summer wheat, still sharp and bright and full of mischief, and the wrinkles creeping from the corners of those eyes had been etched by laughter.
Michal frowned at the way Hadi’s tunic drooped over her shoulders and hung low on her thin frame. She had lost weight in the past month, and her back seemed more sharply stooped than it had been only a few weeks ago. She must be ill, thought Michal. But whenever I try to summon a priest for help, she shrugs me
off.
Hadi slid close to Michal. Her whisper sounded coarse, as if age had stolen its smoothness. “This is too dangerous. I should never have told you about the staircase.”
“It’s too late for that. You know I’ve been waiting my whole life to see the Ark.”
“Your whole life,” Hadi chuckled. “You’re just fifteen. Barely a babe. Only yesterday, you were toddling around learning your first prayers.”
“That was a long time ago.Tonight’smy only chance to see the Ark before everything gets turned upside down for the festival. Who knows how long I’ll have to wait if I don’t gotonight?”
Hadi sighed and shuffled farther into the cellar. Her small lamp cast just enough light for them to make their way, brightening small swirls of dust ahead. The cool air smelled both sweet from raisins and acidic from the large oak casks of wine. It created an odd mix and Michal wondered if it meant a good omen or a bad one.
About the Authors
Jeff Altabef lives in New York with his wife, two daughters, and Charlie the dog. He spends time volunteering at the writing center in the local community college. After years of being accused of “telling stories,” he thought he would make it official. He writes in both the thriller and young adult genres. Fourteenth Colony, a political thriller, is his debut novel. Jeff has a blog designed to encourage writing by those that like telling stories. You can find his blog, The Accidental Writers Workshop, on The Patch. Jeff also rights a column for The Examiner under the byline – The Accidental Writer.
Author Links:
Ken Altabef – As a Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America member, my short fiction has frequently appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I also had stories in Interzone, Buzzymag, Abyss & Apex, Unsettling Wonder and Ominous Realities. ALAANA’S WAY, my 5-part series of epic fantasy novels is published by Cat’s Cradle Press. Described as “cutting-edge fantasy from the top of the world” the arctic setting and unique characters will bring something new to even the most jaded fantasy enthusiast. You can preview this work and others at my website www.KenAltabef.com
I saw Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner and knew I had to have it.
This is not your romantic version of mermaids, so beware.
Themes and Distinguishing Factors:.
● Portrayal of mermaids based on the true legend of flesh-eating sea demons.
● Predominantly female cast of eighteen-year-old warriors and mermaids.
● Native American setting, near Haida Gwaii and in the Gulf of Alaska.
● LGBT: self-discovery and acceptance of sexuality.
● Themes of love, loyalty, betrayal, and trust.
A mermaid’s supernatural beauty serves one purpose: to lure a sailor to his death.
The Massacre is supposed to bring peace to Eriana Kwai. Every year, the island sends its warriors to battle these hostile sea demons. Every year, the warriors fail to return. Desperate for survival, the island must decide on a new strategy. Now, the fate of Eriana Kwai lies in the hands of twenty battle-trained girls and their resistance to a mermaid’s allure.
Eighteen-year-old Meela has already lost her brother to the Massacre, and she has lived with a secret that’s haunted her since childhood. For any hope of survival, she must overcome the demons of her past and become a ruthless mermaid killer.
For the first time, Eriana Kwai’s Massacre warriors are female, and Meela must fight for her people’s freedom on the Pacific Ocean’s deadliest battleground.
MY REVIEW
The cover jumped out at me and I knew Ice Massacre was a novel I had to have.
The blood spewing off the mermaid’s tail told me this would not be a nice story with warm and loving mermaids. Ice Massacre is a grim and dark tale. I am super excited to read a mermaid book in which the Splash version (which I loved) is replaced with vicious sea monsters. An original mermaid “tail”, probably more true to the legends than the romanticized version we seem to prefer. Ice Massacre starts out wicked bad and continues that way. This novel will wipe out any illusions or fantasies you have about the beautiful and sexy mermaids.
Tiana’s writing is detailed and descriptive, riveting and engrossing, from beginning to end. Her ability to weave a story kept me reading long into the night.
Oh, goodie, a mermaid hunter. I can’t believe it. New to me and I love it. I was thinking there will be a lot more to the story and I wasn’t disappointed.
The island people are starving to death, because the mermaids do not allow them to catch their main resource, fish. They have no choice but to continue the massacres. Their very survival depends on it. Would the citizens of the island of Eriana Kwai get their life back, or stay poor, depending on others charity for their very survival?
Since the age of thirteen, Meela had spent her life training for this moment. She is part of the Ice Massacre. The ship sails tomorrow and her life is in her own hands and that of nineteen other girls.
The training masters methods were barbaric and desperate.
Would twenty girls do better than the twenty men they’d sent all the years before?
I walked with Meela through the woods to the dock. I heard the leaves rustling and smelled their musty fragrance, I heard the birds singing, and felt the mist hanging heavy in the air.
Meela had been taught mermaids are sea demons that keep them from fishing, sink their ships and kill everyone on board. It did not stop her from becoming friends with a mermaid named Lysi, after saving Lysi’s life. They knew it was wrong, but it didn’t matter to them. The oceans are vast and Meela doesn’t understand why there isn’t enough for everyone.
“Our friendship is stronger than her instincts.”
I think that statement will be put to the test.
Tiana Warner’s characters come alive on the pages. I loved and hated them. I yelled at them as they began to fight each other, wanting to warn them and help them in any way I could. Their very survival could depend on the girl next to them.
Annith is her best friend. Other than Lysi.
Dani is a bitch and that about covers her personality. She is mean, a bully.
Tanuu is the young man in love with her.
Tiana’s descriptions of the mermaids are so vivid I can see them; their red eyes, razor sharp teeth, webbed fingers, flesh morphing into scales to the end of their tail. They are ferocious and ugly, but can make themselves look almost human with lovely hair and bright alluring eyes with a voice that can hypnotize the human male.
I can visualize the battle; the mermaids super strength, shells and darts used as weapons, against iron bolts and knives. The humans thought they had an edge because they could plan and strategize. Did they really believe that mermaids were only demon fish, with no ability to plan and execute?
I couldn’t help but smile at the end. I LOVE it. That thought had entered my mind and came back to me off and on as I read htrough the novel, but it was still a bit of a surprise. A fantastic ending that is so unique and original, it will stick with me for a long time.
My only complaint is I want more. Trilogy???
I picked this up for free, during a tour I participated in.
5 Stars
DO YOU BELIEVE?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tiana Warner was born and raised in British Columbia. She graduated from UBC in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, and works at a software company doing technical content marketing. Tiana is an avid supporter of animal welfare. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her horse, Bailey, and collecting tea cups. This is her second self-published novel.
4 Stars
4 Stars
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5 Stars
