Gold Medal Winner - Hieroglyph

Hieroglyph by WJ Scott

5* Reader Favorite Seal #YA #Supernaturalmystery 

Earbuds and Cartouches ~ Review by Barb 

My British dad loved ancient Egypt. So infused with his enthusiasm, I have visited extensive exhibits at the British Museum and Highclere Castle. I also remember waiting in a long, long line to see the King Tut exhibition in Chicago. I'm hooked on Egypt so Ms. Scott's novel, Hieroglyph reeled me in. I loved it.

She is indeed as star-touched as her protagonist, T.C. I love Scott's writing style. She is so skillful at describing her characters or her settings with just the right image. For instance, listen to how she describes a simple protein shake as "green gloop that smelled like radio-active spinach with the consistency of pulped slugs." I believe that YA writers should not write down to kids so I really appreciate her craft and high-level imagery.

We are on a two-fold parallel journey with 13-year-old T.C. and her archaeologist Uncle Max. T.C. with her touch takes us back to an ancient Egyptian voyage to foreign Australian shores. In a frightful, beautifully related storm, the Egyptians go ashore, seeking riches. It is an amusing trip upriver as we see familiar plants, trees and animals through their eyes for the first time. Koalas, kangaroos, and snakes. Oh my!

But mysteries abound. Who was T.C's orphan mother? Are her parents, also archaeologists really dead? And, of course, what does T.C. stand for? (My aunt had a cat named T.C. which stood for Troublesome Cat. Does that work?) Peppered with music on teen earbuds, engaging illustrations by John Helle-Nielsen, and royal cartouches and scarab beetles, Hieroglyph, I hope, is the first of many stories to be told by W. J. Scott. I want to know more about Aunt Letty, the environmentalist and Jett, the rebel. Lots to excavate!

Book Description:

Gold Medal Winner in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2015 9-12 years. 

“Did Ancient Egyptians visit Australia?” 

13 year old TC has a secret. No one knows she possesses a supernatural power. 
Can TC help her Uncle Max, an archaeologist; unearth enough evidence that Ancient Egyptians visited Australia, before he’s discredited in the media by those that want the past to stay buried? 

“Some would say that I have a gift, but to me it’s always been a curse. Before I changed my mind, I tugged off my gloves and whipped my head left and right, checking to see that no one was watching. I sucked in breath and steadied my nerves then thrust my hands against the stones and touched one of the cartouches. Time and place ripped away.” 

An enthralling archaeological mystery, mixing the supernatural with humour and suspense. 

The first of TC’s adventures - an archaeological mystery for junior readers and above. 
Family friendly. 

Available on Amazon: USA   CDN    UK    AU

EXCERPT:

Light shone in Setka’s eyes as he stared out to sea. He swept his hand toward the horizon. “First Adviser, when I accepted this mission I knew there would be perils, but also wonders beyond imagining. Look. We are witnessing something magical.”

Hundreds of grey forms frothed the water, tails and fins gliding through the troughs. Plumes of water were expelled high into the air from blowholes. Then, as graceful as temple dancers, the creatures dived beneath the waves. Their second boat, Windsong, bobbed like a cork behind them and, though many passed nearby, none of the creatures collided with either hull.

One specimen surfaced between the two boats, close enough that if Setka had stretched out his sceptre, he could have touched it with the golden falcon head. A huge eye appraised him for several heartbeats and Setka held his breath before, with hardly a ripple, the creature descended into the depths.

A haunting sound filtered over the slap of the waves. Lord Weserkaf cocked his ear and whispered, “What spell do they weave?”

Prince Setka smiled. “I believe they’re singing to each other under the waves.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wendy Scott has a New Zealand Certificate in Science (Chemistry), which allows her to dabble with fuming potions and strange substances, satisfying her inner witch.

Wendy writes fantasy and children’s novels.

One of the creeds she lives by is to always – Live a life less ordinary!

Please visit www.wendyjscott.com to learn more, read Wendy’s blog or to leave her a message. She loves hearing from readers.

Pen Names

WJ Scott~ Children’s

Wendy Scott ~ YA / Fantasy

Wendy Jayne ~ Romance

Ektek - Who will save the animals?

EKTEK

Creative and well-written ~ Review by Lucidity
"EKTEK" is by far one of the most unique, original and interesting reads I have came across over the past few months. I am glad to come across an author that isn't afraid to think outside of the box and try something new that I personally consider to be far from the norm and the mainstream. Of course, for an imaginative and creative story to be done justice it must also have a strong plot structure and foundation - and in that regard, I'd say that Victoria Osborne has really pulled it off as the story progresses in a very smooth, fluid, and complete manner. I do think that some of the characters would have benefited from some more detail and better dialogue but other than that, I'd consider EKTEK to be worth the read.

"Who ever heard of a frog flying a plane? Or a wallaby riding a trike? EKTEK #Animals #Activists

Book Description:

What if endangered animals decided they could no longer wait patiently for their own extinction?

What if they formed a secret group of resistance activists based in a zoo called Bedlam?

EKTEK like to think of themselves as an ace team of environmental warriors (ecology/technology). The truth is more surreal. Who ever heard of a frog flying a plane? Or a wallaby riding a trike? Or a Palm cockatoo piloting a wingship? Or a space ship powered by bombardier beetle juice?

Ektek activists insist on their right to survive, their right to quality of life and their right to liberty. How far will they go? How far can they go? How can they improve their conflict resolution skills?  

EKTEK on Amazon!

Last Light Falling Book II

Last Light Falling: Into The Darkness: Book II

So good you will be enthralled throughout this novel! ~ Mary Nguyen

J.E Plemons is an outstanding author. Last Light Falling into the Darkness is brilliant, and easy to comprehend. Something that is a rarity to find these days. In the beginning, Arena and her twin brother Gabriel make their way across the broken nation. Adversities the twins must face are restless in this apocalyptic world. They make friends, and enemies. There is a few flashbacks of the horrors they preserved through in first book Last Light Falling: The Covenant. Arena and Gabriel struggle to survive within the torn nation. The overall theme “fighting to survive” is widespread in this breakthrough novel. It has everything you want in a Young Adult Dystopian novel. Last Light Falling into the Darkness, is thrilling enough to keep you captivated till the last page. Which leads to third book, yet to be released. You will be begging the author J.E Plemons to release it sooner!

Book Description:

Arena has left the nation’s administration with a dead president and a weakened military, and while the tragic memories continue to scar her, the government struggles to regroup without its leader. For the people who still remain in hiding, it’s evident the country is all but lost, and with Russian operatives taking over, the nation’s hope of recovering is grim.

After months in hiding, Arena and her brother, Gabriel, fight to survive the aftermath while they trudge through unkindly terrain across the country to rejoin their friends, but what they soon discover may staunch their journey. The government’s failed attempt to rebirth a broken nation has caused civil unrest like no other.

After reuniting with their friends, Arena’s decision to stay changes when she discovers the secrets of a refugee camp behind a clandestine group of rebels, known as the Southern Resistance. With an opportunity to escape to a permanent safe haven, Arena risks her life to lead the new fellowship. But the darkest days are upon them, and with a new war brewing, Arena’s path will take a dark turn as her survival is in jeopardy.

Into The Darkness captures the cruel truth behind our darkest secrets which may often cause us to question our faith. In this graphic second installment of the LAST LIGHT FALLING series, J.E. Plemons continues the grim story of Arena Power’s fate, testing her faith while she and her brother search for an answer to their survival in a brooding world filled with chaos.

...she discovers the secrets of a refugee camp behind a clandestine group of rebels, known as the Southern Resistance. 

J. E Plemons  (Jay) Author Bio:

Jay have a BS in Music business with emphasis in publishing and copyright law, an English degree that he never intended getting, and a music education degree to which he will forever embrace.

Jay spent a year studying for the LSAT, then decided to attend culinary school,  hoping to become an aspiring chef in a five star restaurant, but didn't care for the fourteen hour days in a kitchen. So what did he do? Met his wife in college, got married, and after hearing the news of their first child, decided to skip the idea of attending law school. It was the best choice he ever made.

Jay spent his years in Nashville working in the music industry for companies like RCA, Sony, Zomba, and Dreamworks, all of which gave him a bitter taste in his mouth. Aside from working directly with many famous artists, his conclusion of the industry was a tainted cesspool of filth. From Austin, Texas to Nashville, Tennessee, Jay worked a small time in the film industry, as a PA, extra in a few films, and a various of other uninspiring, uneventful jobs. He dedicated his carpentry skills for a while creating custom fine furniture, manned a press for a print shop, was a studio musician, played drums for a few famous artists, taught high school band for a year, giving IT support for the Texas Legislature, and now an aspiring author. He has no claim to fame, nor does he want any.

Jay has been fortunate enough to experience many things in his life, some of which were humbling, others fulfilling, and because of that, he's grown to be patient and content. He's willing to struggle, fail, sacrifice, and fall before he learns to move on from those experiences. He's not afraid to die, but willing to live as long as he's able. Even though he'd like to see his kids grow old, Jay understands that every day  is precious, yet uncertain. He live with the best intentions that everything is going to be okay until it isn't, and when that happens, He's free to just let go.

Last Light Falling: Into The Darkness: Book II

See previous posting about Last Light Falling: The Covenant, Book I 

Dark & Stormy

Dark & Stormy on Amazon

The characters are very believable and very nicely developed. With the highly detailed descriptions, I easily imagined myself there - in the action. The storyline has an impressive and smooth flowing plot… ~ Review by Catherine M. Edwards about Book One in the Series - Dark Dreams (Dark Tales Series Book 1)

Book Description:

A powerful blizzard blowing in from the mountains spells trouble for Anna, a Halfling, Redbeard, a dwarf, and Leena, a feisty wood elf. Caught by surprise and lacking even the most basic supplies and with a pack of hungry wolves closing in, the three friends must try and reach the safety and warmth of their destination without hope of rescue. They soon learn that they must work together and trust each other in order to survive, or else perish in the harsh, snow-covered wilderness.
Dark & Stormy is an adventurous novella of the sword and sorcery Dark Tales Series.

Review by Rachel Bostwick about Dark Realms (Dark Tales Series Book 4) in the Series –  If you enjoy stories that hearken to the early days of Dungeons and Dragons, if you love magic and halfings and adventure, or if you know a young teen who does, I highly recommend this story.

 Dark & Stormy on Amazon

Dead Things

  Opportunity to get a FREE COPY of LT Kodzo's latest novel* - Dead Things

Nominate this novel on Kindle Scouts!

Book Description:

Can a half-Ute boy survive abusive white men?

Sixteen-year-old Jimmy Hunter loves dead things. Decaying fossils and buried men no longer have the power to bite or abuse. Jimmy’s problems exist with the living. The half-Ute-Indian boy must survive the angry white men his mother insists on dating without killing them. Because like it or not, he has killed. The list he keeps has over 500 names on it. He doesn’t want to add any more. Can Jimmy escape to the reservation for the life he’s dreamed of? Or will he die trying?

“I understand that cultures can be very different, but people at their heart are the same.”

~ LT Kodzo (Author Q & A)

Award-winning Author of Locker 572 releases her second book Dead Things.

EXCERPT: CHAPTER 1

Q: What does the word dinosaur mean?

A: Terrible lizard.

“I love dead things.”

The noise in the classroom stopped.

The PowerPoint presentation behind Jimmy illuminated the dim room in a creepy blue.

His tenth-grade English teacher frowned at him. She probably thought he was going to talk about zombies or ghosts or something dumb. But he wasn’t. Jimmy actually did love dead things.

The real dead.

The decayed and silent and harmless dead.

He cleared his throat to continue, but Mrs. Harris stopped him before he could say another word.

“Tell us your name,” the teacher said.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. He hated the introduction ritual, not just because it was stupid, but because he didn’t like his full name. James Hunter was his father’s name, and Jimmy wanted nothing to do with that dead, white man. But he currently had a bigger problem facing him. In order to get out of the F-zone in English, he had to finish his two-hundred-word, oral essay.

He bit the inside of his lip. Not a single student smiled at him. A couple kids refused to even make eye contact. He tossed his long, black braid over his shoulder and asked, “Do I get all of my points if I start over?”

Mrs. Harris squinted at him before addressing the entire class. “I will make this one exception, but you all know better. I’ve told you all year how important it is to introduce yourself during public speaking events. I will dock anyone else five points if I have to remind you again.”

To emphasize her point, she jabbed her index finger toward a couple of boys in the back. One of them whispered, “great,” while the other flipped Jimmy off from under his desk.

Whatever. Making his bullies angry didn’t matter. He didn’t prepare his “I Love Blank” assignment for them anyway. He did it for his grade. Parent-teacher conferences were in two days and Pyen wouldn’t like that he was failing English. Not that his mother would do anything harsh. She left that task up to whatever white boyfriend she had at the time. She always blabbed to them about him.

“We’re waiting.” Mrs. Harris tapped her pencil on the clipboard.

The class laughed. That didn’t bother Jimmy either. When you weigh over two-hundred-fifty pounds at sixteen years old, you get used to laughs. Instead, Jimmy stood up tall and cleared his throat.

“My name is James Hunter.” He barfed out the hideous title, then added the facts everyone already knew. “I’m a sophomore at Fife High in Puyallup, Washington, and I’d like to present my oral essay titled ‘I Love Dead Things’.”

He glanced at the teacher and she nodded. A girl in the front row leaned forward and pulled long sleeves over bruised wrists. Jimmy didn’t know her, but he recognized the reason for winter flannel while the rest of the school embraced spring in summer shorts. He advanced the presentation. “According to Merriam-Webster, the word ‘dead’ means something is no longer alive.

“It can no longer feel. It can no longer move. Therefore, it can no longer hurt you.”

He exhaled. Thirty-two words done, one-hundred-sixty-eight to go. While he was used to being fat, he still didn’t like standing exposed to the critical eyes of his classmates.

He clicked to the next slide where an animated, screaming T. rex appeared to climb into the room. “The Tyrannosaurus rex has historically been labeled one of the most ferocious animals to ever walk on land, yet since extinction, his reputation has changed.”

The next page showed images of Barney, plus the horse-like T. rex from the Age of Zombies and the quirky smiles of monsters turned friendly in the old TV show Dinosaurs. Jimmy talked about how most people didn’t even know that the word dinosaur meant terrible lizard. “Their ability to entertain has replaced the true facts related to them.

“While some modern re-creators of this savage beast captured its real desire to kill and destroy”—Jimmy clicked through images from the movie Jurassic Park, and the game Minecraft and a screenshot of Grimlock from Transformers—“the real question is, why would anyone choose to change the idea of something so vicious and present it as tamable?”

He looked around the classroom. Kids that sometimes snickered at him were paying attention. Cool. He exhaled again and shifted his weight from one sore foot to the other. This was actually working out for him. After spending a life studying death, he found a place where his childhood experience proved useful. He swallowed and said, “Dead things are safe things.” He looked directly at the front-row girl. “The dead no longer have the ability to hurt the living.”

He clicked to a pic of a museum with the skeletal remains of frozen beasts.

“They are quiet.”

He clicked on an image of an old lady putting flowers into the mouth of a T. rex vase.

“They are tamed.”

He clicked on his favorite picture and smiled. The green-painted monster that monitored downtown Vernal, Utah. The statue, two states away, was dressed in a cowboy hat eating a gigantic watermelon. He loved this corny image for two reasons. It validated that the dead were honestly tamed and because it stood only twenty-five miles down the highway from the Uintah and Ouray Reservation where his mother was born.

“In our world today, dinosaurs are fun. You can’t say that about most living animals until long after they are dead.” He hadn’t written the report for the girl in the front row or anyone else like her, but he desperately wanted her to hear and understand. Her situation had a solution. He cleared his throat. “So, next time you visit a cemetery or a museum, consider how quiet and calm it is and remember, the dead always rest in peace.”

The End appeared on the screen only to be eaten by an animated clip-art T. rex.

Mrs. Harris prompted the other tenth graders to clap. Jimmy felt his brown cheeks warm as he squeezed his way back to his desk. It was over and nothing bad happened. Until, of course, he sat down.

Plastic crunched beneath his butt.

Crap.

Girl-like giggles came from the boys behind him.

He smelled the applesauce before he felt the broken snack-pack seep through his stretch pants. He placed his hand on the desk and stared forward. The only way these boys would win with this prank was if he acknowledged that it happened. He didn’t move. He sat there without shifting through six other presentations until the bell rang. He’d kept a spare pair of sweats in his locker since freshman year. He refused to let a couple glee-geeks steal this moment from him.

Besides, now that the worst part of his day was over, he started to think about the worst part of his night.

Anxiety crawled around in his gut as the rest of the students filed from the class. In less than an hour, he’d be just another young Indian trying to survive in the white man’s world.

  *****

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