Book Buzz: SOME VERY MESSY MEDIEVAL MAGIC By C. Lee McKenzie

Hello, my friends. It's time for Book Buzz where I feature a book that's a new release and one that's getting fantastic buzz. Just released this month, SOME VERY MESSY MEDIEVAL MAGIC By C. Lee McKenzie is about a young wizard who embarks on an awesome adventure and somehow gets in over his head. Read more about this fantasy book below.

Book Description

Pete’s stuck in medieval England!

Pete and his friend Weasel thought they’d closed the Time Lock. But a young page from medieval times, Peter of Bramwell, goes missing. His absence during a critical moment will forever alter history unless he’s found.

There’s only one solution - fledgling wizard Pete must take the page’s place. Accompanied by Weasel and Fanon, Pete’s alligator familiar, they travel to 1173 England.

But what if the page remains lost - will Pete know what to do when the critical moment arrives? Toss in a grumpy Fanon, the duke’s curious niece, a talking horse, and the Circle of Stones and Pete realizes he’s in over his young wizard head yet again...

Release date – May 15, 2018
Juvenile Fiction - Fantasy & Magic/Boys & Men
$13.95 Print ISBN 9781939844460
$3.99 EBook ISBN 9781939844477

Get your copy here!

Barnes & Noble 

Kobo 

iTunes 

Amazon 

Kindle 

Foyles 

Goodreads

About C. Lee McKenzie

C. Lee McKenzie has a background in Linguistics and Inter-Cultural Communication, but these days her greatest passion is writing for young readers. When she’s not writing she’s hiking or traveling or practicing yoga or asking a lot questions about things she still doesn’t understand.

Follow & Share!
Website: http://cleemckenziebooks.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cleemckenzie
Twitter: @cleemckenzie

Available now - Some Very Messy Medieval Magic by @cleemckenzie Barnes & Noble https://tinyurl.com/y8lessr9 iTunes https://tinyurl.com/yaz4sqb6 Amazon https://tinyurl.com/y92g67q5 #middlegrade #magic

Doesn't it sound cool for kids? I've already got my copy and so should you.
Can't wait to read it.

Have a great rest of the week.

Mina Burrows

A-Z Challenge: W is for Watcher in the Water

We are at the letter W today for the AtoZ Challenge. Whew! We're down to the final letters on for this challenge. Yes!  For the Under the Sea Myths & Legends, I thought about many different myths such as another type of Water Sprites and other types of whales but then decided to post about a fictional creature who embodies the idea of myth.

Watcher in the Water

 J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy series The Lord of the Ring took the concept of myth with it's fictional Middle-earth world of creatures, places, and beings and created an epic tale that felt mysterious, ancient and a tad real at times. This series is a masterpiece on how a fictional story can create the illusion of lore and legends. 

The sea monster, Watcher of the Water appears in The Fellowship of the Ring, where he's lives in a lake near the entrance to the dwarf-realm Moria. The description of the creature is a monstrous underwater beast with mass amounts of tentacles and a head that could be comparable to that of a spider. He has razor sharp teeth and his tentacles can slice it's prey dead. That's the general appearance of the monster, but usually, when it came to Tolkien, he could take a creature like an octopus and revamp it into something that could devour a Kraken.

I found this in-depth character review of the Watcher of the Water. It's incredibly entertaining and I highly recommend it if you're a fantasy-geek like me.

In this video, it references one of Gandolf's famous quotes about the unknown darkness that lurks deep within the Moria mountain and on Middle-Earth. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandolf says, "There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." When I think about the sea and the vast amounts of creatures burrowed deep--both known and unknown, I can't help but wonder the very same thing. I suspect Tolkien thought the same thing.

That's it for the letter W. If you missed yesterday, check out another Slavic lore creature called Vodyanoy.

See you tomorrow for the letter X!

Mina Burrows

Book Review: Fireseed One by Catherine Stine

Today I'm super excited to review my latest read, Catherine Stine's Fireseed One. This book was so in-depth and fantastic, I felt the need to feature the book description. I remember reading it when I first read Catherine's blurb and recall being instantly hooked.

Book Description:
Fireseed One is a futuristic thriller that can be enjoyed by teens and adults. The year is 2089. Temperate climate has replaced Arctic ice, and much of what is now the United States is a lethal Hotzone, cut off by an insurmountable border from its northern, luckier neighbors, Ocean and Land Dominion. It is rumored that roving Hotzone nomads will kill for a water pellet or a slice of insect loaf, and that the ZWC, a dangerous Hotzone activist group, has infiltrated the border to the northern Dominions.

Up in Ocean Dominion, all eighteen year-old Varik Teitur wants is to party on Snowangel Island with his friend Audun and flirt with college girls he dreams of joining next year in his quest to become a doctor. Instead, he inherits a vast sea farm, following the death of his father, famous marine biologist Professor Teitur. Five weeks later, ZWC member Marisa Baron breaks into the farm’s secret seed vault and a fellow activist poisons the farm’s agar crops, the world’s food source. In order to save the last agar seedlings Varik is forced to journey to the Hotzone in search of Fireseed, a plant his father supposedly developed with magical hybridization properties.

Varik takes Marisa along. Aside from being a terrorist, she’s the daughter of Melvyn Baron, the biggest real estate mogul in Land Dominion, and the professor’s old rival. Oddly, she knows lots about Fireseed, and what Hotzone land Professor Teitur bought to test the crop, before becoming embittered and trashing the project. No one except Varik knows whether Fireseed once existed off the drawing board. Might the refugees in Vegas-by-the-Sea have answers, or the bizarre Fireseed cult in the Chihuahua desert? Varik, the reluctant hero, must risk burning in the Hotzone, as his mother did, to save the ailing agar, and the world.

My thoughts:

Fireseed One is a riveting futuristic fantasy tale that is classic YA with more than enough to sustain the die-hard adult sci-fi fans. I found the world Stine created reminiscent of best-selling, middle-grade Dark Life series by Kat Falls. However, in FireseedOne, Stine takes the global warming fantasy tale to a whole new level. In the beginning, we meet a reluctant hero, Varik, a young man who's forced to run his family farm after the passing of his father. Straight away, Varik is thrust into unfamiliar territory as he discovers his farm vaults were robbed. Those vaults secured most of the world's food supply in a form of seeds. Harvesting, protecting and engineering these seeds had been his dead father's life's work including his radical creation, Fireseed One.

Besides creating an amazing fantasy world, Stine did a wonderful job at creating such a likable hero who throughout the novel showed incredible depth and courage. Marisa, Varik's counterpart, was equally intriguing. I'll admit I didn't like her at first, but it just goes to show you how when great plotting happens, characters evolve, which make for enjoyable reading experience. The journey Varik and Marisa take along with Audun, Varik's childhood friend, is filled with suspense and bizarre sci-fi imagery that after awhile becomes addicting.  If you're looking for something sci-fi/dark fantasy with elements of dystopian YA genre, then Fireseed One is just the book for you.

Find out more information about Fireseed One and Catherine Stine by visiting her Idea City Blog. Like or follow her on Facebook or Twitter too!

What about you?  Have you read Fireseed One?  

Mina B.

A-Z Challenge: "Q" is for Queen Elinor

The A-Z Challenge continues with the letter "Q." I've discussed several characters this month and this time, I'd like to feature a new character,"Queen Elinor" from Disney & Pixar's upcoming animated movie, Brave.

Disney & Pixar's character overview of the queen mother is as follows:

A vision of grace, wisdom and strength of character, Queen Elinor is fiercely dedicated to the well being of her familiy and kingdom.  As the measured, diplomatic counterpoint to her more impulsive husband, King Fergus, Elinor carries the weight of the kingdom on her shoulders.

And if you think for a moment that this mother has it made, take a look at her defiant, but magnificent daughter, Merida.

Being a mother of two, I always keep my eye out for animated movies that have heart. This mystical tale deals with family, witches and beastly curses.  Sounds fun, huh?  This one is on my must-see list this summer.  Brave hits theaters June 22nd. 

What do you think? Does it look interesting? Do you like Queen Elinor?

Mina B.

A-Z Challenge: Character's Samwise Gamgee vs, Gollum

It's A-Z Challenge time, baby! Today's letter is "G" and for my character feature, I'm highlighting Samwise Gamgee and Gollum. Both characters were pivotal in  J.R.R. Tolkien's best-selling Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy series.  To me, Sam was and is the epitome of a best friend. His unyielding support to Frodo was inspiring to say the least.  And Gollum...now he was practically a benchmark in this series.   Gollum is entertaining as hell and disgusting personified!  Which got me thinking...

Let's have a character smackdown.

In this corner, we have...Samewise Gamgee otherwise known as Samwise the Brave!

Sam best quote to Gollum:  

"You nasty treacherous creature. It's round your neck this rope ought to go, and a tight noose too."

In this corner, we have Gollum also known as Sméagol, creator of the infamous "My Precious."  

Gollum's best quote to Samwise Gamgee: 

"What’s it doing? Stupid, fat Hobbit! It ruins it!"

I seriously want to see these two go at it.  I mean for realz!  It's hard to say who would win.  Gollum is extremely agile and tenacious, comparable to a Timex watch (i.e. takes a licking and keeps on ticking.)  But...my money would be on Samwise Gamgee only because he's not as poisoned from the ring as Gollum.  And because he has nothing to lose, not to mention brave,   I believe he would be the inevitable winner.

What do you think?  Who do you think would prevail in this smackdown?  What aspects of Tolken's brilliance did you love when he wrote these two timeless characters?

Mina B.