Freckles: The Dark Wizard by Jerry Harwood (Spotlight, excerpt, review, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

 

Freckles: The Dark Wizard

by

Jerry Harwood

 

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GENRE:   MG Fantasy

 

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BLURB:

 

At Flame Rock Middle School, you show off your big biceps, post your dimples on InstaWitch, grow a cheetah tail, or use your fairy wings to fly down the hall. For Simon, wearing his peers' opinions can be a literal event. Especially since Simon has the visible mark of a weak wizard... freckles. What will happen when Simon learns he has dark magic and can conjure a dragon? Will he become one of the bullies he hated or choose a different path?

 

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EXCERPT

Simon stepped forward. Krull grabbed him and pushed him backwards. “What do you plan to do, Freakles? Throw freckles at someone?” Krull laughed. Simon looked at his arms as all his freckles reappeared. Then he looked up as another book flew into Trent’s hurt shoulder.

 

Simon saw the air around his fists swirl. He felt a connection to something outside of himself. Last time he couldn’t identify what it was, but this time he could. It was power. And it felt like the time Simon’s family went to the beach. Simon remembered the warm sun all around him, seemingly lifting him up with its warm rays. That was the feeling Simon had now, except instead of sunbeams it was beams of power.

 

Up through the floorboards an image appeared. It was a dragon. A small dragon, maybe no more than three or four feet. But a dragon. It rose from the floor directly beside Trent. Then it stood between Trent and Danzig. The dragon swished its tail and opened its mouth. A shot of white light cast over Danzig. He fell down. His eyebrows and hair burnt off. Danzig panicked and began slapping at the flames on his shirt. The dragon walked around Danzig and then huffed. Then it flew back to a spot between Trent and Danzig. It sat like a well-trained pet. Then, as quickly as it appeared, it vanished into a fog of smoke. No one saw Simon’s hands as they returned to normal. The growing crowd had their eyes fixed on Trent and Danzig, stunned to silence. Simon still stood behind his friend, but the smoke was gone. There was nothing around his fingers except for his freckles. For all anyone knew, it was Trent and not Simon who had summoned the dragon.

 

Simon heard someone off to his left say, “Trent is a dark wizard!”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Jerry Harwood was born in Ooltewah, TN. His mother was an elementary school teacher and he spent his afternoons reading books in her classroom or the nearby library. He has experimented with other occupations: camp director, program director at a counseling center, college professor and middle school teacher. Jerry has backpacked Europe, taught in a Ukrainian University, worked in Rwanda after the genocide, is a first responder, sort-of remodeled a VW Thing, and has a love for Cherry Coke Zero that is only surpassed by his love for his wife, six children, and grandson.

 

Jerry attended college at UT Chattanooga where he was in university honors and majored in Latin and classical literature.  He has two master’s degrees, nearing completion on a third.  He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he is an active member of the Chattanooga Writer’s Guild, the Atlanta Writer’s Club, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

 

Feel free to share your thoughts on the book with Jerry at JerryHarwoodBooks@gmail.com or visit his website.

 

Blog

AmazonAuthor Page

Goodreads 

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 The tour dates can be found here

 

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My review:

4.25 out of 5 stars

 

“Freckles: The Dark Wizard” by Jerry Harwood features Simon, a seventh-grader who is at a distinct disadvantage due to his freckles, which everyone around him associates with weak wizards. Subjected to constant bullying, he despairs of ever catching the attention of the popular girl in his class, until one day he discovers a power within himself that will force him to decide what he truly wants and whether the price for that goal is too high to pay.

 

This delightful children’s story blends fantasy with real-life challenges faced by anyone who is a little different from what is considered the norm. Although the situations are whimsical and imaginative, the pain from being bullied and ostracized are deftly portrayed, with the results portrayed graphically as those being tormented literally disappear. I love the creativity (especially with the poket game cards!) even as I ache for the confusion and bruises (both physically and emotionally) that these twelve-year-olds have to deal with.

 

This story provides great life lessons couched in an entertaining and captivating tale, and I think it would be a great addition to any child’s library, while it will also be a fun read for those who are older. I cheered for Simon and applauded his maturation and compassion, and I hope he will show up in even more adventures in the future.

 

A copy of this story was provided for review

The New Enchantress by Sunayna Prasad (VBT, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

 

It is my pleasure to share a guest post by author Sunayna Prasad, who shares...

The Best Part About Writing Fantasy

by

Sunayna Prasad

The most enjoyable aspect of writing fantasy is the worldbuilding. I have had a lot of fun creating the enchanted world in my books. People have compared my novels to “Harry Potter” constantly, although a good number of elements differ from J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world. A big example is that wizards use magical technology that is far more advanced than the ordinary kinds.

I could go on with the magical world in my books. But, of course, that would be too much. I will give a little history of how my attraction to writing fantasy began.

As a child, I loved to imagine things constantly. After all, many little kids like to play make-believe as a way to express their imaginations.

I was no different. But I did imagine my own little fictional worlds numerous times. Of course, as a kid, I knew nothing about creating a compelling fantastical world.

But once I finished high school, I learned to study the writing craft, which took 7 years. I’m sure it will mature as I grow older. However, my current writing abilities can attract great overall ratings and reviews rather than just good or decent, which is how it when I was between 19 and 24.

Once I learned the writing craft, I discovered more tips and guidelines for creating fantasy stories. One of the tips I’ve learned was to avoid cliches. That is how I produced my own magical creatures in my book series.

A guideline I’ve learned is that magic must have limits in fantasy stories. Although the magic in my series has a lot of limits, a person who edited the first book when I updated it assumed that there were no limits to the wizardry since I merely talked about what was possible first. And this is when my MC is just starting to learn about the wizarding world.

Since that bugged me, I wrote to that editor long after, and stated the many limits of magic in the novel. The editor responded by saying that I didn’t have to mention all the limits up front, but that he or she (this site I used doesn’t give out the names or genders of the editors) appreciated me sharing them.

I am currently working on the 4^th installment of the “Magical Missions” series. I started in March of last year. However, it took a while to discover an exciting plot.

Once I started online grad school, I pushed the writing and outlining to the side. Even though I am taking a summer class, I still set aside time to write every day. But I’m doing it in a notebook to avoid distractions.

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The New Enchantress

by 

Sunayna Prasad

 

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GENRE: Middle Grade Fantasy

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BLURB:

 

Cursed by a sorcerer’s hex, Alyssa McCarthy finds herself in a fight she can’t afford to lose, or everything she knows will be lost!

 

After she finishes her final year of junior high, fourteen-year-old Alyssa faces an uncertain future in more ways than one when a sorcerer casts a hex that leaves her with involuntary magical powers that are too dangerous to remove.

 

Unable to control her newly gained abilities Alyssa’s end-of-middle-school sleepover ends in disaster when she knocks her friends unconscious when her powers go out of control. If Alyssa can’t learn to master her magic soon, she will be cursed to forget her loved ones and serve as the warlock’s slave for all of eternity.

 

Her only hope is to focus on controlling her emotions if she is to break the curse. However, the difficulties of adolescence, along with the perils and growing disasters she faces, make Alyssa struggle even more. From putting her friends’ lives at risk to losing their trust, she continues to fear what will become of her if she fails.

 

Will Alyssa be able to break the hex and become the enchantress that she was meant to be, or will she become enslaved to the sorcerer forever?

 

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EXCERPT

 

Alyssa played the video she’d made for the upcoming teen film festival. If she submitted it, she would earn five extra points to add to her 70 in math. That would allow her to drop the mandatory extra-help class for students with final scores less than a 75.

 

She watched the clip, experiencing watery eyes when she heard herself discussing losing her parents in a car crash when she was seven and other tragic events in her life. It concluded with how those times had shaped her into the person she was today, Friday, June 10th, 2011. She exported the project and would upload it to the festival’s site later. The deadline was not until Monday, 7 P.M. So, after this, she could focus on the end-of-middle-school sleepover that would happen today.

 

But the screen froze, and a small popup stated, “Cannot export file.”

 

“Huh?”

 

How could a two-month-old device encounter issues already? Alyssa had had to wait until her last birthday, in April, and needed to maintain good grades at school to get her own computer. She recalled what her godfather, Alex, had told her in February after her math substitute had informed him about her scores dropping. “Alyssa, if you don’t get your grades up in math, you might not earn that laptop.” He loved and cared for her like a daughter yet shared no blood relation to her family members. She’d lived with him since turning thirteen last year.

 

Her breathing caught at the popup—a new model should not have a virus already. But she told herself, I’m fourteen and am going to start high school this fall. I can fix this.

 

The computer turned itself off, closed itself, and crushed Alyssa’s fingers.

 

“Ow!” she cried.

 

The device slid off her lap and under her bed. She looked underneath it—without warning, dust blew onto her, covering her petite body.

 

She coughed as the soot settled. Then she brushed the dirt off her black shirt and its straps on her narrow shoulders, followed by her short shorts and skin. She shook bits out of her straight, pale-blonde hair, which fell a few inches below her hips.

 

She’d dealt with enough sorcery already, once last year in March and again this past fall. However, neither she nor anybody in her life possessed magic in their blood. From age eight until two springs ago, she’d believed that magic hadn’t existed.

 

She had interacted with a few magicians when dealing with supernatural situations that no one as young as she should have to experience.

 

She planned to find that idiot who just ruined her summer by stealing her laptop. A folded piece of paper appeared on her bed and seemed to include the word, laptop, so she read it.

 

Alyssa,

 

Your laptop is going to become a new brain-domination computer. The International Magic Control has disabled all the existing ones and has banned any magic from transforming enchanted technology into mind-managing devices. But your laptop is needed exclusively for my particular process.

Also, don’t remove your new magic powers. If you try, you might die.

 

Anonymous

 

The note vanished into thin air. Alyssa touched her forehead and breathed since wizardry shouldn’t work on standard technology. Possibilities advanced over time, but they still had numerous everlasting limits.

 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Sunayna Prasad enjoys writing fantasy books for children, as well as cooking, creating artwork, watching online videos, and blogging. She has also written The Frights of Fiji and A Curse of Mayhem. She is passionate about modern-day life in fantasy stories, worldbuilding, and even humor. She is constantly brainstorming new ideas and using her creativity.

 

Sunayna graduated from college in 2017 and lives in New York.

 

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