Scribe Publishing Company (November 12, 2013)
Sneaking out at night, driving without a license, and falling for a guy weren’t things fifteen-year-old Jeni expected to do while visiting Lake Itasca, Minnesota with her family. The guy, Ice, turns out to be the local medicine man’s apprentice, and when he tells Jeni she’s connected to the spirit world, her first instinct is to run. But after Ice’s stories of a mythical underwater monster—that Jeni allegedly released—prove true, she realizes it’s up to her to contain the beast. Jeni must first convince herself that she’s able, and then save the locals, Ice, and ultimately herself. (262pp, ISBN# 9781940368917)
Purchase at Amazon $2.99 Kindle, $11.69 Paperback (Prime Eligible) or Direct from the Publisher, Scribe $10.00 Print edition

Guest Post

What first gave you the idea for Thunderstone?

Thunderstone is a culmination of many ideas, experiences, and influences. The setting and the characters stemmed from a trip that I took with my siblings to Lake Itasca, MN to spread my dad’s ashes in the Mississippi Headwaters. I wanted my story to include a mystic element and decided to incorporate Native American mythology, a natural for the area’s centuries-old untouched forest and the wild, untamed landscape of Itasca State Park. Native American lore has always fascinated me, which made the research a pleasure. Somewhere in that timeframe I read and thoroughly enjoyed the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which convinced me that incorporating mythology into my story was a good idea.

But the idea for Thunderstone wasn’t simply a one book concept. A few years back, Alton Brown had a series on Food Network called Feasting on Asphalt. Season two was the River Run, where Alton traced the Mississippi River along the Great River Road from Louisianna to Minnesota. While watching the show, I remembered that when we were at Lake Itasca, we talked about meeting at various cities along the Mississippi River to follow my dad’s final journey. I thought “Hey, that would make a good series.” And thus, the Legacy in Legend idea was born. The series concept is that every time the family gathers near the Mississippi River, the main character, Jeni, encounters some kind of deadly spiritual threat. In order to protect herself and others from future attacks, she needs to discover the source of her ability to commune with other worlds. But because the menacing spirits come from various cultures and legends, they provide no clue to her ancestry and she must look for answers elsewhere.

The second book in the series is well underway, and I look forward to developing the big picture!

-Thunderstone came out late 2013 and was a finalist in the Indie Fab book awards by Foreword Review. It was also a winner in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel contest.

-Thunderstone is book one in the Legacy in Legend series, which will be released over the next couple years.

-A few months ago, Barbara Pietron released a free ebook prequel to Thunderstone (titled Heart of Ice).

-Also, separate from the Legacy in Legend series, Barbara Pietron has a new YA book coming out late this year. There was a contest, which has now ended, for voting on a title for this new book.

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Hobart Hucklebuck’s grandfather wrote this as many of you aren’t quite sure about the difference between magic and enchantments.

Hello, everyone. I guess that sometimes it’s hard for me to comprehend why young people can’t understand that there is a distinct difference between magic and enchantments. Well, I guess I shouldn’t say that as it also applies to many adults I know although I won’t list their names here in case they are reading this.

You see, when I was growing up and walking twelve  miles to school every day through mountains of snow, there was no such thing as enchanted items. You had to sweep your floor with a broom, clean up the leaves in the backyard with a real rake and even wash your own dishes.

However, if you were a good magician, you could cast a spell so that broom would sweep the floor for you or make your shoe laces tie themselves. In fact, most people in Pennywhistle (and most other areas) had the ability to do most of these things. But when you cast a spell, it does not last. If you cast a spell so a rake would clean up the backyard, the spell would slowly fade and you’d have to cast it again. The amount of time the spell might last would depend on your level of prestidigitation.

Well, unfortunately, people started getting lazy. Not only was it too much trouble to sweep their floors or wash their dishes, it seemed to be too much trouble to even cast a spell to accomplish these chores. That’s when the Bureau of Magic decided it was time to hire high level magicians to work together to enchant items. Working together, these high level wizards could cast a spell so powerful that it turned into an enchantment. They could, for example, enchant a flyswatter that could endlessly chase flies around your house. While a flyswatter with a spell cast on it might only hunt flies for a few minutes, an enchanted flyswatter could chase flies indefinitely. (You would just need to be careful, however, if a fly lands on your nose!)

People loved enchanted items and they soon became everyday items that most people could afford to buy. Whether enchanted items is a good thing or not is definitely a debatable topic, but they have made our lives a little easier. (Sometimes I think maybe a little too easy.)

But what happens when enchanted items stop working? Well, you can find out all about that by reading The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck: Magic & Mayhem.

The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck: Magic and Mayhem, by Stan Swanson

Genre: middle-grade, action-adventure fantasy

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

Date of Publication: August 7th, 2014.

Cover Artist: Ricky Gunawan

Description:

Things are not as they should be in Pennywhistle. Enchanted toasters are not toasting, enchanted sprinklers are not sprinkling and Hobart Hucklebuck’s origami messenger birds are suddenly attacking him.

Someone seems to be draining the power from all of the enchanted items in the village. But who could it be and why have they implicated Hobart’s grandfather?

“The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck” follows Hobart and his friends, Specks Spacklethack and Rosie Rumpleskirt, as they try to solve this mystery and free Hobart’s grandfather from the Tower of Tribulation on Mumblemonk Mountain.

The trio’s investigation into the mysterious happenings on Druid Lane gets them into hot water more than once and ultimately brings them dangerously close to disaster not only for themselves, but the entire village of Pennywhistle.

Find The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck: Magic and Mayhem Online:

Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble

About The Author

Stan Swanson is a Bram Stoker award finalist and author of eight books including Forever Zombie (a collection of short stories), Write of the Living Dead (a highly-praised writing guide written with Araminta Star Matthews and Rachel Lee) and Return of the Scream Queen (co-authored with Michael McCarty and Linnea Quigley). He is also editor/publisher for Dark Moon Books and Dark Moon Digest. Upcoming titles include Horror High School: Return of the Loving Dead (the first book in a young adult horror series co-written with Araminta Star Matthews), Dead Sparrows (a collection of apocalyptic poetry) and The Methlands (a horror novel co-written with award-winning author Joe McKinney).

Find Stan Swanson Online:

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