Thursday, April 30, 2020

Meet FREDERICK FLY-CATCHER, Available Now

Wave a big, happy hello to FREDERICK FLY-CATCHER, my new children's fantasy novel releasing today in wide e-distribution. Frederick has been a long time coming as it's a book I first wrote to entertain my children. They're grown now, but Frederick is finally ready to be shared with the children of the world. It's a book about family and friendship and the power of small people when they band together against a much larger, common foe.

Here's the blurb:


Frederick the frog isn’t looking for adventure. His life in the family pond—hanging out and catching flies—is perfect. Or it would be if a bully wasn’t harassing the youngest frogs. To defend them, Frederick accepts a fly-catching challenge, but what he catches isn’t an insect. It’s a magic ring, and Frederick has swallowed it! Whenever he burps or coughs, something terrifying happens to the pond.

“Frogs shouldn’t have anything to do with human things,” says wise Uncle Ben, so to protect his family, Frederick must leave the only world he knows.

The world beyond the pond is frightening, but rather than hide or mope, Frederick sets out to get rid of this dangerous human thing. His only hope is to find the small human who tossed the ring into the pond, the boy chased by big men and bigger horses. The boy is in trouble, too, but how can Frederick, one little frog, save a human, much less the pond from an evil sorcerer?


Here's an excerpt just to give you a taste of the adventure:


Air bubbles roared past Frederick. Horse legs crashed through the water all around him. Heart hammering, he dove for the mucky bottom.
Kersplash! Something big plunged past him.
Frederick tucked his long legs, rolled, and kicked away. One cattail stem smacked him in the face, another in the knee. He pulled himself across the third and braced his legs against it while it swayed.
He opened his eyes at the roiling surface, head out and body in. His nose smarted. Whatever had thundered through the pond was gone. Already the algae was closing ranks, filling the holes punched into it.
Frederick heaved a sigh and crawled onto a floating twig. He looked around for his friends—and froze.
From the reeds opposite, a pair of eyes stared out.
BLUE eyes.
BIG blue eyes.
Frederick pretended he was part of the twig.
The eyes blinked. They widened to June bug size.
Huh? What does something big enough to stir up a pond have to fear?
The eyes looked beyond him, over the cattails. It was thundering again. Louder. More horses. The blue eyes opposite sank into the reeds.
Frederick clung to his reed. Queen Mama always said—there was a time for diving and a time for sticking. The time for sticking was now.
“The boy crossed here!”
“And went out here!”
“Follow him, you idiots!”
Three horses plunged into the water and galloped through the pond.
Frederick hung on while his twig bounced back and forth with the sloshing waves.
When the water stilled, Frederick looked straight at the reeds.
The blue eyes had surfaced. Now they rose. And rose. Over the top of the reeds appeared a thin, green-streaked face.
A human! A small human!

Here's the universal link to all vendors: https://books2read.com/u/4Ekjo0

And here are additional, specific links:

Kindle    Barnes and Noble Nook    Kobo

Looking forward to sharing Frederick's story with all of you!

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Life in the Time of the Virus--Rediscovering old-time Skills

While we're all at home relying on modern technology to stay in touch, order food, and be entertained, this virus has inspired some of us to dust off old-time skills that not so very long ago were still taught in school. I speak of sewing.

I am one of those who still has a sewing machine, who learned to hand-sew and embroider, who learned to use a pattern to create. Since my children grew up, that sewing machine mostly sat in my closet, sometimes for more than a year at a time. Now I've pulled it out to make protective masks for my family members. Fortunately, I still had yards of fabric, also tucked away in a closet, and sewing supplies. But any two kinds of material will work for the pattern I have. Also, I had some elastic for the ear ties, but I ran out of that, so I'm using those ponytail bands you can buy in a multi-pack. I'm sewing my pattern pieces, but I suspect a hot-glue gun would work too, to fasten the pieces together. Whatever will hold up during repeated washings will work.

For those who are interested in making protective masks, here's where I downloaded my pattern: https://www.prohealthcare.org/app/files/public/1598/MaskPattern.pdf

There are lots of patterns and instruction videos online beyond this one, including some that don't require a sewing machine or sewing skills. Still, I'm glad I got to rediscover an old-time skill and use it to benefit my family. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!