Blog Posts

Tails by Wendy Scott

2/22/2018

A Dog's Tale about Tails

One of my favourite characters in my latest children’s book release, Tails, is Buster Boy. I adore his doggie character and traits: loyalty, unconditional love, friendship, and companionship. He also sheds golden fur, drools, and has a habit of invading your personal space with doggie breath and wet saliva kisses.

In my mind I pictured, Buster Boy, as similar to a golden retriever with a forever puppy mentality.

Several years ago when I was writing the early drafts of Tails, my son and I went to Children’s Day. This is an annual free community event where the local park is turned into a kid’s carnival. Sticky-fingered kids consume candy-floss, popcorn, and fizzy drinks before gathering their courage and creep through the haunted house tent – Boo! They splatter targets with neon paint from the paintball guns. Town kids experience a taste of country by patting tame cows, lambs, and ponies. Everyone wins a prize at the carnival tents – toss a ball and smash down the cans. Ride on the back of a Harley – whoosh. Navigate the maze or dig for pirates’ treasure. Budding artists slash paint across canvases or create recycled sculptures. A magic day run by volunteers.

There was one tent parked away from all the others – white letters on blue: SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Three years before our beloved furry family member, Jessie, a Staffy, had passed away from old age. Grief-stricken, I hadn’t been able to face bringing another dog into our household. Recently, we had started having family conversations about adopting a dog. And we all agreed our new friend would be small to medium sized (easy to transport), a family and child friendly breed, and preferably one that didn’t shed (too much).

One step inside the tent, and my son and I fell in love with Boss. All puppy: soft droopy ears, bumbling paws, and heart-melting eyes. Within milliseconds, my son was playing a game of fetch (otherwise known as I’ll run and you chase me).

Boss, wasn’t a golden retriever, but in my heart, I knew I’d found my Buster Boy.

Yes, he was going to grow pony-sized. Yes, he’d shed golden furs (everywhere!!!!). Yes, he loved doggie cuddles.

So thanks to Tails and Buster Boy for helping us find Boss (who has a teddy-bear nature).

Tails Review by Belinda Mellor.

‘Tails’ is a classic ‘hero’s journey’ story, a coming of age adventure for Kywah, a young silvertail on the cusp of maturity, whose hopes for taking his place among his pack’s adult community have seemingly been dashed by the loss of his kind’s most prized asset: his tail. A silvertail’s tail is its connection to its environment and its fellow pack members. Sadly, the magic it contains is not only prized by the creatures but by human magicians, whose power is waning but whose ambition is not.

When fate intervenes and Kywah sets out on a mission to find the deep magic that will protect his pack from hunters eager to earn the wizard’s bounty he finds help and friendship in the most unlikely places, and danger around every corner.

This is a rich and multi-layered story that will appeal to a wide age-range. Wendy Scott is an exciting author who has a real gift for storytelling and world building and Kywah is a delightful protagonist who will have readers rooting for his success and redemption every step of his arduous journey. The pastel hued world the silvertails inhabit is one that readers will look forward to revisiting in (hopefully) many books to follow.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Tails-Silver-Wishes-Book-1-ebook/dp/B078FX66QD/

http://www.tails-wjscott.com/
http://www.authorchildrens.com/
https://twitter.com/WendyJayneScott/
https://www.facebook.com/ChildrenAuthorWJScott/
http://www.hieroglyph.ws/

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!
Gold Medal Winner: The Wishing Shelf Book Awards UK 2015.
Silver Medal Winner: International Readers’ Favorite Book Awards 2016.
Finalist: The Wishing Shelf Book Awards UK 2016.
Gold Quality Marks: BooksGoSocial 2017.
Treat Award Blue: Rave Reviews Book Club KCT International Awards 2017.

Please visit http://www.authorchildrens.com/ to learn more, read Wendy’s blog, sign up for her newsletter, or to leave her a message. She loves hearing from readers.

Pen Names
Fantasy ~ Wendy Scott
Children’s ~ WJ Scott
Romance ~ Wendy Jayne

"This tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing Author Services!"

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HEXBORN FOR KINDLE SCOUT Blog Tour + Giveaway

2/18/2018

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Shiloh Teethborn, Protagonist of Hexborn

Thanks so much to my host, and thanks to all of you for your interest in my latest endeavor, a YA Fantasy novel called Hexborn, now up for nominations on Kindle Scout. Let me introduce you to one of my new heroine, Shiloh Teethborn. If you’ve read my paranormal series featuring November Snow, you already know that I love a tough girl with a mission.

From Chapter 1 of Hexborn:
Muttering curses, covering her humiliated tears with whispered words of rage, Shiloh's hand shook as she undid the hooks holding her jacket closed beneath her heavy cloak. Cold weather came early to the Teeth, and she was accordingly dressed for a winter journey. Beneath her quilted leather jacket was a sweater of wool, and beneath that a tunic of embroidered linen that fell to her knees. They did not wear corsets in the Teeth; corsets were a vanity for the irreligious of the flatlands.

Her skirt was calf-length, as was the mountain custom, the better to keep it out of the snow and mud. She wore wool leggings beneath, attached to a garter, and knee-high boots. Her boots were starting to look worn, but they were sturdy and whole and would make it through the winter.

Everything she wore was dark in color: warm browns, deep greens, rich blues. Only small children were permitted rowdy reds, yellows, and pastels. No one dressed in purple, of course. The only thing she wore that caught the light was the hook that served as her left hand.

A curl of pale pink hair fell in front of her eyes, and she tucked it impatiently back behind her ear. Like all the women she knew, she covered her hair year-round when outside the home, most often with a hood, but sometimes with a scarf in warm weather.

The leather straps that held her prosthesis buckled beneath her sweater and over her linen, looped beneath the opposite arm, and crossed her upper back before moving down her half-formed left arm, which ended a few inches below the elbow. Her father had taken great pride in crafting her false limbs as she’d grown, experimenting with different materials and different shapes of hooks, always seeking beauty and improvement. She smiled through her tears, thinking of him.

Shiloh wiped her running nose and then pulled back on her sweater and jacket. She folded the left sleeves and used her teeth to place a long pin to hold them neatly in place, so they wouldn't drag along, empty and forlorn. She pulled her warm cloak back around her, as if its bulk could protect her from feeling small, and she walked back to the man who held her life in his hands.

She shoved her hook toward Hatch, looking determinedly past his left ear. Her eyes were dry; her expression revealed nothing, but she could not hide the red nose that betrayed her earlier tears.

***

Shiloh is fifteen years old. Raised by a country blacksmith and educated by a disgraced and exiled priest, she suffers from an unusual ailment that has rendered her an outcast. In the world of Hexborn, the use of dark magic during pregnancy can cause severe birth defects, much like some medications or toxins in our own world can cause malformed limbs and other significant problems. In Shiloh’s country, children born with that type of damage are known as “hexborn.”

There is an enormous stigma attached to the condition, and the few such children who survive infancy are shunned as “unclean” all their lives. They are identified by their hair and eyes of unnatural colors and their missing limbs. They also suffer from recurring bouts of illness that mimic the effects of the curses their mothers cast while they were in the womb.

Why did I write my main character with a disability and chronic illness? There are multiple reasons. I wanted to show that someone can be a hero without being healthy. I wanted to show those readers who struggle with medical issues that a fantasy heroine can look different like they do, get frustrated and discouraged with her health like they do, and persevere like they do. And I wanted to show readers who are excluded and bullied that heroes are not always popular, but the people who really matter will appreciate you regardless of the things that make it hard for you to fit in.

But this isn’t tokenism. Shiloh’s illness and her resulting isolation helped to form Shiloh as a person. It taught her to be strong and compassionate. It taught her to desire a more just world. And it taught her that there is a real cost to the use of evil magic. All of these lessons will come into play over the course of her story.

Shiloh has endured a lot in her young life: the taunts of her neighbors, repeated attacks upon her village, the physical pain of her condition, the poverty and harsh weather of her mountain home, and the recent deaths of her father and her beloved teacher. She will need all the strength she has acquired in order to survive her next adventure. The king’s notorious fixer, Silas Hatch, has arrived to bring her to court to attend school at the Royal Academy of Mages. If there is a school more dangerous than Hogwarts, this is it.

Is Shiloh ready? What do you think? Are you interested enough to want to learn more? If so, please do take a moment to head over to Kindle Scout to nominate Hexborn for publication. Everyone who nominates it will receive a free copy of the e-book if it is chosen. Thanks much, and Happy Reading!

Author Bio

A.M. Manay is an award-winning fantasy author in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is also a former inner-city chemistry teacher, a wife and mother in a multi-racial family, a lover of comic book movies, a Lupus warrior, a Clerk of Session, and a 9Round enthusiast. She loves to write page-turning stories with complex, diverse characters who inhabit interesting worlds.

Book Link for Scout Campaign

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2Q22TVKET6NES

Author Links for A.M. Manay

Email: ammanay@gmail.com
Website: www.ammanay.net
Blog: http://ammanaywrites.blogspot.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/ammanaywrites
Twitter: @ammanay

Giveaway

For anyone who leaves a comment EVERY DAY of her blog tour, you will go into a drawing for an autographed paperback of her YA FANTASY NOVEL: "HEXBORN."

Link to the tour stops HERE

"This tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com."

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Author

Michelle Abbott lives in the UK and hates describing herself in 3rd person.

She writes new adult romance about heroes who fight against the odds and are protective of their girl.

She's an avid reader of romance, is addicted to coffee and loves wine and chocolate, so yeah, not the most healthy eating and drinking habits :-) She spends way too much time online when she should be writing. She collects teddy bears and occasionally knits a couple of rows on a sweater she started years ago, which she may eventually finish in time to wear for her funeral :-)