Kasper's Ramblings from Kasper Beaumont

Magic and dragon mythology make for a roller-coaster adventure by Dianne Astle @bendragonborn #dragons #fantasy #FSFNet

3/19/2017

Ben and the Watcher of Zargon
Synopsis: Grade ten isn’t turning out the way Ben hoped. Ben’s best friend is no longer his roommate, but has been replaced by a strange boy who follows Ben everywhere. Jealousy awakens the dragon fire within Ben when the girl he likes returns to school with a boyfriend. That fire and the scales peeking out from under his shirtsleeves are making it increasingly difficult for Ben to keep his secret. Ben needs to go to his mother’s home world to learn how to transform into a dragon. Meanwhile Ben is changing and if the training comes too late he is in danger of becoming something that is neither human nor dragon.

After reading Ben the Dragonborn (book 1), I was hooked. I bought the sequel the very next day. Ben and the Watcher of Zargon book has a lovely familiar feel to the start, as we again open in the paranormal school where Ben studies with his friends. He is starting to show obvious signs of turning into a dragon, so the principal decides he must go immediately to the dragon world to learn how to be a dragon. Things don't go quite to plan, with unexpected companions and a dragon world on the brink of civil war.
As with book 1, Ben must learn quickly to develop and use his talents to assist the local populace. There a new characters, but a similar theme of teamwork and camaraderie in their mission to save the day.
What I liked: dragons, of course. There are plenty in this book. I also like the characters and their mission. One new character is a delightful surprise. I also found the author's style and craft had much improved in this book. It was really enjoyable.
What I didn't like: the names really did my head in. Everyone in the entire world has a name beginning with Z. There are only so many Z names in existence, and I found it difficult to keep track of which character was which. Thanks goodness for 'Ben.'
I'm looking forward to Ben's next adventure.

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Introducing children's sci-fi author: Kate Foster for the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network #FSFNet

3/14/2016

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What a scoop! I'm excited to introduce a well-known editor and blossoming author to our Fantasy Sci-Fi Network.
Kate Foster is the editorial director of Australian publishing house: Lakewater Press and also does freelance work and judges writing competitions.
Her first novel is Winell Road: Beneath the Surface, which was published in 2015 by Jet Black Publishing. There is a sequel due out in 2016.

Highlights of my interview with Kate:

Her reason for choosing a pen name
The fact that she wrote the ending of her story before the beginning (hmm ... that's tricky)
Kate and her cover designer think similarly
She admits to being a 'Twitterhead' which is a thing, apparently ;-)

She has the actors picked out already for her movie and audiobook, yes, this lovely lady has big plans for the Winell Road series

You can read the full interview here on the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network blog along with many other weird and wonderful authors.

Twelve-year old Jack Mills lives at 5 Winell Road and has probably the world's weirdest neighbours. Like freakishly weird. And to top it off, he lives with Mum: nosy, interfering, a hideous cook, and Dad: unsuccessful inventor of the Camera Belt and Self-Closing Window. All in all, it's a boring, embarrassing, dead-end place to live.
So when Jack arrives home from school one day, a close shave with a UFO is the last thing he expects. But the fact it doesn't abduct him, and that no one else, not even Mum, sees the gigantic flying saucer hovering over the street, adds a whole new layer of strange.

Soon after, an alien encounter threatens Jack’s life and he becomes embroiled in a galaxy-saving mission. With the assistance of his new neighbour, frighteningly tall Roxy Fox, he discovers Winell Road is hiding secrets—secrets Jack might wish he'd never uncovered.
You can check out Kate's work on Amazon.

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Review: An enchanting children's book by Nicholas Rossis @Nicholas_Rossis #fantasy #childrens

12/31/2015

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'Runaway Smile' is an enchanting story, capturing the innocence of a young boy's quest to find his missing moniker.
The story appears to be quite a simple tale of the boy's adventure, but there is embellishment with delightful touches of a vivid imagination everywhere you look. For example: rather than just a bear passing by, it is a bear riding a unicycle. I did also like the understatement where the simple description of a fob watch spoke volumes about the mother.
The illustrations by talented Dimitris Fousekis foster an air of whimsy and are a welcome enhancement to the story.

The tale is easy to read and would be suitable for parents to read to their children, or emerging readers to discover on their own as a first chapter book.
My only regret would be that it ended so soon, and I will definitely by exploring more of Nicholas Rossis' repertoire.
You can view Runaway Smile on Amazon for more reviews and to pick up a copy of your own. It is free today.

Runaway Smile

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Guest post by children's book author Wanda Luthman on forgiveness #author #blog @wandalu64

8/23/2015

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Wanda Luthman published her first children's book, The Lilac Princess in 2014. She writes when she's not busy being a Guidance Counselor.

Welcome Wanda. What are you currently writing and when will you have another book out?

I'm currently working on a second children's book about a turtle who doesn't like being in his shell.

I'm not sure when it will be out. I need a good edit and to figure out KDP and someone to do the cover.

Who did that great cover for The Lilac Princess?

I self-published through Xulon and they did the artwork for my cover. I'm very happy with it.

Wanda's blog post on forgiveness

In my children’s book, The Lilac Princess, a princess is faced with the dilemma of whether or not she will choose to forgive the dragon that was going to kill her. What would you do? What have you done with the dragons in your life? Forgiveness is not easy. Forgiveness takes a lot of courage. I want to encourage you today to choose bravery by choosing to forgive and begin enjoying happiness and better relationships and emotional freedom. You’ll be glad you did!

We’ve all had something happen to us in our lives that hurt us. Hurt that may have even come to define us. We may not open up as quickly as we used to or not trust like we used to or even have developed emotional walls to keep people out entirely. These coping skills may serve us well until one day we realize we are sad or lonely or bitter. That’s when we start looking for a way to heal.

Don’t stop reading after what I’m about to say, but the path to healing lies in forgiveness. Stay with me. No one likes to think about forgiving that person or persons that hurt us. We’ve held on to that hurt and maybe even nursed it, feeling justified. And we are justified because yes, our pain is real and no, we didn’t deserve to be hurt. But, the path to us re-gaining our lost self and finding healing rests in forgiveness.

For me, my journey towards forgiveness began when I was going through my divorce. I picked up a devotional book. In it, I found a definition of forgiveness that I could finally embrace—“letting go of all hope of having a better past.” I wish I could remember the name of the book or the author, but I don’t unfortunately. However, these words rang true for me. It spurred me on to take those first few wobbly steps towards forgiveness.

We tend to think of forgiveness as saying, “it’s ok that your hurt me,” or worse, “it’s not a big deal that your hurt me.” But, we don’t feel that it’s ok to be hurt or that it’s no big deal. So, it’s no wonder we don’t want to grant anyone forgiveness. Likewise, the princess in my book cannot just say that it was ok for the dragon to steal her away and threaten to kill her.

But, if we use our new definition of forgiveness and we start with giving up our hope of having a better past, we get off the hamster-wheel of grinding over it. We may grind about why it happened to us, or why it happened at all or what had we done to deserve it or what could we have done to prevent it, etc. While it’s worthwhile to analyze something to determine if we did anything to cause the problem in the first place so we can make changes, often we were just plain vulnerable and/or naïve. There’s nothing we could have done differently.

The grinding we are doing is not productive, it is just that, a grind. We have to stop that hamster-wheel thinking because we all know that leads to nowhere. We need to let go of all hope of having a better past. When we let go, we find ourselves lighter and freer. We realize we’ve been carrying a heavy burden and we’re exhausting ourselves emotionally re-living and re-analyzing our past. All of that energy causes us to come to the same conclusion we did originally; the world isn’t safe and we have to pull in to survive. Ultimately, that conclusion is what led us to this place of unhappiness that we’ve found ourselves in and why we are now looking for healing.

Alternatively, when we let go, yes, we feel more vulnerable and that’s a scary new feeling, but we also feel happy. For the first time in a long time, maybe. If we get off the hamster-wheel and stop grinding over the past, we stop re-enforcing old thoughts and ways that lead us to being sad, lonely and/or bitter and we start to feel free and happy. We embrace the here and now. We live in the moment. We begin the journey of healing. As in the story, healing not only comes to the dragon but to her and her friend and then the whole country.

We find ways to feel more comfortable with being vulnerable. We realize the risk of being vulnerable is worth it because the cost of protecting ourselves was our sadness, loneliness, and/or bitterness. We also learn we are older and wiser and therefore less vulnerable. We’ve learned good judgement which we can use to determine if someone is trustworthy vs. not trusting anyone. We’ve also learned how to walk away when someone is unsafe. In other words, we have new and improved tools.

Can you feel the difference letting go makes? Just that one change has changed our path. We are free and it’s all because we chose the path of forgiveness.

Thanks Wanda. I appreciate your thoughts on forgiveness. It shows your passion for honesty and is often as you say, not the easiest path.

Folks, here are the links to follow Wanda and to get a copy of her great book:

The Lilac Princess on Amazon

Wanda Luthman on Facebook

Wanda Luthman on Twitter

Wanda's blog

The Lilac Princess by Wanda Luthman

She is loved by many, and equally as loving to others, a kind-hearted princess who exemplifies the genuine care bestowed by her kingdom to everyone.
Yet the desire for adventure calls to her each day, whether through seeing the excitement of knights being readied for battle or from wanting the freedom to explore life outside the castle walls.
So when Princess Dreama is given a flower by a sweet village boy named Dirk, she sees a person with a kindred spirit who could help her with her mission to escape being a princess for a while.
Their adventure is detailed in The Lilac Princess, the new fairy tale novel by author Wanda Luthman. As Dreama gets her chance to enjoy being free from her royal duties, she soon finds herself in the clutches of an evil dragon, Liam.
It becomes a race against time to locate the missing princess before the malicious plans of the dragon commence. Will she be rescued in time? Who will also be her rescuers; the knights of her father’s kingdom, or her brave friend, and potential first love, Dirk?
The Lilac Princess is an exciting adventure into the mythical world of dragons and fairy tale magic, but also presents lessons to young readers about the merits of responsibility, forgiveness and standing up for what you believe in.
Delve into the whimsical world of Dreama and her friends as they experience the adventure of a lifetime, but come away with lessons that change them forever.

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Magic and dragon mythology make for a roller-coaster adventure by Dianne Astle @bendragonborn #dragons #fantasy #FSFNet

Introducing children's sci-fi author: Kate Foster for the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network #FSFNet

Review: An enchanting children's book by Nicholas Rossis @Nicholas_Rossis #fantasy #childrens

Guest post by children's book author Wanda Luthman on forgiveness #author #blog @wandalu64

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