THE ABC'S OF READING & 'RITING: LETTER F

 One of the genres readers and writers enjoy is fantasy. What better way to indulge one's love of magical worlds and mythical beasts than to dip one's toes in the waters of another realm? To help celebrate the letter F this week, I thought I would tease you with the opening to my Young Adult fantasy story I'm writing entitled LUNDAR. Whether crossing time portals to forage for survival or fighting a dark lord to help secure the future of the waterfall city, the world and people of LUNADAR are what fantasy is all about!

Lunadar: Homeward Bound

By: Donna L Martin

             The setting sun bathes the deck in an unnatural light.  The men are restless.  They have been too long from land, too long from home and it weighs heavily upon their spirits.  This night will be a rough one with choppy seas and razor sharp tongues.  My hand is firm upon the railing and my body sways in rhythm to the waves.  My eyes peer into the fading light as if to see land just beyond the portal.  I will get no rest this night.

             Voices waft up from below, a harsh word muttered here and there as the men settle down in cramp quarters which reek of sweat and dirt from many days at sea withonly each other and the moonlight for company.   My body begs for rest but my mind races.  Crowded with the what-ifs and what-could-have-been of another life time.  Too late to change things.  The sea is my master and I follow wherever it leads me.  

             I struggle to stay awake.   Many depend on me to lead them through the rocky maze which lies before us.  But I am confident.  I know this path well, having traveled it many times.  Truth be told,  I could steer this ship through these waters with my eyes closed.  Every rock and shell is as familiar to me as the stars in the northern sky.

             The maze is done and once again we are on the open sea.  A solitary moon looms before me, the only other thing awake at this time of night.  Midnight hour. Witching hour.  A time when the portal opens between the here and now to stretch into the outer world.  My heart races as if mere wishing could make these sails quicken the journey.  At last we are homeward bound and another moon will not rise before we are once again in the arms of our loved ones.  All that stands between them and me is the moon. 

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Blurb:Addie comes from a long line of readers or "story catchers" as her family likes to call themselves. Every time Addie tries to catch a story on her own the wiggly words play tricks on her. She tries different ways to make those words sit still but it will take a little faith for Addie to become the next STORY CATCHER.

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FLASH FICTION FRIDAY: Lunadar Homeward Bound

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Copyright_tags#United_States)

***This will be the last Friday post I will be doing for awhile. I wanted to highlight the wonderful talent of illustrators out there like I did with authors from my WRITERLY WISDOM series, but there doesn't seem to be enough illustrators interested in participating so I will suspend my Friday posts for now. I will be participating in the A to Z Challenge in April and will be reviewing 26 children's books over the next month. If more illustrators start contacting me again, I might bring back the series but for now I leave you with the opening passage to my young adult novel LUNADAR: HOMEWARD BOUND for this final FLASH FICTION FRIDAY...enjoy!***

 

The setting sun, a fiery orange, bathes the deck in an unnatural light. The men are restless. They have been too long from land, too long from hearth and home and it weighs heavily upon their spirits. This night will be a rough one with choppy seas and razor sharp tongues. My hand is firm upon the railing and my body sways in rhythm to the waves. Eyes peer into the fading light as if to see land just beyond the horizon. I will get no rest this night...

Voices waft up from below; a harsh word muttered here and there as the men settle down in cramp quarters which reek of sweat and dirt from many months at sea with only each other and the moonlight for company. My body begs for rest, to lie on a down filled mattress and sleep for a hundred years. But my mind races. Crowded with memories and filled with the what-ifs and what-could-have-been of another life time. It's too late now to change things. The sea is my master and I am it's slave for I follow wherever it may lead me. I'm just grateful that tonight it leads me homeward bound...

My eyelids grow heavy as I struggle to stay awake. I can not leave my post for there are too many who are counting on me to lead them through the rocky maze which lie before us. One false turn and I doom this ship and it's passengers to a dance with Davy Jones. But I am confident. I know this path well, having traveled it many times. Truth of the matter is that I could steer this ship through these waters with my eyes closed. Every rock and shell are as familiar to me as the stars in the northern sky...

Finally, the maze is done and once again we are on the open sea. A solitary moon looms before me, the only other thing awake at this time of night. 

Midnight hour. 

Witching hour. 

A time when the portal opens between the here and now to stretch into the outer world. My heart races as if mere wishing could make these sails quicken the journey. At last we are homeward bound and another moon will not rise before we are once again in the arms of our loved ones. All that stands between them and me is the moon...

The Isles Of Avalon

I had seen her once before...the lady on the water...when I was but ten years old.  She came to me in a dream back then. I should have been afraid but her eyes were so kind and blue.  Blue like the water she walked on and with a warmth curling around my toes to move up my body until I was engulfed in it.  And when she whispered my name...Ariele...I knew she had known me from another place and time.  Oh, how I wanted to follow her back into that blue water but she said no...it wasn't my time yet.  She would return for me when I reached the age of reason.  She would come back and reveal to me the secrets I had long forgotten.

Now, eight years later, she had returned once more.  But this time she was as real to me as the water in which I stood. Spreading great white wings tipped with black, she rose above the water and beckoned me to follow her.  A great ship rose behind her and I could see the sails glowing as if on fire.  I turned to look once more into those warm blue eyes and as if she whispered into the wind, her voice echoed to me from across the water...

"Come to me, Ariele...it is time."

"But where are you taking me?"

"To the lands of your ancestors.  To the Isles of Avalon where you shall be reborn."

"Reborn?  But I...I don't understand..."

Her wings gently swooped down and folded snug against her body.  Glancing back at the ship before reaching for my hand, I found myself compelled to step deeper into the water as she replied, "Oh, but you will, my child...you will."

The Box

Fifteen steps north from old man Barner's shed is an almost unseen path leading into the woods.  I never would have noticed it if I hadn't seen the X on the map.  Patting my pocket to make sure the map was still there, I stepped onto the path and followed it deeper through the trees.  Before he died, the old man told me about a box buried deep in the woods.  "Keep it safe and guard its secret," he whispered and then he was gone.  

Why me?  I was just someone who stopped by every month for the past five years to deliver his medicine.  But it was this last visit when he decided to show me the tattered map.  I could tell he didn't have much time left.  Muttering, sometimes incoherently, old man Barner told me the tale of the Vespars.  An ancient tribe who used to live in these woods and guarded the magic they found there.  I had a hard time believing what the old man was saying.  But when he became agitated at the thought of this mysterious box being discovered by just anyone walking through the woods, I promised I would recover it.

Dried leaves crunched beneath my shoes and sunlight filtered through the tightly woven trees as I counted out the paces until I came across the large bolder shown on the map.  Barner said the box was three feet down and the smell of rotting vegetation filled my nostrils as my shovel bit into the dirt.  I wasn't even sure why I was here.  It's not like I believed the old man's story.  It's not like I believed in ancient tribes and magic.  And then all I could hear was the sound of the shovel hitting something hard. Could old man Barner be telling the truth?

A to Z: Rampallion

When I was growing up, I use to love watching Dudley Do-Right of The Rocky and Bullwinkle show.  Each episode had all the earmarks of a great story.  You had the damsel in distress who usually ended up tied to the train tracks every now and again.  Then you had the white steed to carry in the dashing hero, Dudley, just in time to save the girl.  And you had Snidely Whiplash...the meanest, orneriest villain north of the Mason-Dixon.  You knew him by name.  But I bet you didn't know you could have called him by another name as well...Rampallion...which means scoundrel or villain.  In my latest young adult historical fantasy story I am working on, I have a hero...one you wouldn't normally visualize as one, and I have a villain just as dastardly as Snidely here...now I just have to find my own Dudley and my story will be complete...

Roller Coaster

Written by: Marla Frazee

Illustrated by: Marla Frazee

Ages: 3-8

ISBN: 10 0152045546

Teaser:  Who would like a ride on a roller coaster?  Will kids scream in delight while parents turn green?  Will grandparents duck in fear while couples cuddle in the rear?  Who will survive the ride?