Teaching responsibility

The following book was kindly sent to me by the author, Sara Y. Aharon, who requested a review. This book will be published on September 1, 2018 and you can check out the author's website or Amazon for more information on purchasing the book.

One Step at a Time by Sara Y. Aharon is a picture book which teaches children the value of perseverance and personal growth. Emma is a little girl who loves butterflies so it's lucky that her classroom has one for a pet. However, Emma gets so excited about playing with Belle the Butterfly that she accidentally sets her free. What should she do? Can she ever face her teacher and classmates again?  One Step at a Time demonstrates the advantages of accepting responsibility even when it's uncomfortable (especially then) and how being brave doesn't necessarily mean that you are totally confident that things will go your way. It's a gentle way to visually display the significance of doing the right thing even when you may be afraid. As this is self-published, I think there are a few things that could be done to set it apart and give it a chance against some of its mainstream contemporaries. Adding questions to test comprehension at the back of the book (nothing too daunting) would give the message that this would be a great teaching supplement. Perhaps including a link back to the author's website where additional information about metamorphosis and free downloadable butterfly coloring sheets are available would sweeten the pot even further. [A/N: I give these suggestions based on my own experience reading children's books and recommending them to the parents and teachers in my community. These are definitely hot ticket additions to any book and would make a great selling point. ;-)] It's a cute little story that has a good message. 7/10

Preview copy cover image

What's Up Next: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

What I'm Currently Reading: Mary B: An Untold Story of Pride and Prejudice by Katherine J. Chen

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Stargate meets The Neverending Story

The following book was kindly sent to me by the author, Michael W. Garza, who requested a review. This book is out now and you can get a paperback or ebook copy by visiting Amazon. :-)

You might recognize the author's name because I reviewed The Last Shadow Gate just a few months ago. Today I'll be continuing the series with A Veil of Shadows. The reader is reunited with Gavin and his sister Naomi right after they landed in the mystery world on the other side of the Shadow Gate. Our main characters are once again thrust into a divisive society on the brink of war but luckily they manage to find a few allies (one of which might come as no surprise to the reader). The world building continues with diverse characters such as the Treekin who reminded me somewhat of characters in The Neverending Story. If you're looking for a series that is full to the brim with characters, subplots, and moving parts of all kinds then I do believe you've stumbled across just the book for you. For me, it felt like there was just too much happening and the narrative could have been tightened up. While I appreciate the imaginative concepts that went into the creation of these characters and this world I don't think that I'll be continuing the series. Burgeoning fans of epic fantasy will however enjoy this immensely. :-)

Source: Risingshadow

What's Up Next: Hunger by Roxane Gay

What I'm Currently Reading: Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult by Bruce Handy

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Tiberius is a pretty cool name for an arachnid

The following book was kindly sent to me by the author, Michael W. Garza, who requested a review. This book is out now and you can get a paperback or ebook copy by visiting Amazon. :-)

The Last Shadow Gate is the first book in The Shadow Gate Chronicles and begins the story of Gavin and Naomi who are agnate siblings (i.e. they have the same father). On the face of things, there is nothing truly remarkable or strange about these two kids...and then they are sent to spend the summer with their great-grandmother. This is when they start to become interested in the mystery revolving around their great-grandfather, Papa Walker. As they delve deeper into what really happened to him they get closer and closer to a danger that will change their lives irrevocably. Without giving too much away, there is a swashbuckling, coming of age adventure mixed with fantastical creatures, political intrigue, and magic wielding. Garza has clearly spent a lot of time on world building and it shows. If you're a fan of books that consist of character names each more wild sounding than the last then you have stumbled onto the right book. I will offer one criticism which is that after the midway point I felt that the writing quality diminished significantly. It felt rushed and not as well thought out as the first half which is a shame as I had started to really get into the narrative by that point. I know that Garza is hard at work on the second installment of the series so I hope that the books continue to show improvement. (Note: I don't want to sound like this was horrifically written because it wasn't. It just became markedly more muddy and repetitive towards the second half.) For middle grade fantasy lovers, this would be a fun book to sink their teeth into this winter (especially if they're into series books which everyone seems to be these days).

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Bonus post: Inkitt is global!

You might remember me posting about Inkitt and their new app for iPhones and iPads. If you don't then let me give you a little background on their site. The basic premise behind Inkitt is that anyone is welcome to submit their writing. Inkitt is a readers-driven publisher which means that once on the website readers (that's us!) are able to take a look at a wide variety of books and based on reading behavior (there are some mathematical calculations involved) Inkitt will decide if the novel is worth publishing. This means that tons of new and emerging writers are getting an opportunity to get their work out there and we're getting to see some new talent. Here are the Community Guidelines if you're interested in submitting something of your very own or you want to know how it all works. If, like me, you're not only interested in the mainstream publishing industry but also self-publishing then this is a really unique idea.

As of today, January 7th, you can access Inkitt globally. Huzzah! You can download it through the App Store by going to this link or if you have an Android (all the best people do) then you can go to this link and search for Inkitt. I highly encourage you guys to check them out (I'm not being paid to say any of this by the way. I just really like what they're doing and want to help them out.).

Inkitt for Android - 4 key features:

1. Access to thousands of novels from all fiction genres: fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, thriller, horror, romance, drama, action, adventure, YA and more
2. Personalized reading suggestions: hand-picked novels based on a reader’s favorite fiction genres
3. Customizable look to match user preferences (e.g. font size, color combinations)
4. Online/Offline: readers can save novels to their offline library to access them anytime

Beyond being a platform connecting aspiring authors with book lovers, Inkitt’s mission is to become the world’s fairest publishing house: Its in-house developed algorithm analyzes reading behavior to determine the potential of a novel to become the next bestseller. Using this unique data-driven approach, Inkitt wants to ensure that great works by new and talented writers never again stay in the dark.

Since July, Inkitt has published 7 novels: Catalyst Moon: Incursion by Lauren L. Garcia (Fantasy), Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan (YA Romance), I Was A Bitch by Emily Ruben (YA Romance Mystery), Esper Files by Egan Brass (SciFi) and Caged by Onaiza Khan (Psychological Thriller), King’s Lament by Lilia Blanc (Fantasy Romance) and Three Fat Singletons by J.M. Bartholomew (Humor Romance), six of which became bestsellers on Amazon.

To get an idea of what the app looks like here are a few screenshots:

As always, thanks for visiting the blog and I hope to see you back here on Monday. Happy reading!

Bonus post: Spreading the word about Inkitt

A little over a month ago, the guys over at Inkitt reached out to me to let me know about their website and about some of the novels being published there. The basic premise behind Inkitt is that anyone is welcome to submit their writing. Inkitt is a readers-driven publisher which means that once on the website readers (that's us!) are able to take a look at a wide variety of books and based on reading behavior (there are some mathematical calculations involved) Inkitt will decide if the novel is worth publishing. This means that tons of new and emerging writers are getting an opportunity to get their work out there and we're getting to see some new talent. Here are the Community Guidelines if you're interested in submitting something of your very own or you want to know how it all works. If, like me, you're not only interested in the mainstream publishing industry but also self-publishing then this is a really unique idea.

As of today, November 16th, you can access Inkitt through an app on iPhones and iPadds. Huzzah! You can download it through the App Store by going to this link. I highly encourage you guys to check them out (I'm not being paid to say any of this by the way. I just really like what they're doing and want to help them out.).

Just in case I missed anything or I didn't do their site justice you can watch a video all about what they're about here:

As always, thanks for visiting the blog and I hope to see you back here at the end of the week. Happy reading!

If this was Shark Week I'd be super relevant

The following book was kindly sent to me by the author, Matthew Danza, who requested a review.

I'm going to come right out and say that I didn't care for The Fin. I can see why some people would enjoy it but this just wasn't the book for me. There's a lot of teenage angst combined with gore which sounds like a good time but I felt like it didn't really go anywhere. The story follows Lee, an annoying and obnoxious teenager, living on a small island with her twin brother James and her father. (There's a secondary storyline about her estrangement with her mother which was awkwardly included but ultimately went nowhere.) Her good friend (who obviously likes her and who she likes back) is named Adam and he rounds out the main cast of characters. Based on the title of this book and the cover art, it's obvious that this is a story about a shark attack. Firstly, I felt the storyline was excruciatingly slow especially for a novella. Also, totally predictable. (And I think the author was going for a Jaws homage but it felt super forced and corny to me.) The only good thing about this book was that it was mercifully short. I think that the author was trying to do too much for the length of a novella. This was a 1/10 for me.

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Defying categorization

The following book was kindly sent to me by the self-published author, Erik Von Norden, who requested a review. Thanks for your patience! :-)

The book in question is titled Theory of Irony: How Jesus Led to Moon Golf and I struggle to categorize it. It's historical, philosophical, satirical, and many things in between. At its heart this is a factual account of all things ironic throughout history. The book covers everything from the great philosophers and theologians of the past to Jesus himself (hence the title). I vacillated between really loving this book to being extremely confused by it. The confusion lies in the huge leaps that this book makes between factual accounts to the author's sidetracked thoughts. There were times it almost felt memoir-ish. I think I would have preferred this to be more streamlined and to the point. However, I wouldn't say no to a memoir by this author because I like his narrative voice very much. If you're a fan of history and you like a snarky writing style then I think you'd really like this one. It's an interesting look at how society has seemingly said one thing and done the exact opposite over and over again. Humans are strange creatures indeed. Overall, I found this book to be thought-provoking and I'd give it a solid 6/10.

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Newly Released: Be Witched

I'm going to periodically feature newly released books. These are self-published books which I've agreed to lend a helping hand. I'll include cover art, synopses, excerpts, author bios, and purchasing links. If you're interested, I encourage you to take the leap and give them a shot. So here we go! :-)

BOOK INFORMATION

TITLE – Be Witched AUTHOR – 21 NYT, USA Today, and International Bestselling authors GENRE – Paranormal Romance PUBLICATION DATE – 5/3/16 LENGTH - Over 1 million words PUBLISHER – Bestselling Boxed Sets

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BOOK SYNOPSIS

Prepare to BE WITCHED with 22 tales of magical and mysterious Paranormal Romance. All one million words of this witchy romance boxed set will leave you spellbound, but this collection won't last long. This limited edition omnibus is available for a limited time and packed with today's NY Times, USA Today, and International Bestselling authors, bringing you nothing but the best of the best in the witch romance genre. 

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BUY & TBR LINKS

AMAZON KINDLE UNIVERSAL – BARNES & NOBLES NOOK KOBO – ITUNES

AUTHOR BIO

• NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author, Sarah Mäkelä MOONLIT FEATHERS - After faced with crippling loss, a heartbroken raven must find her wings again... 
• USA Today Bestselling Authors, Kressley & Hamilton MOON COVEN - Julia's coven has been at war with Roman's for generations. Now their love for each other may be the death of them both. 
• USA Today Bestselling Author, Rebecca Hamilton THE FOREVER GIRL - A witch gets more than she bargains for when she finally decides to trust a shifter. 
• USA Today Bestselling Author, Rainy Kaye THE DEEPEST BLACK - Ember has a little problem...fairies want her dead. 
• Harlequin Author & International Bestselling Author, Debbie Herbert CHARMED AND DANGEROUS - A witch returns years after a traumatic Ouija board incident. She falls for a classmate and struggles to keep her magic secret. 
• International Bestselling Author, Linsey Hall WITCH'S FATE - When warlock Malcolm Brent chose power over Sofia and cast her aside, she vowed to forget him. For four hundred years, it worked. Until he forced her to return to him... 
• USA Today Bestselling Author, April Aasheim THE WITCHES OF DARK ROOT - Seven years ago Maggie left her enchanted but stifling town and her mother's magick shop. Now she's returned to find both the town and her family in peril, and she might be the only one who can save them. 
• USA Today Bestselling Author, Apryl Baker THE BLACKBURN LEGACY - Fearing for her sanity, Alexandria must face her nightmares. Aided by new friends, who have dark secrets themselves, can she survive long enough to discover the secret behind the secret? 
• International Bestselling Author, Poppet SAND WITCH - A sexy, witchy, good time tale. Falling in love is magickal, despite the bullets and near death experiences.   
• USA Today Bestselling Author, Noree Cosper THE PANDORA PRINCIPLE - As a descendant of Pandora, Cassi must discover if her lover is one of the evil spirits she hunts before all of her friends die. 
• International Bestselling Author, Caethes Faron MAGIC BORN - A college student discovers she's the daughter of a powerful mage when a panther shifter delivers the news of her mother's murder...and now the killer is after her. 
• USA Today Bestselling Author, J.E. Taylor BLACK MAGICK - When a banishing spell goes awry, Paige Turner must defeat a vengeful spirit before he destroys everything she loves. 
• International Bestselling Author, Lindsey R. Loucks THE GRAVE WINNER - Leigh Baxton is terrified her mom will come back from the dead...just like the prom queen did. 
• International Bestselling, L.V. Lewis THE CASTER'S CANTICLE - When hopelessness and lust collides, how does one give life to a heart that sings to you like no other? 
• International Bestselling Author, Shannon Eckrich KISSING THE DEVIL - A witch, a devil, and a curse. A romantic twist on the legend of the New Jersey Devil. 
• International Bestselling Author, Rachel McClellan THE DEVIL'S FOOL - Eve spends most of her life avoiding people like her power-hungry witch parents, but when she meets a seductive vampire, she finds it increasingly difficult to spot the true devils of the world, especially when she becomes one herself. 
• International Bestselling & Award Winning Author, Charity Parkerson THE SEXY & THE UNDEAD - Single, unemployed, and in charge of her very own pet zombie, Ella Perry is cooking up trouble, and it's raining men. 
• USA Today Bestselling Author, Susan Stec WITCHY - Skylar is a white witch full of good intentions, bad habits, and poor relationship choices. 
• International Bestselling Author, N.R. Larry THE NIGHT - Kinsley will do anything to forget that she killed a guy. 
• International Best Selling Author, C.P. Mandara GOOD AS DEAD - Everyone wants her dead. One vampire has been ordered to keep her alive, and he's hungry... for much more than blood. International Bestselling Author, Diana Bocco WICKED - One night. One ritual. Passion will change everything.

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GIVEAWAY PRIZES

$25 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Round trip ticket from Spain to London

The following books were kindly sent to me by the self-published author, Steven Hugh, who requested a review. :-)

The first in the trilogy, Barbara Baker, focuses on a woman who is struggling to raise her young son on a nurse's salary in England. It's not quite as cut and dry as that, however. At the very beginning of the novel something quite shocking happens to her which thrusts her into the path of recently retired Roy Sterling. Soon (shockingly soon) the three are living together in Roy's home and he is more or less financially taking care of them all. There is a dark cloud which hovers over Barbara but which she makes no mention to anyone not even her son, Tony. The hardest part about this book were the sudden jumps in time without any forewarning. Luckily, it was very linear so the reader wasn't left wondering if they were reading a passage from the present, past, or future of the characters. I felt it was pretty slow going but by the end I was too invested not to continue on with the series. (The end is a bit of a shock which I enjoyed.)

Having finished the sequel, Ian Pemberton, I felt that these books are less a series and more a collection of character pieces. There is the briefest mention of Barbara and Roy from the first book but besides that this is a standalone piece. Ian Pemberton revolves around a couple who move from Leicester to Spain to start up a garden furniture business. No, I'm not making this up. The entire book is about a couple trying to make it in Spain selling statues, fountains, and garden gnomes. I found the wife, Madeleine, the most annoying character I've encountered in literature in quite some time. She's vapid, self-obsessed, and obnoxious. Hugh has a gift for descriptive prose and characterization. It's obvious that the locations that are described are very familiar to the author. Despite not finding the majority of the characters in this book likable they all felt believable. Downside: Many passages were in Spanish without direct translation. I found this device tedious but I understand why it was used (they are in Spain after all). Also, there is an undercurrent of racism against Muslims in both this book and its predecessor which I feel needs to be mentioned.

It wasn't until I reached this last book in the series, Verity Xuereb-Smith, that I figured out the reoccurring theme of all three books. (I was helped along a bit by the title of the trilogy, Beginning Again, which I had forgotten until looking back at my initial email from Steven (sorry!).) All of these title characters are looking for a fresh start. They're turning away from the people that they were and discovering who they always wanted to be. Barbara wanted solitude and respite. This was natural as she had already suffered so much turmoil (spoilers!). Ian was tired of his boring job and the drab scenery of Leicester (fool!). He wanted to be in charge of his own life and he fell in love with Spain. Now there's Verity who is an aging actress who has definitely seen her fair share of drama (ha ha ha I am hilarious). I found this one to be the most enjoyable of the three and I think a lot of that had to do with the structure. The moving plot device is that Verity is being interviewed while on a plane ride from Spain to London. The chapters flip flop between interview style question and answers about Verity's career and snippets of her scripts. Apparently I really enjoy reading scripts. I felt the ending was rather abrupt but overall quite good.

I wanted to give an overall summary of my thoughts on this trilogy but I find myself indecisive. On the one hand, I found them quite slow moving at times and not exactly action packed. On the other hand, I found them to be interesting character studies and now that the theme is obvious to me I think they're rather charmingly optimistic. If you're looking for something easygoing that won't take terribly long to get through (I read each book in a couple of hours) then this trilogy is for you.

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Newly Released: Things From Other Worlds

I'm going to periodically feature newly released books. These are self-published books which I've agreed to lend a helping hand. I'll include cover art, synopses, excerpts, author bios, and purchasing links. If you're interested, I encourage you to take the leap and give them a shot. So here we go! :-)

BOOK INFORMATION

TITLE – Things from Other Worlds
AUTHOR – Anne E. Johnson
GENRE – Children’s literature / science fiction
PUBLICATION DATE – October, 2015
LENGTH (Pages/# Words) - 84 pages
PUBLISHER – Anne E. Johnson
COVER ARTIST – James for GoOnWrite.com

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BOOK SYNOPSIS

Many strange things wait inside these pages. There's a fuzzy ball of kindness, camped out on a grumpy man's porch. A chewed piece of gum with a mind of its own. A smart Alec who actually stands in line twice when they're handing out brains. A girl who isn't afraid when all the plants in her neighborhood come to life.

This collection of 15 science fiction and fantasy stories for kids by award-winning author Anne E. Johnson is perfect for ages 8-12, or anyone with a child's heart.

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EXCERPT

THE CRUSTY-HEARTED MAN (Excerpt from Story No. 15 in Things from Other Worlds)

Outside our town, a few miles from where Jimbo’s gas station used to be, an old man lived all by himself. Everybody knew he was there, but nobody actually knew him. He’d show up a few times a year to buy canned goods at Ruth & Bobby’s, but that was it. Not a soul, not even the oldest soul in town, could remember a time when that man hadn’t been around. He must have been two hundred years old. Some said more like three hundred. 

Truth was, he’d been out of touch with people for so long that nobody could remember his name. 

He couldn’t even remember his own name. Folks said that a crust had grown over his heart. 

The heart’s a funny organ, though. It’s tougher than you’d think, and can survive through pretty much anything. It’s like a tulip bulb. No matter how icy and long the winter is, that little bulb stays alive under the frozen ground until it’s time to shoot up a new sprout, green and full of life.

But for some especially frosty people, there’s rarely enough sunshine to wake up their hearts. It takes something spectacular, maybe even something from another world. I’ll tell you what happened to this old, old man, and you’ll see what I mean. 

Nobody wanted to have anything to do with him. Flies and grubs and spiders occasionally tiptoed into the walls of his house, but most were never heard from again. The younger raccoons and rabbits only touched his front stoop on a dare because their parents warned them not to. 

“Get away!” the old man would scream hoarsely while shaking a frying pan above his head. 

Every living creature, from human on down to bedbug, knew enough to keep off the old man’s property. But that knowledge had not been broadcast across space. So, when an alien landed in a clearing in the woods one late winter afternoon, it didn’t realize what it was up against. It was scared and a little woozy after a rough landing, although it wasn’t afraid. It had been brought up to assume that all beings will do right by each other when given the chance. Poor little thing. 

I bet you think an alien is a spindly sort that looks like it’s made of green plastic. Well, not this one. It was furry. Oh, so furry. Picture fur as thick as a polar bear’s and as soft as a mink’s. Now double how thick and soft it is. Now color it blue-green. This deep, soft, dark fur was all over its body, which was short and wide. The alien, standing, came up just past your knees, but was too wide to get your arms around.

It had two giant tangerine-orange toenails on each of its four feet. Its eyes, too, were the color of tangerines, but twice as big. They were very close together in its head, and surrounded by fur, giving it a very intense look. Your average human would probably describe this alien as “the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” and make a sound that went something like “Awwww.” 

Well, this little alien was in need of shelter and food. It didn’t know the plants and animals of our planet, so it shuffled right by some perfectly edible berries and nuts. But it recognized a building when it saw one. And so it approached the old man’s house in the middle of the woods, with hope in its heart but nothing in its belly. 

“MMMnnnyonggg,” it called out from the yard. Nothing stirred in the house, but several woodchucks and foxes gathered to watch from a safe distance. The alien trundled up the front steps. Once it caught its fur on the rotting wood, but freed itself like a real trooper. Inside the house, the old man heard a nasal howl. 

“MMMnnnyonggg!” 

He assumed it was a wolf or an injured bear. “Durn thing’s up on the porch,” said the crusty-hearted man as he pulled his frying pan down from its nail. “I’ll teach ʼem whose house this is.” 

The old man shoved the front door open so hard it smacked against the rotten siding. A few shingles crumbled and fell. The woodland creatures watching the show skittered deeper into the shadows, fearing what would come next. 

But the alien didn’t move. It didn’t know it was supposed to be afraid of the sound of wood smacking wood, or the sight of a two-legged earthling holding a round metal object. It assumed this was either a way to say “hello,” or else a communication device telling the whole planet about its arrival. Those were the only options that made sense to the alien. Widening its eyes and puffing up its fur, it tried to look as friendly as possible.

For his part, the old man was so puzzled that he forgot to swing the pan. “You’re not a bear,” he accused the blue-green furry thing. “You’re sure not a wolf. What are you? Gorilla?”

The alien didn’t know what the word “gorilla” meant, but it enjoyed the sound, so it waddled a little closer to the cool-talking human.

“GGgggrrrrill,” said the alien, trying to fit in.

The old man just snorted and slammed the door, leaving the alien alone on the porch.

AUTHOR BIO

As the author of dozens of published short stories, Anne E. Johnson has won writing prizes for both children's and adults' short fiction. Her short fiction for kids has appeared in FrostFire Worlds, Wee Tales, Jack & Jill, Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, Rainbow Rumpus, and elsewhere. Her stories for adults can be found in Alternate Hilarities, The Future Fire, Liquid Imagination, and SpeckLit. For a complete list of her published stories, please visit AnneEJohnson.com. She also writes science fiction novels, including the humorous Webrid Chronicles series. To give back to the writing and children’s lit community, Anne is a volunteer story judge at RateYourStory and writes a weekly column called Kid Lit Insider for EatSleepWrite.net. Anne grew up in Wisconsin but moved to New York City over 20 years ago. She now lives in Brooklyn with her husband, playwright Ken Munch.

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AUTHOR FOLLOW LINKS

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE WEBSITE BLOG FACEBOOK TWITTER GOOGLE+ PINTEREST GOODREADS INSTAGRAM

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BUY & TBR LINKS

AMAZON KINDLE US AMAZON KINDLE CA AMAZON KINDLE UK AMAZON PAPERBACK BARNES & NOBLES NOOK BARNES & NOBLES PAPERBACK ITUNES GOODREADS KOBO

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