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Book 1: As King Svenson Two-Sword is about to embark upon his summer viking, Eric steals the king's most-prized heirloom and sails to England ... leaving behind a message of where he's going. Arriving at Castle Bristlen, Eric offers the king's golden heirloom as a gift, and they allow Eric inside. Seven hours later, the angry king sails up with his fleet, seven thousand Viking warriors, to recapture his property. With old age sapping his fighting prowess, Eric seeks to impress the Valkyrie by earning the most-glorious death any Norse warrior has ever enjoyed. Unfortunately, his horrified Catholic companions refuse to sacrifice their lives so he can earn his death. Yet they can't stop Eric from dragging them into every deadly danger he can find or invent on his quest to enter Valhalla. Fleeing across Northumbria with the treasure they stole from Castle Bristlen before it was sacked, and chased by the vengeful Viking army, Eric's companions must try to keep him (and themselves!) alive until the Saxons raise an army to slay the viking invaders and the war Eric purposefully-engineered begins! Young Adult: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Book 2: <Spoiler Alert!> Cheated of his glorious afterlife, Eric faces a terrible doom. If his companions can't save him then he'll be forever barred from Valhalla and rot in icy, hopeless Niflhiem. Outlawed and hunted, with prices upon their heads, Eric's companions must secretly flee from England, but a terrible curse delays them time and again. Allied with a snobbish Druid Seer, who alone can help them rescue Eric, they strike a terrible bargain: to seek 'the crack in the world', a mystical doorway to the forbidden realms of the Norse Gods. Escaping from the sadistic Eorl of Northumbria, the companions face mystical enemies determined to thwart their quest. With the help of Seren, a wise, aging prostitute, they relucantantly cross the once-bountiful lands their merry chase helped ruin ... where peaceful villages once thrived. However, when they finally recover Eric's dragonship, they face an even worse threat: the cold, stormy North Sea, upon which they must sail to an unknown destination, and none of them are experienced sailors. Young Adult: Age Chart Read Book 1 first! Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Book 3: <Spoiler Alert!> Shipwrecked on the far side of the 'crack in the world', Eric's companions find themselves trapped on the roots of Yggdrasil, the Great Norse Tree of Life. Lost and bereft of supplies, the companions wander blindly and soon find themselves in the worst land of Norse Mythology: Niflhiem, the realm of the unfortunate dead. Facing starvation, the companions have no choice; they must seek and beg for assistance from Loki's daughter, Hel, the Norse Goddess of Death. Hel turns out to be a much nicer goddess than expected, but she's lonely and desperate for companionship. She befriends them and offers them everything they could ever want, even immortality, but they must remain trapped in her Land of Death forever, and surrender Eric to a miserable, agonizing doom. Forced to betray either Hel or Eric, the companions choose Eric. Stealing Eric, they escape Hel's kingdom. Outraged, Hel calls upon her father, Loki, and together they chase the companions through Nidvallir, Svartalfhiem, Jotunhiem, and every other realm of Norse mythology, facing trolls, dark elves, and illusion-casting giants on a hopeless quest to rightfully inter Eric's spirit into fabled Valhalla. Young Adult: Age Chart Read Book 1 first! Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Roselyn is Karl's sworn, eternal lover. Eloise is Karl's wife. With Roselyn and Eloise at each other's throats, the companions are joined by Nate and Phil, Farmer Tiller's sons (now grown) and Elaina, Eloise's lost mother. Separated from her daughter by a terrible prophesy made when Eloise was only a small child, Eloise's mother has spent the last 8 years living in Norway, where she has become a great Norse Seeress. Athelwynne the Seer has vanished; all suspect Loki. After relentless searches of Yggdrasil's darkest corners, the Seer's trail is found ... leading through a doorway only he could enter ... into the realms of the Egyptian Afterlife. Having defied Odin, the youngest of the Valkyrie is doomed to sail to Egypt and locate a portal to the Egyptian Afterlife, brave the challenges of the gods of Egypt, and rescue the Seer. The adventures (and love-triangles) begun in The VIKINGS! Trilogy continue ... this time confronting Osiris, Anubis, Isis, Thoth, and all the other gods of Egypt ... in a battle that pits them against the ultilmate jailor of the anceint world ... a great demon even their gods can't slay! Young Adult: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Sailing up the Nile, Karl seeks clues to find the mystical portal. Only the murderous Mad Hermit of the Valley of Thieves knows the secrets they seek. However, As they seek him, Eloise and Roselyn rekindle their rivalry, and none can triumph in a war between a Valkyrie and a Druid priestess. While Sister Aspertine prays for their souls, they are captured by desert thieves. Alarika, the daughter of the Mad Hermit, rescues them, but their only hope of escape is across the deadliest Egyptian desert. She leads them to the Valley of the Kings to find a lost prayer that her dead father promised her would awaken the Great Sphinx at Giza, who alone can open the mystic portal. Yet the passage is one-way; trapped in the dark lands of the Egyptian Afterlife, they discover a wondrous paradise, the Field of Wheat, where each companion's dreams can come true. Yet each dream of one companion becomes a nightmare for the others, and their only hope lies in Alarika's dead father, the murderous Mad Hermit of the Valley of Thieves, who is already doomed to the Egyptian Underground. Young Adult: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Discovering that Athelwynne's soul lies trapped in a cursed Egyptian Memory Box, the companions seek to rescue him, but their only path lies through a series of cities, each dedicated to one Egyptian god or goddess. Only knowledge of their divine histories can let the companions escape each city. Rivalries have escalated to open war: Phil against Nate, Nate against Sister Aspertine, Eloise against Roselyn, and everyone against Alarika. All stand ready to sunder the company, but the Duat, the fiery tunnel of demons deep in the Egyptian Underworld, awaits like a hungry beast, ready to open and devour all into its inescapable depths, should any of them fail or quit. The gods stand divided. Ra, Horus, and Nut rejoice in their coming, while Thoth, Isis, and others refuse them. Anubis staunchly despises the companions and determines to stop them at any cost. The companions have no choice but to continue striving, yet their only path leads straight into the domain of Anubis, the God of Darkness, who hates what they carry ... and against whom mortals can't survive. Young Adult: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Excited and a little jealous, Avvel watches her sister Emin vanish into the Night Pyramid on her LoveQuest, where her perfect lover will be revealed. Avvel prays to the Night Gods for her sister's sake, and her mystical yellow stardrop scries a wondrous omen. Yet, when the plans of the Night Gods go awry, Avvel uses her stardrop's magic to discover the secret truths of all LoveQuests. Discovering forbidden knowledge, Avvel is torn from her family and friends to become imprisoned in the Night Pyramid. Then the one boy she likes is condemned to die, and Avvel escapes with one goal: to reveal the forbidden truths about LoveQuests and stardrops to everyone. An unexpected doorway drops Avvel into a world unguessed, where her magical stardrop is revealed to carry an unspeakable price ... which could unravel the foundations of her society's deepest beliefs. Yet the cost of staying in this new world is even deadlier than the inevitable danger of stardrops. Young Teenager: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Martin's dream of being a sports hero is crushed when his mother declares school athletics "too dangerous". Then a misfired spell from another realm drops Martin into the playoffs ... of the Olympics ... in the Monster world ... and all of Martin's dreams come true. With a wizard for a coach, and a troll, an ogre, and a dryad for teammates, Martin struggles to play against goblins, cyclops, and satyrs ... in games as dangerous as they are bizarre. But Martin discovers that his unexpected arrival is far from accidental, and he becomes enmeshed in the sinister secrets of the Grand Council of Wizards. To compete in the games as a human, without claws, fangs, or a scaly hide, Martin must discover new ways to win ... but, growing up in the human world, where can Martin discover the secret strategies to win any game? Excellent book for kids, yet enjoyed by adults, with humor that only old horror fans will understand, The Grotesquerie Games teaches teamwork, sportsmanship, confidence, and strategic thinking. Child Appropriate: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Exciting Sequel to The Grotesquerie Games! Martin rejoins his monstrous teammates for new games. With Murder Shelling and Rude Stealing on injured reserve, although the pretty dark elf Veils has finally joined the team, she and Stabbing Kingz need Martin to be their third Small. Each hopes to win the Regionals, then repeat their victory in the Grotesquerie Games Finals, but first they must win the seven Local games. Angry about last season's loss, Martin's arch-rival, were-boar Maxivoom Snydho, has vowed revenge against him. Also, many monsters don't want humans playing in their games. The Grand Council of Wizards intervenes, and Martin must help a rival wizard ... or find himself forever banned from the Monster World! Martin's challenges don't end there. His older sister, Vicky, is starting college, leaving Martin to babysit his three younger brothers every afternoon. School is restarting, and Martin must attend classes, do homework, eat, sleep, and still train and compete in the strenuous Grotesquerie Games. Can he do it? Child Appropriate: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Thron, Garad, and the other village boys dream of going viking, of sailing south, slaying countless enemies, and plundering golden treasures. Their fathers come home every Harvest telling wonderful, exciting stories. The boy's can't wait to sail with their fathers on the legendary summer raids! However, the fathers tell only the stories they want their wives to know. Real vikings were risky invasions into hostile lands and seas ... and after centuries of vikings, their enemies know they're coming. Deadly fortifications are erected, armies gathered, and enemy fleets sail, all hoping to catch and slay the theiving Norsemen. Thron and Garad find themselves thrust into dangers they never expected. After a lifetime of being left behind on their farms every summer, young Thron and Garad expect to face frightened enemies that flee from them on sight, as all the stories of their fathers described. Sadly, enemies fight back, treasures are rare, and every land they invade is filled with angry enemy warriors. Adult Only: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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On a paid business trip to Waikiki, Hawaii, Penelope gets stuck sharing a cab ride with Emerson, a professional stage magician. However, having noticed him in the Seattle airport, then sitting near him on the plane, then being trapped with him in a cab to the same hotel, warning lights go off in Penelope's head. Penelope decides to avoid Emerson. Desperate for company, she goes out to dinner with her fellow medical vendors, only to arrive at a nearby dinner theater, where Emerson is performing. Confronting him in the hotel bar, Penelope accuses Emerson of being a stalker, yet he professes innocence. They both drink way too much, her guard fails, and his charms overwhelm. Yet Penelope begins to suspect that their meeting wasn't pure chance. Then Emerson confesses the strangest secret Penelope has ever heard: the real purpose of stage magic is to convince everyone else that all magic is false. How do you trust a lover who can manipulate reality? Yet her greatest surprise has yet to be revealed. Adult Only: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Dracula never asked to become a vampire. Lost in his bloodlust, he murdered his beloved father and fiancé. Horrified by his unexpected transformation, Dracula fled into the blackness of his own despair. Four centuries later, recognizing that his terrible beginning led him upon a wrong track, Dracula wants to begin his existence anew. Determined to undo his mistakes, and return to the world of light, Dracula leaves Transylvania, his ancestral castle, and abandons his three nightmarish brides, to journey to England, the City of Enlightenment, and begin a new life away from the shadows and bitter memories he struggled against for so long. The one thing he needs, to drive the last of the darkness from unbeating heart, is a truly joyful, intelligent woman to love, a Queen worthy to sit beside him for all eternity upon the Throne of Night. However, when he finds her, she's engaged to another man ... Adult Only: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Adella Cumberbatch's father dragged her around to his countless carpentry jobs. Adella quickly learned to hammer, chisel, and saw wood, yet no one will hire a woman carpenter in the early Elizabethan Age. When her father passes away, and the money runs out, Adella has to sell her father's tools. All the local carpenters are adding a new wing onto distant Marleigh Manor. Adella journeys there, yet can't sell her father's tools. At sunset, Adella sneaks into the new, half-built wing, and finds a small dead space. Using her carpentry skills. Adella expands the dead space into a hidden, secret room. The rich inhabitants notice when food and clothes go missing, and start to believe their newest wing is haunted. They refer to Adella as the Ghost of Marleigh Manor. Then, when a prominent member of the family is found murdered in a locked room, everyone blames the ghost. But Adella is the ghost! Adella must quietly discover who the real murderer is, but if she's discovered and revealed, then the Marleigh family will blame the murder upon her. Young Teenager: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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A vast army is invading, many times the total of the defenders, and they have only one hope: Murdlong Pass, a high, narrow gap in the desert mountains. Summoning every man, King Hallek arrives at the last castle before marching his troops out into the desert, where not one drop of water will be found. Everything depends on the king's seneschal, a wise and venerable man, to provide the needed supplies, food, water, horses, hay, weapons, and everything the army will need to protect their beloved homeland. But the king's seneschal is accidentally killed, and the king grabs Galloway, the young son of the elderly castle seneschal, to acquire all the needed supplies and manage the army camp. Their troops bottle the invading army in Murdlong Pass, but their supplies are insufficient, and without water and food, their battle will be lost. Galloway has never been in a military campaign, and has no idea where to find the needed supplies, but knows that, although little hope exists that anyone could do his job, if he fails, the war will be lost ... and their kingdom conquered ... because of him. Young Teenager: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Discovering a photographic solution that reveals human souls arising from the dying, Tom, an uneducated veteran raised in the backstreets of London, is thrust into the environs of Britain's wealthiest elites. Joining with opulent and proper Marcia, England's wisest, aged patroness, Tom must quickly overcome his bohemian lifestyle. Led by two preeminent scientists of England, Thaddeus and Euphorus, the companions travel the globe, taking photos of souls escaping their dying bodies.
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Legally unable to refuse a marriage, teenage Hávi, an 8th century goat-rancher, is forced to wed a strange, aged visitor, whom she soon discovers rules the largest clan in Sweden. After a horrific wedding night, stolen from her home, and imprisoned in the first castle she's ever seen, Hávi is swept up in deadly politics, unfamiliar to her peasant upbringing, which threaten her new-found position and her life. To spare other women from the rape and ignominy she suffered, Hávi determines to take clandestine lessons in the den Skaanske Lov, the law-code of Scandinavia. However, legal knowledge is forbidden to women, and the only jarl willing to teach her is her husband's most-hated enemy, who will do anything to avenge his dishonor and her husband's murder of his family and clan. Torn by political needs and a grown stepson who wants to kill her, Hávi struggles against passionate desires her forced-marriage denied her and invasions that pit clan against clan and forces Sweden to the brink of civil war. Her lofty legal goals could help all women ... but only if her nation survives. Adult Only: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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12 year old Audrey likes computers, television, and all of the latest styles. Aged Great Aunt Virginia lives in a tiny apartment stuffed with antique books, music boxes, and dolls. When a friend needs help, Great Aunt Virginia's magic tea set carries her and Audrey to the enchanted land of Arcadia, where all the magic is done with jump rope chants. Time is short: the baby dolls have been kidnapped, the tin soldiers attacked, and the marionettes, hand-puppets, and paper dolls are helpless against a powerful, unknown threat. But Great Aunt Virginia can't jump rope anymore, so she needs young Audrey to become the new protector of the dolls. Audrey is a modern girl. She wants to play with computers and video games, not old dolls and tea sets. However, she soon learns that the magical powers of the jump rope are practically unlimited ... and they work in the real world, too. Yet ... can any young girl be handed ultimate magical powers and not cause more problems than she solves, and rescue the baby dolls, before all of Arcadia is enslaved? Child Appropriate: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Their friendship broken after their first adventure into Arcadia, Audrey is captured by a new threat and Hilary must rescue her. Still bitter after their break-up, Hilary must overcome her anger to re-enter Arcadia. Yet the new threat is so terrible Great Aunt Virginia won't let her go alone; Audrey and Hilary's mothers must both join them in the Magic Realm. A Voodoo Doll has returned to threaten Arcadia. One at a time, the Voodoo Doll possesses their friends, even Audrey, and Hilary can't attack her victims without hurting them. Hilary jumping skills can match any magic, but the voodoo doll has a jump rope, too. None can find the Voodoo Doll, and their only hope is to locate her secret lair and destroy the talismans she uses to enslave the dolls. They must secretly enlist the help of the stuffed animals, the rag dolls, the marionettes, the paper dolls, the tin soldiers, the glamor dolls, and even the smiling troll dolls. Yet can they find and destroy the powers of the Voodoo Doll before her evil magic claims all of them? Child Appropriate: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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Born to a clan of murderous land-pirates, Jeremy Wrecker's family lures valuable ships into a deadly ambush with forged treasure maps. However, on an expedition to seed a false treasure map, Jeremy and his kin awaken shanghaied aboard a ship of seafaring pirates ... who stole their treasure map! If their secrets are revealed, the whole Wrecker clan will be slaughtered. Sneaking about the ship, Jeremy must tend to his wounded brother and uncle, imprisoned deep in the hold, while navigating a treacherous mutiny planned by a betrayed faction of the crew. Unable to free his brother and uncle, and trapped in the rigging and constantly watched, Jeremy finds little time to devise an escape. Once the pirates gather all the clues to solve the treasure map, they'll sail into his family's inescapable death-trap, and their ship and all aboard will be massacred by the bloodthirsty Wrecker clan, unaware that Jeremy, his brother, and his uncle are prisoners of the pirates. Intensely researched, Jeremy Wrecker explores the little-known history of a lost facet of piracy. Younger Teenager: Age Chart Read Chapter 1 Paperback(Amazon) Kindle(Amazon) |
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A kid's Viking coloring/storybook (also loved by adults!): Sven & Gertrude are both mighty vikings, yet all the fruits of their labors are taxed by the king to feed the fearsome, fire-breathing Fafnir, the Hungry Dragon! Facing poverty and starvation, Sven & Gertrude unite to sail the seas and slay their hated foe. Landing upon his island, Sven & Gertrude face their enemy only to find Fafnir starving; the king is keeping all their food for himself! Sven & Gertrude unite with Fafnir, the Hungry Dragon, and together they journey to confront their true enemy! Kids and adults love the cute story and pictures of Sven & Gertrude and the Hungry Dragon. Parents can read it to their kids, before and after they color it, and kids can use it to adopt good reading habits! Sadly, Sven & Gertrude and the Hungry Dragon is only available directly from the author. Child Appropriate: Age Chart |
These books are appropriate for any age, even small children, although they are enjoyed by adults, too. 'The Magic of Play', 'The Heart of Play', and 'The Grotesquerie Games' are written at the same level as the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew books, The Wizard of Oz, or Alice in Wonderland. |
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These books are appropriate for younger teenagers or older. They are written at the same level as Treasure Island, Harry Potter (1 - 3), or Xanth, with appropriate but muted violence, simple romantic allusions, and no sexual content. |
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These books are appropriate for any older teenagers or adults. They are written at the same level as the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter (4 - 6), or David Copperfield, with appropriate violence, strong romantic situations with mild sexual content, and adult themes. |
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These books are appropriate for adults only. They are written at a very mature level. They contain explicit but not gratuitous violence, and deeply romantic situations with explicit, although appropriate, sexual content. They are not pornography, but detail numerous adult-only themes, emotions, and activities. |
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