This is a code for a 15% discount off of the retail price ($8.99): 9DSCQ3UU.
The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Please place your comment, using this link:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f707/
Blurb
Something strange, something magical, is going on in the dusty
hills behind the small town of Villaloma. Yet each time Linda Peters puts on
her running shoes and sets out to find the enchanted kingdom she imagines—full
of dancing elves, unicorns, and more—something stops her. And with school
starting soon, she only has a few more chances to really search the hills.
While Linda’s frustration and doubt grow, her cousin, Nugu, looks
for answers in his books and wonders if maybe, just maybe, Linda’s stories are
for real.
The day finally arrives when Linda can run far, the day she is
sure she will find her magic city. But when she and Nugu feel their goal must
lie just beyond the next hill, they only find more hill.
Is it all a figment of an over-active imagination; a wistful
fantasy?
Or is there truly something magical in those hills that only the
strong of heart—and leg—can discover?
Excerpt
Chapter 1:
Crack! Like a firecracker, the
screen door’s sharp retort pierced the tranquility of the warm summer
afternoon. With it appeared a girl, beautiful as all five-year-olds are:
tousled hair, rosy cheeks, a smattering of freckles, and a flowery dress
dancing around healthy legs bruised and scraped by kicking balls and climbing
trees. Her hair was the color of honey, her skin tanned by long days in the
sun. Her bright, green eyes exuded wonder and vibrancy. By all measures, Linda
Peters was a perfectly healthy, perfectly normal girl only days into kindergarten.
The flowered dress danced about her
anxious feet as they thumped a rhythm on the wooden planks of the big porch.
Before the old screen door could bounce again off the doorframe, her bare toes
reached the cool, green grass of the lawn. They gently touched the ground as
she ran and giggled. Soon she was in the garden amidst the flowers. She stopped
and looked around, breathing only slightly heavier than normal. A strand of
loose hair drifted across her eyes. She tucked it behind her ear, reflexively.
Around her were flowers of every color: reds and pinks and whites and purples;
but she wasn’t so interested in them, rather…
“Linda!” a small voice called. Linda
looked to her left and saw an orange and black butterfly gracefully drift
toward her. She held out her hand and the butterfly landed on her finger, its
long proboscis gently probing her skin. Butterfly kisses. Her dad called this
kind of butterfly a "Monarch" and said it was special. Linda knew
about butterflies. They were insects: head, thorax, abdomen; six legs, four
wings! And they ate nectar, while the babies, the caterpillars, gobbled leaves
to grow big and fat before becoming beautiful butterflies.
Only this wasn’t an ordinary
butterfly.
Author bio and links
S.
S. Dudley grew up in Wyoming, USA, an avid reader and lover of the outdoors. He
studied at the University of Wyoming and the University of Illinois. He started
his first book (an epic fantasy hand-written in with a blue fountain pen…) when
he was 13, but never finished it. At some point (as his mother recently
reminded him), he decided that he needed to go do something (like get a job)
for a while before he could, or should, write. He did, and spent time in
Colombia, Panamá, Antarctica and the dark recesses of large science buildings
on college campuses. That done, he now writes, lives and runs in Northern
California with his wife and two children. He can be found at:
twitter
at @SS_dudley.
http://amzn.to/160KY4j
Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting this up!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure!
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