Michelle L. Levigne's Blog

We Need a Little Christmas!

 

My favorite part of the holiday season is to put together a bunch of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. We fill them with school supplies, toys, hygiene items, useful things, fun things, and send them through Samaritan's Purse to children in foreign countries, to assist in the day-to-day demonstration of Jesus' love.

Let me give YOU a gift this year:

FIRST: Go to SamaritansPurse.org and put together a shoebox or two online, or pay for the shipping on the boxes you've put together, OR check out their online gift catalog and donate toward one of the many items to help families and villages in need around the world.

THEN: Email me an electronic copy of your receipt, to: 2OldeDragons@gmail.com

BUT BEFORE THAT: Check out the storefront at YeOldeDragonBooks.com or my website, MLevigne.com, for the book blurbs, and pick out the ebook(s) or audiobook(s) you'd like to have, my thank-you for helping Samaritan's Purse spread God's love this holiday season. Give me the title of the item(s) when you send me your receipt. Here's what you can get:

Up to $20 spent: Any ebook

Up to $40 spent: 2 ebooks or 1 audiobook

Up to $60 spent: 3 ebooks or 2 audiobooks

Up to $80 spent: 4 ebooks or 3 audiobooks (or 2 ebooks and 2 audiobooks)

Over $80 spent: A print copy of the Neighborlee fantasy novel, Allergic to Mistletoe. Or all the ebooks.

TITLES: Christmas in Ohio -- Crystal Christmas -- Tabor at Christmas -- Allergic to Mistletoe -- Christmas Fiction Off the Beaten Path

Have you checked out THAKAI, recently?

 

THAKAI is my current work-in-progress up on Royal Road.

I try to upload 2 episodes, around 2,500 words each, every week.

Here's the link to the page. Please come read! 

 https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/118523/thakai

Essentially, my hero, Dysander, is an Odysseus-type character. That means there's an equivalent of Helen in this world, a version of Sparta, a version of Troy, a version of Ithaka (Thakai, for those who aren't good with anagrams ...) and Penelope -- and a war, and a long journey home.

Right now, I'm nearing the end of what will be Book 1 when the series begins to be published. The tentative title is DYSANDER AND THE SEA GOD. In this book, so far, Dysander has a friend named Aithon who is actually the sea god, Ancuenor, incognito. They have a huge, dangerous adventure that I just finished writing, and Dysander learns the truth. He's kind of peeved. In turn, Ancuenor is furious with Dysander because of something he did that the sea god considers treachery, and the two don't part as friends. Then in the next book, as THAKAI continues, the sea god interferes when Dysander finds the girl he wants to marry, and when he doesn't get his revenge, puts a curse on Dysander, forbidding him to ever leave his island home.

At least, that's the plan. There's a workaround, of course, because how could there be a Trojan War and a Trojan Horse without that world's version of Odysseus to come up with the solution?

Please visit THAKAI and read, leave comments, make suggestions -- maybe get your name in the acknowledgements, for coming up with something truly brilliant that changes the trajectory of the whole story!

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 "So, what do youthink?" Megan said as she stepped into the lounging part of her and Alexi'sdressing room backstage.

Alexi and Harry had goneto get their car and bring it to the backstage entrance, for a quick getaway. Meganhad confided in Bethany that she thought Harry was cute, so excited about ridingin a real, Human-made car.

"I like him. Howdoes his wife feel about him spending the holidays with me and my Dad?"Bethany said.

"No wife." Meganshrugged and slipped into her clogs before sitting down on the other end of thecouch. "Which is a total injustice. Alexi says the girls can't see past hisscience experiments and his research, to the really great guy under the brainy persona."

"What kind of scienceexperiments?" Bethany imagined Harry doing a Nutty Professor routine, his labcoat smeared with stains, maybe scorched in places. It fit. How long since she hadlet herself feel anything but mild social friendship with a man?

Maybe the fact that hedidn't ask for her autograph, didn't ogle her figure, had a lot to do with the attraction.Because yes, she admitted to a strong attraction between them, from the moment thatzap of static electricity sent a lovely, hot shiver down her back.

It was great to realizeshe was a normal woman after all, not a frightened, frigid little teasing twit,as that last studio-arranged date accused her of being.

This was going to be agreat Christmas.

A knock on the door, thenit opened and her heart did a funny little skip when she saw Harry, and the wayhis gaze zeroed in on her all the way across the room.

"Ready?" Hestepped into the room and held out a hand. "This might tingle a little."

"Kind of like a forcefield or tractor beam or something wrapping around a ship?" she offered.

Harry's eyes widened andhis mouth dropped open a little, and that funny feeling in her stomach turned squirmy.Had she turned him off already?

Then he grinned. Thatlovely zing climbed her arm when their hands touched. A buzzing sensation racedacross her bare skin. It tickled and massaged somewhere between her skin and herbones.

"Wow." She flinchedwhen her voice sounded a little off, not quite hollow.

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 "Umm... What exactlydid they tell you about me?"

"Oh, I figured outthe whole not-quite-Human thing a while ago. I just never confronted them with it."Bethany blushed and looked at her hands clasped on the table in front of her.

Something dropped insidehis chest and warmth stole over him. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to takethe paparazzi and the other bozos stealing her privacy, and send them to the DungeonDimensions for a couple hundred years. Nobody he knew blushed. The simple littlereaction made her seem small and delicate and vulnerable.

Which she was anythingbut. He had seen her first movie, the tough chick who turned her world upside downto save it, who devised bombs and weapons from nothing to protect innocents. Evenwith that blush fading from her cheeks, he sensed a lot of similarities betweenthe Bethany sitting before him now and the girl on the screen. It made nosense, but Harry didn't care.

"So, say something."Her smile went crooked.

"You're pretty calmabout it. A lot of people would probably be freaking out, faced with the fact ofa lot of other dimensions of reality, side-by-side with the one they know. I'vealways wondered what the CIA and FBI and all those foreign intelligence agenciesand governments would do, if they knew about the Fae realms. If they'd maybe tryto bomb us out of existence, or prosecute us as illegal aliens or whatever."

"So, who was herefirst? Fae or Humans?"

Harry sat for five secondswith his mouth hanging open, stumped by that question. That was definitely somethingfor the Ether Lexicon. For all he knew, that was part of the no-need-to-know informationthe Lexicon sometimes stubbornly refused to divulge. Then he laughed. Bethany blushedagain, but she grinned.

How come girls like herdon't exist in the Enclaves?

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 "Bethany?" hemurmured when he reached her table. Harry admired her self-control, so she didn'teven flinch or look his way, betraying her disguise. He held up the half of Alexi'sbusiness card that served as his identification.

Bethany peered from underher floppy hat and slid her half of the card across the table toward him. She didn'ttake her fingertips off the card until he matched up his half to hers.

"Harry Morton,"he said, and held out his hand. Bethany's slim, strong little hand slid into his.Something sparked, almost a buzz, between their fingers.

"Static electricity."She offered a crooked little smile and a whisper of laughter as she jerked her handaway.

"Uh. Yeah."Harry slid into the booth facing her while he gathered his thoughts. She had feltthat? She had soaked up more magic than he had first guessed.

Fascinating.

"I think Alexi insistedon all this cloak and dagger just for the fun of it," she said, as the audienceapplauded the first illusion of the evening. She grinned, which made an inexplicableworld of difference for Harry. If she had scowled or showed reluctance in any way,he didn't know what he would have thought of her.

"Yep, that's my favoritecousin."

"You look like him."Bethany offered an awkward little smile.

"You think so?"He glanced at Alexi, who stepped back and held up the silk purse on a pole, so Megancould demonstrate there was nothing in it. Real magic made things so much easierfor magicians, Harry mused, but Alexi and Megan insisted on practicing sleight ofhand, doing it the way full Humans did. He supposed it was all in the challenge. 

"He has more glitz, but there's a strong resemblance.Of course, combing your hair back like that and dressing so casual, that makes peoplekind of pass over you. So, you're really good at this invisibility thing?"

Read Penelope's Story NOW

 

Have you seen EPIC: The Musical, on YouTube yet? (It's The Odyssey, set to music, by the way. Love it!)

Have you wondered about Penelope's side of the story? Just why did she wait through 10 years of war and then 10 years of wandering and imprisonment, for Odysseus to come home?

Now you can read Penelope's side of the story!

Back in print after 10 years, PENELOPE OF ITHAKA is available exclusively on Amazon right now.

The official release date is November 1, BUT you can get the paperback NOW and save $3 off the official cover price.
Or you can pre-order the ebook.
Or you can wait until November 1 and read it in Kindle Unlimited.

And yeah, there's an audiobook coming.
Or you can listen to individual episodes now on the Ye Olde Dragon's Library storytelling podcast.

Take your pick.

But please follow this Affiliate link and check it out!! I'm so proud to have this book baby of mine available again!

https://amzn.to/47Ahv2N

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

"She doesn't mindhaving a stranger around?"

"Funny, that's thesame thing she said about you." Megan gave her top hat one more tiny adjustment.

"We're on, sweetheart."Alexi caught up with them, wrapped an arm around Megan's waist, and kissed her forluck as he did every night. A kiss that packed enough heat into a two-second liplock,Harry burst out in sweat. They stepped out onto the stage.

He gulped, locked downhis counter-spell so he wouldn't fade out at an inopportune moment, and headed forthe side entrance. Time to meet his assignment.

He stepped into the supperclub seating area and meandered around the perimeter to the booth where Bethanywaited. On stage, Alexi kept up the patter while Megan searched the audience forthe first volunteer assistant. All the women watched Alexi, all the men watchedMegan. Harry felt slightly nauseous from the rising pheromones. Didn't these Humanshave any self-control? Especially when it came to two entertainers who made it veryclear they were married to each other?

He didn't see anythingwrong with window-shopping, as it were, and appreciating what was on display. ButHarry drew the line at plotting how to break the glass and steal what was inside.

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

  

"She's got magic,"Harry whispered. He studied Bethany through the curtains while the emcee warmedup the audience for Alexi and Megan's last show of the night.

"You might be right."Megan adjusted her top hat. "There is something about her that makes my fingertipstingle. I just can't figure out what. If there's Fae blood, it's mixed withsomething that muddies the waters." She patted his back. "You're startingto fade."

"Oh? Sorry."Harry concentrated on his anti-invisibility spell and turned back to watching BethanyMiller in her shadowy corner table. That big, floppy hat and garish muumuu couldn'thide her, yet dressing in loud, obnoxious clothes did trick people into ignoringher. Somewhat.

Harry turned his visionsideways, looking into the 'tweening spaces, those half-step areas between dimensions.His long-term invisibility made it easy to slip halfway into the next dimension.

A soft, rainbow-streakedcorona shimmered around Bethany, marking her as someone who had been touched bymagic for so long, it had become embedded in her essence. The colors didn't quiteclash with her outfit, but it was enough to make his eyes ache after a while. Still,he kept watching. She fascinated him. He loved puzzles, and Bethany had just presentedhim with one.

"So, she wants tobe invisible?"

"She wants to spendthe holidays with her father without being mobbed every time she steps outside,"Megan said. "She's a nice girl who doesn't enjoy the rat-race of stardom. Sherefuses to change and act like a star, and that makes her even more popular. Kindof like a girl who isn't in Need is a whole lot more attractive."

Harry blushed, and his concentration slipped so he felthimself fading out. Which was actually a good thing. He wasn't about to admit toanyone he wished he knew the terror of being the target of a woman in Need. Noneof the girls he had grown up with had targeted him. It was humiliating. Hera-Janemaintained that if he socialized more, so people realized he had grown up into somethingof a stud, he would be hunted. Harry was too busy with his experiments to find out.Although, this adventure would be an experiment, wouldn't it?

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 "How's that non-magicalbetting system working out for you?" Harry snapped his fingers to bring a towelover and got out of the hot tub. He tapped the communications sphere, activatingit so it shimmered into transparency. Alexi and Megan's faces appeared before him.He was glad he had opted for the towel.

Harry wasn't a skinnygeek by any means, but Alexi had inherited the family build and good looks, alongwith the family curse. Harry was white-blond and buff, but Alexi had it cubed. Still,despite all the advantages Alexi had in looks and freedom and a real job in theHuman world, along with a smart, fun wife who hadn't needed to trap him by goinginto Need, Harry preferred his smaller troubles. Alexi had nearly been doomed tospending eternity without magic. Megan had rescued him from that. While Harry wouldn'thave minded being rescued by someone like her, he knew it would still ranklefrom time to time. He had a ridiculous longing to be the White Knight, rescuingdamsels in distress.

"What's up, Cuz?"He gave an extra yank to his towel.

"We have a job foryou," Megan said.

"You and your invisibilityspell," Alexi added with that grin that had always meant really cool, reallyloud, really messy adventures when they were boys.

"I'm there." Harry snapped clothes onto himself."Just tell me where and when."

It's QUIZ TIME! Ready to earn points for a free Neighborlee novel?

 

ALLERGIC TOMISTLETOE QUIZ 

How do youplay?

Listen to Chapter 1 of ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE either on the Ye Olde Dragon’s Library storytelling podcast page on YeOldeDragonBooks.com, or on your favorite podcast app.

Answer the questions.

Send the answers to 2OldeDragons@gmail.com

Points add upto get a free ebook or audiobook or print book in the Neighborlee series.

All month, thefeatured book is at a discounted price, if you need to fill in the holes inyour collection. I mean, there are 13 books altogether. If you have all 13already, THANK YOU!! But chances are good you don’t have all of them.

Yet.

This is yourchance to get more and catch up on the weirdness that is Neighborlee, Ohio.

 

What swarmed the ceiling of the main room of Divine's Emporium?

What was Maurice wearing for the party?

What did Maurice enjoy doing with Lanie's parents?

What came into the party with Dawn and Stanzer that didn't like being in the same room with Maurice?

What did Ken give Jo instead of the traditional wishing ball ornament?

Who promised to help Maurice figure out how to get around the barriers in his relationship with Holly?