Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 10

This month's featured book in the Neighborlee Visitors' Guide: VIRTUALLY LONDON, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 3

LISTEN to chapter 1 of VIRTUALLY LONDON on the Ye Olde Dragon's Library storytelling podcast.
QUESTIONS for a quiz will be posted here later in the month, with all the answers in Chapter 1.
ANSWER those questions, and earn points toward a free book in the Neighborlee, Ohio fantasy series!
What's VIRTUALLY LONDON about?

Athena Longfellow and Doni Halliday aregranddaughters of one of Neighborlee’s guardians, Ford Longfellow. When dangerthreatens Neighborlee, the girls awaken to their duties and their gifts, andslowly grow into their heritage.

Athena, the computer whiz, finds andexperiments with an unusual video camera at Divine’s Emporium. She recordsDoni, and then records a room at the shop -- and inadvertently opens a door toanother dimension. Properly frightened, she shuts down the program behindfirewalls. Enemy invasion thwarted. For now.

She doesn't realize she also created avirtual copy of Doni, until an advanced computer class in college, when theartificial intelligence that calls herself London Holiday "movesinto" her team's class project.

Athena suddenly has a good idea how Dr.Frankenstein felt. The question is: If she has to pull the plug on LondonHoliday … how?

 

 And remember: ALL formats of VIRTUALLY LONDON are on sale for the entire month of March.  Catch up, fill in the holes in your collection, and save $$$!!

At YeOldeDragonBooks.com

 

Meet Me in Akron?

 

AkronBook Fest

Saturday,March 8, 11 am - 3 pm, Main Library

60South High Street, Akron

 

Over75 authors, illustrators, and publishers will be tabling, selling and signingbooks.

 

Formore information:  https://www.akronlibrary.org/

 

I'llbe there selling the first three books of my Book & Mug Mysteries -- andgiving you a first look at the cover of Book 4, coming in May!

 

 

March Firsty Freebie

 The March Firsty Freebie book is part of a celebration!

The next Enchanted Castle Archives book, ENCHANTING THE PRINCE, releases March 15.

The Firsty Freebie book, available only today, is a new Enchanted Castle Archives short story:

THE SOUL OF THE HOUSE.

Here's the link. You have the option of signing up for my newsletter. If you haven't yet, please do!

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/3394jjpeiq

Astory between books, after THE BEASTLY BEAUTY, The Enchanted Castle ArchivesBook 2

  FriarIpswich has always loved books. When Ash appears in Castle Fairhold's libraryand asks him to take some books to a healing cloister, he is more than happy tohelp out. Especially when he learns the books are sought by scheming magiciansfrom another kingdom, who want to use the books for nefarious purposes.

  Onthe journey, he is separated from his escorts, is nearly knocked from hishorse, and wakes on the porch of an old abandoned house. When he takes shelterinside, he finds the house holds a secret, and is much larger inside thanoutside. His love for books could result in him being trapped inside the houseforever.

And ... if you go to YeOldeDragonBooks.com and click on the storefront, you have a chance to buy the ebook and audiobook of ENCHANTING THE PRINCE before everyone else, AND at a discount!!

Such a deal!!

Ready?

GO!

Excerpt: SEMI-PSEUDO-SUPERHEROES

 When we got to Divine's,it was brightly lit. Usually Divine's wasn't open after the dinner hour, but Angelamade an exception for the start and end of the school year, and during Christmasshopping season. She had hung lights on the wrought iron fence that ran along thesidewalk. They looked like strings of Christmas tree lights, until we got closeenough to see something spinning slowly inside the tiny glass globes. Stars andcomets and planets.

The gate hung open, andas I started up the flagstone walk, the front door swung open. A couple people noticedthere was no one visible in the doorway, and they made "Huh?" and "Whoa!"and other sounds. Nobody freaked out. Maybe they were such movie geeks, so usedto special effects and watching behind-the-scenes specials, they just assumed thatwas another special effect.

Nope, just Divine's Emporiumwelcoming the new students. I took that as a good sign. The door probably wouldn'thave opened automatically like that if there was even one person in the group whodidn't quite fit with the spirit of Neighborlee.

I was relieved when thereactions of the people spilling through the doorway into Divine's and immediatelyspreading out through the rooms were completely positive. No freaking out. No muttersor frowns of disdain. No one giving the telltale signs of discomfort that meantthey were already getting hit with the subliminal "go away, you don't belong,we don't want you here" message. Divine's Emporium liked these kids.

The best sign? No oneflinched or got wide-eyed or even blinked when Angela just seemed to appear fromnowhere. One minute the area behind the counter was empty, the next she was there.Maybe they just assumed she had been behind the counter, bent down and working onsomething.

Looking back, the signsthat everyone belonged should have been a warning. Angela sensed something unusualabout us, and I can't fault her for not warning us of impending trouble. All shesensed was the potential, and she spilled out the welcome from Divine's. At thatpoint, the very first day we were all in the dorm, everything was potential andpossibility. The choices we made going forward would refine our path for the restof the year.

"Aren't you supposedto be busy with college activities?" She stepped up and rested her arms onthe thick marble counter.

"All moved in andfree for the evening." Zach fluttered his eyelashes at her and made his good-doggy-begginggesture, with his hands curved up under his chin.

Angela laughed and reachedback for one of the enormous old-fashioned candy jars, where Zach's favorite candywaited. Semi-hard diamonds of salted black licorice. Yeah, sounds kind of yech,doesn't it? I finally gave in and tasted some. Surprisingly good, but still an acquiredtaste. That broke the ice. Angela got everyone's name as they stepped up and spotteda jar of the candy they liked the best. In all the noise and laughter and chatter,nobody noticed when she reached for a jar before someone asked for it, or knew someone'sname before they told her. She asked a few questions and directed people to variousrooms where "you might just find something you'll like."

"Very interesting,"she commented as she settled down at the little bistro table with me and Clariceand Tyrone after about twenty minutes.

Voices rang through theshop, people calling out to each other that they just had to come see something.I was positive at least one new room had appeared since the last time I was at Divine’s,a week ago, looking for a really cool backpack for going to class. Of course I foundit, a combination of army surplus olive canvass with colorful embroidered patchesall over it, looking like I had been all over the world. I had the hope that itwould turn out like Mary Poppins' bag and hold everything I wanted and needed toput into it. Hopefully with the added benefit of not being any heavier.

"Do I want to knowhow you gathered so many like spirits in just a few hours, before orientation evenofficially started?" Angela nodded her thanks as Tyrone took over to emptythe tray of our floats made with caramel ice cream and cream soda.

"They're all on thesame floor with us," Clarice said.

"Really? What arethe odds of that?"

"Pretty big odds,"I said, meeting Clarice's gaze. She nodded. As if I really needed permission totell Angela?

I went on to relate whatPop had learned from Mrs. A, and shared with me, because I had a right to know whatpeople were doing to me and my classmates. Even if that knowledge might skew theresults of whatever research the psych professors were doing. Maybe lab rats didn'tknow what was happening when they ran through mazes and suffered through all sortsof tests and experiments, but we weren't lab rats.

Our club members amongthe freshmen had discussed the experiment, whether it was weird or dangerous. Ithought about pretending to be an anonymous tipster and let the Neighborlee Tattlerknow what was up. We agreed not to tell anyone before school started, because honestly,what could anyone do about it? Demand to change floors within the dorm? Try to getinto different dorms? We basically, and vaguely, agreed to wait to see what happenedwith the people on our floor and in the dorm before we said anything.

However, this was theperfect time to take the conundrum to Angela. As a guardian of Neighborlee, I hada responsibility to take questionable circumstances to her, or at least presentthem to other known guardians. Just in case weird things happened from fiddlingwith demographics, and I was too close to the middle to notice.

"Okay, now that wecan see what they did to us, it's kind of weird," Tyrone said. "They sureweren't putting us together with the other geeks and nerds to be nice, so what dothey think will happen? Why not other statistics or similarities or whatever youcall it? Other than the art and drama kids, we're not grouped together by our majors,like on the other floors and the other dorm. Is it just me, or do you feel likewe're being singled out?"

"If you are…"Angela's gaze went unfocused and her eyelids half-lowered.

I could almost hear thatsound I sometimes caught just on the edge of sleep, or when it got very quiet insideDivine's Emporium.

Sometimes it was the hintof wind chimes playing in some incredible, vast garden in the very core of the house,as if the walls were thinner than paper, thinner than air. If I turned at just theright angle, I might finally see the garden, and wind chimes made of incrediblejewels, with sunshades made of tapestries woven to show otherworldly, ancient scenes.Other times, like now, I had a sense of music being played somewhere far away, justbelow the audible level, on instruments I had never imagined. This was basicallythe sound of Angela thinking very hard, and the magic of Divine's Emporium cominginto play.

"I must believe that if anything is to come of havingso many similar, imaginative souls gathered in one place," Angela said slowly,"then Neighborlee itself might be very glad that several of our own are amongthem."

Ready for a NEW Featured Book? VIRTUALLY LONDON, Neighborlee Book 3

 

It's almost March!

That mean's it's time for a new featured book in the Visitor's Guide to Neighborlee year-long tour.

Check out the book trailer for VIRTUALLY LONDON, Book 3 in the Neighborlee, Ohio series of humorous fantasy.

Want to earn points toward FREE books?

#1 Listen to the free first chapter of VIRTUALLY LONDON on the Ye Olde Dragon's Library storytelling podcast. It will be available March 1.

#2 Visit YeOldeDragonBooks.com and take the quiz. It will appear on the website/blog in about a week.

#3 Send your answers to the email provided.

That easy!

You can read 2 excerpts each week from VIRTUALLY LONDON here on this blog, and catch up on excerpts from the previous books, while you're at it. The quiz will also be posted here.

PLUS: all the available formats of VIRTUALLY LONDON will be ON SALE on YeOldeDragonBooks.com in the storefront, if you're hooked and want to read right away.

VIRTUALLY LONDON is available Saturday, March 1. But there are two previous books to catch up on before then, including taking the previous two quizzes to earn points toward free books. What are you waiting for? Go to YeOldeDragonBooks.com and start earning those points. And get tempted by humorous, small-town fantasy.

Excerpt: SEMI-PSEUDO-SUPERHEROES

 

Before we left the cafeteria,the Freshman Orientation team got on the loudspeakers and offered us options ofwhat to do that evening. It was a free evening. The official activities startedin the morning, including competitions and times for visiting our advisors and checkingout different departments, in case people changed their minds about classes oncethey saw their schedules.

Our group filed out ofthe cafeteria, and there in the lobby were tables filled with flyers and couponbooks for local businesses, and little introductory goodie bags. I felt like I wascheating, getting a goodie bag that was supposed to persuade me to come visit. Iknew all the stores in town, after all.

"Divine's has a coupon!"Clarice announced.

Okay, that was too goodto pass up.

"What's Divine's,"Babbie Winslow asked. She was three doors down from us on the floor, and stood behindus now, looking through her coupon book.

"It's no good tellingyou. You gotta experience Divine's." I shared a grin with Clarice and we turnedaround to see if our gang was still in the cafeteria lobby. "Hey, guys, ifyou haven't heard yet, Clarice and Tyrone and Zach and Aldo and I are from Neighborlee.Instead of going to a movie we've all seen before, how about a walking tour of townbefore it gets crazy?"

"And use our couponsbefore other kids get to the stores, and the good stuff is gone?" Sheri Cartersaid with a chuckle. She riffled her coupon book, and others laughed.

"You can do whateveryou want, but you need to find Divine's Emporium before you do anything else. Howyou survive your first year here will rest on your first impression of it."

"Think they'll beable to see the Wishing Ball?" Clarice asked. Tyrone laughed. Zach and Aldolaughed louder, trying to sound mysterious, when a few people asked what the WishingBall was.

"Just come on alongand see, okay? I'm not going to tell you anything more, so you're not prejudiced,"I added.

That got the interestof some people who didn't look all that thrilled with taking a long walk after anexhausting day getting moved into the dorm. It seemed like a third of the entiredorm came with us as we headed down the sidewalk.

In the end, twenty-some people went to Divine's. As wepassed through town, Tyrone pointed out places of interest, such as Miller's Dinerand various shops where they could use their coupons. We lost some people. Clariceand Zach made note of who stayed with us for the walk of several blocks. Every singleone was a fandom person of one kind or another. The freaks and geeks, as some ofthe arrogant jerks referred to us. We basically left the art and dance and musicstudents behind—unless they were also science fiction and fantasy and horror people,too. Had to wonder if that was accidental. After all, there was already somethingstrong building up on our dorm floor, with all the fandom gear people had broughtwith them to college.

YeOldeDragonBooks.com

Excerpt: SEMI-PSEUDO-SUPERHEROES

 

Someone must have beenteaching Sylvia boxing. She got in a good right hook between my left temple andeye socket before I realized she was getting physical. Sylvia hadn't tried to inflictcapital punishment on those who crossed her since fifth grade.

While I didn't use mytelekinetic power to shove her away, pin her to the wall, maybe even shove her throughthe wall, honesty compels me to admit that Harry saved me. Maybe he had a littleability to fly, or least do the long jump fast, and hard. He body-slammed Sylviafrom behind while she was spinning around and coming back in for another strike.I was still catching my breath and seeing stars. Then suddenly the male five percentof the faculty and staff stormed into the room and got hold of Sylvia.

Dr. Butterfield had heardeverything, and proved he had a future writing political speeches with the greatspin he put on the whole encounter. Without repeating a single word that eitherof us said, he put everything on Sylvia. She was a resident at the school and Iwas a guest. She had come back to the chapel when she should have been heading toher next class. It all worked against her.

The headmistress cameto apologize while we were sitting in Dr. Butterfield's private quarters. He wasdigging some very old ice from the back of his tiny English refrigerator to puton my eye. She assured us that Sylvia had gone "beyond the pale" (yeah,they still said that in Jolly Olde England) and had wasted the last of many secondchances granted her.

Whatever that meant, itdidn't mean Sylvia returned to Neighborlee High for the rest of our junior year.Unfortunately, she did come back for our senior year.

I couldn't wait to gethome and report to the "We loathe Sylvia Grandstone club." It wasn't reallyan official group, although a number of people in our graduating class confessedthey had looked into voodoo dolls and sending requests to the State Department tokeep her from coming back into the country.

No, that wasn't very matureof me. It also wasn't very mature that I let Mum and Pop praise me for not usingmy powers to slam Sylvia into the wall, or through a window, or just hold her upin the air and spin her around like a WWE wrestling champion. I didn't use my telekinesisbecause I didn't get a chance. Ten-plus years of self-imposed "never use ourtalents where other people can see" made me hesitate. Even when it came toa chance to work out my frustrations on Sylvia Grandstone and get payback for allmy friends at school.

So I really didn't deserveany of the kudos I got. Sympathy for my black eye, yes, I earned that. Praise fornot slamming that spoiled brat snot into a greasy makeup smear on the stonewall of the chapel? Nope.

YeOldeDragonBooks.com

Excerpt: SEMI-PSEUDO-SUPERHEROES

 

"How did you conthem into adopting you? Like, you're gonna be rich when they kick off. Both of themare so old. You have got to tell me how you did it."

Why? So she could consomeone into adopting her?

"I didn't do anything.I was only six when they adopted me." I barely managed to hold back "remember?"because of course, the only time Sylvia paid attention to me back in school waswhen I stood between her and what she wanted. "Right place, right time, rightpeople, I guess." I couldn't really say my parents were warm, loving peoplewho were looking to share their love. Sylvia would not understand at all.

"Some people getall the luck." She straightened up and shook her head, with that calculated,slow kind of movement that I swear she had to practice in the mirror. How else couldshe get her curls to respond like that and lay just so on her shoulders? "You'rerich. Who would have thought it? I mean, you don't act it."

"What does actingrich mean?"

"Well … not dressinglike that, for one thing." She fluttered her fingers at me.

Then she stopped, frowning.My deceptively casual outfit was brand new. Mum and I spent half a day at Selfridgeswith a personal shopper, putting together outfits. Mum liked casual, but she alsoliked quality. She liked stuff that lasted. Yes, sometimes she wore jeans so heavilystudded with rhinestones that she almost couldn't lift her legs to walk, but shealso liked good quality, casual fashion. For the first time on the trip, I wasn'twearing my usual comfy jeans with an overshirt and T-shirt.

"What's wrong withmy clothes?" I had to ask.

"Better get yourmoney back from that shopper chick who was helping you spend all Pop's money,"Harry said, leaning into the doorway. He crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out,then straightened out his expression when Sylvia turned to look at him.

"You have a personalshopper?" she drawled, her disbelief so thick in her voice, the pitch slidup the scale about an octave. "What is your problem? Why are you acting likeyou're a stupid poor hick all the time?"

"How should I act?Like a spoiled brat arrogant snot who thinks she should run the world, and justmakes herself look like a brainless twit?"

"Like you?"Harry added.

Sylvia let out a steamwhistle shriek and launched herself at me. How unfair was that? Harry said it. Shenever would have realized I was talking about her until he said it.

RELEASE DAY: the next Quarry Hall women's fiction/suspense novel: KATHRYN

 

Today is RELEASE DAY for the next Quarry Hall suspense novel, KATHRYN. Published by Mt. Zion Ridge Press. For print, ebook or audiobook, go to www.MtZionRidgePress.com

You can go to Ye Olde Dragon Books and SAVE $$ on the ebook and audiobook right now -- PLUS you'll get IN THE AIR, ON THE AIR, a short story set in Tabor Heights, the "sister" series to Quarry Hall -- your choice of ebook or audiobook.

https://yeoldedragonbooks.com/homepage/

What's it about?

Kathryn's retreat for relaxation and contemplation is interrupted to take a fugitive to safety, beyond the reach of authorities who may be compromised. The injured woman knows her name is Regina, but not why people were shooting at her. The journey to reach a friend in the FBI is complicated when Kathryn's illness requires frequent stops, permitting Regina's pursuers to nip at their heels.

When the mountains interfere with cell reception, and she can't stop long enough to make a call for help and advice, Kathryn has only her companion dog, her own wits, and prayer to depend on. Deception waits around every corner and Regina's attitude tests Kathryn's sympathy and her faith.


https://yeoldedragonbooks.com/homepage/

Excerpt: SEMI-PSEUDO-SUPERHEROES

 

I always had to keep inmind the rules Kurt and Felicity and I had made up to protect our talents or powersor whatever let us do what we did. Hide what we did, hide what we were, hide fromtrouble. There was no telling when the weirdness factor of Neighborlee would failus, and those people who spied on the children’s home would return, notice us, andmake us vanish.

So it was good that Sylviadidn't catch me kinda-sorta flying.

"Am I supposed toask what you were thinking?" I asked, after we stood there for a few minutesin silence.

Sylvia was the one Grandstonewho had learned some patience. Where just staring down her cousins, Reggie and Freddiewould get them to mouth off and get themselves in trouble, silence didn't get underSylvia's skin. She could stand there and smirk, or give indications of the mentalgymnastics she was going through, and wait for someone else to talk.

The smart tactic was totake control of the pseudo-conversation when Sylvia was involved. Besides, the moretime she had to think, the better the chances she would twist the situation aroundentirely in her favor. For instance, if I made her stand there long enough, by thetime an argument arose and she started screaming, she would have convinced herselfthat I had tricked her into staying behind after the Q&A. Since I had survivedten years of attending school with her, the odds were good that I could predictwhat she would say and do, and even how she thought. If the mental gyrations inthe gray matter of a Grandstone brain could be called "thinking."

"Just how long didyou think you could keep that secret?" She adjusted her stance so the otherhip was cocked out and she leaned against the other side of the door.

"Uh, it's a secretto me, I guess."

That got one of her trademarksqueal-snorts. "Your parents."

"It's no secret thatI have parents."

I fully expected her toharangue me with the fact that I was one of the Lost Kids of Neighborlee. Formerresident of Neighborlee Children's Home. A reject. A throwaway. Sloppy seconds.

"They're famous!"Sylvia came out of the doorway, jamming her fists into her hips. "Your parentsare big-time, famous writers! How long did you think you could hide it? Some people!"Another squeal, with only a touch of snort.

"Uh, I never triedto hide it."

What I tried to hide wasmy grin. Until that first booksigning where people were lined up halfway aroundthe block, it never really registered that my parents with twenty books to theirnames were indeed popular writers. People paid good money and waited eagerly forfirst editions in hardback.

"I can't believeI never made the connection." Sylvia tipped her head to one side, letting herhair fall in her face. "I mean, yeah, they're the weird, hippie Zephyrs, butthey're famous. They've got about a gazillion books that people buy. Youare rich."

Uh huh. So that was herproblem. Nobody in town was allowed to be rich other than the Grandstones.

YeOldeDragonBooks.com