From me to you

[Helen]

-STOP PRESS-STOP PRESS-STOP PRESS-STOP PRESS-

~FREE BOOKS BY HELEN LAYCOCK THROUGHOUT 2016~

Here is my gift to you:

For 5 days of each month this year, I am going to offer a different book of mine free for kindle download. Look out for posts about this promotion. If you would like to return the gesture, then a review on Amazon would be wonderful. Thank you. x

JANUARY

Light Bites*

*Details below

FEBRUARY


MARCH


APRIL


MAY


JUNE


JULY


AUGUST


SEPTEMBER


OCTOBER
A Mouthful of Chuckles

NOVEMBER


DECEMBER



*JANUARY 27th – 31st*

FREE BOOK: Light Bites (Download the Kindle edition from Amazon)




Take a pinch of humour, a touch of light-heartedness and a drop of whimsy and you have the perfect recipe to be savoured any time, anywhere. Light Bites – a collection of satisfying and uplifting tales.



'The author writes so well, in such a 'real' way that I found myself immersed in each tale.'

'Her characters are easy to relate to and there is lots of humour that keeps you entertained.'

'I thoroughly enjoyed every story and would definitely recommend it.'

'There is certainly something for everyone here.'

'A very good read.'

'Utterly delicious'

'Dahl-esque delight - ridiculously funny, yet intelligent. Weird and wonderful characters - a chocolate box of surprises.'

'When you read a collection of short stories and come away thinking "I wish each of those was a book in its own right" then you know the writing is good. Ms Laycock makes the absurd seem real. In one of the stories, Harry Potter could have waltzed straight in. Written with a light touch and a dry sense of humour. I loved it.'

'If you like your stories short, wickedly funny, more than a little twisted and unexpectedly sentimental in places - then this is definitely for you.'

'Perfect length for a work break or with coffee and biscuits, care needed to not laugh out loud or choke!'

'The true-life tale of Yiscah (formerly Jeffrey) Smith may serve as the inspiration for UK author Helen Laycock's knock-about comedy, 'Occupational Therapy', a tale from her short story collection, 'Light Bites', in which fairy Lily Blue becomes a goblin and lives happily ever after.'

'This mirthful collection of a dozen cheery tales makes clear that she revels in her present work and causes me to wonder how much her school students must miss her -- even now.'

'I would recommend this collection to anyone who is looking for some "Light Bites" to entertain them.'

[Helen]

*** Roll up! Roll up! ***

~FREE short story collection~

Take a pinch of humour, a touch of light-heartedness and a drop of whimsy and you have the perfect recipe to be savoured any time, anywhere.
Light Bites - a collection of satisfying and uplifting tales.

Just click on the Amazon links to get your Kindle edition FREE (worldwide) until the end of the month.

Light Bites



UK link: http://tinyurl.com/mg2zd52
US link: http://tinyurl.com/hnvv456

[Helen]

April 20th – 24th

Martha and Mitch

FREE quirky children’s mystery with a dash of Roald Dahl and a sprinkling of Lemony Snicket
for readers of 8 – 12

#1 in Kindle Store > Books > Children's eBooks > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Family Life > Stepfamilies



UK: http://tinyurl.com/zzmhnut
US: http://tinyurl.com/zfufcap

Martha is humble and unspoilt, despite living a life of utter luxury at Lottery Lodge with her (mostly absent) father and stepmother, Penelope.
Mitch lives at the boys’ orphanage, a dilapidated mansion run by Ariadne Scattypants.

Neither child has any idea about the life the other is leading.

Between Lottery Lodge and the orphanage is a dense wood and it is here that a band of wild boys live. Mitch finds himself at their mercy, but somehow manages to scrabble his way out of the woods, emerging at Martha’s wonderful home.

However, here, too, things are taking a sinister turn.

[Helen]

Here is an extract from Martha and Mitch which is FREE until Sunday 24th April.

To put it into context, Mitch has just left the orphanage to join the band of boys living wild in the woods. He does not get the welcome he expects...

Meanwhile, Mitch was trekking through the thick, dark woods, trying to remember in which direction he had seen the camp from the tree top. He was very cold. The evening was damp and his shoes were worn and uncomfortable. In the pitch black he was finding it very difficult to see. Thick branches above his head almost cut out what little moonlight there was.

Then he heard it. Just a slight noise. A snap of a twig and a rustle of leaves.

A huge weight dropped on to his back and he fell to the forest floor. The smell of damp leaves was in his nostrils and he felt a smear of cold mud upon his face. There was someone sitting on his back, holding him down.

‘Friend or foe?’ It was a boy’s voice. Mitch’s spirits lifted.

Someone from the camp!

‘Friend!’ said Mitch, attempting to roll over so that he could meet this new acquaintance, but he was held fast. ‘Why are you pinning me down? Let me up so that I can at least shake hands and introduce myself.’

The strange boy was quiet.

Suddenly, from all around him, Mitch heard more rustling and menacing whispers.

‘Hey! What’s going on? Will someone please tell me?’

Mitch was beginning to feel scared. What was going on? He had come to join the camp. He was a friend, one of the boys from the orphanage. Why were they treating him like this? What had he done wrong?

Silence.

Mitch, still flat on the ground, became aware of a pair of large feet standing astride just in front of his face. As his head was being held down, he was unable to look up beyond the ankles of the stranger. In the darkness, he could just make out that the shoes were torn and ragged. Dirty toes were peeping through with long, claw-like toenails. He could see no trouser legs, no socks, just thick, muddy ankles, camouflaged in the dark.

‘Release him.’ This voice was deeper, commanding.

Slowly, Mitch got up on to all fours and pushed himself up to a standing position. The boy in front of him towered over him and was standing with his hands on his hips. All around him were other boys, all dark-faced, so that Mitch could only see silhouettes. He was unable to recognise anyone.

‘Name?’ ordered the deep voice.

Mitch held out his hand as a token of friendship, but it was not taken.

‘Mitch,’ he said in a quiet voice. ‘And you are?’

‘Your leader, Montgomery.’

Mitch was suddenly struck by the thought of his old bed, where Johnson was now sound asleep. This was not how he imagined his welcome to be. All those late-night stories in the dormitory had created in his mind a quite different scene from that with which he was now met.

At that moment, Montgomery issued a command which was responded to immediately. The boys closed in around Mitch, hoisted him up and carried him flat on his back above their heads through the dark woods, chanting,

‘Initiate, initiate,
Emaciate, emaciate,
Rubricate, rubricate,
Eradicate, eradicate.’

Mitch was bemused. This didn’t match the stories that were told at Miss Scattypants’. They must have been rumours. All the boys that Mitch talked to had thought that life in the forest was a life of camaraderie and adventure. It wasn’t meant to be like this. This was scary. And those words. What did they mean? The boys were repeating them over and over again. This time in a whisper.

‘Initiate, initiate,
Emaciate, emaciate,
Rubricate, rubricate,
Eradicate, eradicate.’

He tried to pick them out. Well, Miss Scattypants had read lots of stories to the boys, so Mitch was able to pick out most of the words.

‘Initiate’. That must be something to do with an initiation ceremony when a new member joins some sort of group or club, he thought as he was carried along through the trees. It’s usually some sort of unpleasant ordeal, where the new person has to perform a task to prove their worth.

‘Emaciate’? Don’t you say someone is ‘emaciated’ when they are starving? It’s when their bones show through their skin. I don’t like the sound of that.

‘Rubricate’? Rubricate? Never heard of it. I’ll just have to wait and see. And what is that last word? Er-ad-i-cate. ERADICATE! That means to get rid of something! What on earth am I going to do?

The next thing that Mitch knew, he was being pushed into some sort of cage which was hanging from a tree. It was made from twigs tightly entwined and was only big enough for Mitch to crouch. With that, he was left swinging in the dark, silent night, alone and afraid. As the boys retreated, Mitch heard their voices fading into the distance.

‘Emaciate, emaciate, emaciate...’

‘So, this is it,’ he thought, ‘the first stage of the initiation. They are going to starve me.’