Fierce Middle Grade Fantasy Reads
Hello my fiercelings!
Boy, are you ever in for a treat. You’re going to love it.
From the amazingly talented Michele Carpenter, I give you the live action book trailer for Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well.
Isn’t it phenomenal? I’m so excited I could pop!
Thank you to the wonderfully talented individuals who helped to create this new aspect of my world. I’m thrilled to pieces and can’t express in words how much this means to me.
I’m over at Rosemary’s book blog, Mom Read It, discussing the adoption themes which can be found within my series. Adoption is an important topic to me because my two younger sisters are adopted from China. Before I even started the book series, I knew I wanted to portray a positive adoption outlook between adoptive parents and adoptees in my books.
For those who know me and my family, they can see little facets of my siblings, my parents, and myself in the way certain characters interact. Merry for instance is very much a representation of my mother. The nightly tea parties, which are seen in Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword, are something she did with one of my sisters before my sister went off to college.
To read more about this topic and how adoption affects Zaria Fierce and Aleks Mickelsen in similar, but different ways, head over there for a deeper look. Be sure to leave a comment while you’re there because one lucky winner will get a Fierce Scale necklace from me, in the color of their choosing. Will you pick a color that reminds you of a dragon like Fritjof, a winter-wyvern like Norwick, or a river-troll like Bjarke? So many fun options!
Rosemary also had some wonderful things to say about the fourth book in the Zaria Fierce Series. Here’s a sneak peek:
I have wanted to know more about Aleks since I first read that he was a changeling – and that his grandmother is, too! Readers won’t be disappointed; we learn more about Aleks’ origin here, and I love the inner conflict raging with Aleks as he realizes that there is no black and white situation: he initially thinks it’s not a big deal at all to give up his fey gifts, but learns that not only can his ability to find things be a huge help, he learns that his fey side is very much a part of him. Don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone? Aleks may just have to learn that lesson that hard way.
You can read the full review for Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well on her blog. Thanks, Rosemary!
Hi Everyone,
I’m so excited to share with you these two fabulous book crafts for the Zaria Fierce Series. Today you’ll get learn how to make different colored slime to represent characters from the books, and you’ll learn how to create you’re own Kettupeli board game, which is from the second book in the series.
Learn to make colorful slime in this video made by Michele Carpenter, narrator of the Zaria Fierce Series, and her kids. There’s orange slime for Aleks Mickelsen, purple with gold glitter slime for Zaria Fierce, green slime for trolls, and white and silver glitter slime for white ravens.
Ingredients:
The ratios are loose. Normally Michele and her kids just wing it. It’s best if you mix the glue, food coloring, and other ingredients all together before adding the liquid starch. Liquid starch should always be last, except before glitter. Glitter can go in at the end.
Which is your favorite slime? Leave a comment below!
Watch the video for a quick overview of creating the game. You’ll see the finish layout and see how it’s all put together. It’s pretty simple, but a lot of fun!
You’ll need:
All these materials can be found in a craft store or down a craft aisle at a big box store.
Pegs:
Instructions on how to play the game can be found within book two of the Zaria Fierce Series, Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword.
Happy crafting! I’d love to see your creations – be sure to e-mail me pictures or tag me on social media!
Escape room games are a new source of entertainment sweeping the nation and gaining in popularity. I didn’t know much about them, other than my hubby saying the idea for them is based off the Saw franchise. I’m not into horror so I put the idea of doing one on the back burner. I didn’t really think the rooms were all designed for cheap horror thrills, like a haunted house, but I didn’t know what to expect either. It wasn’t until seeing Geek and Sundry’s Escape Room web series that I got super excited. It was the catalyst for me to jump in head first and try one out.
Having now completed two different scenarios (technically escaping only one, and missing the other by a one-to-two minute margin), I fully recommend trying them out for all, and feel that every fiction author should do one to improve their writing, and not just for mystery writers, but for any genre. Here’s how:
Escape rooms are a wonderful tool in author’s toolkit, and plus it’s so much fun to do. Your readers will also thrill in solving puzzles, chaining together a series of clues, and completing a set of challenges. Good luck and may you have a great escape! 🙂
Thinking of other books, which feature fun immersive games/challenges, off the top of my head, I enjoyed the Triwizard Tournament from Harry Potter, the 74th and 75th Hunger Games from the trilogy with the same name, the Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, Nancy Drew mysteries, the Testing in the trilogy with the same name, and the Selection in the trilogy with the same name.
In the Zaria Fierce Series there are two such sequences a few books apart. The first in book two involving the fey in Niffleheim. Zaria and her friends must win two of three challenges. The stakes are high and they can’t afford to be outmatched. Now the next trials they’ll face is in a future book, also with the fairies. If you recall from book two, I said fairies love games. You’ll see what I mean when the gang reaches Niffleheim again.
What are your favorite tests/challenges/puzzles/trials/tournaments in books?
A: When you finish reading book three in the trilogy you will see the same possibility for the story to continue as I did. So that said, get excited! I’ve started writing the fourth book in the series. To get a sneak peek of it you can go to its book page. Let me know what you think. Are you as thrilled as I am for a continuance?
NOTE: This post series may include spoilers from the Zaria Fierce Trilogy. If you hate spoilers, please read about the themes in Zaria Fierce after you have read the books.
The power of good plays a very important role in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy and is one of the trilogy’s core themes. It’s a beacon in the darkness; a guide to light the path of our bookish heroine, her friends, and readers.
The villain, Koll, is a dragon, and he is no friend. Dragons in the trilogy are a stand in for original evil. Koll, whose name literally means dark, is the first of all dragons. He represents the idea that there is something in the world that opposes God, good.
The power of dragons is animal magnetism, which can be best defined as mesmerism or hypnotism. It is a mere belief of power and not actual power. It is treachery, baseness, falseness, and evil. It would rob you of everything that makes you who you are and blind you to good.
Koll’s power, like all dragons, has no foundation or substance. He can only steal from others what they intentionally or unintentionally attributed to him. He can do this by subtle means as in the second book in the trilogy, where he influences Zaria’s thoughts and feelings, or overtly, as in the third book, where he transforms into his true form and uses it to intimidate Zaria.
To fight dragons you can neither be like them, for they are evil, nor can you use their weapons of deceit and trickery. You must recognize them in all their forms, and know who you are and hold to it. You can’t give into them or their suggestions, or you will be lost, blind, and left in darkness. It’s a miserable place to be as Zaria will tell you, because you will doubt yourself, your worth, your actions, and your heart.
Hector Woodworth explains best how you might recognize the differences in your heart compared to a dragon’s influence when taking to Zaria in the following scene from the third book:
“Princess,” Hector said, “Koll can’t take what you don’t give him. Remember his power is animal magnetism. It’s about convincing you he knows better, changing you into something else, and taking from you what you would not freely give. Know yourself and he will be unable to reach you. This is important. You can’t let him win.”
Zaria wanted to do that, but she wasn’t even fourteen yet. She didn’t know what she wanted to eat for breakfast from one day to the next, let alone know herself. It was too frustrating and impossible.
“How?” she demanded. “How do I do that?”
“Sometimes it’s easier to know what you’re not,” Hector said simply. “You’re not mean, or cruel, or evil, or guilty. You’re not prone to self-loathing.”
Every action has consequences. Zaria knows this because she’s experienced those consequences. To overcome past mistakes, she must be attentive and alert to the dangers around her. She must be her truest self and express it thoroughly to defeat Koll. This is no easy task or lesson to learn. So it is for those who dare to confront dragons that they will find the very best in themselves.
It is my hope that readers will gain a little of Zaria’s strength and take it with them when they leave the books to return to their daily lives. Everyone deserves to be a dragon slayer, to know they possess that bravery inside them, and can conquer all fear, obstacles, and opposition with kindness and love… and perhaps, just a little bit of magic.
Thus it is that good must win over evil, love over hatred, truth over error. Now and always.
