Annabelle Franklin

This afternoon, please help me welcome author Annabelle Franklin, who is here to share a great review of her children’s book, Gateway to Magic. This is sure to be a tale your kids or grandkids would enjoy, and I know you’ll help us spread the word far and wide, in addition to grabbing a copy for your favorite young person. Thanks!

REVIEW:
Amazon Review
5.0 out of 5 stars
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

‘This is for all children who love gaming, and all the parents who never really grew up and are still entranced by the magic of the classic fairy tales and the “other worlds” of Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree. Annabelle Franklin has the rare gift of being able to enter a child’s mind. Stephen is a “hero” every boy and girl will identify with. His struggle against the absolute rule and authority of the Fairy Queen mesmerizing. And don’t worry, boys will love this Fairy Queen – there’s nothing girly or soft about her.

This is storytelling at its best. A book to read and re-read that will become a favourite in the tradition of the classics. I loved it, and as a “test pilot” for the books I buy my grandchildren I am one hundred per cent certain they will. I can’t wait for their next bedtime.’

BLURB:

Gateway to Magic features Steven Topcliff, an 11-year-old gaming fanatic trapped in Fairyland where all tech is banned by law. Steven hates Fairyland – there are no video games, no chicken nuggets and no one tells the truth. The inhabitants are dangerous, sometimes deadly, and the Land itself is a living being that deals out instant magical punishments to lawbreakers. He has to deal with spiteful goblins, a delinquent shapeshifter who insists on being his best mate, and the diva-like Fairy Queen who embroils him in a mysterious game of her own. Steven is a boy who plays to win, but there’s no controlling this dimension with a console – he must use magic to survive and get home.

Buy Gateway to Magic Here:

Gateway to Magic on Amazon
Smashwords
Apple
Kobo
Nook

Annabelle Franklin, Author

Annabelle Franklin is the author of two children’s books, Gateway to Magic and The Slapstyx. Her short story Mercy Dog appears in the anthology Unforgotten: The Great War 1914-1918 (Accent Press) and her horror story Haunted by the Future appears in Dark Gatherings, an anthology published by Swansea and District Writers’ Circle. She is currently working on a supernatural series for children.

You can reach Annabelle on Social Media Here:
Amazon author page
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

Contact
Email annabellefranklin10@gmail.com

Children’s Fantasy writer, Annabelle Franklin, is our guest today. Welcome to #ExcerptWeek, Annabelle. The floor is yours!

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GATEWAY TO MAGIC: The story of a gaming fanatic trapped in Fairyland where technology is banned by law!

Steven Topcliff hates Fairyland – there are no video games, no chicken nuggets and no one tells the truth. He has to deal with spiteful cousin Tracy, who goads him into activating the interdimensional gateway, Nigel the Nuisance, an out-of-control shapeshifter who insists on being his best mate, and the diva-like Fairy Queen who embroils him in some mysterious game of her own. His only chance of escape is to use magic to forge a gateway back to Earth.

There’s no controlling this dimension with a console – Steven must use his own ingenuity to survive and get himself home. But can he believe in himself enough to do it?

Excerpt

Close up, the stone looked more like solidified fungus than rock, and the red plastic button seemed out of place on top of it. The whole thing had a feeling of wrongness, as if it didn’t belong there. The smell in the clearing had got much worse; it really was a dogs’ toilet.

Steven crouched down so he could read the words on the front of the stone:

DO NOT PRESS THIS BUTTON

‘There, we’ve looked,’ he said. ‘It’s just an ordinary stone with a plastic button on it.’

Tracy rolled her eyes. ‘Do ordinary stones usually have plastic buttons on them?’

‘They do if they’re bits of scenery left over from a TV show.’

Tracy crouched next to him. ‘Press it, then.’

‘What?’

‘Press the button and see what happens.’

Steven didn’t move. He felt hot, tired and sick; all his senses were telling him to run for his life, but his feet seemed to be glued to the ground.

‘There’s no need to be scared,’ Tracy went on. ‘If it’s just a bit of old scenery, like you say, nothing will happen, will it?’

That word again. ‘You’re the one who’s scared,’ he said. ‘Otherwise you’d press it yourself. You’re scared to press it, because it tells you not to.’

‘There’s no point me pressing it. You can only go to Fairyland once, and I’ve been already.’ She stood up and brushed leaf mould off her hands. ‘Anyway, it only tells you not to press it so you will.’

‘What?’ He turned his head to look at her. ‘That doesn’t make sense.’

‘Yes it does. It’s like those signs that tell you not to walk on the grass – you just want to do it all the more.’

She had a point.

‘I wish I could go back,’ she sighed. ‘Fairyland is awesome! It’s not the girly sort of place you read about in the kiddy books; it’s so wonderful and exciting, I can’t even describe it.’

‘You can’t describe it because you haven’t been there.’

Tracy crouched down next to him again. ‘Just think, Steven,’ she said softly. ‘If you went there, you wouldn’t be around when the holidays are over. You wouldn’t have to go to that horrid big school you’re so scared of.’

Steven felt like she’d punched him in the stomach. ‘How did you – ’ he began, then caught himself. ‘I’m not scared of going to Comp!’

‘Oh yes you are,’ the soft voice went on. ‘There’s so much to be scared of, isn’t there? Strict teachers and harsh punishments. Being late for lessons because you can’t find your way around all those corridors. Tonnes of homework. And worst of all, the bullies. Big boys and girls, flushing your head down the toilet in break and waiting for you outside the gates after school. Kids with knives – ’

‘Shut up,’ hissed Steven. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Tracy just kept smiling smugly, and at that moment Steven hated her more than he’d ever hated anyone in his life. He didn’t want to think about Comp; with the whole summer stretching before him, he’d managed to put it out of his mind, and that was where he wanted it to stay.

But Tracy had other ideas. ‘Let’s face it, you won’t stand a chance. You’re exactly the sort of boy that bullies love to pick on.’ She put on a mocking baby-voice. ‘A mummy’s boy who never goes out of the house, who’s too scared to press an itty-bitty little red button.’Steven felt like he was going to explode. He wanted to punch Tracy on the nose; but he wasn’t the sort of boy who hit girls, so he punched the stone instead.

Right on the red button.

Annabelle Franklin lives on South Wales’s stunning and magical South Gower coast, sharing her chalet home with two rescued sighthounds. As well as two children’s novels, Gateway to Magic and The Slapstyx, she has written a short story Mercy Dog which appears in Unforgotten (Accent Press), an award-winning anthology themed around WW1. Another short story Haunted by the Future will feature in Dark Gathering, a horror anthology due for publication later in 2016.

Annabelle loves humour, hates housework and believes magic should be on the school curriculum. She is currently working on a series of supernatural stories for children.

Where to Buy

Gateway to Magic on Amazon http://myBook.to/Gateway2Magic
Smashwords http://bit.ly/1j3wjfw
Apple http://apple.co/1Q3NrjX
Kobo http://bit.ly/1UW13fe
Nook http://bit.ly/1K6IkNE