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Featured Notebook - My Unicorn Muse - Spiral Notebook
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Teen, YA or Older Reader Unicorn Book Feature - The Lonely Unicorn By Alec Waugh
It began, I suppose, on a certain September afternoon, when Roland Whately travelled back to school by the three-thirty train from Waterloo. There were two afternoon trains to Fernhurst: one left London at three-thirty and arrived at a quarter to six; the other left at four-eighteen, stopped at every station between Basingstoke and Salisbury, waited twenty-five minutes at Templecombe for a connection, and finally reached Fernhurst at eight-twenty-three. It is needless to state that by far the greater part of the school travelled down by the four-eighteen—who for the sake of a fast train and a comfortable journey would surrender forty-eight minutes of his holidays?—and usually, of course, Roland accompanied the many.
This term, however, the advantages of the fast train were considerable. He was particularly anxious to have the corner bed in his dormitory. There was a bracket above it where he could place a candle, by the light of which he would be able to learn his rep. after "lights out." If he were not there first someone else would be sure to collar it. And then there was the new study at the end of the passage; he wanted to get fresh curtains and probably a gas mantle: when once the school was back it was impossible, for at least a week, to persuade Charlie, the school custos, to attend to an odd job like that. And so he travelled back by a train that contained, of the three hundred boys who were on the Fernhurst roll, only a dozen fags and three timid Sixth-Formers who had distrusted the animal spirits of certain powerful and irreverent Fifth-Formers. On the first day, as on the last, privilege counts for[12] little, and it is unpleasant to pass four hours under the seat of a dusty railway carriage.
It was the first time that Roland had been able to spend the first evening of a term in complete leisure. He walked quietly up to the house, went down to the matron's room and consulted the study and dormitory lists. He found that he was on the Sixth-Form table, had been given the study for which he had applied, and was in the right dormitory. He bagged the bed he wanted, and took his health certificate round to the Chief's study.
"Ah, Whately, this is very early. Had a good holiday?"
"Yes, thank you, sir."
"Feeling ready for football? They tell me you've an excellent chance of getting into the XV.?"
"I hope so, sir."
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Featured Notebook - I'm A Dancing Prancing Unicorn Writer - Spiral Notebook
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Tween or Middle Kid Unicorn Book Feature - The Unicorn With Silver Shoes By Ella Young
The Unicorn with Silver Shoes is an extremely imaginative and well-written fairy tale about Ballor’s son and his amusing companions, Flame of Joy, Angus the Ever Young. And the Pooka who can change shapes into anything he wants. In their search for Elbis, the Djinn, who fell into the Civilized World, while clutching for the moon which he thinks is a flower, the group partake in many fanciful and thrilling adventures and escapes including climbing slanting sunbeams; running like the wind just above the Earth; sliding down the polished surfaces of crystal and amethyst mountains; and winging their way on the back of the Sacred Cat of Cruachan over the Mountains of the Silver Unicorns. Finally they are assisted by the One-Headed Ogre of Whirling Castle in the Borderland who helps them in the search for Eblis in the Civilized World.
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Little Kid Unicorn Book Feature - The Unicorn Who Wanted To Be Seen By L K Hahn
A vision of a unicorn inspires an old man, who had spent his life making bronze sculptures, to create his masterpiece when he thought himself too old to make anything anew.
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Tween or Middle Kid Unicorn Book Feature - Elidor By Alan Garner
The much-loved classic, finally in ebook.
Roland, Helen, Nicholas and David, four Manchester children, are led into Elidor, a twilight world almost destroyed by fear and darkness.
On a gloomy day in Manchester, Roland, Helen, Nicholas and David are lured into a ruined church, where the fabric of time and place is weak enough to allow them into the twilight world of Elidor. It is a place almost destroyed by fear and darkness, and the children are charged with guarding its Treasures while a way is sought to save the dying land.
Then the evil forces find a path through to this world…
This new edition of Alan Garner’s classic includes a special “Why You’ll Love This Book” introduction from bestselling author, Jonathan Stroud.
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Featured Gift of the Day - Unicorn , Rainbow and Butterfly Ring Set
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Little Kid Unicorn Book Feature - The Night of the Unicorn By Jenny Nimmo
There it was: a sky full of shooting stars. They sped through the black night, winking and glistening, and although their voices were silent, Amber felt they were trying to tell her a secret. The following morning, Amber awakes to all sorts of discoveries. Hennie, her favourite hen, has vanished; a strange white horse appears at the animal sanctuary; and Luke Benson, the unhappy new boy at school, confides in Amber his impossible wish. But perhaps what Luke is looking for is not so far out of reach. For it suddenly seems that anything might happen...
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The world already ended once. Now it's up to an outgunned negotiator, a disavowed spy, and an immersion-addicted hacker to stop it from happening again.
Centuries after the Fold, civilization is fragile. In the megacity of Naion, people live stacked in arcologies, most never going outside because the air is another enemy. Instead, freedom comes from technology: bodytechs modify the human form while synthetic intelligences whisper through brainware.
Now a new bridge between man and machine has emerged, one that could destroy humanity’s second shot at survival—or save it, depending on who gets to it first....
Adasha Denali is one of the government’s best dispute resolution specialists, but when a scandal threatens to destabilize the city and end her career, she’ll need more than words to escape the fallout. Venturing out of her office and into a fight for the future, she’ll team up with a disavowed spy, learning the hard way that betrayal wears many faces, and one of them may be her own.
Neon Nik is an immersion-addicted IT freelancer struggling to pay off debts to circling loan sharks. Threats of dismemberment become the least of his problems when a surprise inheritance throws him into a vortex of corporate kill squads willing to burn the city down to find him.
Engineered spies, high-tech mercenaries, and immersion hackers collide in this first gripping installment of the Centricity Cycle.
Read an Excerpt
Blobby lights cartwheeled and frayed at the edges.
Voros had been dreaming of a forest, the taste of blood and dirt on his lips. Then all at once, the rest of his senses rose as if from the depths of a black ocean, battered into confusion as soon as they broke the surface.
A hundred and forty kilos of muscle slammed into him, throwing him onto a table. Stalks broke and lacy petals scattered.
Voros threw a clump of spongy soil into his attacker’s face and kicked him in the chest, pushing himself backwards off the flowerbed. Spiked fists crashed into the dirt like the heads of ancient weapons. Having missed, the man knocked his side of the table downward. The opposite edge rose and caught Voros in the jaw; half his face went numb.
The bull charged again. Voros leapt onto the next table, grabbed at a vine-covered trellis above, and swung up. He didn’t like retreating but needed time to figure out what the hell was going on.
Kill EltsLene, cement cooperation. Right, this all had something to do with the replacement neurotechnologist.
Tracks of grow lights illuminated long islands of grid racks, spiral growing columns, and stacked flowerbeds. The terraced garden overlooked a vista of arcology interior; not inhabited space, but a complex weave of environmental systems.
This was a fight, so why wasn’t he being shot at or shooting back? Where was his gun?
About the Author: Nathaniel Henderson was born in 1983 in Albuquerque, NM, USA. At a young age he moved to Tulsa, OK, where he spent the next fifteen or so years surviving adolescence. After graduating from high school, he packed it up and headed out west to the picturesque Santa Cruz, CA to attend UCSC. After a year of wrestling with computer science, he transferred to San Francisco to study computer animation and special effects. The career didn’t stick, and he set off to teach English in South Korea, Thailand, and finally Tokyo, Japan, where he currently resides.
email: citizenhenderson@gmail.com
website: http://nathanielhenderson.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/citizenhenderson
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/citizenhenderson
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The book will be on sale for $0.99 for a limited time, until release date of October 20.
Amazon Link (Pre-Order until 10.20.2020):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08J859X4R
Nathaniel Henderson will be awarding a $40 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC
to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Enter for a chance to win.
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Teen, YA or Older Reader Unicorn Book Feature - Stalking The Unicorn By Mike Resnick
Detective John Justin Mallory finds himself in an alternate Manhattan, one filled with goblins and elves and leprechauns -- and an incredibly valuable unicorn that must be found before sunrise or his client's life is forfeit. Along the way he picks up a partner and a very unique cat. This is the first of the three Eohn Justin Mallory novels (the othes are Stalking the Vampire and Stalking the Dragon). First published in 1987, this was an urban fantasy novel before there -were- urban fantasy novels.
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Featured Gift of the Day - Unicorn Battery Charger
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Tween or Middle Kid Unicorn Book Feature - I Believe In Unicorns By Michael Morpurgo
Eight-year-old Tomas hates reading. He would much rather be clambering around his beloved mountains. But when his mother forces him to visit the library, he can't help but listen to the enchanting tales the librarian spins as she sits on a lifelike wooden unicorn. When war comes to their village, it is Tomas's newfound love of books that helps save the library's holdings from destruction. Set against a backdrop of encroaching war, I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS is an eloquent reminder of the power of storytelling to alter our lives.
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Featured Gift of the Day - Unicorn Sleeping Bag
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Little Kid Unicorn Book Feature - Morgan & Me - Book 7 By Stephen Cosgrove
A magical story of a little princess who wants and needs to do everything "just a little bit later." Everything is put off until later — until she meets Morgan the unicorn. A wonderful lesson to be learned by children of all ages.
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If home is where the heart is, the warrior Lady Alexin is very far from home, indeed. Banished from her home in the Elven realm of Eledon to the mortal world of near future London, and robbed of her magic, she has no choice but to try and find a place in a world where she doesn’t fit in. Yet for all their peculiarities, the mortals have not been unkind; she has a new career as a high fashion runway model, her very own flat in a posh section of town and a host of opportunities to socialize with a variety of admirers, including a handsome Detective Inspector from Scotland Yard.
Yet nothing but her former training as a tracker and assassin could have prepared her for the discovery that beautiful young Elven women are being kidnapped and trafficked as slaves into the mortal world by the notorious Rock Elves, working with the white supremacist 23rd Infantry–an unholy alliance led by Alex’s old nemesis, Sawgrass. As the truth unravels her mission is clear–a call from home she cannot allow to go unanswered, even if it means her life.
Chapter 1
Rejected…angry…confused…depressed…Alex’s attempt to return home to Eledon to be with her Elf family and friends had failed and she remained stranded in the mortal world. No, the correct term was exiled.
Nothing seemed to improve her mood, not even signing a one-year contract to work as a model for Suzette, an up-and-coming fashion designer at a London studio.
Suzette tried to help her state of mind by dragging her to a disco to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Miranda, Suzette’s former model, was in town for a few days and invited some close friends to join her celebration. Alex didn’t know her and wanted to decline, but Suzette insisted. So here they were, staring at the crowd on the dance floor.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies gyrated to the rhythm of the same musical heartbeat. The place oozed with humans and the music was so loud, Alex could feel her heart pumping in time with the music. Instantly, she felt like she belonged to the same musical organism that had taken over the dance floor. This was her first time in a nightclub—it was called the Factory, the newest hangout in London.
They stored their winter coats and purses in a room to the side where Alex could speak to Suzette but she still had to shout over the music. “I thought you said this party was for close friends of Miranda. There must be thousands of people here.”
“Oh, you know how it is, love. One person invites another and another. The next thing you know, you have this. Come on, let’s join the fun.” She beckoned Alex to the dance floor.
Alex didn’t know how to dance to this music, so she copied Suzette’s moves, raising her hands over her head and wriggling her hips, feeling somewhat silly. Abruptly, the lighting changed—Suzette’s blue hair stood out like a glowing lamp and Alex’s white blouse changed to purple.
Alex stopped and stared while everyone else kept dancing as if nothing had happened. She didn’t understand the transformation under ultraviolet light but when she looked over to ask Suzette, she was gone. Alex gasped, worried that someone might have kidnapped her. Just a few weeks ago, Alex herself had been kidnapped by a white supremacist group, the 23rd Infantry, in order to lure Suzette’s father to a warehouse to kill him, just because he was a black man. Even knowing those men had been captured or killed didn’t stop her from panicking. She felt protective of Suzette; she was vulnerable, a black woman standing five-foot-two and a hundred pounds, soaking wet. At six-feet, Alex looked over the crowd and spotted Suzette’s vibrant hair and her clothes—the paisley shirt and jeans, now glowing under the light. She breathed a sigh of relief and headed over.
Without warning, a male dancer came up to her. He was young, tall, and thin; his white skin sunburned on his cheeks and nose. He’s cute, Alex thought and smiled at him. The mirrored disco lights flashed, showing off his light-colored eyes—blue or green or gray, she wasn’t sure but he winked at her. His blond hair was cut close to his scalp—the cut was often called high and tight by the soldiers at the Nyla Army Garrison where she’d been trained, but the top of his hair was long and fell around his ears. Was he a soldier? Her brother-in-law Edgar came to mind. He was a professional soldier and referred to civilians who dressed like soldiers as ‘wannabes.’
As she danced, she blushed as his eyes focused on her body as if he could see her naked. Uncomfortable under his stare, she danced around him toward Suzette’s last location, but he jumped in front of her and stood very close. He grabbed her waist and rubbed the crotch of his pants against her hips. His eyes closed and she could feel his arousal intensify. His public display shocked her and she tried to move away. But he persisted. Not only did this guy ‘wannabe’ a soldier, but he also wanted to be a sexual object. It reminded her of a film she saw with Suzette called Magic Mike. She threw her head back and laughed as she thought of a name for him, ‘Wannabe Willy.’ She shouted at him, “Back off!” and then resumed her journey.
But Wannabe Willy came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed his crotch against her buttocks as he shouted in her ear, “Hey, baby doll, I like tall girls. You turn me on.”
That was the last thing she wanted to do. She squirmed out of his hold as he slid a card down the front of her shirt with his right hand. “Call me. We can have a private party.”
Alex stiff-armed him in the chest, forcing him back. “I said to back off and I meant it!”
He laughed and danced closer as he wriggled his tongue and licked his lips. She kneed him in the balls and he bent over, covering his private parts with his hands. His eyes opened wide.
“I said to back off!” Alex’s jaw clenched tightly as she stood with her hands on her hips. “Leave me alone!”
He hobbled away and disappeared into the crowd.
Alex’s anger simmered. If I was home, my cousin Prince Darin would have sent him to the Mounds prison for rehabilitation. It was true, but her cousin wasn’t here and she wasn’t home…unfortunately. If Wannabe Willy ever came back, she’d have to deal with him on her own terms but she was in no mood for a fight.
Soon, the rhythmic beat of the music calmed her down. To her relief, no one seemed to have noticed her situation. She resumed her trek across the dance floor and finally tracked down Suzette, concluding she wasn’t in any danger.
Alex resumed dancing, copying moves from others around her. None of them were doing the same thing, so she improvised. Just as she got into her groove, the lights flicked on and a deep, male voice came over the speakers, “Time for a break. Be back in ten. We’ll keep the music going…down low.”
Suzette danced to the subdued music as she headed to the bar. She picked up two drinks, holding one high for Alex as she sipped the other. She laughed as Alex wormed her way over to her.
“Thanks.” Alex took a sip and puckered. “What’s this?”
“It’s called a Zephyr.”
It was blue and sweet and cold. Too sweet for Alex. She slid it onto the bar as Suzette headed to the women’s restroom.
Suzette waved her on. “Come on, I just saw Miranda go inside. Let’s wish her a happy birthday.” She danced past the girls standing in the line for the toilets. Near the sinks, a group of women huddled together to talk and laugh. They were all beautiful black women, current and former models at the same design studio where Alex had been hired, the first and only white model to be employed there.
In the middle of the huddle, Miranda showed off a beautiful diamond necklace. It sparkled brightly in the light as the girls oo’d and ah’d. Miranda was a bit shorter and thinner than Alex with beautiful dark skin, even darker than Suzette’s. Her brown eyes were wide with lashes thickly covered with mascara and sparkling eyeliner. Over her shoulders was draped a mane of frizzy blond hair and she had a delicate grace that reminded Alex of her grandmother.
If only I could be so elegant…Alex felt a twinge of envy. Her face glistened with sweat and wisps of her long black hair clung to her neck. With a paper towel, she blotted her face dry. Her blue eyes, bloodshot and irritated, stared into the mirror where she saw the blue hair in her ears. She covered them up with her hair. It was the only feature that made her different from the other people around her and distinguished her as a Water Elf among the Elves. To her, they stood out like beacons. How elegant is that?
As Miranda turned around, Alex got a good look at the necklace. Her eyes widened as she recognized a Governor’s chain, made by the Elves. A dozen large diamonds were connected by a gold chain with a piece of honeyed amber and a pendant, displaying an emblem of sparkling diamonds set on a golden plate. She’d seen the Elfin governors wear them at a meeting several years ago, each one unique.
How did it get here? Was this a sign—a call from home?
Writing fantasy novels is what Joni Parker loves to do. She’s just completed her third series, “The Admiralty Archives,” a trilogy. Her first series, “The Seaward Isle Saga,” includes three books and a short story, while her second, “The Chronicles of Eledon,” has four books. An award-winning novelist, she’s also branched off into short stories, joining local authors in an anthology called, “Beyond Tucson: Adventures in the Multiverse.” Her writing career began after 22 years in the U.S. Navy and another 7 years in federal civil service. She currently resides in Tucson, Arizona with her sister.
Joni's Top Ten Favorite Characters in Call From Home
· Alex Dumwalt: The main character. Of course, she’s my favorite. She’s the one who started all of this. If she hadn’t come around, I probably wouldn’t be writing.
· Suzette Teller: Alex’s friend and roommate. At one point in my life, I dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. It was a dream.
· Graham Tyler: Detective Inspector of Scotland Yard. Alex’s love interest but he’s a cop and a mortal. He’s trying to understand her.
· Roderick Knight: Executive VP for SGI, Inc. For several years, I lived in Pensacola, Florida and there were a lot of good ol’ boys like Roddie who lived there.
· Teo Grosso: Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld, manifested into a human being. This time, he’s Italian. I lived in Italy for several years and loved the country.
· Olivia Richards: Journalist for Sky News. I also thought of becoming a journalist but the Navy thought I’d make a better photographer. Actually, they were right.
· Admiral Teller: Admiral in the British Royal Navy. Alex’s guardian angel in the mortal world. He’s been a great help to her and she’s helped him as well.
· Millie Teller: The Admiral’s wife. Yeah, she’s a little fussy but she loves Alex like a daughter.
· Edgar Winters: Alex’s brother-in-law, a mortal and former Navy SEAL. He reminds me of my husband.
· Rosella, Sea Sprite of Avalon: Most mortals would call her a mermaid and she had been trapped in the mortal world for centuries. In fact, she was in love with King Arthur.
· Mrs. MacDougall and her dog, Inspector Riley: Okay, I know this is too many for the list but how can I forget to include a darling little dog and his owner? Besides, he’s small and she’s a fellow author.
Website: http://www.joni-parker.com
Blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7191836.Joni_Parker/blog
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParkerJoni
