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If you've taken a look at Cinderella Sarah Two, I want to thank you. I appreciate it. If you would still like to get a copy for yourself, now is the time! The price will go up in September to USD2.99 from its current sale price of USD0.99.
There are 14 short stories - six that follow on from stories in the first book; and eight completely new ones. |
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| This last month I've been busy writing my latest mystery in the Crime Stopper Kids Mysteries series. Pretty pleased to get to 19,580 words! Half way!
It's getting busy again in our campervan business, with tourists already arriving, though technically it isn't spring yet. At the same time we've been building stairs at the top of Goat Bank (our hillside we are trying to tame with trees and plants, where our goat used to live). So nice not to need to clutch onto the retaining wall by the tips of my fingernails as I plant yet one more of the 200 agapanthus plants our neighbor gave us (I used to like agapanthus). But at least they compelled us to choose between stairs or abseiling gear.
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3. Work In Progress Sample |
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Here's a sample from the book I'm writing. I've spent lots of time researching Rome;
it's giving me itchy feet. All the kids and parents, plus Andrew, Tessa and Brody (from Book Two) are in Rome, so it makes for some fun conversations. Though it is tricky getting the kids by themselves without parents getting in the way when trouble happens. This scene is just before they all get chased by the paparazzi...Oh, and Logan has a broken arm from a
motocross accident. They headed out of the Colosseum and straight for a pizzeria nearby. Meeka tried to eat as much as Logan and Nate, but she had to surrender after only two humongous pieces.
"Don't eat too much," she said. "You might regret it soon."
Nate stopped moving, a dripping piece of pizza halfway to his mouth. "Why?'
"You'll see," Andrew said, and winked at her.
She winked back.
"Okay, that's it," Nate said. "Did you see that, Logan? Ricochet winking. We better stop eating."
"But this is so good. I've never had such great pizza."
There was the sound of a four or five bleating goats outside.
"They're here," Meeka said and ran outside.
Vespa's. Five Vespa scooters. Red, blue, orange, yellow and green. Almost a rainbow. Rainboiffic.
This was going to be astoundamungus fun!
Andrew was right behind her. Poet and the boys came out, Logan still eating his pizza.
"Wow!" Poet said. "Now that's how a motorbike is meant to look, Logan." She put her arm around Meeka's shoulder and they both jumped up and down.
"It's, err, very pretty," Logan said and pushed the last mouthful of pizza in his mouth. "Woon be 'ery fas tho."
"Fast enough for sightseeing," said one of the drivers. "Rome is a city of ancient buildings and monuments. These allow you to drive through it like it's an open-air museum. Here are the keys, Signor Masterton." He waved at the other drivers and they all handed their keys to Andrew, who dished them out to the adults.
"I understand you all have your motorcycle licenses? Abby? Steve?" Andrew asked.
"Need one to help at motocross," Abby said, taking a few seconds to choose a key. "Red, please."
"Same as Lia chose last week," Andrew said.
"Can't wait to see her," Abby said. "Climb on the back, Poet."
"Perfect," Andrew said. "I'm thinking Meeka with me, Nate behind Brody, Cole behind Steve, and Logan, you're in the sidecar with Tessa."
"No way!" Logan said.
"You did go and break your arm, Logan," Andrew said. "It'll be safer."
"I know how to sit on the back of bike without holding on." Logan frowned so hard his eyebrows swallowed his great, big brown eyes. Grumpy!
"And how'd it work out for you the last time you let go of the handlebars?" Andrew said, tapping Logan's cast.
Nate slapped Logan on the back. "Cheer up. You'll look just spiffing, old chap!"
Poet and Abby laughed. Meeka held back a snigger.
"Try to keep up, will you, Logan," Cole said, swinging his leg over the seat behind Steve on the blue Vespa.
"Come on, sweet-pea," crooned Tessa. "We'll be soooper careful on our big bad yellow Vespa. We can sing the yellow submarine song. Won't that be sooo much fun, bubbles."
"It's yellow," Logan stomped his foot. "I hate yellow. Color of puke. And I am not a bubbly sweet-pea. I'm a...a… mean-as motocross maniac."
Brody laughed. "Sitting in a bright yellow Vespa sidecar. Mean as."
"Oh!" shouted Tessa. "Do you think they'll mind if we put some flower stickers on the sidecar? Lots of pretty pink ones."
"Daaad!" Logan pleaded.
"I won't let her put flower stickers on there, Logan," Steve said. "But if you don't get in there soon, you might be left behind."
Logan fumbled his way into the sidecar. "At least there'd be pizza if I got left behind."
Tessa patted his head. "Here's your helmet, my little dumpling." |
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I would like to dedicate the joke section to Nate, who is the funny one of the Crime Stopper Kids group. He always has a joke or one-liner ready. Here are his Roman and Pasta jokes: 1. What do you call a Roman with a cold?
-Julius Sneezer 2. Why didn't Romans use maps?
-All roads lead to Rome 3. What's the problem with Roman Lego?
-You can't build it in a day
4. What do you call a fake spaghetti noodle?
- Im-pasta 5. How come no-one ever invites Ravioli to a party?
-He's kind of square |
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Are you a true detective? Have a go at figuring this puzzle out! You need to click on the picture or this link and the puzzle will open for you to complete. Enjoy! |
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6. Short Story from Cinderella Sarah Two
Cinderella Sarah and the Chocolate Thief |
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It’s great fun living in a castle—there are so many secret passages and scary dark tunnels. Well, they would be dark if Sarah didn’t keep following me with a lit fire-torch. Truth is, she’s a bit bored. There’s nothing for her to do except try on dresses and decide what food to have at her engagement party. Nobody lets her do anything, not even the dishes, so I guess I don’t mind too much that she follows me around. She always tells me I shouldn’t go down that secret passageway, but when I say , ‘Okay. Instead, let’s go talk to the cook about what kind of bottle to put the tomato sauce in at your party’, she peers down the passage and says something like, “Right, I wonder if this passage leads to the kitchen,” and heads off in front of me. In the exact opposite direction of the kitchen.
You’d think the Prince would spend more time with her since he asked her to marry him. But every time he agrees to meet us, we turn up, and he’s not there. And he leaves notes that say he’s having a haircut, or getting his shoes polished or something silly like that. It’s like he’s avoiding her. Or avoiding me. But if he’s marrying her, I’ll be his little brother too, so he better get used to me hanging around. That’s what I tell Sarah when she gets all nervous about seeing him and wants me to wait outside the meeting room. Of course, I always slip inside after her. Which is just as well—this last time when he wasn’t in the room, she almost burst into tears. But I saved the day by telling her I’d found another secret passage.
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So here we are in a tight tunnel.
“Shhh,” Sarah says. Like my thoughts are too loud. I shrug. How can I tell you the story if I’m not even allowed to think?
“Your feet,” she whispers. “Stop scuffing your feet. I hear voices.”
Sure enough, there ARE voices, coming from the other side of the wall. We take a few more steps and come across a panel with slits in it-a peephole! Sarah looks first, then quickly snuffs out the torch.
“It’s the king’s sitting room,” she whispers.
Pearly pirate loot! The king’s sitting room! I bundle myself into Sarah and we both stare through the peephole, even though this morning she told me it was rude to listen at doors when she caught me trying to hear what the Royal Musician was planning on singing at tonight’s dinner. He is so old-fashioned; I was hoping he might read the list of more modern music suggestions I put on his desk. All I heard though, was a loud sniff and the sound of ripping paper.
But now, this is exciting. The Queen is in the room too and she is very upset. Here’s what she’s saying...
“No more of my favorite chocolates! That is totally ridiculous! Choccy knows I can’t get by without my Chocolate Mint Paws. I have to have some every day!”
“Someone has stolen all of them,” says the King. Stolen! Oh my!
“Nooooo! The queen wails and then faints. There’s a big raucous as servants come running to help her. I sneeze and a servant heads over to the peephole. We’re going to be caught!
Sarah pushes me back down the passage and round a corner and up some stairs and down another passage. We get to a fork in the passage and go right, but I think we should have gone left and then there are more and more stairs and finally we ‘re at the end of the tunnel and there is a handle on the wall.
“I think we’re lost,” I say.
“What gave it away?” Sarah asks as she taps my head with the unlit torch.
Silly Sarah. “The handle,” I say. “Never seen that before.”
I tug on it, and a crack appears in the wall. I push some more until the crack becomes a slit and we peer through again. It’s the back of a fireplace!
Someone is in there, with their back to us. He has a cloth covering half his face, and is wearing a hooded cloak. He swooshes a sword into his scabbard, picks up his bow, then grabs a rope tied tight around a cabinet and leaps out the window!
Sarah grabs the handle and yanks the panel open, and we both tumble into the room. She runs to the window while I look around.
“We’re up so high, and he just swung down like a, like a …”
“A cat,” I say, holding up a Chocolate Mint Paws wrapper.
“A chocolate cat thief!” Sarah shouts. “Let’s follow him!”
“Let’s use his rope,” I say.
“Not that way,” she says. Spoil sport.
She pulls the rope up into the room. “So he can’t climb back this way,” she says. “I saw where he went. Let’s go find him, but if we can’t, we’ll wait by this wall for someone who’s looking for a rope.” Clever silly spoil sport Sarah.
We scurry out of the room like rats with our tails on fire.
Outside, we glimpse him turning a corner and sprint to catch him, but all we see as we slide to a stop is a door banging closed in the distance. Panting, we reach it and creep inside. Down the hall, someone is singing. Sarah grabs my arm. “It can’t be,” she says, and marches down the hall, through an archway and into a tiny bedroom piled high with chocolate bars.
A man is standing there, holding up a handful of Chocolate Mint Paws and singing to himself. The Prince!
“What are you doing?” storms Sarah.
“Sarah!” the Prince yells. Then the shocked look changes to one of admiration. “You caught me out! No one’s ever done that.”
“Stop looking so so so… handsome,” Sarah says, her voice almost gooey. I jab her with my elbow, then swing my hand around the room.
“You stole all the Chocolate Mint Paws,” I say. “The queen is so upset she fainted!”
The Prince pulls his eyes from Sarah, shakes himself and speaks, his voice low. “Yes, I did. But only to help Choccy the chocolatier. We are trying to catch the actual thief, the one they call the boss. Nobody knows who he is.”
There’s a loud knock from down the hall.
“Quick hide!” the Prince says as he pulls the cloth up to his eyes and yanks his hood on. There’s no recognizing him as he heads to the front door.
Sarah and I slip behind a curtain and peer around the sides as a masked woman follows the Prince into the room.
“You stole so many!” she gasps, her eyes dancing over the piles of chocolate bars.
The Prince shrugs. “It’s easy, when you know how,” he says. “Will the boss be pleased when you tell him, do you think?”
The lady smiles. “Tell him yourself.” She steps over to the window, pokes her head out, and whistles. A few minutes later, a short, fat man waddles into the room. It’s the castle cook! Grinning, he snatches up a handful of chocolate. “Now we can make a lot of money. The queen will pay us five times what Choccy charges to get her favorite chocolate delivered every day!”
“I think not, Castle Cook!” says the Prince, pulling out his sword and using it to poke the cook in his wobbly fat belly. “I’ve caught you with your filthy paws on the loot!”
Meanwhile, the masked woman is trying to scramble out the window. Sarah lunges after her and pulls her to the ground, then we both sit on her back.
“Well done, Sarah!” the Prince says, tying up the red-faced cook.
Sarah pulls the mask off the woman’s face. We all recognize her—she’s the cook’s daughter.
The Prince ties them together. “Let’s go tell the chocolatier where his Chocolate Mint Paws are. The queen will be thrilled to know these horrible chocolate cat thieves are caught.”
We leave out the back door and walk towards the chocolatier’s shop. “Why didn’t you tell me you were chasing burglars?” Sarah asks the Prince, folding her arms. “We’re not supposed to have secrets if we are going to get married. Is this what you’ve been doing instead of spending time with me?”
The Prince stops and faces us both. “I am sorry, Sarah. Every time I said I’d meet you, I’d get an urgent message and have to leave the palace. And I have told no one that I go around catching criminals. Nobody knows it’s me, not even Choccy the chocolatier, and we’ve been working together. He still hasn’t guessed who I am. I like to help keep the Kingdom crime-free, but I wouldn’t be allowed to do anything if I told my parents how I wanted to help. I’m only supposed to do boring prince stuff.”
“This was much more fun than the boring princess stuff I have to do,” Sarah agreed.
“We can help you,” I say. “We’re great at being sneaky. And we’d love to catch thieves.”
“Yes!” Sarah beams. “We’d make a great team, don’t you think?”
The Prince nodded. “We sure do. I’d love your help. Let’s shake on it, then.” And we all jump up and down, wiggling our bodies and laughing. Find the Complete Collection of 14 Short Stories Here |
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It's almost spring! Time to walk up our local Mount Maunganui once again. My ambition is to get there once a week, but it doesn't always happen. Goat Bank and the agapanthus have been demanding my spare time, so we'll see how the next month goes!
I hope you have a good month, and achieve the things you set out to do. Enjoy those kids of yours and enjoy some books! Until next month, Happy Reading |
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P O Box 6040, Tauranga, New Zealand / All rights reserved |
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