Martin Howard (Author), Chris Mould (Illustrator) - Alfie Fleet's Guide to the Universe - Blog Tour Book Review

Step this way people as the UNIVERSE is now open for business. This is the second installment in Martin Howard's brilliant Alfie Fleet's series and has been given the title Alfie Fleet's Guide to the Universe. It is guided superbly by Chris Mould's expertly produced black and white illustrations and maps showcasing the narrative. This book is out in all galactic bookshops especially on OUTLANDISH, WINGSPAN and other holiday hotspots destinations around the globe now. You don't have to wait to join and enjoy this amazing adventure, so pick up a copy now.

Back in business with the Unusual Cartography Club or the UCC to its members, Alfie and Professor Pewsley Bowell-Mouvemont and Derek are travelling to far-flung planets. They are in search of the best holiday destinations for us to visit and fleece us out of our hard-earned money. They'll make sure you buy a gift from the gift shop on the way out! But don't worry,  I hear they are doing a roaring trade in Chris Mould's model Sheds which are made out of smelly socks, bits of fluff and, the all-important, blunt pencils.

Whilst exploring the narrative, you can expect to bounce along at an average pace on Betsy the Moped.  In other parts of the universe, time might vary so check the reader's ability and how many hands they have. On the FLEET, Unsuality Scale is a whopping eight and a half - it definitely tick-tocks with fizz and many moments of fantasy craziness. I can guarantee that you'll enjoy the journey immensely whilst holding on to your trousers as you fight off a bunch of pirates in ladies' clothes.

The peril in this adventure is a high octane nine on the danger twonk scale as you find yourself part of a sword chopping adventure. However, this involves none other than green, bogey-eating monsters and grog-swigging seadogs. All mixed in with many BAD PIRATE jokes. The biography of the Chosen One will become an outer planet classic that exhumes a bad smell of language as the windup translator malfunctions. The ingenious creativeness is only as good as the great scum baskets in the plot which are both cheesy and smelly. Lots of trout-waggling maybe encountered to give the reader a sense of character whilst falling over a knobbly knee.

This is a book that readers will not be reluctant to read as they are driven through a fantasy narrative by aliens or a mouthful of fruit. The book has a satisfying crunch with a fantastic array of characters that could have their own spin-off movies. The language is definitely aimed at children with the introduction of many nonsense words. However, the only thing you'll need for protection is a suit of armour and lots of emotional support.

On this website, we rate all the books. We show you the best, not too bad, and never-go-there-in-a-million years. However, this book is one to definitely give a spin, or even place it in your sock drawer with Chris Moulds Model shed! You'll look to revisiting and rereading this book time after time. Thanks for reading - I'll see you on the next voyage.

Carlie Sorosiak - I, Cosmo - Blog Tour - Nosy Crow Books (8th Aug 2019)

It's an absolute pleasure to be part of the blog tour for Carlie Sorosiak's I, Cosmo which was published by the mighty Nosy Crow Books on August 1st, 2019. This is a fantastic and poignant story from the perspective of a much-loved pet, a dog called Cosmo. Below this review, Carlie has written a small post about the process of writing from this perspective. 

This is a brilliantly written story that makes you think about Cosmo's relationship with Max and his feuding family. The narrative is very thought-provoking whilst also dribbling with turkey juices and doggy humour. The more you read, the sadder the story gets, so get ready with the tissues! The story is very sensitively told and is an insightful view of modern-day family life.

The story plays with human emotions setting you on a path of human frailty and the complexities of a family unit.  It's a very relatable story, one dog's attempt to save his family, that will both delight and entertain you from the very first page. You will dance and skip through the beating narrative which will engulf you with warmth, sadness, and happiness. All of which works on so many levels. 

This is a barking and slightly different adventure where cats are not allowed.  I, Cosmo is a wagging-tail star in the making! 

Author's Guest Post. 
On writing from an animal’s perspective. 
Several times now, I’ve been asked: How difficult was it for you to write from a dog’s perspective? I think the assumption here, in large part, is that it must’ve been difficult – than placing oneself in the mind of a non-human narrator is a considerable challenge. Looking back at the writing process, I can absolutely see why people might think that; after all, Cosmo is more prone to focusing on his sense of smell (and on squirrels) than the average human. 

But I’ll admit that I’ve never truly fit in with most humans. I find a great deal of them entirely perplexing. Some social interactions baffle me; deciding where to sit in my middle school cafeteria was akin to diffusing a bomb – in stress level, at least. My comfort has always been with animals, dogs in particular. They’re great listeners. They wear their emotions in the flick of their tails, in the position of their ears. I understand them in a way that I never have with people. 

So I was quite confident when I started writing Cosmo – and that confidence continued the whole way through the process. I hope I’ve captured that essential dog-ness. And I hope that I, Cosmo is a comfort to others like me, who often prefer the company of animals.

Author Bio - Carlie Sorosiak grew up in North Carolina. She has a master’s in English from Oxford University and another in publishing from City, University of London. She is the author of two novels for young adults, If Birds Fly Back and Wild Blue Wonder. Her goals include traveling to all seven continents and fostering a wide variety of animals. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and her American dingo. 

Twitter: @carliesorosiak 
Website: carliesorosiak.com

Book Synopsis
The story of one dog's attempt to save his family, become a star, and eat a lot of bacon. Cosmo's family is falling apart. And it's up to Cosmo to keep them together. He knows exactly what to do. There's only one problem. Cosmo is a Golden Retriever. Wise, funny, and filled with warmth and heart, this is Charlotte's Web meets Little Miss Sunshine - a moving, beautiful story, with a wonderfully unique hero, from an incredible new voice in middle-grade fiction. 

Come and join in with the rest of the blog tour for more reviews, guest posts, and giveaways. See the list of stops below. 

Julie Pike - The Last Spell Breather - Blog Tour (Stories that Inspired)

Welcome to the second week celebrating the brilliant publication of Julie Pike's debut book. we're delighted to be hosting the blog tour for The Last Spell Breather which is a fantastic read. I wholeheartedly recommend you spare the time to read it. This post is about the stories that might have led to inspiring this book.

If you were to write a book, blog readers, what stories might influence the novel you would write today? Have a think, it's an interesting question. If you have any thoughts and you would like to share them on Twitter then use #TheLastSpellBreather. 

I would like to thank Julie and Oxford University Press for letting Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books host a stop on this wonderful blog tour. You are always welcome here at any time. 

I hope you enjoy the post. 

I am delighted the Spell Breather blog tour has swung by Mr. Ripley’s Enchanted Books. As you’re reading this web page, you already know that for brilliant books you can’t beat a ‘word of mouth’ recommendation. Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books is a place I have discovered many great books over the years. 

The first person to recommend a book to me was my mother. She introduced me to Enid Blyton when I was six, and happily watched as I devoured as many of her magical adventures as my pocket money would allow. I wrote a sequel to Enid Blyton’s Book of Brownies, because I enjoyed the story so much I wanted to carry on the adventure. I remember writing it with a blue ballpoint pen, on lined A4 paper. When it was done, I tied the pages with grey wool, ‘borrowed’ from my mother’s knitting bag. 

When I was a young teen, Mam introduced me to Georgette Heyer. Her adventure stories were thrilling! One of my favourites is The Masqueraders, where a brother and sister, fleeing from the Jacobite rising, swap clothes and have dangerous adventures in Regency London. I adore her character Prudence, who dresses as a young buck, brazening it out, drinking and duelling. It may seem tame today, but it was written in the 1920s, and I first read it in the 1980s. I love this story. So much so I have written Georgette Heyer fanfiction. 

As an older teen, my brother introduced me to the wonderful Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters. Looking back, it’s no surprise that my first novel should feature a fantasy version of a medieval healer. I didn’t realise at the time, but it’s clear to me now that all the stories I love have found their way into my ‘writer’s cauldron’. I’m sure you know what I mean. My cauldron is the place where all the stories swirl together, synthesising themselves into different shapes, ready for me to ladle out when I’m thinking up new ideas. 

Peering into my cauldron today, I can clearly see three stories that wormed their way into my imagination and wove themselves into The Last Spell Breather.

The first is a The Abhorsen Trilogy, by Garth Nix. I love everything about this story. I love its characters, its large-scale world building, and its unique ‘charter magic’. Reading this story was the first time I’d encountered a cast of creatures and characters perfectly set within their own myths and magic systems, and it lit my imagination like a firework. When I turned the last page, I wanted to carry on the adventure. 

The second is Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. When I was writing an early draft of Spell Breather, my friend Jacqui recommended this brilliant story. It reminded me that books are powerful objects. The words inside have a life of their own, and bad things happen when they’re not looked after properly. 

Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney tells a magical and medieval tale of a boy training to protect his home from witches. Witches so powerful they can outwit his every move. I love a good apprentice story. This one particularly resonates because his Mam has a dark secret. 

Putting these stories together, I can see they share a common theme. A warning about what happens when magic breaks or falls out of balance. This theme is something I wanted to explore in The Last Spell Breather and now I can see what drew me to it. 

Looking into my cauldron again, I’m wondering if every ‘original’ idea in my tale has come from other much-loved stories? Stories like, Magyk by Angie Sage, Sylvester by Georgette Heyer, Labyrinth, Dr Who, A Matter of Life and Death, and Sapphire & Steal. 

I think I’ll give my cauldron a good stir, so I can’t see the ingredients anymore. I prefer my idea ladles brimming with mixed magic. 

Writers often get asked: Where do your ideas come from? I’ve been wondering how I would answer that question. Writing this blog has given me my answer. Ideas come from all the stories that have gone before. We writers pass them on to each other in a glorious story continuum, from one cauldron to another.

If you’d like to write stories, then my advice is to ‘fill your story cauldron’. Fill it with Books, and TV and Films and Video Games – and keep stirring. That way, when you settle to write, the synthesis of all your favourite stories is guaranteed to deliver a ‘unique’ adventure, one that you want to follow and read yourself.

And then one day, YOUR story will be recommended to others. It will go on to fill their writer’s cauldron and take its place in the great continuum. 
Happy reading. Happy writing.

Julie Pike – Biography 
Julie grew up on a council estate, nestled between the forests and foothills of the Welsh Valleys. She is passionate about adventure stories, and volunteers in local schools and libraries in Dorset, helping children find stories that excite them. She is passionate about real-life adventures too, and has crawled inside the great pyramid of Giza, travelled to the peak of Kilimanjaro, and camped on the Great Wall of China in a lightning storm. Twitter: @juliepike

(The Last Spell Breather – Book Cover – illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova)

The Last Spell Breather – Synopsis 
Enter the unique world of the Spell Breathers! Spell Breathing does not come naturally to Rayne - she loathes the hours of practice, the stacks of scrolls, and the snapping mud grotesques that cover her mother’s precious spell book. When she holds the spell book over a fire, it is only meant as an empty threat – until she feels the grotesque’s tiny teeth biting into her finger and lets go. In one clumsy move, her mother’s spells are broken, her village is plunged into danger, and an incredible adventure begins . . . 

Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books Book Review is HERE

Liz Flanagan (Dragon Daughter Blog Tour) - Top 5 Dragon Books - Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books

Good morning. All this week we are celebrating the paperback book release of Liz Flanagan's DRAGON DAUGHTER. There is a lot to get excited about as Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books is the fifth stop on this blog tour (please see the list for the other stops at the bottom of the page). All posts explore the ideas and inspiration behind this brilliant story. However, this particular post is focused around the authors top five dragon books and school visits. 

What would your favourite dragon books be? Please share your favourite on Twitter using #DragonDaughter. For me, the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini and Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke would be in my top five list. However, check out this fascinating post below. Hopefully, it will inspire you to pick up this amazing book or invite the author to your school for an author event. Enjoy the post.

Writers are often told to ‘write what you know’, but how do you write about mythical creatures like dragons–unless you do actually have a secret dragon at your house? Partly, my dragons are a combination of many different real animals I’ve known, and partly they’ reinspired by the dragons from books and films I’ve loved. 

In my school visits, we always have long chats about why we love dragons so much, why they hold an enduring fascination for us, in so many different times and cultures, and why people have imagined dragons in many varied ways. I really enjoy hearing all the different ideas children have on this subject!

Personally, I was drawn to the contrast between a tiny fragile scaly creature that’s just tapped its way out of an egg, and the massive, powerful firebreather with the capacity to destroy whole cities. I love the idea of an animal who can fly anywhere, but who chooses to seek out people. And I loved the idea of a unique bond between a dragon and a particular child, a bond that would last a lifetime and define both of them. My dragons can’t speak, but they can communicate via their calls and their gestures, and they can read the thoughts of people around them. 

In the past, I’ve loved the way different authors describe dragons –include the great Ursula Le Guin and Anne McCaffrey. But there are also some more recent middle-grade novels that are full of memorable dragons, so I’ve made a list of five that I’ve loved recently. 

All these authors have imagined dragons in different ways, but here are just a few of my middle-grade favourites. Some are very new; some are old friends:

• The Secret Dragonby Ed Clarke (Puffin) Eleven-year-old Mari Jones is a fossil-hunter, inspired by her hero Mary Anning, and she longs to be a real scientist. She thinks she’s found an amazing fossil on the beach one day and is shocked to realise it’s alive and is, in fact, a real Welsh dragon. I loved Mari, and her friendship with Dylan, the new boy at school. This story is so beautifully written, with deeper themes of loss and finding your courage and self-belief. The soft, sweet interior illustrations are by Simone Krüger.

• The Boy Who Grew Dragons by Andy Shepherd, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie (Piccadilly Press) At the heart of this book is a beautiful relationship between the main character Tomas and his grandad. Helping Grandad in the garden, Tomas discovers an incredible plant that actually grows dragons. Tomas bonds with a little dragon called Flicker, but soon learns that young dragons cause chaos –and that he is likely to be blamed for their destructive habits and incendiary poos. There's so much humour and fun, as well as real warmth and tenderness, in this book, and the illustrations by Sara Ogilvie are full of life and energy.

• How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (Hodder Children’s Books) One of the most popular dragons of all! I’ve loved the film adaptations of this series too, although I find the books have more mud and snot and humour. I really love the relationship between Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and his undersized dragon Toothless. The pair save all the Vikings on their island with their quick thinking and skill at speaking Dragonese.

 

• Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons by Dugald A. Steer, illustrated by Wayne Anderson, Douglas Carrel and Helen Ward (Templar) This book is like an encyclopedia of dragons! It covers many different species, habitats, and life-cycles. It also includes magical elements, offering some useful spells and charms. Stunningly illustrated, it blends real history and science with mythology in a truly bewitching way. For those who like their dragons grounded in lots of gorgeously presented ‘information’.

• The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis (Bloomsbury) Adventurine the young dragon is so impatient to start exploring that she ignores her family’s warnings about the danger of the outside world and those alarming creatures out there. A food-mage wizard turnsAdventurine into a girl and she must learn to survive in the human world. The book features friendship and chocolate, two of life’s most delightful things, and I couldn’t help falling in love with this charming story.

Dragon Daughter is published by David Fickling Books.

ISBN: 978-1-78845-021-8 - Priced £6.99

Cover art by Angelo Rinaldi

Interior art by Paul Duffield

Martin Howard - The Cosmic Atlas of Alfie Fleet - Blog Tour

Here we are on a cosmic adventure with Alfie Fleet and Professor Pewsley Bowell-Mouvemont. The OUTLANDISH blog tour arrives at Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books with an interesting Q&A interview that might just get your Bowells (Mouvement) going in the wrong direction. 

The book has been reviewed here if you fancy taking a quick look at it - Click Here. It will take you to another world! It's certainly not one to miss out on.

There's also an amazing opportunity to WIN your own copy of this brilliant book. All you need to do is send a tweet, write a Facebook comment or leave a message on the blog mentioning the words BRAINS-IN-JARS!

In the meantime, jump aboard Betsy the moped as we set off to INFINITY and BEYOND...


In The Cosmic Atlas of Alfie Fleet it says that there is a stone circle in the basement of Number Four, Wigless Square, that opens portals to different worlds. Is that true? 

Alfie: It sounds bonkers but it’s completely true. All stone circles have the same power. Up until now no one knew why Stonehenge was built thousands of years ago. When you understand that it was put there so tourists from other planets could visit Earth it all makes sense though.

Professor: That’s why there are stone circles all over the place, you see. Australia, America and all over Europe, of course. There are some very silly theories about them. Some archeologists think Stonehenge was used as a giant musical instrument, the idiots! The truth is that Earth was very popular with tourists back in the days before all the noise and pollution and celebrities. 

How many other worlds are there? 

Professor: Well, we have the co-ordinates for a few thousand, but there are plenty more to discover. Here at the Unusual Cartography Club we make maps of them and put the best ones in The Cosmic Atlas. This morning we’re off to … ahh … where are we going again this morning, Rupert?

Alfie: It’s Alfie, Professor. My name’s Alfie, remember? And we’re going to visit planet Earwax II. 

Professor: Oh yes, that’s right. Thank you, Rupert. Marvellous place, Earwax II. I discovered and named it myself you know, just after I discovered Earwax I. Couldn’t think of a decent name at the time and I do get a terrible waxy build-up in my ears, so … 

Alfie: We get the idea, Professor. 

Professor: It’s an interesting planet. Very pretty. Some lovely vistas and landscapes only slightly spoiled by the fact that the whole planet is overrun with giant gibbon things that try and pull your arms off. Luckily, we have Derek so giant gibbon things aren’t a problem for us. 

Alfie: Derek’s my best friend but she’s quite scary. 

Oh yes, Derek’s from a world you visited called Outlandish, isn’t she? 

Alfie: Yes, it’s all in the book. Her full name is Hunter-of-the-Vicious-Spiny-Dereko-Beast and she’s from a tribe called the Children of Skingrath. She was their Under-Sixteens Beating-People-Up Champion. 

Professor: Where is young Derek? 
Alfie: In her room, learning English. She’s learning from her favourite pop songs so she says ‘yeah yeah baby oh yeah’ a lot at the moment. It’s a bit weird, but we don’t mention it.

Professor: Derek is quite likely to pull your intestines out and wear them as a scarf if you say the wrong thing. 

What’s the best world you’ve visited? 

Alfie: I’m new at the UCC so I haven’t seen very many yet but I really loved Outlandish. Apart from all the horrible danger and people trying to kill me every five minutes I had a lot of fun there. Plus they have elves and actual magic. Proper, twinkly, finger-waggling, ka-boom magic, not just people in silly hats pulling rabbits out their sleeves. My mum likes a world called Blysss, which is a beach paradise world. The people there bead your hair as soon as you arrive and you’re forced to lay around in a sun-lounger all day drinking fruit cocktails with umbrellas in. 

Professor: Hmm, that’s a tricky question. I’ve seen hundreds of worlds since I joined the Unusual Cartography Club but I very much like a planet called Sminkey-Sminkey. 

Alfie: Is that one of the worlds where you’re worshipped as a god, Professor?

Professor: Yes, yes it is. The slugfolk of Sminkey-Sminkey always welcome me with open feelers, and they have an excellent Moustache Museum. The Temple of Bowell-Mouvemont is well worth a visit, too … 

And the worst world?

Alfie: The Professor discovered a world he named Maureen a few months ago. It’s just a big desert with sand lobsters and really boring.

Professor: Although it does have three suns, so it’s a good place to get a tan. I once got lost on a lost world called Lost. Had to eat moss and my own dandruff. Plus, the local people would shove me into a sack every week and throw me into a pond. I never did find out why. It wasn’t very pleasant though. 

Professor, you are the President of the Unusual Cartography Club. Can you tell us more about it? 

Professor: No one really knows exactly how old the UCC is, but its members have been mapping planets around the universe for at least ten thousand years. I joined in 1763, when I was just a young lad of fifteen. Of course it was all very different back then. Toffee was made from sheep bladders and there was a total eclipse of the sun that lasted thirty-eight years. Everyone dressed in leaves back then, and had a twitch in their left eye. Is it leaves, or leafs? I can never remember.” 

Alfie: Leaves. And none of those things happened on Earth. You’re thinking of another planet, Professor.” 

Professor: Am I? Which one? 

Alfie: I don’t know. I wasn’t born in 1763. 

Professor: Well that was silly of you. Those were good times. Happy days. Except for wearing leaves. Surprisingly, they’re not as comfy as they look.

Alfie: You’re supposed to be talking about the history of the Unusual Cartography Club. No one’s interested in wearing leaves. 

Professor: Hardly surprising. It’s the caterpillars, you know. They wriggle into your ears and that feels weird, though a few weeks later butterflies come flapping out. It’s quite lovely when that happens. 

Alfie: The UCC, Professor. 

Professor: Of course. Of course, of course, of course. Where was I? What am I talking about? Who am I?

Alfie: You’re fifteen and joining the Unusual Cartography Club.” 

Professor: Ah yes, so it was 1763, a very good year if you liked skin diseases and stepping in horse poo. Oh, we used to have a lot of horse poo back then. It’s very good for growing cucumbers … 

Alfie: Professor!

Professor: What? Eh? 
Perhaps a different question … What’s next for the Unusual Cartography Club? 
Alfie: Wait and see! The UCC has always been a secret society but we’re going to change all that and open it up to everyone.

Professor: It wasn’t really a secret society, you know. It’s just that people lost interest in stone circles. 

Alfie: It’s all about how you present the information. If you wander up to people in the street and tell them you just got back from a cheese-eating trip to Cheeseworld they just give you funny looks. But if you give them a glossy brochure offering three week holidays on the paradise planet of Blyssss for a very reasonable price … 

Professor: There’s a Cheeseworld? Why wasn’t I told? Really, Rupert, you know how much I enjoy cheese and I am President of the UCC. I should be informed if you’ve discovered a world of delicious cheeses. 

Alfie: It’s Alfie, and there’s not really a Cheeseworld. I just made it up as an example. 

Professor: And I’m feeling quite peckish. Forget Earwax II. Come along Rupert. Let’s be off. Cheeseworld awaits. Toot toot. Coming through. To infinity and behind … 

Dragging Alfie behind him, the Professor straps on a motorcycle helmet and strides away, bringing this interview to a close. The last thing we notice is that he squeaks when he walks, exactly as if he’s wearing a tight ladies’ corset under his clothes …

Do check out the other stops on the blog tour for more fun, frolics, and mayhem.

Also check out Martin Howard at the following places @MJHowardWrites on Twitter and visit his website: https://booksbymart.pub 

Thank you for reading and have a great adventure.