Saturday's Blurbs featuring Books by Sandy Carlson #MFRWauthor #Fantasy #Mackinac Island

1. War Unicorn: The Ring by S. L. Carlson

Aldric is content working in his family’s apple orchard—or as content as a fourteen-year-old-boy can be doing chores and dreaming up new magic—when he digs up an antique ring and releases a rude spell-bound unicorn. She claims she belongs to the king, but after her long imprisonment, she can’t tell Aldric which king that might be. Aldric promises to take her to the capital, and suddenly a simple three-day trip becomes an adventure.

War is building on his country’s borders, and even with the help of Aldric’s new friend Iggy, and Gwen, the general’s daughter, it’s going to take all the military sword training, courage, and magic Aldric has to find the unicorn’s rightful king. Promises will be made, the bonds of family and friendship will be tested, with a war which changes everything.

Can an apple farmer and one rude war unicorn save the country from the approaching enemy?

WAR UNICORN Print: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1773627201/
WAR UNICORN Ebooks: http://books2read.com/u/3Ro6jp


2. The Powder Horn of Mackinac Island by Sandy Carlson

Arianna’s family bought a souvenir shop on Mackinac Island, where no motor vehicles are permitted. They thought it a perfect place to become rich-rich-rich for a special surgery procedure for Arianna’s paraplegic brother, Luc, and safe enough for him to have mobile freedom.

When Arianna and Luc discover they can travel back in time to 1793, they meet an ancestor and return to their time to search for the treasure marked on their engraved antique family powder horn. But plans change when Luc finds he can walk there—in the past—and is reluctant to return to the present. Arianna must choose between the treasure and her brother.


POWDER HORN Print https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542593271
POWDER HORN Ebooks:  https://www.books2read.com/u/3L9V75


THE TOWN THAT DISAPPEARED by Sandy Carlson

Just how many homes and friends does a kid have to lose in twelve years? Driven from his neighborhood during the Chicago fire of 1871, Adrian and his parents move to the Michigan wilderness where his father lands a job at the sawmill. The town is called Singapore - as if a name could make a tiny pit of a town into a great seaport.

Only his best friend, big R.T., keeps Adrian level, even though R.T. does have that habit of speaking in animal dialects.

Just as Adrian starts to feel Singapore is his home, he discovers the moving sand dunes along the Lake Michigan shore are slowly burying his town. He tries to stop it, but how can he fight both man and nature?


TOWN Print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1481877488

Friday's Guest Sandy Carlson - Who She Was Before #MFRWauthor #Fantasy #Unicorns

   What were you in your life before you became a writer? Did this influence  your writing?

Before I was a writer, I was first a storyteller. I wasn't much of a reader as a kid because I liked making up things and to be able to see the reactions of my "audience" (i.e., siblings, cousins, friends), and adjust my story to their emotional reactions. I didn't start actual writing down of stories until my early teens.

If, however, you meant what real-life job(s) I had to support my love of storytelling-writing, it was varied through the years, but mostly, I was a school teacher. Did teaching influence my writing? (Ooh, the true stories I could tell, but dare not.) Did those other dozen part-time jobs influence my writing? (Can you sense my head nodding a vigorous yes?) The fact of continually working with and alongside of people certainly influences my writing, no matter what the actual job, especially for plot and character. 
  

2.  Are you genre specific or general? Why? I  don't mean genres like romance, mystery, fantasy etc.  There are many subgenres of the above. 

It's funny how I've always wanted to focus on writing for kids from the get-go, but it's my adult NF or humor articles, especially pre-blogging days, which were readily published. I've since published several historical fiction books for kids (reader ages 8-12), and now have been focusing on sharing my love of fantasy (reader age 10-14, through adult). Oh. And then there's that memoir I've been working on, which didn't at all start out as a memoir but seems to have developed into just that.

Short answer: General
Little longer short answer (by the hours spent and stories plotted): Fantasy for older kids



3. Did your reading choices have anything to do with your choice of a genre or genres? 

I didn't really start reading like crazy (i.e., for pleasure) until I was an adult. My all-time favorite authors are C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Their fantasy-adventure tales and well-developed characters have definitely influenced me, but so has a zillion hours spent outdoors, gardening, hiking, encountering many an animal in the wild, and then reading about them later.

  
4. What's your latest release? 

War Unicorn: The Ring was published October, 2017 by Books We Love Publishing



5. What are you working on now? 


I'm doing a series following War Unicorn. I'm now on my third book in the series. There are other stories sitting in pots on the back burners of my large cast iron writing stove, which sometimes get things tossed in (ideas, characters, plots) and then turned up to simmer...or not. There is also that memoirs thing.



6. Where can we find you? 
  
You can find my social media links and more at www.sandycarlson.com
Yes, the S in S. L. Carlson stands for Sandy.