Christmas sale on Demented Children

Demented Children, 50% off!!!

Hmmmm . . . That doesn't sound right . . .

Please buy my books.  They're awesome.  Just ask me.

errrrr, that's a bit desperate . . .

A Collection of Stories, Volume 1 and 2, both 50% 0ff at Smashwords!  Merry Christmas and stuff!

Hello,  I've created coupons over at Smashwords, I'm running a Christmas sale on my Collections for Demented Children!

Type in code AF69R at checkout to get Volume 1 at 50% off. :)
Type in code UC57C at checkout to get Volume 2 at 50% off. :)

The coupons are good until January 31, 2015.

Volume 1

Smashwords  50% off til January 31, 2015 - Coupon code - AF69R
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Five odd stories for children combined into one collection. Follow the tales of anti-heroes through misadventures and mishaps. Emo bunnies, zombies, rainbows, an unholy cow and sugar plum fairies share adventure across the pages. These stories are not for the sane of heart.

“The Emo Bunny that Should”

Emo the Bunny preferred gloomy days, walks over a cliff and misery. One day he discovers a conspiracy the likes of which no child would ever suspect!

“Zachary Zombie and the Lost Boy”

Zachary Zombie finds a lost boy in the forest and agrees to help getting the boy home. Things are bound to go wrong when they meet a magical stag, a pretty woman at the edge of a cliff, a party in the cemetery, and torch-wielding villagers along the way.

“Drippy the Peg-Legged Rainbow”

Rainbows have existed throughout the universe since shortly after its inception. All are beautiful, although many beings in the universe think them to be evil bearers of bad tidings and illness.

This is the story of one rainbow, neither ancient nor young . . .

“Unholy Cow”

Opal has never been trick-or-treating because her parents think Halloween is evil and candy is bad for children. Meanwhile an unholy cow by the name of Runyx has decided to change Opal’s life.

“Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies”

The Sugar Plum Fairies are tired of dancing for nothing. The North Pole is freezing, they have to wear skimpy outfits and their tiny legs get worn out quickly. When the Elvin Labor Union formed, fairies were left out of any sort of fair bargaining agreement. The time has come for all of that to change.

Volume 2

Smashwords 50% off til January 31, 2015 - Coupon code - UC57C

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Five odd stories for children combined into one collection. Follow the tales of anti-heroes through misadventures and mishaps. Nanoworms, zombies, a panda, a phairyphant, and Steampunk animals share their adventures across the pages.

“Phairyphant”

Mystical phairyphants have existed since the days of wooly mammoths and mastodons. Phairydust allows them to fly on gossamer wings while they sniff the air for opportunities to make the world a better place for elephants. This is the story of Elly, one such phairyphant.

“Naughty Nanoworms”

Life on the streets is generally peaceful for Albert, but one day Albert walks his way into trouble. Will he keep his shopping cart? Will Meezer the cat come up with a plan to destroy the world? Can a shopping cart and a skateboard ever get along?

“Zachary Zombie and the Wicked Worm”

Zachary Zombie has been sent to find the magical Dagger of Gik, accompanied by three fellow zombies. What dangers await the rotting zombies? Who will lose the most body parts? And who, what, or where in the world is Gik?

“Steampunk Roo”

Steampunk animals roam the wild Outback of Australia, but horrible news has come that someone is destroying water stops that keep the Steampunk animals running. It’s up to Steampunk Roo to bring an end to the terrible destruction!

“Pow the Panda, The Case of the Rainbow Dragon”

In the fantastically roaring year of 1925, business is good for a hard-working private eye in Chinatown. When trouble shows up, a girl named Opal, a gorilla, a bear, a bed and bunch of bad puns join it. Pow is left with the Case of the Rainbow Dragon.


All my best to you and yours.  Enjoy!



John H. Carroll

Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies

Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies

Just in time for Christmas, I wrote "Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies, A Story for Demented Children", the fifth installment of the Stories for Demented Children.  It's a humorous adventure story featuring three pretty little sugar plum fairies and their quest for equal rights . . .

Stories for Demented Children

My first story for Demented Children, "The Emo Bunny that Should" has been wildly popular.  I then wrote Zachary Zombie and the Lost Boy, which is rated and reviewed higher than any other story I've written.  The series is becoming popular and probably creates the best chance of getting me noticed.

When I write these stories, I try to think of something or someone that wouldn't normally be a hero.  A common term is anti-hero.  Emo bunnies, rainbows, cows and zombies are definitely not the standard hero.  Then I put them in an odd situation and try to figure out what they would do.  Throw in a dash of humor and there you have it.

The snowflakes were added to the cover using a brushes pack for GIMP

The story

I decided a few months earlier that I wanted to do a Christmas story.  Various ideas came to mind, but some of them had been done and others just didn't really catch my imagination.  I honestly don't remember how I came up with this one, but it started with the title, "Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies".

Next was figuring out the plot.  I had to have attacking Sugar Plum Fairies.  Why were they attacking?  How many of them?  It's not always easy to come up with something odd.  One of the biggest issues was that I had to limit how many characters I actually showcased.  In a short story, there is very little time to develop characters or a plot.  The key is to keep the characters to a minimum and the timeline of the plot to a single event.

I remembered in "The Emo Bunny that Should", I wrote about labor issues with the Easter Bunny and woodland creatures.  In it, I commented that elves had organized a labor union.  I decided to latch onto that idea and have it so that the Sugar Plum Fairies weren't treated fairly in the original contracts.  Then I came up with the concept that they always had to wear skimpy outfits and were being exploited.

At this point, I'd like to remind you that they are stories for "Demented Children", not normal children.  I gear them towards older kids too.  Plus, I think I have more adults reading these things than kids, so . . .

When I went to write it, I made up the three fairies that were the main characters.  Araedae is the leader of the group. She's brave and smart as any leader should be.  Sydae is the wise-cracking fairy and Zannae is an MIT graduate . . . because I needed a computer hacker . . . Remember, the title says "A Story for Demented Children".

I generally have little favorite parts of a story.  A lot of people may not notice them, or think they're all that great, but I find them enjoyable and fascinating to write.  In this book it was the descriptions of the fairies and how each had their own color.

An excerpt:   Her brilliant violet eyes sparkled in the light from the nearby streetlamp.  Every Sugar Plum Fairy in the world had different color eyes with wings and hair to match.

The tutorial I used to make the candy cane text.  It isn't the best tutorial, so I spent a lot of extra hours trying to get it right.

Description

The Sugar Plum Fairies are tired of dancing for nothing. To make matters worse, the North Pole is freezing, they have to wear skimpy outfits and their poor little legs get worn out quickly. When the Elvin Labor Union was formed, the poor little fairies were left out of any sort of fair bargaining agreement.

The time has come for all of that to change.

Everyone knows Christmas Eve is the best time to attack the North Pole. Santa’s getting ready to deliver toys, the elves are partying and the reindeer have finished playing their reindeer games. Can the legendary North Pole withstand yet another attack? Will Christmas come to a screeching halt?

Join three stealthy fairies: Sydae, Araedae and Zannae, as they try to make life easier for all Sugar Plum Fairies. Will they be able to succeed in their mission? What’s happened to Santa? Will the elves stop the fairies from their task? And what secret is Mrs. Claus hiding from the world?

This is a short story approximately 4600 words long.

Smashwords

Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France Amazon Italy Amazon Spain 

Apple
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Sony

Kobo

Diesel

"Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies" is also included in "A Collection of Stories for Demented Children", a compilation of all five of the Demented Children stories.  Each story can be had individually for free and I encourage you to download them.  I charge a token price of $2.99 for the collection in hopes of increasing my chances of becoming a self-supporting writer.  :)