Monday, May 21, 2018

MMGM~Some Very Messy Medieval Magic by C.Lee McKenzie

Hi! *flailing wave* It's me. For today's MMGM, I'm handing over Writer's Alley to a wonderful writer and friend. Please give C.L. McKenzie a warm Alleyway welcome! She's celebrating the release of her latest middle grade book.

Hi Sheri. I was going back in ye olde archives, trying to remember how long we've been in touch. Quite a while it turns out. Remember being a MOD? 

Haha! Yes I do remember our old days at YALitchat.

Great days. Great fun. And here we are still talking books and writing and promotion. Thanks so much for giving me this space on your blog today. 

You are so welcome. I'm going to step back and let you tell the readers about your latest middle grade book. Have fun!
💙
Book #3 in The Adventures of Pete and Weasel arrived May 15. Some Very Messy Medieval Magic was as much fun to write as the others, and I loved getting into the history during the time of Richard II!

Here's some of what I learned while doing some research:
  • Moats were not quite the romantic, protective water that surrounded a castle or manor house. Nope. Kind of stinky, really.
  • Pages served knights to learn the trade and one of their jobs was to keep the armor rust-free. They used salt to scrub the metal, then rendered fat to protect it.
  • Richard II, who later became Richard the Lion Hearted, was a party animal and he loved to sing. He even led his church choir. 
The 1100s were an interesting time during this medieval era, and I'm glad I had a chance to explore them. I hope readers will enjoy traveling back to the days of knights and castles and kings.


The Adventures of Pete and Weasel now has three books
Some Very Messy Medieval Magic arrives
May 15
Instead of writing a tagline to explain what this series is about, here's the trailer that sums of the three books very quickly.





Here's how this latest adventure begins. 

By the fourth week of eighth grade, everybody in class, including know-it-all, Curtis Lamont,  decided that having Dr. Dread Wraith as a teacher until June was going to be worse than a bowl of turnips for dessert.

The pop quizzes weren’t even a surprise anymore because he gave one almost every day. And all any kid had to do was squirm when Wraith was giving one of his lectures on the theory of general relativity, which nobody—even Weasel—had ever heard of, and he’d slap them with detention.

They cringed every time they heard his name. It was a cringe-able name after all. Pete wanted to tell the kids the reason Dr. Dread Wraith called himself that, but he didn’t want to bring up how their sub was really a bigwig in the Cross-Temporal Consortium of Witches and Wizards. Or that he had to go toe to toe with bad dudes like Genghis Khan. Like Wraith told him, without his bone-chilling name, he didn’t have the clout he needed.  


If Pete did explain all of that, then that would lead to having to explain how Wraith, who wasn’t really a bad guy, just a menace of a teacher, had followed Pete and Weasel back from their last time trip.  And that. . .well, that was just too much for any eighth grader to swallow.

All my books are available online. 

Some Very Messy Medieval Magic is available at these locations. 

AMAZON . B&N . KOBO  . SMASHWORDS . YABC 
Print ISBN 9781939844460 / EBook ISBN 9781939844477

Order through Ingram, Follett, or from the publisher

EBook available in all formats 

My publisher has created a library request letter that I'm including. If people want to check out the book, rather than buy a copy, this is one way to make that possible. 

I hope you enjoy this next adventure, and if you do, please leave a review. That's the only way any author knows what you think about their work. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to write a review for me. Thank again for letting me appear here, Sheri. 

Of course! It's always great to chat with you. I can't wait to read this one!

For more MMGM, participants, and great middle
grade reads, visit Greg Pattridge on Always In The Middle.

What about you MGers? What's your favorite kind of middle grade adventure? 

17 comments:

  1. Yeah, I imagine moats were downright disgusting!
    Congratulations to Lee.

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  2. Thank you for featuring Lee today. There is a lot of fascinating history in her book.

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    Replies
    1. It's always a pleasure featuring Lee. :D Thank you for stopping by!

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  3. And I'll have a review next week. Come by and take a look.

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  4. Hi Sheri and Lee - yes congratulations to taking us back in time ... Medieval Magic in Muddy Moats ... yugh - but fun!! Cheers Hilary

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    1. I know, right? Stories that manipulate time are so much fun, especially when they are kids' books and deal with history!

      Thank you for stopping by to support Lee, Hilary.

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  5. It’s nice to see Lee here. :)

    Ew. I don’t even want to think about how bad moats smell. lol

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  6. Enjoyed Lee's comments about her series and learning some of the medieval history she shared! Sounds like a great adventure and fun series for teens. And, some time travel!

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  7. I bet there were a lot of mosquitoes around those moats, too! Yuck!

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    1. OMGosh! Great point. Not enough deet in the world to kill those suckers. And I bet they were bigger. Just picture it.

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  8. Congrats to Lee! Though my heart hurts for what she is going through right now. Glad you're shouting out for her today.

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  9. I'm never going to get a singing Richard II out of my head now :) I'm reading this one right now and loving it!

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  10. Congratulations Lee! Love the trailer.

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  11. I love reading about this period in history. I can't wait to get my hands on this book. Thanks for the post.

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!SPLAT Your Awesomeness! I'd love to hear from you!

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