Ancient Spells & Crazy Kings

 

Today I'm happy to be hosting Laura Pauling on her amazing blog tour for her new Middle Grade novel: How to Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings! I love a bit of Egyptian mythology, so enjoy Laura's post and enter to win prizes!:

    

Published by Pugalicious Press

When Bianca and Melvin brave the jungle to rescue their grandfather, they stumble upon the ancient Maya city of Etza, where the people haven’t aged in 2,000 years. They must learn to work together as they face loincloth-wearing skeletons from the underworld, a backstabbing princess, and an ancient prophecy that says in three days the city will be destroyed. No problem. They’ll find Zeb and zip right out of there. The fact that a crazy king wants to serve Bianca up to the gods as an appetizer is just a minor technicality. But this ancient evil dude has finally met his match.

Weaving mythology into a story.

How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings is a middle grade time travel. I didn’t plan on adding fantastical elements to the story, other than time travel. The characters would go back in time, solve the mystery, and return home alive--hopefully. But while researching the Ancient Maya I learned about some of the driving forces dictating their cultural decisions. The Maya strongly believed in the afterlife. They believed in an underworld. When kings or queens were buried, their tombs were filled with treasured items to help them on their journey in the next world. Kings in particular were driven to sacrifice their own blood. When their earthly lives passed, they desired to rise up into the heavens and become a god. During their sacrifice rituals they would seek answers from their gods and past kings in the rising smoke from bark soaked with their blood. Most commoners didn’t ascend into the sky and become gods. No, they traversed into the depths of the underworld. So when my characters, Bianca and Melvin head down into a deep underground cavern, it was easy for me to connect that to the underworld of the Maya. So guess who they run into? That’s right. The undead. Thanks, Charmaine, for hosting me on the tour!

How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings released in November. Pugalicious Press did a fantastic job, and I’m extremely happy with the results. This book would make a fantastic gift for boys or girls who enjoy adventure stories with lots of excitement! You can purchase it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. You can read the first chapter here. Check out the teacher's guide. Thankfully, my journey is just beginning and I’m excited to see where it leads. Click here for the list of blog tour stops! Enter to win these prize packages!

Prize Package One (signed paperbacks)

Prize Package Two (signed paperbacks)

Prize Package Three

 

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