M. R. Anglin has graciously offered to give away a pdf copy of this new release. You can enter by using the Rafflecopter link at the end of the post. (Giveaway ends September 13, 2018. If you are the randomly chosen winner, I'll contact you and pass on your information.)
The story behind the story...
In many ways, Prince of the Sun, Princess of the Moon
was written for my niece and eldest nephew. The story first came into being
when my niece was an infant. I noticed that she tended to sleep during the day
and stay up at night while her brother (like the rest of us) went to sleep at
night and stayed up during the day. That was the seed of inspiration for the
two types of people in my book day people and night people. Day people get
energy from the sun while the moon puts them to sleep. Night people get energy
from the moon and the sun puts them to sleep.
A secondary inspiration came from my love of the moon. I've always loved astronomy and space, but especially the moon. Sometimes I still stand outside and stare at it for a while. This love may also be behind my fascination with the Bible verse that gave me additional inspiration for the story:
Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
(Joshua 10:12-13 KJV)
Some important names in
the story are taken from that verse. In addition, the part in my story where
the sun and moon shine in the sky together took inspiration from these verses.
So it was my love
for my family, my love of astronomy, and my love of my faith that came together
to drive the creation of this book.
Book Blurb...
For years the Moon Palace
in the Valley of Aijalon and the Sun Tower in the Plains of Jashar has stood as
testaments to the power of the sun and the graciousness of the moon.
Helio and Lumina, Guardians of the sun and moon, kept watch over them and the
Prince and the Princess who ruled them. But the Prince and Princess are
missing, and the sun is exhibiting strange behavior.
Now Joshua and his younger sister, Deborah, must untangle a web of lies and deceit to uncover the secret of who they really are and save their world from an imminent disaster brewing in the heavens. And they must hurry. Between the earthquakes, the sun and moon standing still in the sky, and the planet Jants hovering closer than it’s ever been, the planet could be torn apart before they have a chance to do something about it.
Now Joshua and his younger sister, Deborah, must untangle a web of lies and deceit to uncover the secret of who they really are and save their world from an imminent disaster brewing in the heavens. And they must hurry. Between the earthquakes, the sun and moon standing still in the sky, and the planet Jants hovering closer than it’s ever been, the planet could be torn apart before they have a chance to do something about it.
Excerpt...
“Mr. Delango.” Mrs. Blaine’s
voice sliced through the air, jarring Joshua out of his thoughts.
He jumped to his feet. “Yes, ma’am.” All
around him snickers erupted as each of his classmates stared at him. Joshua
stifled a groan. Judging by their reaction, he had missed something important.
“Perhaps you would like to elaborate on our
topic?” Mrs. Blaine motioned to the blackboard.
Joshua winced. He had been staring out of the
window and had no idea what she had been talking about.
His best friend, Neil, shrugged. With his skin
the complexion of milk and Joshua’s the complexion of chocolate, Neil always
said together they were two halves of the best drink ever to have been
invented.
But now he shook his head at Joshua. “I tried
to warn you,” he mouthed.
Joshua cleared his throat. “You are doing such
a fantastic job at explaining this, Mrs. Blaine, I can’t elaborate.” He
punctuated the remark with a smile meant to charm her.
“I think you can.” Mrs. Blaine pointed to the
board. “Why don’t you come up and fill out this diagram?”
Joshua bit back a comment and made his way to
the front of the classroom. The walls were white, and though Mrs. Blaine had
set a plastic, potted tree in the corner, there were no posters or papers on
the walls . . . just a blackboard where Mrs. Blaine wrote her lessons . . . not
at all like the other teachers’ classes with their motivational posters and
charts plastered all over the walls.
“No distractions for wayward thinking
children,” Mrs. Blaine had said the first time someone remarked on the lack of
decoration.
Joshua took the chalk from her and approached
the blackboard. Empty spaces in the diagram she had written mocked him, but the
words, “Planet/Celestial Body” and “Guardian” were written in separate columns
at the top. At least Joshua knew what she was talking about now—the solar
system and its Guardians.
“Fill it out.” Mrs. Blaine smirked. “Unless
you aren’t smart enough to goof off in class and still retain the information.”
Again his classmates snickered.
Joshua took a deep breath and studied the
diagram. Then he raised his chalk and wrote:
Planet/Celestial
Body
|
Guardian
|
Sun
|
Helio
|
Chern
|
Maro
|
Marte
|
Cero
|
Melíne
|
Alandri
|
Geon
|
N/A
|
Geon’s moon
|
Lumina
|
Arion
|
Lucin
|
Jants
|
Junen
|
Rindt
|
Rin
|
Nuardt
|
Urin
|
Plútz
|
Plandte
|
Once finished, he faced Mrs. Blaine. “Is that
correct?” He held out the chalk to her.
No one snickered now . . . well, except Neil.
His face had surged red with the effort of stifling his laughter. To date, no
one had bested Mrs. Blaine at her game to humiliate students who weren’t paying
attention. In fact, Mrs. Blaine herself stared at the diagram Joshua had
written with her mouth set.
Her eyes narrowed. “Go sit down.”
Joshua shot a smile at her as he went.
“See me after class,” Mrs. Blaine said.
Joshua winced. One smart gesture too far.
“The rest of you, commit this chart to
memory.” Mrs. Blaine tapped the blackboard. “It will be on the test next week.”
“Dude, are you crazy?” Neil leaned over to him
as Joshua sat. Joshua had to bite back a smile. His friend acted like he had been the one called in after
class. “She’s going to hate you now.”
Joshua shrugged. “I’ve got more important
things to worry about.”
“Like what?” Neil whispered, copying the
diagram.
“Like . . .” Joshua stared full into the sun.
“I think the sun is off by two minutes.”
Neil paused in his writing. “What?”
“The sun.” Joshua glanced at Mrs. Blaine to
make sure she wasn’t watching. “It should be a little to the right. It’s in the
wrong place.”
“Have you been moon-bathing or something?
You’re as batty as a night-person.”
Joshua scowled at his friend. “Don’t say
that.”
But Neil went on, ignoring Joshua’s annoyance,
or . . . more likely . . . not noticing it at all. “The sun can’t be in the
wrong place. It’s impossible.”
“Maybe.” Joshua could overlook his friend’s
oversight. After all, he didn’t know how offensive the saying was. “But I’ve
done the calculations over and over—”
“Done the calculations?” Neil snickered. “What
do you know about calculations like those? There are smart people in the
capital whose job it is to watch the sun. Don’t you think they would have said
something if the sun was in the wrong place?”
“I guess . . .” Joshua faced the front of the
class where Mrs. Blaine continued her lesson. He wrote the diagram down, more
to get his mind off of the nagging feeling in the back of his mind than because
he needed to remember it. Neil was right; Joshua had to be wrong. After all,
Helio, the Guardian of the sun, was the epitome of precision. The sun would
never drift out of position on his watch.
Still . . . a feeling, like a stone sitting in
his stomach, told Joshua something was amiss. He had seen the sun doing strange
things before. The other day he thought he saw it flickering, and the day
before he was certain its rays were less intense than they should have been.
Joshua swallowed the knot rising in his throat
and resisted the urge to fiddle with the gold necklace he wore hidden under his
shirt. If something was wrong with the sun, he had more than filling out
diagrams and studying for tests to worry about.
They all did.
About M.R. Anglin...
M.R. Anglin has always
had a fascination with space—particularly the moon and stars. She also has
three amazing nephews, two adorable “near-nephews,” and one brilliant niece, so
it’s no wonder she eventually wrote a story that combines these loves into one.
You can often find her gazing up at the Florida sky at night or hunching over
her notebook/computer by day.
She is the author of the
Middle Grade novel, Lucas, Guardian of Truth (LampPost
2012), the self-published Silver Foxes series. She has also
been included in the Coyotl Award winning anthology, Gods With Fur (FurPlanet 2016) and Extinct?
(Wolfsinger 2017).
Where you can find her online...
Facebook: http://facebook.com/authoranglin
Twitter:
@authoranglin
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/mranglin
Instagram: http://instagram.com/authoranglin
Deviantart: http://michelay.deviantart.com
Website: http://lyeland.com
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