Last Minute Stocking Stuffer Ideas

Are you running out of time? Did you miss someone on your Christmas list? Do you need a little something that will make your kid's stocking sparkle? Don't worry we have some great suggestions for the readers in your lives.

First I will show you how super easy it is to send an e-book to the one you love in three easy steps.

Step 1 - Find that book your loved one will love!
If you haven't found that book we have some great suggestions later on in the post. Once you find that book on Amazon or the Barnes and Nobles website there should be a link next to where you can purchase the item that allows you to send that ebook as a gift.

Step 2 - Fill in some basic information.

All you have to do is simply fill in the recipients' e-mail, your name and theirs, and write a personal holiday message.

 

The nice option that Amazon offers is that you can actually print the instructions yourself in place of sending it through an e-mail. This allows you to print the voucher, place it in a Christmas card, or perhaps give it as a white elephant gift.

Step 3 - Place the order.

Press the place your order or submit button and all is done!   

Now for those suggestions I've been hinting at! 

Children's Books

If you have some little ones that you need to shop for here are a couple of suggestions we think they will love!

Our first two are the creations of Fabled Garden Press' own Suzanne Nikolaisen. Beautifully illustrated fun and silly poems to make a kid in your life smile. 

-The Cupcake Tree by Suzanne Nikolaisen 

The sweet and magical cupcake tree, branches loaded with ripe cupcakes, is one of the silly poems in this delightful collection to read with your children. Colorful illustrations of lollipop flowers, cuddly bears, a snowman in the sun, and more highlight the collection. Some poems are pure silliness while others like The Cupcake Tree are simply sweeter. Join the tickety-tockiting clock, razzleberries, the singing roosters, and crickets cricking softly in a book of poems perfect to read at bedtime or on the go. 
You can find it here for Amazon Kindle.

-B is for Bigfoot: An ABC Book of Wonderful Creatures by Suzanne Nikolaisen
This illustrated alphabet of wonderful creatures includes an imaginative crew of memorable fantasy creatures with a dragon, werewolf, robot, mermaid, the kraken, Bigfoot and more. Each cheery illustration shares a colorful letter and visual clues about the creatures and is accompanied by a lighthearted poem with fun rhythm. Explore the ABC’s with these legendary creatures.
You can find it here for Amazon Kindle.

Teen Books

We are working on some teen fiction here at Fabled Garden Press that will hopefully come out in the upcoming year. Until then here is a book that we think you will love from one of our dear friends, M.L.Smith.

-Chrysalis by M.L.Smith 
Alexa Morgan is like most teenage girls. She only gets to use her cell phone for emergencies, she has trouble getting her homework done and she's crushing on the school's bad boy. But Alexa really isn't like any of her high school peers. When she turns eighteen, she will be the most powerful mage in the world. Until then, she has other mages, vampires, werewolves and fairies hunting her. Some of them want to kill her, others want to turn her into a monster. She's in the middle of a war and the winner gets to claim her life.
You can find it here for Amazon Kindle.

Paranormal Fun
Paranormal and fantasy are at the heart of Fabled Garden Press and we think that these selections will have your loved one's spine tingle or let them escape to a fantastical world. Maybe even a bot of both.

-SandShadow by Suzanne Nikolaisen
Michael lives alone in a crowded city where he is haunted by an extraordinary nightmare. He’s made some bad decisions and the woman he loves is halfway across the world. Time is running out to find what’s behind the paralyzing dreams and the presence that comes with them. 

Drawn into an ancient society of watchers who say they know what’s hunting him, he begins to wonder if zombies are real. The answer is coming for him from the desert sands where it has never rested in peace.
You can find it here for Amazon Kindle and here for the Nook. 

-Cora Frost by Matthew Leland Smith
“Come now my pet it's time we get started.”

Cora Frost, the proprietor of a small shop called Eerie East End's, is caught in the middle of a dangerous paranormal game. The year is 1886 and a young girl comes to the oddball shop seeking answers to a recent attack. Nichole Kelly's world has been turned upside down when she's attacked by creature that some have dubbed Spring-Heeled Jack. With her own supernatural gifts, Cora's investigation leads her down a road that includes exorcism, venturing into the memories of a man and being enthralled in a game of wits against a psychic.
You can find it here for Amazon Kindle and here for the Nook.

-Cora Frost: the Gift by Matthew Leland Smith
Some social engagements are simply to die for. 

Moira Dent, a young beautiful heiress, has only one thing that groups her with the lower class; one day she will die. To her luck, a passer-by offers her a gift. With a simple ritual she will be able to raise another as a vampire. Through this pact, she will be able to join the risen vampire in immortality. Moira only needs her closest friends to join her deadly pact, and perhaps a few to be a little midnight snack. 
Under the guise of a dinner party, Moira invites her cousin, Webster Pruitt, to take place in this hideous act. Luckily, Webster has a guardian in the form of his new friend, Cora Frost. Using the magical abilities and expertise she will have to face the horrors Moira Dent has unleashed on her dinner guests. 
Cora must make strange alliances with the deviant vampiric Veronica Bowman, the beautiful and airy actress Irene Adler, and the mysterious kingly Siegfried Richter. Cora and her allies must survive until the morning and the mysterious forces Moira has summoned will be put to an end. Though some things are easier said, than done. 
You can find it here for Amazon Kindle and here for the Nook.

We hope that this gives all of you little elves a couple of ideas, and we thank you in advance for considering making us a part of your holiday this year. From all of us here at Fabled Garden Press we hope you have a merry Christmas and a happy holiday.

Inspiration, Spiritualism and Cora Frost

During Halloween time I always get an itch to visit the world of my first published piece, Cora Frost. Inspiration seems to abound when the air becomes crisper, the leaves begin to change to vibrant crimsons, and the most macabre holiday begins to peak around the corner. It was about this time nearly three years ago that I began to etch out my first novella featuring the arcane and eldritch sorceress and shopkeeper.

Cora's origins come from a variety of different sources. One day I was watching Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. and it really began to make me think. Sherlock Holmes is a great character analytical, brilliant, and inventive. He always figures the case out, the villain for the most part always is caught in Holmes' web (with the exception being Irene Adler). While Sherlock is an amazing character I began to think of what I thought was missing from his extraordinary tales.

I for the most part surround myself with fantasy. While science fascinates me, I would rather spend my time thinking about the improbable (I don't believe that something can be one hundred percent impossible) rather than the practical. Sherlock Holmes is for the most part the opposite, even opposite from his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle was a believer in Spiritualism a movement popular in the late 1800's that believed that the walls between the living and the dead were thin, and communicating between the two worlds was possible.

When I started brainstorming ideas in what would eventually become Cora Frost, I began to look at Holmes. I love the mystery, the grittiness of Victorian England. At first it seemed like a no-brainer, Sherlock Holmes is public domain after all, I thought I would craft my own Holmes story with a flair of the supernatural. I looked at the movement that Doyle so fervently believed in, and stumbled upon a character within its history that peeked my interest.

Cora L.V. Scott was a medium within the Spiritualism movement. She would stand before masses in a trance like state and claimed to speak for the dead. She was young and pretty which seemed to be at odds with her claimed unearthly abilities. While all of this absolutely intrigued me, another fact intrigued me more. Cora had been married four times. Today that would be considered commonplace, but in the 1800's it was practically unheard of.

When I read about Cora an idea seemed to pop into my head. In many ways this girl was the complete opposite of Holmes. She wasn't bound by science or laws, being married four times is a good indication that she was a creature of passion versus Holmes' analytical mind. So in place of writing a Sherlock Holmes story I thought it would be a better idea to craft a character that was more of his foil.

Cora Scott was a great start but I felt my main character still needed more than to be an interpretation of this historical character. Paranormal private investigators are a staple in the modern fantasy genre and it seemed perfect for my character to be like a Victorian era equivalent. While the Spiritualism movement fascinates me I wanted my 'anti-Holmes' to be more than a medium, but a sorceress who could deal with the baddies that came her way with a much more direct approach if needed.

In many ways I took Cora Scott, Sherlock Holmes, and a dash of the Halliwell sisters and stirred it in a giant pot. After pouring it out I found that I created a character who uses her mind and her passion to solve problems.

Next time I will write about the inspirations for the villains in the Cora Frost tales. For more information on Cora Scott visit this link here. For a free Cora Frost story visit here to download it for Kindle or here to download it for the Nook.

- Matt

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cora_L._V._Scott