Guardian, The Choice: Magical Beasts Book One by Geoffrey Saign ***YA Fantasy - Spotlight - Spotlight - Guest Post - Excerpt - Giveaway***

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Guardian, The Choice: Magical Beasts Book One

by Geoffrey Saign

Genre: YA Fantasy

Release Date: July 2019

A demon haunts Samantha Green's dreams.

And she fears it's coming for her...

When wildlife prodigy Sam and her crush—quirky handsome Jake—are attacked by a dragon assassin, Sam discovers her secret past. A past connected to a supernatural giant cat and a glowing faerie.

Sam is quickly pulled into a high stakes battle for the world. Everyone, including a creepy ancient villain, wants her supernatural staff, which she doesn’t know how to use. Sophisticated ninja dragons, a kong-sized gorilla, and mysterious beasts offer help—but are they friends or enemies? Sam has a big heart, but will her love for all creatures tear her life apart?

To survive the hardest choice she's ever made, Sam will have to unlock the hidden power inside her.

Ready or not, Sam is about to find out if she has what it takes to be a guardian…

Guardian: The Choice is the new exciting start of a magic-filled fantasy four book series starring a powerful heroine, a tough brawny hero, and a slew of not-so-friendly magical beasts.

A fantasy thriller series loved by readers of all ages that will keep you turning the pages late into the night.

Guardian: The Choice was selected as Finalist in “Fantasy,” and “Young Adult” category winner in the IAN BOTY awards = Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards! 

And Guardian: The Choice was selected as the “Outstanding Young Adult” category winner IAN BOTY awards = Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards! 

Guardian The Choice will be ON SALE FOR ONLY $0.99 Nov 18-24 on Amazon! 

Guardian, The Quest: Magical Beasts Book Two will be ON SALE FOR 2.99 Nov 18-24 on Amazon! 

Guest Post

Magical Beasts & How I Created Them by Geoffrey Saign 

When you examine stories in general, whether written fiction or oral anecdotes we tell each other, often there is some exaggeration and some kernel of truth involved. Even in a fishing story. You should have seen the one that got away!

Thus in Greek mythology you have Zeus throwing lightning bolts. The kernel of truth is that there is lightning in the sky, which must have frightened people back then, especially without having any scientific explanation. But the fictional story of Zeus allowed people to view lightning with some sense of logic (even if it wasn’t true!) and made lightning feel safer.

In Magical Beasts I wanted to use that same paradigm by showing that past mythologies had some basis in fact, but were not the real story. I also wanted to create a complete mythology for all creatures in all human mythologies around the world. A tall order, but I believe I succeeded.

In Magical Beasts, giant magical animals with power are called Great Ones, and some of them migrated from the parallel world of KiraKu to our world. In our world if they were away from KiraKu’s energy for centuries their bodies eventually mutated and they became our mythological creatures. 

For example, the character Lewella was a giant dragonfly in the world of KiraKu. As a Great One she has the ability to take on human form, and over many centuries without having access to the water of KiraKu, her body mutated so that she ended up looking like a human with collapsible dragonfly wings. She also has the ability to increase her size, has great strength, speed, and power, and some healing ability. When her wings are extended, her physical shape is close enough to approximate the stories of faeries in human mythologies, yet her ‘factual’ story is something else—i.e. she is not really a ‘faerie’, but a mutated Great One. 

This new mythology, that encompassed all other mythologies, was very fun to include in Magical Beasts. I couldn’t possibly include all world mythologies, or all mythological creatures, but it was very fun to be able to take characters in the book and show how they matched mythologies in our world. There are also many creatures in Magical Beasts, such as dragons, that are dragons in KiraKu, and thus in our world didn’t need a ‘mutation’ to fit into human mythologies. If Great Ones have access to KiraKu’s water in our world (it’s smuggled in) they don’t go through mutations.

Magical Beasts gave me the freedom to create a new mythology that I hope readers love and enjoy as much as I do.

Excerpt

“You’re seeing this, right, Sam?”

I blink. “Komodo dragon, a.k.a. Varanus komodoensis.”

“No way! A dragon,” whispers Jake, his eyes round. “A real live dragon.”

I recognize the mottled, reddish-gray bumpy skin of the monitor lizard, but Komodo dragons rarely reach ten feet in length. This one’s forty, and bulky, as if it’s on steroids. He’s the size of a small truck and must weigh eight tons. And has wings.

“No wonder the cars were flattened,” I murmur. All my worry, tension, and fear sink into my stomach like a heavy rock. Facing something factual—even if it’s surreal and can kill me—feels better than having my imagination run wild.

From five feet away the Komodo glares at me with its two large golden eyes. Slobber drools from its open toothy jaw. Slowly beating its wide leathery wings, the lizard flicks out its yellow forked tongue, nearly touching my chest. I can’t move. At first I think it’s fear, but then I realize I’m paralyzed somehow by its gaze. When I try, I can’t budge my head even a millimeter left, right, up, or down.

However my right hand actually moves of its own accord from my side toward the bed. It’s as if the staff is screaming my name now, telling me to grab it, and pulling my hand toward it. I want to hold WhipEye in the worst way, but I still can’t move my feet.

The dragon floats a little closer and I can see its sixty teeth, serrated like a shark’s, white and eight inches long. I think I’m going to pee my shorts.

“Run, Sam!” shouts Jake.

I can’t move and he grabs my arm and pulls me back two steps, finally breaking the Komodo’s spell.

The lizard pushes its oblong skull into the room, its breath reeking of decayed flesh. Sweeping its head left to right, the Komodo appears to be searching for something. Its gaze rests on the staff.

My mind is a frenzy of jumbled thoughts and panic, but I pull away from Jake, jump toward the bed, and reach for the staff.

“Leave it, Sam!” Jake backpedals toward the bedroom door.

There’s no way I can do that. The burlap sack falls away and my hand curls like iron around WhipEye.

Hissing, the lizard uses its front feet to tear a bigger hole in the wall, forcing itself into my bedroom. In three clumsy steps I’m almost past the Komodo’s wagging head, but it lunges at me. I’m not going to make it. I stare like a raccoon in headlights at a toothy mouth large enough to take me whole.

About the Author

Award-winning author Geoffrey Saign has spent many years studying kung fu and sailed all over the South Pacific and Caribbean. He uses that experience and sense of adventure to write the Jack Steel and Alex Sight thriller action series.

Geoff’s love of wildlife led him to write the award-winning fantasy series, Magical Beasts. He is also the author of a stress reduction book, and Green Essentials which won national recognition. Geoff has a degree in biology and has assisted in field research on hummingbirds and humpback whales. For decades he has taught challenged adults and children everything from sailing to self-awareness and novel writing.

Geoff loves to sail big boats, hike, and cook—and he infuses all his writing with his passion for nature. As a swimmer, he considers himself blessed to live in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota.

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