The Gingerbread Curse

The Gingerbread Curse

by April Marcom

 

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GENRE:   Fantasy/Fairy Tale

 

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BLURB:

 

All her life, Falon's grandfather told her the age-old tale of 'The Gingerbread Man'. Even as a teenager, she'd fallen asleep to his favorite bedtime story, a special tradition she knew she'd never outgrow.  However, when he makes a dying wish, asking her to visit a secret underground world of magic to rescue the best friend he left behind fifty years ago, the tale begins to come to life.

Setting out with her self-obsessed cousin and a cure for the magicked man with skin like gingerbread, she finds herself tangled within an adventure nothing like the story her grandfather always told.

Once having found the long lost man of her grandfather’s youth, her only hope of ever returning home, or even surviving his world, lies in the talons of a deadly hybrid she scarcely trusts. Together they must face the animals taken from the children's tale and magicked into monsters, a man who can move mountains who is bent on killing them all, and a labyrinth rumored to have never allowed a survivor.

 

 

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EXCERPT

 

Hidden within the Evanish Mountains, there is a crevice that leads to an unknown world deep within our earth, where magic bleeds through the ground, transforming whatever it touches.

Over time, a great many wanderers have fallen into the enormous underground world, drawn in by its magic and turned into beings who look like they could have been made from gingerbread. The only way to escape is to face a maze filled with monsters and peril nearly impossible to survive.

 

Men have become lost until time consumed them. Others were destroyed and eaten by horses, by pigs, by oxen, or by whatever creature was unlucky enough to be touched by the magic of this underworld. It affects every sort of animal differently, but all are transfixed by the maze to crave the taste of the magicked man. The wind, as prey cuts through it, seems to chant:

 

“Run, run as fast as you can.

 

The moment you stop, you’re a dead man.”

 

None are worse than the vixens, however, a cache of female foxes with unparalleled speed and teeth that can cut through anything like butter.

Only a few have ever made it past them. The rare escapee is where the age-old tale of “The Gingerbread Man” originated, told differently from mouth to mouth. Not to mention that each “gingerbread man’s” tale is different.

A Word With the Author:

 

1.Did you always want to be an author?

 

I’ve always enjoyed dreaming up stories, but I spent most of high school and the beginnings of my young adult life hoping to become a psychologist. Depression has haunted me through most of my life so I felt I could relate better to teens with this sort of problem because I’ve been there. My children became far more important to me once I started a family and reading or telling them stories was soon an everyday thing. Writing fits better with family life and I can’t imagine loving any other job more than this one, except for being a mommy.

2.Tell us about the publication of your first book.

 

My first book was part of a series that was never published, followed by Young Love in Old Chicago, which I self-published more rejections than I’d like to admit. In spite of these setbacks, my heart was all in on this author thing. I searched my personal list of story ideas for the best one I could find. Good vs Evil High was born of my efforts and ended up with more than one offer for publication. To this day, it’s my favorite book I’ve ever written.

3.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

 

That’s complicated, because I read fantasy and I read some new age romance, but I don’t actually read YA fantasy romance, which is what genre I write in. So I guess I’d say my favorite fantasy writer is J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter’s my favorite series of all time! And my favorite romance writer is Debbie Macomber regarding her Blossom Street books.

4.What's the best part of being an author? The worst?

 

The best part is the freedom of creating whatever I want whenever I can steal a bit of time for writing. It’s fun bouncing ideas off my kids and hearing their opinions. The worst part is the struggle and the lack of a stable income. Most of us have got to love it enough to be okay with struggling, I think.

5.What are you working on now?

 

Right now I’m writing a dark fairytale, set in Romania on a cursed island where the people have been turned to stone and the only living things are man-beast-hybrids, along with whatever humans have washed ashore to become their servants. Beth’s part of a tour group from the US who’s swept out to sea and finds herself in this dangerous place. She’ll have to unravel the mystery of how the terrible curse came about, connect with and learn to trust the island spirits, and join forces with a royal heir who’s trapped underground to ensure his survival if she ever wants to escape. 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

April Marcom works as a Pre-K teacher's assistant, but her true passion is writing. When she's not teaching or creating stories, she's enjoying the country life with her car-obsessed husband and three fabulous children. She also enjoys rainy days, traveling, and her very rowdy dogs. April grew up a southern bell in Mississippi, but is now a proud Oklahoman.

 

Website: http://www.5princebooks.com/aprilmarcom.html

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AprilMarcom

 

Buy links:

The book will be $0.99.

https://www.amazon.com/Gingerbread-Curse-April-Marcom-ebook/dp/B07M7Q4PQY

 

https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-gingerbread-curse/id1449194526

 

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-gingerbread-curse

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-gingerbread-curse-april-marcom/1130194688?ean=2940161412503

 

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

April Marcom will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway