Donna Galanti - Where heart and hope meet adventure!

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Joshua and the Arrow Realm in 5 Memes + Spring Fever!

By Donna Galanti

I love creating memes and GIFs and couldn’t resist creating book 2 in my Lightning Road series, Joshua and the Arrow Realm, into a story of memes! So here is the story in just 5 memes 🙂 .

I hope this cheered you up on this-not-quite-spring day! I admit to having spring fever and can’t wait for all my favorite outdoor things to do (reading in my hammock in the sun is one of them!). I just want to stop and pet the flowers. LOL!

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Besides memes, here are 3 other things I love to do.

Biking. Because I can fly! My bike takes me anywhere. I can escape at a moment’s notice and I always get scene and plot pharmacy-no-rx.net ideas when I bike.

Kayaking. Another amazing escape. I can drift away into lake coves and spend time in nature’s music. The water takes me where I want to go and I can float through another world. It makes me feel like I can become anyone, do anything, forget everything.

Spending time with my son. He is funny, smart, and reminds me of all I did right in this world when everything else feels wrong. Plus I am a sucker for silly boy humor. It never gets old!

 

 

Name your top 3 favorite things to do and why! Are you feeling spring fever like me? 🙂  (Told ya I love GIFs!)

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A month of book launches, retreats, and research!

By Donna Galanti

It’s been a fun whirlwind month celebrating the launch of Joshua and the Arrow Realm! Thank you everyone for sharing in it with me 🙂 . 

We had a super fun book launch party on September 17th at my favorite bookstore, the Doylestown Bookshop. There was a presentation, reading, book trailer showing and scavenger hunt – plus storm cloud cookies and lightning bolt chocolate pops! If you’re close to Albany, New York, I will be having another book party on Friday, September 30, at 7pm at the Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza.

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Me and the real Joshua at the book party at the Doylestown Bookshop!

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Julie won the Lost Realm poster
in the scavenger hunt!

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You can also follow the Joshua and the Arrow Realm book blog tour here for interviews and excerpts. This week hop on over to the Secret Files of Fairday Morrow’s blog where Joshua is interviewed for Character Book Club by his pal, Sam, from Sign of the Green Dragon!

joshua-cbc   samjosh

And more reviews have come in for Joshua and the Arrow Realm! 

“Galanti has created another fast-paced, intricate tale that weaves together newly created myths with ancient levitra ones and populates the world of Nostos with Greek gods and characters and monsters to thrill and chill the reader. This is wonderful adventure-fantasy from start to finish.” – C. Lee McKenzie

“This is a great book for kids in 4th grade and up who love mythology and stories with lots of action. I read this in one day, so it’s full of page turning adventures- but there are sad parts too.” – Lizzie’s Blog

This month I also had fun researching medieval life for my current manuscript at the Philadelphia Museum of Art!!
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I could have spent days here. My favorite gallery being on armor and weaponry! My son and his friend were more interested in face swapping with Renaissance portraits 🙂 .

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I also spent a wonderful writer’s retreat this month at my friend Kathryn Craft’s lakeside home in northern New York.

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It was a wonderful few days shared with talented writers.

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We wrote together, read our work, laughed, and cried.

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We can write alone but we can’t grow as writers alone – we need each other. I’m so lucky to have an amazing writer network of special people around me.

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Happy fall everyone! 

 

Remixing mythology to create your own story

By Donna Galanti

When I write, I return to the magical worlds of being a kid, where monsters and faeries roam the land. Through my stories I can become these characters, and have their powers. Greek mythology is a great place to find such inspiration!

As writers we don’t have to limit our imagination, It’s also okay to “borrow” from history. Many authors do it! In the Lightning Road series the Greek Olympians have lost their power and their descendants desperately want it back. In creating this world I took many parts of mythology and made them my own. Remixing culture can be fun, to use ideas from different cultures and history to create something new and uniquely yours. Here is a map of the Arrow Realm where beasts and bandits roam from my own imagination! 🙂arrowRealm9

And here are some of the people, places, and beasts in Joshua and the Arrow Realm that I re-mixed to create my own…

ARTEMIS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY
: Goddess of the hunt, chastity, and the moon. She is the protector of nature and the hunt; both wild and tame animals are under her protection.

ARTEMIS IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: Not a protector of the hunt. Not only does she hunt beasts, she hunts children as well.

Artemis excerpt:
“A tall woman strode toward our cell as the soldiers parted. Her head was covered in a crown of twisty thorns, every prickly point encrusted with blood-red jewels and tinged with gold. Her cropped brown hair framed high cheek bones in short curls, and narrowed eyebrows arched over large, brown eyes. Her nose and lips were thin like the rest of her, a face more handsome than pretty. She wore matching plum-colored velvet pants and a hooded tunic that fell to her knees with open slits on either side. A rough-made bracelet of polished braided wood encircled her left wrist. Her white shirt was flecked with gold threads, and billowy sleeves puffed out above her slender hands resting on a burnished metal belt hanging low across her hips. A dagger with an intricate handle dangled from her belt. Form-fitting black leather boots laced up her legs and one foot tapped the floor. The strangest thing about her was the black sunglasses she wore. They had round frames, and the lenses flickered alive with torchlight.”

artemis3KORAX IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Or Corax, means raven. Corax was also a scholar.

KORAX IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: These are ravens but no ravens we know. They are monstrous beasts that can transport people and act as spies for Artemis.

Korax excerpt:
“As the swarm drew closer, they appeared as monstrous black ravens with a giant wingspan that filled the sky’s empty spaces. Their massive beaks opened and closed with gurgling croaks, but it was their eyes that terrified me. They burned a bright green, shooting us with a mean glare as they torpedoed down. Chanting words echoed across the dark land: light bringers, light bringers. Imagined words? The whirring of wing beats throbbed in my head as they grew closer, matching the beat of my own thudding heart.”

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ZEUS’S LIGHTNING BOLT IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: A sign of power and of Zeus’s power to rule the sky.

ZEUS’S LIGHTNING BOLT IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES:  Zeus’s lightning bolt created the Lightning Gate, a portal between Earth and Nostos, the world where the descendants of the Olympians have relocated to as their home. Zeus still rules the sky through this gate as he steals people from Earth along the lightning road that connects both worlds.

Lightning Gate excerpt:
“The gate’s blaze spun a web of brilliance then dimmed and died out, leaving us in deep buyambienmed.com shadows under a rising orange moon. The massive portal filled the small meadow like a tarnished bronze statue that had weathered many storms. Its two Greek columns stood on round stone blocks, and another wider slab overhead connected them. Carved figures and animals moved through the gate’s ancient metal as if alive. The scent of blistered tin blew off the door to another world, still standing after 2,000 years. Built with lost Olympian magic, I’d once again traveled through it to rescue another friend.”
 

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THE CADMEAN BEAST IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Known as the Teumessian Fox or Cadmean Vixen, is a gigantic fox that preyed upon the children.

THE CADMEAN BEAST IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: Giant beasts with red eyes and flame-throwing breath. Used as guard dogs to watch over captive children, and chase them down when necessary.

Cadmean Beast Excerpt:
“Their heads were even with the shoulders of the men and their legs were as big as a horse’s. Fur covered them in slicked back, shiny spikes. They sniffed the platform and panted, thick tongues pulsing out of their mouths, and saliva dripped down in big gobs. Muscles rippled up and down their bodies  like quivering arrows as their bushy tails swished back and forth. I flinched with each swish, my feet desperate to run, but they were frozen in place. The foxes jerked their heads up in unison, and it felt like spiders skittered up my spine. Red eyes glowed bright like lava and burned fiercely into mine, hungry for what I feared was me.”

 

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AGRIUS BEAST IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Is one of a pair of twins, half-man and half-bear. Agrius and his brother grew to immense strength and size and were feral creatures, attacking strangers to eat.

AGRIUS BEAST IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: A giant black beast bearing a bear’s body and a wolf’s snout that is hunted by Artemis in the Wild Lands, but also known to befriend some people.

Agrius Beast Excerpt:
“Luck seemed to be all we carried for the moment. I jumped on the back of the creature behind Ash, sinking into its thick fur. She urged Charlie on who stood frozen, mesmerized by the beast’s boulder-sized, shaggy head. Its pointed ears and snout twitched as it trembled, eager to be on the run.”

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CRETAN BEAST IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Known as the Cretan Bull, it was the bull Pasiphaë fell in love with, giving birth to the Minotaur. The Cretan Bull was feared and eventually captured and sacrificed.

CRETAN BEAST IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: Half lion, half bull. It’s held captive in the Wild Lands and hunted by Artemis.cretan

Cretan Beast Excerpt:
“I skidded to a stop, riding wet leaves. Charlie’s eyes blinked with surprise as I shoved him aside and turned to face the unleashed creature. It flew over my head—an exploding mountain of fur and legs and tail—and slammed onto the ground. It turned to face me, panting. Pacing back and forth, its massive paws glinted with curved nails as it smashed the mud. Steam bellowed from its giant nostrils and horns protruded from a head covered in a shaggy brown mane. Tinted burnt orange, the beast raged part lion, part bull. I backed away from the monster, hauling Charlie with me.”

I love to write about monstrous people and beasts. I get to face my own fears by writing about them.  I’ve always loved Greek mythology which has lots of monstrous creatures in it.  And sometimes the monsters we fear are not the ones we should be afraid of – it’s the ones who don’t appear monstrous that can be the most evil.

Release Day! Joshua and the Arrow Realm is Here!

By Donna Galanti

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Today is the day! Get out your party horns! Joshua and the Arrow Realm, book 2 in the Lightning Road series, releases. Grab a copy here. Toot toot! 🙂 Thanks to all of my Thunderclap supporters who helped me spread word of the book and achieve over 1,000,000 reach through social media!

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ABOUT JOSHUA AND THE ARROW REALM:

Joshua never thought he’d return to the world of Nostos but is soon called to the Arrow Realm to free his imprisoned friend, King Apollo, kidnapped as a power pawn in Queen Artemis’s quest to conquer every realm. With his loyalties divided between our world and theirs, Joshua wonders whether he alone can restore magic to the twelve powerless Olympian heirs and save all those enslaved. But when he finds himself abandoned in his quest, he fears he cannot only save those imprisoned—but himself as well.

13873191_10210201746548365_4185314844364314676_nGet a signed copy of Joshua and the Arrow Realm at these upcoming events:

Doylestown Bookshop, Doylestown, PA, 9/17, 3pm
The Book House, Albany, NY, 9/30, 7pm
River Reads 40+ Multi-Author Event, Stockton, NJ, 10/23, 10-4pm

DGalanti_JATLR_eCover_900x1350You can still grab book one, Joshua and the Lightning Road, for just $.99cents on e-Book.

People have asked me “What was the inspiration behind Joshua and the Arrow Realm?”
I knew I wanted to further test Joshua, the main character of the series, and have him grow in his journey. And I knew then I would have to throw him into some dastardly situations! Heh heh heh 🙂 .

With the story set in the Arrow Realm ruled by Queen Artemis (Greek goddess of the hunt), I wanted a great hunt to be part of the story. From this, grew an entirely new subculture of the Wild Childs who live in trees to escape the hunt. Many ideas for this woodland came on walks and I spent many hours audio recording scenes in the woods – about scenes in the woods!

As a child, fantasy was my reality. I read fantasy and also created fantasy worlds living out my favorite books so it’s no surprise that I write fantasy! From my first story at ten about Dodo birds, wizards, and a flying ship to Joshua and the Arrow Realm, fantasy has always claimed me. Growing up on a mountain as an only child, I spent much of my time roaming the woods with my notebook in hand and my trusty dogs by my side, putting stories on the page in hidden glens and the nooks of trees. My love of woods and fantasy – as a child and today – fueled the thicket world of Joshua and the Arrow Realm, where Joshua must survive the hunt!

Me and my dog, Windsor, who roamed the woods with me when he grew up …

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In Joshua and the Arrow Realm I created a timberland world from my love of the woods. This world is populated with the Wild Lands (and the Wild Childs that live there in tree houses), the Grand Tree, and the Black Heart Tree.

Here are the Wild Childs, including Ash, who befriend Joshua in the story …

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“Ash motioned us to leave with her when they were all gone, and we stepped outside onto the tree house platform. Purple night deepened and long shadows softened the craggy world. We stood on a plank road with roped netting rail that zigzagged from house to house and floated under the forest’s canopy in a sea of darkness. Green buy valium lights glowed soft through lopsided windows, and branch shadows wrapped the tiny shacks in prickly fingers. Leaves battered the houses in the sharp wind as the Wild Childs skulked amongst the trees.”

The Wild Child Tree Houses …TreeHouse2Here is the Grand Tree, a most majestic oak tree and friend to children …

“Clinging to the sides of the Grand Tree’s hand, I peered down. The massive Oak uprooted itself, one root at a time, and strode through the woods on knobby feet. The forest swayed back to let it pass as it forged a trail, twisting wooden fingers around its fellow trunk mates, pushing itself onward. I held on, amazed to be alive.”

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And here is the Black Heart Tree … a giant crooked evil tree you don’t want to meet!

“The worst horror faced us. The Black Heart Tree. Its trunk convulsed in a serpentine mass that slithered through it with each smack of its gargantuan limbs at the Grand Tree. The molded faces of children screamed along its hardened skin in a nightmare, their bones broken and crushed in the bark: a foot poised to kick, a hand fisted, fingers begging to live. With each punch the monster tree wielded, the dead writhed and moaned in its thrashing wood. A ghoulish vision that would haunt me forever.”

BlackHeartTree

Of course, the true inspiration behind the Lightning Road series is the real Joshua and my son, my favorite person in the world. His adventurous imagination fuels my own and his faith in my storytelling never wavers. Here we are in a tree house at one of our favorite places, the Mohonk Mountain House.

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I also want to thank my husband, Michael, for being the greatest provider of alone time there is! Thanks as well to my publisher Month9Books and for my amazing editor, Tara Creel. She guided me in enriching these stories (along with the pesky grammar stuff!).  Special gratitude goes to my first reader and dear friend, Lisa Green. She continues to shine her enthusiasm and light on Joshua’s adventures. Her insight drove me to breathe fiery life into this story and these characters. Here we are on a Halloween adventure at Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary!

Terror

I appreciate all of you who have helped spread the word of Joshua and the Arrow Realm. The support of so many means so much to me! Thanks so much to the talented Al Sirois who designed the map and characters of the Arrow Realm and the Lost Realm in Joshua and the Lightning Road.arrowRealm9

Check out all the places along the Joshua and the Arrow Realm blog tour put on by Chapter by Chapter and my publisher, Month9Books.

Joshua2Tour

Week 1:

August 29, 2016 – The book slayer – Review

August 29, 2016 – BooksChatter – Interview

August 30, 2016 – Rockin’ Book Reviews – Guest Post

August 31, 2016 – JeanBookNerd – Guest Post

August 31, 2016 – Books,Dreams,Life – Review

September 1, 2016 – The Silver Dagger Scriptorium – Guest Post

September 2, 2016 – lynneawilson – Review

September 2, 2016 – Kayl’s Krazy Obsession – Guest Post

Week 2:

September 5, 2016 – Lisa’s Loves(Books of Course) – Guest Post

September 5, 2016 – Lori’s Little house of Reviews – Review

September 6, 2016 – The Avid Reader – Guest Post

September 7, 2016 – BookHounds YA – Interview

September 8, 2016 – Chapter by Chapter – Interview

September 9, 2016 – Seraphina Reads – Guest Post

WATCH THE JOSHUA AND THE ARROW REALM BOOK TRAILER

Character Book Club: Sam from The Sign of the Green Dragon

By Donna Galanti

greendragon (1)I am super  excited for this meeting of the DMS Files Character Book Club! In attendance today are Sam of The Sign of the Green Dragon, by C. Lee McKenzie, interviewed by Joshua from Joshua and the Arrow Realm. 

In The Sign of the Green Dragon we have … Three plucky sleuths. A crumbling skeleton. A buried treasure.

After six months in a new school, Sam’s finally fitting in. He’s the one kid with enough talent to hit the winning home run and bring the baseball trophy back to Haggarty Elementary. But Sam’s guardian is shipping him off to boarding school before that can happen.

When his teammates, Joey and Roger, hear his bad news, they plot to hide him until the big game. Their secret cave is a perfect place until an earthquake shatters a wall and reveals a wooden chest with a red-eyed dragon carved into its top. Inside, a crumbling skeleton clutches a map with a cryptic note, promising treasure if the finder reveals the truth about an old murder and returns the remains of the victim to China.

Is the note a hoax? Maybe. But what does Sam have to lose? With Joey and Roger, he sets off to track down the clues and hopefully discover treasure. When finally some puzzle pieces start to make sense, they become lost in a labyrinth of underground tunnels, trapped by dangerous thieves and sealed inside an airless tomb.

My Review:
The Sign of the Green Dragon is an intriguing high-stakes plot brimming with dark secrets, unsolved murders, and mystical dragons in a race against a ticking clock. A compelling combination of criminal underworld and ancient lore, readers will enjoy hunting for treasure at their own peril with this resourceful group of young detectives. Magic, mystery, and mayhem reign in this tale of friendship and adventure that will leave you guessing until the end – and hope for more adventures to come!

As one reader says, this book, “has more twists than a dragon’s tail.” I can’t wait to find out what Sam thinks about his recent adventure! So, without further ado, let the meeting commence…


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Character Book Club with Sam and Joshua!

Joshua: Were you totally scared to run away from home? (I’ve run away myself so know the feeling!)

Sam: I know about what happened to you, Joshua. Sorry, man. But, yeah. I guess I was a little scared. Still it was kind of exciting.

Joshua: Your friends seem like good friends. They stick by you through all the bad stuff. What was the worst part of your adventure that made you glad they were here?

Sam: Well, you know that tomb thing really was bad. Joey was a big help getting us out of there with his so-so Chinese. And Roger, well, he helped out a lot in Sadie’s museum. He figured out where to look for the dragon files.

Joshua: You had some super cool spooky experiences! What was it like to experience those weird things? If you didn’t believe in dragons and magic and stuff before, I bet you do now!

Sam: I’m nodding, Joshua. At first, I was creeped out, but then I met them and those dragons are something. I mean they fly! And fast. Maybe not fast like the lightning road, but close.

Joshua:  Was there a point in your adventure that you didn’t think you’d antibiotics ever make it out okay? (I’ve had tons of these too so can totally relate!)

Sam: Right. Like that time you got caught by that tree! I was worried. Real worried. Oh, but about me and the guys. I didn’t think we were getting out of that warehouse. That’s for sure. And then that tomb. . .in the dark. . .no air. That had me tense.

Joshua: What is it like to not have a mother or father and be raised by an uncle? Do you think you and your uncle could be friends now after all you’ve been through? I’m an only child too without parents. (Hey, we have a lot in common and should hang out sometime!)

Sam: I’m still not used to Mom and Dad being gone, but Carmela helps and Uncle Jasper’s kind of different these days. Carmela’s changed things. Hey! I got a room of my own in the house now! Seriously. Come over and see. Maybe do a sleepover. Uncle Jasper’s even letting me ride some of his horses. Neat, right?

Joshua: You met a lot of nasty – and nice – people in your adventure. Who was the scariest and who was the nicest, and why?

Sam: That creep, Hanson, was a lot nasty, but Sadie Green downright scared me to death. No way do I want to meet up with her again. But Li Kwan was a really nice guy. I miss him. And Jen, too. But I might get to see him next summer.

Joshua: If you knew ahead of time of all the crazy things you’d come across on your quest to solve the mystery of the green dragon (dark secrets, magic, and murder, yikes!), would you still have run away in the first place?

Sam: Tapping finger and thinking here, Joshua. . . Yes. Definitely. I mean I wouldn’t have ever met Jen. I wouldn’t have seen that “house” he lives in or gotten to  meet up with Mei Ling’s . . . I guess you’d say, her ghost?

Joshua: Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently with your friends along the way? Is there anything special you would have grabbed before you left to take with you?

Sam: Well, I packed my dad’s Swiss army knife and that helped me out a lot. Some more food would have been good. We all got kind of hungry until Jen started feeding us.

Joshua: I totally don’t think that this is your only treasure hunt adventure! Are you up for another adventure or ready for a break to just hang with your friends and play baseball?  ?

Sam: Well, you see, I’ve got this map that Mr. Lung left and it’s kind of mysterious, and it kind of says that I could help out this person. Still, I’m getting really primed to bring in more winning runs. It’s a huge toss up. And then there’s Joey and Roger to think about. Guess I have to see how things go.

 

Hey, Sam, thanks for coming on Character Book Club with me!

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                 C. Lee McKenzie

Meet Sam’s author C. Lee McKenzie!

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Read the reviews for The Sign of the Green Dragon! 
Check out C. Lee’s other books for young adults
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