The Gingerbread Curse

 


The Gingerbread Curse

by April Marcom

GENRE:   Fantasy/Fairy Tale



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.




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.




About the Author:



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.


Q&A With the Author
When did you first consider yourself to be a writer?

 

I've loved to write and dream up stories for as long as I can remember. I didn't finish my first novel until after I became a mom, even though it was so much harder to find the time for it. Funny how it worked out. 


What advice do you have for a new writer?

 

Be prapared to fail and keep trying. When you're feeling hopeless and just over it all, go back and read things you've written. Enjoying the stories you've created feels great, like reconnecting with old friends.


What is the easiest part of the writing process for you?

 

Dreaming up my stories is the easiest and most fun part of writing. Organizing my ideas and putting them onto paper is a lot harder. Imagining who goes where and does what is a real thrill.


What is your favorite part of this story?

 

That's hard. I love Aurora's realization of her flaws and the magical characters sprinkled through the story. But if I had to pick a favorite, I'd choose all the sweet little instances of my star gingerbread man, Nick, revealing his growing attraction to Falon.


Which Character was the most fun to write about? Why?

 

I loved writing about Falon's grandpa and about Nick. It's a special thing to tie parts of olden times with today. To me, there's something magical about an oldfashioned gentleman like Nick, and Falon's grandpa is a lot like mine was when I was younger. There are glimmers of the sensation of spending time with my late grandpa in lacing fragments of him into Falon's. 


Which Character was the hardest to write about? Why?

Aurora was hard to write about because she's so vain and selfish. Her attitude stinks. She's the sort of character that really makes the heroine shine, though, and she's full of opportunities for self growth. 


Contact:

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




GIVEAWAY:


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



Comments

  1. Awesome excerpt, The Gingerbread Curse sounds like my kind of book and I can't wait to read Falon's wicked sounding adventure! Thank you for sharing it with me and have a TGIF day!

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  2. Thanks from me too Literary Gold! I love your blog site's name!

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks, Rita! Here's another short excerpt for fun:

      Countless bends and hard turns later, the light offered by the vines dimmed up ahead. Two gaping holes loomed in the darkness where walls should have been. Dead, black tendrils of vines hung limply around the openings.
      Duchess fanned out her wings and approached the ominous apertures cautiously. The three of us mortals sort of naturally hung back. I stopped when Duchess leaned forward to peek through the openings.
      Nick put both arms around me from behind. Aurora sighed loudly. I leaned back, happier to melt into the sanctuary of his arms than to live in the fear of the moment. His hands closed around my upper arms when
      Duchess leapt through a hole unexpectedly.
      We couldn’t see her for a minute, then she crossed in front of us going toward the other side, head down, shoulders up, wings out. She crept toward it—slowly—slowly—then hurdled through the gap.

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  4. This sounds like a fun re-telling. A genre I enjoy.

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  5. Happy Friday! Do you have any specific reading or writing plans for the weekend, April?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Bea! I hope so. Mostly it's getting the shopping done, making sure kids get to their youth campout, and everything's caught up for another week of Pre-K. Maybe I'll catch some writing time if I'm lucky.

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. Thanks, Sherry! I loved writing it and creating every twist and turn.

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  7. Great questions and answers, I enjoyed reading

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Marisela! I don't mind another Q & A or two if you've ever wondering about anything else.

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  8. I like the super interesting ginger bread skin character.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks, Calvin! One of Falon's biggest goals in the story is to cure him.

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  10. I love the detailed interview and learning how April feels about writing about different types of characters.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Tracy! I love connecting with readers.

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  11. Your book sounds like something I would love to read.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Bridgett! What's your favorite book genre? I love all things magical and beautiful.

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  12. I enjoyed reading the excerpt from this book. It sounds fun to read. I also think the book cover is very eye catchin.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jen! It was fun to write. Hope you get to enjoy it.

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  13. I liked the fact that although this falls into the trope of retelling a fairy tale, it takes a completely different slant on it.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Fairy tales are so fun to read and write about. You could rethink it 100 times and still have room for more creativity. It was a blast.

      Delete

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