The Messenger Misadventures – Out Now!

messenger misadventures

The Messenger Misadventures: the Dylan, Deirdre and Dougall Collection is now published. You can find it on all your favourite online retailers.

About Messenger Misadventures

Four short stories (c 5,000 words each) for 8 years and upwards, set on the Isle of Mull, and starring my guinea pigs, Dylan, Dougall and Deirdre (who looks exceedingly like Victor on the cover).

Deirdre is pure invention. The first thing I did was write her own story in the Castle Haunn world — Deirdre and the Mermaid. I couldn’t think of a title more whizzy than that, I’m afraid! Then I rewrote the other three tales to include her in key elements.

The book starts with Dylan’s Yuletide Journey, although it’s the least magical. Dylan, the castle’s Messenger discovers some people doing strange things with stolen strawberry juice, and gets himself into big trouble. Dougall is in trouble for trying to find a substitute for strawberry juice in their power system, and ‘borrowing’ various items to test his theories. Personally I think he’s justified, since they haven’t got enough power for a Yuletide hot meal!

After Deirdre saves Dylan from a fate worse than death – with the help of a mermaid, she’s with the brothers most of the time in their other adventures. In the third Dougall helps a reindeer recover his compass, even though he doesn’t know what the reindeer means. And Deirdre takes the lead when she does some things better than them in the final story, Dylan and the Lights of Ulva, which is quite mysterious!

messenger misadventures

Buy the eBook!

These stories have not been available individually on Amazon, so this book is new for Amazon fans. You can find it here.

It’s also on Apple Books, B&N for Nook, Kobobooks, and Smashwords in any format at the equivalent of $2.99.

It’s arranged as four chapter books, (4-6 chapters in each), totalling 30,000 words. Suitable for age range 8-12 (and possibly upwards for teens that like flying reindeer and mermaids).

The Paperback comes in two versions

Chapter illustrations in their original black /white or colour: available on the Blurb website here. Price £8.25 ($ 12.57)

Note the preview is in the UK store – select your preferred country in the drop-down box top right on the Blurb store page.

The budget version with all greyscale chapter illustrations, is available from your online retailer via the Ingram distribution system. Check the link from your ebook retailer. RRP £5.99.

And now… The Messenger Misadventures

messenger misadventures

The Messenger Misadventures has the subtitle ‘the Dylan, Deirdre and Dougall Collection’. So, apart from the introduction of Deirdre, fans of the Princelings of the North have seen most of these before.

Introducing Deirdre

Deidre was clearly needed to balance out the ‘boy bias’ in these stories. That crept in because I have only male guinea pigs. They are left behind for some reason, when people are adopting guinea pigs, and for obvious reasons I prefer a same sex group. So my instant characters are boys.

Deirdre is pure invention. The first thing I did was write her own story in the Castle Haunn world — Deirdre and the Mermaid. I couldn’t think of a title more whizzy than that, I’m afraid!

Then I rewrote the other three tales to include her in key elements. She’s not so obvious in Dylan’s Yuletide Journey, which remains the first in the collection, although it’s the least magical. I placed it second to give Deirdre a good introduction, and a reason for the boys to take up with her. Then she’s with the brothers most of the time in their other adventures, and takes the lead when she does some things better than them!

messenger misadventures

Buy the Book!

These stories have not been available individually on Amazon, so this book is new for Amazon fans. You can find it here.

It’s also on Apple Books, B&N for Nook, and Kobobooks, all available for pre-order at the equivalent of $2.99.

You can also get it on Smashwords in any format after the publication date on 8th April 2021.

It’s arranged as four chapter books, (4-6 chapters in each), totalling 30,000 words. Suitable for age range 8-12 (and possibly upwards for teens that like flying reindeer and mermaids).

Paperback to follow.

Dylan’s Yuletide Journey 3

Castle Haunn

A seasonal story in three parts.  Start here or find Chapter 2 here… or read on!

Chapter 3: An Engineered Solution

George above Sandy BayThe three persons went into the cave without noticing Dylan outside, but they soon noticed he wasn’t inside.  Uncle Heath wasn’t one of them.  The two he’d seen the day before, Scarface and the other, had met the newcomer who had got out of the flying machine.  He was a fashionable brindled colour with long wispy hair around his face. He looked rather exotic, thought Dylan. Now he could hear them arguing.

“If he got away, he’ll be dangerous, he’ll blow our operation wide open.” Continue reading “Dylan’s Yuletide Journey 3”

Dylan’s Yuletide Journey 2

Castle Haunn

A seasonal story in three parts.  Catch up on the first part here.

Chapter 2: Solstice

Tarn above HaunnDougall shivered as they stood in the arena listening to the Laird of Haunn giving the traditional Solstice Speech of Renewal.  Uncle Donal believed in using this occasion to ensure that everyone remembered their basic astronomy lessons, and had been known to point at someone and ask them to explain a finer point of planetary science.  Haunn were hot on planetary science.  There were lots of books on it in the library, and Donal received letters from people all the way from Castle Edin asking his advice and opinion on it. Continue reading “Dylan’s Yuletide Journey 2”