#GIVEAWAY Review: The Fish King and the Two Wise Ghosts Written and Illustrated by Francis H Powell + Exclusive Author Interview
Today it’s my immense pleasure to share with you this fantastic feature of The Fish King and the Two Wise Ghosts, including my review and an exclusive author interview. Plus Francis Powell has a fabulous #Giveaway for those who read and comment on the post. Details below. Enjoy!
#Giveaway is for a postcard created
by the author/artist for up to 10 commenters
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ISBN-13: 978-1739295561
Publisher: Blossom Spring PublishingRelease Date: 04-12-2023Length: 59ppSource: Author for reviewBuy It: Amazon/ B&N / IndieBound GoodreadsOverview:Two fish tales in one!
The Fish King is lonely and wishes he has a wife to keep him company. So when his chance of happiness is dashed by Princess Chipolata, after she is caught by the two wise ghosts stealing the crown jewels and is sent to prison, the king is still left feeling miserable. The Fish King has many suiters but it is Princess Alice’s sister, Lilly, who finally wins his heart!
However, there’s only one problem…he must introduce her to the two ghosts that reside in his palace and who like to play jokes on people!
A grand wedding takes place at the palace and soon after the king and queen produce a royal heir – Prince Erik. The young prince grows to love the two wise ghosts as much as his father does and, as soon as he is old enough, he leaves the palace to embark on a magical adventure with his ghost friends; until at last it is time to go home and share his many stories with his parents and Aunt Alice.
My Interview with Francis:
Francis thanks for sharing your children’s book with me, I loved it and know it will thrill any young child who either reads it or has it read to them.
You dedicated the book to your son who you said drew the first illustration of the Fish King and his two ghostly compatriots.
To read an interview with me on my latest children book, click the above link
Please welcome Francis H Powell to my blog. Hello Frank. Shall we have sit and have a chat?
Please introduce yourself to those reading this blog post.
Hello, I am Francis, I was born in the UK, but I’ve lived in France for quite a long time. I am a writer, but also a painter and musician. I love to create things. I live with my wife, son, and rescue dog, called Bertie.
Has writing always been part of your life and when did you “know” that it was time to start writing your first book?
Writing for me took off when I was living in Paris and saw an advert for short stories, in a magazine. It was a little homemade magazine called Rat Mort (dead rat, for anyone who doesn’t speak much French). Having some stories actually published, was a real lift. I went on from there.
How difficult was it writing your first book?
Writing is a pleasure, promoting and selling books is another matter.
Have you ever wanted to give up and what stopped you?
Maybe sometimes you think, why do I make so much effort? What are the returns? Is this just a labour of love? I love writing stories, creating characters, imagining stories in my head. Developing stories.
Anything specific you want to tell your readers?
I would like to bring a smile to their faces. We live in a harsh world.
What is your target audience and what aspect of your writing do you feel targets that audience?
With my latest book “The Fish King and the Two Wise Ghosts, my target is children six years old and over. I have created a picture book; I did all the illustrations as well as writing the story.
Did the cover evolve the same way, or did you work with someone to make it come together for you?
The cover and indeed the title of the book came about because my ten-year-old boy, did a drawing a few years back, that looked like a king holding the hand of two ghosts. I began to write a poem based on this drawing. Following this I decided to change the poem into prose, but I kept quite a lot of the poetry.
What are you working on now? Can we get a peek, an excerpt?
Mostly promoting the book as well as some short stories; I also write a lot of poetry. Here is a little sneaky excerpt of the Fish King…
****
There once was a Fish King who lived in an old, ruined castle deep in a magical ocean. As well as many servants, there lived two wise ghosts. One day Ghosts John and Henry looked at the king and said, “Sire, your clothes are so out of date, and your palace is now in a terrible state. We ghosts have haunted it, over hundreds of years, but the splendour it had, has long disappeared.”
The Fish King pulled a face and looked at the crumbling walls, as some bricks tumbled to the floor. “You may have a point,” the king mumbled, it could do with some sprucing up. He also summoned the royal tailor to conjure up some dazzling designs. The two ghosts were always friendly and gave good advice. They would only scare people who were not very nice. They spoke to the king almost every day and when he was a boy, they loved to play with him. They would tell him jokes and whizzed round the palace and would play terrible tricks on his young sister Alice. They appeared from nowhere at the foot of her bed, she would shriek and scream, till her face went bright red.
One day the Fish King woke with a most terrible fright. There was something on his mind, something not quite right. A thought came to him, like a flash in his mind. I need to find a queen who is both beautiful and kind. A search through the kingdom was soon underway. A list was drawn up of suitable candidates. Weeks later Princess Chipolata arrived at the palace. Her wicked smile soon had the king under her spell. It seemed that the Fish King had met his chips. He even kissed this fishy princess on the lips. Ghosts Henry and John wondered about the king’s catch. Was this fishy princess such a good match? Though King Fish and Chips seemed to go together. The two wise ghosts thought that they knew better.
When some of the king’s crown jewels suddenly went missing, the two ghost friends immediately knew who was behind this outrage. The princess seemed to 5 be always sneaking about, she was soon their prime suspect, without a doubt. “Sire, sorry to say it’s that Princess Chipolata, who stole those jewels.” “Utter nonsense!” roared the king in a rage. Being a wise king, he knew of course it’s impossible to keep a ghost in a cage. Later, the two ghosts saw the princess taking some gold and thought that the king should be immediately told. The king growled, “why won’t you stop with these terrible lies!” The ghosts said, “we saw it ourselves, with our very own eyes!” The king shouted, “now the castle’s ghosts have turned into spies!” Raising his voice he added, “if you weren’t ghosts, you’d be running for your lives.”
The king was now in a terrible mood. He wouldn’t smile nor eat his food. However, it seemed the fishy princess was nowhere to be seen. It was exactly as the two ghosts had feared. Eventually, she was caught with the crown jewels. The king realized he’d been taken for a fool. “I need to be careful when choosing a queen, not every princess is all that they seem.” The two friendly ghosts were back in his good books. The princess went to prison for her terrible crime. The palace changed back into its normal state and calm was restored.
Any last words before we wrap things up?
Tell your children to keep drawing and let their imaginations go wild. My son draws a lot, even at school, his teacher dumps his drawings in the bin. Everybody should express themselves by drawing.
Having had three books published aimed at an older audience, I am happy to announce my first children’s book will be published
on the 26th of April, by Blossom Spring Publishers. It has been quite a journey. The journey started with a drawing my 10 year old son did a few years back. The drawing looked like a king holding the hands of two ghosts, in the same style as the book cover above. I wrote an extremely long poem, then decided that it should be written in prose, but then chose to keep parts of the poem.
I worked on some illustrations to go with story, using photoshop, discovering some photoshop effects along the way. It was great to have the liberty to be able to put my artwork with the story, I’d written.
It was a bit of a leap from anything I had done before.
Since my son was born, I have read him countless stories and have longed to be able to say “this is a story inspired by you and written for you.” Drawing is extremely important to my son. He often draws at school, when he should be concentrating on other things. He has been reprimanded a few times and has had his drawings thrown away by an irate teacher. For me it is so important for children to draw. They can express things that can’t be put into words.
Hello, I am pooling together with writers and poets, artists, comic creators to put together a book, I suppose at the moment it would have to be an E book…with poems devoted to people’s thoughts on being isolated due the Coronavirus…I was thinking of putting a poetry anthology together of good meaningful poetry and short stories (it could be people experiences) proceeds to a worthy cause. Any thoughts, contributions, commercial advice much appreciated. Send me a message. Also if anybody has a photos or cartoons PLEASE SHARE THIS ON ANY BLOG. PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS WHO ARE POETS
Born in 1961, in Reading, England Francis H Powell attended Art Schools, receiving a degree in painting and an MA in printmaking. In 1995, Powell moved to Austria, teaching English as a foreign language while pursuing his varied artistic interests adding music and writing. He currently lives in Brittany, France writing both prose and poetry. Powell has published short stories in the magazine, “Rat Mort” and other works on the internet site “Multi-dimensions.” His two published books are Flight of Destiny and Adventures of Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation.
For the ones of you who are new to my blog, I’m Esther Rabbit, writer, content creator for authors and massive nerd. If you’re interested to know all the tips & tricks surrounding the process From Writing To Publishing Your Novel, you’re only a click away. For writing and marketing tips consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel.
What’s your own definition of an author / indie author?
Maybe somebody who has the drive to write the stories they have in their head. Next they have the ambition to send them to publishers to see if they can find an outlet for their work.
Alternatively they might wish to try to market and sell their works by themselves. They love writing and believe they have something important to offer the world.
I am excited to share with you today an interview that I had with Francis H. Powell, author of Adventures of Death, Reincarnation, and Annihilation. Learn more about him and his writing below, and be sure to check out his book! I hope that this post brings a lovely start to your weekend.
Death is always a wild adventure, that can’t be ignored. With The Doomsday clock slowly but surely clicking away, our world getting ever more polluted, our weapons of destruction ever deadlier.
Read my book if you want to meet some quirky characters and unusual storylines, with a mix of horror, science fiction, but with elements of wit.
Set in a different time in a variety of settings and time periods, the past, the present, and the future, the book explores the inevitable unknown that lies before us all “death”. Death can arrive in a multitude of forms. Each part of the book explores different themes. There are characters who following their demises have to face up to their lurid pasts. There some who face annihilation and others who are in a crazy pursuit of world destruction. The book aims to contain some ironic twists. Even as young children we build up nightmare visions of what death involves. The reader is often left to distinguish between what is real and what is not, as stories reside within stories and the storytellers can never be fully trusted. Not all the book is doom and gloom, there are Elsa Grun’s bizarre encounters with men and Shellys’ hapless husband Arnie.
Why don’t you begin by sharing a little about yourself.
I am approaching 60 years old, I am married with a seven year old son and I live in Brittany.
Could you tell us a bit about your latest book?
It is called “Adventures of Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation”
Set in a different time in a variety of settings and time periods, the past, the present, and the future, the book explores the inevitable unknown that lies before us all “death”. Death can arrive in a multitude of forms. Each part of the book explores different themes. There are characters who following their demises have to face up to their lurid pasts. There some who face annihilation and others who are in a crazy pursuit of world destruction. The book aims to contain some ironic twists. Even as young children we build up nightmare visions of what death involves. The reader is often left to distinguish between what is real and what is not, as stories reside within stories and the storytellers can never be fully trusted. Not all the book is doom and gloom, there are Elsa Grun’s bizarre encounters with men and Shellys’ hapless husband Arnie.
Francis H Powell author 