As someone who thoroughly enjoys children’s fiction, I’d like to thank fellow blogger and friend Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in this blog blitz for The Elf King by Lorraine Hellier.

Although sadly I didn’t have time to read The Elf King I did ask Lorraine about her fantasy wishes and luckily she has agreed to tell me in a super guest post.

The Elf King is available for purchase here.

The Elf King

Bay Leaf is the new Elf King and must take his Oath of Allegiance. His sister, Sweet Pea, demonstrates her love and support on a perilous journey to the Mountain Shrine.

An enchanted book offers advice and guidance from their ancestors and warns Sweet Pea to take care of her brother. Will her interference resolve Bay Leaf’s heartache?

Fantasy Wishes

A Guest Post by Lorraine Hellier

Thank you for inviting me to your blog.

(My pleasure Lorraine.)

Although I write Children’s Fantasy novels and enjoy the escapism with my characters, I hadn’t considered my own fantasy wishes. I took a while to consider and I’m sure the ones I’ve chosen now will change in the future.

(I like to set my authors a challenge Lorraine!)

These fantasy ideas would make great research for me.

My three Fantasy wishes:

1. To ride on the wings of a golden eagle, feel the soft feathers of its neck and the sense of freedom as he rides the wind currents. To experience flying above the clouds looking down on mountains, rivers and valleys would be so exhilarating. The thought of seeing places we could never access fills me with wonder. The bird’s eye view of landscape appeals to me, especially at dawn and sunset, the colours must be spectacular. Although I’m not artistic I know I would appreciate the awesomeness of the views.

2. To travel back in time and watch how life was centuries ago, for example: visit Medieval Britain, Ancient Egypt or Early Romans.

Medieval Britain would be an interesting attack on the senses: to have the opportunity to see the contrast between the poverty of the many and wealth of land owners, Lords, Ladies and Royalty. It would smell gross due to lack of sanitation and animals. I’d find it intriguing to hear the dialects and how they traded. Also I’d like to discover how they wove and dyed cloth and crafted without modern machinery. The food of the wealthy in medieval times would probably be strange to modern tastes and the poor must have scraped for root vegetables and potatoes from fields and foraged from hedgerows and woods. So visiting would make me appreciate living in the 21^st century.

Ancient Egypt would be fascinating, seeing how they built the pyramids and buried the treasures of the Kings. The slave labour would be hard to watch but to understand the culture of the times and know how their beliefs of the afterlife made them bury treasures with their dead would be amazing. I’d love to see the treasures first hand and watch how they made the jewellery.

Early Roman civilization was highly advanced as discovered from Roman ruins in various countries. Their knowledge seemed way ahead of the times, so I’d love to meet the Romans who were their inventors. Their roads, heating and water systems are a few of the Roman remains uncovered.

3. Invisibility – to be able to solve mysteries and crimes by hearing and seeing behind the scenes. The expression “being a fly on the wall” springs to mind here. How exciting it would be to hear that vital clue and be the one to discover the mystery or solve the crime. The satisfaction of being the one to actually break the case would be so cool. I’d be a little wary of how I used this, only for a purpose not with malice in mind, that’s not my style.

(Great choices!)

About Lorraine Hellier

Lorraine Hellier writes from her canal-side home near the cathedral city of Lichfield, Staffordshire. She visits local schools offering Author Visits and Creative Writing Workshops.  She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators supporting and encouraging other members.

Lorraine loves to travel, a visit to New Zealand inspired this novel.

The sequel to The Elk King, The Elf Quest will be published April 2018.

You can find out more by visiting Lorraine’s website or finding her on Facebook.

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