The Heartstone (Smoke and Mirrors - Vol. 2) Middle Grade, YA Fantasy by Helene Opocensky ➱ Book Tour with Giveaway
Excerpt: Smoke and
Mirrors: The Heartstone by Helene Opocensky
Corbin sat with his legs dangling over
the crumbling wall
of the crenellation that topped the remains of the ruined castle overlooking, with an
ominous presence, the magical sanctuary of Hexenheim. He heard a quiet “Hi,
Cory” behind him. He turned around to see who it was. “Hi, Karl,” he answered
smiling, glad to see the big blond boy. Karl wasn’t that much taller than
Corbin was himself, but he was bigger boned and heavier than Corbin. He was
better looking than Corbin as well, with honey blond hair, a straight nose and
large brown eyes, but Corbin had a charm about him that, despite his large nose and bristling black
eyebrows, drew people to him more so
than Karl Heinz’s handsome good looks. That, among other things, had irritated
Karl Heinz, and when Corbin originally met him, they had gotten off on the wrong
foot. Some of that,
Corbin admitted, was his fault, but when Corbin saved Karl from being turned into
rabbit stew, they patched
things up between them.
Over the past few months,
however, things had become strained again. Before Max sent Corbin to Hexenheim,
Karl considered Lorelei to be, even though she never thought so, his
girlfriend. Then Corbin came along and the two of them, Lorelei and Corbin,
fell in love. They both tried very hard not to, but love, they found was not
anything that could be controlled. When they told their friends, including Karl
Heinz, what the situation
was, Karl got miffed and quit hanging out with all of them including Rolf and Maggie, who were com-
pletely unaware of what Corbin and Lorelei were up to and totally blameless.
“Lori here?” asked Karl
sitting down next Corbin.
“No,”
answered Corbin, “not yet anyway. I got out of classes early. The rest of them should be here soon.”
It was the last day of school
before the start of the summer
holiday, and the young mages of Hexenheim had only a half-day of school – no afternoon magic school
session. Because Corbin was very advanced in math and science, most of his
morning classes were private ones. Today neither Magus Eule nor Magus Spacek
kept him long
and dismissed him while his friends were still in class. It was a bright warm June day, and,
not having anything else
planned, he had made his way up to the broken-down old castle where they had all decided
to have a picnic to celebrate the last day of school.
“You still mad at me?” Corbin
finally said not look- ing at Karl Heinz, instead keeping his gaze fixed on the
vista before them.
The view was
sensational. A good hundred feet below them, spreading out like an open fan
against the cliff that held
the brooding presence of the castle, they could see the entire medieval
town of Hexenheim with its red-roofed buildings, many of them half-timbered,
shepherded together into
a tight group, neatly separated from the outlying countryside by a completely
intact protective stone wall.
Karl Heinz shook his head.
“Not anymore.”
Corbin nodded and said,
“Good.” He was glad. He hated to be on the bad side of anyone, and he and Karl
Heinz had definitely had their history.
Again, an
awkward silence settled between them this time
broken by Karl Heinz. “You mad at me?”
“Mad at you?” answered Corbin
continuing to stare at the town instead of the boy sitting next to him. “Why
should I be mad at you?”
“For being a niggling idiot,”
replied Karl Heinz his eyes also glued on the scenery before them.
Corbin shrugged. “You’re
not,” he said with a quick glance over at Karl, letting bygones be bygones. “I
under- stand why you were ticked off. I’m the one that stole your girlfriend.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Andrea Thatcher
856-489-8654 ext. 319
andrea.thatcher@smithpublicity.com
A Q&A with Helene Opocensky
Author, Smoke and Mirrors: The
Trueheart
Question: What is it about the magical realism, fantasy genre that appeals to you
as a writer?
Helene Opocensky: I've always been
fascinated by magic. My grandmother used to read Grimm's Fairytales to
me when I was little, in Germany where I was born and lived until I was seven.
In German, the stories, the märchen, don't start with the phrase
"Once upon a time." Instead, they begin with, "Dar war
einmal." It means, "There was once." I was three or four
years old then, and when my Oma said "There was once," I believed
her. So, for me the things that happened in Hansel and Gretel, Aschenputtel
and Sleeping Beauty were real. They were once, just like she said.
When
I was a little older and had learned to read, I threw myself into reading and
explored on my own the stories in my grandmother's books, hunting to find the
time mentioned in the fairytales, the once that was. I read history, looking
for that magical time, and though I found many interesting things that
happened, things that enthralled me, things that fascinated me, I never found
the particular time that was. So, I thought that perhaps the time referred to
in the tales wasn't a particular time in the past, maybe it was all time, maybe
even my own time.
I
had evidence of that possibility at age five, when the circus came to our small
medieval town of Leutershausen, Middle Franken. Back in those days, we children
could wander around on our own even when very young, and my brother and I often
did just that. When the circus arrived, we, along with every other kid in town,
went to the field where it was being set up and watched, amid brightly colored
wagons and strangely dressed people, as the men hoisted the giant tent. The
atmosphere there was exhilarating. It had a sparkle to it, a kind of allure, an
enchantment. I could hear it in the roaring of the lions. I could smell it in
the scent of the elephants. I could almost taste the adventure of it all in the
air. To me, it felt magical, and when my family went to the performance I found
that it was magical. It had actual magic in it, real magic, a genuine magician
who could make things appear and disappear at will. I was entranced. The magic
in my grandma's stories was real. It was real in the time that once was, and, I
believed then, real in the time I lived.
Of
course, I grew up and learned that the magic of the circus, the illusionist's
flimflam, wasn't real at all. It was parlor games, a trick disguised by smoke
and mirrors. So, I put childhood fantasy aside and went about my life. I
eventually became a lawyer and worked to help secure financial stability for
children.
However,
hidden within the logic of my adult mind, within the recesses where the little
girl still lived transfixed by the conjurer's tricks, the magical world that I
never stopped searching for, the one hidden behind the smoke and mirrors,
continued to exist. It is still something that could be, something once there
was, something that is. This series, Smoke and Mirrors, is that world.
Q: Can
you describe your writing process for us?
Opocensky: The most important
part of writing fiction for me is knowing how the story ends. Once I know that,
I know what my goal is and what the general idea behind the story is. The most
difficult part is where to begin it. After I decide that, the rest of it flows.
All I have to do is describe what happens. As I move along to the ending, I
keep asking myself what happens next so that I can get to where I'm going. I
learn more and more about my characters as the story unfolds. Sometimes I feel
as if they are telling me their stories instead of my making them up. Sometimes
I'm surprised by what happens. Often, I have to go back and rewrite because of
something one of them told me.
Speaking
of rewriting, I do that a lot. I edit continuously, and by constant editing, I
flesh out the story and learn more details about what happens. Sometimes I feel
like the story writes itself.
Q: What do you think readers can most
relate to about your characters?
Opocensky: That their differences
make them special instead of odd.
Q: What was your favorite part of creating
the magical world in Smoke and Mirrors?
Opocensky: The back stories of
the world and the characters. I know a lot of back stories that don't make it
into the books.
Q: What books or authors have inspired
your writing?
Opocensky: Harry Potter (of course), J.R.R Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Leo
Tolstoy, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jane Austen, Arthur Conan Doyle, Katherine Kerr,
Elizabeth George, Guy Gavriel Kay, Sue Grafton, Garth Stein, Patricia A.
McKillip, Robert Graves, etc.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Helene Opocensky was born in Germany and immigrated
to the United States as a child. After college graduation, she worked for an
insurance company for ten years but, after filing a sex discrimination lawsuit
against them, she was hired by her law firm and encouraged to attend law
school. After graduation, she worked for many years in the child support
department as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Connecticut. Upon
retirement she published her debut young adult novel, Smoke and Mirrors: The
Trueheart.
Smoke
and Mirrors: The Trueheart is available at Amazon.
REVIEW COPIES OF SMOKE
AND MIRRORS: THE TRUEHEART
AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
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The covers are very eye catching. I especially like the colors.
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