About the Book:
“The metal horned unicorns are doomed!” That’s
what Lauda Lead Horn wailed when she first saw the tribe’s new savior. OK, so
his horn was not metal. . .and he did not have a magic power. . .and he was
really a puny little runt. But doomed? Were things really that bad?
Well, things were pretty bad in the land of MarBryn. Magh, an evil sorcerer utilized unicorn horns and hooves to create his magical potions and spells. Those he used, to increase his power and to conquer everyone in his path. All of the unicorns from the Tribe of the Metal Horn were now gone . . . except for twelve survivors.
Before the blue unicorn was born, Numen told Alumna, the aluminum-horned oracle, that he had a plan to bring the tribe back home to Unimaise. His prophecy was, “Only the blue unicorn can join with the Moon-Star. Until then, no new unicorns will be born.” Blue was the last unicorn born. Twenty years later, his horn was still covered with a plain blue colored hide. There was not a glint of metal to be seen on it or his hooves. And he still didn’t have any magic. But he was no longer scrawny and he had his wits. Though no one else in the tribe thought he had a chance, Blue felt ready to make Magh pay for his evil deeds. And he went off to do it alone. That was Blue’s first mistake. If the entire tribe was not standing horn-tip to horn-tip at the proper time and the exact place to help usher the Moon-Star Spirit into Blue’s horn, he would die. Then, the rest of the tribe would really be doomed.
Readers will follow along two journey paths in this book. Blue is joined in his travels by his mentor Gaiso, the Stag and his friend, Girasol the Firebird as they try to find their way across a danger-filled MarBryn to Muzika Woods. The rest of Blue’s tribe is forced to follow another route due to Nix Nickle Horn’s unfortunate incident with a Manticore. Nix, the great unicorn defender must safely lead the way for Ghel, the Golden-Horned unicorn; Silubhra Silver Horn; Cornum the Brass-Horned unicorn; Steel Horned Style; Cuprum the Copper-Horned unicorn; Tin-Horned Tinam; Dr. Zinko; Iown the Iron-Horned unicorn and the others in an action packed adventure to their destination in Muzika Woods. Both journey paths converge there in the Nebulium Circle.
Well, things were pretty bad in the land of MarBryn. Magh, an evil sorcerer utilized unicorn horns and hooves to create his magical potions and spells. Those he used, to increase his power and to conquer everyone in his path. All of the unicorns from the Tribe of the Metal Horn were now gone . . . except for twelve survivors.
Before the blue unicorn was born, Numen told Alumna, the aluminum-horned oracle, that he had a plan to bring the tribe back home to Unimaise. His prophecy was, “Only the blue unicorn can join with the Moon-Star. Until then, no new unicorns will be born.” Blue was the last unicorn born. Twenty years later, his horn was still covered with a plain blue colored hide. There was not a glint of metal to be seen on it or his hooves. And he still didn’t have any magic. But he was no longer scrawny and he had his wits. Though no one else in the tribe thought he had a chance, Blue felt ready to make Magh pay for his evil deeds. And he went off to do it alone. That was Blue’s first mistake. If the entire tribe was not standing horn-tip to horn-tip at the proper time and the exact place to help usher the Moon-Star Spirit into Blue’s horn, he would die. Then, the rest of the tribe would really be doomed.
Readers will follow along two journey paths in this book. Blue is joined in his travels by his mentor Gaiso, the Stag and his friend, Girasol the Firebird as they try to find their way across a danger-filled MarBryn to Muzika Woods. The rest of Blue’s tribe is forced to follow another route due to Nix Nickle Horn’s unfortunate incident with a Manticore. Nix, the great unicorn defender must safely lead the way for Ghel, the Golden-Horned unicorn; Silubhra Silver Horn; Cornum the Brass-Horned unicorn; Steel Horned Style; Cuprum the Copper-Horned unicorn; Tin-Horned Tinam; Dr. Zinko; Iown the Iron-Horned unicorn and the others in an action packed adventure to their destination in Muzika Woods. Both journey paths converge there in the Nebulium Circle.
About the Author:
Fame is all in being in the right place at the right time but at least with the
internet and venues like this, all of us have opportunities to share our
creativity with the world. I'm so happy that I am able to share my works with
you. That is awesome!
The books I’ve written span a wide range between illustrated picture books,
coloring books and YA novels to technical and how-to books. If you’re so
inclined you can read a little bit about the inspiration for each one below.
My latest effort is
“The Blue Unicorn’s Journey To Osm. It is a book I started writing 30 something
years ago and never finished. At the time, it was meant to be an epic fantasy
along the lines of novels written by Tolkien, Piers Anthony, Ursula K. Le Guin
and other amazing fantasy writers. I’ve pulled out my notes, dusted off the
outline and began rewriting and expanding upon the 50 pages I had began. This
story is now available as an Illustrated Book for teens and older readers in
full color and in black and white, too. The black and white version is a
"Read and Color" book. Read a chapter, then color the following
pages. How fun is that? There is also a picture book for pre-schoolers called
Unicorns From Unimaise - The Magical Metal-Horn Trobe. A longer version of the
chapter book will soon be available as an Illustrated Novel with a companion
glossary called, The Marbryn Compendium. All of the fantastic fantasy
illustrations are by Dasguptarts. There is also a companion coloring/character
description book, edited by Calyie Martin. It will introduce potential readers
to the myriad of characters, places and things in the story.
Author Interview
Book title: The Blue Unicorn’s Journey To Osm Illustrated Book For
Teens
What moment or event sparked the
inspiration for your novel?
Please share three interesting
facts about the characters in your
book.
1) The 12 unicorns in my story all
have metal horns with related magical powers. . .except for one. He has neither. This book is about his quest to find his
power and to save his tribe from extinction.
2) The evil wizard wasn’t always
evil. The over whelming power of the
event which changed him affected him in the same way that drugs can completely
change any person who succumbs to their lure.
Addiction can literally change the structure of the brain. That and the unrelenting call of particular
drugs can change the person using them into unrecognizable monsters. In Magh’s case, his lure comes in the form of
the power he receives from magical unicorn horns and hooves.
3) The firebird in the book is not a
phoenix. I point this out because most
people relate firebirds to the phoenix which rises from the ashes. Girasol never died and never rose from
ashes. She is a magical bird who
generates flames when she flies and can breathe a blast of flames when she is
angry. She only consumes one
nutrient. That is the seed of the Pepo
tree. It gives her enough energy for 3
days flught. Girasol’s name and colors
come from the fire opal which has an orange and reddish glow.
Genre/Author/Reader:
What genre and age group does your
book fall into? - This illustrated fantasy book is meant for teens and any older
readers who enjoy coming of age stories (in particular about unicorns) and who
love bathing their eyes in lavish artwork.
But the novel for this story will be published early next year. It will be about 3 times longer and will be
for a more adult audience.
What is the first book you
remember reading, that affected how
you thought or felt about
something? –
Strangely, the first book title that just leapt from my memory is Watership
Down by Richard Adams. It was as if the
author had mind-melded with different members of the rabbit warren and was actually
writing from their point of view. There
were over 25 rabbit characters in that book but I had no concept of just how
many there were as I was reading. To me,
it was just a wonderful tale full of action and adventure with humanlike rabbits
as the heroes. Now that I look back on
the vast amount of characters that very famous book had, it makes me wonder why
so many people in my book’s reading audience are worried that 12 are too many
unicorn characters to keep track of.
Which three
authors have inspired you the most, and why?
1) It’s apparently not politically correct for a woman to give kudos to
Piers Anthony in this hypercritical world we live in today but his books
definitely inspired The Blue Unicorn’s Journey to Osm. His ability to twist words around and give
them new meanings really appealed to my imagination.
2) For me, Anne Rice is one of the best authors of all time. She writes pure poetic prose. I wish I could write like her.
3)
J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about worlds that mesmerized me. I wanted to travel to them and live in them.
Do you have any ethics or morals
you would like to come across in
your books through story
telling? You can’t judge a book by its
cover. You have to open it to read
what’s within. And I’m not really
referring to actual books. I’m talking
about having enough interest in any particular person, place or thing to peel
the layers back to see what is inside. When
you take that time and effort, there is almost always a reward to be had.
Do you read a book, while you
are writing a book? I have read over a thousand books in
my lifetime and have enjoyed most of them.
But since I started delving so deeply into the process of writing, I
find I don’t have much time to read any longer.
It is a sad thing to admit. I
wonder how many writers that happens to.
Writing can become all-time consuming.
The process:
What were two challenges you
faced when writing your book?
1)Time – There’s never enough.
2)Research – Forty something years ago, the
only research tools available to me were dictionaries and encyclopedias and
printed books from the library. I
managed to cobble together a lot of information from those sources but was
thrilled when the internet and search engines came on the scene. Suddenly, I could find out loads of
information about any subject in the world.
I loved the process so much that sometimes my writing would languish because
I spent so much time learning new things.
But something has changed again.
I find now that those internet searches are leading more and more to
shopping sites. It’s hard to find pure
data any longer. It didn’t take long, in
the general scheme of things, for that to occur. Hmm…it might be time to start going back to
libraries to find unadulterated information again.
Was there a ever a time when you
were writing a scene that you
felt so into a character that
you almost felt you were one? If so
from which book and which
character? –
There is a scene in The Blue Unicorn’s Journey To Osm where I actually cried as
I wrote about Silubhra the Silver Horned Unicorn. Shivering waves washed over me as I felt how
she felt about a great loss. It was
quite an experience, one which I’ve never had previous to that. I do feel a great affinity for her though
because she has the power to sway emotions with her songs. Musical persuasion is something I have always
strived for yet not quite reached.
What part of being an author
becomes the most critical for you? – I want
to write an interesting and entertaining book that is full of fantasy and magic
but I also want to be true to the different aspects of reality that might be
questioned by some readers. It’s
something I take great pains to remain aware of as I write.
How long does it usually take
for you to complete a book? - This book took over 30 years to complete! That’s not normal for me. I started writing The Blue Unicorn’s Journey
To Osm in my late twenties. I wrote up
character, place and thing descriptions on index cards and cataloged them
neatly in a box. I wrote an extensive
outline, a long summary and about 50 pages of actual story. I even drew a map! Then, I put it all in a drawer and didn’t
take it out until recently. Life just
got in the way until then.
Do you have any ideas for your
book and Hollywood? Actors,
directors, music. – That’s a funny question because I absolutely did have ideas for
actors for the eventual real-life animated movie. As I wrote, their tv personalities (voices
and mannerisms) were upper most in my mind.
Many of those actors and actresses names won’t even be recognizable
today to your younger readers. But here
are a few just for fun: Cornum the Brass
Horned Unicorn was based on John Ritter “Jack Tripper on Three’s Company”. Style the Steel Horned Unicorn was based on
Jackee Harry who played “Sandra on 227”.
Nix the Nickel Horned Unicorn was Bruce Willis who was starring as
“David Addison on Moonlighting”. Alumna
the Aluminum Horned Unicorn was Shelly Long who played “Diane on Cheers” at the
time. I have the entire list and it is
interesting to look at it again. I’d
love to know which young people might play the unicorn parts today.
I’ve always had ideas for music for my stories. In addition to writing stories, I also write
songs. In fact, The Blue Unicorn’s
Journey To Osm ends in a song called “Home”.
You can hear it and many others at https://www.youtube.com/user/sybrinad/playlists
Do you study science,
criminology, police, medical, or anything
special to help you with your
writing? – I do a lot of research on the
science of things to help with my writing.
One of those things is the properties of different metals – the color of
the flame when a metal burns, for instance.
Things like this helped me determine the colors of the manes and tails
of the metal horned unicorns in my book.
What, who, and when, first inspired you to write?
Personal favorite info:
Drink – Tea
Food – Anything, as long as it doesn’t
not come from a bag or a box.
Vacation – I would love to visit
Stonehenge. My maiden name is Wiltshire
and Stonehenge is in Wiltshire County, England.
Surely, I must feel the call of my ancestors because although I’m from
Texas, editors are always asking me if I’m writing American English or British.
TV show – Right now, “Dark Matter” but I’ve
always been very fond of Dr. Who.
Movie – Fantasy over Science Fiction but
any of either.
Animal – Unicorn of course!
Sport – Dancing
Book – “Violin”a ghost story by Anne Rice
Comedy –Big Bang. I watch it every single night!
Struggle – To find time to write. I work 10 hours a day at my “real” job and
can only write, market and promote my books when I arrive back home from the daily grind.
Addiction – Sugar – In fact, I even wrote a
song about it when I was co-writing with Sandi Johnson for her children’s books. You can hear it here if you are so inclined.
-
How can people connect with you?
Author Bio + Social Networking links
Amazon Author Central - https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B009K3WGMS
Website - http://www.sybrinablueunicornbook.com/
and http://www.sybrinablueunicornbook.com/index_Blue_Unicorn_Book_Reviews.htm
Where can readers find your book?
Buy Links
Ebook (Looks like printed book) -
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Unicorns-Journey-Illustrated-Book-ebook/dp/B06X416LGX
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