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New cover reveals for The Lightning Road series by Donna Galanti!

Look at these awesome the new cover reveals for Donna Galanti’s Lightning Road series! Plus enter to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card at the end of this post and get the first e-book in Donna’s series, Joshua and the Lightning Road, on sale now through October 15th for just $0.99cents.
Donna talks today about how the 10 steps to writing thrillers for kids and shares an excerpt from Joshua and the Lightning Road.

10 Steps to Writing Thrillers for Kids
by Donna Galanti

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Do you love to be scared? I do (when I know it’s safe)! Haunted houses. Hayrides. Rollercoasters. Adventure rides.
I got so scared once in a haunted house that I whacked the “ghosts” with the teddy bear from my costume. The management turned on all the lights and asked me to leave. Oops.
Recently at Halloween, my friend dared me to do Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary. I was very proud that I didn’t whack anyone this time! Here we are 😊 .

But I still get scared of real places as a grown up. Of the dark garage. Of the creepy cellar. Of nighttime when taking the trash cans out. My heart pip-pops waiting for that creature or boogeyman to grab me. I know he could be. My imagination tells me so.
Thriller movies are fun to watch – but I think it’s even more fun for me to watch my son watching them. He yells at the characters, “save yourselves!” then jumps up and down, hides his eyes, and we hug each other in fright – whether it’s Jurassic Park, Twister, or Dante’s Peak.
As my son became an avid and selective reader, I discovered that kids love to be thrilled not just in movies but in books too. I started reading some of the books my son had on his bookshelf like Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan and Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo. In doing this I began to see patterns in these kid adventure tales – and I began applying what I learned, along with general thriller elements, to create my own stories.
10-steps for writing kid thrillers:
⦁    Put the kids in charge. Kids don’t want to read about grownups having adventures.
⦁    Which leads into…have the kids figure out how to take the bad guys down – not grownups. Kids want to see themselves as the hero, not Mom or Dad or their teacher.
⦁    Whatever scary situations the kids find themselves in – they must navigate their way out.
⦁    Don’t dwell on the dark stuff. Make it happen fast without gory detail – kids can use their imagination.
⦁    Give them friends in their travels. Life is hard without friends! And a kid needs friends to help him along his scary adventure.
⦁    Through story events have the kids discover their own strength and courage to overcome the bad things happening to them.
⦁    Make all seemed lost! End the chapters on cliffhangers to encourage kids to keep turning the pages and find out what happens next.
⦁    Have it work out in the end, or at least partially, even if all seems doomed for a while.
⦁    Add humor! Interjecting a dollop of funny can alleviate the tension in the scariest of scenes and lighten the moment.
⦁    Make it a series. Have a final resolution to the story but leave it open for more stories down the road for the characters. Kids love to follow their beloved characters into new adventures.

JOSHUA AND THE ARROW REALM EXCERPT:

A faint rumble groaned through the whistling wind.
Boom!
Thunder ripped the sky overhead.
Charlie reached the frozen pond, spinning across it. “Woohoo! I win! You Americans can’t beat us at speed!”
Lightning flashed. It zinged across the pine trees like brilliant sunlight. A seed of terror flickered inside me.
Boom! Boom!
Another flash scorched the sky.
Charlie’s smile fell to a frown as he raced across the ice, peering up into the swirling clouds.
We both knew what lightning could do.
Suddenly, sneaking outside for a moonlit sled ride before Bo Chez got home from his monthly poker game didn’t seem so smart.
The sleet turned to snow. Icicles flew off trees like glass splinters, shattering on the hard snow. As I shot toward the pond, a tree on the edge moved. Its branches swayed in the swirling snow.
It wasn’t a tree, but a girl! She stumbled through the mad flurry, arms outstretched.
“Charlie, look!”
Gusts snatched the words away as my sled hit the ice and careened out of control on the bumpy surface. The girl staggered and fell onto the pond. I twisted my sled away to avoid hitting her and smashed right into Charlie. With a yelp, he pulled me up, and we clumped toward the girl. We lifted her up, half dragging her back up the hill to the house in the pelting snow and sleet.
“Who is she?” Charlie yelled.
“No idea,” I yelled back.
He said more, but his words were lost in the wind.
My lungs burned with the cold and effort. There was only one reason someone would appear with lightning—to steal us. This girl might appear like a waif unprepared for a storm, but I couldn’t trust that’s all she was.

WATCH THE JOSHUA AND THE LIGHTNING ROAD BOOK TRAILER!

ABOUT JOSHUA AND THE LIGHTNING ROAD:

Twelve-year-old Joshua Cooper learns the hard way that lightning never strikes by chance when a bolt strikes his house and whisks away his best friend—possibly forever. Armed with only luck and his grandfather’s mysterious crystal, Joshua must save his friend by traveling the Lightning Road to a dark world that steals children for energy. New friends come to Joshua’s aid and while battling beasts and bandits and fending off the Child Collector, Joshua’s mission quickly becomes more than a search for his friend—it becomes the battle of his life.

Read My Review HERE.

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PRAISE FOR JOSHUA AND THE LIGHTNING ROAD:
“Vividly imagined characters in a gripping action fantasy that never lets you go until the very last page.” —Jenny Nimmo, New York Times bestselling author of the Charlie Bone series
**$0.99 DEAL!**
Joshua and the Lightning Road is available now through October 15th for just $0.99cents on e-book from these book sellers:
Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

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ABOUT JOSHUA AND THE ARROW REALM:

Joshua never thought he’d be called back to the world of Nostos so soon. But when his friend King Apollo needs his help in the Arrow Realm, Joshua braves this dark world once more in order to save him. With Joshua’s loyalties divided between Nostos and Earth, he must rely on his courage and powers to restore magic to this desperate world and to free its people. Abandoned by his friends in his quest, unarmed, and facing great odds, can he survive on instincts alone and not only save those imprisoned—but himself?

Read my review HERE.

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PRAISE FOR JOSHUA AND THE ARROW REALM:
“Fast-paced and endlessly inventive, this is a high-stakes romp through a wild world where descendants of the Greek gods walk beside you, beasts abound, and not everything—or everyone—is as it seems.” –Michael Northrop, New York Times bestselling author of the TombQuest series

Joshua and the Arrow Realm is available through these book sellers:
Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

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ABOUT DONNA:

Donna Galanti is the author of the bestselling paranormal suspense Element Trilogy and the children’s fantasy adventure Joshua and The Lightning Road series. Donna is a contributing editor for International Thriller Writers the Big Thrill magazine, a writing contest judge at nycmidnight.com, and regularly presents as a guest author at schools and teaches at writing conferences. She’s lived from England as a child, to Hawaii as a U.S. Navy photographer. Donna also loves teaching writers about building author brand and platform through her free training series at yourawesomeauthorlife.com. Visit her at donnagalanti.com.

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CONNECT WITH DONNA:
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

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