Discover Fantasy Tour - Jonathan Gould

I am very excited to be hosting a guest post by the very funny Jonathan Gould. Jonathan has provided us with an exert from his latest book Magnus Opum, but first a bit about the author himself.

Jonathan Gould has lived in Melbourne, Australia all his life, except when he hasn’t. He has written comedy sketches for both the theatre and radio, as well as several published children’s books for the educational market.

He likes to refer to his stories as dag-lit because they don’t easily fit into recognisable genres (dag is Australian slang for a person who is unfashionable and doesn’t follow the crowd – but in an amusing and fun way). You might think of them as comic fantasies, or modern fairytales for the young and the young-at-heart.

Over the years, his writing has been compared to Douglas Adams, Monty Python, A.A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, the Goons, Dr Seuss and even Enid Blyton (in a good way).

Magnus Opum has had some great reviews here are a couple.

Magnus Opum is an epic fantasy that’s slightly skewed – Tolkien with a twist.

Do you ever get one of those moments when you want to lose yourself in a book that is totally magical, brimming with imagination and fantasy, and entertaining from start to finish? This book by the very talented Jonathan Gould is the very thing that delivers on all counts. – cnkbookreviews.blogspot.com

Jonathan Gould is a master at “Adult Fables”…Turning his talents to a full length novel – Magnus Opum – Gould creates an even richer world and experience… – reviewmybookonamazon.wordpress.com

So here we go, read and enjoy!

Excerpt from Magnus Opum for Discover Fantasy tour

One Friday afternoon, about three months after Magnus had last received news of his brother, some travellers passed through Lower Kertoob.

This was not an unusual occurrence. The road that passed through the village was long established, having once served as a trade route linking Sweet Harmody with the old grop mines to the east. However, as the mines had been exhausted many years ago, the road was not heavily used, and so it wasn’t every day that passers-by entered the village. Still, with the infrequent travellers and the occasional tour parties, the Kertoobis were not totally isolated from the outside world.

These particular travellers were a couple of Doosies. As they strolled leisurely down the main street, it didn’t take long for a sizable crowd to build up in their wake, eager for stories.

Being Doosies, the travellers were only too happy to give the Kertoobis exactly what they wanted. Of all the races, Doosies were the biggest storytellers and gossips you could ever meet. They had three ears – two in the normal places and another on the back of their heads – so they could hear absolutely everything that was said by anyone in the vicinity. In addition, they had long, prehensile noses, perfect for sticking into other people’s business. Unfortunately, they only had one eye and not a very good one at that, so there were often substantial discrepancies between what they heard and what had actually happened. Not that this ever got in the way of a Doosie telling a good story. In fact, Doosies were so efficient at passing news from one to another that they were the primary source of information for pretty much all other races. As soon as one Doosie heard something, it was usually only a matter of hours before pretty much every other Doosie in the land also knew about it, which explained the popular Kertoobi rhyme:

If you’re after the newsy,
Then speak to a Doosie.

Not a particularly good rhyme, but it did neatly sum up the way Doosies always seemed to know absolutely everything about everyone. It also summed up the great appeal of having a couple of Doosies in the village.

When the two short, but sturdily built, figures reached the village square, they sat down and began recounting a tale to their enraptured audience. The story involved the Geruntings, a fearsomely shy folk who had spent the last twenty years building the tiniest city ever, so they could live their lives without being noticed by passers-by. The city, truly one of the great marvels of its age, was filled with intricately designed palaces, shops and dwellings, none of which was higher than a few inches tall. Unfortunately, upon its completion, the Geruntings, who happened to be a race of fifteen-foot tall giants, quickly discovered that there was no way they could actually reside in the city they had so painstakingly created and were forced to remain out in the open, painfully exposed to all who passed.

The Kertoobis all giggled with delight at the completion of the story.

“Please tell us another story,” cried several members of the audience.

“I have another story,” proclaimed one of the Doosies in his rich, deep storyteller’s voice. “And this one will be extra special. I believe it involves somebody from this very village.”

Well, I would like to thank Jonathan for this peek at his wonderful new novel, I don’t know about you, but its definitely left me wanting to read more!

You can find Magnus Opum here

And here are a few more books by Jonathan too:

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Posted by lindseyjparsons on July 8, 2012

http://lindseyjparsons.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/discover-fantasy-tour-jonathan-gould/