Guardian's Nightmare
The Last Princess of Latura Book 1
by Darren Simon
Genre: Middle-Grade/New Adult Fantasy
Charlee Smelton is an average thirteen-year-old girl
struggling to adapt after her family moves to San Francisco.
She thinks her biggest obstacle is facing the bullies who
brand her a nerd and a dweeb. She’s wrong. Her life is
about to change—for the worse. First, she receives a gift of
the ugliest, most old fashioned bike she has ever seen. Try
as she might to ditch it in the city, she just can’t seem to
escape that very mysterious two-wheeler. Then come the
visions of a world across a dimensional divide, a princess in
fear her life and a dark knight pursuing her. Are they just
dreams or something more? For Charlee, everything she
ever thought she knew about herself soon crumbles as she
starts down a path to discover her true self, and she will
need that hunk-of-junk bike more than she could ever
imagine. Without it, she might not be able to find the hero in
herself—the hero she must become to save her friends,
family, her city—the world—from an evil only she can defeat.
An evil she allows into this world.
Guardian's Return
The Last Princess of
Latura Book 2
Latura Book 2
Smelton discovered her magical abilities and faced her great
aunt, Theodora, in a life or death struggle to protect Earth.
A month has passed since she tricked Theodora back across
the dimensional gateway that brought Theodora to Earth.
Since then, Charlee—now fully aware that she is part of a
noble bloodline from another world…another dimension…
has grown stronger in her magic, aided by her protector,
a shapeshifter sent to Earth to protect her. But the terrible
dreams won’t stop.
Theodora lives, and if Charlee’s dreams of death and fields
of spilled blood are true, her great aunt has avenged herself
on that world across the dimensional divide.
Charlee knows what she must do. The fight is not over. She
must travel across the gateway to the home of her ancestors
and face Theodora one more time. But doing so may cost
Charlee more than her life. The same medallion her great
aunt desires so much—a medallion Charlee possesses—
could make her just as evil as her great aunt.
must travel across the gateway to the home of her ancestors
and face Theodora one more time. But doing so may cost
Charlee more than her life. The same medallion her great
aunt desires so much—a medallion Charlee possesses—
could make her just as evil as her great aunt.
Can Charlee stave off the twisted tendrils of the medallion
long enough to defeat Theodora—for good—or will evil
consume her? Can she even survive so far from home? Her
only hope may rest in the Lord of the Dragons, but that beast
turned his back on her grandfather long ago…
long enough to defeat Theodora—for good—or will evil
consume her? Can she even survive so far from home? Her
only hope may rest in the Lord of the Dragons, but that beast
turned his back on her grandfather long ago…
Darren Simon resides in Southern California where he works
as a college English teacher after a career as a newspaper
journalist. His love for writing began with a love for reading
when his grandmother gave him a wonderful gift—a brown
paper bag filled with comic books from the 1960s and ’70s.
From there, he moved on to Choose Your Own
Adventure books. Eventually he discovered the works of
J.R.R. Tolkien, which solidified his interest in writing epic
fantasy and science fiction tales.
So far, he has focused his writing on middle grade and young
adult fiction to inspire young readers just as he was inspired
to read and write at a young age.
adult fiction to inspire young readers just as he was inspired
to read and write at a young age.
He self-published his first novel though iUniverse and
immediately went on to write the second book in the series.
Upon completing the second book, he decided to seek more
traditional publishing. After countless rejection letters, a
small independent publisher—Divertir Publishing—decided
to pick up the series, a fantasy about a teen-aged girl who
learns her family is actually from an alternate dimension, and
only she has the power to protect Earth from a sorceress
from her world—who just happens to be her great aunt.
Divertir republished the first book, titled, Guardian’s
Nightmare, in 2015. The second book in the series,
Guardian’s Return, was released in April.
Darren has also written another series—a young adult
historical pirate fantasy set in the golden age of piracy,
mixing historical pirates and pirate hunters with his fictional
characters in a time-traveling, swashbuckling tale. The first
book in that series, The Dangerous Legacy, was published
in 2016 by Tell-Tale Publishing. The second book in the
series, The Deadly Waters, is due out later this year. All his
books are available at Amazon.com and
Barnes&noble.com. Darren, who lives with his wife, Sandra
and two sons, Daniel and Jacob, and two crazy dogs, in the
Valley, is continuing to write and develop new stories,
including a young adult novel now in the hands of
literary agency.
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