Author Richard Smith loves to meet the kids who read and enjoy his popular book Time Trap. Here are some photographs from a couple of his school visits.

Meet the family!!

Dave and Buster above
Sarah Jane, Nigel and Jaime below

Please welcome today's guest blogger Jacky Donovan as she talks about the amazing story of Seacat Simon.

Author Tom Winton hatched a plan to make this generous offering, 5 of his novels for only 99c each for 2 days only!!!
Don't miss this opportunity to sample his work if you haven't already.

Today I would like to welcome my guest blogger Maretha Botha. Find out more about the author and illustrator and get some insight into the characters in her books. There are free promotions on books 1 & 2 this weekend so make sure you download your FREE copies.

The area around her birthplace and hometown is often a source of inspiration. She had this landscape in mind when describing the “Molodi valley in an out-of-the-way place somewhere in southern Africa.” Three glimpses of the Montague Valley and the blue-hued Swartberg (Afrikaans for black mountains) dividing the “Klein Karoo”and the Western Cape. Photos of Montague valley and mountains by Constanza Krige - 2014 Montague is part of an area called the “Klein (Small) Karoo” or small arid land. Central Cape Province consists of the “Groot (Great) Karoo” – miles of semi-arid terrain, but good for merino farming and of course, martial eagles nesting on electric pylons, far from human danger. Here are interesting titbits to do with Fauna Park Tales – stimuli for her stories and illustrations. This painting appears in part on the cover of the first book called, “An African Adventure: Flame and Hope” and was part of an art project done by Lionilde-Claire Botha. Windmills and solitary farmhouses are typical sights in the “Groot (Great) Karroo where rainfall is scarce. Imagine this is “a free-range cattle farm in Molodi – a sunny, out-or-the-way valley in the grasslands of southern Africa”. There, John and Maisie James, their two small, adopted African children and teenaged twins live. They share their home with many rescued animals and birds. Their porch houses a very special working dog – the hero of the story – two cats, a tame rat, a bad-tempered bull-terrier and a cheeky rabbit. Outside the porch is a very high acacia tree where an elusive, large bird with unusual pink eyelids perches along with many smaller birds. He observes everything which happens on the porch, in the kitchen and farmyard, including the windmill area and becomes the narrator of Fauna Park’s tales. The original story was called, “African Adventures of Flame, Family, Furry and Feathered Friends” and gained Gold Medal status in September 2013 on Authonomy, an author website supported by HarperCollins. A fortunate martial-eagle perching safely inside the boundaries of a game reserve. There are a number of birds-of-prey in the story, such as martial-eagles, eagle-owls and African fish-eagles. Many of these birds’ habitats are seriously endangered in many parts of Africa. Here are some photos which provided inspiration for Maretha Botha’s illustrations. Photos of birds-of-prey by Constanza Krige – Maretha Botha’s sister. Martin the martial-eagle remembers his nest up north and kleeous the sad events of his life – losing his partner and hatchlings to poachers and dangerous human activities. An eagle-owl taking a nap. This bird is also called a Verreaux Eagle-owl – one of the largest of its kind in Africa. Notice the distinctive black facial disk outline. Its pink eyelids are not that clear on this particular photo.  Eagle-owl couple Verne and Vera perching close together. A Lesser-masked weaver and a Striped Kingfisher keep them company. Verne’s story is told in book 2, “Friends” and is based on a true event as told by someone who rescued one of these birds under similar circumstances as dramatised in Chapters 4 and 5, Unravelling a Mystery and Hope Against the Odds. An African fish-eagle relaxing near a lake An African fish-eagle couple relaxing on the shores of Molapo Lake. They also accepted The Promise to care for all vulnerable bush creatures in Fauna Park

Maretha Botha  Children’s Author and Illustrator of Fauna Park Tales, An African Adventure – a 5-book series for preteens Maretha Botha is a South African Italian. She was born in a Western Province town called Montague and grew up in nearby Worcester – a town reminiscent of living in Switzerland among the snow-capped mountains in winter. Worcester had a small library. At the time, the librarian limited her visits to three times a week, because “You spend too much time with your nose in a book and neglect your school work.” Maretha Botha has remained a confirmed bookworm and constantly strives to raise more bookworms who will enjoy reading, not just as a pleasant past-time, but as an excellent tool to be used when grown-up. Maretha Botha and her family now live in Lancashire, where she writes and illustrates animal and bird adventure stories, based on her experiences while growing up in South Africa. Her love for the southern African landscape, its environment, animals, birds and people shines through in her series of books which she entitled, “Fauna Park Tales”. They lived in Botswana for a few years before immigrating to the United Kingdom. This five-book series, "Fauna Park Tales, An African Adventure” is set against this background. Many of the stories are based on fact – things which she observed while living on the outskirts of a game reserve as well as the lives of her family's pets – dogs, cats and birds – through the years. Before becoming a fulltime writer she worked as a research librarian and used these skills to do thorough research as far as the birds-of-prey and smaller birds mentioned in her stories are concerned. Before leaving Botswana, her post as an assistant librarian in a private school library convinced her that her series of books will be enjoyed, not only by children, but also adults who are interested in the environment around them, as well as smaller wild animals and birds.  Maretha Botha likes gardening and finds it a real pleasure to get stuck into planting things which have a good chance of growing well and not dying on her because of extreme heat, such as she experienced in Botswana. She makes a conscious effort to have a bee- and insect friendly garden, avoiding pesticides, making her own compost and looking after all manner of birds, trying her best to keep the neighbouring pussy-cats away from catching young fledglings – not an easy task. When she was younger, she used to love rock-climbing and mountaineering. Nowadays she and her family hike on the moors in all sorts of weather, where the strong breeze quickly clears cobwebs and the vistas provide much food for thought and inspiration. -*- FREE Promotion weekend I want to thank Sarah Jane Butfield and Rukia Publishing for giving me an opportunity to introduce Fauna Park Tales on their blog. I’m running a KDP Select Free ebook(s) download promotion on the weekend of 11th and 12th of July 2015 as in the past, many of you kindly supported me by downloading and leaving short, positive reviews on Amazon. I appreciate this very much. Book 1 Kindle FREE on Amazon 12th July Book 2 Kindle FREE on Amazon 11th & 12th July Book 1 also available as paperback on Amazon Author blog https://marethabotha2013.wordpress.com/ Book 1 Paperback on Amazon Book 1 Kindle FREE on Amazon 12th July Book 2 Kindle FREE on Amazon 11th & 12th July