Sunday 30 September 2012

Extract from the first novel in the Talon series

Dashing through the village, Matica saw Mito in his potato field. Aware that the Indians didn’t like her, because of her small stature, she wasn’t sure if Mito would tell her father, but she asked him anyway if he had heard the shots. He had. He answered me, she thought. That’s a first. He might tell father then. ‘Please tell my father that I’m on the way to Ramah to see what’s going on. And please tell him that he should follow me as soon as possible.’
‘Tell Crayn, I will,’ he said and went towards the community hall.
He is telling him, Matica rejoiced and raced off, grinning. She loved the funny way Mito spoke.
Every day she walked for fifty minutes to meet Tamo at this place she had named ‘Ramah’. Beyond the village and the fields of the Indians, her path first went slightly up through bushes and shrubs then down through a little valley and up again. Next she would go through a little rainforest – not much to see in there; it was too small – then through open space again.
Her Ramah was a big, oval clearing and was enclosed by a few bushes and big conifer trees. In the middle lay a huge boulder where she would often sit and talk to her friend Tamo who would lay his head in her lap and listen to her.

Youtube animation clips for the first 3 novels in the Talon series

First Novel: TALON, COME FLY WITH ME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ontac7S20

Second Novel: TALON, ON THE WING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqayANo77x0&feature=youtu.be

Third Novel: TALON, FLIGHT FOR LIFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXdNgy7Fw18&feature=autoshare

Monday 24 September 2012

Extract from the first novel in the Talon series:

Halfway home, it became extremely dark. There was no moon yet, so Matica and her father had to take extra time to watch out for trees and bushes they could hardly see, but when the silvery half moon rose and cast its pale light over the dark plateau, the bushes and trees and the grass weren’t phantoms any longer; they became grabbing ghosts to Matica. The soft wind rustled the leaves of the trees, playing more and more tricks on her by showing her weird, ghostly shadows. Matica grabbed her father’s hand. She was frightened.

Sunday 23 September 2012

Extract from the first novel in the Talon series

‘Your tummy feels soft. I thought feathers were rough.’ She touched him again. He grunted. ‘You look as if you have come directly from God’s design, but why do your neck and head have no feathers? They look naked.’ She shrugged. ‘Never mind that. You look majestic to me, naked neck or not. Now I’ll stroke you properly, not only your claws or your beak as I have done up to now. Would you like that? I don’t think anyone has ever stroked you before, or even touched you.’
Even though Matica’s lips trembled, she stretched her arm to reach his wing. He let it happen and looked at her hand, grunting as if to say, ‘Come on, you can stroke me.’
‘You’re wonderful,’ she said. ‘Your feathers look < well, as if they were made from black, glossy
velvet. You feel warm and soft.’
Suddenly he unfolded one of his huge wings and and stretched it out.

Tuesday 18 September 2012


Extract from the first novel in the Talon series: Talon, come fly with me

Curious as he was, the condor dropped down to Matica as usual, but he wouldn’t catch the food. Instead he passed her with an elegant swoop. It was as if a hurricane went over her. It also appeared to her as if the whole sky parted and let him through and that she was blown on the wind of the universe, that he was the wind. Such thoughts went through her mind in seconds, too fast for her to really grasp what was happening.
She missed several heartbeats as she watched the huge bird. Is this really happening? she thought. Then her heart started to thud as if a fist was banging against her chest from the inside.

Monday 17 September 2012

Extract from the first novel in the Talon series

Because she had plenty of spare time, Matica would roam around the plateau for hours after school to investigate it, and yet she didn’t need to leave the plateau as it was huge and there was a lot to see. She loved birds, so she looked for the hummingbirds, the colourful and loud macaws, the toucans with their enormous beaks and all sorts of different colours, and she even looked for the monitor lizards, but none of them gave her any peace of mind. Sometimes she looked for monkeys, but she could never find any of them.
After two years of hardship, it all started. She was then seven and a half years old. One late afternoon, she saw for the first time two mysterious, huge and dark birds circling high in the sky over the mountains. She wondered about how high they were and why they still looked so huge. She thought of the pterosaurs in her dinosaur book. The pterosaurs were huge, really huge, but they became extinct ages ago.

Sunday 16 September 2012

Extract from the first novel in the Talon series

Staring at the stars, the thought of flying on Tamo filled her mind for the hundredth time. She closed her eyes and flew with her hands, imagining lying on his back. I could escape all of my sufferings, she thought.
She let the dream wash over her where nobody could tease and mock her.
‘Well, I guess it will never happen,’ she said and sat up.
‘What will never happen?’
‘Oh, Mum, nothing. Well, ma...
ybe one day I might tell you.’ She grinned cunningly then sighed. ‘Why don’t the Indians understand that I’m normal? It’s just that my growth hormones don’t work properly. It’s nothing evil.’
‘They still tease you and it still bothers you?’
‘Hmm, kind of.’ Matica cast her eyes downwards then pursed her lips. One single tear escaped each of her eyes and slowly crawled down her cheeks.
Mira wiped them off then took her daughter into her arms, squeezed her then held her an arm’s length away.
‘Are you sure they still tease you? I haven’t heard anything for a while,’ said Mira.
‘Yes, pretty sure.’
‘Pretty sure, or kinda pretty sure, or maybe sort of kinda pretty sure?’ Her mum’s eyes lit up.
Matica laughed and wriggled free. ‘You’re talking silly, Mum.’
Mira laughed too. ‘Yeah, I’m silly today, but it worked, didn’t it?’
‘Yes, it worked, but it’s still their fault that I made friends with the condors.’
‘I know, Love. It will all change soon, I believe.'
 

Monday 10 September 2012

Look at the huge wings, 3 1/2 m wingspan


Extract from the firs novel in the Talon series, Talon, come fly with me:

Mira put dinner on the table. As they started to eat, Matica told them about their adventure. When she finished, Crayn said, ‘Mira, it was so brilliant to see Pajaro’s face and the faces of the others when they saw Tamo swooping over them. They called him a ‚monster‛.’ He shook his head.
‘Yes, I saw it. It’s about time the...
y
realise what they have,’ said Mira.
Matica had an excited look in her wide-open eyes. ‘Tomorrow we’ll get the egg, I’m sure of that,’ she said, ‘and we’ll see if Tamo will give it to me. And Mum,’ she pulled a face, ‘I didn’t like walking home in the dark. When the moon came out, he made so many terrible shadows. Brrrrrr.’ She shook herself. ‘It was awful.’
‘What did you see?’ Aikon’s eyes were two big, round dinner plates. ‘Scary shadows? Tell me.’
‘Hmpf. You want to know?’ said Matica.
‘I’m big.’ Aikon pounded his chest. ‘I can take it. Tell me.’

Extract from the first novel in the Talon series: Talon, come fly with me

The last rays of the dying sun threw enormously elongated shadows across their path, turning even the smallest rocks into dark phantoms, reaching out to scare and block their way.
Halfway home, it became extremely dark. There was no moon yet, so Matica and her father had to take extra time to watch out for trees and bushes they could hardly see, but when the silvery half moon rose and cast its pale light over the dark plateau, the bushes and trees and the grass weren’t phantoms any longer; they became grabbing ghosts to Matica. The soft wind rustled the leaves of the trees, playing more and more tricks on her by showing her weird, ghostly shadows. Matica grabbed her father’s hand. She was frightened.

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Extract from the firt book in the Talon series, Talon, come fly with me

Matica woke up early in the morning, sat up and, remembering her dream, she thought about it. Could it be true? Will Tamo do that to me? She shook her head and murmured, ‘I don’t believe that Tamo would do that to me. No, he wouldn’t do that.’
She got up and looked for cloths in which she could wrap the egg to protect it and t...
o incubate it. She found several old towels in a cupboard. Taking them, she tiptoed with a grim face to her dad and mum’s open bedroom and went in. She whispered into her mum’s sleepy face, ‘Mum, are you still asleep?’
‘Hmm, I am,’ came a sleepy, croaky voice from Mira’s mouth.
‘Sorry, Mum.’
Matica turned to tiptoe out of the room again when she felt a pull at her nightie. She turned. Her mum grinned and whispered, since Crayn was still asleep, ‘Why do you wear that long face? Come tell me what’s bothering you.’ She sat up.
Matica sat cross-legged on her bed and twisted the cloth around her fingers. Mira stroked her cheek. ‘Are these cloths for the egg? So you do believe —’ said Mira.