A series of books for 8 to 12 year old boys and girls beginning with...
Book One: Oribliss Castle and the Forbidden Tower
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The Chronicles of Oribliss Castle
A series of six books aimed at 8 to 12 year old boys and girls who enjoy fantasy adventure set in a modern day context. The books are action orientated with an involved plot, combining tension with humorous dialogue. Beginning with…
Book One: Oribliss Castle and the Forbidden Tower
The Chronicles of Oribliss Castle are set in a 17th century castle in the north of Scotland, which has been converted to a boarding school. The story follows the adventures of a group of first years at the school as they discover the pleasures and frustrations of living and studying together. But when some increasingly mysterious events start to happen in the school, including strange footsteps in the dead of night, a tower where no one is allowed to venture and a talking statue, only the feisty Magenta Parker is really uneasy.
Although she becomes accused of imagining things, she goes by her instincts. But will she be girl enough to investigate…?
The plot blends elements of realism and fantasy, with the legend of Horiblissa creating a story-within-a-story. The first book in the series, Book One: Oribliss Castle and the Forbidden Tower begins when Magenta Parker, together with her new found pals – Martha, Will, Dan and Charlie – are on-board the 07.30 flight from London to Aberdeen and are looking forward to entering their first year at Oribliss Castle School.
But weird things start to happen almost immediately after their arrival. Magenta finds herself unable to ignore the spooky events at the castle – ‘possessed’ teachers, a secret tunnel, strange whisperings, and the forbidden tower. This tells the tale of the Legend of Horiblissa and of Magenta’s endeavours to unravel the mysterious incidents that are happening at Oribliss Castle. But the school bullies make the task even harder.
So, who are the main characters and what are they like? Well, here’s a taster…
We begin with Magenta Parker, the petite blonde and the protagonist of the story. With her short spiky hair, little pointed nose and tiny silver specs, she’s almost a pixie to look at. Bold, courageous, quick thinking, determined, and highly intelligent are the qualities which carve her out as a leader from the start. But is her level of daring too much for her friends? Then there’s Martha Brown who quickly becomes Magenta’s best friend and ally. Although a bit wimpish, she’s quickly redeemed by her sense of loyalty, love of animals and quirky passion for chocolate brownies.
Magenta and Martha soon make friends with Charles Blackstone, known to his friends as Charlie. He’s the one with short black hair and thick fringe. Of average height and stocky build, with his ruddy cheeks, clear blue eyes and bright smile he’s instantly popular. His great sense of adventure and quick witted humour attract the friendship of Daniel Spencer and William Fitzpatrick. Known to their pals as Dan and Will, they also become chummy with Magenta and Martha. Dan’s the tall gangly one with brown wispy hair and freckles, his fine features and high cheek bones awarding him an elegant air. With his studious qualities yet willingness to join in he quickly becomes part of the group. Will is the ‘cool’ good looking one with a love of sports. His easy going personality and outgoing qualities instantly make him one of the crowd.
In the nasty corner we have the school bully and spoilt brat Alwin Simpson-Slithers. He quickly becomes Magenta’s arch enemy when she seizes on his unfortunate acronym
( the ASS ). Tall and thin with a large nose and dark, slicked back hair, Alwin’s pompous attitude and self-important air suggest a he’s a trouble maker from the start. Adding to this we have the pig like, sycophantic Boyd Ramsbottom who falls over backwards to keep friends with Alwin. With his chubby looks, blonde curls, over indulgence for food and sheep-like qualities, he immediately becomes a subject of ridicule. Their female counterparts are the amusingly named Pandora Pewk and Tiara Trump who, with their passion for Alice bands and all things silly, team up with Alwin and Boyd to become the opposition.
On arrival at Aberdeen airport the pupils are met by their housemother, Mrs Doon. Magenta gasps when she sees her. Dressed from head to foot in black, with her hair scraped back in a bun and dark glasses, Mrs Doon presents herself as an odd and frightening figure. Her manner is distant, her voice hypnotic, matching that of her husband Mr Doon, the boys house parent. But Magenta lays her uneasy feelings to rest, as they are whisked away in the school minibus to their destination – Oribliss Castle. The sight of which brings sighs and groans of pleasure - with its pink façade, balustrades and tower, it’s a fairy tale castle in all its splendour. They soon meet with other pupils and the teachers, along with their head teacher and owner of Oribliss Castle, the disgustingly rich Professor P P Angus. He’s a big burly man with a deep bellied laugh and a fluffy grey beard. But is he all he seems? Then there’s the creepy caretaker Scrivens, who walks with a limp and tends to spy on the pupils. When they meet the sculptress, Isla del la Zouch, with her heavy make-up, strange oval eyes and theatrical clothes, they don’t know what to think.
As they work their way through the first half-term Magenta decides that all is not well at Oribliss Castle. She convinces her friends that the teachers are ‘possessed.’ Has no one
else noticed that strange look in their eyes? In the opposite corner, Alwin ( the ASS ) and
his crew are unaware of anything unusual about Oribliss Castle, but are aware that Magenta and her friends are suspicious of something. Having despised Magenta from the start, Alwin begins to watch her like a hawk, eager for any excuse to bring her down. But when Magenta and co. discover of the Legend of Oribliss Castle the mystery deepens and they find themselves being led into the dark, mysterious world of Horiblissa. Magenta decides it all has something to do with the tower - which is strictly forbidden – but why? So, on the eve of half-term she decides to find out…
Linda Dent Mitchell was born in Yorkshire where she lived for many years. She knew from an early age that her interests would lead her into creative work. Linda began her career as a textile designer which led her into teaching both adults and children.
During this time she studied a BA in Art and Design, followed by an MA in Art Education. She is now completing her PhD at Coventry University. As an accomplished artist Linda has exhibited widely, her paintings stemming from literary themes. Whereas now, her imagery feeds her ideas for children’s stories.
This book is Linda’s debut novel and is the first in a series of six books for eight to twelve year old children. Linda now lives with her husband and daughter in the Derbyshire countryside.
Hi everyone,
Thanks for reading About the Author – that’s me. You’ll see from my background that I’ve always been interested in creative things, like books and art. Over the years I’ve done a lot of drawing and painting, especially characters from story books – never thinking that one day I would write my own. Anyway I thought that you might like to know how my book/s came to be written. I’m just completing my Doctor of Philosophy ( that’s a Ph.D for short ) and its all been about how computers have influenced artists. Having been born quite a long time ago I couldn’t use a computer – so I had to learn fast. I began with my paint programme drawing pictures of any thing that came into my head. Then I started ‘dragging and dropping’ different colours in to see what would happen. One day I came up with some paintings of little castles. But I couldn’t decide if I liked them or not. Words began tumbling into my head – like/dislike, love/hate, horrible/blissful. All of a sudden my little castle pictures became the title of a book…a series of books…about a castle called Oribliss. I would call it The Chronicles of Oribliss Castle. About a week later I saw a programme on TV about Scottish castles, so I decided I would set my Oribliss Castle in Scotland. – and the first book in the series was born, Book One: Oribliss Castle and the Forbidden Tower.
If you want to find out a bit more about the book and the characters press About the Books and I will tell you. I hope this little ‘taster’ inspires you to read my book. What’s more, if you like it you can look forward to the next one in the series when it’s published.
Thanks for listening, speak to you soon.
Linda
Details of book launch, book signings, festivals, readings, interviews...to be announced.
Coming soon...
Coming soon..
The Publisher:
Pen Press Publishers Ltd
25 Eastern Place
Brighton
BN2 1GT
Telephone: 0845 1080530
Email: iinfo@penpress.co.uk
Web: www.penpress.co.uk
The Author: Linda Dent Mitchell
Email: info@ldmitchell.com
Web: www.oriblisscastle.com, www.ldmitchell.com
I would like to thank the team at Pen Press Publishers Ltd for their
editorial advice and their excellent interpretation of my ideas for the book cover. But I thank them most of all for giving my book a real chance.
Thanks also go to Stephen Granger for the fabulous author photographs and to Phil Scott and Mark Stone of Sylistic Web Design for their imaginative work on my website.
Special thanks go to Dr Andrée Woodcock who encouraged my image making throughout my PhD.
Rights: If you are interested in buying any rights or seeking permission to re-print any part of this book, please contact the author or Pen Press Publishers Ltd. All rights are currently available.
Copyright Linda Dent Mitchell 2007
All rights reserved
Pen Press Publishers Ltd
ISBN 1-905621-07-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-905621-07-1
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