The Order of Time Book Series
by Scott P. Southall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Middle Grade Fantasy (Mythology/Ancient History)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
About the Series:
Picture two twelve-year-old fraternal twins who are like night and day. She is a smart and highly organised MMA fighter. He’s not a fighter, he’s a lover of history, art and Star Wars. Despite their differences they are one formidable team. Together Anastasia and Edward Upston travel through time and navigate ancient civilisations, angry gods and mythical monsters in their quest to protect the integrity of human history.
About The Order of Time:
Anastasia and Edward Upston are eleven year old twins who are different in almost every way. Despite this they are inseparable and he best of friends. They tackle the highs and lows of sixth grade together whether they are fending off bullies at the elite Blake Academy or examining rare antiquities at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Then: life gets complicated.
They discover that their friend and mentor, Dr. Gregorian, is part of a secret society called the Order of Time. It turns out that time is not fixed, it’s a fluid continuum where changes to the past can create ripples all the way through to the present. It unwittingly falls to the twins to travel back through time to ancient Egypt where they must overcome deadly assassins, evil high priests and vengeful gods in order to prevent disaster. Together Anastasia and Edward must navigate all obstacles to preserve the past and find their way back home.
About The Order of Time and Odin’s Door The orange light bathed the snow-covered fields as the fiery globe began to dip below the horizon. It was strange that something so beautiful could signal the arrival of something so evil. One thing twelve-year-old twins Anastasia and Edward Upston knew for sure was that when mortals were caught between two bickering gods nothing good would come of it. Surviving the Viking Age may be the hardest thing they ever do, if they can…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT ONE:
From The Order of Time
They started to leave when the room suddenly lit up with a strange purple light coming from under a closet door.
“Why is the closet glowing?” asked Edward, his voice trailing up an octave. “Maybe we should get out of here.”
“What if Dr. G’s in there? You know he always locks his door, but it was open tonight. Maybe he’s still here. He might need our help,” Anastasia said emphatically.
The light was getting brighter by the second. Now Edward could also hear a low humming noise.
“Stop being crazy, Anastasia! This is the part in the movies where you yell at the screen for the characters not to open the door. We are not going to open that door.”
“I’m not being crazy. If Dr. G is in there and needs help, we’ll never forgive ourselves.”
Edward looked at her pleadingly, but she wasn’t giving in. His shoulders slumped in defeat. Oh god, please don’t let there be a monster or anything really scary in there. Anastasia dragged him over to the closet door. The light pouring out around the cracks was incredibly bright and the humming was getting louder. She gripped the large, brass doorknob, took a breath, and opened the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
Fascinating Facts About the Viking Age
For many people what they know about the Viking Age and Norse mythology is what they have seen in Marvel’s Thor movies. While the images of Chris Hemsworth and Asgard are captivating, they don’t provide an authentic view into Viking civilization.
The Viking Age was a period in the middle ages between 793 and 1066 AD when the people living in modern Scandinavia, known as Vikings, were actively raiding, colonizing and trading across Europe. The start of the Viking Age was marked by the Viking raid of the Lindisfarne Abbey in North Umbria England. The monks of the abbey were killed, thrown into the sea, or carried away as slaves along with the church’s treasure. The Vikings were soon raiding across the modern day United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal among other locations. The French region of Normandy is actually named after the Viking invaders – “Norrmani” or men of the north.
Viking raids and exploration were enabled by the design of the longships which were the most feared naval vessels at the time. The ships could be sailed or rowed as required and could reach speeds of up to 17 knots. The shallow hulls also enabled the ships to make shallow beach landings and sail up rivers. The longships were often made even more fearsome through the addition of decorative head pieces, often in the shape of dragons or serpents, on the front of the ships.
The Viking’s longships were also capable of navigation of the open sea which led to their discovery and settlement of Iceland around 830 AD. Erik the Red, who is a central character in The Order of Time and Odin’s Door, settled in Iceland after his family were exiled from modern day Norway. Erik was famous for colonizing the inappropriately named Greenland. His son, Leif Erikson, was the first European to sight North America. Almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
Although the Viking Age ended almost a millennium ago, the characters of Norse mythology still intrigues inhabitants of the twenty first century. Symbols of the giant ash tree Yggdrasil, which sat at the center of the Norse cosmos and its nine realms, can still be found in jewellery and online. Gods like Odin, Thor, Loki and Hel all feature heavily in the movie theaters and on Netflix. Norse mythology was also full of amazing beings and monsters like elves, dwarves, giants, draugar , krakens, and dragons. I can also attest that they make great fodder for middle grade books.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Scott is an American author and banking executive who lives in Sydney, Australia. He grew up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. and attended Georgetown University. While he loves his job as a global banker, his true passion is making up stories with his children. His debut novel, The Order of Time, reached #1 in its category on Amazon and was the 2021 Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal Winner in the Children’s – Mythology/Fairy Tale genre.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECT WITH SCOTT:
https://www.scottpsouthall.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-southall-6bab5a4
https://www.instagram.com/scottsouthallauthor
https://www.facebook.com/scott.southallauthor
https://twitter.com/SSouthallAuthor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK BUY LINKS:
https://www.amazon.com/Order-Time-Scott-P-Southall-ebook/dp/B07Z3XWJQ9
https://bookawards.com/book-award/the-order-of-time
https://readersfavorite.com/2021-award-contest-winners.htm#the-order-of-time
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFO:
One randomly chosen winner via Rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card.**This post contains
affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small
commission to help support this blog.
This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those fabulous
community outreach projects and awesome giveaways on here**
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteHi Ally. Thanks you for sharing The Order of Time Series. I really appreciate it and will be around to answer any questions anyone might have.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the guest post.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Fascinating Facts about the Viking Age and I enjoyed the excerpt! The Order of Time sounds like a great adventure and I love the cover! Thanks for sharing it with me and have a spectacular holiday season!
ReplyDeleteGreat cover.
ReplyDelete