H2O - Just Add Kid

My daughter and I are a bit depressed, since we just reached the end of all three seasons of H2O - Just Add Water. If you have a kid and are looking for some entertainment, then you can't do better than this Aussie series about three girls who become mermaids.

This is with Bella, the new girl, not Emma - but, oh well.

It's won't win any prizes for poetic dialogue, and for that I blame the sitcom format. We streamed the shows on Netflix, and even though there were no commercials, I could tell where a plug for bread was supposed to go. That meant that the director had to insert a laugh or a "Hey I wonder what this all means" frown on a character's face.


Despite that, it was the characters that sucked us both in. Cleo, Rikki, and Emma, the three girls, were charming and realistic. Not only that, there was real character development over the course of the series.


My kid is 8, and she was fascinated. "Can we watch one more?" was the constant cry over the past few weeks. As a mom, I was really happy to see close friendship between girls. There was some boyfriend and girlfriend stuff, but it was all of the Disney channel variety, with an occasional kiss thrown in. And I'm happy to have kisses over backstabbing and violence any day.


The special effects were great. The mermaid tails were convincing, and the scenes where the girls find their powers and manipulate water were really well done.

SO want to do that.

I also loved the scenery, especially in the scenes filmed on "Mako Island," the magical place where the girls actually become mermaids.


As someone who loves paranormal elements and fantasy in general, it was great to see a series that wedded them with real life drama. Cleo in particular was convincing as she deals with her dad getting remarried and an annoying little sister.


My daughter and I were sad when we came to the end of the series. It's not often that you find a show that is imaginative and fascinating for the 7 and up crowd. 

Creating a Zombie Cover: Guest Post by Rachel Tsoumbakos

This post is by Rachel Tsoumbakos, the author of Emeline and the Mutants, and The Ring of Lost Souls.  It originally appeared on the Cabin Goddess blog as part of Zombie week.

My kids are eleven and eight. For them, a normal day is to come home and find their own mother elbow deep in blood splatters. Such is the woes when mum is an author of the post-apocalyptic zombie novel, Emeline and the Mutants (insert Amazon link here). Sometimes their input is endearing: "Mummy, that's looks great!" Other times disturbing: "Can I have a go at smearing the blood?" But, all in all, it is something they no longer bat an eyelid at.

Rachel, in a non-bloody moment

So, how does one go about creating a bloody cover for a book? It sounds simple enough. Red paint + handprint = cover. Right? No, wrong. The bloody handprint wasn't the first idea. It wasn't even the first cover Emeline and the Mutants ever wore.

The very first cover involved blood spatter too, but it wasn't my own, so it had to go. Now being the handy (excuse the pun) sort of person I am, I decided cover art is something I could do. And certainly, I did produce a cover, but it was a long hard journey for a novice.

First, blood red is not a colour my local art supplies store stocked. You'd think it was a common shade of red, but according to the creeped-out look on the assistant's face, it's not. Instead I bought several tubes of paint in an attempt to mix my own. The first batch was pretty good too- until it dried. It went from shiny, vibrant, life-giving red to a darker shade of Uluru in about three hours.

This led me to the conclusion that I needed to photograph as I went or find another way to make the red stay the right colour. I decided to take photos, but first I had to property design the background newsprint. Is it just me or does everyone who is cutting and pasting newspaper look over their shoulder constantly and feel the need to have a hostage to complete the task? It's probably just me, yeah? Thought so.

So, with the background suitably newspapery, it was time to start with the blood. I mixed up my blood red and painted my hand. With it poised and really above my masterpiece, I suddenly had the brilliant idea to add PVA glue to the paint. Perhaps this would make it shinier. Not to mention more globular when I started the splattering phase of my artwork.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to wash acrylic paint off your hand? Neither did I. Having to explain 'blood' under my fingernails at school pick-up was a real challenge also. With a (mostly) cleaned hand, I added the glue. Then some more red followed by a smidge more black paint since the PVA lightened the colour quite significantly. But it was an instant improvement. Not only did the paint take longer to dry and stayed shinier and lighter, but it didn't dry on my hand as quickly.

Take two of my bloody handprint turned out to be a great success, or so I thought. The image was clear on the paper and the colour was fantastic. One look at it by my critics (read: my children) and the general announcement was that it was boring. Boring? How could a bloody mess on a piece of paper be mundane? I quizzed my kids further. Turns out, they just wanted to see more blood and a smearier image. Once again, I wasn't sure if I should be proud or disturbed at their comments.

There is much fun to be had in blood spattering, let me tell you. Not only do you have to don old clothes, but you need to cover your entire dining room with newspaper. You may be planning to hit just one small piece of artwork with paint, but the reality is that even the roof is within firing line!

Now, it seems to take a certain amount of maniacal glee to create the right spattering effect in blood. Light flicking aimed at the exact spot you expect it to land results in nothing more than a pinprick or two of colour and one big ugly blob. The trick is to really get your arm back over your head and fling your implement (in my case an old chopstick) like you are intending to cause injury. This level of intensity creates a splatter pattern akin to repeatedly stabbing someone you no longer like. Great viscous strands of bloody carnage result, the likes of which you can see in the image of my current book cover of Emeline and the Mutants.

Rachel Tsoumbakos is a stay home mother of two. Her main passions are writing, reading and organic gardening. Rachel lives with her husband, two kids, three cats and seven chickens in suburban Melbourne, Australia. While she has had several articles published through mainstream magazines, she has also written extensively for Suite 101 and True Blood Net.

Flidderbugs, by Jonathan Gould

Today Jonathan Gould, author of Flidderbugs and Doodling, is visiting. I am beyond pleased to have such a creative, innovative author on my blog! And, as an added bonus, Jonathan will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one randomly drawn commenter from the tour.

Welcome to Fresh Pot of Tea, Jonathan! Could you please tell about your

book,Flidderbugs, and give us some insights into your inspiration?

Thanks so much for having me – even though I have to admit I’m not much of a hot drinks person. But my wife lives on them, so I’m sure she’s enjoying one on your behalf.

Flidderbugs is what I would call, using the sophisticated technical terms that I do, a “funny little story”. It’s about a bunch of insects who live on a most distinctive tree, called the Krephiloff Tree. Their life up there is pretty good, or at least it would be if they spent a bit more time enjoying it and a bit less time arguing about silly and pointless things, particularly how many points there are on a leaf. Of course, as a result if all this bickering, a series of events is set in motion which ultimately lead to the Krephiloff Tree being placed at risk of destruction – and if there’s no more Krephiloff Tree, there can be no more Flidderbugs.

I suppose the story is a bit of an allegory, or a fable. I’ve always been interested in what people believe and why they believe it, whether this is in an area like politics, or more generally. The story was definitely inspired by these kinds of ideas, and particularly by reading a couple of terrific books about psychology by John Cleese (one of my great heroes) and Robyn Skinner called Families and How to Survive Them and Life and How to Survive It.

      Could you please tell us a bit about yourself? Feel free to do this in a completely creative way.

I’m a bit of a contradiction. Sometimes I go to great efforts not to stand out too much. I tend to dress and act in a pretty conservative way, and I prefer not to attract too much attention to myself. But in other ways, I work quite hard to not follow the crowd. I think this comes out most strongly in my writing. With every story I write, I’m always thinking about how it can be unique and special. How I can avoid following formulas and fitting too readily into recognisable genres, and trying to create a completely new story that’s never been written before. And given how many stories have already been written, that’s not an easy thing to do.

Could you also tell the readers about the term Dag-Lit? Is this a new genre that you have

invented?

Dag-Lit is one of the ways I’ve tried to get my writing to stand out. One problem with writing stories that don’t easily fit into recognized genres is that describing them to others can be difficult. When people discover I’m a writer (and let’s face it, I don’t exactly hide the fact – ok, I generally lead with it in most conversations), they want to know what sort of stories I write. Eventually I got tired of saying, “Well, they’re sort of silly and funny and kind of for kids but also for adults,” and just blurted out, “They’re Dag-Lit.” Dag is Australian slang for someone who is uncool or unfashionable, possibly a little childlike, and definitely a lot of fun. I like to think my stories are like that.

I’ll know my mission is complete when I walk into a bookshop and see a Dag-Lit section amongst all the other categories.

Flidderbugs has received wonderful reviews, and reading them inspired me to read the book. Why

do you think you have gotten such an overwhelmingly positive reaction?

Gee, not sure how I can answer that without appearing immodest. I guess that all I can say is I worked pretty hard on it, and put a lot of thought and a lot of heart into it (as I try to do with all my stories). But you can never second guess what people will think, so it’s really gratifying to get this kind of feedback. As a writer, it’s definitely the most wonderful thing when you can connect with readers in this way.

Kriffle is the main character. Tell us about him and the challenges you encountered during the

creation of an MC who is an insect.

In some way, Kriffle is me in insect form. As a writer, most of my main characters tend to be me – it’s something I’m trying to break from as I challenge myself more. But Kriffle generally reacts as I would – he means well but is occasionally a bit slow, and doesn’t always know the best ways to react to situations, or how to handle other people.

Writing an insect character was definitely fun. I enjoyed taking any opportunity I could to throw in references to antennae or mandibles or other insect parts. But it did also pose a challenge. I needed to make sure the character would be engaging enough to adults, and not appear childish. I wanted to write a story that worked for adult readers as an allegory, not something they would toss away as merely a kid’s story. In some ways, I felt it was a bit of a risky thing to do. But as a writer I like to take risks so that’s ok.

Who do you think would really enjoy reading Flidderbugs? And where can they find the book?

Like I said above, I’m hoping that Flidderbugs will appeal to a broad audience. Kids should enjoy reading about a bunch of silly insects, while adults should appreciate the allegorical and satirical elements. And hopefully, all ages will find it an interesting and engaging story.

The book can be found at the regular ebook outlets:

-                Amazon

-                Amazon UK

-                Smashwords 

-                Barnes and Noble

-                iBookstore

-                Sony Bookstore 

-                Kobo

What is your next project?

Definitely have to add an s at the end of project – I always have multiple things on the go.

Next thing out is a full-length novel (my first). It’s called Magnus Opum, and I would also classify it as Dag-Lit. It’s basically my version of an epic fantasy – I like to describe it as Tolkien meets Dr Seuss. I’m hoping to have it out in early April.

After that, I’m working on a sequel to my first published ebook – Doodling. This one has the tentative title of Scribbling, and will continue the strange and unpredictable adventures of Neville Lansdowne.

Thanks so much for stopping by and having a cold drink (not tea) with us, Jonathan!