Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 17, 2022
I’ve never laughed so much listening to a zombie story before…but then again I’ve never listened to a book about zombie turkeys before either. Hilariously written and actually has some great characters too. Many cameos as well. Definitely an awesome time listening to this one. Hoping for a sequel!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 24, 2022
An uplifting tale of how four students find that within disability is ability. Looking past who others think they are was the way the four came together to make a difference not only in their own lives but the lives of those around them. The main theme of this tale is practice, practice, practice.
Your Seventeenth Literary Gift of 25 Gifts to Christmas. Today we’ll look at my second series, Secret Supers. My campaign to give you 25 literary gifts by Christmas continues. This blog will give you a short excerpt from my Secret Supers novel.
Let me know what you think by clicking here or emailing me at [email protected]. As always, everyone who responds with a comment or email will get a free book from me.
When the Secret Supers met at Jeremy’s home after school the next Monday, Jeremy said, “I’ve found four or five card tricks that’ll be great for Dan to do.”
“I thought of something too,” said Aubrey.
What’s that? Kayla thoughtcast.
“Dan can do the floating woman trick with Kayla. Jeremy can make her float, and Dan can use my old hula hoop to prove she’s not held up by wires.”
Why don’t you do the trick?
“You’re a lot better looking than I am. Whoever heard of a big burly girl working with a magician?”
“You’re not bad looking, Aubrey,” Jeremy said.
“Thanks, Jeremy, but I prefer weight lifting to being on stage.”
“How about weight lifting on stage?” asked Dan.
“Sounds weird. How would we work that into a magic act?”
“After we do the levitation trick, we go outside and you can pick up a car, with Jeremy’s help.”
That would be pretty spectacular. People would think the levitation trick was the grand finale and then you’d top it with the car. Kayla thoughtcast.
“It’d have to be a pretty small car. I can only lift about a thousand pounds. I tried again today, and that seems to be my limit.”
“Yeah, but my telekinesis seems to be getting more powerful as I use it. I picked up one end of our family’s car the other day.”
“Wow, Jeremy! Let’s try to lift it together, right now.” Aubrey got up and marched up the stairs, followed by her friends. Jeremy floated behind them, excited to try it.
Planning the Magic Show
Jeremy sat in his wheelchair in front of the elevator. He’d left it there when he floated downstairs.
“Mom’s making dinner, but I don’t want her suddenly seeing me floating around.”
“I’ll let you know if she comes looking for you,” Dan assured him.
“Thanks, Dan. Well, here goes.” The back end of the car came up about six inches.
“That’s great, Jeremy! Let’s see if I can hold up my end of the bargain.” Aubrey squatted by the front bumper, grabbed it firmly in her hands, and slowly straightened her legs.
“You did it,” shouted Jeremy.
“Yeah.” She gasped. “But only for a short time.” She put it back down. “Whew! That was my limit.”
“That’s good,” said Jeremy. “You want to give the impression of it being very difficult.”
Now, what we need is a script.
“What do you mean, Kayla?”
These magic shows are carefully planned for drama and anticipation. We’ve got to plan and practice every word.
“Who can write a script like that?” wondered Dan.
I can. It’s just like an English assignment: ‘Write your own magic show, like Penn and Teller.’ I’ve watched them on YouTube.
“Suppertime!” Jeremy’s Mom called from the door to the garage.
“Great! I’ve worked up an appetite,” said Aubrey.
“It’s chili and cornbread today,” said Dan. “My mouth is already watering.”
Show Time
Aubrey, super powered heroine.
The four friends worked on their script and show until Saturday came. Kayla’s mom made a black magician’s robe for Dan and sparkling tights for Kayla. Aubrey wore black tights trimmed with glitter. Jeremy would be the emcee and had a top hat and coat like a circus ringmaster.
People packed the City Hall meeting room. Right in front was Rich Vandemere with his dad and Betty Jones.
“Hi, Mrs. Jones, Rich. You must be Mr. Vandemere?” Jeremy greeted them from his wheelchair.
“Yeah, that’s me,” said the big man gruffly. “Call me Bob.”
“Thanks for coming out and supporting our fund-raiser.”
“It’s the least we could do,” said Mrs. Jones. “We don’t want to see you out of school any more than you do.”
“Uh, Mrs. Jones, are you friends with Rich and Mr.Vandemere?” asked Aubrey, who walked up next to Jeremy
She laughed. “We’re married. Rich is our son. I just kept my name from my first marriage. I was grief-stricken when my husband George died. Then I met Bob. I kept my first husband’s name in memorium.”
“O-o-o-h. I didn’t know,” said Aubrey, turning red.
“Have a good show!” she wished them.
The Show Begins
Dan Elanga – He can read minds and sensory impressions.
Seven o’clock came. Jeremy went behind the curtains they’d fixed at the back of the room. Dan, Kayla, and Aubrey were there.
“Ready?” he asked.
We’re all ready and excited!
“Break a leg!” said Aubrey. “That’s the traditional show business wish.”
“I can’t say that to you, Aubrey.” Jeremy looked at her artificial legs, covered by the black tights.
“I’m sure I could break them if I put my mind to it!”
“Get going already, Jeremy. I’m all antsy,” Dan said.
Jeremy cut the lights to the room. He’d rigged a remote lighting control next to his wheelchair joystick. He touched a button and one spotlight lit the stage and then turned on his lapel mike.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Maryville Middle School charity magic show!” he announced, bowing from his wheelchair and doffing his top hat. “Prepare to be dazzled by displays of legerdemain never before seen or performed!
Behind the curtain, Aubrey whispered to Kayla, “What’s legerdemain?”
It’s just a fancy term for magic. Jeremy’s showing off.
Card Tricks
“From the depths of deepest, darkest Africa, I present to you, the soon-to-be world-famous magician, Daniel Elanga!”
With calm aplomb, Dan strode to the middle of the stage. “Greetings, friends! It’s traditional to begin a magic show with card tricks.” He produced a deck from his pocket, started to shuffle it, and fumbled it all over the floor. The audience broke into laughter.
“However, I am terrible with cards.” More laughter ensued. Dan tapped his dark glasses with his white cane. “Blind, you know. But I’m great at reading minds. Now, everyone knows how magicians do these mentalist tricks. They have plants in the audience and marked cards and substitute decks. So I’ll break all the rules. First, I’ll have my assistant, Kayla Verdera, present an unopened deck of cards.” Kayla walked out with her walker, flourishing a plastic sealed deck.
“Kayla, please give that deck to one of the audience members. I promise not to look.” The audience twittered with nervous laughter.
Jeremy assumed they weren’t used to blind people joking about their blindness.
The Cards Revealed
Kayla gave the deck to a startled Mrs. Jones. Jeremy wheeled up to her. “Thank you, ma’am. Would you give us your name?”
“Betty Jones.”
“Have you ever seen this deck before?”
“No, I haven’t”
“Please open the deck and fan out the cards.”
Betty did so and showed them to the audience.
“Do they look perfectly normal to you?”
“Sure.”
“Let me look. I’m more familiar with cards,” said Mr. Vandemere. He peered at them and felt them carefully. “They don’t seem to be marked. They’re just a new deck.”
“Now, Mrs. Jones, please pick a card and don’t show anyone.”
“I’ll pick one too,” said Mr.Vandemere. “You pick one too, Rich.”
That’s not how the script is supposed to go!
“Great idea,” said Dan. “I’ll tell you what each of you has.”
“This I gotta see,” said Mr.Vandemere. He switched cards with Rich, and then again with his wife.
Dan, they all switched cards!
“Now, I must open my inner eye to see.” Dan paused dramatically, his hands on his temples.
”I see the three cards. But they’ve been switched.” The audience gasped. “Very clever of you.”
“Rich Vandemere, please stand.”
He’s improvising!
“You have your Dad’s original card, right?”
“Right.”
“It’s the seven of spades, isn’t it?”
“I’ll be—”
“Please show the audience.”
Rich held up the card, the seven of spades. The audience applauded.
Your Seventeenth Literary Gift Concludes
Applause!
“Bob Vandemere, please stand.”
He stood, looming taller than them all.
“You have your wife’s original card?”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t it the jack of hearts?”
“I don’t believe it.” Mr.Vandemere held up the jack of hearts for the audience to see.
Louder applause filled the room.
“Finally, Mrs. Betty Jones, please stand up. You have your son’s card, I believe?”
“Yes.”
“Please confirm it’s the ten of clubs.” Betty gasped and held the ten of clubs aloft. The crowd cheered, giving Dan a standing ovation.
Your Sixteenth Literary Gift – What do you think?
Andy Zach in repose
What do you think of your gift? Let me know right here. Don’t forget I’ll give you a free book after I get your email.
If you like Secret Supersyou cansubscribe to my newsletter here to see all my blog posts and get free books every month. Or you can just stay at my blog, checking back every day until Christmas.
Enjoy Your Eleventh Literary Gift – My Other Book Published this year! I am author Andy Zach and I earlier this year I self-published The Gospel Medley, my first non-fiction book.
Are you curious about Jesus Christ? Do you struggle to understand the Bible? The Gospel Medley includes the four Gospels in a single narrative, faithfully pulling the text from the World English Bible. You are now able to read all the gospel as a single, easy-to-read story.
Each Gospel describes Jesus’s life from a different point of view with different details and insights. The Gospel Medley combines every word into a single perspective with all details and events arranged chronologically.
Unlike other harmonies, The Gospel Medley doesn’t put the four gospels in columns or rows. Instead, the text is integrated word by word into a smoothly flowing narrative. Further, each paragraph references the four gospels so you can read the original citations. You also get footnotes of all the quotes from the Old Testament, giving you the context of Jesus’s words.
For a unique perspective of the four gospels, read ‘The Gospel Medley’ today.
Let me know what you think by clicking here or emailing me at [email protected]. As always, everyone who responds with a comment or email will get a free book from me.
If you think it will be hard to understand, compare this famous Christmas cartoon quoting from Luke with my book.
The Conception of Jesus
What Chrismas is all about
Luke 1:26–56; John 1:14
26 Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and give birth to a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’ 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father, David, 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to His Kingdom.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God. 36 Behold, Elizabeth, your relative, also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing spoken by God is impossible.”
38 Mary said, “Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”
14 The Word became flesh . . .
After Jesus’s Conception
38 The angel departed from her. 39 Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah, 40 and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 She called out with a loud voice, and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy! 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”
“My soul magnifies the Lord. 47 My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, 48 for He has looked at the humble state of His servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. 49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is His name. 50 His mercy is for generations and generations on those who fear him. 51 He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down princes from their thrones, and has exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has given help to Israel, His servant, that He might remember mercy, 55 as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.”
56 Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house.
Joseph Finds Out – Your Eleventh Literary Gift
Matthew 1:18–25
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this; for after his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.
20 But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is He who shall save His people from their sins.”
22 Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel8 which is, being interpreted, ‘God with us.’”
24 Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself; 25 and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.
The Birth of Jesus – Your Eleventh Literary Gift
Luke 2:1–39; Matthew 1:25
1 Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David’s city, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; 5 to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him as wife, being pregnant.
6 While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the guest room.
25 He [Joseph] named him Jesus.
A Heavenly Host of Angels
8 There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. 9 Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. 11 For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.”
13 Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, among men of good will.”
15 When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough.
17 When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. 18 All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.
Here Ends Your Eleventh Literary Gift
What do you think of your eleventh gift? Let me know right here. Don’t forget I’ll give you a free book after I get your email.
If you like Gospel Medley, you cansubscribe to my newsletter here to see all my blog posts and get free books every month. Or you can just stay at my blog, checking back every day until Christmas.
