I am not a magician and, sadly, I don’t have magical powers although I wish I did. So, instead I created magical characters in a book for middle-grade readers — The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries. And to spread that magic to young readers, I am making the Kindle version free for two days March 2 and 3.

My own childhood was steeped in imaginative play. This was out of necessity as I lived a rather sheltered life. My parents, the children of immigrants, didn’t get the concept that we could play at a friend’s house. That’s what family is for. And so that’s what happened.

My chief playmate was my sister, Christine. One of us would think up a fantasy to play with the invitation: “Let’s pretend …” I don’t remember all of the scenarios we or our dolls acted, but that doesn’t matter. What I do remember is that during those hours we spent together, we were delightfully in another world.

Another outlet was reading. I spent hours and hours — in the summer staying up late — lost in those words.

And when I became a mother, I enjoyed watching my children do the same.

Now the words “let’s pretend” is the motivation behind my writing fiction. I sit in front of my laptop and let my imagination take over whether it’s written for adult or young readers. For this book, I circled back to those times in the backyard when my sister and I played, or upstairs in my bedroom reading a book I couldn’t put down.

First, I’ve always been fascinated by genies. Yes, there’s that Aladdin story. But my genies or jinn, as I prefer to call them, don’t live in lamps. In the first book — The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries — they live and have a magic act in a traveling carnival. Of course, their magic is just one of their many powers such as being invisible, flying, casting spells, oh, the list goes on. 

The twins are Jute and Fina, brother and sister who are 11 by human age. They are sweet but mischievous and like so many siblings, competitive. Their parents, Jeffer and Mira, are protective, but that’s because they tricked their evil master into letting them go. Yes, he’s trying to find them.

Pretending with The Jinn family is so much fun that I completed two more books, and a third is halfway done. I plan to continue publishing them, because I want to inspire young readers and anyone else who loves magical realism.

Currently, I am recording The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries for an audiobook at my son, Nate’s Mudroom Sound Studio. By the way, my son, Ezra, created the illustration for the cover, which I believe captures the playfulness of the characters. Look for The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine, second in the series, soon.

Curious? Here’s the link: The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries