Tag Archives: alchemy

The Twin Jinn

Using Magic on Humans

I was amused Saturday when Amazon noted The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine was No. 1 in Alchemy. Well, that was unexpected. But turning metal into gold is one of the talents of the magical beings I created for this series for middle grade readers.

Jute and Fina Jinn can fly, be invisible, shrink, and cast spells. But sometimes the best magic they do is to help humans change for the better. That’s what happens when they attend school in a small town in The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine.

In the first, The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries, the twins and their parents perform a magic act in a traveling carnival after escaping from their power-hungry master. In that book, Jute and Fina help a new friend, Jonathan, overcome his shyness.

In The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine, their parents, Elwin and Mira, move to a small town where hopefully they will not be discovered. They live in an apple orchard and the twins attend fifth grade in a local school. Elwin and Mira also feel it’s a good way for their children to learn more about humans although they are supposed to keep their magic hidden. (Good luck with that.)

One of their lessons about humans is dealing with a boy named Brian Morgan, a bully who picks on his classmates. He makes fun of the twins because they look and dress differently. He calls them names like Hoot and Greener, Cute and Cleaner,  and Toot and Weiner.

Here’s a scene from the first chapter, when at recess Brian makes fun of the clothes Jute and Fina wear.

Fina jabbed a finger against the boy’s chest so hard and fast he hopped backward.

“Be careful or I will put a spell on you,” she said.

Brian’s eyes locked on Fina’s.“Go ahead and try, Fina. I dare you.”

“Oh, yeah?” she said. “How would you like it if I turned you into a little pink pig? Or a big, hairy bug?”

Fina could make either of those two spells happen. She was thinking about which one would be better when Jute tapped her shoulder.

“No, Fina,” he whispered. “Don’t do it.”

Fina nodded. If she changed Brian into a pig or a bug, she wouldn’t be able to turn him back into a boy. Humans can’t handle that kind of change. Neither can animals. Fina found that out after she shrunk a goat to only a few inches. She thought she was saving the animal from an unhappy life. Fina planned to make the goat full-sized when she found a good home, but her mother told her it was impossible. Resa the goat would be tiny forever. Fina learned a lesson although she loved the goat that was now her pet.

Fina made a low laugh.

“Well, Brian, I guess I will let you go for now. Besides, recess is over.”

Jute and Fina do get into trouble when they use a magic spell to stick Brian to his seat and the floor. No matter what he tries he can’t get himself free. Eventually they let him go. Their teacher suspects they are responsible although he can’t figure out how. Because jinn can’t lie, they admit to doing it. Fina tells him, “We used magic.” That earns them a visit to the principal’s office.

Then there is the scene in which they are waiting outside the principal’s office when their class walks past them to the library.

Brian was in back of the line. He mouthed the words, “Crook and Steamer.”

Fina stuck out her tongue, but Jute had a better idea. He made a spider appear on the back of the boy’s shirt. The spider was as large as a stone good for throwing. It wasn’t poisonous, and it wouldn’t bite. But the spider would give the boy a scare. Jute watched Brian follow the others to the library. So far, the boy hadn’t noticed, but Fina did. She covered her mouth as she squealed.

“Oh, Jute, good one,” she whispered.

“I wonder when Brian will see the spider,” Jute whispered back.

“I think we’ll hear all about it, don’t you?” Fina said.

“Uh-huh.”

But after their parents are called to the school, they insist the twins find another way to help Brian be a better human than the ways they were using. They succeed, but I will let readers find that out for themselves.

By the way, Brian never knows the family’s true identities as jinn or genies. But there are two humans who do — Alice, who owns the orchard where the family lives, and Winston Moody, who has a farm next door and cleans their school —  naturally with good reason. More about them soon.

Here are the links to The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries and The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine.

Standard
The Twin Jinn

The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine Is Live

Sometimes I love my characters so much they deserve more than one book. I did that for my Isabel Long Mystery Seriesfor adults. And for a totally different writing and reading experience, I created the Twin Jinn Series for middle grade readers.

And exciting news: The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine, the second book in the series, has a Feb. 26 release in Kindle and paperback on Amazon. Here’s the link.

I began writing the series when I lived in Taos, New Mexico, which is a magical place for many people. As a child, I got so much enjoyment going to our town’s library and choosing books to read. For a while, I was fixated on the Wizard of OzSeries. The author, L. Frank Baum, wrote fourteen, and as I recall, I got through many of them. Then there was the Mary Poppins Series by P. L. Travers. A book that caught my interest was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.And as a parent and a grandparent, I got to read many, many more.

So, I channeled that book-loving girl to create The Twin Jinn books.

In writing my own, I wanted to create magic beings who live among humans, which led me to genies or jinn, as I call them. I wanted the main characters to be twins — alas, in real life I wasn’t one. Jute and Fina Jinn, brother and sister, are 11 jinn years but 111 by human. They have special powers that include the ability to fly, cast spells, shrink and be invisible. They are at the age where it is time for their parents Elwin and Mira to intensify their training.

Oh, I should back up here to say like most jinn, the family had a master, in this case, a power-hungry man. Elwin and Mira found a way to escape, but he is desperate to get the family back. (My theory for this series is that every powerful and/or rich person has a jinni making that possible.)

I pictured Jute and Fina as kind beings. Being twin siblings, they are also competitive, especially when they play games like Finder. That’s when one invisible jinni tries to find another. (Wouldn’t that be fun?) The twins are curious, especially about the human world, and mischievous. Typically, Fina is the instigator like casting a spell on a mean boy, so he is stuck to the seat and floor in their classroom. They are supposed to keep their powers hidden. Tell that to the kids.

I loved the Jinn family so much that I wanted to plunk them into different situations.

In the first, The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries, the family hides in a traveling carnival’s show, where they put their magical powers to good use for an act.

In the second, The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine, the family lives in a small town where Jute and Fina attend school. They create a machine that turns metal into gold for their science fair project. That book has a Feb. 26 release on Amazon.

In the third, The Twin Jinn in the Land of Enchantment, the family moves to a ranch in the Southwest. I hope to release that one perhaps this summer.

(For those wondering, yes I tried to entice publishers to take on the series. I even had an agent pitching it at one time. But like Fina, I became impatient to take that route anymore.)

And I am fortunate to have the artistic talents of my son Ezra Livingston, who created the illustrations for the books. They capture the books’ magic.

Again, here is the link for The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine. Thank you if you come along for the next adventure.

Standard