Above is a picture of John Lenahan; magician, comedian, and the author of the Shadowmagic series.  Born in Philadelphia, he decided to take a short trip to the UK when he was 23.  That short trip turned into 27 years and is still going on (surprisingly, he never adopted a British accent).  As a professional entertainer, he has many accomplishments which you can read on his Wikipedia page. I would like to talk about the 2 out of (I believe) 3 novels he has written; Shadowmagic and The Prince of Hazel and Oak.

Shadowmagic is a book that first caught my eye through iTunes.  I am a big fan of the spoken word and was perusing for free audiobooks to download.  His exaggerated voices and hilarious characters, coupled with a colorful and imaginative story, had me recommending the book to friends before I was even half way finished.  Once I did complete it, I purchased a paperback copy for 2 reasons; to support the author and to lend to my friends who refuse to listen to audiobooks.  I was very pleased to hear that he had sold his book to Harper Collins and was moving forward in writing a second book.  Here is the description the author gives on his website:

“Hi, my name is Conor.  Other than my father being a bit of an eccentric lunatic, my life was pretty normal until I got attacked in my living room and whisked away to Tir na Nog, the mystical land of the ancient Celts, where it turns out Dad is the usurped heir to the throne and everybody wants me dead because of some prophecy. Don’t you just hate when that happens?”

As I write this I am half way through listening to the second book (also available as a free audiobook read by the author), The Prince of Hazel and Oak.  It’s a continuation of the story and so far holds up to the first.  It’s hard to find a straight answer, but I believe the second book will be available for purchase sometime this month or next.  I highly encourage you to buy both books, or at least listen to them.  They are definitely worth it.