Hello readers! Today I am reviewing the third book in the prehistoric Zan-Gah series by Allan Schickman: Dael and the Painted People.

 In this third installment, Shickman diverts the narrative from Zan-Gah and instead focuses on his warlike brother Dael. It tells the story of Dael’s sojourn among an ancient people who paint their entire bodies red. You get a close look at their way of life, their customs and how Dael and his companion integrate themselves into the society and in the process ruffle a few feathers.

The imagery is vivid and beautiful and the author’s imagination shines through, as with the previous volumes. It is a very approachable text and a quick read that takes a refreshing new direction from the other books in the series.

If I have one complaint about it, is was that sometimes I felt the author went over the head of his audience. The writing style is very simple, and is obviously geared at younger readers. However, once in a while, a great SAT word will appear like ‘ accouterments’ or ‘ululated’ that would probably leave younger readers stumped.

This volume has more of a standalone feel so that you could read it in conjunction with the other Zan-Gah books or by itself. I recommend it to young adult readers looking for a captivating world to escape to.

You can learn more about Allan and his books at http://earthshakerbooks.com/. To purchase a copy of Dael and the Painted People, visit this link: http://amzn.com/0979035767 

NaNoWriMo Contest Update: 
 I’m so glad that people are already signing up for my NaNoWriMo contest. I have one person put that they had already “won” NaNoWriMo, so I feel I need to clarify. NaNoWriMo runs from Nov 1st – Nov 30th, and to ‘win’ you have to write 50,000 words in that time and get it verified by the official word counter at http://www.nanowrimo.org.

Since NaNoWriMo has not started yet, it is not possible to win it yet. Actually, it is not possible to officially win until November 25th. If you do finish your 50,000 words (that you start on November 1st) before that time, feel free to mark that you have ‘won’ NaNoWriMo. I will then email you and ask you to send me a copy of the manuscript so that I can confirm its length.

In summary, I will delete any “I won NaNoWriMo” entries that happen before November 1st and I will confirm them all of that time if they are before the 25th. Please spread the word about the contest, and post here to let us know what sort of projects you are planning. From now until the end of the contest, the entry form will always be at the bottom of the most recent post.

Orem Authorpalooza:
Join me and many other authors this weekend at the semi-annual Orem Authorpalooza. Here are the details.

October 22nd: Authorpalooza at Orem, UT Barnes and Noble, 1pm – 4pm.