ANTics
by Dakota Douglas
Published May 23, 2012
Premise: Ganked from Author's Site:
InhabitANT is a hidden world where thousands of ants eat, sleep, work, raise children and wage wars. Their fiercest enemy is an evil spider, a massive devious beast with magic powers, called RepugnANT. Three young ants – ExuberANT, BrilliANT and HesitANT – stumble across the fiend while looking for food for their nestmates.
Their frantic efforts to escape the murderous monster thrust them into one heart-pounding adventure after another. The eight-legged brute is in hot pursuit and he’s vowed to catch them and wipe out their nest. The pals need to escape his clutches and alert the nest, using Zube’s own special powers and Brill’s clever brain.
But is HesitANT up to the challenge? Watching his family wiped out by slaveraider ants has left the little ant nervous and timid. Can he shrug off his fears to save Zube and Brill from the world’s craziest spider and save InhabitANT in time?
"A wonderful children's story that teaches many lessons with such fun characters. My children and I enjoyed this book and it's terrific play on 'ant' words. It's written in a style children will enjoy and yet parents won't feel like they just can't read again. I highly recommend this book. The lessons of team work, how to deal with bullies, and accepting people for who they are make this book a fantastic one for all children. I didn't find any issues with this one.I gave this one 5 out of 5 books because it's educational but fun!" - Kissablysweet1/Melanie
When Dakota Douglas emailed me about her book, I started chuckling right off. She's so open about the fun idea of ant adventures, so creative, so sincere. I had to see if she'd visit Colorimetry.
She graciously answered my questions and offered three free e-copies of her book for readers to win. We can all use a little fun this summer, don't you think? Pretend you're winning this book to share with a little person somewhere... and meanwhile, ENJOY!! Lol.
I enjoyed reading about how you were inspired to write this book. Please share a little of that!!
I was on holiday playing golf in Portugal when I spotted a
group of ants carrying a crisp (US potato chip) back to their nest. The
crisp was about 50 times the size of one ant and it took a well
organised effort to transport it, including pushing and pulling up a
six inch kerb.
I was fascinated and that night dreamed about ants being
chased by a monster. When I woke, I remembered the dream and as I lay
thinking about it, the story for ANTics formed in my head. I quickly
wrote down a brief outline and as I wrote, the idea for the characters
having names ending in ANT to describe their personalities popped into
my head.
Without stopping to watch the antics of those Portugues ants,
there would be no ANTics. It's amazing where ideas for stories come
from.
I agree... you have to be ready at any moment for the beginnings of a story!!!
Do you have a favorite scene or character?
I don't want to spoil the story for any readers, so all I'll
say is that towards the end there's a scene with Zube and HesitANT
alone talking when Puggy has them all but beaten. After I wrote it, I
read it back and to my utter surprise I had a lump in my throat. It
sounds stupid to feel emotional about characters that are ants, but as
a writer you get really immersed in the story and involved with the
characters. You "care" for them and I kid you not, I felt pretty
weepy.
I won't laugh. Even ant characters are "real"!!!
Please tell us something unique or quirky about you! Weird memory?
I have this vague but recurring memory of something frightening
and strange happening one day while swimming in the North Sea off the
coast of North East England. I swam out further than I ever had before
and was surrounded by very large spotted fish. They were about 6ft long
and 3ft wide. I was terrified but they never attacked or even touched
me and I swam back to shore safely. To this day I don't know if it ever
happened or if it was a dream. But it appeared to be very real.
You have a vivid imagination... I am not surprise reality gets muddled sometimes!! I love your list of obscure confessional FACTS on your About Me page... too fun!!!
About the Author: Dakota Douglas
Hi there, I'm a retired newspaper reporter from the North East of England, following my childhood dream of being a novelist.
As a kid I read books under the bedclothes by torchlight. Now I dive under the bedclothes, torch in hand, to scribble down conversations between my nutty book characters in case I forget them in the morning.
Check out MORE fun FREE stories on Dakota's website!!
Find & Follow:
Get your copy:
Smashwords
Amazon:
Available to WIN:
1 of 3 e-copies of ANTics. Must be 13 to win, able to download winnings, open internationally. Please see my giveaway rules under About Me.
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