Skip to main content

Andrew Leon : Wednesday #Books : The House on the Corner

Today’s Wednesday feature book is The House on the Corner, a children’s fantasy by Andrew Leon.

Elevator pitch:

All children dream the improbable; some dream the impossible. What
happens when three children stumble into the impossible? Will it bring
them together, or will it tear them apart?
 

Teaser Excerpt:  

Before we went out the door, I asked, “Mom, what’s an imp?”

She frowned at me, “Where did you hear about imps, Sweetheart?”

“Elli said there would be imps outside tonight, and imps are mean because they’ve been constipated by demons from living too close to Hell.”
Everyone stared at me. I hate that. “What?” I said and made a frowny face.

“What did Elli say about the imps, Sweetie?”

“She said they’re constipated.”

Sam started laughing, “Contaminated! Imps are contaminated.”

“Huh?” I said. “Oh, yeah! Contaminated! She said they’re contaminated!”

Everyone started laughing. Everyone but me. “What’s contaminated?”

Tom said, “Contaminated is like when something is polluted. Pollution contaminates the Earth.”

“What does that mean? Imps aren’t the Earth.”

Mom knelt down next to me, “Contaminating something is making something that was good into something that’s bad. Like when you leave food out and it gets mold on it.”

“Ohhh…,” I said. “Then, what’s constipated?”

Tom and Sam started laughing harder.

That made more mad than when they were laughing before. “What! What does it mean?”

“Constipated is being full of poop,” Sam said and kept laughing.

“Maybe imps are constipated! Maybe that’s what makes them so mean!” laughed Tom.

Sam fell on the floor laughing, “They’re contaminated with constipation!”

Mom rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Boys… Just ignore them.” She opened the door and walked out with me.

—–

 Buy: Physical book

 
—-

If you’re an author and would like your book excerpt featured,
drop me an introductory mail with a link to your book at  atozstories
at gmail dot com. I’m now accepting submissions for features in January.

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

23 Comments