Cloaked by Alex Flinn

“There once was a shoemaker who worked very hard, but was still very poor … -The Elves and the Shoemaker"

Johnny and his mother run a shoe repair business at the Coral Reef Grand, a posh resort located on Miami’s South Beach. Times are tight as Johnny works eighteen hour days and his mother works at a hot dog stand in a failing attempt to keep their heads above water. His dream is to be a shoe designer and Johnny spends his free time creating shoes. One day a beautiful princess checks into the hotel. Her reputation as a spoiled socialite precedes her. Johnny’s friend Meg, who runs the coffee counter next to Johnny, is unimpressed with the princess but he is a bit smitten.

When the princess drunkenly visits Johnny’s shop one night to fix her shoe, he is excited by the opportunity to work on such an exquisite shoe. The catch, he must personally deliver it to her when he is finished. The next morning, Johnny goes to her penthouse and soon learns the princess created a ruse about herself. She is really in Miami to search for her missing brother, the heir to the throne of Aloria. He fell for a village girl who was really a witch and she turned him into a frog. The spell can only be broken “by ze kiss of one wiz love in her heart.” But he is kidnapped and placed on a ship bound for Miami. The witch promised to break the spell on her brother if the princess marries the Zalkenbourgian heir and combined their countries. Johnny has a hard time believing the princess but soon realizes that she believes she is sincere.

The princess confides in Johnny because she sees him as a hard worker and a good boy who would be willing to help her. She offers to pay him handsomely and even marry him if her brother is found. Will Johnny decides to help the princess find her brother/frog? Does his dream of becoming a shoe designer come true? And just which young lady captures Johnny’s heart?

Cloaked is a mixture of several fairy tales including The Elves and the Shoemaker, the Frog Prince, Six Swans, and several others.

Visit Alex Flinn’s website.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

"Do you oil your war machines or do you feed them?"

Leviathan is the story of two very different characters at the outbreak of World War I. Prince Aleksander is the young son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his commoner wife, Sophie. Alek lives a life of privilege until his parents are assassinate and must run for his life. Deryn Sharp is a young girl who had disguised herself as a boy in order to enlist in the British Air Service. She and her older brother have been raised by their mother since the death of their father.

It is also the story of two warring sides, the "Darwinists", whose war machines are creatures from nature whose DNA has been manipulated to create new technology and the "Clankers", whose war machines are complex machines inspired by biology. Prince Alek is making his escape from Austria by piloting a stormwalker from Sarajevo to neutral Switzerland with his fencing tutor, master of mechaniks and a loyal crew if men. They are being chased by the Germans. Deryn, now known as Dylan, is rescused by the Leviathan, a whale airship, after her huxley is spooked by an incoming storm. They are on a secret mission to take a scientist and her cargo to Constantinople.

Our characters meet when the Leviathan is attacked by German clanker airplanes and is damaged. The ship goes down on a glacier near the castle ruins where Alek and his men are now hiding. Alek risks his life and discovery by trying to help the enemy get off the glacier an on their way.

Their story will be continued in October 2010 with Behemoth.

Check out Scott Westerfeld's blog.