Author's Note: I wrote this book for everyone who remembers the magic of listening to bedtimes tales, and for those that tell them.
The Moon Coin and The Dragondain have since been published in paper and ebook, with the same full-color illustrations displayed here.
It takes a lot of time for me to produce one of these tales, and I appreciate all the readers who've taken the time to read about Lily and Jasper's adventures in the Moon Realm.
Remember, Wattpad monitors the number of votes and comments books receive, so if you like what you're about to read, and want to help other people discover the Moon Realm, please leave lots comments and votes. Also, I try and answer as many questions as I can, so feel free to ask me anything.
Published by Gibbering Gnome Press, A Division of Ingenious Inventions Run Amok, Ink
2296 Potts Point Road, Huntingtown, MD 20639
Copyright © Richard Due. All rights reserved.
ebook version
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication my be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book, except in the case of the brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
First Publishing: 2011 Printing in the USA.
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Prologue
Bedtime Tales
Nine years earlier.
Ebb Autumn stood tall and slender in his coat of many pockets. He was wearing his world-traveling clothes, and while the items in his many pockets normally remained private, tonight he had presents.
Lily and Jasper were bouncing on the bed when he knocked. A gentleman always knocks. Their uncle had a habit of arriving late or not at all, but when he showed up at bedtime, he always had a new story in need of telling-as if a thousand-year-old publishing factory resided in his head. And for this reason, as bedtime drew near on Lily's fourth and Jasper's fifth birthday, they were listening for him.
Ebb paused in the doorway, and a wave of concern passed over him. He'd missed their party. So many things to do. He brushed a long, silver-blond lock out of his eyes and stared with wonder, as if he were looking at the two most precious children ever born.
Jasper sat in plain sight, trying his best not to appear guilty by association, a situation he found himself in daily. Sometimes twice daily. Sometimes fifteen times. Next to him, beneath the covers, lay a Lily-sized lump.
A fearsome green dragon figurine rested on Jasper's lap. It was the last present he'd unwrapped that morning. His mother had gasped when she saw it, and his father had gone as still and silent as a statue. Jasper wasn't sure what that meant, but he knew immediately the dragon was special. Its emerald hide sparkled even in the dim light. Long whiskers drooped from its jowls, and the eyes in its spiked head gave the disturbing impression that they were staring back.
YOU ARE READING
The Moon Coin
Fantasy"Tales, unlike stories, never lie. You see, a tale is an account of things in their due order, often divulged secretly, or as gossip. Would you like to hear one?" --Lord Autumn When Lily's Uncle Ebb disappears, she must search for him in the most un...
