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Fantasy Books:
The Watchers and the Gifted Ones
The Watchers and the Gifted Ones is the first book in the series of The Panther Tales.
‘A teenage girl, Hannah, befriends a panther whilst discovering she possesses an extraordinary imaginative gift. Dark forces are watching and waiting to destroy Hannah’s happiness.’
Genre: Middle Grade, Teen and Young adult fantasy fiction
Published by : www.nfbpublishing.com
The book is available to buy direct or via Amazon, just click the button below to get your copy!
“I was immediately drawn into this tale of adventure and imagination! It was very reminiscent of the characters and beautifully crafted narrative in His Dark Materials, which we recently started watching and are addicted to! Now I can’t put down this book either. Mrs. Rushton has a bright future ahead as a writer for YA fiction!”
Dr AJ
The Queen and the Powerful Pendant
A girl’s powerful pendant of a panther and an imaginary Queen, battle the dark underworld of The Watchers, in this, the sequel in The Panther Tales trilogy.
Genre: Middle Grade, Teen and Young adult fantasy fiction
Published by : www.nfbpublishing.com
The second book in Daniella Rushton’s “The Panther Tales” series, titled “The Queen and the Powerful Pendant” sees Hannah return home to Ashby by the Sea, in the wake of inheriting her extraordinary imaginative gift.
“The Queen and the Powerful Pendant” is a wonderful, thorough continuation of book one. The lore is fully developed and the relationships between Hannah and her family, especially her sister Amelia, are lovingly and realistically described. Daniella’s book is perfect for children of all ages and puts forth a beautiful message: “To see, you have to believe.” I love the way Daniella incorporates her faith and makes it accessible for all kinds of readers. From the start of knowing Daniella, I knew that The Panther Tales would be something special, and I wasn’t wrong. I can’t wait to see where Daniella takes Hannah and Parky next, and I can’t wait for “The Queen and the Powerful Pendant” to make its way into the hands of readers in Fall 2022.
Eleanor Rummell
Coming soon: The Panther and the Delinquent Dark Angel
‘Hannah and her faithful friend Parky face the ultimate battle, the darkness of a delinquent dark angel’
The world is overcome with Watchers in many guises, Hannah and Parky soar upon the ray of The Great Star to the beginning of all time, in the quest to finally reach the root of all evil.
Genre: Middle Grade, Teen and Young adult fantasy fiction
The book opens with a strong sense of intrigue and anticipation. The first chapter does a great job of reminding the reader what happened in the previous book. These reminders and bits of background are worked in naturally and don’t feel repetitive or heavy-handed.
The writing is consistently vivid and well crafted. The language throughout the book is poetic at times, with a lot of beautiful and thoughtful descriptions. The use of celestial and ethereal imagery adds a unique tone that fits the story well. Lines like “Hannah could not possibly conceive time” and “Even the Watchers have angels” really stand out and show the poetic nature of the book. These moments are spread throughout the book and help maintain a consistent flow.
Characterization continues to be one of the strengths of the series. The characters feel the same as in the earlier books, and their development stays on track. Hannah keeping her memories from previous events felt like the right choice and gave her emotional arc a sense of continuity and closure.
Overall, a beautifully crafted and engaging book. The ending is soft, poetic, and fitting for the conclusion of the trilogy. It doesn’t feel rushed or overly dramatic. Instead, it gives the series a quiet and satisfying close. The writing across all three books has stayed consistent, and the final installment wraps things up in a way that feels earned and meaningful.
The fantasy world of The Panther Tales is a tale of good versus evil. As Hannah learns about her incredible Gift, she also discovers ‘The Watchers’. They also possess extraordinary imaginations but are controlled by The Great Gifted Nickolous.
It takes a tremendous amount of courage and belief for Hannah to complete the quest she was destined for and defeat ‘The Mindful Watchers.’
The inspiration behind
The Panther Tales:
“The Panther on the Shelf.”
“This fairytale is for all ages, a very interesting adventure.
Daniella has a gift in writing and brought me right into the story. It truly drew me in from the beginning, and held me to the end. There is a very true message to all that enter and is for all ages.
I now have book two: The Queen and The Powerful Pendant, and can’t wait to begin.”
Jayne Furman
“Uplifting and empowering. A real page turner.
Awesome. This book takes you on a journey. Good versus bad. Intrigue and excitement.”
Michael Harrison
Fairy Tales
In 2021, following an invitation to write for the magazine ‘Illuminations of the Fantastic’ in Tennessee, USA, Daniella fell in love with Fairy Tales.
Her first fairy tale was entitled “The Special Seed” and features the beautiful illustrations of Ashley Carr. You can read the story by clicking here
If you enjoy reading these fairytales by Daniella, please review them on social media and tag @thepanthertales, so others can also enjoy her work.
Her current collection of Fairy Tales include (click to open in PDF)
Poetry
An expression of the soul
In 2021, Daniella began to collate a collection of dark poetry, inspired by her mother’s dementia. She hopes to reveal the collection soon.
Here is a selection of her other poetry.
A Thorny Road
I have been daydreaming lately.
I liken my earth journey to that of a rose.
Each rose head is a beauty.
Some grow petals that where once the dew tickled, they bloom and continue to do so.
There are a variety of colours, they all face the sun, of course.
It is the thorns. Roses need thorns; they all earn their thorns.
Thorns are a two-way necessity, for thorns are earnt and protect.
To grow a thorn causes the velvet petalled beauty to shed dew-tears, the dew that once bore it such grace.
Eventually the rose earns enough thorns to ensure that it need no longer is worrisome. For it trusts it has protected itself enough, for now, and spends its days upon the earth looking to continue its journey towards the sun.
The Chimney Sweep
On a morn the frost embraced, the chimney sweeper came when the fire was cool, but the earth was hot.
The sweepers wings, almighty and dazzling white seemed as tall as the chimney she was called to serve.
Before long, the soot devoured her feathers, until they were consumed in darkness, chaffed, and choked by the ash.
All though in time all was once again clean and after her work was done, she vanished up the pipe and was gone.
And the flame returned falling upon the virgin grate and prancing once more until rock faces were formed and the earth was once again more sadly warm.
The morning the snow came…
The morning bought a heavy, thick sky, amass with snow, ready to break.
In the dawn silence, the early birds in haste, prepared for the forthcoming fall.
The flakes fell silently at first, creating ‘snow fur stoles’ upon the garden statues which were standing poised, regally and only to ready to be adorned.
Their heavenly garments were fitting for the sumptuous snow that followed, filling the garden furniture that lay abandoned with ‘snow seat pads’ piled high, fit for a King or Queen.
It was becoming a rather royal snowfall that one could only dream of.
Theatre
The Panther Tales
All she had to do was Believe and Trust.
Think Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, meets CS Lewis’s Lion, Witch Wardrobe, mix in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Twilight Saga and you pretty much have
‘The Panther Tales’
An immersive, emotional, exciting script adapted from book one of the fantasy series, The Panther Tales trilogy.
“Whilst visiting her grandmother in America, Hannah discovers she has an extraordinary gift, her imagination can come to life. She is a Gifted One. However, dark forces are at play. ‘The Watchers’ want to destroy her power and most of all her imaginary friend, Parky the panther.”
An electrifying play in five acts, featuring music and dance on a dazzling magical set.
It’s Time to Believe…
Page to Stage…
All she needed to do, was Believe and Trust in the power of a panther called Parky.
In 2024, Daniella’s local theatre asked her to consider adapting book one to the stage, with one rule, ‘write it for any theatre.’
The Panther Tales is an immersive, emotional, exciting script. However, at the heart of it is a story of a young woman who needs encouragement to believe and trust in the gift she has been given. A strong female cast in a battle against good versus evil.
The Panther Tales play is for all ages with a particular fondness for teen audiences to escape into a theatrical world where anything is possible if one believes, letting their imaginations soar. Covering real human emotions, everyone can associate with, The Panther Tales play is a must earth journey experience, pushing theatrical boundaries, with fantastical elements, highlighting in the end, that all that truly matters, is love.
Note:
This play has not yet been performed.
