In this regular series for 2026, you are invited to share an excerpt of 400 to 500 words from any book you have written you would like to give a boost to.

This feature is for any author who has been promoted on Smorgasbord previously.

Please read full details of how to participate at the end of the post and I will respond to your emails as soon as possible.

The aim of the series

• To showcase any of your books you would like to give a boost to.
• To gain more reviews for the book.
• Promote a selection of your other books that are available

Today an excerpt from the latest release by Annabelle Franklin…The Cosmic Dustbin: Bad Boy Wizard Book 3 – FREE to download today.

About the book

Charlie Busby loves playing magical pranks, but his magic keeps going wrong and getting him into trouble! Worst of all, his pranks have attracted the attention of a Trickster who lives in the Cosmic Dustbin.

When the Trickster tells him about the unlimited magical power contained in the Dustbin, Charlie is sorely tempted. But he’s been there before, and it’s a place he never wants to see again.

The Cosmic Dustbin is a dark and dangerous dimension full of ghastly garbage and monster maggots. Will Charlie risk a return trip to claim the power the Trickster has promised – power that will never go wrong?

And is the Trickster telling the truth?

Please note that this book can be read as a standalone or as part of the series.

An excerpt from the book

Charlie didn’t have a good night’s sleep. His dreams were muddled and vivid, like fast-edit cartoons, and many of them involved the Cosmic Trickster. In the final dream, the whole house was suffocating in cobwebs.

He woke up hot and sweaty, his limbs tangled in the duvet. When he managed to get free, he found his bed smothered in cobwebs. So was Horace’s, and so was everything in the room. Canopies of cobwebs hung from the ceiling and covered the windows like dirty net curtains.

I must still be dreaming! he thought. But even after he’d pinched himself blue, the cobwebs were still there.

‘What’s happened?’ groaned Horace, emerging from a grey cocoon.

Before Charlie could answer, the bedroom door opened, its cobweb curtain coming apart with a soft tearing sound. Mrs Busby shuffled in, cloaked in cobwebs from head to foot. She looked like a large grey ghost.

‘The whole house is full of cobwebs!’ she said, peeling them off her dyed-orange hair. ‘It must be an infestation of those tropical spiders!’

Horace pulled the duvet up to his chin, then pushed it away again as its cobweb coating touched his face. ‘What are we going to do?’ he wailed.

‘Charlie is going to get up and clear away this mess, that’s what,’ said Mrs Busby.

‘Eh?’ said Charlie, clawing cobwebs away from his mouth. ‘Why me?’

‘Because I’m telling you to, Charlie. Just be helpful for once in your life.’

‘But it’s not my fault! It was spiders who did it, not me!’

‘I can hardly get the spiders to clean it up, can I? Stop arguing and get dressed, before I lose my temper.’

Charlie groped his way through the cobwebs to the window seat, where a pile of his clothes lay under a blanket of grey fluff. He fished out some shorts and a T-shirt and put them on. Horace was still sitting up in bed, his face a frozen mask of horror and disgust.

‘Are you going to come and help me with this horrible job?’ said Charlie.

‘No! There might still be spiders in them. I’m staying right here till they’re all gone.’

‘Coward,’ muttered Charlie, and left the room.
The landing looked dim and ghostly, with cobwebs veiling the window and coating the carpet. The banisters were festooned with them, and Charlie shuddered as he waded downstairs. He didn’t mind spiders, but the thought of a whole lot of them lurking in this mess was pretty creepy. He kept thinking he could feel them crawling on his legs.

Not that he was afraid of being bitten. No earthly spiders had built this citadel of cobwebs. This was a magical phenomenon, and he suspected the dabbling fingers of the Cosmic Trickster.

A review for the book 

A brilliant new adventure featuring trainee wizard Charlie Busby . The characterisation is brilliant, sharp and hilarious (to our detriment we have all met a Horace). Funny, appealing an thought provoking this is book that should be on the shelf of every child who longs to believe in magic but is just that little “uncertain.”

Head over to download the book free today: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – And: Universal link

Other books by Annabelle Franklyn

Annabelle Franklin, Buy: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – follow Annabelle: Goodreads – Blog: Annabelle Franklin – Twitter: @anabel1Franklin – Facebook: Annabelle Franklin – Instagram: Annabelle Franklin Author – And: Smashwords

About Annabelle Franklin

Annabelle Franklin is the author of three children’s books, ‘Gateway to Magic’, ‘The Slapstyx’ and ‘The Astral Gatecrashers: Bad Boy Wizard Book 1’.

Her short story ‘Mercy Dog’ appears in award-winning anthology ‘Unforgotten: The Great War 1914-1918′ (Accent Press). She is a member of Swansea and District Writers’ Circle, and has short stories in the Circle’s anthologies ‘Dark Gathering’ and ‘Change’. The second book in her ‘Bad Boy Wizard’ series is due out in May.

Annabelle lives on South Wales’s stunning and magical South Gower coast, sharing her home with a delinquent whippet. She loves humour, hates housework and believes magic should be on the school curriculum.

What will be in the post and how to get in touch

• I will top and tail the post in the usual way with your other books and links, bio, photo and social media.
• I will also select one of the reviews from Amazon or Goodreads for the book.
• Please share a book that has reviews to select from.
  
• This series is open to all authors who have previously been featured in the promotions on Smorgasbord.
• I do have a younger readership for the book posts so please consider that when selecting your excerpt.
• I suggest an excerpt of around 400 to 500 words that you feel would encourage a reader to buy the book, or a poem that you feel best reflects the theme of your collection.
• No need to send the cover as I will have that or will access from Amazon.
• Please send your excerpt to sallygcronin@gmail.com
• I only ask that authors share the link to their social media and respond to each comment individually as a matter of courtesy.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.