2007 June archive at feeding change

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Archive for June, 2007

Interviewed at BlogTO

Published at June 30, 2007 in appearances and writing news. 2 Comments

What better way to spend the Canada Day long weekend than learning everything you ever wanted to know about your favourite kids author? (that’s me, btw) Now you can when you check out the profile of myself and my books at blogTO.com, written and photographed by Debbie Ridpath Ohi.

I’m very happy with how the interview turned out as I ended up talking more about my books than myself, which will help build that dark and mysterious persona I’m working so hard to maintain. So, if you want to learn a little bit about how I got started writing and why I do it and all that stuff, head on over to blogTO.com and check it out.

Thanks to Debbie for being a great interviewer and a great photographer. You can see more images from our recent photo shoot in Debbie’s Flickr photo set.

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Back and ready for my close up

Published at June 28, 2007 in appearances and writing news. 3 Comments

I’m back from my week of family fun and Shakespearian drama. It’s always great to take some time off from the usual daily schedule, but as everyone can attest to I’m sure, when you get back that To Do list hasn’t gone away, it’s just gotten a lot longer.

First on the list is checking the proofs from Orca for my new graphic novel Wild Ride. As the letter from my kind (and patient) editor says: “This isn’t an opportunity to rewrite. That time has passed.” Indeed it has. Time to dot the i’s and cross the t’s and all that.

Once my eagle-eyed manuscript check is complete, then it’s time for me to get dolled up to meet Debbie Ridpath-Ohi, who’s going to be snapping a few pics of me for my up-coming profile for blogTO.com. Not sure when the profile hits the internets but, rest assured, you will be the first to know (okay, maybe the second, but I’ll tell you all eventually, I’m sure!)

Okay, off to proof, then get ready for my close up.

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Heading home

Published at June 20, 2007 in life. 4 Comments

Melanie (who has a new website – yah! link to follow very soon.) and I are heading down to London to visit with family for a few days. While we’re there, we’re going to take in King Lear at Stratford. Haven’t been there in years, so it should be a fun time.

See you when I get back. In the meantime this should keep you busy.

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Behind the avatar

Published at June 17, 2007 in gaming. 4 Comments

Who are we when we go online? On my daily rounds to Kill Ten Rats, I stumbled this photo essay in the New York Times that answers that question by looking at the people behind their avatars in a range of online games.

From Second Life to Ever Quest II and few more in between, these photos give us a unique look at the alternate online identities we take on when we delve into the virtual worlds of mmos. Unfortunately, early into the photostream there’s the typical young, overweight male geek who spends 55 (!) hours a week in game and gives the rest of us gamers a bad name. No fault to the gamer in question, it’s just, well . . . sheesh. I guess it wouldn’t be a cliche if there wasn’t some element of truth to it.

The people I find most interesting are the young serious business dude straight out of the Matrix and the all-star basketball player who looks like he spends as much time in the gym as he does fighting crime in City of Heroes.

Whether you’re into online games or not, these photos are definitely worth a look, if you want to see the face of today’s modern gamer and the early pioneers of these synthetic worlds.

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Launching Just J

Published at June 17, 2007 in life. 2 Comments

Although Patricia over at BookLust has the full scoop (as usual!), I just wanted to weigh in and say how much fun I had at the launch of Colin Frizzell’s new book, Just J at the new and terminally cool bookstore Type. Here’s some excellent photos I stole borrowed from Patricia’s roundup of the launch:

The man of the hour, signing with a smile.

Yours truly, happy that Colin remembered my name!

Patricia has more photos and a full roundup of the events, so go there to check them out.

Congrats again to Colin on the new book. If you’re reading this, drop everything and order your copy today!

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Max Finder scoops educational publisher’s award

Published at June 14, 2007 in comics, literacy and writing news. 5 Comments

On Tuesday night in Washington DC, the folks at Association of Educational Publishers gave Max Finder Mystery Collected Casebook Vol. 1 the Distinguished Achievement Award in the graphic novel category.

I’m thrilled and honoured to win the award. But as any writer will tell you, writing the words is only the beginning. Max Finder Mystery couldn’t have been possible without the help of the very talented editors at OWL magazine who helped shape Max, Alison and the whole Whispering Meadows gang into the clue-sniffing, award-winning crew they are today. Thanks to Mary Beth, Angela, Katherine and everyone in the editorial department at Owl magazine and OwlKids books.

It goes without saying that a successful comic has to have kickin’ illustrations, and Max Finder Mystery definitely has that. Thanks to Michael Cho for giving the comic the fantastic style and look that grabs kids’ eyeballs and sucks them right in.

I can hear the music telling me to get off the stage, so I’ll wrap this up.

Thanks again to all the Max Finder fans out there and to the AEP for giving me the right to change my bio to “Award-winning author . . . “

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BEC’d, postered and nominated

Published at June 12, 2007 in appearances, comics and writing news. 1 Comment

One hour, two sharpies and over 100 copies of Max Finder Mystery Collected Casebook Vol. 2 signed and my stint at Book Expo Canada was over. What fun and what a blur.

As always BEC was a book lover’s bonanza with publishers giving away titles and many big name authors happy to do the same. Mike Cho and I did our share of giving them away at the OwlKids booth where we had a steady stream and an impressive line up of Max Finder fans and the mysteriously curious happy to take a signed copy of the latest collection of Max and Alison’s adventures.

When the signing was done, I ventured over to the Orca booth where Colin Frizzell was busy signing copies of his latest YA novel, Just J. and his first YA novel Chill (both seriously cool books worth checking out.)

At the Orca booth, I was also very happy to see a totally cool poster for Wild Ride, the first book in my new graphic novel series, Graphic Guide Adventures, coming out in October 2007.

Apologies for the completely awful photo, but it was taken in a rush as BEC was closing down for the day. Bad photo or not, I still get a kick out of seeing the image of this poster.

I’ve written about the thrill an author gets when they’re boring old word processor format manuscript comes back as a colourful work of art. Seeing a large poster for your upcoming book gives that feeling and more.

There is the thrill of seeing your story take on a life of its own, but the added element is knowing that your publisher really cares about the project. Creating a poster may not seem like a lot, but publisher marketing dollars can be pretty minimal, especially when they must be spread across the whole range of new titles for that season.

From talking to the good folks at the Orca booth, the poster seemed to be doing its job in creating that pre-publishing “buzz” everyone talks about. Now, I’m fully aware that they could be just massaging my fragile writer’s ego, but I’ll take whatever positive feedback I can get, so thanks Orca for the poster and the buzz.

Speaking of positive feedback, buzz and all that, Max Finder Mystery Collected Casebook Vol. 1 is nominated for a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers, in the graphic novel category. Considering the two other nominees are from my friends at Stone Arch Books, I’d say I’m in good company. It all goes down tonight at the awards ceremony in Washington DC. Needless to say, I won’t be there, but my fingers are crossed and as I’m supposed to say at moments like these: “It’s a honour to just be nominated.”

K – that’s enough horn-tooting from me. Carry on as usual . . .

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Wild Ride covered

Published at June 10, 2007 in comics and writing news. 3 Comments

The coffee must really be doing its stuff this morning, because my brain seems to actually be working. I present the image on the left as evidence.

I’ve been wanting to post the cover for my new graphic novel Wild Ride, but I haven’t had my hands on a final version.

Then, a few sips into my second cup of coffee, my always-charming internal editor barked in my ear: “Hey, dummy, why don’t you check out the Orca website and see if they’ve posted an image?”

And for once, he was right.

Orca has a full page devoted to Wild Ride, including a great synopsis of the story.

The cover, and also all the interior art, was drawn by Michael Deas, and I think it really captures the “on the run” tempo of the story. I love the panicked looks on Marcus and Nadia in the background matched by the determined look on the face of Devin, the narrator of this adventure.

The synopsis on the Orca page goes something like this:

“Devin, Nadia and Marcus are on their way to visit their environmentalist parents who are working to stop a logging company from clear-cutting a remote valley. When their plane crashes and the pilot is killed, the kids are left to survive in the wild with Wiley, a government bureaucrat, who is the only other passenger on the plane.

Combining pulse-pounding adventure and survival skills in a colorful graphic novel format, Graphic Guides are sure to be a hit with young readers. Wild Ride is packed with survival tips including how to build a fire and set a broken limb.”

Cool!

Wild Ride is published this fall from Orca and will be available everywhere (including directly from the Orca website) so get your orders in now and be a survivor.

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Booked, gala’d and mingled out

Published at June 10, 2007 in appearances and writing news. 4 Comments

Okay, Book Expo Canada is now in full swing and although I have yet to drag my empty sack for books to the convention centre, I did take part in some book biz fun yesterday.

It started out with a sunny signing on the steps of the Beguiling in the afternoon. I had a great time meeting Max Finder fans and signing copies of both Collected Casebook Volume 1 and Volume 2.

After that, I headed to the Rex to meet up with fellow writers Anita Daher, Colin Frizzell and Rae Bridgman and a few of the great people at Orca Book Publishers. Then, we walked down the road to Montana’s for the much-anticipated Children’s Gala, which wasn’t for children and wasn’t a gala, but was a lot fun anyway.

I’ve never been a skilled mingler, so I found myself mostly leaning against a table and accosting folks as they passed by me. This did result in great chats with folks like Patricia Storms, Chirp creator Bob Kain, the master of medieval occupations Martha Newbigging and Silver Birch winner L.M. Falcone. All in all, a great night out for a hermit writer like myself.

With the Children’s Gala done for another, BEC will continue to roll forward today and through the weekend. I’m signing at the Owlkids booth tomorrow, which should be a lot of fun. If you’re about – see you there.

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