Exhibiting at the Sonoma County Book Festival!

It's been a while since I posted as I've been pretty busy traveling abroad for work and just plain working (not to mention dodging hurricanes in the Outer Banks for a friend's wedding last week and training for my third triathlon.)

So, I'm excited to finally have something new and book-related to post. I'll be attending and exhibiting at the Sonoma County Book Festival on September 24, 2011 in Santa Rosa, CA.

If you're in the area, I'll have a booth at the event and will be offering signed hardcovers of The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun. Come by and say hi. It's my brother's birthday that day too, which is a funny coincidence, and I'll be offering a 30% discount to mark the day.

In other book news, The Midwest Book Review gave my first book a nice review, saying it is "a fun entry into a brand new youth science fiction series, highly recommended!" although I wish they would have recognized it is more of an adventure novel set in space than true sci-fi. But that's a small point to quibble over. Thanks for the kind words MBR!

I also offered a free giveaway of my final paperback advance review copies on Goodreads.com. Although I only listed 150 books, I got over 1,100 requests! That was pretty exciting. I hope those who won them enjoy them as they are a rarefied version of my book now. I originally printed over 1,000 of them, gave about 700 away to kids, schools, and industry press and now only have about 50 left after the latest giveaway. If you were one of the winners, keep sending me your emails as feedback is key to me evolving the Onyx Sun series!

Lastly, since we're on the topic of the series, I have gotten a number of inquiries over the last few months about Book 2: The Wicked Adversaries of the Onyx Sun. Yes, I am working on it. I've got about 70 pages written so far and continue to chip away at it a few pages at a time. I did take a brief break to write a different novel - another book for younger readers but geared more firmly toward the YA crowd. Now that is done and out to agents for consideration, I am back to working on the Onyx Sun Book 2, while I promote Book 1.

Thanks again to all you who have supported me, sent letters from your children or students, or bought a book. I am much encouraged by all your positive support, words, and feedback.

Kalamazoo!




Christopher

Onyx Sun Wins a Writer's Digest Honorable Mention!

I got this news a couple of months ago, but since I am getting back into blogging, I thought I'd include it since it is exciting news...

The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun has won an Honorable Mention in the 17th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards!

I sent a copy of my hardcover book, complete with the final artwork and exclusive Epilogue, to Writer's Digest almost a year ago. Of the hundreds of submissions, only three books were selected in the Middle-Grade/Young Adult category for Honorable Mentions.

I couldn't be more excited!

You will see the announcement of the award in the March/April 2010 issue or you can check it out online here. I've also included a scan of the page with my book on it in this post.

Kalamazoo!



Christopher

My Letter Back to My Recent New Fans

So, as noted in my previous entry, "Great Letters from Recent Fans" I have gotten a bunch of letters from a 4th grade class in New York about my book. They were very considerate to write me and tell me what they thought of my book, and I thought I'd share with everyone here my appreciative response.

Mr. Titus’ Class
Sherman Elementary School
50 Author’s Avenue
Henrietta, NY 14467

Tuesday, December 2, 2008


Dear Mr. Titus and class,

Wow! Thank you for your letters! I very much enjoyed reading your thoughts on my book, The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun. I enjoyed each of your letters and shared them with my friends and family. Everyone commented on how well written each letter is and how insightful your feedback is. As an author, nothing makes me happier than hearing from readers like you. Your feedback about what you like and don’t like gives me just the insight I need to perfect the final book and to write even better sequels!

Many of you asked if the book will be made into a movie. I hope so one day! Between us, I always had George Clooney in mind when I wrote the Commander Chase character. Wouldn’t it be great to see him in an Onyx Sun movie! Professor Goodspeed, Zack, and the other characters were more a mixture of different people I know or characters I have read in other books. I even took a bit of Grandfather’s wackiness from Doctor Brown in the movie Back to the Future. Do you guys know that movie? That’s the funny thing about being an author: as you write, movies, books, and even real people you know find their way into your story. In some ways, Zack is actually me when I was about your age. I always wanted to find a spaceship hidden in my backyard. Who do you guy find interesting from books, or movies, or your own life? How would you put them in a story? What would those characters do? Would they be weird, or funny, or sad, or athletic? What unique traits would they have? The number one thing people like to read about are people that interest them. That’s why I was so happy you liked the strange, funny, adventurous characters I created!

Several of you also mentioned that you enjoyed the Mech battles. Those were fun chapters for me to write. I’m not sure where I got the idea for gigantic robots, but I know a few video games I’ve played in the past had similar robots. I took that idea and changed it to make it unique and reflect ideas I had. It’s funny when you write that often you don’t know how things will turn out as you are writing. I generally have a broad outline beforehand, but often ideas pop onto the page as I am writing! That is a fun experience because then I surprise myself and get to live the adventure too as I am creating it!

A couple of you mentioned that I should put more pictures in the book. I agree! When the final version of my book comes out this February, it will have thirty-six original drawings: one for each chapter and a special, large picture of the Citadel Spire on the title page. The final book will also have an epilogue called The Dawn of War, which previews the action coming in the sequel. So far, I have only written seventy pages of the sequel, The Wicked Adversaries of the Onyx Sun, but I spend time each day working on it. For now, I have included in this letter a sneak preview of some of the pictures that will come out this winter with the final publication of my first book. The included pages are called “folios” since they are loose drafts of the final pages of my book. Right now, I am reviewing these folios and finalizing the images and text. Since many of you seemed to enjoy the Mech battles, Moon scenes, and struggles with Machvel, I picked folios that match your interest. You can see more on my web site at www.onyxsun.com.

I notice your school is on Author’s Avenue. That seems like a quite a coincidence for a class that is clearly talented in reading and writing! I hope you enjoy the enclosed materials, and we can keep in touch about your future readings and writings. Thank you again for your wonderful letters.

Kalamazoo!



Christopher

Great Letters from Recent Fans

This is just wicked, as Angelina would say.

I got a package in the mail last week from a class of 4th Graders who had read my book. Apparently, one of my early reviewers forwarded my book to a friend who teaches this class. He read the entire book to his students over several sessions (impressive) and then had each write me with their thoughts.

This is the most touching gesture yet from the growing list of people who have read and enjoyed The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun. I especially loved the fact that they enjoyed the Mech battles and could see my book being made into a movie. One can hope!

I have included a few of their letters below. To protect their privacy, I have blanked out some of their personal information.

To the class of Sherman Elementary: if you read my blog, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Kalamazoo!



Christopher