DEAN LOREY'S BLOG

Book 3 of Nightmare Academy is done...

2008-04-24T22:15:22Z

Well, at least done enough to send to the publishers. Earlier today, I e-mailed it off to Barbara Lalicki, my editor at Harper US, and she's going to send it along to Nick Lake, my editor at Harper UK.

Sending a book off always feels like the end of a process when, in fact, it's really sort of the beginning. There will be revisions and then revisions on the revisions but, for now at least, I get to breathe a little sigh of relief and relax for a couple days.

I'll tell you this much, though -- as much as I know that hard work lies ahead, it's still really nice to type the words: THE END.

Now that I've finished up this draft, I'm going to make an effort to get back to blogging a little more. There's a bunch of cool events coming up, which reminds me -- if you're in LA this weekend and planning on going to the LA Times Festival of Books at UCLA, I'll be signing NIGHTMARE ACADEMY on Saturday at 12:30 at the Book Soup Booth, which is located between Royce Hall and Powell Library.

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to see a few of you there. :)

Take care...

Hags in the Nether!

2008-03-27T20:26:51Z

Here's a quick little update for you. I thought I'd share this incredibly cool new painting by world-renowned fantasy artist Stephen Hickman (in fact, he's going to be the artist guest of honor at this summer's Conestoga fantasy convention, which I'll be attending).

It's based on a scene in NIGHTMARE ACADEMY Book 1 where a flock of Hags snatch up our heroes and fly them off to their crumbling mansion in the Nether.

You can click on the pic a couple times to get a much bigger look:

In other news, CITV website in the UK just posted a really fun interview I did with them. It's a great site and I had a blast doing it. If you're interested, you can check it out HERE.

And that's all for now!

Take care...

Say Hello to the Easter Bunny!

2008-03-27T00:46:18Z

So, we had our annual Lorey Easter egg hunt on Sunday and the Easter bunny paid us a visit:

Actually, wait, that's my friend Rodney Barnes. He just looks so much like the Easter bunny that I'm sure you won't fault me for getting confused.

We had a pretty full house -- about 25-30 people -- and the Easter egg hunt in the backyard was fun.

Here's my youngest son, Alex, looking around for eggs:

And here's a few other shots. We see Atom and Julianna and Britney and assorted others all in the hunt:

I also got to see a bunch of good friends from college that I hadn't gotten to reconnect with in a while, which was really great. We made ham and lasagna and people brought tons of side dishes and we just gorged. The weather was nearly perfect -- maybe a little on the warm side -- and the whole day was just a much needed break with people we care about.

Here's hoping your weekend was equally terrific.

Take care...

Fun Odds and Ends...

2008-03-15T13:38:02Z

Last week, I got the really great news that NIGHTMARE ACADEMY was selected by the New York Public Library for inclusion in their "Books for the Teen Age -- 2008" list. My friend, Melissa Marr, had her terrific book WICKED LOVELY included as well, so it was exciting to finally share a list with her. :)

A few nice reviews/write-ups from the UK have come to my attention, so I thought I'd include links to them here if you're at all interested:

You can check out this nice little review at the FINANCIAL TIMES.

Here's a write-up from the TELEGRAPH. They don't spend a whole lot of time talking about it, but I was pretty thrilled just to be included with Neil Gaiman and Eoin Colfer's new books.

Finally, there's a great review over at GATEWAY MONTHLY. You have to scroll down a bit to see it.

I also got a request for an interview from CITV (a very prominent website in the UK), which was a lot of fun to do. I'll let you know when that gets posted.

And that's it, I guess, for now. We're off to the beach this afternoon -- ahhhh, Southern California. :) But I plan to earn the sun and surf by working on Book 3 this morning.

Speaking of which, I've had the most miserable time sleeping lately. I dream about Book 3 all night and usually wake up around 4 in the morning thinking about it, unable to get back to bed. Most mornings, I just give up, go to the computer and start writing.

Bad for me, good for the book, I suppose. Do any of you have this problem? For me it comes and goes but it seems particularly intense lately.

Anyway, take care...

Thanks UK readers!

2008-03-12T23:56:57Z

Just over a week ago, NIGHTMARE ACADEMY published in the UK with the subtitle CHARLIE'S MONSTERS. It's a really beautiful edition. In fact, this is what it looks like:

Yesterday, I got word from Nick Lake, my terrific editor there, that the first week sales were "REALLY strong." So... thanks a ton to all the readers who picked it up and enjoyed it. I've heard from a bunch of you via e-mail and have thoroughly enjoyed our conversations.

I would especially like to thank Nick Lake for the wonderful job he and his staff did with the production and release of the book. Now, I've never met Nick in person or even spoken to him on the phone. In fact, I've never even seen a PICTURE of him, so I pretty much have to use my imagination to visualize him.

To me, he combines many qualities from people in the UK that I admire. In my mind, he has the skill of David Beckham:

The emotional range of Sir John Gielgud:

The writing prowess of Roald Dahl:

And the fierce protectiveness of a Buckingham Palace guard:

So, I ran all these pictures through a complicated computer morphing program to get a sense of what the real Nick Lake looks like.

I know you're anxious to see, so here he is:

Now, if that's not correct (and technology sometimes fails me) I encourage Nick to submit a more accurate photo of himself.

And, just to be fair, I used the same program to generate a picture of my great US editor, Barbara Lalicki, based on a number of inspiring women that she reminds me of.

Here's Barbara:

Take care...

Monster Making

2008-03-11T19:29:40Z

I posted this yesterday over at the great website FANGS, FUR & FEY and I thought a couple people might find it interesting, so I decided to repost it here. It's in reference to a question asking why various writers picked the creatures they did for their books, and I ended up talking a little bit about creating monsters:

I'm a bit monster crazy, so populating the Netherworld in Nightmare Academy is one of the most enjoyable parts of writing the series. I have a few guidelines I try to follow in the creation of my beasties:

1) The monsters in the Nether are perversions of existing animals (for reasons that will become clear in future books).

2) There are NO classic monsters (vampires, werewolves, etc.) and a very limited amount of mythological monsters (gorgons, hydras). I have nothing against classic monsters, but this series isn't about them.

3) Every monster has to have a unique ability and it's best if that ability offers an opportunity to turn the plot. Example: Hags suck memories. They prefer to eat the ones that bring you the greatest pleasure or pain and, when they're finished, you don't have them any more. This ability gives me an opportunity, story-wise, to explore some great internal issues in my characters.

4) Finally, many of the monsters are more interesting when they have a human dimension, so I usually try to give them one. I'll use the Hags again as an example:

Hags live in the ruins of a crumbling manor in the Nether, filled with filthy ballgowns and remnants of high society. Even though they're hideous, they think they're absolutely gorgeous and you're much more likely to survive an encounter with them if you appeal to their vanity -- flattery will get you everywhere and might just help you keep your memories intact.

Actually, since I ended up talking so much about them, here's J.P. Targete's interpretation of what they look like:

Fun, huh?

I will also often create a monster around a story-issue or plot point. For instance, Mimics can shape-shift. They do this for a very practical reason -- to survive, they must drink sweat. Unfortunately, in their natural state, they have no mouths so they need to mimic something with a mouth to prevent starvation. As creatures, they're fun and interesting but they also opened up a lot of story avenues - is the person next to you a friend or a monster?

How do you go about your creature creation?

Road Warriors

2008-03-10T19:07:25Z

What a great weekend!

My son, Chris, and I took a road trip to Tempe, AZ to visit some schools and talk about the book. This is the first time I've brought him on a book tour stop and we really had a great time. He's 10 now and old enough to hold his own in a conversation. The truth is, book tours can be a little lonely and he just made the whole thing more fun. It's pretty cool when your kid goes from just being "your kid" to being a great companion.

We left Thursday morning (he got to blow off two days of school, although he brought assignments from class with him) and the drive took just under seven hours. The Arizona landscape is beautiful, full of red rock and cactus, and the city of Tempe is really clean and pleasant. Chris took a bunch of pictures with the camera he got for Christmas, but here's one he didn't take. Actually, I have no idea who DID take it (I didn't), but this is Chris on the trip:

As you can see from the podium, that was at Changing Hands bookstore. It's an incredible independent that Publishers Weekly voted Best Bookstore in America in 2007. Brandi is the children's buyer there and she handled a lot of the arrangements and visited schools with us. Here's a quick pic Chris took of her:

She was really nice and is a part of a great and lively group of teachers and librarians and writers in the area. Every Friday, a bunch of them get together for a vicious card game called "Oh, Hell!" I've never played it before, but it's sort of like group solitaire with yelling involved. They were nice enough to invite us and, while Chris hung out with the kids (and had a GREAT time, judging by all the shouting), I got my butt handed to me in cards.

Here's some "Oh, Hell!":

Now, I know that doesn't look too bloodthirsty, but that's before the game really started. It's hard to convey how vicious this game truly is, particularly because one guy kept winning and making everyone really angry. His name? Daanon. Otherwise known as the creepy guy who gave me a shoulder massage:

In fairness to him, it was a pretty good massage. Plus, he was the host (along with his awesome wife, Michelle). In fact, Chris and I visited the school where she's the librarian -- Barbara Bush Elementary. This is Michelle:

And this is a nice bulletin board she and the kids made to welcome Chris and I to the school:

We also visited Patriot Academy (which they jokingly called "Nightmare Academy" when we were there) and hung out chatting with the kids for about two hours. It was a blast and it was set up by a teacher there named Rebecca, who was the person who first contacted me many months ago and asked if I would come visit. It took a little while, but I'm so thrilled it finally worked out.

Here's Rebecca:

And here's me with a bunch of her students:

They were a pretty amazing, engaged group.

Chris and I drove back on Sunday and got home early enough to celebrate my wife's birthday with a nice dinner out. In fact, she and my younger son (Alex) had just gotten back from an overnight trip down to Legoland. So... a great weekend was had by all.

I'll definitely be heading back to AZ, probably in the Fall when Book 2 comes out. Faith, another cool person and the book buyer for a company that helps school libraries stock up, has offered to help set up a more extensive visit to a bunch of different schools. I'm looking forward to it. And I'm also looking forward to another vicious game of "Oh, Hell!"

I'll leave you now with one final image -- 3 bald guys:

And, to further confirm how truly horrible Daanon is, he was the one that sent me this picture and I just now noticed that he titled it: "hairclub".

Terrible. :)

Nightmare Academy Play!

2008-03-04T17:39:49Z

The great folks at Strayer Middle school in Pennsylvania mounted a play based on NIGHTMARE ACADEMY last week, and I just got some pictures to share! Here's the mighty Barakkas:

And here's Verminion, another Lord of the Nether:

Here's Charlie and the whole crew facing off against Barakkas:

This looks like a pretty witchy scene (it's a little blurry - I'm guessing the cameraman was shaking with fear):

And here's a nice curtain call:

I haven't gotten to see it yet (apparently, a DVD is on its way to me) but it looks like they did a great job. Many congrats to Kathryn Infante (who directed) and all the kids who starred and put it together!

A cool review...

2008-02-05T18:13:03Z

Just a quick update --

There's this great website called Global Broadcast 4 Kids that uses kid interviewers to do video profiles on a bunch of subjects, and they did a really cool video review of Nightmare Academy. You can check it out HERE. Just go to the "Book Buzz" section of the site and you should see it.

The folks who run it are going to come by my house today to do a video interview, which should be fun. I'll let you know how that goes.

Take care...

Why I'd love to visit Spain...

2008-02-02T23:02:48Z

First, a picture (because who doesn't like those)? This is the cover of the Spanish edition of NIGHTMARE ACADEMY. I'm pretty sure it publishes in Spain this March. I really think it rocks!

I have a bunch of other covers to share, but I'll probably spread them out over a few blog entries. Some of them aren't quite finished.

In other news, I'm in the middle of reading the fantastic second novel of a good friend of mine from college. His name is Paul Malmont and his first book, THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL, is pretty brilliant.

You won't be angry at yourself for checking it out. It's set in the world of pulps and it tracks the writer of The Shadow and a very young L. Ron Hubbard (pre-scientology) as they get involved in a real life pulp adventure. Zombies... death clouds... Chinatown... It's terrific. But don't just take my word for it -- it was on the bestseller list in LA when it came out.

Anyway, his second book (and I guess I probably shouldn't say the title, because I don't know if it's final), chronicles another giant of literature and it's depressingly great. I mean... inspiringly great. :) It's always a little dicey reading the work of your friends -- you just pray you love it. I mostly always do. Either I have very low standards or highly talented friends. I'm thinking it's the latter.

Outside of that, I'm working hard on Book 3 of NIGHTMARE ACADEMY and preparing for some interesting events. At the beginning of March, I'm going to take a road trip to Tempe, Arizona with my ten year old son, Chris, to visit some schools and do a bookstore signing at CHANGING HANGS. When I have specifics, I'll let you know. I'm really looking forward to this trip. Chris and I took a drive up to San Francisco about a year ago and had a great time. He's a good traveling companion and I'm really looking forward to hanging out with him.

There's also going to be a Book Festival in Chino, CA at the end of February that I'll be attending at the invitation of Mrs. Nelson's Bookshop. It's the 2nd Annual Family Festival of Books. Not sure what happens there, exactly, but I'll let you know more as soon as I do. I've also committed to joining my friend, Melissa Marr, at the Conestoga Fantasy Convention in Oklahoma at the end of July. She and the good folks at "Fangs, Fur and Fey" website are going to be hosting a bunch of writing panels there, and I'll be on a few of them.

There's a bunch of other interesting stuff coming up as well, along with some big movie news that I'll spill when I'm allowed. Until then, take care...

Christmas and Slovakian covers

2007-12-30T01:01:55Z

I love to cook on holidays -- so does my father -- so this year we joined forces and whipped up a pretty great meal (I say, humbly...) I made a nice pork roast, slathered in garlic and rosemary and covered in pancetta. My dad cooked up a plate of stuffed shells (shell-shaped pasta filled with cheese and covered in marinara sauce, for those non-Italians out there). Both came out great and we had a really nice family day.

My boys seemed happy with their Christmas gifts. STAR WARS and POKEMON were heavily represented. My older son, Chris, seemed most taken with the digital camera that we got him. In no time, he became a stalker-like paparazzi, leaping out at us and taking pictures, which he quickly downloaded to his computer and set about cropping and enhancing. I may regret getting it for him. :)

My younger son, Alex (6), has a Mythbusters fascination and has insisted that he star in his own television series: SCIENCE AND FUN. I have dutifully filmed about six episodes of this series so far, which he plans to put on the internet so he can become rich and famous. I'm not 100% clear on the premise of these episodes, but it kinda sorta has something to do with mythbusting.

The first episode was something about "can a stuffed animal become a killing machine, like Chucky"? Now, before you accuse me of being a terrible parent, my 6-year old hasn't seen the Chucky movies, but I guess he heard about them, which led to me filming a stuffed animal with a butter knife in its hand while Alex looked at the camera and wondered if it would come to life and start killing. It didn't. That myth was busted.

So... life is grooving along nicely. I figured out a major plot point in Book 3 of NIGHTMARE ACADEMY today. It always feels so good when the puzzle pieces click unexpectedly into place. I also received the cover of the Slovakian edition of Book 1 of NIGHTMARE ACADEMY. If you're interested, here it is:

Pretty cool, huh? I love the scrollwork around the image. Daniel Juran, the editor of the Slovakian edition (he works out of Prague), has been in close contact, asking questions about the translation and so forth. He's a really good guy who seems to love what he does. I think the book comes out there in March. I can't wait to see the finished version.

There's a bunch of other editions scheduled to come out throughout 2008 in various parts of the world. I'll share those covers as they come available. In fact, if any of the editors of the other editions happen to read this, please shoot me an e-mail with cover images if you'd like me to post them.

Take care...

Finally, A New Post!

2007-12-18T17:38:55Z

It's been a kind of a miserable month, health-wise. I've had a cold that just wouldn't go away. Finally, I went to the doctor, who told me that it's some new kind of new thing they just started seeing this year and that it lasts 3-4 weeks -- sore throat, stuffy head, aches and pains, low grade fever. Ugh. I'm finally over it (after sleeping for many nights on the downstairs couch to avoid infecting my family) and I feel like I can face the world again.

So much has happened. I finished my tour for NIGHTMARE ACADEMY. The Writer's Guild (WGA) went on strike and I've walked the picket line. I finished going over the copyedit for the US and UK editions of Book 2 and I'm working away at Book 3.

The UK edition of Book 1 comes out in March and it looks like it's going to get some wonderful placement at various stores in England. I would love for it to do great there, so my family and I have a reason to go and visit -- selfish, I know. :)

When I have an image of the final UK cover, I'll post it here. Actually, I just checked and they have it up on the Amazon UK website (under CHARLIE'S MONSTERS, which is the subtitle of the book there). Here's what it looks like:

It's a little tough to tell from this photo, but it's going to be a paperback book and the image of the hand that you see is actually a cutout that reveals a painting by Brandon Dorman beneath. When you open the cover, you'll see this (and, remember, you can click on all these photos to see a larger version):

So, very cool stuff! In other NA related news, I had an awesome school visit at Strayer middle school in Pennsylvania. I only have a handful of photos from that trip (some of them sent by their wonderful librarian, Sara Wignovich). Here's a few of them -- first off, all the sixth grade teachers dressed as characters from the story. Here's Rex, Tabitha, hags and more:

And here's the Hag Queen sucking the memories out of the brain of the principal of Strayer:

They made appropriately creepy food. Here's some Barakkas fingers and a cauldron full of something disgusting:

Then they put on a skit from the book (the Trout of Truth scene). Here's the Trout:

And it took place in their auditorium, which they decorated to look like all the rings of the Nether:

Finally, I did my presentation and signed books:

And that was that. These pictures don't begin to show the work that they put into this (much of it organized by Shawn Storm, one of the teachers there and the guy who dressed as Rex). I was so blown away by their enthusiasm that I read them the first chapter of Book 2, which they seemed to love.

So... great event, great people (along with the many other schools and folks I visited on the tour). Thanks to all who showed me such wonderful hospitality. Hopefully, I can get out to visit you again for the release of Book 2.

I apologize for the delay in posting (the guilt weighed heavily on me) but there's lots more to talk about and I'll try to get to it all in future blogs.

Take care...

The Claw Of Barakkas!

2007-11-01T18:52:22Z

A while ago, I visited Eagle Pointe Elementary School and had a blast. I was particularly blown away by a gift they made for me -- a model of the severed arm of Barakkas, signed by the entire 4th grade. It was too big and fragile to carry home (plus, I was in the middle of a book tour), so the wonderful folks at Anderson's packaged it and shipped it out to me. It arrived yesterday (Halloween!) in perfect shape, so I thought I'd share it with you...

This cool gift will go in a place of honor in my office! It was much enjoyed by my kids, who were already hyper about the upcoming trick-or-treating. Here's Alex (6) as the world's blondest vampire:

And here's Chris (10) as a Clone Trooper:

He was... into it. And, finally, here's one that includes the bride of Dracula herself:

There are no pictures of me, so don't ask. :)

So... Halloween was fun. It also marked the reveal of the contest winners for the spooky story contest I did for the Columbus Dispatch. I wrote the beginning of a creepy tale and kids from the area wrote the ending. They had close to 3,000 entries and, on Halloween, they printed the winners.

If you're curious, you can check out what I wrote, as well as the winning entries right HERE.

Hope your Halloween was as fun as ours and thanks again to Eagle Pointe and the great folks at Anderson's for the Claw of Barakkas, and congratulations to all the contest winners from the Columbus Dispatch!

Extras...

2007-10-29T17:34:25Z

I know, it's been forever since the last post. I've been travelling on a book tour and, even though I keep thinking I'll post from the road, I've been miserable about doing it. The trip was fun, though.

I visited the Santa Rosa School for the arts in Santa Rosa, along with the Horace Mann school in San Francisco. Then it was off to Portland, Oregon for a book store event -- by the way, how beautiful is Portland? I went to the art museum there and spent some time in a farmer's market, where a guy was cooking delicious treats in a wood burning stove. Man...

Anyway, after that, I flew to Seattle to go to an event at the Whitman Middle School. The kids were older than I usually visit and very cool. The librarian, Chris, had put together a reading from a section of the book, which was great fun. It was cool to see the kids really getting into character. :)

The whole trip was overshadowed, unfortunately, by the terrible wildfires in Southern California. Luckily, my wife and kids didn't have to evacuate while I was gone (we WERE evacuated a couple years ago, which was quite an ordeal). I was glad to get home, I have to say. It was comforting to be there just in case something went wrong (which, thankfully for us at least, it didn't).

Right now, I'm working on "extras" for the paperback edition of Book 1. This was described to me as additional content that people could only find in the paperback. I was initially a bit flummoxed by this. WHAT additional stuff? Finally, I hit on the idea of writing an excerpt from THE NIGHTMARE DIVISION'S GUIDE TO THE NETHER: Drake Edition, which is referenced often in Book 1. Outside of that... not sure.

What do you think? Have any of you ever written additional content for your books? Or, if you've read NIGHTMARE ACADEMY, is there anything you'd love to see? I'm right in the middle of doing it, so it would be great to hear any thoughts you have...

Wonderland

2007-10-16T21:11:26Z

First off, I had some funky technical problems, so if you e-mailed me over the last couple days and didn't hear back, please resend your e-mail.

With that out of the way, I want to tell you about Wonderland -- it's real! Yes, there's an actual public elementary school in LA called Wonderland and I had an event there last week that was put together by Book Soup. Here's what was so great about it (aside from the general, well, "wonderful"ness of the people) -- this was the first time that I was with a roomful of kids who had actually READ THE BOOK, aside from a pre-pub event at Anderson's in Chicago, which was also awesome.

Here's what usually happens -- a bookstore puts together the event with the school and kids pre-order books. Then, when you arrive, you sign them and THEN they're distributed to the kids. Which means, they're just getting your book on the day you arrive... which means they haven't read it yet. But, in this instance, the kids all got their books early and they just brought them to school to get them signed.

It was great. There were over 200 kids and they were big fans of the book, so our conversation was fun and wide-ranging. I'm sure this is what it's like once you have a few books out and people are familiar with you, but this was a fairly new experience for me and I had a blast.

A couple days later, I went to a signing at Dark Delicacies, which is a horror-themed bookstore in LA.

I was seated with the filmmakers of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D (who were signing DVD's) and two people who had put out a CD of spooky Halloween music -- I think their names were Dick and Nicole. Everyone was extremely nice but the crowd was a bit... sparse. The owners of the store, Del and Sue, were so friendly and outgoing that I felt bad I wasn't a bigger draw for them. Actually, Del should be enough to draw people all on his own. This is Del:

Even though not a lot of folks came in, it was a nice afternoon nonetheless and I had a great chat with the writer of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D (I wrote FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 9 a million years ago, so we had plenty to talk about.)

Anyway... both events were fun, but the most fun was handing in my FINAL revisions on Book 2. It goes to the copy-editor today, which is both a relief and somewhat terrifying. You mean I can't CHANGE it any more?! But, but, but, what if I think of something DIFFERENT...

So, now I'm staring at a blank page that's supposed to start getting filled up with Book 3. At the moment, it just looks like a whole lot of words that have yet to be written. Actually, I'm looking forward to diving in... tomorrow.

One other cool thing. I heard from a school I'm going to be visiting in Philly. They're in the midst of putting together a short play based on NIGHTMARE ACADEMY to show me when I get there. Can you believe it? How cool is that? I've gotten e-mails from a few of the kids, telling me what role they're playing and wanting additional info on their character. This is going to be fun -- I'll videotape it if I'm allowed.

Finally, my wife and I took the kids and my parents out to the pumpkin patch at Tierra Rejada farms. We go every year and it's always a great time. They have a GIGANTIC corn maze (seriously, you can get lost for large portions of your life in this maze) and hay rides and pig races and food and music and, of course, pumpkins. Each kid got to pick their own.

Chris picked a pumpkin that was so tall and thin that you had to lean it against something to make it stand upright and Alex picked a pumpkin that was just... weird. Actually, here it is:

See what I mean? He went straight to it out of a field of a bazillion pumpkins. I kept telling him "don't you want a nice big orange pumpkin that doesn't look like it has gangrene?" But he was insistent. Then, as I brought it to the cashier in a wheelbarrow, people kept glancing at it saying "cool pumpkin!"

The kid was right. It IS pretty cool. Take care.

Back Home

2007-10-10T16:48:28Z

What a wonderful trip! Writing and publishing a book is such a consuming process that it's easy to lose sight of the POINT of the whole thing -- people actually reading it. The day after visiting Sauganash Elementary School in Chicago, the folks at Anderson's bookstore (and who doesn't love Andersons?) set up two terrific visits. The first was to Bower Elementary School, where I had a great time chatting with kids in the lunchroom. Here's a pic (I'm the bald guy WAY in the back):

It was a lot of fun and I think the kids even heard me after I relented and wore the microphone. :)

Afterwards, I went to Anderson's with Jan Dundon (who I'm now officially renaming "The Spectacular Jan Dundon") and signed many boxes of books. Then we got pizza -- real, Chicago, deep-dish pizza.

Mmmmm...

After that, it was off to Eagle Pointe Elementary. Now, I don't have any pictures of this event because I left my camera in the car, but it was a pretty overwhelming experience. Michelle Kuhn, the Media Specialist at the school, set up a monitor with the video that HarperCollins made, so all the kids got to see the video. Then, they went on my website and printed all the pictures of the monsters and made a great photo display. Then they presented me with a plate of homemade "Barakkas Fingers" -- actually, they were pretzels dipped in blue icing with almond "fingernails".

And that wasn't even the cool part.

They also made a model of Barakkas's severed arm (those who've read the book will know the meaning of that) enclosed in a glass case, signed by the entire 4th grade. Hello? Spectacular, right?

Anderson's is mailing it to me. When it gets here, I'll take a picture and post it. Needless to say, it was awesome fun.

After that, it was off to the airport and a three hour delay before arriving in Minneapolis. The next day, I went to Wild Rumpus bookstore to sign some books and meet some kids. This is what greeted me:

Not only did they paint the title of the book and my name on the window, but someone also PAINSTAKINGLY painted all of the intricate scrollwork from the cover. Not sure how well you can see it in the pic. Very cool.

Wild Rumpus is pretty amazing, by the way. There are two doors to get in -- one for adults and one kid sized. Once you're inside, it's not long before their pet chicken comes racing past you, running through the aisles. I also saw a tarantula in an aquarium and I was told there was a ferret somewhere.

So I hung out and signed some books and chatted with folks -- I also got to meet Maria, who runs Melissa Marr's WICKED LOVELY fansite. I didn't know it was her until later because she never introduced herself, but I put it together afterwards and she copped to it. :) I'm sure Melissa could tell you better than I, but I'm pretty sure that Maria will be a writing force to be reckoned with.

That night, I had dinner with my wife's Aunt Judy, as well as Cathy, Pat and their son, Max. I'd explain my relationship to them, but it's too complicated and I don't really understand it exactly -- something about first cousins and in-laws. Anyway, they're a great family and we ate at some fancy country club. I know it was fancy because, when I told the cab driver where I was going, he said "oooh, fancy!"

The next day I went to the MBA Trade show at the Minneapolis convention center where they did a kind of "speed dating" thing where authors moved from table to table and met booksellers. Geez, everyone in Minneapolis is so NICE. I particularly liked meeting the other authors -- writing can be a bit lonely, you know?

The following day, I went to my final school, Highlands Elementary. The whole thing was put together by Kristen from Wild Rumpus. Once again, fantastic experience. There were two groups of 5th graders. In both cases, I talked a little about myself and the book, then did a reading, then took questions. There were MILLIONS of them --

The first group had a lot of questions like: 'What's your favorite dessert?" "What's your favorite movie?" (answers -- banana split, Raiders of the Lost Ark). The second group was HUGELY interested in the details of how monsters lived and functioned in the Netherworld from NIGHTMARE ACADEMY. It was enormous fun talking to them.

So, here's a pic of me reading:

Here's one of the book signing afterwards (note the shiny head):

And here's one of me and the lovely ladies of the library:

So, all in all, terrific trip. Tomorrow, I'm going to meet the kids at the Wonderland school in LA and then I'll be doing a signing on Saturday at a cool bookstore in town called Dark Delicacies. I'll post more about that in a bit.

More later...

Chicago and Sauganash School

2007-10-04T21:48:00Z

So... I flew into Chicago last night and got to my hotel room around 11. Chicago seems like such an awesome city, but I've only gotten to do just the tiniest bit of exploring. Unfortunately, final revisions of Book 2 are demanding my attention, so my little bit of free time is spent in the hotel, tapping away on my laptop. At least the hotel is really nice (the Omni) and the view from my room is excellent.

Today was an extraordinarily fun day. After a morning of revisions, I was picked up at 1 pm by the extremely nice Mary Beth McEvoy and we headed off to the Sauganash School, which looks like something out of "Adorable Schools Magazine" (if such a magazine existed). I forgot to take a picture of the outside, but here's the one from their website --

Once there, I met Mary Ann Diehl, who is the community outreach person for the local Barnes & Noble who set up the event with Nancy Wright. They were both incredibly nice and we had a lot of laughs. A bunch of kids had pre-ordered books, which I signed and personalized to the ones whose names were on a list that was handed to me.

Then they brought the kids in... all 200 of them. Wow. You'd think with that many kids in one room, there would be a few vicious ones, but not a single one of them beat me or pinched me or hurt me in any way. :)

Here's a picture of the group:

So, I chatted with them for a bit, talked about different kinds of writing -- cover copy, screenplays, books, etc. -- and then started taking questions. There were a ton of them! Questions about TV and Movies (which I sort of expect) and also some great questions about writing. I keep thinking that I'm going to run across a group of kids that are shy and won't have any questions and I'll be forced to tap dance for 45 minutes, but I'm continually amazed by how bright and active and engaged the kids I've met are.

It's becoming clear to me that I should do a little less talking up front and just take more questions -- there were way more than I could answer in the time allowed as it was. What do you folks who have done this before think? It's a lot more fun to answer questions than to give a talk -- but do you think people feel like they're missing out if you don't have more of a formal presentation?

Anyway, after I post this, it's back to revisions. Tomorrow, I head off to two schools (Bower and Eagle Pointe Elementary) and then it's on to Minneapolis. More later...

Hi, Dave...

2007-10-01T15:15:47Z

Since the trade papers are now reporting it, I just wanted to welcome David Reynolds to the NIGHTMARE ACADEMY movie. He's a wonderful, Oscar-nominated screenwriter (for FINDING NEMO) and, although I don't know him personally, I hear he's a real good guy.

I did a couple drafts of the screenplay, then left to write Book 2 (the revisions of which are now almost done). He'll be picking up where I left off and I'm sure he'll do terrific work. So... hi, Dave! :)

In other news, I had a real nice weekend with my wife and kids. We roasted marshmallows last night in our fireplace and then kicked the kids into their bedrooms so we could watch the season premieres of DEXTER and BROTHERHOOD -- both of which were just great.

Years ago, I co-created a TV show with Damon Wayans called 413 HOPE STREET that was on Fox for 13 episodes. Henry Bromell was the showrunner. He had previously worked on every great show there is (HOMICIDE, NORTHERN EXPOSURE) and he became a good friend and mentor. Now, he's co-running BROTHERHOOD (with Blake Masters) and they deserve every single critical accolade they've received. It's just wonderful. Please check it out.

Outside of that, not much. Working on final revisions on Book 2 so I can start to travel on the book tour with a clear conscience. My mind is already drifting toward Book 3 now and I'm itching to get started on it. It's strange to be getting ready to go out and talk about Book 1, which feels so distant to me now. I guess that's the way it always is with books. I'm still new to this, but I imagine it just becomes SOP eventually.

Anyway, more later...

My son's school...

2007-09-26T17:27:25Z

So, I just spent a really nice morning going to my son's 4th grade classroom and talking to the kids there about writing. It was a great, large group -- 36 kids. They had a ton of questions, which was kind of heartening because I was afraid I was just going to have to babble on for a half hour. Their questions were interesting because so many of them were about DETAILS:

Do you write on a computer? Do you type? How many words per minute? (answers: yes, yes, no idea)

Did you do the drawings in the book? Did you put the book together? When people want to buy a copy, do you print them one from your computer? (answers: no, no, no -- although I gave a bunch more details than that).

Just... very interesting. Plus it was fun to be there with my son, who continually asked extremely leading questions, like the world's smallest press agent: Is it true you have a website? Is it true it's going to be a movie? (answers: yes, Universal bought it but who knows?) He's such a great kid.

Also, I got a lovely e-mail from the ever-wonderful Nick Lake (my editor in the UK) telling me that reaction to the proofs (what we call ARCs in the US) have been excellent, which was reinforced by an extremely nice lady from Leeds (hmm, potential book title: The Lady From Leeds...) who wrote to say how much she liked it and that she was a Children's Specialist from Borders UK. So... thanks, Kim! And nice chatting with you, if you read this. It comes out in England and Australia in March.

In other news, I handed in my revisions to Book 2 last Friday, which were met very warmly. I'll be doing some final revisions (down to line notes, finally!) and then will be heading to Chicago/Minneapolis next week to start my book tour. It's exciting and a bit daunting. I'll blog as much as possible during the trip.

More later. Take care.

Operation Warrior Library

2007-09-21T21:57:26Z

Paul Malmont, a good buddy of mine (we went to NYU together) and a terrific novelist (check out his CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL), started a program a while back called Operation Warrior Library.

Basically, authors arrange to have a box of their books shipped to Army troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, care of Col. George Reynolds. The lives of those folks seem to be a mixture of terror and tedium and Paul thought they might appreciate something to read to pass the time.

So far, a ton of wonderful authors have contributed, including Brad Meltzer, Alice Sebold and Glen David Gold. Paul asked me if I would join in, so I arranged to have a box of NIGHTMARE ACADEMY's sent to the good Colonel. Interesting program, don't you think? Paul gets nothing out of it. He just thinks it's worthwhile to do.

You can check out his blog about it HERE. Click on "Newer Posts" at the top right to see more of the authors that have contributed.

So... if any of you writers out there feel like being part of this, I think you can contact Paul through his blog or just drop me a line and I'll send you his e-mail.

Book signings and HELLO, OHIO!

2007-09-19T02:36:51Z

Had a great time last Saturday at Earth 2 Comics for NIGHTMARE ACADEMY'S signing/release party. An evil friend of mine (Todd Farmer) took a bunch of pictures, virtually all of which were composed to emphasize how shockingly bald I am. Like this fiendish image:

Or this horrific one:

I could bore you with a hundred others, but, instead, here's a happier pic of my youngest son, Alex, who insisted on coming dressed as Spiderman. And, yes, I know I'm a bad dad for letting him have a soda, but he only gets one a day and... hey, he's Spiderman for crying out loud! Leave me alone!

And here's a pic of me with a really cool kid named Dean -- my name, incidentally:

Dean introduced himself and told me he'd read the book and really loved it. We talked about different characters (his favorites were Barakkas and Charlie) and had a nice time chatting and then he asked me to sign his copy. Incredibly, and I know this is going to be hard for you to stomach, but I blanked on his name. So, trying to casually play it off, I said "And how do you spell your name?" and he said "D-E-A-N -- just like you."

Ahem. A little embarrassment there. I promise I will never again forget Dean's name and, by the power vested in me, I now officially proclaim him an extremely cool kid.

In other news, I have another book signing coming up this Thursday (September 20th) at Borders Books in Northridge, CA at 7pm. If you're in the area, please come by! The address is:

BORDERS BOOKS & MUSIC
9301 Tampa Ave.
Northridge, CA 91324

Last, but definitely not least, tomorrow (Sept. 19th) the Columbus Dispatch is supposed to publish a "story starter" I wrote for a Halloween contest that they're running. Basically, I wrote the beginning of a scary story and their readers write the end. Then they pick the top few and print them. Last year, apparently, they had 4500 entries! Cool, huh?

I'll post what I wrote in the next day or so after it has come out in their paper but, for now, I'll just say it was huge fun to do, the folks at the Dispatch were extremely nice and I warmly welcome any of their readers who are new to this blog!

Take care...

Is this love, or what?

2007-09-14T21:42:33Z

So, my wonderful wife, Elizabeth, decided that there needed to be "Monster Cupcakes" at the NIGHTMARE ACADEMY book signing party on Saturday. Consequently, she's spent most of the day in the kitchen, making a million of these things. Here she is, busily creating:

Here's the "Monster Cupcake Blueprint" that she designed:

Here's a batch of the creatures, corralled for your culinary pleasure:

And here's a couple close-ups of the finished monstrosities:

Am I a lucky guy, or what? If you're free tomorrow (Saturday, September 15th) come by Earth 2 from 2 - 4 pm and eat one of these little beasties. The address is: 15017 Ventura Blvd. Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.

Hope to see you there!

NIGHTMARE ACADEMY Video!

2007-09-10T20:14:21Z

I knew the HarperCollins folks were making a video to promote NIGHTMARE ACADEMY but I didn't expect it to turn out this cool! Check it out!

NIGHTMARE ACADEMY Signing/Party in L.A.!

2007-09-09T16:24:51Z

Earth-2 Comics, that wonderful shop (recently given the Eisner award at the San Diego Comic Con for Best Comic Book Shop On The Planet) is hosting a book release party/signing event for NIGHTMARE ACADEMY next Saturday, September 15th from 2-4 pm. I'll be there, my lovely wife will be there and my two stinky boys will be there -- I hope you'll be there, too!

There's going to be some kind of finger food (I'm pushing for actual fingers) and copies of the book for sale along with all the other cool stuff in their store. So... if you live in LA or are going to be passing through, please swing by. Here's the info:

Earth-2 Comics
15017 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
(818) 386-9590

Saturday, September 15th from 2-4 pm.

We've loved this store since the beginning. In fact, my oldest son, Chris, was their very first customer on the day they opened. Here's a pic they took of him right after they made their first sale:

So, come by if you can -- I'd love to see you!

UK ARC Cover and INK EXCHANGE

2007-09-04T23:37:51Z

So, the cover is done for the Advanced Reader Copy of the UK edition of NIGHTMARE ACADEMY Book 1. In the US, it didn't have a subtitle but, in the UK, it will be called NIGHTMARE ACADEMY: CHARLIE'S MONSTERS.

Take a look (you'll have to click on it to see it bigger):

I think it's really cool and fun! Awesome UK editor Nick Lake told me that their art director, James Annal, personally hand-drew the Nightmare Academy crest -- a rare honor (or, as Nick spelled it, honour) and, believe me, I am incredibly honoured!

I've seen a mock-up of the final cover, which is completely different from this one and is going to be really amazing. When there's a finished version, I'll post that one as well.

In other news, I've been getting some nice e-mails from folks who have been enjoying the book, many of them asking if I could come to their town for a signing. Even though I'm going to be doing a fairly big tour, it absolutely pains me when someone asks for a visit in a place I'm not scheduled to go. I want to go everywhere!

I get to thinking... how far is the drive to Arizona? Six hours? Maybe I could take Chris and make a father/son road trip out of it. But then I start calculating how far it is to drive to Sudbury in Ontario, Canada (another cool request) and my brain starts to melt. I guess I'm just anxious to get out and start meeting folks. The flip side, of course, are the worries that I'll go to an event and no one will show up and I'll be reading to a wall. If you're ever running low on anxiety, call me -- I have extra.

Also, I want to give a shout out to Melissa Marr's new book INK EXCHANGE. I just finished reading it and it's WONDERFUL (as you would expect). I'd love to rave about it in detail but I don't want the WICKED LOVELY spoiler patrol to sic a fey on me. However, I WILL say that, if you loved WICKED LOVELY, you're going to double-love INK EXCHANGE. Same world, same characters -- along with tons of fantastic new ones. Here's the one spoiler-ish hint I'll give away: the focus is the Dark Court.

Doesn't that get you going?

Okay, back to revisions on Book 2. More later.