Percy: The Little Big Dragon p.3

I guess I should give you an idea of how long this story goes. Get this, it'll be 198 pages long.

Okay, just kidding, it'll be between 14 and 16 pages total. It's an easy reader, remember?

Anyway. the introduction of the big, ugly knight will be a cliff-hanger. You'll have to wait until 2011 (Monday, to be exact) to see what happens next.

Happy New Year! I love the concept of a whole new year. I hate the actual holiday. Can't we just glom it onto Christmas day and call it good. Ugh. Sayonara 2010! Bienvenu 2011!

Percy: The Little Big Dragon p.2

Percy: The Little Big Dragon p.1

Percy: The Little Big Dragon

Okay, today I'm starting a new story based on the winner of our Name That Dragon game--Percy! Here is the cover:

Percy: The Little Big Dragon isn't a comic, or even a picture book. This is an early reader book, the oddball stepping stone between picture books and chapter books. But here's the thing about nearly all early reader books: they have really simple illustrations. Kids go from looking at colorful, elaborate picture books to very stark, minimal early reader books. Now I know the focus is on learning to read, but there are pictures. So why not have big, splashy, picture-book-style pictures? With Percy, I'm going to attempt an early reader book with picture book level illustrations.

My daughter has been reading Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books lately. She's at the early reader stage. Those books are really funny. In fact, I think I like them more than Mo Willems' picture books (sorry pigeon.) Anyway, I've always wanted to try one myself, so here goes. Get those early readers in here, see if they are too distracted by the pictures to read the words. I'd appreciate your feedback.

And We're Beak...

Hi Everyone. I hope you enjoyed your holidays and the Twelve LEGO Bots, I'd once again like to thank the geekmom website for co-hosting the images along side the Station, and also my LEGO photographer Jaime. Link over to their cool sites to see what they are up to.

A few things. Last year, I took this period off. From Christmas to around Jan. 4th, I went post free. I actually found that I missed making daily posts. I won't be skipping out this year. I'll be here, right back on track--no blog vacation. I've got a fun story I'll start tomorrow (starring someone you've seen recently here on the blog.)

Also, I've revamped the site and banner artwork. If you follow the blog through a reader, you may want to click over to the actual site to see the changes. (And, hey, why not click the "Follow" button, just for kicks--to make it official and all.) How do you like the new look? There's a big orange bird with a blue beak, isn't there?

Next week marks the one-year anniversary of CALAMITY JACK's release. Amazon is celebrating this with a sweet $6.00 deal on the paperback! So if you have some Amazon gift cards burning a hole in your pocket--or if you just want the super-awesome RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE sequel at an amazing price, clicky-clicky. And reviewy-reviewy, JACK only has 17 reviews, compared to RAPUNZEL's nearly fifty! Show Jacky some love!

Speaking of reviews, thank you to everyone who bought a copy of THE TWELVE BOTS and left a review. Me and the BOTS had a fantastic Christmas! Now that the holidays are over, the BOTS will be hibernating (unplugging?) for the next ten months, but there is still time to leave your thoughts in review form at your favorite online bookseller. Did you notice that the book was dedicated to "The Space-Station Cadets?" That's you! Did you know you had a book dedicated to you? Well, you do it's THE TWELVE BOTS OF CHRISTMAS, man!

We've got a big year ahead for the Space Station. More comics, more drawings and more games. February will see another PICTURE BOOK MARATHON (possibly with a return to THE LAND OF DOOM.) In the near future I'll have an announcement concerning one of 2010's stories (it will soon become more than just a series blog posts!) But you'll have to stay tuned for that. Clever detectives should be able to get a hint by browsing back a few months...I can say no more!

Stay tuned!

MERRY ROBO-CHRISTMAS!

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 12

Hmm. They seem so much smaller in LEGO form...

Be sure to drop in tomorrow for the big Christmas Finale!

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 11

This guy is my favorite of the LEGO Bots.

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 10

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 9

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 8

That nose makes it look like my Moto-Milker has a pig nose...hmm, looks much better in person. So here we are at day 8, we're almost there. Only five days until Christmas--only a few days left to order a copy of the BOTS! Time is running out!

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 7

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 6

Okay, I've had FOUR people say that they were missing their avatars. But they've all gotten them now--sorry for the delay, guys. Is there anyone else? Have all the avatars made it to those who sent their CALAMITY JACK photo?

Happy Saturday! (these posts go right through the weekend, so be back tomorrow!)

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 5

Today's BOT is easy to build. Very, VERY easy to build.

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 4

This was the first of the BOTS where I had to choose a specific one to build, since they all look different. I think I picked the right one.

Over the past week, I've had TWO people inform me that their CALAMITY JACK avatar never made it to them. One in the comment section, and one at my signing at the King's English. Remember the JACK avatar thing, WAAAY last January? I thought I had finished and sent them all long ago. But some (two, at least) never made it. I've sent those two out (you know who you are) is there anyone else? I hate to think I'm missing anyone. Shoot me a message if you never received your avatar (and you qualified.)

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 3

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 2

I'm going to be at the Provo Library today (Tuesday) at 4:00 doing a reading of The Twelve Bots of Christmas--in a robot voice. There will be books on hand for sale, as well as the actual LEGO Bots on display. See you there!

The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas, Day 1

Okay, lets kick this off! The Twelve LEGO Bots of Christmas starts today! You know him, you love him, he's day 1's Bot, the Cartridge:

If you'd like to see the LEGO Bots in person, they are currently on display at the Provo Library.

You will notice that these LEGO photos are considerably better than my past LEGO photos. I have my photographer friend, Jaime Richardson, to thank for that. Visit her site here. Thanks Jaime!

A Week of Failed Santas, Friday

Our final failed Santa (boy, those went by fast--I could do them all month!) will be recognized by all sci-fi fans. It is:

SANDWORM CLAUS!

This massive Santa lives 21,000 years in the future on a far-away, desert planet. He does not bring presents. He produces a spice which allows space travel, and creates psychic abilities when ingested by humans. But you can ride on him, sort of like the "one-horse open sleigh."

On Monday, we start the Twelve Days of Christmas countdown! It will be BOT related. You may already know what I'm planning.

This Saturday, I'll be signing books at The Purple Cow bookstore in Tooele at 2:00. I will be accompanied by an actual human Santa (non-dentist, I think.) Hope to see you Tooeleians there!

A Week of Failed Santas, Thursday

Technically, this should be a great Santa. After all, it's a mash-up of the two Christian holiday mascots. Instead, it is confusing, disorienting, even a little nauseating. I present to you:

The Christmas-ter Bunny.

If this thing ever came to my house, I don't care how many baskets of presents it was carrying, I would cower in fear. This is a bad, bad Santa.

In totally unrelated news, I saw Disney's TANGLED last night. People have been telling me how RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE was, "Totally ripped off" I was excited to go and see for myself. There are a few similarities, sure. The one that killed me was how Rapunzel had only three books in her tower that she had to re-read--I think they were even the same size and color as our Rapunzel's tower books. Really, though, they did a fun, and totally different take on the fairy tale, and I really enjoyed it. It definitely does not fall into the "Rip-off" category. I do like to imagine that the Disney folks read RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE and borrowed a few things, just for fun.

Anyway, it was a cute movie and I recommend it to all RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE fans. If Disney does a sequel where Rapunzel and (the guy, forgot his name) go up against giants and beanstalks, then I'll call foul. In the mean time, go check out the movie--or, if you haven't, go pick up a copy of RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE--better yet, give a copy of the book to a TANGLED fan for Christmas. They'd totally dig it.

A Week of Failed Santas, Wednesday

From long forgotten tombs comes Mummy Claus!

Traveling with help from his eight canopic Reindeer jars, Mummy Claus bears ancient gifts, and curses! Thousand year-old curses! Mummy Claus is shuffling to town.

A Week of Failed Santas, Tuesday

Tuesday's bad Santa is...



Santapod, the Giant Isopod Santa! He flies around on his sled pulled by eight sea cucumbers. When you leave a treat out for Santapod, skip the milk and cookies, this Santa would much rather gorge himself on a putrefying whale carcass. He's the jolly giant cockroach of the sea floor!

This is not the first time isopods have appeared on the blog. Click here if you don't know about Chuck the Lazy Isopod. Scroll down until you see some jesters, then stop and read the posts from bottom to top. You'll learn more than you ever wanted to about these cuddly creatures.

A Week of Failed Santas, Monday

So you've probably seen Robo-Santa, I've been talking a lot about him and his 12 BOTS this month. (Buy it! Buy it!) You may also know Santasaurus, the candy-cane-striped Triceratops from The Dinosaurs' Night Before Christmas. (Buy it too!) So far, I've done more books with off-beat Santas than actual Santas. Off-beat Santas are all the rage in picture books right now. There are Evil Santas, Pirate Santas, a whole bunch of Dinosaur Santas (Tyrannoclaus, Santasaurus etc.) Alternative Santas, they are here to stay.

This week, I thought we'd spend some time with some Alternative Santas who will never get a picture book deal.

Monday's Santa is...

Jolly Old St. Dental Claus. He comes down the chimney and performs oral surgery on all good boys and girls. You better watch out.

Geekmom!

This week I did an interview for the Wired blog Geekmom.com. They did a great review of the BOTS as well as an interview with me. Click over and see! There is also a sneak preview of what is to come here on the blog...

Thanks Geekmom! Great write-up! And cool site, I've bookmarked it for the LEGO posts alone!

And the Winning Dragon is...

Percy! By a mile!

Everybody loves Percy! So he is November's Most Favored Dragon! I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of him, there may be a Percy story in the future.

I installed something cool at the Provo Library yesterday. It is something everyone will get to see on the blog here in a week or two, but you can see it early and in person if you live by the library. Check the glass cases on the way to the Children's desk.

Have a great weekend! New story starts Monday!

Name That Drag--Uh oh! It's the NaNoWriMonster!

And the dragon with the most votes is...

Wow! I'm surprised it took him this long to show up. It's Chester the NaNoWriMonster! Long-time readers will recognize him from last November when I was doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.) I didn't participate this year, but I plan to next year. I hope everyone who did finished their novel. Here's the update on the book I was writing during last year's NaNoWriMo: Still not finished. I've sold five book contracts since then, three picture books and two graphic novels, but I never got around to finishing those last 50 pages of my NaNo-novel.

Thanks to Chester's interruption, it looks like we have one more day of voting. Pick that winning dragon! Vote your pick in yesterday's comment section. Or today's if you feel like it.

And to everyone in SLC, tonight is the big holiday author party at The King's English bookstore. It's from 5-7, come say hi, I'll be up to my elbows in BOTS.

Name That Dragon Wrap-up

And our final winning name is...

Ba-ba-ba-bum!

"Behold, this dragon shall be called Lucent! Slithering between worlds and planes of existence, he strikes before you even sense his presence!" (Named by Courtney)

Thanks for playing everyone! I think that was a pretty spectacular run of Name That Dragon. I'd especially like to thank our judges, Uly, Lucy, Shannon and Dean Hale, and final week judge, Jessica Day George. Great job judges!

Now it is your turn to judge. It's time to choose your favorite dragon of them all. Here is a refresher:

Leave your vote in the comments section and we'll see who wins the coveted "Most Favored Dragon" title. The chosen dragon will get a brand new drawing in a different pose.

Votes for "Turkor" will be immediately disqualified.

If you enjoyed this game, please support the blog by purchasing one of my books (I recommend THE TWELVE BOTS OF CHRISTMAS,) leave a review on Amazon (also BOTS,) and join the "Space Station Cadets" by clicking the "Follow" button on the right.

Tomorrow we'll announce the winning dragon and Thursday we start a new story!

Name That Dragon! Round 16 FINAL ROUND!

Here it is, the final dragon!

This dragon is made entirely of ectoplasmic goo. It's a see-through, inter-dimensional dragon. Name That Dragon!

Yesterday's communique from Judge Jessica:

And he shall be called: Gronkaloth! Though he cannot fly, he moves with surprising nimbleness across the ground, and once he grabs hold of you, his bite cannot be broken!

(Chris is the namer.)

Congratulations Chris! You have named this dragon! One more chance to win, make it good!

This Thursday is the annual King's English holiday party. I'll be there, with many other Utah authors, signing TWELVE BOTS and DINOSAURS' NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS's. It's from 5-7. If you live in or around SLC, come on by!

Dragon Pending...

It's the final day of the Name That Dragon Day! But where is the dragon? The final dragon is running a few hours behind, but he'll be out by lunchtime. Watch this space! Today will be your last chance to win the name game!

Name That Dragon! Round 15

And we're back! I hope you all enjoyed the Thanksgiving weekend, I know I did. I got a ladder on Black Friday for $20! A sweet $20 ladder. Oh yeah!

Back to business, we have two more days of Name That Dragon with special guest judge Jessica Day George. So...

Thank you to everyone who showed up at the Orem Barnes and Noble signing. I did some pretty epic custom robot drawings. I'll be doing more 12 BOTS signings throughout the month, I'll make sure to post the dates.

Be sure to be back for the final dragon tomorrow!

Twelve Bots in-store Event Saturday!!

Oh great! Here's what I get for taking a two-day break from posting. I forgot to announce this:

Saturday, November 27th I'm doing an in-store visit at Barnes and Noble in Orem, Utah. 1-4. I'll be drawing a custom robot in each and every BOTS book bought. Come out and see me!

The holiday season is now upon us, and I'll have several more in-store dates to announce. Sorry for getting this info out at the last second.

Name That Dragon! Bonus THANKSGIVING Round

Take a break everyone, it's your weekend off. There is no dragon naming on Turkey Day (or Black Friday.) See you next week!

Yesterday's dragon name was judged, and here's what Jessica had to say:

The dragon will be named . . . PERCY! A short yet noble name for this peerless adventurer!

Congratulations Sarah C. you are now tied with Debbie with two names! Congrats! And Happy Thanksgiving Weekend! We'll be back Monday for the final two dragons!

Name That Dragon! Round 14

This peppy little dragon is positive he's the hero of any story he is in. Name That Dragon!

Once again, when judging at this high level, guest Judge Jessica is poring carefully over yesterday's names. There are some great ones in there. Who will she pick? What could that scary dragon possibly be named? Wait and see....

Judging is complete! Judge Jessica has come up with a winner:

Raigoth- by Debbie Barr

Moving silently on his velvet bat wings, Raigoth lives in darkness, hunts in darkness, kills in . . . DARKNESS!

That's TWO wins for Debbie (well, one and a half...) she's the one to beat! Incidentally, my new heavy metal band now is called "Raigoth" and this is our album cover.

Name That Dragon! Round 14

Dragon #14 is not something you'd like to meet in a dark alley. Name That Dragon!

Our guest celebrity judge, Jessica Day George, is scrupulously examining the entries, collating data, and thinking deeply about each of yesterday's names. We'll have the results out later today. Cross those fingers!

This just in from Judge Jessica:

And the name of this dragon is: Treeaxis, Keeper of the Wood. This magnificent creature can sleep for long centuries beneath a blanket of moss and trees, waking in a terrible fury when his forest is threatened.

Congratulations Jason!

Name That Dragon! Round 13

Today's dragon is a really, really big dragon. Name That Dragon!

Friday's winning name was "The Abominable Snow Ram" named by Ryan, in Buttercup's comment. Congratulations! It sure looks like an Abominable Snow Ram to me.

We're entering the final week of Name That Dragon. And to finish with style, we are having another celebrity judge. She'll be judging the rest of the dragon entries, including this one. Who is it? It's world famous dragon expert Jessica Day George! Author of Dragon Slippers, Dragon Flight and Dragon Spear! That's a lot of books with "Dragon" in the title. If anyone knows dragon names, it's Jessica, so bring your "A" game.

Name That Dragon! Round 12

This hairy dragon smells like a wet dog. Name that Dragon!

Yesterday's winner was the very first entry, "Gorgey (the Dragon)" from commenter Nathan. Now I'm not 100% sure of how to pronounce "Gorgey," wether it is "Gor--jee" or "Gor--ghee." The judges were very happy with both. Congratulations!

This is a Friday dragon, so you have all weekend to figure out just the right name for it! Have a good weekend.

Today's Post Delayed Due to...

...Harry Potter. Sorry folks, I went to a very late show of the latest Harry Potter movie last night, in a town an hour away from my house. So the Friday dragon and yesterday's winning name will be coming to you later today. Check back around lunchtime. Blame Harry Potter, it's his fault.

Name That Dragon! Round 11

This dragon will feed itself until it can't move, better not get too close! Name That Dragon!

Yesterday's winning dragon name was, appropriately "Corpsebreath," named by Sierra. What a cold and smelly name. And the day before that (remember, the judges fell asleep) was Sarah C's "Cyana, Duchess of Death." Great names! Way to go Sierra and Sarah C!

Name That Dragon! Round 10

Today's dragon is a carrion-eating, graveyard dragon. Name it!

We had a judging mishap last night. The judges fell asleep before we could do the name-judging process. I could have just picked one on my own--but that would be breaking the rules. I'll get the judges' choice tomorrow. That means you get an extra day to name yesterday's dragon! Good luck!

Name That Dragon! Round 9

Today's dragon is a wise, ancient female--Rhinotaur's mom. Name That Dragon!

Yesterday's winner was :paula, with her name, "Pyropterix." I really liked this name, enough that I was going to veto the judges if they didn't choose it. But it turns out, "Pyropterix" was their pick too! :paula happens to run a really great book blog, click on her name and check it out!

Name That Dragon! Round 8

Today we have a smoke-breathing, lava dragon. Name it!

From Shannon and Dean:

Shannon is currently feeding our twin wyrmlings, so I am scribe of our thoughts.

After much fretting and wringing of hands, we finally settled on the winner as Alysa's Tendon Tearer and Clavicle Cruncher. This was my early favorite, as I love the juxtaposition of cute little beasties with that one-of-a-kind "dismemberment" feeling. They were all awesome (you know, except for that *one*), but we did want to give shout-outs to some of our other runners-up:
Camille and Tauna Neerings with their nerd fervor that must be commended,
Chris's long-short combo drew a giggle,
and Mike (c/o Laura), whose offering felt domestic enough that he might actually have named them after members of his own family...

So there you have it! Congratulations Alysa! You win this round of Celebrity Judged Name That Dragon! And thank you S and D for picking some killer names! We have some more guest judges in the coming days, so keep those names coming!

Name That Dragon! Round 7 SPECIAL CELEBRITY JUDGE EDITION!

Today's dragons are twins! Baby girl dragon twins. Name Those Dragons!



And remember, judging this entry will be Shannon and Dean Hale! They know their way around baby twin girls--and dragons too! You have all weekend, name on!

Yesterday's winner was "Epannou" an icy name submitted by Aredhel. "Epannou." Brrrr. Sounds cold! Congratulations Aredhel! I've got a banner coming soon (but it won't be up today.)

Name That Dragon! Round 7

Here's a tricky one, an ice-dwelling, caterpillar dragon. Name That Dragon!

Yesterday's winner was John Ferguson's name, "Rhinotar." A big, burly name for a big, burly dragon.

Tomorrow (next dragon) we'll be having some celebrity judges; Rapunzel authors Shannon and Dean Hale! That's right, Friday's dragon name will be chosen by Shannon and Dean Hale. They are experts on this specific type of dragon; Twin dragons. Have those double-names ready! You'll have all weekend to enter.

Name That Dragon! Round 6

Dragon #6 is a big, bad, burly male. Name That Dragon!

Yesterday's winning name was "Fionix Princess of Thunder" named by Rob, who named it through commenter John Ferguson, who's comment backstories have been really spectacular. Make sure to check those out. My daughter took the judging lead on this one, she REALLY liked this name, and I agree--it's a great one! Honorary mentions go to commenters Enna Isilee for predicting an 'x' in the name, and to jw for "Drakkar Noir" that one made me laugh out loud. Well played, jw!

Quick Note With Advertisement!

Hey everyone, just a quick post here. First of all, how are you enjoying the Name That Dragon Game? How many more dragons do you want to name? I could go ALL month if you want, I'm having fun! (Plus I don't have to stress about story-writing!) One more week, two more weeks, the rest of the month? Let me know. We may be having some CELEBRITY JUDGES in the coming days. Dragon experts who will be judging the name entries. More on that soon...

Also, THE TWELVE BOTS OF CHRISTMAS has just reached this auspicious place on Amazon: #66 in Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Boys & Men. That's right, it's the #66 in Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Boys & Men. Boys and Men I tell you! That may sound like a lot of subdivisions to go through to define your place on Amazon, but I'll take what I can get. I want to hit the top 10 in that "Boys and Men" category. So if you haven't bought a copy yet, order that puppy from Amazon today! It's only $10! And, of course, review it if you haven't yet.

Advertisement over.

Name That Dragon! Round 5

Dragon #5 is a nocturnal, feathered, female. Name That Dragon!



Yesterday's choice was tough. The judges had me read off the names a couple of times in order to pick just the right one. They picked the first name entered, "Swumpmunger," submitted by 'Q.' Congratulations Q! That dragon certainly looks like a Swumpmunger to me!

I've noticed there are fewer players each day, I can only assume you are overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility of naming these dragons. It's a tough job, but I appreciate those of you brave enough to enter. Keep those names coming!

Name That Dragon! Round 4

Dragon #4 is a creeping swamp dweller. Name that Dragon!

Last Friday's dragon was given a rare DOUBLE name. When I read the list of names out to the judges, they heard the two entires, "Trixie," and "Meku" as one name. They really liked "Trixie-Meku." The judges have spoken! Congratulations to Greg and Leigh and Debbie Barr!

Name That Dragon! Round 3

[UPDATE] You can name this lil' fella' until Sunday at 8pm. I'm back to my five-day-a-week schedule. In case the seven-day-a-week Frankenstein schedule threw you. See you Monday!

Dragon #3:

Dragon #3 is a small, fast, mischievous male. Name That Dragon!

And congratulations to commenter Platypus for naming yesterday's sea-serpent, "Pelagius" was the name the judges chose. It was tough, there were so many good names, but Pelagius was the winner.

Name That Dragon! Round 2

Here is dragon #2




This is a female, warm-blooded sea-serpent. Name that dragon!

Yesterday's winner can be found by scrolling down to yesterday's post. See how it works? The winner's dragon name gets added to the artwork--with their commenter name, in this case, "Anonymous." The judges were adamant, "O Mighty and Great Keeper of the Honored Rocks" was their clear choice. I thought all of the names were great--they each add so much drama and personality to the dragon. Keep them coming, this is fun!

Oh, by the way, cutoff for entries is 8 PM Mountain Time (after that the judges go to bed.) We got some good ones late last night, but had already chosen the day's name.

And congratulations, Anonymous commenter.

Name That Dragon! Round 1

Name That Dragon!

A few weeks ago, a writer I know, Janette Rallison, put up a funny request on Facebook. She had a dragon character in a book she was writing, but she didn't know what to name it, so she was asking for suggestions. She got TONS of them. My suggestion for the dragon's name was "Steve." I don't really know what she ended up with, but I thought I'd steal her request and turn it into a game here.

So here's how to play: Each day I'll post a drawing of a dragon, and you get to name it--or try to name it. My team of crack judges will choose the winning dragon name each day. I'm too biased to choose the winners, so I will not be a judge. The judges will be my two kids, Uly and Lucy. Ages 9 and 5. They won't know anything about the commenters, just the name suggestions. Lucy has named her toy dragon (a rare LEGO one she stole from me) "Sellipino," so she knows a cool sounding dragon name when she hears one.

The winning name gets to...well...be the winning name. There aren't any real prizes, just the satisfaction of knowing that you named that dragon. And, since the judges won't know who you are, there is the possibility of winning multiple times.

Tomorrow I'll post the first dragon drawing. Get your naming caps on! This should be...interesting.

Intermission...Monstermission?

[UPDATE] For some reason, I'm having a hard time hosting the KTNR image, here it is at a smaller size--or just link over to KTNR to see it. Also, hope you snagged one, because the $6 RAPUNZELs are gone, baby, gone.

Time for a break, everyone! A Monstermission. A Frankerlude? No, Monsterlude, Frankermission...? A break. I've been crunching some numbers. I think we can still end the book on Halloween, even if we take one day off.

I have some announcements and tidbits you may enjoy.

First, the good folks at KTNR (Kids Need to Read) have unveiled the cover art for the official KTNR 2012 Calendar! And guess who did it? It was me! Here's the link to KTNR's unveiling, and here is the artwork:

It is a "Book-Mo-Bot!" Bringing reading material to the post-apocalyptic countryside. I'll let everyone know when these calendars become available. There are a lot of great artists involved. I haven't seen any of the other images yet and I'm dying to. Head over to KTNR (linked above) for all kinds of cool stuff.

This Saturday is the Teen Book Fest at the Provo Library. If you've been to the Children's Book Fest, then you'll know how this should go. This is the first Teen Book Fest. There will be a whole bunch of Utah authors (you know 'em, you love 'em) and Special Guest, Scott Westerfeld, author of LEVIATHAN and UGLIES. I am going to be there doing an interactive, everyone-joins-in, large-sized, graphic novel thing. So come and join in. It should be very cool (and maybe not as noisy as the Kids Book Fest. Maybe.) So, Oct. 30th, Provo Library from 12-4. Scott's keynote will start at 12:00. I'm told author Jessica Day George will be in attendance dressed as the Tooth Fairy (I'm hoping she means dressed as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson from that horrible movie The Tooth Fairy.)

The elusive $6 RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE paperback is back on Amazon. You can get a copy AND a nice hardcover of THE TWELVE BOTS OF CHRISTMAS for only $16! Then make with the robo-reviews. The Bots are geared up and ready to get seriously jolly--buy them! Bring them to the Teen Fest!

FRANKENSTEIN cover

{UPDATE} The story FRANKENSTEIN has been removed, for reasons which will be announced soon! Don't worry, it's good news!

Here is the cover for the new story.

This story is written by Rick Walton (nicknamed Ludworst Bemonster on the cover.)

The Hallosaurus and the Devil You Know

Here is a picture of the Hallosaurus with his hero, The Devil You Know. They are out to cause some serious Halloween mayhem. Felonies, misdemeanors, pranks, you name it, they are going to do it. Watch out.

A new story starts next week. But while we're here in between stories, let me ask all of you for some favors. I could use your help out here on the internet. If you have bought any of my books, please leave a review. THE TWELVE BOTS OF CHRISTMAS is headed into the holiday season, and right now it has zero reviews on Amazon! If you've read the book, please help me out and post your thoughts on it. Same with ANIMAL HOUSE--heck even CALAMITY JACK has only 15 reviews! Take a second, it doesn't need to be a book report, just a few lines, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

There was a terrifying article in the New York Times last week about the DEATH of picture book publishing. Supposedly parents are jumping their young children straight into chapter books and skipping the pictures. Now, my guess is that the article was written by somebody who has had bad luck getting their own book published, and it was a slow news day. But it was a scary read for everyone involved with picture books. So, prove them wrong and buy PICTURE BOOKS this holiday (preferably mine.) (oh...and then leave a review.) (4 stars or higher please.) (oh, and mail me some cookies afterwards...) (chocolate with those butterscotch chips, a dusting of powdered sugar on top.) (that ought to do it.)

As Smokey the Bear says, "Only YOU can prevent the death of the picture book industry."

The Hallosaurus

I'll start the Rick Walton collaboration story next week--I like to start new stories on Mondays. So for today, here's the Halloween Allosaurus--the Hallosaurus. He's dressed as his favorite picture book character, The Devil You Know.

What kinds of Tricks or Treats does the Hallosaurus want?

Sgt. Snookums: Patrol Cat part 35, the end