Enter to Win I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

I Hunt Killers
Barry Lyga
Hachette Book Group Canada
LB Teens
ISBN 9780316125840

I have read over 800 books in the past five years and this is one of the best! Like a corss between the Mentalist and Dexter but amped up!

"What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could--from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows?"

Win an advanced readers copy of this book, donated by Hachette Book Group Canada.Here is how you enter:
+1 Leave a comment with your e-mail or contact info. (you have to do this one. (if you do not want to post your email address, use the gmail.me button on the sidebar to email me.)
+1 Link to this contest on your blog. (You get an entry for every place you link)
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* Please provide evidence that you did the above (links will do).

Contest closes March 15th 2012 and winner will be announced the following day. The winner will be randomly drawn from all ballots. Will ship anywhere in North America.

Also check out Goth Girl Follies and other books by Barry Lyga.

Books by Barry Lyga:

I Hunt Killers:
I Hunt Killers (2012)
Game - I Hunt Killers #2 (2013)

Blood of My Blood - I Hunt Killers # 3 (2014)

Every Hunter is Hunter (2026)

…

I Hunt Killers Short Stories:
Down Time (2018)
Lucky Day (2014)
Career Day (2012)
Neutral Mask (2013)
Blood Boy (2014)

…

Before the Hunt (2025)

…

Brookdale High:
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (2006)
Boy Toy (2007)
Hero Type (2008)
Goth Girl Rising (2009)
Bang (2017)

...

Archvillian:
Archvillain #1 (2010)
The Mad Mask - Archvillian #2 (2011)
Yesterday Again - Archvillian #3 (2013)

...

The Flash Series:
Hocus Pocus (2017)
Johnny Quick (2018)
Tornado Twins (2018)

…

Crossover Crisis Series:

Green Arrow's Perfect Shot (2019)

Supergirl's Sacrifice (2020)

The Legends of Forever (2021)

…

Other Books By Barry Lyga:
Graphic Novels in Your Media Center: A definitive Guide (with Alison A.W. Lyga - 2004)
Wolverine: Worst Day Ever (2009)
MangaMan (with Colleen Dorren 2011)
Unsoul'd (2013)
After The Red Rain (2015)
The Secret Sea (2016)
Thanos Titan Consumed (2018)
The Hive (2019)

...

Short Story Project 2017
The Ghosts at 95
Loving The University
The Ideas of March
Four Minutes
Pulse vs. the Killing Fiend
Her Decade
The Life Cycle of Stars (Ignition)
Bobby
Trading Worlds
When I Die
The Autopsying of Michael Edward Morgan
Meet Me Tonight
...

Contributed to:
Geektastic (2009)
Who Done It? (2013)

Author Profile and Interview with Barry Lyga
Author Profile and Interview with Randall Banner

Gary Thomas - Author Profile

Gary Thomas is the other of more than a dozen Christian books. He is an international bestselling author and speaker. He writes about spirituality, marriage, parenting, and health and fitness. Through his books and speaking he tries to draw people closer to Christ and to each other. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages. Gary recently took some time from his busy schedule to answer some questions for the readers at Book Reviews and More.

1. If you had not become a writer what do you think you would be doing for a living?

Can't even imagine. I have wanted to be a writer since I was 8 years old, and since I have a very limited skill set, I honestly can't even imagine what else someone would pay me to do.

2. Your book Every Body Matters will be a controversial book within the Church, especially in North America. What gave you the courage and fortitude to write this book that will challenge many believers even many pastors way of life?

Paul's words in Acts 20:20: "I did not hesitate to preach anything that might be helpful to you" provided some significant encouragement. I'm old enough and have written enough books that I'm able to take a bit of heat without becoming too unsettled. The thrill of writing a book is now familiar; I don't just want to see a book in print-I want the books to count eternally, so I write them as a way to honor and serve God. That might sound like a cliché, but it's true. I truly believe God wants this message to be heard by the church, and that he has chosen me to be one of the people who proclaim it (there are many of us, and the number is growing). From a personal perspective, this truth has been so helpful, I couldn't keep it to myself. While some people might resist it, if they eventually embrace it, I think they'll become very grateful when they see the results-relationally, physically, and spiritually.

3. In the book Every Body Matters you draw heavily from Christian classics, the church fathers, and many medical doctors. What was your process of synthesizing such varied sources into a book that would be accessible to almost any reader?

I've been reading the Christian classics for almost three decades, so I'm pretty familiar with them and know where to go (and all my copies are underlined). With the classics, you have to watch the language, though-it can sound outdated. So I'm careful with which writers I choose. Dealing with both gluttony and sloth, there was a wealth of material to draw on-this really is a consistent theme throughout the ages-so I was able to be rather discriminating. Mainly, I wanted to show the breadth of this teaching, so I purposefully chose writers from a variety of traditions and centuries to show this isn't a fad or a limited concern. Quite the contrary.

4. Every Body Matters is not a how to book, not a diet book, not a program. It is however a theological underpinning of the need to look after the temple in order to server better, longer and more effectively. If someone were looking for a program or how to book to start or improve on the physical fitness journey what would you recommend?

Dr. Ed Young, Dr. Michael Duncan and Dr. Richard Leachman have written companion books entitled "Total Heart Health for Men" and "Total Heart Health for Women." Dr. Young is a pastor; Drs. Duncan and Leachman are physicians. The material is basic and solid.

5. What advice do you wish an artist had passed on to you early in your career, which you only learned through experience?

The ones who make it are usually the ones who feel like they "need" to, not just "want" to. It can be so difficult breaking in that if you allow failure to be an option, it probably will be. I see so many young artists planning for failure: "Well, if this doesn't work out, I can always…" They spend as much time planning on how to deal with failure than they do fighting to succeed. The arts, across the board, are excruciatingly difficult to make a living in, or even to participate in in a significant fashion. But if it's what motivates you, if you feel that's what you're called to, it's worth the hassle to get there or at least to give it a fair try.

6. What does your writing process look like? Takes us through the steps from idea to publishing?

The idea usually floats in my head for a couple years. I'll start a file with notes, thoughts and stories-just snippets here and there. Then, when my publisher asks, I'll throw some of the ideas out and there will usually be one they grab onto with more energy than the others. If it's a new publisher, I'll usually have to do a short proposal. If it's a current publisher, I can often get by with just a verbal agreement on the topic (though there is a signed contract, of course, with the title). I like to have at least a year, after signing the contract, to complete a book. For me, writing is re-writing. I write the book, rework it several times, and then send it out to six to ten readers, doing nothing for about 6 weeks (I want it to look fresh by the time I get the comments back). I'll then gather the comments from the readers and, depending on their comments, rewrite the entire thing, rework sections, or just do another gloss.

7. What of your books was the hardest to write and why?

That's language I don't normally use. It's never "easy," but then again, writing brings so much joy I wouldn't use the word "hard," either. The only time writing has ever felt like work for me was when I was doing ghostwriting or collaborative writing-writing in another voice. That's hard. That's work. My own books? That's why I was born.

8. Have you ever considered writing fiction?

Yes. I've completed a novel on the relationship between Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. My agent loved it, thought it would be a huge seller, but in the end, we couldn't find a publisher. They thought an evangelical writing a book on two Catholic mystics just wouldn't find an audience. I've worked on some other novels as well. What makes it so difficult now is that I have to complete a novel to get paid anything, and nothing is certain, whereas I can put together a nonfiction proposal and have a check to deposit in just a few months' time. When you write for a living, that's kind of how it goes.

9. Do you use a playlist when writing? Are certain books written while predominantly listing to the same music?

Can't even imagine listening to music while I write, and I've always wondered how others do it. How do you create art while encountering someone else's?

10. In many ways you are a modern renaissance man, philosopher, educator, researcher, student, author and more. Very few people today are as well rounded as you are to what do you attribute this?

If I even begin to accept your premise I'm going to look like an arrogant narcissist! As I've already stated-I actually think of myself as quite limited. I'm an idiot when it comes to mechanics, I'm a wimp when it comes to handling personnel, and I get bored silly when it comes to having meetings or dealing with numbers. But as for education, I've always loved to read. I've been in a serious relationship with God for 42 years; I've been reading Scripture daily that whole time. I've been regularly reading the Christian classics for about 30 years now. And I love the way neuroscience seems to back up everything Jesus said, and most of what the classics have been saying, for thousands of years now. That fascinates me. But most of what I share is second-hand-from Scripture, from the classics, from prayer, from science. Maybe, rather than calling me a renaissance man, you might want to think of me as a guy who is forced to listen really hard because he doesn't have much to say on his own.

11. What are the specific tools you use to help keep yourself so centered?

Daily time in prayer, Scripture and the Christian classics are a mainstay; regular long runs are key for handling stress, with the added benefit of getting me outside and fostering worship; movies and novels to relax; and one day a week off to try and shut my mind down (which is increasingly difficult for me to do).

12. One of my goals in life is to find balance between body, mind and spirit. You seem to have achieved that balance in both your work and your life. What do you do to maintain your balance?

It's a natural rhythm, being a guy who loves to study and loves to run. Where I'm weak is in strength training. I could do much better there, and I don't think I'm balanced in that area. But my mind and cardio-the exercise they get springs from desire as much as discipline, to be honest.

13. What does your typical day or week look like for our mind, body and spiritual development? Do you try and keep to a specific regime or schedule?

Mornings begin with devotional times, and then the main effort at writing. After lunch, it's usually all busy stuff-email, meetings, powerpoint, etc. I prefer to run in the afternoons (which you can't do in Houston's summers), and early Saturday morning. If I'm not sick or injured, I run five days a week, usually taking off Sunday and another day due to travel or scheduling.

14. What books are currently in progress for you? Writing, researching, planning or even just ideas that you would like to work on?

I'm just finishing up a book for a new publisher, David C. Cook, with a working title of "Don't Get Married…Until You Read This Book." That likely won't be the final title, but it's on helping people make a wise marital choice. I've been writing and speaking in this field for years, and I'm so passionate about it. It's been a lot of fun to write-what would I tell myself thirty years ago? What would I tell my kids? How can I help them see how important this choice is, and what questions do they need to be asking?

Following that, I'll do another book on marriage-but my publisher wouldn't want me to give the subject away just yet…

15. Who are your favorite classic Christian writers?

Depends on when you ask me. I have a list of the top 25 or so that have influenced me most in my book Thirsting for God, but I'd be hard pressed to narrow it down any more than that.
16. What are some of your favorite contemporary religious authors to read?

I'm not sure you can call Elton Trueblood contemporary anymore, since he's dead, but he only died about 15 years ago. I'm a big fan of Dallas Willard and N.T. Wright, but please don't make immediate theological assumptions just because I mentioned those two (and didn't mention others). Both Willard and Wright have styles I relate to very well, and admire. As far as sheer writing skills go, for research, style, and storytelling, Laura Hillenbrand may be the best writer alive today, though her output has been rather limited. And for fiction, I'm besotted by Susan Howatch.

17. Some of your books are available in electronic formats but with that comes bootleg distribution. What are your impressions of ebooks and the distribution of them through torrents and other illegal means?

It's too early to tell, and I'm too clueless about this to know… One of my books, Pure Pleasure, was offered as a free download for 30 days. Somebody neglected to shut down the button, and over 7,000 copies were downloaded for free. Sales-wise, the book underperformed considerably and I think that had something to do with it. Add in the 7,000 downloads, and it didn't do so badly.

18. Some authors monitor torrent sites and have their publishers contact them to remove their content. Do you do so are have someone do so for you?

This is the first time I've ever heard of a "torrent" site. Thank you for giving me something else to worry about…

19. If you were stuck on a desert island and could only have 10 books to read again and again, what books would you want with you?

The Bible.
Glittering Images and Glamorous Powers (now sold as one book) by Susan Howatch.
A collection of C.S. Lewis.
A collection of Elton Trueblood.
After You Believe by N.T. Wright
John Calvin's Institutes
The Complete Works of A.W. Tozer
Henry Drummond's "The Greatest Thing in the World"
Anthony Trollope's Collected Novels
Whatever book Laura Hillenbrand is working on right now

20. What advice would you give to young aspiring authors and artists particularly those looking to have their art reflect their faith?

Get to know God; art will beat you up as much as it will lift you up, so make sure you learn how to let God love you back to health and sanity. The closer you grow to God, the more you become who he created you to be, giving you your distinct voice. The more intimate you become with God, the more you can reflect his divine creativity and brilliance (however poorly-none of us gets it right). Plus, God may be the only one who truly appreciates your heart. No one else knows what you had to go through to get it out. He does, and he looks at it with the eye of an approving parent.

Thank you Gary for taking some time to interact with us and for doing an author interview. I look forward to reading more of your books and to what will be forthcoming.

Books by Gary Thomas:

Authentic Faith
Every Body Matters
The Glorious Pursuit
Holy Available
Pure Pleasure
Sacred Influence
Sacred Marriage
Sacred Marriage Gift Edition
Devotions for a Sacred Marriage
Sacred Parenting
Devotions for Sacred Parenting
Sacred Pathways
Simply Sacred
Thirsting for God

Author Profile and Interview with Gary L Thomas.

Stink Solar System Super Hero - Megan McDonald and Peter H Reynolds

Stink Solar System Super Hero
Stink Moody Book 5
Megan McDonald (Author)
Peter H Reynolds (Illustrator)
Candlewick
ISBN 9780763643522
eISBN 9780763651923

This was the second Stink Moody book I have read and the third of the Stink and Judy series. These are great books. The writing by Megan McDonald is great - she captures family life, growing up, being a child, and life in school wonderfully. Peter H. Reynolds is an incredible illustrator and his contribution to these series helps make them as amazing as they are. The sections in the book are:

Move Over, Saturn
Vroom! Vroom!
Extra Credit
Miss Space Camp Know-It-All
Jupiter Jerks
Short Stuff
Urp!
No-Good, Rotten Recess
Pluto Rising

This book has a mnemonic to remember the order of the planets. First, Stink's older sister Judy Moody teaches him one, but he gets a big red X on his test because Pluto is no longer a planet. Then Stink gets into a fight at school with Riley Rottenberger. Soon the 2nd grade class is going to have a debate to determine if Pluto is still a planet. Stink and his team are defending Pluto's status as a planet and Riley and her team against it. Soon both are waging a war of words and antics to win over the class. It is another great read for the whole family.

Books by Megan McDonald and Peter H Reynolds:
Stink Moody Books:
1. Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid
2. Stink and the Incredible Super-Galactic Jawbreaker
3. Stink and the World's Worst Super-Stinky Sneakers
4. Stink and the Great Guinea Pig Express
5. Stink: Solar System Superhero'
6. Stink and The Ultimate Thumb-Wrestling Smackdown
7. Stink and the Midnight Zombie Walk

Stink-O-Pedia Volume 1: Super Stink-y Stuff from A to Z
Stink-O-Pedia Volume 2: More Stink-y Stuff from A to Z

Judy and Stink Books:
Judy Moody & Stink: The Holly Joliday
Judy Moody and Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt

Stink and Judy Moody a Visual Bibliography

Judy Moody books:
1. Judy Moody
2. Judy Moody Gets Famous!
3. Judy Moody Saves the World!
4. Judy Moody Predicts the Future
5. Judy Moody, M.D. The Doctor Is In
6. Judy Moody Declares Independence
7. Judy Moody Around the World in 8½ Days
8. Judy Moody Goes to College
9. Judy Moody: Girl Detective
10. Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer
10a. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (Movie Tie-In Edition)
11. Judy Moody and the Bad Luck Charm

Judy Moody Activity Books:
Judy Moody's Double Rare Way Not Boring Book of Fun Stuff to Do
Judy Moody's Way Wacky Uber Awesome Book of MORE Fun Stuff to Do
Judy Moody's Mini-Mysteries and Other Sneaky Stuff for Super-Sleuths

Books by Megan McDonald:
Sisters Club:
Sisters Club 1
Sisters Club 2 Rule of Three
Sisters Club 3 Cloudy With a Chance of Boys

Books by Peter H Reynolds:
The North Star
ish
The Dot
Rose's Garden
I'm Here

Firegirl - Tony Abbott

Firegirl
Tony Abbott
Little, Brown Books for Young
ISBN 9780316011709

This book was incredible. It literally brought me to tears. It has been on my mind and in my thoughts constantly since I finished reading it a week ago. This story is a masterpiece. Tony Abbot has written a story that will touch the heart of every reader; it will likely challenge the thinking and actions of most readers also. The writing is incredible and the characters amazing.

The story takes place over a few weeks. A few weeks into the school year, a new girl joins the class. She has moved to town for medical treatments after she had been in a fire. Tom is a bit of an outsider in class; he likes to watch and observe but does not have the confidence to step forward. He is a little over weight and has a love for cars and comics. He ends up sitting beside the new girl because at St. Catherine's they sit alphabetically. The new girl is Jessica Feeney and in a few weeks she will turn Tom's world upside down and challenge what he values.

This story will take the reader into the experience of compassion, understanding and grace. It will help us look at how others see and experience things, and will leave a lasting impression on the reader. This was one of the best books I have read in years and I will recommend it to anyone who will listen!

Books By Tony Abbott:
Novels
Kringle (2005)
Firegirl (2006)
The Postcard (2008)
Lunch-Box Dream (2011)

Goofballs
1. The Crazy Case of Missing Thunder (2012)
2. The Startling Story of the Stolen Statue (2012)
3. Superhero Silliness (2012)
4. The Mysterious Talent Show Mystery (2013)
5. The Scary Story of the Ha-Ha-Haunted House (2013) 

Underworlds:
1. The Battle Begins (2012)
2. When Monsters Escape (2012)
3. Revenge of the Scorpion King (2013)
4. The Ice Dragon (2013)

Danger Guys
1. Danger Guys (1994)
2. Danger Guys Blast Off (1994)
3. Hollywood Halloween (1994)
4. Danger Guys Hit the Beach (1995)
5. Danger Guys on Ice (1995)
6. Danger Guys and the Golden Lizard (1996)

Time Surfers
1. Space Bingo (1996)
2. Orbit Wipeout! (1995)
3. Mondo Meltdown (1996)
4. Into the Zonk Zone! (1996)
5. Splash Crash (1997)
6. Zero Hour (1997)
7. Shock Wave (1997)
8. Doom Star (1997)

Weird Zone
1. Zombie Surf Commandos from Mars (1996)
2. The Incredible Shrinking Kid (1996)
3. The Beast from Beneath the Cafeteria! (1996)
4. Attack of the Alien Mole Invaders! (1996)
5. The Brain That Wouldn't Obey! (1996)
6. Gigantopus from Planet X! (1997)
7. Cosmic Boy Versus Mezmo Head! (1997)
8. Revenge of the Tiki Men! (1997)

Secrets of Droon
1. The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet (1999)
2. Journey to the Volcano Palace (1999)
3. The Mysterious Island (1999)
4. City in the Clouds (1999)
5. The Great Ice Battle (1999)
6. The Sleeping Giant of Goll (2000)
7. Into the Land of the Lost (2000)
8. The Golden Wasp (2000)
9. Tower of the Elf King (2000)
10. Quest for the Queen (2000)
11. The Hawk Bandits of Tarkoom (2000)
12. Under the Serpent Sea (2001)
13. The Mask of Maliban (2001)
14. Voyage of the Jaffa Wind (2002)
15. The Moon Scroll (2002)
16. The Knights of Silversnow (2002)
Special Edition 1. The Magic Escapes (2002)
17. Dream Thief (2003)
18. Search for the Dragon Ship (2003)
19. The Coiled Viper (2003)
20. In The Ice Caves of Krog (2003)
21. Flight of the Genie (2003)
Special Edition 2. Wizard or Witch? (2004)
22. The Isle of Mists (2004)
23. The Fortress of the Treasure Queen (2004)
24. Race To Doobesh (2005)
25. The Riddle Of Zorfendorf Castle (2005)
Special Edition 3. Voyagers of the Silver Sand (2005)
26. The Moon Dragon (2006)
27. The Chariot of Queen Zara (2006)
28. In the Shadow of Goll (2006)
Special Edition 4. Sorcerer (2006)
29. Pirates of the Purple Dawn (2007)
30. Escape from Jabar-Loo (2007)
31. Queen of Shadowthorn (2007)
Special Edition 5. Moon Magic (2008)
32. Treasure of the Orkins (2008)
33. Flight of the Blue Serpent (2008)
34. In the City of Dreams (2009)
Special Edition 6. Crown of Wizards (2009)
35. The Lost Empire Of Koomba (2009)
36. Knights of the Ruby Wand (2010)
Special Edition 7. The Genie King (2010)
Special Edition 8. The Final Quest (2010)

Don't Touch That Remote
1. Sitcom School (1999)
2. The Fake Teacher (1999)
3. Stinky Business (announced, not published)
4. Freak Week (announced, not published)

Cracked Classics
1. Trapped in Transylvania: Dracula (2002)
2. Mississippi River Blues: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2002)
3. What a Trip!: Around the World in Eighty Days (2002)
4. Humbug Holiday: A Christmas Carol (2002)

5. X Marks the Spot: Treasure Island (2003)
6. Crushing on a Capulet: Romeo and Juliet (2003)

Haunting of Derek Stone
1. City of the Dead (2009)
2. Bayou Dogs (2009)
3. The Red House (2009)
4. The Ghost Road (2009)

The Copernicus Legacy

The Forbidden Stone (2013)

The Serpent's Curse (2014

Author profile interview with Tony Abbott.

Welcome to Chuggington

Welcome to Chuggington
Chuggington
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545261302

This board book has different layered pages each outlining a different train from Chuggington station. It outlines each of the trains and their main role. It highlights some of the locations in and around the station also. Bright, vibrant colors, sturdy board book construction and trains, trains and trains. So hop aboard and go for a ride around Chugginton. Kids of all ages will love it.

Skipping Stones At The Center Of The Earth - Andy Hueller

Skipping Stones At The Center Of The Earth
Andy Hueller
Bonneville Books
Cedar Forts
ISBN 9781599554884

This book was surprisingly entertaining. The title grabbed my attention, but once I read the beginning, I was grabbed. The story focuses around Calvin Comet Cobble who lives at the Hidden Shores Orphanage, which is located on the shores of Lake Arctic below the earth's crust. A giant screw was found in the Arctic, and as they unscrewed it, they discovered a giant cavern, part of which gets light and part that is always dark. They build a super max prison on the dark side and an orphanage in the light. Calvin is a twelve-year-old boy and he has a great imagination and a knack for getting into trouble.

Soon he meets Mr. E, the school's custodian who lives in a shack right on the shore of the lake. His best, and maybe only friend, is Bernetha Twiggins, and between Bernetha and Mr. E they soon help Calvin discover more about his past and he embarks on an adventure to find out who he really is.

This book is the beginning of a great series. The story is fun and unique. The characters are interesting and well written. Give the book a try; you will enjoy it.

Books by Andy Hueller:
Dizzy Fantastic and Her Flying Bicycle
Skipping Stones at the Center of the Earth
How I Got Rich Writing C Papers

James Bow - Author Profile

James Bow, is the author with numerous published books both fiction and non-fiction. He is a graduate of The University of Waterloo and is very involved in and around campus and Kitchener Waterloo. He has worked as a database manager, web designer, circulation manager, administrative assistant, layout designer and office manager. But his passion is literature, especially Young Adult Fiction.

1. If you had not become a writer what do you think you would be doing for a living?

Writing is something I fell into. I always enjoyed writing, all the way back to high school, but it was a hobby for me, at first. It was something subservient to what I intended to do for a living which, at the time, had been to become an urban planner. However, I graduated from the University of Waterloo's school of urban and regional planning in 1995, during tough economic times and a period of government downsizing, when I was competing with senior managers with ten years experience for entry level positions. So planning was what I wanted to be, and I couldn't get into it - not without slaving away as a long-term intern, or upping sticks and moving to Florida. Instead, I got temp jobs and ended up falling into the tech industry, although that wasn't as good of a fit. I still enjoyed the writing and creation aspects of the job, but it was far too dry and technical for my tastes. Becoming a writer required a lot of courage, because I knew it was hard to make it work financially, and there were all these demands on my finances. But in the end, I needed to work at something I loved doing, because the other jobs were demanding too much of my time and I simply didn't enjoy doing the work. So, if I wasn't a writer now, I think it would only have been because I'd found a good planning job and progressed in that career. Today, though, it's my secondary interest. I run a public transit historical website called Transit Toronto, and I earn my keep with column writing, and contract work (writing marketing profiles) for an up-and-coming apartment brokerage company. I'm pleased that I've been able to put that part of me back into my professional life, but I am a writer first and a planner second.

2. When did you know you wanted to be a writer? How did you nurture that dream?

As I said, I'd been writing since high school. I've been a fan of Doctor Who for just about ever, having seen my first episode (Genesis of the Daleks, part 6) on TV Ontario when I was four years old. When I entered high school, I discovered the world of fandom and joined a Doctor Who fan club. From there, I learned of the existence of fan fiction. I submitted my first Doctor Who fan fiction story when I was fourteen. By the time I was nineteen, I was producing my own fan fiction magazines. From 1991 to 2004, I wrote for and edited nearly twenty Doctor Who fan fiction publications. I've met a lot of friends through fan fiction, including the woman who became my wife, and I keep in touch with them to this day.

3. Who were some of your biggest supporters and contributors to your early success?

I grew up in a family that loved the written word. Both my parents were trained as librarians, and my mother (Patricia Bow) had been writing and submitting stories to publishers for as long as I could remember. When I was a teenager, my mother let me read over and critique one of her YA submissions, and she read over and critiqued my fan fiction. Along with my wife (Erin Bow), she's my best editor. I met my wife, Erin, when I submitted one of my fan fiction stories to the newsgroup alt.drwho.creative. We became penpals and eventually fell in love. She was already a talented poet, and I encouraged her to write some fan fiction, which I published, and which a lot of people liked. We've supported and encouraged each other ever since, sharing scenes and critiquing them. She's made me a much better writer than I would have been without her.

4. What authors influenced your writing style and format?

I read a lot in the field I like to write in, so I think that has an influence. Really, I'm writing what I'm writing because I love the YA, science fiction and fantasy genres and I want more such books on the shelf. When you read a lot, there's a lot of cross-pollination. I love what Kenneth Oppel did with his Airborn trilogy, and I want to emulate that. Arthur Slade and Phillip Reeve have helped introduce me to steampunk. I also love Terry Pratchett. But I think the two longest standing influences have been the television show Doctor Who and Australian children's writer Patricia Wrightson. Doctor Who is the most flexible format in fiction. At its core, it's the tale about a wizard with a magical cabinet that can take him anywhere in the universe. He's a portable hero that can be dropped into any story, regardless of setting or genre. That gave me a love for wide ranging storytelling that I think has influenced my writing. Patricia Wrightson is not really well known in Canada. Somehow, one of her books, An Older Kind of Magic made its way here, and my mother read it to me when I was eight. It's a story about how a group of children help save a park in Sydney from developers, with the help of creatures from Australian aboriginal folklore. A sense of magic infuses the book, but one thing that stood out for me at the time was that a couple of the children were siblings that lived with their parents in a cabin located on the roof of a government building in downtown Sydney. Their father was the chief caretaker of the building and he got to live at the top of the building with his family, and the children got to roam the abandoned offices after hours. That magical, almost spooky, setting just burned itself in my mind and I remembered it instantly when I came upon the book twenty years later. The interesting thing is, when I read the story to my wife, she said that my writing style was very similar to Patricia Wrightson's in this book. So perhaps she's influenced me more than I know.

5. What advice do you wish an artist had passed on to you early in your career, which you only learned through experience?

People say it, but you can only really learn this first hand: it's better to make a living doing what you love than what you don't love, even if what you don't love earns you more money than what you do love. Even if you struggle to make ends meet (and you will), it's far more fulfilling if you enjoy what you're doing. I spent years avoiding being a writer because I didn't think it would pay the bills, but it was far better for my soul, and that's more important than my pocketbook.

6. What does your writing process look like? Takes us through the steps from idea to publishing?

I try to spend every spare moment writing something. I often have to struggle against wasting time on the Internet, checking e-mail, surfing websites or following Twitter. Sometimes I'm successful; sometimes I'm not. Now that my youngest daughter is attending preschool, and my eldest is in grade one, I have mornings to myself. This is a treat I haven't had in years. My wife needs to have her own writing office, and has rented space downtown to give herself a controlled mental space in which to work. I'm better at blocking out distractions, but in order to motivate myself to write, I sometimes find that I do have to step outside and find a space that isn't my home. By buying a coffee at a coffee shop, I tell myself, "right, I've spent money. Now I've got to sit down and write something in order to earn what I've spent." I also do a fair amount of writing late at night, after the kids are in bed but before I go to sleep myself. I don't have a set process other than that. The stories that I wrote were often discovered. I had a few seed ideas, perhaps a scene at the beginning, cool stuff in the middle and a possible scene in the end, and my task is to find a fun way to connect the dots. I rarely outline or anything like that or, if I do, it's something that I do at the same time as writing out scenes. Writing for me is the same act of discovery that readers do by reading.
 
7. Dows your writing process differ when writing fiction versus non-fiction?

Yes, they do, because the objectives of non-fiction are quite different. There is a lot more research involved and it stands to reason that the process has to be much tighter. In my non-fiction work, the deadlines are much tighter, so the work is more frenzied, but often the "story" is right there in front of me, and I simply have to write to that.

8. Do you prefer writing fiction or non-fiction?

There are elements I like of both. I'm proud of my non-fiction work, but fiction is more rewarding for me, I think. The story is far more mine in this instance.

9. Do you use a playlist when writing? Are certain books written while predominantly listing to the same music?

I do have "soundtrack albums" that I associate with some of my stories. As with my fiction writing, these came together organically. Often, I'd discover a new artist or album as I was writing my new project, and I would make connections between the two. I discovered the Quebec artist Jorane back in 2001, when I started writing Fathom Five, and I believe she had a great influence on that work; the atmosphere of her music just fit the atmosphere I was going for in the novel. The Unwritten Girl was more of a Pink Floyd tale. My latest novels (currently unpublished) also have their own soundtracks. The Night Girl is a bit of an eclectic mix with a lot of alternative stuff; The Dream King's Daughter has a lot of Jorane and Tori Amos, and Icarus Down was written as I was discovering the works of avant-garde techno-cellist Zoe Keating.

10. I once heard Madeleine L'Engle state that her characters were real to her and almost an extended part of her family, she said once that at the dinner table she sat up and stated "Meg just finished her PhD." Are your characters real to you, do you ever get glimpses of what they are up to now, or once you finish a book is that it?

That's certainly the case with Rosemary and Peter, whose first novel, The Unwritten Girl was heavily influenced by L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time (I'm sure you've spotted some of the explicit connections). I started writing the series in 2001, five years before the first book was published, and I had a draft of all three novels finished by 2003. I knew what their lives were like from 12 to 18, and I had plans for a fourth novel (now shelved) that would have taken them to 24, when they were adults and expecting their first child. It's similar for the other characters I've created since, although in those cases, the development of their lives have come in the form of potential sequels rather than anything as detailed as Peter and Rosemary's lives.

11. If you could only recommend 10 books to a reader looking to be a well-rounded and whole person what books would you suggest?

I can suggest ten books, but I don't think they'd be well rounded. My love is YA literature, with a healthy dose of fantasy and sci-fi. That has been the bulk of my reading for the past fifteen years. I haven't read Margaret Atwood, though I greatly respect her contributions to Canadian literature. My favourite Canadian writers are Kenneth Oppel and Arthur Slade. And I don't keep lists, so what I would suggest one day might be different on another day. So, here and now, off the top of my head, are ten books I'd recommend other readers read, in no particular order: 1. Kenneth Oppel's Airborn trilogy 2. The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade 3. The Boneshaker by Kate Milford. 4. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett 5. Nation by Terry Pratchett 6. The Mortal Engines sequence by Phillip Reeve 7. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino 8. The Chestnut Soldier by Jenny Nimmo 9. The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson 10. Plain Kate by my wife, Erin Bow

12. In many ways you are a modern renaissance man, philosopher, educator, researcher, student, author and more. Very few people today are as well rounded as you are to what do you attribute this?

Quite possibly by not excelling in a particular field with good career opportunities. I've always enjoyed learning, and I was a rather studious kid, but I never seemed to take the most obvious path. Back in high school, I decided my focus would be geography, of all things, since that wasn't the obvious choice as something more math or language related. Maybe a part of me thought it would be fun to explore. The problem is, choosing such paths means the paths aren't exactly clear, since they're not as well trod. They're more fun to explore, but the final destination isn't easy to see. It took me a while to understand that it was writing that I loved the most, and that of all of the things I've done in my life - urban planning, office work, working at a high tech company and so on - the things I loved most about those things have been the creative writing elements. That doesn't exactly line up. I've dabbled in journalism, but I like to write fiction. I like to speak my mind, and putting a blog together naturally helped get those words out. I've dabbled in a lot of things, but at the core of it all has been my writing. I suspect being a writer leads to a lot of dabbling. We're explorers, not necessarily researchers. We don't always have the necessary focus to be experts in only one thing.

13. Some of your books are available in electronic formats but with that comes bootleg distribution. What are your impressions of ebooks and the distribution of them through torrents and other illegal means?

I really don't think we're going to be getting the genie back in the bottle in terms of bootleg downloads. It's just too easy to put something on the Internet and get it off, and making it difficult penalizes legitimate users unfairly. I think the best approach is to just call for an honest payment, noting that if we don't get paid, the world will lose our future content. I can only hope that anybody who downloads a bootleg copy of my book (I haven't heard of anyone doing that; my wife's Plain Kate is pretty high on the list of illegal downloads, however) eventually decides to get a legitimate copy that will get reflected on my royalty statement. If he or she ends up doing so as a result of encountering my book as a bootleg, so much the better. But I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

14. Some authors monitor torrent sites and have their publishers contact them to remove their content. Do you do so are have someone do so for you?

There isn't enough hours in the day for me to do this, and I'm not sure what my publisher does. Again, I have things to write, so I'm not going to waste that time by trying to police the Internet.

15. Completely off topic but what TV shows or movies do you enjoy?

We cut the cable television soon after my eldest daughter was born, so what we have tends to be downloaded via iTunes or streamed from Netflix, or grabbed through an off-air antenna. My favourite show remains Doctor Who, but I quite like Community and The Big Bang Theory. We watch Mythbusters with our kids. And I have a healthy diet of children's television under my belt… enough for me to build conspiracy theories as to what really happened to Max and Ruby's parents. My favourite movies include Hitchcock's North by Northwest and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'm also partial to anything by Pixar. Other than that, we haven't been out to see a movie all that often since the kids were born.

16. I once had a university professor state that the true goal of a university education should be to teach one to learn how to think. What would you state should be the goal of higher education and why?

I have to agree that learning how to learn is the best thing the university system ever taught me. Because once you get the basics down, there's so much more that's out there, you've just got to go and get it yourself - or ask the right people the right questions in order to get the answers you need. Everything else that our higher education systems are obliged to do - give us job skills, do high level research, et cetera - becomes much easier once this foundation is laid.

17. If you were stuck on a desert island and could only have 10 books to read again and again, what books would you want with you?

Well, I would go back to the list that I gave you in question 11. I'd knock out numbers seven through nine and bring along my wife, her laptop and my laptop. That way, I'd have good stuff to read, and she and I could work on our books and read them over for each other. That should keep us occupied for years. We'd also need a solar charger, so knock out number six as well.
 
18. What advice would you give to young aspiring authors and artists?

My sister-in-law (now sadly passed away), Wendy once said "never buy anything you don't love". That made her very difficult to shop for. She later amended it to "never do anything you don't love." There is far too little time in your life to waste focusing on getting a high-paying career you're not passionate about because you want something to pay the bills. You have to be passionate about what you do in order for what you do to have meaning. It's hard to make a living, no matter what you do, but it feels a lot easier if you have fun doing it.
 
Thank you James for taking some time to answer some questions for the readers at Book Reviews and More. I look forward to reading more books by you and your wife.

Books by James Bow:
Icarus Down

The Unwritten Books:
The Unwritten Girl
Fathom Five
The Young City

Mysteries Revealed:
Animal Mysteries Revealed
Earth Mysteries Revealed
Space Mysteries Revealed

Non-Fiction:
Lamborghini: Superstar Cars
Earth's Secrets: Invisible Worlds
Deep Space Extremes
Baseball: Sports Science
Cycling: Sports Science
Saving Endangered Plants and Animals: Science Solves It
Rescue Missions: Science Solves It

Author Profile and Interview with James Bow