D.R. Martin's Blog, page 14

Paperback Now Available

As much as I enjoy reading books on my Nook, I spend more time reading old-fashioned paperbacks and hardcovers. Clearly, a lot of kids and grown-ups still read that way, with physical books currently outselling e-books by far. For me as an author, nothing can beat the experience of holding one of my books in my hands for the first time.

I received my first paperback of Johnny Graphic and the Etheric Bomb a few weeks ago. It was a proof copy–that is, the first copy of the book that I proofread to make sure there were no problems. And man, it was fun to touch it and look at it and read it!

Now the Johnny Graphic paperback is officially available at Amazon and CreateSpace. You can order it by clicking on the appropriate line in the sidebar or on the “Buy the Book” link above. In coming weeks, the paperback will become available at other booksellers that offer print-on-demand books, such as Barnes & Noble.

I hope you check it out and let me know what you think of my ghost adventure.

Johnny Goes Live

I’ve been working with that kid photographer Johnny Graphic for over six years, on and off. But now it’s finally time for him and his sister Melanie and friend Nina Bain and all the other characters–the living and ghosts–to go out into the world and meet readers like you.

Johnny Graphic and the Etheric Bomb is now live as an e-book at both the Amazon Kindle Store and Smashwords (for the Nook and other e-readers). If you’re interested in buying it or simply checking it out further, just click on the Amazon or Smashwords links that you see to the right of this blog post. More outlets will follow. And if you prefer to read a paper book, that will be coming within the next few weeks.

Up until now, I could keep working on this book–making improvements, fixing little errors. But now it has to stand on its own legs, while I start to work on the next book in the series. It really is kind of like sending your kid off to school for the first time. It’s a little scary, but it’s also exciting and wonderful.

I hope that you’ll take a look at Johnny Graphic and let me know what you think.

Where in the world is Johnny Graphic?

Johnny Graphic sure knows how to travel.

In his first big adventure, the 12-year-old news photographer journeys halfway around the world in search of clues to a murderous ghost conspiracy. Johnny starts by heading west to La Concha (Los Angeles in our universe), but that trip is cut short by a mid-air ghost attack on his plane. So, after a narrow brush with death in the clouds, it’s back home to Zenith (real-world equivalent: Duluth, Minnesota). Then Johnny and his companions take flight again, making their way across the Greater (Pacific) Ocean, where they encounter tropical tremors of terrible treachery.

Just like Johnny himself, my book Johnny Graphic and the Etheric Bomb has traveled a lot. The novel was mostly written in Minneapolis, but also during a long trip to Florida and during jaunts around the Midwest. The wonderful editor who helped me make it into the best story possible lives in Rhode Island, but also worked on it in Australia–where she used to live. The formatter (the person who turns manuscripts into e-books) lives and works in Malta, an island in the Mediterranean.

In a few short weeks, Johnny will be traveling to Amazon–where his adventures will be available as both a Kindle e-book and a print-on-demand (POD) paperback. Johnny will also show up in places like Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and the Apple store. Most independent bookstores will be able to order the POD book, for anyone who doesn’t use an e-reader (or prefers to read the traditional way).

And then the final leg of Johnny Graphic’s journey will happen, as the book finds its way into your hands. And into your imagination.

Time for Johnny Graphic to Fly

I first thought of Johnny Graphic and the Etheric Bomb over six years ago. It had been a few years since I had worked on any fiction and I thought it was about time to take another shot. Having read so many great fantasy books for younger readers–by Rowling and Riordan and Nix and Colfer and Gaiman and others–I decided to try to write one of my own. So I just started tapping out the words on my laptop. The very first paragraph described the eyeless ghost warrior Burilgi charging through a thunderstorm with his troop of wraiths. And that never changed.

But so much else in the book did. Johnny Graphic himself evolved from a shallow kid without much personality to an energetic young man of strong character who knows just what he wants and has the guts to grab for it. He wants very much to live in a grown-up world, but along the way learns how hard it can be.

His sister Melanie started with an almost equal role. I was sorry to cut her back, but it wasn’t her story that needed telling–it was Johnny’s.

When I first started writing the book, Johnny had no one whom he could confide in, who would be honest with him. That’s when I realized he needed a best friend and I created his “honorary cousin” Nina Bain, nicknamed “Sparks.”

For the longest time I couldn’t figure out what I wanted the villain to be like. Why, I wondered, did he do the things he did? The bad guy with his dastardly scheme, after all, is the force that drives a good story. If you don’t get your villain right, you won’t get your story right. After all, if there was no Voldemort, what would Harry Potter do?

Johnny Graphic has been through at least nine revisions, most of them in the last year and a half. It’s been a long, hard process, but I’ve loved every minute of it. And now it’s time for Johnny Graphic and the Etheric Bomb to fly out into the world. Which may be Johnny’s greatest adventure of all.

D. R. Martin