Cover image for my novel “A Wobblegong and His Boy”
Today’s the day when my boy’s adventure science fiction novel A Wobblegong And His Boy goes on Pre-Order. Just click on the link and on the Amazon page, pre-order my novel for delivery to your Kindle device on Friday, March 20th.
I’m incredibly excited about this one. This will be my second published novel which I hope will lead to other, larger works and successes.
Here’s just a taste of what you have to look forward to:
Okay, I can finally talk about it.
I have a number of short stories published by Raconteur Press. They’re good people and seem to like my stories, even the ones they elect not to publish.
They also are in the process of publishing a series of Boys’ Adventure Books.
Generally, they’re short science fiction or fantasy adventure novels written specifically for young male readers between the ages of eight and eighteen in the tradition of Robert Heinlein’s juvenile books. While written for boys, they are intended to be equally enjoyable by girls as well as adults. But really, they’re mostly for boys.
The idea as I understand it, is that boys don’t read anymore in part because books aren’t really being written with boys in mind these days. With the surge in “updating the genre for modern audiences,” that “update” includes any audience except young boys. Boys (and often men) are thought to have been excessively marketed to in the past, and the current SFF gatekeepers thus decided to “move on” to other readerships.
I mean who is successfully publishing and marketing books in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “John Carter of Mars” or “Tarzan series? What about E.E. “Doc” Smith’s “Lensman” and “Skylark” books? Heck, if it were written today, Robert Louis Stephenson’s “Treasure Island” would probably never see the light of day.
Cover art for the novel “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson.
At the ripe old age of seventy (soon to be seventy-one), I don’t believe I’ve read Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island before. It first appeared in book form in 1883 and before that, was serialized in a children’s magazine from 1881 to 1882 under the title “Treasure Island or the Mutiny of the Hispaniola.”
“Children’s literature” indeed since it describes more than one murder in somewhat grisly detail as well as the threat of torture, hangings, alcoholism, and dismemberment.
Truth be told, I picked it up (figuratively speaking) because I’m interested in authoring a book for an open submission requesting adventure novels written specifically for boys. Not only that, but a boy (probably about age ten) must be an active participant in the story if not the main protagonist.
Stevenson’s classic novel was suggested as an inspiration. Since it is open domain, it’s a free download (available for purchase as well if you want all the bells and whistles) in a variety of formats.
Like other 19th century novels, it’s not written in a way that’s always easy for the modern reader. There are times when it rambles and winds its way toward its ultimate conclusion along several unlikely paths.
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