Book Lovers' Author Expo 

I'll be at the Cumberland, RI, Library's Book Lovers' Author Expo in February, a show for local authors.

I like doing this show just to spend some time in the old monastery that serves as Cumberland's library today. The building is beautiful, as are the grounds. 

Will my new young-adult novel "No Teammates in Motocross" be out by then? Come and find out. It's Saturday, February 18, from 1 to 4pm.. 

i'm at the Exeter FALL Festival tomorrow, Sept 24. 

Y'up, I'm selling and signing books at this event, which benefits Exeter, Rhode Island's library. Glad to support that.

Unlike the book fair in Brookfield, MA, September 17, there's a lot of everything in Exeter; art works, crafts, local products and services, including artisan-crafted food-products, plus plants, produce and the like.

It's from 10AM until 3PM at the Yawgoo Valley Ski Area, 160 Yawgoo Valley Rd,, Exeter, RI.

It promises to be a great day for a ride, and I promise this is a nice one no matter where you start.

 

Authors at an Orchard? 

Saturday, September 17, Brookfield Orchards hosts its annual Local Authors Fair. Authors from around New England will be signing and selling their works. It's a great time to talk to the folks who created the stories, and there's always plenty of stuff in every genre and some books that don't fit any of them. 

I'll be there with my "Red Racecar" books for kids as well as my award-winning novel  "Henry Hits the Ball."  

Brookfield is in south central Massachusetts, so check out the Brookfield Orchard website for more info and directions. The orchard also has good food and gifts, and you can pick some apples! 

It's on from 10am to 4pm. Come say hi.

Reading doesn't have to be fundamental. It can just be FUN! 

Summer's over. Time to get back to work -- as a publisher. I'm still writing; "No Teammates in Motocross," a sequel of sorts to "Motocross Summer." But getting books into readers' hands is "a whole 'nutha trip."

I started after reading a middle-grade" novel about a kid who fell off a roof and sustained a head injury. My granddaughter loaned it to me as she knew I'd worked with TBI survivors for years. What I read resorted to a cliched view of TBI. The protagonist had total amnesia. Otherwise, other than a shoulder-injury, he was fine. 

That hardly is a realistic picture. In over 30 years I never met anyone who'd lost all memories of anything. I also had met few people who didn't need therapy to walk. talk. or otherwise regain lost capabilities. This was a serious issue, too. This wasn't going to be a fun read, it should have been an insightful one.

 I started my "research" at a local Barnes & Noble as I wanted to get a picture of what was popular in the mainstream. I browsed. First in the Young Adult section. My initial question was were there any books for a kid into motor racing, motorcycles or any other kind of motorized adventure. Yeah -- right! I started looking for any books set in any world of sports. I found one. There was a boy and a girl and a football on the cover. The title was "You Throw Like a Girl" and it more explored an issue than playing any kind of ball.

I browsed and browsed some more. What I saw were mean-looking kids looking over their shoulders at other kids. Some showed boys and girls, many just girls. They mostly were reacting, to something. They weren't having fun.

There also was an entire section devoted to LGBDQ-focused stories. Okay. it's not that these aren't important issues that should be explored (an I won't even go into the whole issue over not making poor little white boys feel guilty). But how do you get a kid to want to read when you keep making them deal with "issues" to do it. How do you even write a LGBDQ novel. What do these kids do that's different from other kids. What, a transgender kid doesn't have interests? Wouldn't THEY enjoy reading about baseball, or a rock band, or going to the moon?

I'm trying to write books that are fun to read, at least to the kids who might like racing, including the girls and minorty-kids who do it in the books. 

Any bookstore's out there that get it?

Summer Reading should be fun. 

Every year the Boston Globe publishes its Summer Reading List, wtih recommendations for the best new books. 
There’s a list of Young Adult books I always want to check out. No, I’m not checking to see if they chose one of my own Yong Adult books; the Red Racecar, Dinosaur Racing or Motocross Summer. The Globe doesn’t go looking anywhere but with the major publishing houses. 
Still, I want to see what they do recommend, in genres, subjects and settings. I don’t expect any books set around cars, bikes or any motorsports, but maybe one set among skateboarders, or say, lacrosse players. Even a story of gamers might prove appealing to some kids. 
But, no. Among the ten books featured, there were three fantasy novels, two romances, two mysteries, two dealing with gender and sexuality, and one of historical-political fiction. And not one book I would have picked up as a kid.  
Not that I lacked books to read.  I got books about racing and other sports – and right at school, through the Scholastic and the Weekly Reader Book Club and even right out of the school-library. These days kids associate reading with work, or learning, or responsibility. I read for fun. 
More kids need that chance.

A Quote... 

Bertrand Russell said:

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."

You'd think he was alive today. 

 

Lafayette, we are here? 

I just found out that Hendricks Motorsports plans to run the new Cup car in the 24 Hours (or "Heures" or something) of LeMans. That is SO cool. For one thing, the new cars can compete, particularly with all the new adjustability in them, as well as the fact that the general technology of a Cup car now is concurrent with the 21st century.

I got a kick out of fans' complaints about the new design. Evidently, some see it as a radical-creation. Yet it was approaching the point where the "Whomever-Paid-to Name It" Cup had more in common with vintage racing than modern motorsports.

But -  hey - if you want to root for race technology of more typical NASCAR vintage, you can always follow for the Truck series, where I still say every truck should be carrying cargo.

What's going down? 

For one thing, the words for my latest, No Teammates in Motocross, the sequel to my Red Racecar young adult novel Motocross Summer. The title pretty much describes the plot and reveals the conflict between two - well - not teammates, I guess.

I met with an artist last week to discuss the cover, which should help attract the kids who enjoy my books.  

In the meantime, is that spring I hear. Time to get the bikes tuned up.

Still Alive? 

You'd think that two-years of isolation would be welcome by writers, those legendary recluses who slave away at their keyboards even while the world falls apart around them. I've never been able to be THAT reclusive. All the nonsense of the last two years messed with me as much as anyone. Now, though, as we move back toward something we dare to call normal, I'm back on a regular schedule. 

Helping, too, are the book shows and signings that are happening again, as well as my writers' critique group, which provides motivation as well. Still, the key to progress for me is when I'm thinking about my story even when I'm not writing it. That's when the best scenes come to mind, or even noteworthy lines from characters. 

So right now, I'm working on a sequel to Motocross Summer; No Teammates in Motocross. And I'm getting out to promote and discuss my Red Racecar books as well as Henry Hits the Ball.

Maybe I'll see you around.

It's ALIVE! 

I am, actually.

I must apologize. I've neglected to continue with this blog. I've actually neglected to continue with a lot - much of this required by the insanity we're all living these days, but admittedly also a lack of initiative and a lack of incentive to continue. But now? Well, now we'll see. 

So let's start with two events coming up where I'll be selling and signing books. They're two favorites that didn't see the light of reality last year. 

First there's the Association of Rhode Island's Authors Expo. It happens Saturday, December 11, this year at the Crown Plaza Hotel, 801 Greenwich Avenue in Warwick, RI. 

This is a great place to meet local authors in every genre, talk to them about their work and get a signed copy of the ones that best suit your interests. 

And as 2022 begins I'll be returning to the Autoparts Swap & Sell in the Better Living Center at the Eastern States Exposition January 22 and 23. Enter 1305 Memorial Drive in West Springfield, Mass., if seeking digital guidance, It's all sorts of auto and racing-related stuff, including my "Red Racecar" adventures for young readers.

I can't wait.