Fitzroy Books Authors, Regal House Publishing, Blog

January 21, 2019 By Mathew

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the middle-grade fiction author, Mathew Tekulsky

The role of Martin Luther King, Jr. in your novel is so central that the title is named after him. What made Martin Luther King, Jr. such a predominant theme in your work?

MT: The inspiration to include Martin Luther King Jr. as a character in my novel came about by accident. I was writing the scene where Adam and Sally visit the blacklisted author Gladys McKinley, and her housekeeper, Honey, hears Gladys talking about her friend, Martin Luther King Jr. I knew the kids in the novel needed a reading list for their English class at school, so I used The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a subtheme to what I knew would later be a statement about the Vietnam War. Racial prejudice was prevalent in Mark Twain’s time, in 1967 when my book takes place, and, unfortunately, is still so today. Once Gladys tells Honey that she will take her to meet Martin Luther King, I knew then that the remainder of the book would involve Dr. King himself and his interaction with the kids and how they would be inspired by him.

What do you think kids should know about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s work today and how does your novel illustrate this?

MT: By the time my novel takes place, in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. had developed his message beyond civil rights and racial equality. He had become committed to fighting for a world in which there was peace, as well as economic equality among all people regardless of the color of their skin. He even advocated for a guaranteed annual income for all Americans in his book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, which I cite in the novel. I would like kids to know that Dr. King was a pacifist who spoke out against the Vietnam War. He wanted America’s working people to have a decent, living wage. He was in Memphis supporting the sanitation workers’ strike when he was assassinated.

Political activism is on the rise today. In The Martin Luther King Mitzvah, kids protest against the Vietnam War and engage in marches outside their middle school. What message does this convey to kids growing up today?

MT: War should be the last resort, when diplomacy has failed. There is not enough diplomacy in today’s political world. I would like kids to know that in a democracy, every citizen has the right, indeed, the duty to speak out when he or she sees injustice. In this way, kids can contribute to making the world a better place.

Mathew Tekulsky, author of The Martin Luther King Mitzvah from Fitzroy Books

Mathew Tekulsky is the author of Backyard Bird Photography (Skyhorse Publishing, 2014) as well as The Art of Hummingbird Gardening, The Art of Butterfly Gardening, and Making Your Own Gourmet Coffee Drinks. He is also the author of the work of middle-grade fiction, The Martin Luther King Mitzvah.

October 19, 2018 By Margo Sorenson

The Secrets Behind Secrets in Translation

Italian guys…gorgeous views of Positano and the Amalfi Coast…wine and limoncello—think lemonade with an alcoholic punch— (Note: gasp! there is no drinking age in Italy)…dark intrigue and mystery—and not just mystery about how to meet that Italian hottie! So, what’s not to like about writing a book with all these elements? You can just imagine what fun this book was to write!

It all begins with one idea, of course, and everything else gets added in and blended together, and then the characters themselves (yes, the ones you created!) begin to take over the story. Readers often ask me, “What is the secret to writing a novel?” “What is the secret to finding your ideas?” For my newest novel, Secrets in Translation, which takes place in Italy, the answers to those questions are multi-layered—and all about many, many secrets, of course!

I definitely remember where I was when the first idea for Secrets popped into my head. Guess where? Surrounded by people speaking Italian, of course! I hadn’t been back to Italy since I grew up there as a kid, so, even though I still studied and spoke Italian, I hadn’t been surrounded by people actually speaking Italian for years.

When we all walked into the hotel, I saw several men look at us and say, “Ah, le donne americane vengono – che belle!” Then they kissed their fingertips (Italian men can be such flirts!). I started to smile and looked at our friends—and suddenly realized none of them could understand a word of what the men were saying: “Ah, American women are coming – how beautiful!” Not only that, the men speaking Italian had no idea that I could understand everything they said, either. Because I looked so obviously American and was with a group of other Americans, no one could even begin to imagine that I could understand the Italian language.

Now, there was an idea for a plot! Authors love to ask the question, “What if?” My “what if” question was, “What if you could understand and speak a language, but no one else knew you could? What if an American girl was fluent in Italian and could understand everything Italians were saying, but they didn’t realize she could—and because she could speak both languages, she discovered a dark conspiracy that threatened those she loved?”

Of course, novels are about so much, much more than an action plot, so my main character, Alessandra, needed her own journey to take. Because I grew up in Italy as a young child and have often felt that my heart is still a little bit Italian, having Alessandra conflicted about who she really was seemed to be a natural problem for her to try and solve. That is Alessandra’s journey in Secrets in Translation, much as she resists it. Of course, because Italian young men can be drop-dead handsome, Alessandra had to find an Italian boyfriend, too… (That would be crush-worthy Carlo, of course) In the book, she wonders if there are ANY ugly guys in Italy (probably not). There’s another young man in the book, too, and you’ll have to read it to find out more about Giovanni…and his own secrets…

Our wonderful and generous Italian friends filled me in on all sorts of ideas for possible conspiracies for Alessandra to discover, most of which, of course, involved organized crime and its reaches into so many aspects of everyday life in Italy. Writing is indeed work, so I spent months researching how the Mafia and its offshoots worked, reading newspapers in Italian, studying books like Roberto Saviano’s Gomorrah (yes, he’s still under police protection because of his writing about the Mafia and Camorra), and asking plenty of questions of our Italian friends via email to Italy to make sure the events that threaten Alessandra were accurate. Drinking wine and limoncello (oh, you’ll have to read the book!) were involved in my research, as well as several more trips to Italy, most particularly gorgeous Positano, where Alessandra stays while she is nannying for the tween from hell. You have to research very thoroughly, you know!

Once Alessandra’s story was down on paper, you might think it was almost publication-ready—but that’s not true! Secrets in Translation went through probably over fifty revisions, including the last one, after it was acquired by Fitzroy Books and edited by my wonderful editor, Jaynie Royal, who always believed in Alessandra and her story. How many years did this entire process take, from the very first idea to the published book? Try fourteen years!

Italy is a beautiful country and the people are warm and generous, a wonderful place to make the kind of discovery that Alessandra is finally able to make, and I hope it resonates with readers of all ages. Because Italy is near and dear to my heart—and because I wanted to write a story about finding out who you really are—I am thrilled that Secrets in Translation is not a secret any longer!

Margo Sorenson is the author of twenty-nine books for young readers. Her most recent Adult/YA novel is SECRETS IN TRANSLATION. Margo has won recognition and awards for her books, including ALA Quick Pick Nominations, recommendations from Multicultural Review, and being named a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in YA Fiction. Under her pen name of Marcie Kremer, Margo has also written a teen romance for Bantam and an adult historical romance for Entangled Publishing.

October 4, 2018 By Melanie Cossey

Childhood Fears

I’ve always been strangely attracted to the peculiar, that which disturbs the peaceful mind and makes the pulse beat just a little bit faster in the veins. Growing up, I was a pleasant, albeit shy, kid, the kind you could trust to look after your cat or babysit your children, although I suppose I was not your average 70s-era girl who was content to play hopscotch and listen to Donny Osmond records in her room. I had a fierce imagination, and it wasn’t long before I realized that my imagination could create in my body an exhilarating rush of endorphins and adrenaline—all through the effect of one particular emotion: fear.

I remember long summer days spent with my best friend Andrea, in which we would pore over her dad’s Creepy and Eerie magazines or read aloud tales from books containing true ghost stories. In the early evenings, we would go on walks to discover abandon houses and dare each other to go in, after first building stories around the demise of the owners, just to heighten the fear. In our idle hours after school, we would seek out scary television shows: Circle of Fear, Trilogy of Terror, and the often-disturbing Twilight Zone. We delighted in the feeling of being scared, of having cold shivers leap up our spines, and I think, in part, the camaraderie of the shared experience of building fear and exchanging words to calm and console each other again. Our young lives were rather consumed with feeding our imaginations with terrible things. One year my family went to Disneyland and from the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop, I brought back a glow-in-the-dark resin skull with flowing white hair. This I kept on my dresser in my bedroom; it was the last thing I saw as I fell asleep. And yes, now that you ask, I did have trouble sleeping at night.

One horror theme that haunted my nighttime imaginings was the concept that something evil could not die, that there was no way to vanquish permanently that which terrorized and haunted you. Through somewhat of an unconscious accident, this theme makes its appearance in A Peculiar Curiosity.

The Elements of the Story

Back in 2011, my then fourteen-year-old son brought home 100 stick bugs with the intention of selling them and making money. We soon discovered that it is illegal in our province to sell them. They are an invasive species and cannot be turned out into the wild. Oh, and another thing about stick bugs, they reproduce like crazy. Upon discovering our fate was to care for generation after generation of stick bugs until we died of old age, a sickening fear gripped me. It was that same fear that had fascinated me as a child, the fear of having to take ownership of something terrible, something you didn’t want, something you couldn’t be rid of. And it was this terrible feeling that made me realize I had a great theme for a story.

Then, I needed a setting. Around that time, I was fascinated with a TV show called Oddities. It focused on a curiosity shop in New York City that specializes in antiques of the macabre. I was fascinated by what I saw: bloodletting kits, two headed animals, shrunken heads, mummy hands… I knew I had to work all these things into my burgeoning story, and with a love of the mystical gothic London, I was all set.

Finally, I needed that antagonist. As a die-hard fan of The Walking Dead, I knew my story had to feature the undead, but I wanted to write a story unlike anything I’d seen or read. I wanted to return to the roots of the zombie invasion, Haiti itself. Thus, I had the makings of a story.

What it’s Really About

A Peculiar Curiosity is not just a scary, odd story, but it is a story that explores the themes of what happens when you make a bad decision, a decision you can’t alter. What happens when you make a decision that affects the welfare of someone else—a decision that could have a ripple effect that goes far out into the future? A Peculiar Curiosity is about two men, Edward Walker and Duncan Clarke, who all too lightly enter into decisions based on a compulsion to succeed, and the consequences they face because of their impulsivity. It is a story where do-overs are not possible, where the effects of decisions are permanent. Oh, and in case you are wondering, no stick bugs were harmed in the making of this story. I’m not sure I can say the same for the characters in A Peculiar Curiosity.

Melanie Cossey has enjoyed a twenty-year freelance writing career crafting non-fiction articles for the web and magazines, but in recent years has changed her focus to creating poetry, short fiction and novels. Melanie’s gothic fiction The Nymphalidae won Honorable Mention in the Storm Crow Tavern’s 2015 Tales from Beermat Micro Fiction Contest and her short story, The Choice Between Fire and Ice was shortlisted in the 2016 Surrey International Writer’s Conference’s Short Fiction Contest.

September 26, 2018 By Mathew

Mathew Tekulsky’s Pitch

In his book A Curious Mind, movie producer Brian Grazer writes about trying to sell his movie Splash to the movie studios, and about how he kept getting no for an answer. The problem was that he had been pitching it as a story about a mermaid. Nobody wanted to make a movie about a mermaid. Then, he changed his approach and pitched it as a love story between a man and a mermaid, and he sold the movie to Disney and the film became a big hit.

When I read this story in Brian’s book, a light bulb went off in my head. I’ve been describing The Martin Luther King Mitzvah as a story about two kids and Martin Luther King, and that’s the not the best way to describe this novel. Here’s a better way: It’s a love story between Adam, a twelve-year-old Jewish boy (who is the victim of anti-Semitism), and a twelve-year-old Catholic girl named Sally (whose older brother bullies Adam because the latter is Jewish). A meeting with Martin Luther King facilitates their social and political awakening, and Adam and Sally form a bond that blossoms into love. Eventually, they unite the fictional town of Beachmont to together overcome anti-Semitism and to protest against the war in Vietnam.

Martin Luther King is an important part of the story, but it is not the main story. The narrative focuses primarily on the process by which Adam is drawn out of his shell by his interactions with Sally, the reclusive author Gladys McKinley and her housekeeper, Cousin Louie, and the editor, Jack Williams, who publishes Adam’s photographs in the Beachmont Times. Through all of the events of this tumultuous year, Adam is accompanied by sidekick, the dyslexic Jimmy Robbins. Adam even helps bring his father Eugene, a holocaust survivor, out of his own shell; and as Eugene is embraced by the community, Adam can only bask in his father’s humble glory.

Every story (and movie) should have an “arc,” a narrative during which the characters evolve from one state of being to another. Nobody wants to read (or watch) a story about characters that never change. What’s the fun of that?

So thank you, Brian Grazer, for pointing out the way to pitch a movie (or a novel) by recognizing the timeless emotional elements that will connect a story to its audience. The next time I see Brian (to whom I was introduced recently), I will thank him and describe The Martin Luther King Mitzvah the way I have explained it here, and I will share with him how much I learned from his own experience with Splash.

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the middle-grade fiction author, Mathew Tekulsky

The Secrets Behind Secrets in Translation

Childhood Fears

The Elements of the Story

What it’s Really About

Mathew Tekulsky’s Pitch

The Regal House Publishing Platform

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