Eddie Hertz is smart, real smart. He has to be. What other twelve-year-old patrols the streets of Nirvana alone, hoping to foil the schemes of the evil Mephisto? Since Eddie is small for his age, he trusts in his Batman-style gadgets belt and acrobatic skills as well as lots of experience, like knowing how to swing across dark alleys without being seen.
Eddie has a dream, to become like
Damocles, Nirvana’s great superhero. To make that dream come true, Eddie
invented a device that is supposed to give him superpowers, but using it on
himself is dangerous, maybe even fatal. He doesn’t have the nerve to try it.
When Mephisto unleashes an
earthquake machine on the city, Eddie gets a surprising teammate — his quirky
eight-year-old sister, Samantha, who comes up with an unexpected way to help
Eddie in the frantic battle to prevent the biggest earthquake of all.
Since Damocles has lost his ability
to help in physical form, Eddie and Samantha are the only hope for Nirvana and
the world.
Bryan Davis is the author of the Dragons in Our Midst,
Oracles of Fire, Children of the Bard, the Reapers Trilogy, Dragons of
Starlight, Tales of Starlight, and the Time Echoes Trilogy, fantasy/science
fiction/dystopian novels for youth and adults. His first novel, Raising Dragons, was released in July of
2004, and several books in that series have hit various bestseller lists,
including Eye of the Oracle, which
hit number one on the CBA Young Adult best-seller list in January of 2007.
Bryan was born in 1958 and grew up in the eastern U.S. From the time he taught himself how to read before school age, through his seminary years and beyond, he has demonstrated a passion for the written word, reading and writing in many disciplines and genres, including theology, fiction, devotionals, poetry, and humor.
Bryan was born in 1958 and grew up in the eastern U.S. From the time he taught himself how to read before school age, through his seminary years and beyond, he has demonstrated a passion for the written word, reading and writing in many disciplines and genres, including theology, fiction, devotionals, poetry, and humor.
Bryan is a graduate of the University of Florida (B.S. in
Industrial Engineering). In high school, he was valedictorian of his class and
won various academic awards. He was also a member of the National Honor Society
and voted Most Likely to Succeed.
Bryan and his wife, Susie, work together as an author/editor team to create his imaginative tales.
Wanted: A Superhero To Save The World looks like it's going to be an amazing book - I read the excerpt of it on Amazon, and I'm dying to get my hands on a paperback copy! (and the cover has a good deal of blue on it, and you guys all know how biased I am when it comes to blue books) Mr. Davis has kindly agreed to be interviewed here today, so let's get on to that, shall we? (my words are in bold, his are normal) Bryan and his wife, Susie, work together as an author/editor team to create his imaginative tales.
Savannah Grace: when did you start writing, and what inspired you to do it?
Bryan Davis: I began writing about 23 years ago as a way to get my children interested in the craft. We created a story together and added to it bit by bit until it became a full-length novel. I enjoyed the process so much and saw how my children were impacted by the story’s themes, I decided to get more training by reading books on writing and going to writers’ conferences.
Out of all your novels, which was the hardest to write?
Eye of the Oracle, the first book in the Oracles of Fire series, was the hardest to write. Normally it takes me about four months to write a fully edited novel. This one took six months, and since I put a lot of personally relevant issues into the story, the themes and their emotional impact drained me to the core.
How long did it take you to get your first novel published after you started trying?
Getting published the first time turned out to be an eight-year learning journey. During that journey, I accumulated more than 200 rejections. It was sometimes tough to push the discouragement to the side and carry on, and I am grateful for the encouragement I received through the difficult years.
Every author has to play favorites at least a little bit – who are some of your favorite characters that you’ve written?
I enjoy writing strong, virtuous characters who inspire me, such as Adrian Masters in the Tales of Starlight series, Bonnie Silver in Dragons in our Midst, Nathan Shepherd in Time Echoes, and Phoenix in the Reapers Trilogy.
I also enjoy putting a little of myself into a few characters. From Dragons in our Midst, Professor Hamilton reflects my analytical side, Jared Bannister reveals my fatherly side, and a trio of females, Bonnie Silver, Sapphira, and Acacia display my spiritual ideals.
How do you decide on your character’s names?
Some character names pop into my head, and they feel right. I get quite a few other names from baby naming websites. In those sites, I often look for old names with meanings that match a character’s qualities. A source I have used for dragon names is an online fantasy-name generator. I took a few of the suggested names and tweaked them to my liking.
Do you normally plot out your books before you write them, or do you just start writing and see what happens?
I am what is often called a seat-of-the-pants writer. I have a basic premise in mind and maybe a main character, but I have no idea how the story will progress. I just sit down and start writing about a character’s ordinary world, then I ruin that world with some sort of crisis event.
That event creates an object of desire, a goal that the character wants to achieve. Most of the rest of the story follows how the character pursues that goal, though I don’t know what will happen until I actually sit and type it out.
What inspired you to try writing a MG book?
My main reason for writing a middle-grade novel is simple. Parents and teachers at schools, homeschool groups, and conferences have told me that they have readers who couldn’t handle the young adult books I had written. The size and content were too intimidating. I wanted to reach younger readers, so I created a story that is much more within their reach.
How has God shown Himself to you through your writing process?
Whenever I write timeless themes in my stories, such as self-sacrifice, courage, forgiveness, etc, I often learn more about spiritual truths through circumstances in my own life. I submit to you the following story as one example in which God revealed that He wanted to guide my writing process. http://www.daviscrossing.com/DimeTwoPennies.pdf
Before I close out this post - there are two giveaways going on for this blog tour! The first one is a simple rafflecopter drawing (click the link to get to the rafflecopter), but the second one has a bit of a twist ;). To enter the second giveaway - the Grand Prize giveaway! (again, click the link) - you'll need to find a number in each post in this blog tour, add them up, and and plug the sum into the giveaway in order to gain entry. Good luck finding all the numbers! Here are the rest of the blog tour stops ...
Wednesday, September
20th
Tour Kickoff @ The Author’s Chair
Book Spotlight @ Backing Books
Book review and YOU
WRITE: About Bryan Davis @ Zerina
Blossom’s Books
Book Spotlight and
Review @ The Spooky
Bookshelf
Book Spotlight and
Author Interview @ Scattered
Scribblings
Book Review and
Character Interview @ Light
and Shadows
Thursday, September 21st
Book Spotlight and YOU
WRITE: About Bryan Davis @ Red
Lettering
Spotlight and Author
Interview @ The Reader
Addict
Spotlight and YOU WRITE:
About Bryan Davis @ target
verified
Book Review and
Character Interview @ Hidden
Doorways
Book Review @ Ashley Bogner
Book Review @ The Page Dreamer
Friday, September 22nd
Book Spotlight and
Character Interview @ Story of
Fire
Book Review @ Inkwell
Book Spotlight and
Character Interview @ Liv K.
Fisher
Book Review @ writinganyone
Spotlight and YOU WRITE:
About Superheroes @ Dreams
and Dragons
Author Interview and YOU
WRITE: About Bryan Davis @ March to a Different Drum
Book Spotlight @ Author Jaye L. Knight
Saturday, September 23rd
Author Interview @ Jessi L. Roberts, author
Book Spotlight and
Character Interview @ Book
Lovers Life
Book Review and
Character Interview @ Verbosity
Reviews
Book Spotlight, Author
Interview and YOU WRITE: Superheroes @ Creature
of Graphite
Character Interview @ Wanderer’s Pen
Book Spotlight and
Author Interview @ Adventure
Awaits
Best of luck finding all the numbers, bookdragons! Have an epic September <3.
~ Savannah Grace
have you read this book yet?
what's your favorite Bryan Davis book?
Really cool. Definitely have to look into it for my siblings. <3
ReplyDeleteYou definitely should, Ivie! <3
DeleteThis whole post just makes me ridiculously happy, being as how Bryan Davis is my favorite author and all! :D
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited about this book. I read the first bits of it a while back on Mr Davis's blog and got so invested. It's really fun he's delving into some MG!
I absolutely loved the interview--the questions and answers! And I attest to what Savannah said about everyone going and reading the story in the link he shared in his last answer! I've read that story probably twice now--it's so powerful!
Thank you both for sharing! ^_^
Haha, I've always loved the whole shelf that you dedicated to his books! I thought you'd like this post :D.
DeleteSo am I! I was so excited when I heard that it released on my birthday. That was an epic surprise. And wasn't his story incredible? I read it, and then immediately had to go share it with my sisters. It was so cool.
And thank you for reading, Christine! <3
Blue books are fabulous. <3 LOVED the interview! Great questions and answers -- thanks for sharing! And, Savannah, you need to read it! It's such a fun book! :D
ReplyDeleteAgreed in full! And I'm glad you enjoyed the interview ;). I can't wait to get my hands on Wanted: A Superhero To Save The World.
DeleteThank you for the interview, Savannah Grace! :-)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! And thank you for being here, Mr. Davis. :)
DeleteUm... I think I missed it... is the number 3?
ReplyDelete(I'm not sure I'm allowed to tell? But it's closer to the top of the post ;))
DeleteThanks! Just saw it!
Delete"...Then I ruin that world." Ha! Words to make my reader's heart quail, and my writer's heart grin maliciously. And I can definitely see how Eye of the Oracle would have been the hardest book to write. It's massive, for one thing, and so vast in its scope. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat interview!
Great interview! You asked some great questions, and I enjoyed reading Mr. Davis's answers.
ReplyDelete(Also, I am in awe that he could actually pants Eye of the Oracle . . . I'm a pantser myself, but as my books have gotten more and more complicated, I've had to start doing at least a little bit of planning, plus a ton of revising.)
Gah, this looks like such a fun book! I haven't read any books by Bryan Davis, but this will have to be one of the first ones. :)
ReplyDelete