Five Questions With Kids Comics Authors: Nathan Hale

In my mind, Children's Book Week (May 4-10, 2015) should be every week. This year we get to celebrate kids comics with Q&As with fantastic children’s cartoonists for Children’s Book Week Plus beginning the week of April 27, 2015 and continuing to May 30, 2015.   Join with Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado, creators of GIANTS BEWARE! and DRAGONS BEWARE! as they talk with  some great comic book authors & creators about their own creative work and the graphic novel industry.

RAFAEL/JORGE: Hi Nathan, great to cyber-meet you.  And thanks for answering our questions.

Hey hey! Thanks for having me on your blog tour!

QUESTION: We're impressed that you have all the Research Babies working for you. (JORGE NOTE: the Hazardous Tales books end with a funny bit about babies doing all the research.) But babies aside, how long does the research take before you can start writing and drawing? 

It takes two to three months of research for the manuscript. I read a mountain of books on the subject. This is for names, dates, motives, facts, etc. I keep several books open while I'm writing to make sure I'm getting all the the important info correct. It's just like writing a big college paper--but with jokes. Add another month or two of waiting on the publisher's fact-checker. Then it's time to start drawing.

But the research isn't finished! Now I start the visual research. This requires a different mountain of books--picture books. Authors of history are lucky, they can write, "The army took their guns and went to war." Done. If you are drawing history, you have to know what those guns look like, and the uniforms, and the boots, insignias, facial hair, belts, backpacks, etc. etc. Then you need to know what the country they marched through looked like. All of those things require visual research. The Hazardous Tales books take from four to six months to draw. I'm constantly hunting for visual reference during the entire process. Some visuals are easier than others. For example, during DONNER DINNER PARTY I had to research oxen and wagons, a few types of 1800's traveling clothes, and the scenery of the country they traveled through. Pretty easy. War books, on the other hand, are a real nightmare. I just finished a seventeen page short on WWII for a comics anthology. Every single panel needed multiple visual references: torpedo launchers, torpedoes, Fletcher-class destroyers, sailor uniforms, Japanese submarines, on and on and on. There is a WWII book on the horizon for the Hazardous Tales series, and I've informed my editor it'll probably take twice as long due to the sheer amount of required visual research.

QUESTION:  When you're writing something as detailed as the Hazardous Tales do you long for the simplicity of working on your younger kid books like your book, "Devil You Know?"  And when you're working on the younger kid books do you long for the complexity of working on a Hazardous Tale book?

Absolutely. In between Hazardous Tales 3 and 4, I illustrated a super simple book called FRANKENSTEIN: a Monstrous parody by Ludworst Bemonster. It's a spoof of MADELEINE so the pictures are very simple linework. The entire book took a few weeks to draw. It was so much fun to work in such a clean simple style. At some point, I'd really like to do a comic in that style.

QUESTION:  Much of your work seems to be non-fiction. In your spare time (if you have any) what do you read? Fiction? Non-fiction? Novels, graphic novels? All the above? None of the above?

I don't read non-fiction for fun anymore. That's all work now.

I do however, love to read. Audiobooks are a godsend for graphic novelists. While I illustrated RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE, I listened to sixty-eight audiobooks (I kept track). I like all genres of fiction (you have to, if you want to keep a constant stream of audiobooks flowing. You can't be too picky.) I have a library card to two local libraries, an Audible account, and Overdrive access to keep me in audiobooks. I like horror, westerns, thrillers, mysteries, fantasy, sci-fi, you name it. (just not non-fiction, that's WORK!)

I spend far more time with audiobooks than with graphic novels. I love to read graphic novels (of course!) But they often feel like work because I'm dismantling and critiquing everything as I read, trying to figure out how the artist did the color, or why they draw their balloon tails the way they do. Don't get me wrong, though, I love a good graphic novel. 

QUESTION:  What are you working on next?

I just started the artwork stage of Hazardous Tales #6. I can't tell you what it's about, only that it takes place in TEXAS, and you might REMEMBER this piece of history. I hope readers will COME AND TAKE IT when it comes out.

This summer I'm taking a one-book-break from Hazardous Tales to do a standalone, full-color, science fiction story. It'll be over 170 pages long--my longest book! That manuscript has already been written and turned in, it just needs to be drawn (didn't even need fact-checking!) I'm looking forward to working in a different, more colorful style than the artwork in Hazardous Tales. It should be fun! Then it's back to American history, I'm already contracted for books 7 and 8.

QUESTION:  What's on your nightstand?

So, in my headphones right now, I just finished THE DEEP by Nick Cutter, a horror novel that takes place at the bottom of the ocean in a spooky lab. That was good. I'm midway through THE WHISPERING SKULL by Jonathan Stroud, that's a kids fantasy book I'm listening to with my nine-year-old daughter. It's book two in a GREAT series called Lockwood & Co. it's basically Harry Potter Ghostbusters--super fun, but the narrator, as good as she is, has a very soothing voice that makes me sleepy. On my bedstead is another horror novel APARTMENT 16 by Adam Nevill.

Comics-wise. I'm reading ASCENSION OF THE STARLESS from the Spera series. I'm really into the traditionally drawn/watercolored story by Atelier Sento. Scaring myself with the idea of doing my next book that way. I'm also in the middle of the Fantagraphic's EC hardcovers, I'm in the Harvey Kurtzman war stories book, THE CORPSE ON THE IMJIN. Really amazing work there. My daughter keeps leaving an Ernie Bushmiller NANCY collection in my studio and I pick it up and laugh every day. I keep going back to the Tamaki's THIS ONE SUMMER just to look at the drawings and get angry. How can they be so loose and so perfect!?!?

It's a pretty cluttered nightstand.

For more about the HAZARDOUS TALE BOOKS and the new release, THE UNDERGROUND ABDUCTOR, check out Hale's video:

About Author: Nathan Hale is the New York Times best-selling author/illustrator of the Hazardous Tales series, as well as many picture books including Yellowbelly and Plum go to School, the Twelve Bots of Christmas and The Devil You Know.

He is the illustrator of the Eisner-nominated graphic novel Rapunzel's Revenge and its sequel, Calamity Jack. He also illustrated Frankenstein: A Monstrous Parody, The Dinosaurs' Night Before Christmas, Animal House and many others.
Follow him on twitter @mrnathanhale | website | Hazardous Tale site 

Kids Comics Q&A Tour is sponsored by the Children’s Book Council with Every Child a Reader and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in celebration of Children’s Book Week. For the full schedule of tour stops, check out the schedule here. You won't want to miss a single stop.

Mary McCoy: Author Interview

We are happy to welcome Mary McCoy to the blog. For those of you who will be attending Pasadena Loves YA in a couple of weeks, you will have the opportunity to meet Mary McCoy in person.  For readers of the blog, you get a virtual meeting with our interview.  Thank you Mary for graciously answering some questions for us about your debut novel, Dead to Me (Disney-Hyperion, March 2015).

What was the researching and writing process like for writing DEAD TO ME? How did you originally come up with the premise? 

DEAD TO ME is a film noir-inspired YA mystery. In film noir, the stakes are really high, emotions are heightened, everybody has their guard up, and I think that noir ethos fits into a high school setting really well.

I'm a librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library, so I knew about all these great research collections. Shameless library plug time! I used the online photo collection and map collection. I even used the online menu collection to find out what was on the menu at Musso & Frank in 1948 and how much things cost. The library made is very easy to pepper all those historical details through the book.

The description from GoodReads says that the book is great for fans of LA Confidential. What are some of your favorite noir films and/or mystery novels? Are there any that inspired DEAD TO ME?

I love LA Confidential so much - one of those rare cases where both the book and the movie are equally good! I was also really inspired by the movie Brick, which stars Joseph-Gordon Levitt and is about a high school loner-turned-detective who's trying to find out who killed his ex-girlfriend. As far as old movies go, some of my favorites are D.O.A., Double Indemnity, and In A Lonely Place.

I really love noir and hardboiled detective stories, but all the stock femme fatales and sexist tough guys can get a little grating. So I love it when stories like that are written from a woman's point of view or have really interesting, complicated female characters. Some of my favorites are The Song Is You by Megan Abbott and The Last Embrace by Denise Hamilton.

What drew you to the vibrant setting of 1940s Hollywood - especially the ugly underbelly of the film industry?

There's this incredible book called City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s by Otto Friedrich, and it's filled with every piece of gossip and every juicy scandal, but it's also a really well-researched history of the movie industry. Everyone should read it! It will suck you in.

DEAD TO ME features a cast of vastly differing characters, each with his or her own fascinating backstory. How did you create all of these back stories and entwine them into the plot so seamlessly?

I wrote long, involved backstories for lots of the characters in DEAD TO ME. Some of those stories made it in to the book (e.g. how Alice's mother got her big break in Hollywood), but a lot didn't (e.g.. how Jerry became a private detective). One character, Millie, was actually inspired by a real 1940s starlet named Lila Leeds whose acting career was ruined after she was caught smoking marijuana with Robert Mitchum (his career bounced back just fine).

My secret to writing a mystery is this: forge ahead to the end even if you don't know how it's going to turn out. Then once you're finished, you can go back and plant all the clues along the way. The thing that makes it all look seamless is working through round after round after round of revisions.

Any upcoming projects or books? Are you planning to write any more books about Alice Gates or 1940s mysteries?

The last line of DEAD TO ME is pretty much my favorite thing that I've ever written, so for now, I'm happy to leave that story and those characters right where they are.

I'm working on something new right now. It's also set in Los Angeles and it's about a history-obsessed main character, but otherwise, it's a whole nother thing.

Pasadena Loves YA
Date: May 23, 2015 | Time: 12 noon - 4 pm
Meet 20 YA authors 
Panels & Book Signings 
Giveaways and Refreshments  
Free tote bags for the first 150 guests!

This is a FREE event at Pasadena Public Library, Central Branch, 285 East Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA 91101

Keynote speaker Mary McCoy (author of Dead to Me) with Katie Alender, Victoria Aveyard, Alexis Bass, Julie Berry, Livia Blackburne, Virginia Boecker, Jessica Brody, Stephen Chbosky, Brandy Colbert, Ava Dellaira, Kody Keplinger, Liz Maccie, Morgan Matson, Lauren Miller, Alexandra Monir, Jennifer Niven, Romina Russell, Sarah Tomp, & Kiersten White

For more info, visit www.pasadenateenbookfestival.com
Check out the flyer here. 

Vroman's Bookstore be selling the books beginning at 11 am. The event is co-sponsored by Bridge to Books.

Though there is no registration required, we would greatly appreciate it if you would post, share, tweet, and tell everyone you know about the upcoming event! Please use the hashtag #PLYA2015.

Enter our Giveaway: Any 3 books from the 2015 Pasadena Loves YA authors, US only, ends 5/20/2015.

Thank you Alethea at Read Now Sleep Later for hosting and organizing the giveaway.

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The Luck Uglies Series

Fork Tongue Charmers (The Luck Uglies #2)
by Paul Durham
HarperCollins (March 2015)
Audience: Ages 9 to 12
Fiction * Adventure * Secret Societies 
The Luck Uglies (Book #1) | Fork Tongue Charmers (Book #2)
Indiebound | WorldCat

Description from the publisher:
Rye O'Chanter was shocked to discover that her father was the leader of the notorious band of outlaws known as the Luck Uglies. Now she too has been declared a criminal in her own village, and she must flee to the strange and remote Isle of Pest while her father faces off against the Luck Uglies' bitterest rivals, the Fork-Tongue Charmers, on the mainland.

But all bets are off when the battle moves to the shores of Pest. To defeat the Fork-Tongue Charmers, Rye must defy a deranged earl, survive a test meant to judge the grit of the fiercest men, and lead the charge in defending the island against a strangely familiar enemy, which means uncovering some long-buried family secrets. . . .

The first book in the Luck Uglies series was named an ALA Notable Children's Book as well as a New York Public Library Title for Reading and Sharing, and it won the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Speculative Fiction. This second installment ratchets up the humor, charm, and adventure, taking the series to brand-new heights!

Check out the official book trailer for The Luck Uglies (Book #1):

Quick thoughts: Gargoyles. Check. Bog Noblins. Check. Adventure. Check. Looking for that middle grade series for the student who likes fantasy adventures with lots of pages? Then look no further than Paul Durham's Luck Uglies.  Durham has created a fast-paced fantasy adventure that will draw you in and keep you reading until you finish.  Since Fork-Tongue Charmers is the 2nd book in the Luck Uglies series, I strongly encourage you to pick up the first book The Luck Uglies. If you are a teacher looking for an end of the year read aloud, The Luck Uglies will be one of those books that will draw in readers and leave them searching for the second book when you are done reading. So, who will you be recommending this to? 

About the Author: 
Paul Durham wrote this book and The Luck Uglies in an abandoned chicken coop at the edge of a swamp. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife, two daughters, and an enormous, bushy creature the local animal shelter identified as a cat. Find out more about Paul Durham on his website: http://www.pauldurhambooks.com/

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Drum Dream Girl

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music
by Margarita Engle; Illustrated by Rafael Lopez 
HMH Books for Young Readers (March 31, 2015)
 Biographical * Women Musicians * Cuba
Discussion Guide
IndieBound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads:
Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music, no one questioned that rule—until the drum dream girl. In her city of drumbeats, she dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongós. She had to keep quiet. She had to practice in secret. But when at last her dream-bright music was heard, everyone sang and danced and decided that both girls and boys should be free to drum and dream.
        Inspired by the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba's traditional taboo against female drummers, Drum Dream Girl tells an inspiring true story for dreamers everywhere. 

My thoughts on the book:
First, let me admit, that I am possibly stretching the nonfiction boundaries today with this book. Some are calling this nonfiction and a picture book biography and others are calling it fiction and a story inspired by real life. I am simply calling it beautiful. Engle's poetic voice provides the music for Rafael Lopez's vibrant, energetic illustrations. 

Margarita Engle beautifully shares a story inspired by Millo Castro Zaldarriaga's childhood. After my first read through on this book, I had to read it again, and then I needed to share it with others. This is one of my signs that it's a good book. Tonight, I will be sharing Drum Dream Girl with students and parents as part of Open House. 

Margarita Engle is having a good year. Though I don't think she planned to have several books come out in the same year, picture books have their own release pattern. Authors write them and publishers send them off to illustrators and a couple of years later they finally make it into the hands of readers. Sometimes, many at one time.  So far, three of her four new books have been released. Her fourth book, a long-form memoir in verse, releases in August of 2015.  If you are interested in two additional books that stretch the definition of nonfiction, check out Organutanka (Henry Holt & Co., 2015)  and The Sky Painter (Two Lions, 2015). 

Thank you Rafael Lopez for an inside peak to your artistic work on Drum Dream Girl.  You can click here for an interview with Engle and Lopez over at Kirkus.

Check out the official book trailer for Drum Dream Girl:

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews:

Live Video Chat and Fan Q&A with author Ally Carter

Ally Carter & Friends Video Chat and Book Cover Reveal

Join New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter and fellow authors Carrie Ryan, Rachel Hawkins and Sophie Jordan as they take a break from their writing retreat to chat and debut the cover for Embassy Row Book 2: See How They Run. Ally will do a live Q&A with fans, moderated by her editor, David Levithan. Fans will be able to interact with Ally (and with each other) face-to-face on video chat!

To RSVP for the chat, click here.

About Embassy Row:
This exciting new series from author Ally Carter focuses on Grace, who can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world, and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay--in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

Book 1: ALL FALL DOWN is in stores now.  Click here to read an excerpt and find links to purchase.
Book 2: SEE HOW THEY RUN will be released January 2016.

Photo credit: Liz Ligon

About Ally Carter: 
Ally Carter writes books about spies, thieves, and teenagers. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the Heist Society series and the Gallagher Girls series, which together have sold over two million copies and have been published in more than twenty countries. She lives in Oklahoma where her life is either very ordinary or the best deep-cover legend ever.

She'd tell you more, but...well...you know...

Share this on social meeting using the hashtag: #EmbassyRow #SeeHowTheyRun