Spinner
Michael
J. Bowler
Genre: teen horror/mystery
Publisher: YoungDudes Publishing
Date of Publication: August 5,
2015
ISBN: 978-0-9946675-1-9
Number of pages: 464
Word Count: 138K
Cover Artist: Louis C. Harris
Book Description:
Fifteen-year-old Alex is a
“spinner.” His friends are “dummies.” Two clandestine groups of humans want his
power. And an ancient evil is stalking him. If people weren’t being murdered,
Alex might laugh at how his life turned into a horror movie overnight.
In a wheelchair since birth, his
freakish ability has gotten him kicked out of ten foster homes since the age of
four. Now saddled with a sadistic housemother who uses his spinning to heal the
kids she physically abuses, Alex and his misfit group of learning disabled classmates
are the only ones who can solve the mystery of his birth before more people
meet a gruesome end.
They need to find out who
murdered their beloved teacher, and why the hot young substitute acts like
she’s flirting with them. Then there’s the mysterious medallion that seems to
have unleashed something malevolent, and an ancient prophecy suggesting Alex
has the power to destroy humanity.
The boys break into homes, dig up
graves, elude kidnappers, fight for their lives against feral cats, and ultimately
confront an evil as old as humankind. Friendships are tested, secrets
uncovered, love spoken, and destiny revealed.
The kid who’s always been a loner
will finally learn the value of friends, family, and loyalty.
If he survives…
Available at Amazon
Chapter
One
What
Are You?
Alex felt uneasy
as he lay in his bed and listened to the wind outside. It had been an okay day
at school – he’d only been called “Roller Boy” twice, which was almost a world
record. After school, he’d kicked it at Roy’s house and they cranked some
Hawthorne Heights tunes and chilled. Even Jane hadn’t bitched at him. So why
can’t I sleep? He didn’t know the answer. His eyes returned to the dancing
shadows that flitted across his floor from the window. His drapes were closed,
but the wind whistled through the trees, and the shadows mesmerized him. The
patterns of light and dark pulled on his eyelids, dragging him slowly under. A
dream loomed at the edges of his consciousness. One of those dreams. Sleep
overcame him, and the dream began….
Ms. Ashley
trudged down a flight of stairs from her second floor apartment to street
level, carrying several overflowing bags of trash. The traffic sounds were
omnipresent, but otherwise the night was calm and clear.
About
the Author:
Michael J. Bowler is an
award-winning author of eight novels––A Boy and His Dragon, A Matter of Time
(Silver Medalist from Reader’s Favorite), and The Knight Cycle, comprised of
five books: Children of the Knight (Gold Award Winner in the Wishing Shelf Book
Awards), Running Through A Dark Place, There Is No Fear, And The Children Shall
Lead, Once Upon A Time In America, and Spinner.
His horror screenplay, “Healer,”
was a Semi-Finalist, and his urban fantasy script, “Like A Hero,” was a
Finalist in the Shriekfest Film Festival and Screenplay Competition.
He grew up in San Rafael,
California, and majored in English and Theatre at Santa Clara University. He
went on to earn a master’s in film production from Loyola Marymount University,
a teaching credential in English from LMU, and another master's in Special
Education from Cal State University Dominguez Hills.
He partnered with two friends as
producer, writer, and/or director on several ultra-low-budget horror films,
including “Fatal Images,” “Club Dead,” and “Things II,” the reviews of which
are much more fun than the actual movies.
He taught high school in
Hawthorne, California for twenty-five years, both in general education and to
students with learning disabilities, in subjects ranging from English and
Strength Training to Algebra, Biology, and Yearbook.
He has also been a volunteer Big
Brother to eight different boys with the Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters
program and a thirty-year volunteer within the juvenile justice system in Los
Angeles.
He has been honored as Probation
Volunteer of the Year, YMCA Volunteer of the Year, California Big Brother of
the Year, and 2000 National Big Brother of the Year. The “National” honor
allowed him and three of his Little Brothers to visit the White House and meet
the president in the Oval Office.
He is currently working on a
sequel to Spinner.
His goal as a YA author is for
teens to experience empowerment and hope; to see themselves in his diverse
characters; to read about kids who face real-life challenges; and to see how
kids like them can remain decent people in an indecent world.
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BradleyWallaceM
Interview
Where are you from?
I grew up in the Northern California city of San
Rafael and lived in the Bay Area until college.
Tell us your latest news?
Spinner
was just awarded a Seal of Approval by Literary Classics, “an organization
dedicated to furthering excellence in literature which appeals to youth, while
also encouraging positive values in the impressionable minds of future
generations.”
When and why did you begin writing?
I’ve always written and told stories from as far
back as I could remember. I was never very good at poetry, but loved writing
little horror or fantasy stories as a child growing up.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I consider myself a writer because I have books in
print. Children and the Knight and Spinner were both contracted by
publishers, and I think having a publisher agree to release your work makes you
a writer.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I wanted to tell a realistic fantasy story set in my
hometown in the 1970s and that idea became my first book, A Boy and His Dragon.
Do you have a specific writing style?
I’ve always loved
movies and have a background in filmmaking. I visualize scenes in my head
before I ever write anything down. I’ll even “see” dialogue scenes and “hear”
the characters interacting in ways I’d likely not think of if I tried to just
sit and write from scratch. So when I do sit down to the keyboard, I describe
scenes as I saw them in my head, almost like a movie.
I imagine “camera
angles” that will cover everything a reader might want to “see” in a given
scene, and then try to fit every element together. I also sometimes have
multiple POVs within the same scene, though I try to make these as seamless as
possible. Again, that is something of a movie technique. A director will “cut”
to different actors within any given scene, and I do that with my
often-extensive casts of characters. I see my role as screenwriter and director
when I create a novel. And like any good director, I allow my “cast” to
improvise. I’ve had characters say and do things I never thought of, simply
because I allowed them to play out their scenes in my head numerous times
before I typed those scenes into the computer.
How did you come up with the title?
Originally, the book had a different title. But as
Alex began describing his unusual ability as “spinning,” the title Spinner became a no-brainer.
Is there a message in your novel that you want
readers to grasp?
I taught high school
for twenty-five years, in both general ed and special ed. Where I worked my
students were almost all non-Caucasian. And yet, in the books and stories we
would read in class, most of the characters were Caucasian, and none of them
had disabilities unless the disability existed so readers could “feel sorry”
for the character. With this novel, Spinner,
I chose to feature multi-racial teen heroes who have disabilities, and are just
as important and brave and scared and human as the non-disabled teen heroes of
most YA lit. I want readers to understand that these kids aren’t weird or
stupid – they love, they laugh, they form intense friendships, they stand by
their friends in times of need – and they do all these things without many of
the commonplace abilities we deem of such importance, like being able to read
or write well. As Alex says about one of his friends, “He’s my friend and
that’s more important than being smart.” That’s my message.
How much of the book is realistic?
Other than the supernatural elements, everything is
grounded in the real world. The kids and their disabilities are all based on
kids I’ve worked with over the years. The bullying of special education kids and
the marginalizing of them by society is, sadly, all too real.
Are experiences based on someone you know, or events
in your own life?
The story is set at the high school where I worked
for many years, though I gave it a fictional name. And, as noted above, the
disabilities and how they play out are real. The kids are composites of real
students I had in my classes, and I even gave them the real first names of kids
I knew.
What books have most influenced your life most?
That’s hard to say. I loved The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when I read it in high school,
and I also loved Shakespeare’s plays. As a kid, The Outsiders was a seminal book, as was Bless the Beasts and Children. One of my all time favorites, and a
masterpiece of plotting is The Count of
Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
If you had to choose, which writer would you
consider a mentor?
I can’t say I have one, but I suppose for horror I’d
have to look to Stephen King. He often overwrites his stuff, and I’ve tried not
to do that. But when he’s spot on with his storytelling, he’s amazing.
What book are you reading now?
I just finished Finder’s
Keepers, by Stephen King, and I’m now reading a non-fiction work called The Game Believes In You, about how
video games should be incorporated into school curriculum because they engage
and teach kids in ways books and teachers cannot.
Are there any new authors that have grasped your
interest?
Not really. I read an impressive debut book by a
young man named J.R. Lenk and would definitely read more of his work if he’d
ever get around to publishing something else. LOL
What are your current projects?
I’m outlining the two sequels to Spinner that would carry the overall
story arc to its conclusion, and experimenting with a
standalone sequel to my Children of the
Knight series.
What would you like my readers to know?
If you like horror stories that emphasize
characters, as much or more than plot, you should love Spinner. The characters are quirky, endearing, heartbreakingly real
and memorable. Oh, and there’s also tons of plot and mysteries that makes Spinner a fun and engaging read.
Definitely not your average horror novel.
Thanks for hosting me. I really appreciate it! :)
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