Artifacts by Pete Catalano
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Publisher: Tantrum Boooks
Publisher: Tantrum Boooks
It's funny how one little letter can change a person's life.
Jax and his friends have been planning the summer of a lifetime at Camp
Runamuck. However, when one of them is facing summer at a school desk for
failing English, they watch those plans crash and burn!
At the last moment they're given a way out.
An extra credit assignment to find several fake artifacts
for a fairy tale display their teacher is presenting at the local library.
Thinking they've hit the easiest-extra-credit-ever jackpot,
they begin rummaging through any piles of junk they can find. As they start
putting the clues together, they realize that what they're really searching for
is one authentic artifact that can rewrite fairy tales!
Enlisting the aid of the Lost Boys, Jax and his friends
battle fairy tale villains to see who can get their hand, or their hook, on it
first.
Pete Catalano’s books are written for kids of all ages — and
adults who secretly never grew up. He lives in Charlotte, NC with his adorably
funny wife and two neurotic dogs. Pete was a theatre major in college and tries
to keep the ‘suspension of disbelief’ in his life as much as he can.
Interview
1.
When did you first realize
you wanted to be a writer? For as long as I’ve been reading, I’ve always
imagined what if the characters didn’t go to Mordor? What if there wasn’t a
wardrobe in the room but there was a closet? What if the witch didn’t melt with
water? What if the ring was found long before Bilbo stumbled on it?
2.
How long does it take
you to write a book? A lot less time than you might think. Typically I write a
book in three months or less. Then comes re-writing, editing, more re-writing,
more editing etc. Sometimes the ideas come so fast and furious I just watch the
movie I see in my head, write everything down, and hold on for the ride.
3.
What is your work
schedule like when you're writing? I write furiously whenever I can. On the
long car rides I take for work, I may send myself 15-20 emails all with notes
that I add to the story when I get home.
4.
What would you say is
your interesting writing quirk? That I can just start writing the moment I sit
down no matter what I’ve been doing just moments before. I guess I never stop
thinking about the story so it’s easy to slip back in to the head of the MC or
the others.
5.
How do books get
published? Slowly! The waiting is actually the worst part but eventually time
passes and it works out. The first time you get pages to edit can be daunting.
You get all two hundred pages of your ms back and there are twenty changes per
page and decisions to be made. After you wake up out of the coma you were in,
it’s actually pretty easy and gets to be a lot of fun when you see how much
better the notes have made your ms.
6.
Where do you get your
information or ideas for your books? I look around and ideas are everywhere.
I’m in the process of writing a contemporary fantasy chapter book series that
is a little scary. The first book is about a frightening Happy Meal toy that
comes alive and two brothers have to catch it before their mom finds out about
it.
7.
When did you write your
first book and how old were you? I was probably thirty-five years old and
finally sat down to do it.
8.
What do you like to do
when you're not writing? Go to the movies and out to dinner. My wife and I have
become adventurers, driving somewhere and making turns we hadn’t made before to
see where we might end up. There is usually a pleasant surprise every time we
go somewhere new.
9.
What does your family
think of your writing? That I’m crazy! J Trying to figure out, like everybody else, where the ideas come
from and how did I think of some of it.
10.
What was one of the most
surprising things you learned in creating your books? That I have somehow found
the perfect middle grade voice. It’s hard to do correctly and easy to pick up
when it’s not.
11.
How many books have you
written? Which is your favorite? I’ve written 11 MG books. A favorite is hard.
It is either CREATURE CATCHER about creature catchers who enlist HG Wells to
help them kill a creature loose in NYC or SUPER VILLAIN INTERN where a kid
flunks out of Superhero training only to become the face of the International
Society of Evildoers and spins there worst crimes into notable humanitarian
efforts. But there is also the one about the cell phone that grants wishes but
with AUTOCORRECT even the simplest wish can have catastrophic consequences.
12.
Do you have any
suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they? Keep
writing. Find a couple of great CPs. Experiment with the various way the story
can go and pick the one which feels right.
13.
Do you hear from your
readers much? What kinds of things do they say? Not yet. With the ARTIFACTS out
May 17th the only people I heard from are those that have gotten and
read the early copies that Amazon sent out.
14.
Do you like to create
books for adults? Not at all. I don’t think like an adult so I certainly
couldn’t write for them! J
15.
What do you think makes
a good story? One where you put the MC into the worst possible circumstances
imaginable and then get him back out.
16.
As a child, what did you
want to do when you grew up? Be a baseball player preferably for the NY Mets!
17.
What Would you like my
readers to know? That I am still stunned that ARTIFACTS is being published and
that I hope they find it is as funny as I think it is.
Link to Goodreads:
Purchase Links:
Link to Tour
Schedule:
Giveaway Information: Contest ends June 3, 2016
·
Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of Artifacts by Pete
Catalano (INT)
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