5.Novel, 287 pagesSeptember 18, 2007I wrote this because nobody said i couldn't. |
8. The Treasure HuntYoung Adult novel, 184 pagesOctober 25, 2009This book started out to be "The Next Day", but after a few chapters i realized that it was turning into something different. The working title was "Early Summer Vacation", but i never really liked that. I'm not sold on "The Treasure Hunt" either, but i can't think of anything better. The story is about a twin sister and brother who go with their family on vacation to their uncle's house in the mountains. While there, they discover clues on an elaborate treasure hunt that takes them all through the village and their uncle's big house. In the end, they explore a world that they never knew existed. Published on September 10, 2018 by H Bar Press.In 2018, i revisited this story and polished it up for publishing. I completely rewrote the first chapter and added to the last chapter in order to give the narrative a bit more support on either end. The title came from looking at what "Treasure" translates to in various languages from Africa. "Kusaka Chuma" is "Hunt Treasure" in the Chichewan language of Malawi. I hired Laurel Aylesworth to design the cover. I may revisit these characters again, but for now, this is a stand-alone work.
|
9. The Next DayMiddle Grade book, 44 pagesNovember 4, 2009After finishing "The Treasure Hunt", i went back, took the original idea, and made it into this book, which is shorter and far goofier. This is a very silly book. As my sister Sarah said: "A wacky story, part Piggle-Wiggle, part Phantom Tollbooth, part Poppleton, part Mr. Men, maybe a little Captain Underpants..." Although it's not a picture book, i think that it needs some illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, as well as on the last page. |
12.Novel, 256 pagesJanuary 28, 2012I wrote this as a sequel to #5. |
16. UntitledYoung Adult Novel, 471 pagesJanuary 4, 2015Longest book i've written to date. Started with an idea in August of 2013. Started writing on October 16, 2013. Wrote the last line on December 13, 2014. It's about a 14-year-old girl who doesn't have any super powers and is the first book in a planned series. Published on July 1, 2023 by H Bar Press.I wanted to have these books traditionally published, but i never got any bites, so finally decided to publish them myself. I found Clarissa Martinez through a Twitter hashtag and hired her to do the covers.
|
34. The Day After ThatMiddle Grade book, 44 pagesMay 12, 2020This is the sequel to "The Next Day" and is equally as goofy and nonsensical. Eventually i may get to the third installment of this and publish it all as one big book. |
35. UnfoundYoung Adult novel, 382 pagesAugust 3, 2020This is the sequel to "Untitled," which is now renamed Nonny-Book One: Unshown. The full title for this one is Nonny-Book Two: Unfound. I started this on January 3rd, 2019 and spent a year and a half writing it before getting to a point where i thought it would be done, with a third book to follow, but i realized that it was only half done. During the summer of 2020, when stay-at-home orders were in effect and i was unemployed, i cranked out the second half of the book, bringing the two-book series to a close. Published on July 1, 2023 by H Bar Press.I wanted to have these books traditionally published, but i never got any bites, so finally decided to publish them myself. I found Clarissa Martinez through a Twitter hashtag and hired her to do the covers.
|
42.Novel, 282 pagesDecember 13, 2020Thus completing the trilogy. |
44. KeetaA Star Wars StoryNovel, 146 pagesMarch 17, 2021I had this idea for a while. What if, after Order 66, one of the younglings from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant survived? I started writing this on March 1, 2021 and vowed to keep up an average of 2,000 words per day, which i did. Sixteen days later i had a finished, if short, novel. There are lightsaber battles and the Empire and Darth Vader and Keeta, the hero, falls in love. I think it's kinda sweet. |
46. So, AnywayMiddle Grade book, 33 pagesApril 19, 2021Book three in the goofy series started with The Next Day. I was debating on whether to write this as my original idea of "So, Anyway" or to carry on in the pattern and write it as "A Few Days Later." It seemed to come out of me as "So, Anyway," so that's what i did. I'm not sure it holds up as well as the first two, but i think it's silly enough. |
47. South Side of the SeaNovel, 195 pagesJune 15, 2021After reading Robert Kurson's book Pirate Hunters, i got to thinking about what happened to Joseph Bannister, the captain of the Golden Fleece, which was the pirate ship at the center of that book. I came up with a tale of two 14-year-old girls living parallel lives, one on a ship that gets captured by Captain Bannister in 1686, one on the south side of Chicago in 2019. It was a fun writing project. It didn't end up being as long as i'd hoped, but it's a nice story. Published on April 11, 2022 by H Bar Press.I decided to publish this because publishing novels is cheaper than paying for a children's book to be illustrated. I found Aliana Wong through a Twitter hashtag and hired her to do the cover. i wasn't 100% satisfied with it, but i think it works fine.
|
49. North of NormalNovel, 179 pagesNovember 21, 2021I had the title for this book in my head for a long time, never quite sure what it would be about. It came from watching the temperature gauge on my Mini as i drove on hot days and the needle would sit just "north of normal." Slowly the idea for a kid flying an electric quad-flyer with a parasail over it formed and i dove into the story as part of #NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I managed to keep up a good word-count every day and finished the book in 21 days, although some of the interstitial fables tucked into the narrative were written in the month or two prior. I'm not sure how this all works as a story as the main exciting climax happens more toward the middle of the book than near the end, but it sums up nicely i think. |
51. NomyThe Story of a Little Girl, a Ghost Cat, and a Teleporting DogNovel, 146 pagesFebruary 23, 2023I wrote a short story in 2020 called Missus Wapachoo and i kept thinking that it could be expanded into a novel. This is that novel. It’s not a long book, but it takes the general idea of the plot of the short story and stretches it out over a school year, with Nomy’s bullies continually tormenting her until Missus Wapachoo comes to her rescue in the end. My dog Bulo is in it, since he can teleport.
|
53. The Prey of FreedomNovel, 272 pagesSeptember 27, 2023I had the first line of this book in my head for a while, and i kindof knew how the first chapter was going to go, but it didn’t start gelling until i started writing. This is my second-longest book to date and it only took me a bit over two months to write, which surprised me. It’s about a 16-year-old girl who lives on a farm and all of her neighbors are religious or gun fanatics. It does not end well for her friends. I put a lot of imagined conversations with uneducated people that run through my head a lot into this book. It was kind of a blowing off of steam about the current state of this country. I wanted to call this book The Run to the River, but someone published a book with that exact name about a week after i was done with mine.
|
