R. A. Montgomery's Death and Facebook Post

As you might have heard, the co-founder of the Choose Your Own Adventure, R. A. Montgomery, died recently (read his NYT obit here; in case you need a subscription, here's a PBS piece).

A friend of mine posted it on Facebook, which led to a humorous exchange between two high school friends of mine. I screen shot it and included it below.

The Exile of Aeneas in the CT Classroom

I wrote the FYF series as part entertainment and part eduction (enter-cation? just seeing if there's  a better portmanteau than the more obvious edu-tainment). On the one hand, the narratives speak for themselves; there is suspense, intrigue, some sex (sort of, though not really in the series), violence, and redemption. On the other hand, the series was written to introduce younger readers to the ancient originals, and it was important for me, as both a Classicist and a teacher, to maintain the narrative integrity of these ancient originals. Because of this, they have potential for the classroom, whether a Latin course or, perhaps even better, an ancient history course (say, the relatively common focus on ancient history in middle schools).

The education market, however, is a tough market to break into, especially outside of Latin circles, within which the series was published. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to stumble upon on Twitter not only The Exile of Aeneas being used in the classroom, not only a textual confirmation of that, not only being used by a former colleague, but also a picture to go with it: The Exile of Aeneas in action.

So, thanks, @katyreddick, for not only using the series but also documenting that use and publicizing it. And if any other teachers out there want more information on the series, please contact me at followyourfates(at)gmail.com or check out the FYF website: http://followyourfates.weebly.com.

Twitter Traffic

So in an instance of happenstance on Twitter, I've done some good marketing for the series. I saw a tweet from Mai Musié, @oxfordclassics, wondering about who painted a Dido and Carthage. I recognized the painting from my teaching, and so tweeted back the answer.

I noticed the byline on her Twitter page as the Outreach Office for Oxford Classics and figured that it couldn't hurt to let her know about the series.

So I tweeted back using my FYF twitter handle (@followyourfates, for anyone else out there) and I was thrilled with the response.

 

And indeed the FYF website has 51 hits today (as of a few minutes ago) as opposed to an average of 4 or 5 over the last month.

So not only thanks to @oxfordclassics but this was also a bit of an eye-opener to the power of Twitter as a marketing tool (not news, I realize, but my first experience with it directly.

Follow Your Fates and David Sedaris?

Wishful thinking I realize but not as wishful as you might think. I went to see Sedaris with my mom and wife last Tuesday and afterwards he had a book signing (not surprising). What was suprising, however, was the care and time with which he approached the signing. I had heard this in interviews with him but to see it in action was impressive to say the least. We started in the book signing line about at the mid point around 8.45. We made it to him a little before 11. And, again we were at the mid point of the line. Now waiting in line for four hours for a signed book notwithstanding, he was probably there until 1 AM or so, after performing / reading for over an hour and signing books beforehand, not to mention his travel schedule. So thank you, David Sedaris, for being a book-signing animal.

Now I tend to fall very low on the star struck scale and that goes as well for David Sedaris. He's a great writer and an even better speaker. I did too enjoy the variety of crowds that were in the David Sedaris, well, crowd: the cult followers, the gay crowd, and, the crowd in which I would put myself, the writer crowd, those that appreciate Sedaris' skill and talent but don't necessarily find his insights quite as earth-shattering as the cult followers do (i.e. I have similar revelations but can't come close to putting them to paper as skillfully). But I waited in line for the signing because I wanted to experience the book signing experience and because I figured it couldn't hurt to ask him if he would accept a Follow Your Fates book. And he did. I wish there were something more earth shattering to say than that. We talked for a few minutes, I asked if I could give him something, he said yes, and I gave him a copy of The Journey of Odysseus. He asked / confirmed that I had written it, which I affirmed, thanked me for it, and put it on his bag.

I of course had visions of him heading back to the Beachwood (we wondered whether or not he was staying in Worcester or Boston but he said that he was in Worcester) and unwinding after a long day of, well, Sedaris-ing with The Journey of Odysseus, after which, of course, he would start contacting all of his litterati friends to rave about this innovative and well-written book he had just read, at which point social media would start to explode with notices of it. Alas, my Twitter feed remains predictably, if slightly frustratingly, un-exploded (as do my royalty checks). But a man can hope, right?

So, Devid Sedaris, thank you for putting the time and work into both writing great pieces and putting on a great show, both on stage and off. And, if you're interested, there are two other books in the series....

Review Published in APA's Amphora

After a bit of a hiatus, the APA's (American Philological Association) Amphora, intended for outreach to a broader audience than the APA's membership, has published its latest issue and, to my surprise, a rather lengthy review of the Follow Your Fates series was on the front page. Click here for Amphora's page on the APA website (the issue with the review is 10.1; scroll down to download it).

The review was largely positive (and certainly not negative). The reviewer's primary concern with the series was the lack of true open-endedness to the fluid narrative because of the pre-existing narrative, i.e. the appeal of the series is diminished by the pre-knowledge of how the story ends. While this is certainly the case with adult or older readers, especially those with a background in Classics, this likely is not the case with younger readers, for whom the series is intended. These readers might have a cursory knowledge of the Trojan War and its heroes from surveys written for them but likely don't have any knowledge of the epics on which such stories are based and the specifics of the plots of these epics. She focused on the creative aspect of the books while, in writing them, I was focused on the educational aspect of the books.

Nonetheless, I was thrilled to see the review and have it out there, so thank you Amphora and Diane Arnson Svarlien. And the review was mentioned on the ECU Classics blog, which you can get to here (thanks, John).

(In the interest of full disclosure, I should add that I am on the editorial board of Amphora, but had nothing to do with editing the review or its inclusion in this issue.)

YA Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, but you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online until August 5, noon PST (3 PM EST)!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM--but there is also a red team for a chance to win a whole different set of twenty-five signed books! Choose the team whose books you think you might like the most (though mine and Heather's are part of the Blue team).

If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE

Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've listed Heather Anastasiu's favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!). 

Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by August 5, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

SCAVENGER HUNT POST

Today, I am thrilled to be hosting Heather Anastasiu for the YA Scavenger Hunt! She grew up in Texas and now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband and young son. She spends most days most days writing at a coffee shop or daydreaming about getting a new tattoo.
 

Find out more information by checking out the author website or find more about the author's book here:

Click here for Heather's website.

Click here to buy Heather's book debut book Glitch, due out on August 7; congratulations Heather on the new book!

Here is Heather's exclusive content!

[I've taken down Heather's deleted scene plus the contest rules, per the YASH guidelines, but please check out her book and website above.]

The Young Adult Scavenger Hunt Teams

Colleen Houck has posted here the two teams for the Young Adult Scavenger Hunt on her website, with all of the covers included. I'll be honest. Pretty cool to see mine included among all of those others. Here's the link to check it out. Still not exactly sure how this scavenger hunt is going to work, but everything has run well up to this point, so I'm going to trust that it will all work out. Tomorrow's the next deadline, so I'm assuming I'll know more about it then.

Follow Your Fates Part of the Young Adult Scavenger Hunt

I saw on Twitter something called the Young Adult Scavenger Hunt, so I checked it out, applied, and Follow Your Fates was accepted. I'll be honest; I'm still not exactly sure how it works. I know that I post some exclusive content (I think on another author's site) and I host another author's content, and then others (both authors and readers?) go from website to website looking for information. In any case, it seems like a great marketing tool, and I'm excited to have been accepted and to participate. So if you want to join in, here's the link to YASH. More later as I get more info about it.

Presentation at the Wayland Literacy Institute

This is a few weeks late, but I wanted to mention the presentation I gave at the Wayland Literacy Institute. This was my first Wayland Literacy Institute, and it was pretty impressive. The keynote speaker, Cris Tovani, started the day off. There were maybe 100, 150 people in the Little Theater. And she did a great job. She was honest and open about both her successes and failures, and had some interesting things to say about reading and literacy. I got to talk to her a bit at lunch (admittedly, I either interrupted or stalked her lunch until she was done), because a lot of what she said seemed related to the Follow Your Fates series: interest, interaction, etc. We had a great little talk and she seemed genuinely excited about the books.

The presentation itself went well also. I had maybe 15 or 20 people there, and they all for the most part seemed interested in the idea of interactive fiction and how it could help their teaching, from third grade all the way to eighth grade. We covered everything from using the format for adapting historical curricula to using it for teaching or covering social issues. Alayna C. even introduced a series of middle school books that use the interactive fiction format in a more extended format, i.e. each chapter ends with a choice with a more elaborate intro / lead-in. I'm not sure people were particularly interested in my books but they seemed interested in the format, which is a good thing.

So thumbs up for the Wayland Literacy Institute. Thanks for letting me participate.

Presented on the Books at the Ascanius Conference

Had the chance today to present on the books at the Ascanius Conference in Derry, NH. Ascanius is a Classics organization that focuses on elementary and middle school Latin teaching. It went well. Relatively small crowd (Matt Webb, the organizer, whom I know, said that yesterday's crowd was about double; I'm sure the fact that it was the first beautiful day in about a week didn't help), but gave me some great feedback and thoughts on where to go from here. Maybe I'll be writing a Caesar biography this summer.... And Stephanie had a great idea about using the books as an assessment for her special ed students, i.e., after studying the Odyssey, their test is to make it through the book by making the decisions that Odysseus made in the original. Loved that idea!

I've posted the PowerPoint from the presentation here.

Author's Night at Millbury B & N

As much as I'd like to say that the author's night at the Millbury (MA) Barnes & Noble was life- and bank account-changing, it was predictably not. No lines out the door. No huge royalty check or offer of representation. Nonetheless, it was a fun night and I got some good press out of it. And I met the Latin teacher from AMSA (Marlboro, MA) whose husband was there and told her about the books.

There were seven of us there, all of us different authors: one mystery writer (she was the most successful of the night), one fantasy writer, one photographer (who chronicled the Springfield-area tornado of last year), one poet, one children's book author, one memoirist, and I. We each spoke for a couple of minutes about our books, and then people were free to browse, visit, talk, etc. I've included a few pictures below from the evening (thanks, TH). 

I've linked here to newspaper articles that the night spawned, both from Wayland (MA) where I teach. The first is from the town paper, and the second is from the school paper.

FYF to be Featured at Millbury (MA) Barnes & Noble New Author Night

I know it's been a while since the last update; I'd like to say that's because I've been so busy with the unremitting success of the books. I have, of course, been busy but, needless to say, FYF news has been slow recently. Until today.

Liz (my wife) ran into a neighbor of ours who used to work at Scholastic Books, and to whom I had given the books when she was at Scholastic. She now works at the Barnes & Noble in Millbury (MA) in Community Relations, and is organizing a new authors night, and asked Liz if I would be interested in. Lori & I met today, she gave me the details, and of course I'm in.

So if you're in the Millbury, MA area (or want to be) on Friday, February 17 at 7.00 PM, come on by the B&N for the New Authors Event.

I'll update soon when I know more.

The Follow Your Fates Website

Well, I finally got around to creating a website for the Follow Your Fates series, which is a bit more complete than this (though this is linked from it). So here it is:

http://followyourfates.weebly.com

Interview with Brian Delandro Hardison, the FYF Illustrator

Andrew Reinhard of Bolchazy-Carducci, who publishes the Follow Your Fates series, recently posted an interview with award-winning illustrator Brian Delandro Hardison, who did the illustrations for the series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdbaaCZBDsI

Exile of Aeneas Reviewed in Midwest Book Review

Just stumbled upon this new review in the August 2010 Midwest Book Review Bookwatch (Lorraine's Bookshelf):

"The Exile of Aeneas" is a "Follow Your Fates" series rewrite of the choices facing Aeneas in 2,000 year old Greek epic literature. The object is for the reader to face the choices originally faced and made by Aeneas, and in making original decisions, learn to compare and contrast values and cultures between modern and ancient times. In addition to learning Classical history and literature through this re-imagining of "The Exile of Aeneas," the reader will achieve another goal effortlessly: entertainment. Third in the series by the author, "The Exile of Aeneas" follows "The Wrath of Achilles" and "The Journey of Odysseus," other Follow Your Fates titles. The prose story of "The Exile of Aeneas" places the reader directly in the action of the "Aeneid," its original source, but based on reader choices, there are 32 possible different endings to the story. Five black and white illustrations by award winning comic book artist Brian Delandro Hardison add to the impact and appeal of "The Exile of Aeneas." Written by a famous teacher of Latin and the classics, "The Exile of Aeneas" is sure to bring an ancient epic to fresh young adult (and older)audiences and new awareness and fame.

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/mbw/aug_10.htm (toward bottom of page)

Not sure that I quite qualify as a 'famous teacher of Latin and the classics' but I'll take it (despite the apparent identification of the Aeneid as Greek rather than Roman / Latin literature).

Amazon.com Review

Happened upon a customer review posted on Amazon on the 17th for Exile:

"The Aeneid is the epic from antiquity that most people are the least familiar with. The Exile of Aeneas is a step toward fixing that. Instead of a translation or adaption for children, Ed DeHoratius presents the story as a series of choices for the reader. Since the story is not as familiar to students and Aeneas is an all too-human hero, students will have a chance to see the story unfold for themselves as they are faced with the no-win choices Aeneas had to make. For students who are more familiar with the story, the choices available to Aeneas are made more immediate in this style of storytelling."

Thank you, Peter Sipes!

Worcester Art Museum to sell Follow Your Fates in Gift Shop

Just found out that the Worcester Art Museum gift shop will be carrying the Follow Your Fates series starting in the fall. Next step (since I live in Worcester) is seeing if we can organize an author event at the museum....

The Exile of Aeneas has arrived!

Caught my first glimpse of Exile this past weekend at CANE (Classical Association of New England). It arrived via UPS at the conference Friday afternoon, quite literally hot off the presses, having arrived at the publisher just the day before. Needless to say it looks great and I'm thrilled that the series is now complete (at least until we start writing more...). Bolchazy also produced some nifty promotional materials for the series (and they made a copy of the poster for me). I'll hopefully be posting the flyer in the next couple of days. Let the marketing blitz begin!

Exile of Aeneas Cover

Received last week the cover for The Exile of Aeneas, and it looks great! The color scheme is a bit different from the first two, but I like the change. This should mean that the book will be going to press this week or next, so hopefully in about 6 weeks or so it should be ready to go.

Exile of Aeneas Illustrations

Received yesterday via e-mail the final 5 drawings for The Exile of Aeneas and they look great! (Maybe my favorite so far.) I'm especially partial to the Laocoön drawing. Sounds like the cover will be in this week or next and so the book will go to press in the next couple of weeks.