A couple of years ago, during a bout of creative burnout, I wrote my first book for younger readers. The Curse of the Werewolf follows the adventures of eleven-year-old Theo Hesson, who has just arrived at his grandparents' house to stay for the summer. Theo goes to the Saturday matinee to see a monster movie where he meets two new friends, Bay and Jilly. Things take a twist into the supernatural and mildly creepy fun is had by all.
I had a few reasons for writing that book, aside from trying to work myself out of the burnout hole. Like many authors, I've become concerned by the increasing feminization of publishing. It's great that the publishing industry is producing books for girls, but they're doing it at the expensive of producing books geared toward boys, the traditional adventure stories also read by many girls. Many of my close family members are young boys, and they're all struggling in reading. So I set out to write something I thought those boys in my family might enjoy.
I never intended to publish The Curse of the Werewolf. My son talked me into that. And even though I followed that story up with two others, Zombies Need Brains and The Thing in the Woods, I don't spend much time pushing them. These are my for-fun projects, stories I squeeze in when I have a little spare writing time. That said, I aim for creating the best story I can. So far, these books have proven to be a magnet for kids at events. Watching their faces light up when they see books written for them is a huge reward for me.
A few months ago, I bundled all three stories into an ebook omnibus available on Amazon. That omnibus is now out on audiobook as well, at Amazon, Apple, and Audible.
I'm working on creating a paperback edition, which most kids seem to prefer. The big holdup is finding an illustrator. When I've settled on someone, the project will move forward.
In the meantime, the individual books are available as paperbacks for kids who prefer them.