Bryan's News Page

July 17, 2008

Just received word from Henry Holt that Lunchbox and the Aliens is going to be released in paperback next summer by Square Fish, a MacMillan imprint, as part of their "Dog Days of Summer" promotion.  Also, Kirkus has a great review of Froonga Planet in their July 15 edition!

April 20, 2008

Almost finished with the first draft of The Marshmallow Rebellion.  Now comes the fun part--rewriting the whole thing and cutting out all the stuff I thought was good.  Can't tell you much about it because it's still a work in progress, but it will be fun, aimed at a younger middle grade audience, and probably about half as long as the Lunchbox books.  My resolution for 2008 has been to get serious about my writing to the point where I can do it full-time because I enjoy it so much more than my stupid day job.  In theory, I should be able to knock out six books this year.  It never works out that way, but I'll keep trying.  I'll update as things develop.

May 5, 2007

Lunchbox and the Aliens has been awarded the trophy for Best Juvenile Book of 2006 by the Oklahoma Writers Federation!

December 2, 2006

Wow!  Just finished my first official book signing at the Barnes and Noble store in Denton, TX.  Thanks to some local press coverage and a lot of blabbermouth friends, there was a great turnout.  During the four hours I was there (originally scheduled for two), fifty-four copies of Lunchbox and the Aliens were signed and sold.  Our local paper, the Denton Record-Chronicle, printed an interview yesterday and an editorial today.  The interview article also appeared in the Dallas Morning News, the larger corporate sibling of the DRC. 

The store's community relations manager has scheduled me again for late January.  And I guess I need to set up a few signings in Dallas now.  Strike while the iron is hot!

November 2, 2006

I've signed the contract for Froonga Planet.  Publication is slated for fall 2008.  That seems like a long way away (and it is!), but that's normal for the publishing business.  Henry Holt Books for Young Readers generally releases only about 70 books per year, and with the humongous volume of submissions they receive (as one of the last publishers who will take unsolicited manuscripts), you could say they're swamped.  I count myself lucky to have avoided the slush pile, which numbers around 15,000 manuscripts per year.  That's an awful load for two or three editors and a couple of assistants, especially in light of the work that actually goes into editing and preparing one manuscript once it's accepted.  Try that now with seventy!  Kudos to my editor, Reka Simonsen, and her assistant, Robin Tordini, for being able to emerge from the office every day with their marbles still intact.  They have to stay sane, or a lot of crazy writers like me would have little or no guidance!

October 9, 2006

School Library Journal has a glowing review of Lunchbox and the Aliens in this month's issue.  Barnes and Noble has posted the review on their website.

September 19, 2006

It's finally in print!  Lunchbox and the Aliens is available now from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart.com .

August 21,2006

 Read Thank You, Dr.Brain, another essay published in The Imperfect Parent.

August 18, 2006

Just got word from my agent, Ethan Ellenberg, that Henry Holt is preparing an offer for Froonga Planet.  Selling the second book is just as exciting as the first!  I've got two more projects underway: Froonga to Go and The Marshmallow Rebellion.  For more info check out my books page.