About Steve Westover (from his website)
"My wife and I have lived in small town, rural Missouri for 12 years and have 4 entertaining and wonderful childrenm, but I never expected to be living on a farm with chickens, cows, kittens and a dog. I don't particularly enjoy animals, but I do appreciate them for their utility... and the kids love 'em.
When I'm not writing my life revolves around spending time with my family and serving in our church. Being a father and a husband are the most important things I can concentrate my time on and I enjoy it.
I have always enjoyed writing, but I had never even considered writing a novel until one morning I woke up with the idea for some characters in my mind. I was curious if I could write a book so I thought I'd give it a shot as an experiment.
After a long process of writing, nearly giving up mid-way through, editing, shopping for a publisher, changing the title and editing some more, my first book,Defensive Tactics, was published through Cedar Fort on the Bonneville Books imprint, in August 2010. The sequel, Gold Clash has a release date of December 2012.
My second book, Crater Lake: Battle for Wizard Island is a youth/fantasy book written with my oldest daughter and son in mind. They are avid readers who turned me on to books like Fablehaven and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which I really enjoy. So, as a father trying to please his children, I wrote Crater Lake for them.
Good question. I have a lot of work to do. It should come out next year around the same time. It will be the culminating battle between Chief Llao & Chief Skell and all their minions, of course including the kids heroic efforts. There will be reunions with family but maybe a little sadness as well. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out:)
Crater Lake: Battle For Wizard Island is book 1 in a series of 3. Book 2, Return of the Mystic Gray, is being released in April 2013.
Book 1 of my new Young Adult dystopian series will be released in September 2013. Book 1 is called, A Nothing Named Silas.
When I'm not writing my life revolves around spending time with my family and serving in our church. Being a father and a husband are the most important things I can concentrate my time on and I enjoy it.
I have always enjoyed writing, but I had never even considered writing a novel until one morning I woke up with the idea for some characters in my mind. I was curious if I could write a book so I thought I'd give it a shot as an experiment.
After a long process of writing, nearly giving up mid-way through, editing, shopping for a publisher, changing the title and editing some more, my first book,Defensive Tactics, was published through Cedar Fort on the Bonneville Books imprint, in August 2010. The sequel, Gold Clash has a release date of December 2012.
My second book, Crater Lake: Battle for Wizard Island is a youth/fantasy book written with my oldest daughter and son in mind. They are avid readers who turned me on to books like Fablehaven and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which I really enjoy. So, as a father trying to please his children, I wrote Crater Lake for them.
Good question. I have a lot of work to do. It should come out next year around the same time. It will be the culminating battle between Chief Llao & Chief Skell and all their minions, of course including the kids heroic efforts. There will be reunions with family but maybe a little sadness as well. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out:)
Crater Lake: Battle For Wizard Island is book 1 in a series of 3. Book 2, Return of the Mystic Gray, is being released in April 2013.
Book 1 of my new Young Adult dystopian series will be released in September 2013. Book 1 is called, A Nothing Named Silas.
LIKE and Follow my Facebook fan pages for Gold Clash, Defensive Tactics, andCrater Lake: Battle for Wizard Island
You can also follow me on Twitter @StevenWestover
You can also follow me on Twitter @StevenWestover
Good question. I have a lot of work to do. It should come out next year around the same time. It will be the culminating battle between Chief Llao & Chief Skell and all their minions, of course including the kids heroic efforts. There will be reunions with family but maybe a little sadness as well. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out:)
Me too! Me too!
About Return of the Mystic Gray by Steve Westover
I will have to give this one five stars as well! I felt like it was cut short, but that is probably due to the fact that there will be a third book. The good news is that he published the first book in July and is already putting out the second one, before a year is up. I have high hopes the third book won't be terribly long in coming!
What I liked:
-how we see things from different characters' Point-of-view! It's not confusing, because you can easily tell the difference between their thoughts and actions!
-how they have to make hard choices, a lot
-the amount of characters is great, not too few that you're concerned for their ability to conquer and not so many that it seems overwhelming
(I'm trying super hard to not give anything away!)
-the amount of action. There was plenty of talking versus fighting. It wasn't all fighting (and I desperately hope the next one isn't either. I'm hoping for an afterword with plenty of tied up loose ends.)
-the lack of romance! I really think middle graders don't need romance!
-You-know-who(s) gets saved/are alive
-We really know who the good and bad guys are! They're defined in this book!
What wasn't my favorite:
-that bad things had to happen in order to get them where they went.
-that they felt like the friends were their only family
-that there was so much conflict!
-that they don't try to contact their family. What's up with that?
Either way, the favorites way outnumber the not-favorites, so it's still a five star read!
You can buy it on Amazon for $11.69! And here's the link for buying the first book (it's even got a Kindle version)
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