You never can tell with Daryl because of his super busy schedule, but as of right now he is on board to do the artwork for Book 1.5. I am basically giving him free reign to go beyond anything he has done before. If you know his work you know that if he does indeed push the envelope the imagery of Book 1.5 will be fantastically amazing!
They say your second book is the hardest to write. I would say that is true because it took me so long to write Olivion’s Favorites. It was not that it was hard as far as writing goes, it was because in my opinion it is such a massive book. I know that it has tons of characters and I believe that it has a rich plot, mystery, and far more action than my first book. I am happy that I took the series from East Orange, Newark and NYC to Midlandia. So get ready to see Louis Proof in the center of grand battles and marvelous locations.
As of right now the book is coming out January 2009. (My bad– it took me so long to write it that it had to get pushed back. I am going to try to make the demand so crazy for this book that it comes out sooner. Promote! Promote! Promote!)
I know book 1.5 is not out yet, but I want to do a post for the “secret” book in the Marvelous World Saga, which is technically book 3. For now I will call this “HM” (how close were you paying attention to book 1?). There will soon be an “Olivion’s Favorites” site and then there will be a “HM” site. I just want my audience to get ready for something they are not going to expect.
What I can say is:
It will return the series back to the world we all know any love.
The majority of it will take place right after Louis’s last fight in Book 1.
Get Ready!
On February 7, 2008 I won the Essence Literary Award for Children’s Literature. I was surprised to win and didn’t have a speech prepared. Like always, I spoke from my heart. When you do that you really can’t go wrong. It was an excellent ceremony and I had a great time.
I thought it might be a smart thing for me to list all of the press I have gotten. Please click on the images to see the full versions. I would have gotten no where if the writers and producers of these pieces did not believe that what I was doing was positive. Thank you so much!
King Magazine June 2008
Essence Magazine May 2008
Montclair Times Mar. 12. 2008
New York Times Dec. 23, 2007
The Tavis Smiley Show September ‘07
The Ave Fall ‘07
Ebony August ‘07
PBS’s NOW July ‘07
Vibe July ‘07
BET May 07
Vibe May ‘07
Right On May ‘07
ABC News June ‘06
The NJ Star Ledger April ‘06
Rime Magazine Spring ‘o6
Kirkus Reviews
Death and destruction reign in this first novel that reads like a shooter video game written by a hip-hop aficionado. A prologue sets up the scenario with the escape of the evil eNoli from the Marvelous World. Louis L. Proof, a regular all-American kid living in suburban New Jersey, is dragged from his everyday life to battle these invaders from the world of Midlandia. From the start, the action is fast, the suspense constant and the story always entertaining. It doesn’t hurt that the young characters-Louis, his cousin Angela and his wise-cracking friend Brandon-are likable and well-developed, as are their Midlandian allies. The evil invaders don’t fare so well, being both cartoonish and predictable. Narrative techniques include an omniscient narrator, bold-faced comments and pep talks, letters and flashbacks. A complex mix of fantasy and science fiction will appeal strongly to adventure fans, gamers and reluctant readers. The combination of ambitious narrative, some overly explicit violent episodes and a few vulgarities will require maturity on the part of readers. (Fantasy. 11-13)
School Library Journal
Fantasy fiction with African-American protagonists is hard enough to come by, so it’s a joy to discover a book that fills the need with flair. Louis Proof is racing RC cars in an underground amusement park when he glimpses a pair of ethereal beings. Soon after, he falls into a coma and awakens three months later to a world turned upside down. Surreal events have become commonplace, several parents and teachers are now unusually permissive, and the teen has been granted phenomenal powers. Eventually a stranger named Timothy explains that Louis is about to become a CLE–“a Celestial-like Entity.” He has been recruited for an Earthbound extension of the eternal conflict between two races at the center of the universe: the virtuous iLone and the evil eNoli. Louis needs to prevent an escaped eNoli named Galonious from “liberating” humanity from the effects of empathy and conscience. While Galonious inspires a great deal of unsettling behavior (Louis’s best friend steals pornography; physical abuse, murder, and suicide are also mentioned), things never get too dark, and the author forgoes a traditional “black-and-white” approach to the conflict by examining the complex interplay of the positive and negative forces in the characters’ lives. The narration has the free-flowing, engrossing rhythm of oral storytelling, punctuated by poetic interludes that comment (sometimes ironically) on the action. A worthy addition to modern-age magic tales such as Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series (Hyperion/Miramax).–Christi Voth Esterle, Parker Library, CO
Publisher’s Weekly
Troy CLE’s debut novel, originally self-published, has its heart is in the right place, but unfortunately often gets bogged down by an overwrought narrative. Seventh-grader Louis Proof receives an invitation to an exclusive, hidden playground called the JunkYard JunkLot. Once there, he discovers a subterranean playground filled with video games, pizza and skateboard half-pipes. Louis is spooked by two pairs of phantom eyes he sees while playing a larger-than-life car racing games. Soon after, he falls into a coma for three months, and when he wakes up the world appears to have gone mad: parents don’t act like themselves, kids start disappearing and reappearing, and fire hydrants spray cookies and ice cream. Louis learns he is becoming a Celestial-like Entity (”Close to perfection, but not quite,” says Timothy, a supernatural mentor to Louis) and he gains powerful abilities that make him a threat to the Galonious Imperial Evil, who has crossed over from the “thought dimension” with his army of Crims to free everyone on earth from all responsibilities. There is a profound message at the book’s core-that selfish desires to do only what pleases oneself are among the darkest evils imaginable-but it’s buried fairly deep beneath a profusion of arcane alien names and too-cute direct asides to the reader. (”Will L. Proof really be able to put a stop to all this? Do you want him to stop it?”) The urban setting and characters of CLE’s world may attract fantasy fans and bring new ones to the fold, but they might struggle to comprehend it once they arrive. Ages 10-up.
I was happy to find out that I have been nominated for an Essence Literary Award. The ceremony will be held on Monday February 7, 2008 in NYC. I am excited to go.
Check out the nomination here.
The New York Times has given me some light (I want to give a big thanks to Ann Farmer, her editor and Jan Legnitto for making that happen), but my recent article has sparked some controversy over my use of a “fake” publicist. This is a bit unexpected because using an alias (Troy CLE is also a semi alias–both Troy and Alan are my real names) when you do your own PR is quite common. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I get endless support from teachers, librarians, and other educators when I tell the tale of my super publicist Alan Chase to middle and high school students. Often, it is their favorite part of my story. You see, what is wrong is if you lie about the information you give members of the press or whoever you are telling your story to. I have never lied about my story so I am totally proud of what I did and enjoy explaining my technique. So, this is the story of how I used my learned skills as a publicist to land a six figure deal with Simon and Schuster and an audio book deal with Random House Listening Library for The Marvelous Effect; Book 1 of The Marvelous World Saga. It was a hard, but fun task that took quite some time. Oh, and I did it all without a literary agent, which I still do not have (film rights are repped by CAA). This is the first of many stories I will post on self-publishing, dealing with a major publisher, self promotion, what to look for in a good publicist, ect… I hope that it can help aspiring writers, which I once was. So many people have helped me and i hope this is a way for me to pay it forward. Thanks for reading. Oh and, none of the events of this story have been changed eventhough it reads like fantasy. The whole thing started when I was nine and was inspired to write my book after seeing the movie “The Goonies” in 1985. So it was twenty years later in the Summer of ‘05 when I self published. I got my major book deal in ‘06 and the book was released in ‘07.
The New York Times December 23, 2007
The most important thing about my book is the way both kids who hate and love to read respond to it. They go crazy! When I first started kids would get rowdy and start heated arguments about who was going to get the limited copies of the self published version that I brought to schools with me to give away for free. Real fights almost happened. Not to mention that I only sold my book on the street for three days and moved a few hundred copies. With that being said I am proud to state that The Marvelous World Saga is built off of quality and not hype. I got my deals because the kids I did readings for loved my book and the press documented that. If it were all hype it would have been dead in the water because hype fades away. I think I have outlived the misnomer The Black H***y P****r.
Here is how it all went down…
I knew that if I could get a publisher to witness how kids loved my book there was no way i could not get a major book deal. I had no agent to vouch for me because none would rep me so I could not even get to an editor let alone a publisher. Even if I did i would have been just another author raving about my own book. So, I needed a special outside force to report what was happening in order for a publisher to take my book seriously. That force would be the press so I had to become my own publicist. First of all, the press that I got was a result of me calling people as myself. I used the name Alan Chase on the press release because no one in the publishing world would read it with an author’s name on it. (For more information on this please read this blog) My middle name is really Alan and the email address I used was chase.alan@marvelousworld.net. Get it? Chase Alan @ Marvelous World. You’d never really catch him. lol. I only spoke as this alias when Simon and Schuster and other publishers called to speak to Alan Chase. I need a new alias because of all of this press.
(I actually forgot who Alan Chase was for a second when I got the phone call from Simon and Schuster. Oh and let me mention that the call was placed on behalf of the former Vice Publisher of Simon and Schuster Books for Young readers– the great Elizabeth Law who along with Rubin Pheffer, Justin Chanda, and Tim Ditlow and Rebecca Bullene of Random House made my dream of becoming a published author come true.)
Okay back to the story…
I wanted three pieces of press so I was on a mission to get in a magazine, a newspaper, and myself on TV. After a bunch of hard work I was totally successful. The thing is you have to be smart about it and go after people in the press who have done stories similar to your own. With that being the case I went after a hip hop magazine since my entire path that I was following was that of the independent hip hop artist. I did not think “The Source” or “XXL” would show me immediate love so I looked for one that was a bit newer that might take a chance on me. I went to a magazine shop on 23rd street in NYC and found RIME magazine…
Rime Magazine
I sent the editor an email and I hit pay dirt. The magazine did an excellent review of my book and I am still cool with the writer Sum Patten. That was one down, but that had a long run time so I needed something that would supposedly come out much quicker. So, I went after my local news paper The Star Ledger…
The Star Ledger April 10, 2006
One of my friends told me to go after reporter Carrie Stetler because she did a few stories on hip-hop and this was related. After I spoke to her on the phone in December of ‘05 she was really into it and set up a time to come to my reading at Orange High School in NJ. Mind you, it may take awhile for things to run. I contacted her in Dec ‘05 and the piece ran in April of ‘06. I had to wait, but that was what I needed to help me get ABC News interested…
ABC News June 6, 2006
Image copyright ABC News
I could not think of a better person to contact other than Kemberly Richardson. I took The Star Ledger piece as proof I was worth doing a story on and taped it to the outside of the package I sent to Kemberly. I knew that would get her attention. The package also contained a copy of my book. I also did some more research and figured I should go after the education producer Lila Corn. That helped a lot and Ms. Corn took to me and Ms. Richardson called me personally and said she was going to do my story. They were both angels. Remember, I spoke to them as myself with no alias about my story. Kemberly did my story at Wadleigh Secondary School in Harlem, NY. Please let me take the time to shout out Principal Watts and Amanda Funero–the teacher who let me do the reading. Thank you!!!!
Here is the piece. It was a rough day!
Now this is when super publicist Alan Chase comes into the picture. Not only did I want ABC News to come to my reading I wanted publishers to see the kids go crazy. So I drafted a press release (I will later go into detail how I learned how to write an effective one) and used a web site to locate many of the emails of the people in the publishing industry. I sent out hundreds of emails and only about eight people responded (its a numbers game). The good news was it was someone major from just about every publishing house, including Elizabeth Law, who as I said was they former Vice Publisher of Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. She came to the reading that ABC News reported on and the rest is history. The truth is that I signed with Simon and Schuster because Elizabeth did come and she even gave me a hug that day. Louis Proof is based on myself and my little brother. His world is my world and his family is my family, so I couldn’t do a deal with just anyone. Elizabeth and now Justin Chanda, Rubin Pheffer, Paul Chrichton, Kate Smyth, Karen Frangipane, Michelle Fadella, Jody Cohen, Jaime Feldman, Kiley Fitzsimons, and all of Simon Schuster are the best . Thank you so much for believing in me! Yes, I love Simon and Schuster but I also love my Random House family! I was also able to do an audio book deal with Random House because both Rebecca Bullene and Tim Ditlow believed in me. I am truly blessed to me with the biggest publishers in the world.
Please forward this blog to anyone trying to do anything creative and wants to get their work out into the world and thinks they may never make it.
There is a huge story behind how I was able to get my six figure deal with Simon and Schuster and audio deal with Random House. I had to self publish, market, sell, act as my own publicist via an alias, among other tasks to do it. Now I am so happy that I have the chance to be with two major publishers. I did all of this without a literary agent, although I have a film agent at CAA.I hold almost all rights to my book/series. I even have the right to sell it on my own. I also control my cover (there is a story behind that). I even have full approval or consultation on many elements of my novel such as marketing.I am proof that it can be done. You just have to work hard and be smart about it. This is my way of paying back all those who helped me along the way.Along with posting blogs about my book I will post about the entire publishing process. Some topics will include:Self Publishing (from start to finish)How I was able to get a prolific digital artist to do the cover of my independent book. (He was later hired him to do the major publisher cover.)My experiences with with both Simon and Schuster and Random House.How to deal with a publisher and the staff. They can all be great guys.Publicity (Trust me you want to read this one. It reads like a best seller, getting much deep than ALan Chase.)How I was able to get my film rights represented by the biggest and most powerful talent agency on the face of the planet CAA.My experiences with meeting with some of the biggest people in Hollywood.Among many other topics…Not everything went right by a long shot, but I am happy and here to tell my story good and bad. The truth is it is just begining. In short, this is the real story behind Marvelous World. So once again, get ready!