Gappy and the Young 
    Vampire Adventures      
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    • A Surprise for Gappy
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    • Gappy is Kidnapped
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    • Gappy and the Witch's Curse
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Fun with Cops in the Desert

1/20/2014

 
So I've had a fantastic time in Arizona, driving around the desert, viewing cactus, looking for likely places for Gappy's latest adventure to take place . . . but today surpassed all expectations. 
I needed to do research on how police respond to calls and also what the U.S./Mexican border looks like in certain places.  After inadvertently almost driving through the border and doing a U-turn just in time, I was driving around the border town of Nogales looking for the border fence where I could view it up close and was getting hopelessly lost driving around residential neighborhoods, up and down hills, and never seeming to get close.  I had passed by City Hall at one point and figured that the police station was probably located there and maybe it would be simpler and more efficient to try to interview a police officer and ask some questions about the border too.  

I went back to City Hall and, sure enough, there was the police station.  I went in and introduced myself as a children's author researching for my seventh book and asked if I could ask someone some questions.  I gave them my business card, but I thought the cops might be suspicious that maybe I was working for a drug lord, scoping out how things work at the border. However, they were cool, but they did take a photocopy of my driver's license and check me out first. 

The shift supervisor (Rick) came out and offered to take me on a ride-along, during which he would answer questions and show me the border.  I leapt at the chance and leapt into the passenger seat of his police SUV with alacrity.  Actually, it was more like a heave and a climb into the SUV because it was so big and high up off of the ground. 

First we drove to a street on a hill from which we could look down on the border fence and see Mexico on the other side.  It was a weird feeling, seeing it for the first time.  I couldn't believe I was actually looking at Mexico!  And from a cop car, to boot! 

After that, we drove down to the crossing point and almost drove through into Mexico but made a U-turn at the last minute.  Rick explained how people and cars are inspected when and after they cross into the States.  I was amazed that the 12-to-20-ish-foot-high border fence was made out of square, vertical, metal bars with quite wide spaces between them.  Apparently it used to be a solid fence, like sheets of metal with no holes, but for aesthetic reasons, the powers-that-be, whoever they are, decided to replace them with the slatted fence.  We could have bought a hot dog from Mexico by reaching through the fence.  There really was a hot dog vendor right there on the other side, and I'm sure they would have been happy to sell us a hot dog. 

The fence continues on, up and down hills and valleys, as far as I could see and the form of it changes in different locations.  Various houses on both sides of the fence are suspected as being  lookout points for the purpose of keeping an eye on happenings at the border fence for warning smugglers of both drugs and people and facilitating their passage.  What an eerie feeling that was.  Rick also told me all about the "coyotes" who are paid to smuggle them across and how they abuse and rob their charges.  He was very empathetic towards the plight of the illegals and the suffering many of them have to endure, especially the women and children he has met.

We proceeded to drive through neighborhoods, both affluent and poor, which backed on to the border fence and Rick  pointed out popular places where illegal aliens scale the fence and where drugs are delivered to the States in various forms and packaging, either thrown over or passed through to the other side.  He told me about night raids by flashlight in the gullies and sandy washes between the hills, what the cops do when they come across people who they suspect to be illegal aliens, how they coordinate sightings with border patrol, etc. 

I was surprised to learn that Nogales is one of the safest cities in the States to live.  It only has one or two homicides per year, which makes some of the neighborhoods around where I live in the Northeast look like real crime hotspots.  Part of the reason is the size of the police and border patrol presence.  At several strategic points along the route were parked big white and green border patrol SUVs, keeping an eye on the fence with the aid of huge lights, cameras, infra red devices, etc.  Apparently most illegal aliens are respectful to the police and do what they are told when caught.  Another reason is that drugs are much less valuable right at the border.  They increase tremendously in value the farther into the States they go, and the danger and violence grow exponentially. 

Throughout the drive, Rick was also monitoring his radio and dispensing instructions to patrol officers.  At one point when I wondered aloud what the outcome of a call involving a crying baby was, he got on the radio to find out who had responded to the call and what the status was.  I felt really honored that he would do that for me - a non-cop, civilian!  I was concerned that I was taking up too much of Rick's time but he assured me that he was having fun.  Certainly, when he woke up that morning, he had no idea that he would be giving a ride to a children's author and coolly discussing vampires, magical powers, border fencing and police procedures while sitting on a hilltop overlooking Mexico.

All in all it was a great experience and I'm very grateful to Rick for being so obliging and informative.  I look forward to sending his children a set of my books, once I get back home.



Arizona, here I come!

1/15/2014

 
Flying to Tucson, Arizona tomorrow to immerse myself in desert and add the finishing touches to Gappy's seventh vampire adventure.  Should be a fun trip!

Book Signing at Market Block Books in Troy, NY 7/27/13

7/31/2013

 
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So, the book signing was very successful, and I sold a lot of books between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.  It only took about 10 minutes for the first people to come looking for me after seeing the announcements I'd posted all over the place online and in e-mails.  I think it the local interest helped because the bookstore is right next to the Troy Farmer's Market where Gappy's adventure begins in the fourth book, Gappy and the Thieves.  It also features Oakwood Cemetery, just down the road where Uncle Sam is buried and where Gappy's adventure really heats up and becomes quite scary.  Below is the news article about my Gappy books, which came out in the Troy Record newspaper on Friday, July 26th, and the poster made up by Market Block Books to announce the book signing.

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Ripley's Believe it or Not Radio Interview

11/1/2012

 
Yesterday, Wednesday, October 31st, I did a quick author interview with Ripley's Believe it or Not Radio.  Part of it was to do with Can Vampires be Good Role Models for Children.  My answer was a resounding Yes!  If you've read the books, you will know that Gappy is just a normal kid who goes through all of life's experiences as other regular kids.  He deals with bullies, he's not very good at math, he's loyal and sticks by his friends through thick and thin, he works hard to solve problems and doesn't give up, he's compassionate and kind, etc.  Also, as commented on by the teacher of a fourth grade class that I visited to talk about my books and the joy of writing, Gappy also has to deal with being different.  Already shy and somewhat serious which makes him an appealing target for bullying by Billy Tompkins, now he has the huge, secret identity of becoming a vampire, to boot.  Imagine how hard that must be?  Kids can relate to Gappy and if they model his behavior, they can't go wrong - except for the part about hiding his secret identity, that is and the various evasions that that incurs.  However, he has to do that to protect the vampire race from discovery by regular humans - regs, so I think he's allowed.  Although the interview was taped yesterday, which is kind of appropriate, seeing as October 31st is Halloween - OOOOoooooh - the segment will air sometime in December.  I'll post the podcast when it comes out.  I also told Ripley's about the reeeeeally weeeeeird things that happened to me while I was writing Book Six of the Young Vampire Adventures: Gappy and the Witch's Curse.  I still can't believe that they happened.  They were really spooky.  See below blog entries for details.

 Upcoming Media Events - Gappy Hits the Airwaves

10/18/2012

 
Hiya, regs.  Well, Gappy's vampire adventures are going national on the airwaves!  Next week I will be taping an author interview with the "X" Zone Radio/TV show out of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The 'X' Zone Radio Show" is broadcast internationally and syndicated by The 'X' Zone Broadcast Network (http://www.xzbn.net/)  and on the TalkStar Radio Network, Monday - Friday from 10 pm - 2 am Eastern / 7 pm - 11 pm Pacific and then repeated in its entirety from 2 am - 6 am Eastern / 11 pm - 3 pm.  Podcasts are  available on Apple iTunes and at ‘X’ Zone Podcasts - http://www.xzonepodcast.com/.  I'll let you know when my podcast's up and running.

Also, for those regs living out Arizona way, I will be doing a live 30-minute call-in program on 1100 KFNX's "Networking Arizona" show from 3:30 - 4:00 pm (Arizona time) on Friday, February 15th.  If you're not in their broadcast area, you can listen on the web at www.1100kfnx.com and, of course, I will post the link to the podcast.

Meet the Media

7/26/2012

 
Signed up for a meet-the-media conference in New York City in October.  Great chance to network, meet TV and radio producers, journalists, agents and publishers and receive coaching on pitching Gappy's vampire adventures, finding the right hook, etc.  They only have space for 100 people, so I'm waiting with bated breath to find out if I'm deemed worthy to attend.  Wish me luck!

Where to Write?

5/19/2012

 
I write where the mood takes me.  I know some authors have a set or favorite place where all their writing takes place, e.g. a cozy corner of their house where their computer is set up and they can take breaks to look out of the window, or get a cup of coffee. They are more disciplined than I am.  I don’t have a set place.  I actually renovated a room in my house as a library, with built-in wooden bookshelves and a corner nook for my desk and computer in front of a window where I can look out onto the cemetery opposite. The cemetary has a pond in front of a really cool stone-arched chapel my grandkids call “the Castle” because that's what it looks like. See the illustration from Book 4, Gappy and the Thieves. The library was meant to be my writing place. I spent so much money on it, and it’s perfect.  It’s even got a fireplace.  The problem is, I seldom feel like writing there unless it’s a miserable day outside and the warm reddish wood glowing in the light of my fake gas fireplace is calling to me.  Maybe this is the reason I sometimes take my computer to a little artsy coffee shop.  Or sunk into a comfy couch at Starbucks or Panera’s, enveloped, I go where the mood takes me.  My issue is sunlight, or indeed any bright light.  I can’t get enough light, and I write much better with light.  In fact one of my favorite writing places is the parking lot of a park called Frear Park, which is just down the road from my house.  When I was writing Book 6, Gappy and the Witch's Curse, I found that I really enjoyed coming home from work and parking in the parking lot at Frear Park by the tennis courts.  I would write for hours, longhand, looking out onto a wide expanse of green grass peopled with the occasional kids playing a pickup game of softball, or a Dad flying a kite with his young son. I suspect that as I work on Book 7, or, rather, Book 1 of the Teen Vampire Adventures, which I think might be titled Gappy in Disquise, I'll be spending a good part of my after-work hours sitting in Frear Park.  
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    Author

    Star Donovan, author of the exciting Young Vampire Adventures, a series of books about a normal boy named Gappy, who gets the shock of his life when he learns that he is turning into a vampire and then proceeds to hurtle from one dangerous adventure to another.

    Gappy makes it to TV!!

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