Hi, Everyone!
I just wanted to take a minute and introduce you to fellow Clean Reads author,
B. W. Morris who is guest posting on the blog today. He is the author of The Six Pack Series and has just launched his new release, Six Pack: Gyration. He's sharing about how he came to embrace his interests in comic books and superheroes, and what inspired him to write his series!
Enjoy!
Sara Jane
B. W. Morris is a longtime writer for small-town newspapers who put his inner comic book geek to work through writing novels.
Born in Texas but grew up in Colorado, he has lived in New Mexico, Oklahoma and currently resides in Kingman, Kan.
Greg Weisman, Suzanne Collins, Stan Lee, George Orwell and Conor Friedersdorf all influenced his writing.
Morris is a fan of the Young Justice animated series, the Arrowverse shows on the CW Network, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Star Wars films and more graphic novels than he can keep track.
You can learn more about his love for science fiction at his blog, relaxingwithsixpack.blogspot.com, and his new website to be launched in June at bwmorrisauthor.com.
When I was younger, I was insecure about who I really was -- being a geek wasn't considered cool and it wasn't easy to admit how fascinated I was with all things related to superheroes, animation, science fiction and related material.
It wasn't until I got older that I realized it was all right to have those interests and that I needed to embrace who I was -- a comic book geek. Over time, I grew more familiar with superhero mythology and became a bigger fan of animation. Both led me to watching more animated series pertaining to superheroes and, one day, I ran across the TV series called Young Justice.
I was hooked. What intrigued me about it were the twists and turns the overarching storyline took, plus how the focus was on young, teenage superheroes learning not only what being a superhero was all about, but what being an adult was all about. You got insights into what made them tick as people, what their interests were outside of the superhero life and the relationships they had with other people.
The show inspired me to think about stories surrounding my own team of teenage superheroes, but the only thing I lacked was a setting in which it would take place and how things would come to be.
That was when I watched the first Hunger Games movie and picked up the book. Needless to say, I was hooked -- Suzanne Collins was terrific at building suspense and tension, creating strong characters and making you empathize with them, even sympathize with at the right moments. And that book inspired my own idea: What if teenagers gained superpowers in a dystopian world? How could they change things? How would that happen? What would they have to learn along the way?
Once I had that in mind, and settled into a new job and community, I spent a lot of time writing. I threw ideas together in a first draft, attended a couple meetings of the Kansas Writers Association, learned more about what it took to write a novel, and things took off from there.
Had I not learned to embrace who I really was and what interested me, though, things may not have turned out the way they did. That brings me to the importance of embracing your interests and pursuing them, because once you do, you never know where they might take you.
It's easy for people to say that it's cool to be a geek now, but you still need to realize that something that interests you doesn't need to be cool. If you enjoy something and it does no harm to others to pursue it, you should accept it as part of who you are. Whether that's science fiction, Christian works, romances, horror films, spiritual guidance, anything that some people might not understand -- don't worry if it isn't considered cool. What matters is that your interests are part of you and to be proud of who you are.
And perhaps those interests could lead to something bigger -- like they did when I got my first novel published more than a year ago.
It all started with a drink – a drink that gave Tyler Ward and five of his friends superpowers. Now they must figure out how their new powers can change society.
But who can they trust?
Who has their best interests in mind and who has a bigger agenda?
And what cost comes with change?
The young adult, science fiction/dystopian series is published
by Clean Reads.
Just weeks before Tyler Ward is to graduate from secondary school, he learns the truth about Novusordo and how a drink controls the population. After sharing this information with his five friends, they visit a professor’s house, take another drink and gain strange powers. It leads to them learning more about how the government controls people and the discovery of a movement against the government. Calling themselves the Six Pack, Tyler and his friends must learn how their powers can change society. But they first must learn to trust this movement… and even each other.
To be released May 22, 2018
Months after the Six Pack has fled City 37N104W, Tyler Ward wonders how much longer the Underground Network can afford to wait to make its next move against the Novusordo government. The disappearance of five more students from Monroe Secondary School pushes his desire to take action. And when he learns that Professor Roger Woods may be in trouble, he is convinced he and the Six Pack must take matters into their own hands, even if it means defying the Network. But actions have consequences, and the decisions Tyler and his friends make will impact everyone they encounter -- including themselves.
SIX PACK: UPRISING
In editing stages, targeted release in 2019. More info to be announced.
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