Here's some Q&A from 15 participants drilling the author on the book, Carlton Casey: Alien Incident. Some questions were left off on purpose because they gave away too much of the story
Q: I noticed this book is written a little different than other books I've read, why this style? Isn't the book a little short though?
A: Whoa, slow down killer, that's two hard questions right off the bat....I'm just kidding. Well, I do write other ways but I thought it would be cool if the reader was able to almost 'stand' next to the character, in this case Carlton Casey. So, in essence, what he sees throughout the book, you see. Sometimes he has no idea what other things are going on around him and therefore the reader doesn't have a clue either; they only find out when he finds out. But, the reader almost always knows what Carlton is thinking. The book could be considered a little short based on today's books that are in the same category, I guess. But the reason was that I wanted it to be non-stop action from beginning to end without too many long, drawn out scenes that don't fit the book. Who knows though because the sequel is looking to be longer already.
Q: Are those characters people you know?
A: Not telling. Nah, most of the characters have a piece of this person I know or another person but besides really two of the characters, and it isn't the twins, the others are just a compilation of friends, family or even some students I had at school.
Q: What? Why, are two characters actually real?
A: Well, sort of. One of them is very close to someone who was really real. Crazy Harry was a nut-job that lived in the woods near my house when I was about your age. That was a long time ago, and I have no idea what ever happened to him. If I ever tell anyone about the other character who's real......ah forget it. I'll just IM ya later and tell you, I don't want it showing up in this chatroom.
Q: Speaking of the twins, don't they act a little too old for their age? And where did you come up with their names?
A: (Laughs) Actually the twins are nine, but with all the bad times they have had, they've been forced to grow up and mature a little faster than your normal nine year old. The names they have are really nicknames; Peanut & Jam Jam go together and I wanted to have memorable characters, so I just came up with the names. Their real names aren't revealed until the sequel.
Q: Do you really know kids like the twins? Cardboard boxes for windows?
A: Yeah well, there are some places in America where people don't have a ton of money. And yes, as a matter of fact I have seen some pizza box windows in my day.
Q: This book spooked me and my brother a little because we've been around gangs and drugs. Were you in a gang? Why didn't Carlton join the gang?
A: I was never in a gang. We had a gang alright but it was a gang of good guys who played ball and stuff. Gangs and drugs are real stuff, too real and I wanted to make this book realistic. Carlton is a popular dude who doesn't always act popular. Sometimes he isn't even sure why he's so popular with the girls and stuff but Carlton knows the difference between right and wrong and he just isn't afraid of anyone. That's not always smart though, as you read what happens when him and the guys are in Quentin's pool--there's no doubt that if Carlton didn't have the wristband from the aliens, he probably would've been killed.
Q: This book is gory! How come on Amazon they say it's for nine years old and up? And then I saw some bad words, what about that?
A: As far as the gory parts, like I said, this is an entertaining book and it gets gross and stuff but it sure isn't boring! I know they listed it on Amazon.com (Cool!) and it says nine and up, but that's not totally true. I think it's really for teenagers or kids who watch rated R movies, LOL, not that I'm saying it should be rated R, because it shouldn't. And as for the language, I don't think it's that bad at all, not with all the really bad words flying around school and tv and in the schoolyards... I'm not out to put up a story for good little boys and good little girls, I'm out to give teenagers a reason to chill off the net for awhile (except for now, of course!) and do some reading.
Q: Do you like Harry Potter books and the movies? Is Carlton like Harry?
A: Yeah, I do like the Harry Potter stuff. The movies are great too. Carlton isn't that much like Harry, I mean, he really doesn't have much magical power except for what he finds on the UFO, and even with that we don't really know what he's going to do with the items at the end. Carlton has more confidence and is older than Harry was, way back in the first Harry Potter book. But I think Carlton and Harry would be friends if they ever met up. As for Jam Jam though he'd probably be begging Harry for a ride on his broomstick so he could fly over and look at girls through their windows.
Q: You got a sequel already? What's it about?
A: I've written some of it already but it hasn't been picked up by a major publisher yet. Hopefully it will though, based somewhat on what seems to be the success of ALIEN INCIDENT. As far as the storyline, I don't want to give too much away because people are still reading the first one. But in the second one there will be stuff that goes down at school and Carlton is going to go work at a Carnival. There is a major surprise and some readers might get mad at me at the end of the book.
Q: You better not kill Peanut or Jam Jam!
A: Uh, that wasn't a question. Glad you like them so much......
AHST RM 44 "Reader's write" 2007 May 30 750+1+0.