Three Times A Charm with Michael Thal

Today on Three Times A Charm we welcome author, Michael Thal. I love introducing my readers to the people who work in children’s publishing.

So nice to have you join us, Michael. Can you tell us a little about yourself, please?

I’m the author of four published novels—Goodbye Tchaikovsky, The Abduction of Joshua Bloom, and The Koolura Series—The Legend of Koolura and Koolura and the Mystery at Camp Saddleback. Since 2009 I have been a columnist for the Los Angeles Examiner writing articles about parenting and education.

Moving from the frigid Northeast to comfy Southern California in 1973, I taught elementary and middle school for 28 years until a freak virus left me deafened at the age of 50. I reinvented myself as a writer composing over 80 published articles in print magazines as well as novels for middle grade and high school aged students.

You can learn more about me on my website at www.michaelthal.com. My books can be purchased on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in print and as e-books.


Tell us more about your books.

Goodbye Tchaikovsky is about a violin virtuoso being plunged into a deaf world, necessitating him to adapt to a new culture and language in order to survive.
The Abduction of Joshua Bloom tells the story of a teen and his alien abductors who justify their act in an attempt to save their people. Joshua finds himself in a world dominated by women, and men are subjugated to their whims. He travels to a dinosaur world, visits a water planet, and a world doomed by a star about to nova.

The Legend of Koolura tells the story of a sixth grade girl and how she obtained the cool powers.  She has the ability to dematerialize at will and reappear where she chooses. She can move objects with her mind and she can even defy gravity!

In Koolura and the Mystery at Camp Saddleback Koolura is back in her second adventure. Koolura has the ability to teleport, levitate, heal, and even fly. But at Camp Saddleback Koolura wakes up drained and powerless. Who or what has stolen her psychic powers?

Okay – now it’s time for the three’s. Please share you top three answers to the following questions so we can get to know you a little better.

Three top books/author recommendation:

One of my favorite writers is Anne Louder McGee. She’s one of the many Indie authors who get lost in the forest known as Amazon. I’d like to share three of her wonderful YA novels.

Anni’s Attic- Anne McGee’s historical novel, Anni’s Attic, provides a heart-wrenching look at the atrocities of the Civil War and its affects on the lives of the people living in the Savannah countryside. The YA book is a marvelous character study of Anni and Jenn. During the course of the war the cousins encounter spies, racial hatred, the Underground Railroad, and Sherman's March to the Sea. In the confines of a secret attic in White Magnolias, the cousins begin to depend on each other, and in so doing learn what love and respect truly means.

The Mystery at Marlatt Manor: Anne Loader McGee brings us this fast paced middle school novel about teen sleuth Mallory who uncovers a mystery around a missing girl and the weird people that seem to be hunting for a possible lost treasure. Mallory’s grandmother, Aggie, may lose her beloved home and Mallory has strange dreams that may be the key to solving everyone’s problems, including the manor’s mystery.


Mystery of the Missing Ming: Mallory Gilmartin is back again in this new mystery. With her signature crisp sentences and humorous dialogue, McGee keeps readers engaged in a fun-filled adventure that unfolds during the 1970s in Cedar Creek, Virginia. The cast of characters include Aggie Hobbs, Mallory’s 60 something grandma, who expects her grandchildren to call her Aggie, OR ELSE! Sidekick, Kyle, reluctantly gets involved in Mallory and Aggie’s schemes that too often get him into trouble with his dad and or the law. Added to the mix is Mallory’s gift of communicating with the dearly departed.  McGee swirls this around with her magical wand creating thoroughly enchanting novels that readers won’t be able to put down.


Three pieces of advice for kids these days:

1.      Make education your top priority. In the 21st Century you’re not just competing with kids in your city, state, or country. Competition is on a global scale, so prepare yourself with skills to make yourself marketable.
2.      Put your family before your friends. Friends come and go, but your family will always be there. Nurture that relationship as if your life depended on it, for some day it just might.
3.      Push yourself to exercise every day. The best health insurance policy you can buy isn’t Obama Care, it’s gym membership. Work out at least 4 days a week vigorously making it a lifelong habit. If you do, when you reach old age, you won’t look it, inside and out.  

Three professions you wanted to be when you grew up:

As a child I wanted to be a doctor. Once in college, I thought of becoming a diplomat, but after a few summers as a camp counselor, I decided to become a teacher. Now here is why your education is so important. Let’s say you want to become a professional basketball player, and you’re really good. Now let’s say a player on the court runs into you forcing you to fall and break a leg. You are soon told you’ll never play probasketball again. Your education is what you can fall back on.
After 28 years of teaching I suffered from a severe hearing loss caused by a virus. I couldn’t understand a word my students said to me. My ENT specialist suggested I take disability, which I did. My education helped me retrain myself to become a successful writer. In my youth I had prepared myself for that “broken leg.” You should do the same.

Thanks for introducing us to another Indie author. Finally, where can our tech savvy readers find you online?

michaelthal@sbcglobal.net

Websites:

Books by Michael Thal: http://www.michaelthal.com 
Examiner Column: http://www.examiner.com/academic-success-in-los-angeles/michael-thal 
Michael’s Blog: http://michaelthalblog.weebly.com 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.thal 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/koolura

Thanks for joining us on this week’s Three Times A Charm, Michael! Best of luck to you and and your writing.

THANKS!

GUESTS WELCOME!  I am always looking for guests for Three Times A Charm. If you are an author, illustrator or book reviewer, an agent or an editor. If you have something related to children’s publishing that you’d like people to know about, feel free to contact me about a future appearance.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Susan Kaye Quinn, Author of Open Minds, Presents:

Image
Finding Time to Write the Sequel by Susan Kaye Quinn, author of Open Minds (Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy) Even before I decided to self-publish my new paranormal/SF novel Open Minds (Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy) , I knew it would be a trilogy. But once I had made the decision to publish, the need to get busy on the sequel(s) kicked into high gear. Except that I was also publishing a book. Most writers find it difficult to balance writing with all the other demands in life. Even people who are lucky enough to write full time (which I am, since I write while my kids are at school), there’s still a tug between writing time and all the other things that need to be done. Once you’re published, this all changes, and not for the better. Now, not only do you need to write and get the kids to school and get the laundry done, but you also need to market your book, which can mean everything from actually getting it published (edits, covers, websites, blogs)...
Read more

Robot Writing - What It Is & How to Avoid It

Image
Many beginner writers fall into the habit of what I like to refer to as “robot writing.” It’s when you basically write your scenes like a grocery list. Ex: Marcy stood and walked across the room. Then she picked up the candle stick to inspect it. She blinked when she noticed the spot of dried blood. Marcy dropped the candlestick and ran from the room. I call it robot writing because when I'm reading it I tend to fall into a robotic pattern and start to sound like the robot from the old Lost In Space series. "Danger. Danger. Will Robinson." You may as well put numbers in front of each sentence: First Marcy stood and walked across the room. Second she picked up the candlestick to inspect it. Third she blinked when she noticed the spot of dried blood. Fourth she dropped the candlestick and ran from the room. Don’t get me wrong, robot writing is absolutely acceptable in your first draft, no matter your writing experience. Your first p...
Read more

Don't Be Closed Minded. Read a Banned Book. #Giveaway

Image
On this list , compiled by the ALA, of the top 100 challenged books of the decades 1990-1999 and 2000-2009, I've read: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Adventure of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Blubber Crank The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time The Dead Zone The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things Fat Kid Rules the World The Giver Harry Potter (series) The Hunger Games (series) The Kite Runner The Lovely Bones Olive's Ocean Speak Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes That Was Then, This Is Now Thirteen Reasons Why Twilight (series) A Wrinkle In Time I would recommend any of them, but especially the titles I've linked. The thing with me and banned books is that I don't get it. The banning thing. Why would you ever feel the right to keep a book out of the hands of other readers? Why would you feel you have the authority to say what some can and cannot read? Do you have the right to voice your o...
Read more