“E = mc2 is no longer the most powerful force in the universe. Your wand is.”

 Twelve-year-old Billy and his best friend Suzy Quinofski didn’t mean to change the universe. Billy, a quantum physics prodigy, just wanted to find a way to help his hoarding, schizophrenic mother – and maybe impress a coven of older girls in high school. Suzy, his intellectual equal, wanted to help her friend and cling to her last remnant of childhood, a belief in magic. Together they made Billy a real, working, magic wand, and opened a door to the Quantum World where thoughts create reality, and all things – good and bad – are possible.

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Author Interview

Tell us what you wanted to be when you were a child and how that changed over time.

I have to answer this question by telling a story that happened to me a few years ago.

I was walking on the moon.  (True story).  I was walking on the moon and ran into an old man who was having trouble making his way.  It’s very difficult terrain, so I gave him a hand.  This was quite an honor, as the old man was… still is… revered in his profession.  Among those in the know, just the mention of his name brings respect, so I paid particular attention to the conversation as we walked.

It turns out that his story was very similar to mine.  As a kid, he wanted to an astrophysicist, so did I.  He took advanced science classes in high school, so did I.  He didn’t do very well in them, neither did I.  He decided that if he were ever to get into space, it would only happen in an imaginary world, and so did I.

The old man was the great cinematographer, Dean Selmer.  The moon was on Stage 26 at Universal Studios.  We were working on Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.  We had both made it into space.

What are your all time favorite reads?

I’m dyslexic, so growing up reading was actually a chore.  “Have you don’t your reading today?”  I hated that question.  The thing about being dyslexic is that your thoughts are whip-fast, so fast most people don’t know what you’re talking about because they haven’t caught up yet.  While your brain moves quickly, all of the mechanics of reading do not.  This makes reading slow and boring.

That said, I was tutored at a young age, and read fine now.  Besides the Harry Potter series, I tend to like books by authors I know.  Check out Goodreads shelf by the same name.

What is your main character’s personality like?

You’ll have to read the book to answer that one.  I tend to write from the gut, so I don’t analyze my characters that much.  I don’t think about what they are going to do, I just do it.  Call it the Nike school of writing.

Do you use a critique group or outlining to write your books? What is the process like?

I tend to write a very detailed outline, then not look at it again.  If I get stuck, I’ll go back to it, but some of the best stuff comes when I stray away from the outline.  Case in point, I’m working on the sequel now, Billy Bobble And The Witch Hunt.  A subplot about a teacher being fired and the Witches of Winston High coming to her defense was not in my original outline, but it has become a major part of the book.

I don’t have a formal critique group, but I wish I did.  I do have some friends from Agent Query Connect who have given me some feedback and I hope to turn to them for the sequel – but a lot of them are published now, so I hope they don’t get too busy.

 

Where does Billy‘s magic come from?

It takes me the first half of the book to answer that question, but let’s see if I can’t condense it.

Time and Space are like two data sets in a computer program, with key numbers that connect them.  The connection keeps us locked in linear Time.  If you break that connection you create a Cartesian Product between two infinite sets.  Are you still with me?  Kids will learn a lot reading this book!  By breaking the connection, the person with the wand goes into a Quantum World, where the energy of thought creates reality.

As Billy defines magic, it’s “seemingly unrelated cause and effect.”

What’s the most magical place you’ve ever been and why?

Two places:  One is the Magic Castle in Hollywood, because… duh! It’s a magic castle!

The other is the world of pure imagination.

 

About the Author 

R.S. Mellette has written, directed, designed and acted in theatre, film, television, and publishing for over 30 years. His credits in various jobs include XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS, BLUE CRUSH, and his own JACKS OR BETTER, which won Dances With Films Best Screenplay award in 2000. He has been working with the festival ever since.

His novel, Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand, released in December 2014 from Elephant’s Bookshelf Press. For novelists, Mellette blogs for From The Write Angle. For filmmakers, he writes for Dances With Films.

 Also find him on Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter and Facebook.

 

Giveaway

1st Prize- *signed* copy of Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand

2nd Prize- Season two of Xena: Warrior Princess

Open to US onlyEnds 2/25/15

a Rafflecopter giveawayThis event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.