The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw Blog Tour: Character Introduction & Giveaway



Thank you Walden Pond Press and Christopher Healy for allowing to once again be a part of The Hero's Guide Blog Tour.  I am frequently placing this book series in the hands of teachers and students, and hand-selling it at my local indie bookstore.  So, of course, when I was asked to participate I had to say "yes".

by Christopher Healy
Audience: 9 to 13 year olds
Fiction * Fantasy * Adventure
Walden Pond Press
April 29, 2014

About the book:
Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You think you know those guys pretty well by now, don’t you? Well, think again. The Princes Charming, along with Ella, Snow, Rapunzel, and Princess Lila are caught and arrested for the murder of Briar Rose. The heroes are simultaneously shocked and sad to hear of this news. But a series of suspicious events leads them to believe that not only is Briar still alive, but some unseen evil is working its way into the throne rooms of all thirteen kingdoms. It’s up to the League to break out of prison, find Briar, and uncover the nefarious plot before the entire country is destroyed.

This year I am introducing:

7. Erik the Mauve

Occupation: Bounty Hunter
Affiliation: Gang Greenfang
Kingdom of Origin: Jangleheim
Current Residence: A mongoose farm on the shores of Lake Stoutness
Father: Erik the Beast-Master (stage name)
Known Partners: Greenfang, Periwinkle Pete, Orangebeard, Corin Silversword, Norin Black-Ax
Longtime Rival: Dorcus the Red, the bounty hunter who took the name-color Erik was hoping to use
Likes: Bullwhips; trivia night at the Skewered Seahorse; giant mongeese
Dislikes: Fleas; bugbears; people who say “mongooses”
Signature Move: The Growl-and-Pounce Giant Mongoose
Attack Quote: “Oh, I ain’t gonna hurt you. The mongeese, though? Well, I can’t speak for them.”
Little Known Fact: Erik’s father was once a mongoose trainer for the Flimsham Brothers Circus. He was fired after an unfortunate incident that resulted in the final performance of Flimsham’s resident snake charmer.

Check out the book trailer:




About the author:
Christopher Healy is the author of The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, which the New York Times selected as one of its best books of the year, calling it “charming—a quest that recalls at moments the Musketeers and at others the Marxes”; as well as its sequel, The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle, which Publishers Weekly hailed as “uproariously funny” in a starred review. He is also a reviewer of children’s media. Chris lives with his wife and two children in New Jersey. You can find him online at www.christopherhealy.com


Check out the Hero's Guide to Being a Blog Tour 

5/1 - The Book Rat
5/5 – Icey Books
5/6 - Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
5/7 - The Book Monsters
5/8 - The Book Rat
5/9 - A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust
5/12 - Word Spelunking Book Blog
5/15 - Buried in Books
5/16 - KidLit Frenzy
5/19 - Mundie Kids
5/20 - The Flashlight Reader
5/21 - Bunbury In the Stacks
5/22 - The Hiding Spot
5/23 - Novel Novice
5/24 - Paigeintraining
5/26 - Mundie Kids
5/26 - This Kid Reviews Books
5/27 - This Kid Reviews Books
5/28 - Small Review
5/29 - Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
5/30 - The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

~~Giveaway~~ 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a signed copy of The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw (The League of Princes #3). Thank you Walden Pond Press for sponsoring the giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hero's Guide Blog Tour


The Hero's Guide returns with The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle.  Christopher Healy has brought back your favorite Prince Charmings for more hilarity and adventure.  Walden Pond Press is celebrating with a blog tour and character profiles.  Today, Kid Lit Frenzy is celebrating Prince Frederic.



Prince Frederic
Occupation: Prince, dancer, gentleman
Affiliation: Founding member, League of Princes
Kingdom of Origin: Harmonia
Current Residence: Royal Palace of Harmonia
Parents: King Wilberforce & Queen Anabeth (deceased)
Longtime Foe: El Stripo (a circus tiger)
Likes: Proper manners, witty wordplay, picnics
Dislikes: Rudeness, poor grammar, dirt in all of its many forms
Signature Move: The Run-and-Hide
Quote: “It looks like she lost one of her glass slippers. Would you be so kind as to have it sanitized?” Little Known Fact: Owns three copies of every Sir Bertram the Dainty book (one set organized alphabetically, one chronologically, and one according to the color spectrum)

If you would like to know more about The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy, check out the official book trailer.



Don't forget to enter to win:
All readers of this blog have exclusive access to a special giveaway for THE HERO’S GUIDE TO STORMING THE CASTLE. You will need this SECRET CODE to enter: PRINCE CHARMING.
Click here to enter.

WHAT YOU WIN: If you are one of the first three people to enter the giveaway TODAY (5/10/13), you will receive a signed copy of The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle. EVERYONE who enters the giveaway from 5/6 to 5/26 is eligible to win a $200 gift card to the bookstore of his or her choice.

Don't forget to check out the Twitter Chat on Fractured Fairy Tales with Christopher Healy (The Hero's Guide) and Marissa Meyer (Cinder/Scarlet) on Monday, June 3rd at 9 p.m. ET.  To join in follow the hashtag #talesretold.  There will be giveaways!

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom Blog Tour, Interview & Giveaway

Artwork copyright © 2012 by Todd Harris
Today, I am so excited to welcome debut author, Christopher Healy to the blog.  His book, The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom was just released on Tuesday.  Christopher took some time out of his schedule to answer some questions.  Don't forget to scroll through the whole post because at the end there is a special giveaway thanks to Walden Pond Press.

One of the questions I sometimes ask is "If you could write a sequel to any book, what would it be?" - In some ways you did this with A Hero's Guide. What was the most fun for you in writing this book?

Yes, in a way, Hero’s Guide is a sequel to four different stories — Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel — since it takes place after all of those tales. But it’s also a completely new story unto itself — and that was the fun part. I really enjoyed taking these classic characters that most people think they know already, and moving them in unexpected directions — giving Cinderella a powerful right hook, making Prince Charming run shrieking for his life at the sight of some dwarfs, etc. It’s probably not what most readers will anticipate from these characters, but in this story, it all makes perfect sense.

Out of the 4 *Prince Charmings* - was there one of their stories that surprised you as you were writing about them? Did anyone change in unexpected ways as you wrote the story?

Before I started writing, I worked out the personalities of all the princes, crafting them from the scant tidbits of character we were given in the original fairy tales. But I never anticipated how these guys would then develop and evolve once they started interacting with one another. Sometimes I felt like I was just sitting back and watching to see what these guys did next. I wrote one scene for instance, where Duncan (Snow White’s silly little prince) asks one of his teammates to use him as a weapon — to literally throw him at an enemy. I thought to myself, “That’s insane.” But it’s totally what Duncan would have done in that moment. It was actually Gustav (Rapunzel’s big, burly prince), who surprised me the most, though. I never intended him to be a man of much emotional depth, but as the book went on, he ended up revealing more and more of his softer side. And that’s something that I never planned.

If you think back to being a child, what was the one book that seemed to be a turning point for you?

The one that hooked you into being a reader? Or the book that you kept coming back to over and over again? I was hooked on reading from the time I first cracked open Tikki Tikki Tembo. But the literary turning point for me was probably The Hobbit, which I read when I was nine. And as a kid, the books I actually re-read multiple times were the Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. I was obsessed with that series. As books that were essentially Dungeons & Dragons game tie-ins, they were far, far better than they ever would have needed to be. The characters, pacing, and action scenes were awesome. And there was so much drama. It was like a fantasy soap opera in a lot of ways. Ooh, just talking about them is making me want to go find them again.

Did you always see yourself as a writer or storyteller? Or was there a moment in time when you decided "I want to be a writer"?

 I was telling people I was going to be a writer ever since I was seven. The first story I remember writing was a sci-fi epic (well, epic for second grade) titled “The Space Race.” It was about a sort of Cannonball Run through the solar system. I remember one of the racers getting tangled in Saturn’s rings.

What advice would you give to children who want to someday become writers?

Embrace revision. Whatever you initially put down on paper is never going to be as good as what you come up with after re-examining and reworking every paragraph. Once you write that final line of a story, it’s so tempting to sit back and say, “I’m done!” But if you do, you’re not bringing your story to its full potential. Think of your first draft as a cupcake — even if it’s a moist, delicious cupcake to begin with, isn’t it going to be so much better after you ice it?

 If you could show up in any book as a character, what book would it be and who would you be?

 I don’t know. Is there a book set in a magical land where nothing dark and sinister is going on? Where everybody is happy and there’s no evil menace threatening to destroy the world? Maybe some unwritten Lord of the Rings sequel where nothing happens except the hobbits drinking tea, having second breakfasts, and telling each other stories.

I noticed that A Hero's Guide is the first in a series. Do you have any idea how many books we can look forward to reading in the series?

There will be at least three. I’m in the fabulously fun and exciting process of revising the second book right now.

Some of us really nerdy book lovers have multiple "to-be read" bookstacks around our homes. Do you care to share what is in your bookstack or even a picture of your "TBR" pile?

My entire house is a TBR pile. I seriously don’t think I could make it through all of these books in a lifetime, especially since I keep adding new ones. But here’s the stack that is currently next in line (though it’s very likely several new titles will slip in between these as I read).



Don't Forget to stop by Walden Pond Press and check out all of the Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom Blog Tour stops.

Here is a chance to listen to The Hero's Guide prologue:




For more information about author, Christopher Healy: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Check out the book tour stops, just in case Christopher Healy is going to be in your home town in the next week. 

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom Giveaway:

One lucky teacher or librarian has the opportunity to win a complimentary 30 to 45 minute skype visit with Christopher Healy for his or her classroom or library and two copies of The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom with signed bookplates for your school/classroom library.

The Contest will run from Friday, May 4th to Friday, May 11th at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.

You are welcome to leave comments in the comments section but to enter the giveaway, please complete the entry form below.