Hi Everyone!

Editorial Assistant Mike Petranek here to share some great reviews that DISNEY FAIRIES#1 “Prilla’s Talent” has garnered. This book is in stores NOW and Tinker Bell and her friends have taken over the Papercutz office!

We’re thrilled to be offering these great graphic novels. You can visit http://www.papercutz.com/disneyfairies/ to see previews and meet the fairies!

To see some more preview pages and some kind words from “Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers,” click here! “Prilla’s Talent” also received a “5 out of 5″ rating from “Along the Way,” another online blog that reviews books and graphic novels. We’re thrilled that people seem to enjoy experiencing these graphic novels as much as we did putting them together. A special thank you to Chelsea Nissenbaum, Shiho Tilley, and Jessie Post at Disney for helping us get this first graphic novel out. Until next time, keep checking us out on the blog and Watch Out for Papercutz!

-Michael

Disney Fairies Copyright 2010 Disney Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.

If the widget thingy above is working properly you’ll now be hearing the new tune I completed to commemorate today’s official release of my latest novel from Walker Books, SPLIT.

SPLIT (the novel) tells the story of Wade Jackson, a teen torn between a bohemian love for music and his more academic ambitions in physics and computer science.  Rather then choose, a quirk in the universe allows him to pursue both, creating two Wades, and  two very different worlds.

The lyrics of several songs appear throughout Wade’s stories, but this I think encapsulates the book.  Truth be told, I wrote the lyrics back in my early twenties, while living in a small studio apartment in Mt. Vernon.  The melody is something I came up with a few months ago, making the song a collaboration between my own selves, separated more by time than ambition.

The piece was recorded over the last few months in my living room.  I’m on guitar, piano, lead and backup vocals, with Rob Sunderland on mandolin, bass, and harmonies and Bruce Scofield on harmonica.

The MP3 can be downloaded for free by visiting my music page and right-clicking on the appropriate link.  Pax!

Just received permission from the folks at IT! Books (HarperCollins) to post this excellent cover for the upcoming Paranormal State book.

For those not in-the-know, Paranormal State is a reality series broadcast on the A&E network, which chronicle the investigations of the Paranormal Research Society, under the guidance of their director Ryan Buell.  PRS began as a student organization at Pennsylvania State University, but has since evolved into much more.

With the show having completed its fourth successful season, Ryan takes a look back at the beginnings of the group and the show, delving into intimate detail about how their encounters with the unknown have changed lives, including his own.

I said in an earlier post that for each episode, covering a single case, the crew shoots as much as 48 hours of footage, which is skillfully edited down to 22 minutes for broadcast.  Much of this book is about those other 47 hours and 38 minutes.

Ryan and I have been working on this for well over a year, and through the twenty hours plus of interviews, I’ve continually been impressed and surprised, not only by the integrity of Ryan and his investigators, but also the fascinating details that didn’t make it into the show.  This is a unique and fascinating look at the world of ghost-hunting, reality television, and just where the line lies between evidence and belief.

I’ll be chatting much more about this in the weeks to come.  Meanwhile, the release is set for September 21st and both the publisher and A&E have some great plans for promoting it.  Feel free to advance order by following the links above.  Pax!

Hi Everyone!

Editorial Assitant Mike Petranek here to share some great reviews that CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED has garnered recently, and write about one of my favorite authors, Robert Louis Stevenson. Right now, the newest volumes of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED and CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE are both adaptations of very different books he wrote!

CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #7 “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” is a horror story that has been used as the inspiration for Alan Moore’s “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and one of my favorite cartoons of all time. You can read a review of this book, featuring John K. Snyder III’s wonderfully scary work, from booklist here.

On the “Deluxe” side of things, “Treasure Island” was one of my favorite books growing up, and I was very happy when I first learned it would be one of our CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE volumes. If you like great art, pirates and adventure, look no further! Just look at what Publisher’s Weekly had to say:

“The classic pirate novel is even more fun to read accompanied by well-done pictures. By Capturing the feel of another time and place, readers are easily transpoted into the long-ago seafaring adventure.”

“The art also helps readers become more comfortable with the old-fashioned language and phrasing…The story is full of all the elements expected: mysterious omens, frightening strangers, a treasure map, seafaring adventure, murderous mutiny, and a boy’s first journey to becoming a man. ”

Not only that, but comicsworthreading.com also has a great review of the graphic novel, which you can read here. Check it out!

We hope you have as much fun with these graphic novels as we did putting them together. Until next time, keep checking us out here on the blog, and watch out for Papercutz!

-Mike