Welcome to the Guestbook!
I’m always eager to read your comments about my books and stories, so please feel free to pitch in. Here are a few things for you to know:
1) I answer the messages here personally.
2) No message shows up here until I actually answer it to prevent spam and other inappropriate postings. So there will sometimes be a delay before your message posts, especially if I am traveling.
3) Teachers, a gentle request: Please do not have multiple children send me variants of the same message. A group email is much easier to respond to and not such a drain on my time. My thanks in advance for being alert to this.
Sign the Guestbook!
It's almost a rarity seeing guestbooks in an online capacity, seeing as how that used to be a big big thing back in the '90s when the internet was still in its infancy, and where the wind blew--every kid to adult had some geocities, angelfire, or some other groovy-looking website. But, it's funny how one thing can get you thinking of another, leading to another thing. Case and point, since Prince died--I started thinking about a whole list of people from my childhood I knew, especially book authors--hopefully, they were or are still kicking. Gary Paulsen, Donald J Sobol, Dav Pilkey, Louis Sachar, Beverly Cleary, many others. Then you... Bruce Coville. I encountered your name during my grade school years when I went with my dad to a local Value Village, and while browsing the used books section, I came across an eye-catching cover of a certain green alien, flanked by an displeased teacher and a dog. Space Brat.
Bought that sucker at checkout, and your name became synonymous with "page-turner" for years to come. It was like transcribing a comic book into a cartoon show, into a picture book, back into a comic book, then into a written book. A book so simple and entertaining, reading wasn't so much a chore that teachers made you do during those reading sessions, and became more of a different world to visit if you were willing to give it that time... something like Interstellar the movie. And you knew it was good, because when you thought you were getting to the next page, you realized a whole 30 minutes had passed, finding yourself scrambling to get at least one more page in before going to a different class or lunch.
But, it's hard enough finding time to get into books as a nine-to-fiver guy, but remembering that book definitely reminds me that having fun once in awhile, be it reading a book or something else will take years off the loaded shoulders.
I bet you had more fun creating it than I did reading it. It's been years since then, and unfortunately I don't know what became of that book as I transitioned to an adult. Maybe one day, if you're still around and if the online store ends up working again--I'd like to get a signed copy from you as a nice reminder to keep the optimism alive in this day and age. Thanks a lot Bruce! See ya!
-Mark Anthony
Bought that sucker at checkout, and your name became synonymous with "page-turner" for years to come. It was like transcribing a comic book into a cartoon show, into a picture book, back into a comic book, then into a written book. A book so simple and entertaining, reading wasn't so much a chore that teachers made you do during those reading sessions, and became more of a different world to visit if you were willing to give it that time... something like Interstellar the movie. And you knew it was good, because when you thought you were getting to the next page, you realized a whole 30 minutes had passed, finding yourself scrambling to get at least one more page in before going to a different class or lunch.
But, it's hard enough finding time to get into books as a nine-to-fiver guy, but remembering that book definitely reminds me that having fun once in awhile, be it reading a book or something else will take years off the loaded shoulders.
I bet you had more fun creating it than I did reading it. It's been years since then, and unfortunately I don't know what became of that book as I transitioned to an adult. Maybe one day, if you're still around and if the online store ends up working again--I'd like to get a signed copy from you as a nice reminder to keep the optimism alive in this day and age. Thanks a lot Bruce! See ya!
-Mark Anthony
Reply by Bruce Coville
Hi, Mark -
Sorry to take so long in responding. I usually answer the short messages pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I take longer to get a lengthy and thoughtful message such as yours, since I need to find a time when I'm not distracted by ten different things.
I was mordantly amused that it was the death of Prince that led you to think of me!
This: "It was like transcribing a comic book into a cartoon show, into a picture book, back into a comic book, then into a written book." is one my favorite things anyone has ever said about my books. Oddly, the "picture book" aspect of that is true, since I originally wrote SPACE BRAT to be a picture book. That was 39 years ago, and my editor at the time turned it down with this immortal rejection: "This Star Wars craze will never last."
Heh.
Several years later I took the story out of the files and expanded it to the book that you read. It was turned down by several editors, and I put it away again. But my kids kept asking about it, so I was pretty sure that there was something there. And some years later, when I sent it to the right editor, she bought it overnight. Fastest acceptance I ever got!
Anyway, I'm delighted to know that you still remember it so fondly. And I hope my webmaster will get off his butt so we can get the online store working again!
BC
Sorry to take so long in responding. I usually answer the short messages pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I take longer to get a lengthy and thoughtful message such as yours, since I need to find a time when I'm not distracted by ten different things.
I was mordantly amused that it was the death of Prince that led you to think of me!
This: "It was like transcribing a comic book into a cartoon show, into a picture book, back into a comic book, then into a written book." is one my favorite things anyone has ever said about my books. Oddly, the "picture book" aspect of that is true, since I originally wrote SPACE BRAT to be a picture book. That was 39 years ago, and my editor at the time turned it down with this immortal rejection: "This Star Wars craze will never last."
Heh.
Several years later I took the story out of the files and expanded it to the book that you read. It was turned down by several editors, and I put it away again. But my kids kept asking about it, so I was pretty sure that there was something there. And some years later, when I sent it to the right editor, she bought it overnight. Fastest acceptance I ever got!
Anyway, I'm delighted to know that you still remember it so fondly. And I hope my webmaster will get off his butt so we can get the online store working again!
BC