Interview with W.C. Peever (The Jumper Chronicles) and Giveaway

Charlie is an awkward twelve-year old living a normal life till he is abducted and thrust into a world of ever-looming danger, a world of Magic, of Angry Gods, and Creatures that are should only exist inside of fairytales.  Charlie and his three friends must unravel the mysteries of their new found abilities, save the father Charlie has never known, and uncover a secret that will change their lives forever.
I read and reviewed The Jumper Chronicles a week or so ago.  A great adventure! I had the pleasure of asking the author W.C. Peever a few questions.

1. I absolutely adore the cover art. Did you draw it yourself or can you tell us who the artist is?

No. {Laughing} If I was the cover artist you may never have read the book! It would have been horrid, something akin to a first graders art project that should have been done a week before but instead was drawn on the car ride to school! No, the cover artist was actually the winner of National Contest. Kelly Amancio was the winner out of 800 art entries, to find the The Next Big Cover Artist! And look at the cover! I think I discovered some great talent. Kelly is now reading Book Two of The Jumper Chronicles and getting ready to design the next cover.


2. Charlie is a strong character for such a young boy. Is he based off of anyone you know?

Funny you should ask that. My sister read the book and then immediately “facebooked” me with a question. “Is Charlie you? I mean you grew up without a dad; your best friends have always been girls; you went to a private school; you were kind of a dork…” I will stop there as she gets kind of personal! When I wrote Charlie, the only trait I thought I was giving him was the name of my grandfather, but what my sister said really hit me. I guess part of Charlie came from me. It was unintentional, and fully conceived by my subconscious, but…a good chunk of who Charlie is…is me. Strong willed, infinitely loyal to his friends (…sometimes to a fault but I won’t go further than that at the moment…lets just say in Book Two a lot of what Charlie takes for granted is tested) and incredibly funny.


3. You've written a unique twist of the age old story of Merlin. What gave you the idea to mix Merlin and ancient Gods?

The historical evidence! Merlin was a real man, so was Arthur! There was a round table, there once existed a “Camelot,” and then there is Stonehenge and the Celtic symbols and runes. Malory and White wrote amazing fiction around the old courtly love poetics, but the stories personified in the poetics were real, these people lived and breathed and were greatly influenced by the maraudering Norse! I did a great deal of research into the connections here that I will not delve into quite yet as it will give away far too much about Book Two Path of the Templar, which really bursts the doors of these worlds wide open. One hint Book Two takes place outside of the school!

4. What is the hardest part for you of writing a book?

Editing, you will spend a month writing these amazing chapters, only to realize that they need to be complexly cut from the story. Hitting that delete button is really hard, because that month represents time I could have spent with my wife, kids and friends. But those are the sacrifices a writer makes, if the story does not flow, the chapters have to go!

5. This is the first in a new series - how many books are you planning on writing for this series? Any clues on what may happen in the next book?

Book Two Path of the Templar is already written, at the moment we are looking at seven books. I think that is about the amount of time I need to really tell the story. Especially seeing as Book Two takes place the following day after Book One ends and Charlie is still only 12. I knew that I needed to take the main characters out of the safe walls of the school and introduce them to the dangers of the Nine Kingdoms. Charlie needed some personal growth time to learn what friendship really means and to experience this world that before now had only been explained to him. In Path of the Templar you will get to meet two new allied races and a plethora of creatures and monsters, that were alluded to but you never saw. Also the plot for the series begins to unfold in Book Two in a way that I could not do in Quest for Merlin’s Map. I really think that if you liked Quest for Merlin’s Map that you are going to fall in love with Path of the Templar, in the same what they you love the first firework on the fourth of July, but you know the spectacle will only get better right up to the final exciting conclusion…which you will never see coming!

Thanks so much for visiting with us today!! Happy Holidays!!

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