profile

Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds

Newsletter No. 36 (September / October 2024)

Published over 1 year ago • 1 min read

Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds

Newsletter #36 - September / October 2024

Eleanor Cameron Gets the LitWits Treatment

I had the pleasure of serving as a consultant to the LitWits, Becky and Jenny, on a presentation about Eleanor! They both loved The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet as kids, and it was particularly special to them because they lived not very far away from David and Chuck home in Pebble Beach. Here's a link to their video, which includes some fantastic interview footage of Eleanor!

They also created a fantastic teacher resource guide that you can check out here.

Appearing in Person!

I'm excited to participate in Bloomington Public Library's Local Author Fair for the first time! This is the library where I discovered The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet when I was about 10 years old, an event that would eventually lead me to becoming a a published author.

An Update on My Next Book

It's been a long, long, long time in publishing limbo, but things are finally moving forward with my next book, a biography of Marvel Comics editor and writer Mark Gruenwald. This will be part of the University Press of Mississippi's Biographix series. I'm due to turn in my final manuscript at the first of the year, so I hope it will see print in late 2025 or early 2026.

What I'm Reading

October was spooky book month for me. I read Christopher Pike's The Midnight Club, Sara Gran's Come Closer, Richard Matheson's Hell House, and Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.

​
Meanwhile, Theo are halfway through the final book of Lloyd Alexander's Westmark Trilogy, The Beggar Queen.

The Hopefuls: Six Years Later

We interrupt our regularly scheduled song of the month to share the third of every-two-year updates on the lives of Eric Appelwick, Eric Fawcett, John Hermanson, and Darren Jackson.

​
You can read it here, though I'll add that a late bit of good news came across the wire just as we were going to press. Appelwick announced that a seventh Vicious Vicious album will be released in February!.

And Finally, a Brain Cloud

Peace, love, and thank you for reading.

paul.allen@gmail.com
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds

Paul V. Allen

Sign up if you haven't already!

Read more from Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds

Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds No. 43 (February / March 2026) Contents: -My Latest Projects -Blog Updates -Hopefuls Spotlight -Reader's Corner -A Brain Cloud My Latest Projects 1) My biography of Marvel Comics writer and editor Mark Gruenwald is finally out in the world! It's available at https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/M/Mark-Gruenwald or any of the places you get books. 2) Related to that, I forgot to mention back in February that I had the pleasure of serving as a reader for Jason...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

See You In the Funny Pages I've decided to turn my stories about the Groundhogs of Linden Manor into a comic strip! Part of this comes my long-held love of the comic strip form, but it's also a desire to not have these stories languish as an unpublished children's book. The first "chapter" - comprised of 7 strips - is called "Opposite Day" and it's ready to be shared with the world. Click the button below, and let me know what you think! Read "Opposite Day" Sailing, Takes Me Away... Over on...

4 months ago • 1 min read

The Beginner Books Encyclopedia As new Beginner Books continue to hit the market, I've realized that the format for continuing the Beginner Books Encyclopedia I began in I Can Read It All By Myself is no longer ideal. So I created a Google Site instead. Check it out, and read about the latest Beginner Book, Gertrude Gish On a Fish On a Dish. Check out the new Beginner Books Encyclopedia The Most Discounted Time of the Year Both of my publishers are holding sales, so if you want to complete...

6 months ago • 1 min read