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I’m thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour for SIDEKICK: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight, a comic novelization by Pab Sungenis and Month9Books!
SIDEKICK: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight
by Pab Sungenis
March 12, 2013 / Month9Books, LLC
Bobby Baines is in high school, which is bad enough. But things go from bad to worse when his hero, Scarlet Knight, dies. Bobby is forced to take up his mantel, becoming the new Scarlet Knight. Only Scarlet Knight never had to deal with eeking out a passing grade in math, keeping his fellow sidekicks in check, or stopping a giant squid from bearing down on his high school and crushing everyone inside. All this while trying to get the girl! It’s going to take a lot more than a cape, sword and fancy watch to fill Scarlet’s Knight’s shoes. After all, Bobby Baines is no super hero, he’s a Sidekick!
In the length of a tweet (140 characters), tell us about your book.
“Getting into Doctor Warhammer’s fortress is easy. Getting into your first choice of college is not.”
Are you working on something new? Can you tell us what’s coming next?
Right now I’m a little over halfway done the sequel to Sidekick, which I’m calling Brothers in Arms. I’m hoping to get that finalized in the next couple of weeks so my editors can take their literary weed-whackers to it and make it readable before it comes out next March. After that, I have two other projects I’ve started work on. The first is a YA called Crush Story, which follows two teen boys—one gay and one straight—with different connections to the same girl. The other is a novel called Gutter Dwellers, where the characters from a “family friendly” comic strip suddenly start growing, evolving, and leaving their four-panel existence when their creator dies. Both are concepts I’ve played around with for years and finally started committing to (electronic) paper, and which one comes first depends upon where the muses take me. Of course, I’m also busy trying to find a home my New Adult vampire novel, Mall Bats, which I just can’t let go of no matter how many rejections it accumulates.
What inspired you to want to become a writer?
I was an only child and didn’t make friends easily. I had to develop my imagination to keep myself entertained. I also learned to read at an early age and practically swallowed books whole. My grandparents kept every book they or my mother read in their attic and I dove into them with a vengeance. In third grade I took part in the Multiple Sclerosis Read-A-Thon and was mocked by my classmates for only reading four books. This upset my teachers until they found out that the four books I’d read included Oedipus Rex, The Egg and I, and The Grapes of Wrath. When they found out I had actually understood what I had read, well, things got weird.
Eventually I’d worked my way through that library, and having run out of stories I had to start creating my own. When I got to college I had an English professor who managed to convince me that I actually had a talent for writing, and from that point there was no turning back.
If you could have any superpower what would you choose?
My favorite superheroes growing up were the Flash and Green Lantern. One could move so quickly that there was almost nothing he couldn’t do. The other had a magic device that could bring anything he could imagine to life. I’d either want super speed, or a Green Lantern ring.
What is your dream cast for your book?
When I started writing Sidekick, my physical model for Bobby was Bradley James, who played Arthur on the BBC series Merlin. Of course, now that he’s about to turn 30, I doubt he’d want to play a teenage superhero. When watching the film adaptation of The Hunger Games, and seeing Josh Hutcherson with blonde hair, I couldn’t believe just how much he looked like how I pictured Bobby, and I would definitely want him to play Bobby in the film that will never be made of this book.
For the supporting cast, Thomas Mann would be my first choice for Tommy Heber. Darren Criss would nail the part of Rick Major, with Logan Lerman a close second. Sarah Marsh is tricky because you could go in so many different directions since she’s a multifaceted character. I would probably go with Ellen Wong because she has the grace and physicality needed for the role, along with an exotic beauty and a lot of acting talent.
For the adult superheroes? Mr. Zip would be Robert J. Gant. Paul Walker is Paragon. Olivia Coleman is Clytemnestra. Val Kilmer would be Mr. Mystery. And if I could only get them, Jane Curtin would be Morgaine and Catherine Tate would be Prism.
What’s your favorite quote?
“If you can’t be offensive, why bother?” – Jimmy Pearson.
Who are your all-time favorite authors?
Douglas Adams, Rex Stout, Tom Robbins, Christopher Moore, Matt Ruff.
What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?
“Don’t.”
What drew you to writing this genre?
Accident. I wrote a dark comedy about four boys planning a school shooting, which I eventually self-published as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Columbine. I had an agent who fell in love with it and told me that I had a talent for writing Young Adult fiction. This surprised me, since I had fallen into the trap of thinking that YA was nothing more than teen romances aimed at girls. It turned out I wasn’t the only one who thought that, either. In a conversation with the editor Phoebe Yeh (who writes the most beautiful rejection letters I’ve ever read), I found she had the same opinions on the relative lack of boy-friendly YA out there, and that was one of the things that led me to write Sidekick.
Are you a social butterfly or a wallflower?
I prefer to think of myself as an antisocial butterfly.
When it comes to writing, are you a planner or pantser?
I’m a little of both. I always know where a story begins and where it ends, but what happens in the middle is usually a complete surprise to me. Sidekick is the perfect example. There were entire scenes I’d plotted out in my head that eventually wound up in the virtual wastebasket because the characters took the story in a different direction. Some of my favorite scenes and lines came literally out of nowhere while I was typing. And here’s the big surprise: the person we find out is the villain is not who I had planned on when I started writing the book. As I went through and started planning some red herrings to lead the reader astray, I discovered that someone else actually had much better motives and would have more dramatic effect on Bobby when revealed as the person who killed his foster father. So I went back and changed some things around, and wound up with what I think is a much more powerful denouement. Of course, once I was contracted for a sequel I had to go back in and make a few changes to the ending to make a second story believable (or even possible).
What is next on your to read list?
John Green’s Paper Towns.
How do you overcome writer’s block?
I don’t.
Do your friends or enemies ever find themselves in your books?
All the time. Every character I write is some aspect of myself mixed with bits and pieces of all of the people around me. I also have a habit of naming characters after deceased friends. I guess it’s the idea of playing God just a little, and bringing back someone from the dead in the only way I can.
If you were not a writer, what would you like to do?
“Writer” is not something you do. It’s something you are. There are writers out there who have never put pen to paper and probably never will. Then there are people who churn out prose by the truckload and aren’t really writers. It’s a vocation, not a job.
About how long did it take for you to write your book?
Sidekick? I finished the first draft in 28 days. The revision process took another three years, though.
About the author: Born in the swamps of Southern New Jersey, Pab Sungenis developed a childhood fascination with cartooning and drew a daily strip for his own amusement for two years before realizing he couldn’t draw. He wound up in broadcasting, worked for numerous stations including WSBU, WOND, WMGM, WSKR, WBNJ, WWBZ, and WKTU. He describes his drawing ability as like that of “a mentally challenged rhinoceros on a Ny-Quil bender”, but thanks to the wonders of photo-manipulation and computer image editing, on February 8, 2006 he found himself creating The New Adventures of Queen Victoria, which has appeared ever since, first on Comicssherpa.com, and now in online syndication with gocomics.com. Pab Sungenis is available for quotes, signings, video or podcast appearances, and all opportunities relative to SIDEKICK: THE MISADVENTURES OF THE NEW SCARLET KNIGHT.
Many thanks to Pab for stopping by to answer my questions! Enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win:
- Grand prize: Print copy of SIDEKICK: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight, Kick-Ass DVD, and a Superhero mask set. Grand prize is open to US residents only.
- Five ebook copies of SIDEKICK: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight will also be given away, open internationally.
Follow the rest of the tour for more chances to win!
March 20 – Katie’s Books
March 21 – Comic Book Therapy
March 22 – We Do Write
March 23 – Moosubi Reviews
March 24 – Leaving It All On the Page
March 25 – The Eater of Books
March 26 – Imaginary Reads
March 27 – Proserpine Craving Book Blog
March 28 – Little Lovely Books
March 29 – Passion Find
March 30 – Fantasy Fairy
March 31 – The Book Vortex
April 1 – Rachel’s Book Reviews
April 2 – Jen McConnel
Disclosure: I work for Month9Books and Pab is one of our fantastic authors!
Personality plus in the interview. I imagine that will translate well into the writing.
Twitter: bookandlatte
says:
Absolutely!
Mall Bats? I’m so in! In my opinion, everybody should write a vampire novel. I haven’t written mine yet, but someday… *taps fingers together*
I’m so excited to read Sidekicks, even more so after this interview. Thanks for the giveaway!
Katrina Lantz recently posted..Blog Chain: Why I Love Speculative Fiction (in pictures)
Twitter: LizaWiemer
says:
Love this interview. Direct, to the point, and I think many can relate to his love of reading and childhood issues with friends. The book look fascinating. Thanks for the giveaway.
Liza Wiemer recently posted..Cleaning the Shelves Giveaway – Six Great Books – US/Canada Only