Kitkatscanread: Sidekick Blog Tour

SIDEKICK BLOG TOUR!!

I'm so excited to be hosting part of this tour on my blog. A very big thank you to the publicity department at Month9Books for letting me do this. Check out the book, my review, about the author an interview with the author & a giveaway!! =D

Title: Sidekick: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight

Author: Pab Sungenis

Publisher: Month9Books

Bobby Baines is in high school, which is bad enough. When his hero, Scarlet Knight, dies, Bobby is forced to take up his mantel. Only Scarlet Knight never had to deal with eking out a passing grade in math, keeping his fellow sidekicks in check, or stopping a giant squid from bearing down on his school and crushing everyone inside. After all, Bobby Baines is no super hero, he's a Sidekick!

My review:

First of all, thank you to Month9Books for letting me review this book.
I haven't read a novel like this before, so it was interesting to see what the outcome would be. And it turns out I quite liked it. There was a lot of action. Bobby starts off as a sidekick, and straight away loses someone close to him, and THEN is lumbered with the job of being upgraded from a sidekick to a hero! That's a lot to take in for a 17-year-old, and if I do say so myself, he coped really well. obby is a really likeable character. Throughout the story, you are figuring out who this mystery killer is, and I felt myself wondering myself who could be doing it. The cover is pretty kick-ass and shows the main character being bigger than the buildings and city; showing him as an important figure. All I will say is expect the unexpected with this novel. If you're a fan of super heroes, then definitely give this a bash =)

About the author:

Pab Sungenis

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.

Interview time!!!

1: What age did you decide to become a writer?

I don’t know that I ever decided to become a writer. I think I always was one. As an only child I often relied on my imagination to keep me entertained, and was constantly creating stories. It was only in college that I finally started to write them down.

2: Are you very organised when it comes to planning out a story?

Not really. I always know where a story starts and where it ends, but what happens in the middle is always a mystery to me.

3: Who is your favourite author?

If I’m limited to one, I’d say Douglas Adams. But I also love Rex Stout’s mysteries and my current living writers are Tom Robbins, Christopher Moore, and Matt Ruff.

4: What/who inspired you to write?

I had a college English professor who somehow convinced me that I had a talent for writing and a way with words. That was when I decided to start putting pen to paper and bring some of my imaginary stories into the world.

Thank you for getting me to read Sidekick.

5: What was the hardest and easiest part of the story to write?

The entire story pretty much flowed freely from the beginning. The first draft was completed in 28 days. I think the romantic angle was the hardest to come up with since I didn’t want to be corny or cliché.

6: Did you already know who the main bad guy was going to be from the start?

I thought I did, but halfway through as I was laying red herrings to distract from who I thought the main villain was, I changed my mind. I came up with a villain who could conceivably have better motives and whose revelation would have a stronger impact on Bobby, so I promptly shifted gears. I went back and rewrote several scenes, I’ll let you guess which ones, so that the villain was who it ended up being. And I completely rewrote the final confrontation as one of the last steps of the editing process. I owe it to my editors Courtney and Rae for making that scene what it became.

7: Do you prefer the bad guys or the heroes?

I prefer the heroes, but the villains are more fun to write.

8: Can you see this book being turned into a movie?

I could, but casting would be difficult. I originally pictured Bobby as being played by British actor Bradley James (who played Arthur on Merlin) but he’s too old to still be playing a teenager now. Josh Hutcherson would be a great choice since he has the haunted look and acting chops, but when The Hunger Games is done I don’t think he’s going to want to play blonde for a while. Emory Cohen would be another good choice.

Finally, some fun questions.

9: If you were a super hero, what power would you like to have and why?

I’d either want super speed or a Green Lantern ring. I don’t know why.

10: What is your favourite drink to have whilst writing?

Coca-Cola, and lots of it, although Pepsi Throwback has been on my desk a lot as I try to cut High Fructose Corn Syrup out of my life. My favorite time of year is Passover, since that’s when the yellow-capped bottles of Coke made with real sugar start appearing.

11: If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?

I’ve actually started work on one. It discusses my 20 year battle with clinical depression and is called Flowers for Adderal.

12: If there was someone dead or alive that you would pick to have a meal with, who would it be and why?

Julia Child, because she would feed me well.