Michael Balkind's Blog - Posts Tagged "suspense"

Huge smiles on the faces of the last few kids that I handed signed copies of Gold Medal Threat to, made me feel so good. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me that kids can be so much more appreciative than others. I’m not sure if it was getting my book, or my signature, or maybe even meeting me – but the truth is, I don’t really care. Whatever gets them smiling and reading more, makes me feel like I’m doing something worthwhile.

Obviously, I write to sell books, but that isn't the whole reason. I write to entertain - to hopefully provide people with a story that they can lost in for a little while. And, when a kid is enjoying one of my books, for some reason, it really makes me feel great.

Getting more kids to read, just for the fun of it, has been a long time desire of mine, but it really hit me when I was doing a book signing a few years ago at Barnes & Noble. A high school football player asked when my 2nd book, Dead Ball, was coming out. I asked if he’d read my first book, Sudden Death. His answer, “Yes, I loved it.” But, he added, that as a devoted high school football player, he didn't have time to read. Then he admitted that he really “hated reading.” He proceeded to tell me that when he read Sudden Death, he realized that he didn't “hate” reading, he just disliked all the books that he “had to read” for school. “Sudden Death made me realize that reading can be fun!”

Well, as you can imagine, that statement warmed my heart. It actually made me feel that I had accomplished something big with my writing. Getting even one kid to realize that reading is fun, was, for me, a tremendous achievement.

Over the years, I have had many parents ask me at book signings if my books are appropriate for their children. Many parents felt my books would be the perfect incentive to get their young athlete or sports fan to put down their ball or game controller in order to pick up a book and read for a little while. Although many kids have read Sudden Death and Dead Ball, those books were not intended for kids. My newest book, Gold Medal Threat, on the other hand, was written for kids and about kids.

I really enjoyed writing Gold Medal Threat. It was a lot of fun, and very different than writing my adult mysteries. Of course, the kid’s voices have to be different, but also the way they think and act. I guess I’m lucky that I have yet to grow up.

I am thrilled with the great reviews that kids of various ages are giving Gold Medal Threat. I am obviously hoping to hear similar magical words from many more kids who read the book, as well as my other, upcoming Casey Clark Mysteries.

Thanks for your support, and if you've read and enjoyed Gold Medal Threat or my other books, please let me know.

Michael Balkind
Gold Medal Threat
Sudden Death
Dead Ball
Michael Balkind

I have, what I believe is a rather interesting (albeit a touch quirky) habit. I repeatedly re-read The Hobbit. It’s not really because I love the story, although I certainly do. It’s not because I am enchanted by the characters, although how could one not love Bilbo Baggins? It’s not because J.R.R. Tolkien was a brilliant author, although there is no doubt that that is the case.

I re-read The Hobbit whenever I feel the intense need to escape and relax, to purge the tension and stress that comes from working on a project (especially one with a deadline.) That’s the feeling I am consumed with today, as I have just completed the final proofing of the paperback version of The Fix. Being finished may seem like an immediate tension reliever, but for some reason, it ratchets up my stress to a new level. One where my internal voice repeatedly yells out – Okay, you’re done with the writing – now is anyone really going to bother reading your nonsense? Ahh, yes, my self-doubt lingers on and on.

Well, my friend, Bilbo, helps me deal with this anguish. He certainly has a lot more to deal with than I do in his adventures. I mean my goblins and dragons are only in my mind – his are real.

So, with all the novels that I have read and loved over the years, why is it that I continue to re-read the Hobbit? It’s because this book was gifted to me on my tenth birthday by my oldest sister, Betsy. We lost Betsy in a terrible tragedy six years later. I was sixteen and she was twenty-four. She was killed when someone threw a rock off an overpass on the FDR drive in NYC. That rock went through the windshield of the car she was a passenger in.

Betsy, the oldest of my three siblings, was a wonderful, selfless, and very caring person. Although she was my big sister, she was more of a friend. She helped me deal with and understand the earlier loss of our father, and she took on somewhat of a nurturing role with me, her youngest brother. I will always cherish my memories of her.

Just picking up my forty-two year old copy of The Hobbit, with its yellowed pages and tattered jacket, gives me a warm feeling. Reading my sister’s note on the first blank page is kind of magical for me – I think it does exactly what she intended – it makes me smile and chuckle. I was about to write the note here – but, I think I’ll keep that for myself.

I have never divulged my feelings about all this, except to my wife, and I find that writing this piece makes me feel good and simultaneously a bit melancholy. Reading it to my oldest daughter, Betsy, just made us both tear up.

I’m not exactly sure of why I decided to share all this, but, I figured now that I have published four novels, I’d tell those of you who enjoy my work a little about what makes me tick. So there you have it!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this. I hope you enjoy reading my novels; Sudden Death, Dead Ball, Gold Medal Threat, and my newest release, The Fix (written with Ryan Burr.)

Michael Balkind