MEET THE AUTHOR, DR. STEVE HOOLEY

 by Patricia Bradley

Dr. Steve Hooley, author of the Mad River Magic Series, joins us to talk about writing books for middle-grade readers--he's giving a Kindle copy away today to someone who leaves a comment. There is suspense and mystery in his stories!

And in his spare time, he handcrafts beautiful pens. You can check out his Legacy Pens made from antique and historic wood dating back to the 1700s here.

Steve Hooley is a physician/writer living in rural western Ohio, the setting for the Mad River Magic series. He and his wife have five children and seven grandchildren, who have inspired his stories.

Steve, many of my readers have asked if I had any books I could recommend for middle-grade readers, and until I met you, I didn't. I'm so glad that's changed. So what got you interested in writing?

I first became interested in writing as a junior in high school. We had a new English teacher, Miss Warner. It was her first year out of college, so of course the guys in the class were excited. Some of us created a ghost student, John Kauffman. John turned in papers for every homework assignment, with a lot of short stories, and a lot of pushing the boundaries. When the teacher began reading John’s papers to the class, it became even more fun. John got an A for the year, and was never uncovered.

After high school, I turned my interest to premed in college, med school, and residency. Then, in 2009, my father had a 90th birthday coming. He had written his memoirs of his work during WWII in Egypt and Ethiopia. He never published it, and had lost the digital file. I found one of the printed copies of his manuscript, had my daughter type it into an up-to-date version of Word, then set out to edit it over the next few months. I had the edited file printed, and we presented him with his book on his birthday, September 29, 2009. His dementia was severe by that time, but the look on his face when we gave him a box of his books to autograph was priceless. It was then that I knew I wanted to write.

I took a correspondence course, read every book on writing I could get my hands on, and began attending the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) conferences. I took a second course on writing novels and turned to suspense. My first book was bought by a small press, which quickly went bankrupt. I had been following The Kill Zone blog with a lot of indie writers. I decided to go indie, and turned to Middle Grade Fantasy.

Why Middle Grade Fantasy?

I had seven grandchildren by then. I wanted to create a series that my grandchildren could grow into. So, I set out to write advanced middle-grade to early YA with content that would challenge them to face current issues, but avoid sex and profanity. I call it “clean teen fantasy.”

I’ve written six books in the Mad River Magic series, plus a prequel and a sequel (originally written for Vella, not yet published as a print or eBook). The rough draft of #7 is finished, and I’ve begun editing. 

What’s the hardest part of writing Middle Grade Fantasy?

For me, the hardest part was (and still is) learning how middle grade characters communicate. I have been fortunate to find middle school and high school teachers who will allow their honors students to be beta readers.

That is a great beta-reader group. How long does it take you to write a novel?

I started at about one per year. Then I got serious, with the goal of two a year, but I found that I was sitting all day and not getting enough exercise. My goal is now back to one a year, writing in the mornings, and being up on my feet and active in the afternoons.

Good plan--sitting is the new smoking! Are you a pantser or a plotter or somewhere in between?

I’m in between. I do a lot of planning before I start outlining, make a detailed outline, then begin writing. I find that I am constantly rewriting my outline because the story wants to go in another direction.

Which is why I don't outline. <G> Tell us about Bolt

Bolt is the daredevil on crutches who learned how to fly. With inclusion of characters that are based on my grandchildren (now nine of them), I needed a main character who wasn’t a cousin, so that I didn’t play favorites. Some of the stories don’t include all the cousins, but Bolt is always in the stories.

Bolt has Becker Muscular Dystrophy, which is often late onset (compared to Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy). There is sometimes sparing of upper limb involvement, making for the possibility of being on crutches with weak legs, but strong arms.

Bolt’s father died with Becker Muscular Dystrophy when Bolt was four years old. He is an only child, and his mother works long hours in a restaurant. But the grandparents of the cousins live next door in the magic forest, and Gram and Gramps have adopted Bolt as part of the family. Bolt spends most of his time in his second home.

Partly because of Bolt’s challenges with mobility, Gramps and Bolt and the oldest cousin (Scout) have invented flying “barrel carts” (55-gallon oil drums turned on their side and turned into magic flying machines). The carts are powered by the magic of Omni, the all-knowing invisible presence that goes with the Mad River Magic gang everywhere. And the group's magic spells are based on the language of the Native Americans (Shawnee) who lived in the magic forest over two hundred years ago. Their magic is “light magic,” for good only.

The magic forest reminds me of Narnia. What are you working on now? 

Currently I am working on editing Book #7 in the series. It deals with the dangers of fentanyl and the many creative ways the cartels are using to get the fentanyl into our country.

Wow! Unfortunately, that's a needed subject for middle-graders, and often they will get the message better in story form than preaching. Tell us about the latest book you’ve released.

My latest release was #6 in The Mad River Series, Perfect Strand, in which a Middle Ages wizard plays with genetics in his attempt to achieve immortality. By making arrangements for his descendants to insert his frozen genes into a vaccine, he attempts to spread his DNA to the entire world. The Covid religion and the practice of bleeding is the vehicle. 

That is a great combination for a story! Perfect Strand just went on my TBR table!

Thanks for joining us today for this interesting talk with Steve Hooley. You can find the Mad River Magic Series here.

And you can read Bolt's story for free when you sign up for Steve's newsletter. And if you leave a comment, I'll enter you in a drawing for a digital copy of  The Hemlock Aperture (Mad River Magic Book 1). Be sure to leave your contact info!

One more thing--if you read my Reader Friday blog reviewing The Hemlock Aperture on my website and leave a comment, I'll enter you in a monthly drawing for one of Steve's beautiful hand-crafted pens. And The Hemlock Aperture is free on Kindle the next five days!

The wood for the pen comes from one of the largest hard maple trees in his woodlot. With a trunk of 49 inches in diameter, the tree dates back to before 1750. A large branch was blown from the tree in 2022, and was cut and dried for pen blanks.

The finish is an acrylic varnish mixed with metallic gold pigment. This allows the grain to be seen, but gives a faint golden glitter when held in the light. Three coats of the gold and acrylic are followed by one coat of the acrylic without gold. Then four coats of CA glue (super glue) are applied and polished to give the wet gloss appearance.

The pen is a Slimline kit, using Cross-style refills, allowing a slender look and feel for those who prefer a more delicate pen. Refills can be purchased as generic “Cross-style” refills, 4 ½ inches long. The pen is pulled apart at the middle, and the refill is unscrewed and replaced.

Just click here and leave a comment on the Reader Friday blog!