Kirkus Independent Review is in!

Part of my package through Createspace was an independent review from Kirkus Reviews.  It arrived late last night.  But there are spoilers in the review so SPOILER WARNING!

Here it is...

'Dragons compete with humans and try to integrate into 21st-century life in Smith’s clever, witty YA debut.

Jason Hewes is an ordinary American kid living on a farmstead in Montana with his dad, an archaeologist at the Montana Archaeological Society. One night after a terrible storm, Jason discovers a dragon in the barn, and his ordinary, if slightly troubled life—his mother and older brother were killed in a car crash, and he’s preyed upon by school bullies—suddenly takes a surreal twist as he tries to understand how this great mythological being suddenly entered his life. The dragon, Petros, can understand human speech, and after Jason’s initial reservations, the boy strikes up a friendship and agrees to help the beast learn more about modern human society, which will hopefully result in peaceful coexistence. More dragons join, along with a group of select teenagers—later known as the Draconauts—and an agreement is made to seek out a mage who can help disguise the creatures so they won’t be so conspicuous in city life. The entry of Norm the mage signals a turning point in the book: An experiment to disguise the creatures goes awry, resulting in dragons only being able to exist in human form and children in dragon form. Once this highly unusual premise is accepted, seeing the human world through dragons’ eyes, and vice versa, becomes quite compelling. It’s hard not to laugh when the rather formal-speaking dragons occupy the teenagers’ bodies; in a particularly funny scene, Petros (transformed into Jason) tries to conduct a children’s party at the local museum. But Norm’s magic has drawn the attention of an age-old enemy and a sinister sect intent on ridding the world of dragons, which puts the children in terrible danger and gives the book an edge to keep the tension rising as the kids try to outwit a menacing foe.

An unusual book for dragon lovers, with plenty of action and a good balance of humor and suspense.'

I have my first book signing set up!  It will be at River Read Books in downtown Binghamton, NY.  The date is Saturday, December 14th from 1 to 3 PM.  The event on Facebook is open to the public, so anyone can view it and click "Going".  The link is below...

https://www.facebook.com/events/560392880709620/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

The latest news!

I know I haven't posted an update in a while, but things have been a whirlwind of late.  The book is available on Amazon.com, on Kindle, and in the Google play store.  A couple of embarrassing typo's were found (one of which eluded 4 rounds of editing) but I just recently corrected what I could find and re-submitted the file.  So that mean the Second Edition of Jason and the Draconauts is available!  Those of you with the typo-ridden edition can now be excited because you have a limited run First Edition of the book.  (See...lemons into lemonade!)

I also have a couple of school "gigs" coming up.  I will be reading to the 6th grade class at Harpursville Central School in Harpursville, NY and to one of the middle schools in Endicott, NY.  Plus, I have a public book signing coming up, and will release the details shortly.  It is all very exciting.

The book is still close to 20% off at Amazon and would be a great gift for the budding young reader in your life.  And don't forget to like the book on Facebook or follow me on Twitter @PaulDSmith4321.