On Thursday, October 30th I made an amazing discovery. The standard procedure when a writer is preparing a new book is to look for similar books on the market to study their production and marketing techniques.

As you may know, I’m working on my second book - a novel (Feb 2009 - I’ve written about it before ) which is geared towards middle school and high school boys (as well as their fathers). Since the story has ’superhero’ elements, I wanted to include illustrations in each chapter. One of my issues is figuring out how many drawings to do.

The Penny

I can remember walking with my dad when I was younger.  Wherever we were - the sidewalk, crossing the street, or in a field - if dad saw a penny he would stop to pick it up.  (Of course he’d look both ways to make sure there were no cars coming before stopping in the street!)

It Is The Question That Drives Us

What is the power of the Saiyan? Why does it draw men? I don’t know about you, but I get a thrill when Goku or Vegeta or Gohan power up to Supersaiyan – especially when Goku powers up to Super Saiyan 3! The raw power is tremendous! And let’s not talk about the fight scenes against Majin Buu or Brolly!

But I just had a realization about a major draw – if not THE major draw of the series. It’s a deep-seated urge that most of us men may not even realize unless we take the time to think about it: it is an epic saga about Fathers and Sons . It’s a story about Mentorship .