Tag Archive for Kevin Keele

FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #343: There Is an Exit After All

May 16, 2025 / / No comments

 

Here’s a recent email that touches on a painful subject. So I set aside for a couple of weeks before answering.

 

Dear Sir,

I hope you are doing well. I am a 13 year old and a huge fan of your EXIT 13 MOTEL series. I just simply love it. I have been waiting for books 3 and 4, but I didn’t see it out there. I just wanted to ask if it was coming soon, I would be waiting for it. I know you would get some hundreds of fan mail, but if you would be able to spare a few minutes, do reply back. It would mean the world to me. It’s my first time writing a fan mail so I would like to apologise for any mistakes I make.
Hoping to hear from you soon.
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I replied . . .
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Aakriti,
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My apologies for taking nearly a month getting back to you.
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I could say that I’m busy, that I’ve had things to do. And while that’s generally accurate, the truth is that you hit a nerve. A sore spot. A place of disappointment and pain.
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As far as I know, there will not be another book in the EXIT 13 series. 
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It just didn’t sell fast enough. And publishing has increasingly become a business of “instant” success or failure. If something doesn’t hit big, right away, then the publishing world moves on to the next thing.
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There is always a next thing. 
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At different times, a series like EXIT 13 might be considered a slow grower. A series that needs to find its audience. Three books, four books. Time for word of mouth to spread. Time to occupy shelf space in bookstores. 
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That’s not the world we live in anymore.
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R.L. Stine once said that his GOOSEBUMPS series didn’t take off until the 4th book. So even something as stunningly popular as GOOSEBUMPS took time to develop.
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Oh well!
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Here’s more of an explanation for you . . . 
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Thank you so much for your letter. 
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Starting the series, part of the challenge was to have enough “story” for it to go 4 books, 6 books, 8 books long. A deep, involved mystery. 
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I wish I could have wrapped it up for readers with at least one final book. Got the McGinns out of the motel, at least. Explained some of the business with the animals and woods and the aliens. 
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Thank you for reading the books and, most especially, for reaching out.
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I appreciate you . . .
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James Preller
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Category: EXIT 13, Fan Mail, the writing process / Tags: , , ,

Summer Hours, Some News, etc.

July 6, 2023 / / No comments

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Cool image created by Scholastic Australia — as in: actual Australia — promoting the first book in the “EXIT 13” series — you know, the place with wombats and kangaroos, and koalas eating eucalyptus leaves — whereas the second one in the series, where things really get bananas, titled THE SPACES IN BETWEEN, comes out August 1st. I still haven’t seen it yet, but I hear it’s pretty good! Ages 8-12.

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Thanks for stopping by. We are in the “Summer Hours” phase. It’s too hot to read blogs. People are vacationing.

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I will post randomly. Meanwhile: Many, many good things are happening behind the scenes. I sold three books that I can’t talk about, and I’m handing in a middle-grade novel in a few days. A range of things. I’m happy & proud of what I’ve done. But more on that later, the pride thing, believing in the work and standing behind it. Even though the world is indifferent. Doesn’t matter.

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Oh! Anyway, the cool image . . . 

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Category: EXIT 13 / Tags: , , , , ,

FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #328: Good News About “Exit 13”

April 14, 2023 / / No comments

 

I wonder: Is fan mail down in general? Are teachers encouraging students to write to authors — to send letters via snail mail — stamps & envelopes and all that jazz? I mean, clearly, it could be me. Still in a pandemic & post-pandemic lull. I imagine that it’s a combination of those two things. In so many ways, it’s just been a weird time in children’s books. The pandemic is over, but it’s still not over-over, and teachers certainly have their hands full.

The good news is that I’ve got at least four books on the way — some exciting things, too — and there will be a lot more than that before we’re through.

Not dead yet!

The stories we tell ourselves, our inner narratives, are so important (and coincidently play a key role in my current work-in-progress). The story I’ve embraced is that I’m a survivor. Published my first book in 1986 at age 25 and still publishing, still writing. More than half my life in children’s books, close to 2/3 of my entire life, actually, where I’ve been actively involved in books for young people. There are ebbs and flows, ups and downs. Times when I’ve felt embraced and times I’ve felt ignored by an indifferent world. I try to ride them like waves. Float on the surface. Keep swimming. 

Throughout everything, I still fall in love with the thing I’m doing right now, this minute. The latest idea, the current story. Not always literally glad to sit down at the writing desk, but also, in a more figurative way, always glad to sit down with the work before me. To wrestle and wrangle and dread and dream and avoid and write. It’s the best part, the part that endures. Making things. Being creative. Putting it out into the world.

Anyway, I’m grateful for the letters I do get and I thought I’d share this one, since it involves a bit of (good!) news.

This came via email from Gina & Sophia . . . 

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Hi

My daughter just finished Exit 13 tonight and was begging to know if there was another book after this one. Do you ever give fans advanced copies? I see you have one coming in August.

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I replied . . .

 

Gina & Sophia,

I love the enthusiasm and, I’ll admit it, the begging, too.

What writer doesn’t want readers begging for more books? I’m not above it, that’s for sure. 

At this date, there are no advance copies available — I don’t believe it’s even gone to the printer yet. 

However, here’s a glimpse from a page in the upcoming book, illustrated by the great Kevin Keele:

How is that for creepy? That art work — where the wolf seems to lead Ash to a shocking discovery — happens about midway through the book.
Here’s the cover . . . 
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I appreciate your interest and hope you like the next book. I think it’s even more exciting as Ash and Willow delve deeper into the mysteries of Exit 13. 
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I think I’ll probably post a sample chapter on my blog at some point soon. The book will be available on August 1st. Pre-orders are helpful and welcome!
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My best,
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James Preller
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Category: EXIT 13, Fan Mail / Tags: , , , ,

Pub Day for EXIT 13!

February 7, 2023 / / 2 comments

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It’s pub day for EXIT 13: The Whispering Pines.

For the first time, I can finally say . . . in stores now. 

At least, theoretically in stores. There’s a lot of books out there. They come and go awfully fast. Many never make it to the shelves; most don’t last very long. If you want to help: Ask for EXIT 13 at your local, independent bookstore. Put it on their radar. 

My work is largely done. Now it’s up to the Fates. 

We know that the 2nd book in the series is coming this August. 

Beyond that, nobody knows. 

Thanks for your support.

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Art by Kevin Keele.

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Category: EXIT 13 / Tags:

Short Excerpt, EXIT 13: THE WHISPERING PINES — Pub Date 2/7/23!

January 12, 2023 / / No comments

 

 

What follows is a brief excerpt from my new book, EXIT 13: THE WHISPERING PINES (Scholastic, February 2023, grades 4-6). The McGinn family, including siblings Willow and Ash and Daisy (their goldendoodle), find themselves in a mysterious motel. The family is caught in a rift in time, trapped in place, but they don’t know that yet. The elevator pitch for this series was “Schitt’s Creek” meets “Stranger Things” — and our first story in the series will take Willow and Ash deep into the dark, dangerous, forbidding woods. In this scene, we’re early in the book, after a fire alarm rouses the guests. Illustrations by Kevin Keele. 

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Kristoff, dressed in black lace-up boots and a dark trench coat, walked along the length of the hotel, stopping to speak briefly with each guest. They scratched their heads, yawned, headed back inside. At last, Kristoff came to the McGinns. He paused for the briefest of moments as he observed Mr. McGinn’s blazing pink boxers, knobby knees, pale shins. He glanced at Mrs. McGinn, her face covered in a mask of green moisturizer. Something flickered in his eyes. A private joke. “I’m awfully sorry,” he finally said. “There was a small kitchen fire –- nothing, really –- it’s embarrassing — and, well, there are safety protocols to follow. It’s safe to go inside. I’m so sorry for your inconvenience.”

Mr. and Mrs. McGinn were too tired to talk. Feet dragging, they shuffled back into their room. Ash paused at the doorway with Willow. He watched as Kristoff rounded the corner, headed toward the back of the building. Ash shuddered and felt cold all over.

“That’s him,” he whispered to Willow.

“What? The clerk?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen him before.”

“Well, duh, yeah, he’s the cutie who checked us in,” Willow said.
Ash frowned at his sister.

“Cutie? Him? He looks like a vampire!”

“Yeah, and that’s my type!” Willow protested. “The haunted, hunted kind.”

“You don’t have a type. You never even had a boyfriend,” Ash said.

“Did, too. Angel Villar, we had two beautiful weeks together.”

“That was third grade!”

“So?”

“So?! You broke up with him when he put jelly in your hair during a spelling quiz.”

Willow grinned and held up her hands. “What can I say? We were wild and crazy kids.”

“You used to complain that he farted all the time,” Ash recalled.

“Well, yeah, there was that –- the whole toxic gas problem.” Willow paused, thinking it over. “Maybe Angel was lactose intolerant?”

Ash shook his head. He grabbed Willow by the sleeve and pulled her inside the room. “Anyway, he was the guy I saw outside the window.”

“Angel? My farting boyfriend? What’s he doing here?”

Ash groaned.

“I’m kidding!” Willow said. “Lighten up, LB. What do you mean, ‘He was the guy’?”

Ash turned serious. “I recognized the way Kristoff walked, like he’s leaning into the wind. And the coat, the way it billowed behind him. He was with that creature with red eyes. I saw those two go into the woods together.”

“You didn’t tell me there was a guy,” Willow countered.

“I’m telling you now,” Ash replied.

“There was a guy and a creature with red eyes?”

“Yes! And the guy was Kristoff!” Ash said.

Willow eyed her brother thoughtfully. Was he just imaging things? Why didn’t he mention it before? “Okay, color me curious,” Willow said. “Let’s do it.”

“Do what?” Ash asked.

“Let’s follow my vampire hottie.”

 

IN STORES, FEBRUARY 7th! PRE-ORDER NOW FROM YOUR FAVORITE LOCAL, INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE. IT REALLY HELPS!

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Category: EXIT 13 / Tags: , , , , ,
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