Book-Club-Queen.com features interview and review of SILVER SHOES

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I wasn’t expecting a fantasy story that would bring The Wizard of Oz to life, but that’s exactly what Paul Miles Schneider does.

There are good guys and bad guys, a few chase scenes, evil sorcery, talking animals, and a twelve-year old hero. What more could a young reader look for in an adventure?

The website Book-Club-Queen.com has a  both a book review and an author interview posted online. The review is great, but I’m particularly happy with this interview. Wonderful questions.

Check ‘em out!

UPDATE: This Book Club Queen website is now defunct.

SILVER SHOES Kansas Book Tour is approaching!

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I’m very excited! In just a few weeks now, I will be traveling back to Kansas (the non-magical way in an airplane) for a mini book tour. For those of you in and around the northeastern area of the state, come by and say hi. Below is a consolidated list of scheduled events during the trip:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2ND

International Wizard of Oz Club’s 2009 National Convention – a private 5:00 PM reception at the Oz Museum in Wamego, KS, is followed by a dinner and after-dinner presentation at 6:00 PM for club members and attendees at the Columbian Theatre (521 Lincoln Ave., Wamego, KS, 66547), where I will be speaking along with other guests about the “Wonderful Witches of Oz.” Also scheduled to appear: Hamilton Meserve, son of actress Margaret Hamilton. Grant Hayter-Menzies, author of “Mrs. Ziegfeld: The Public and Private Lives of Billie Burke.” Kurt Raymond in-character as the Wicked Witch. For my portion of the program, I will be sharing fond recollections about my second-grade pen pal, Margaret Hamilton, MGM’s iconic Wicked Witch of the West.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3RD

Kansas State University’s English Department’s Academic Conference called “Recreating Oz.” At 10:30 AM at Kansas State University’s Student Union Little Theatre in Manhattan, KS (N 17th Street, Manhattan, KS 66502), I will be giving a speech entitled, “Re-Imagining the World of Oz For Contemporary Audiences: An In-Depth Analysis of the Creative Process for the Novel ‘Silver Shoes.’” I will also be selling books at this event.

OZtoberFest – Co-hosted by the Oz Museum in Wamego, KS, I will be signing, selling books, and reading from my novel “Silver Shoes” in the Swogger Gallery at the Columbian Theatre (521 Lincoln Ave., Wamego, KS, 66547) from 2PM to 3PM.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

Lawrence Public Library – A joint-event for “Silver Shoes” in my hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, co-hosted by the Lawrence Public Library and The Raven Book Store. It will be held in the library’s auditorium (707 Vermont Street, Lawrence, KS, 66044) at 7:00 PM and will include a “booktalk” presentation with Q&A, a reading (roughly 15 minutes) hosted by the library, and a book-signing hosted by The Raven Book Store.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8TH –

Louisburg Library – For those of you in the Kansas City area who can’t make the Lawrence event or live closer to this one, I will be giving a repeat performance of the “booktalk” presentation with Q&A, a reading (roughly 15 minutes), as well as selling and signing copies of “Silver Shoes” at 7:00 PM at the Louisburg Library (206 South Broadway, Louisburg, KS, 66053).

If any new information should arise, or if any changes need to be made to these dates, times, or locations, rest assured I will post them here first! I’m looking forward to a wonderful visit in Kansas with my friends, family, and acquaintances old and new.

See you there!

“Every Event Surprising” – a book blogger’s review …

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Silver Shoes would be a fantastic resource for initiating discussions and project ideas in middle school Reading classes.

“EVERY EVENT SURPRISING” – A book blogger’s review of Silver Shoes was posted today! Maybe not a fall-all-over-yourself rave, but certainly a long way from a bad review. She didn’t go into much critical detail, but she definitely recommends it. Hey, I’ll take it! Especially if it helps generate interest and encourages people to read it. Still waiting for other reviews to come in. Hopefully soon.

Read the full review on the “Au Courant” book blog by clicking here.

A terrific article in today’s edition of the Lawrence Journal-World.

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Paul Schneider has met the Wicked Witch of the West. She cackled at him when he was 7 years old.

He got a private audience with her and he told her, “You don’t look like a witch.” That’s when she did her signature laugh.

Today, Schneider, a Lawrence native, is one of many who still has a love for “The Wizard of Oz,” and has written a book stemming from the classic story.

 

Great news! There is a very nice article the Lawrence Journal-World today (Sunday, Aug. 23).

Click here to read the full LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD article.

It’s about the various celebrations and events coming up, surrounding the 70th anniversary of the MGM film version of “The Wizard of Oz,” but there is also quite a bit about me and my novel SILVER SHOES.

Hope you enjoy!

The Power of PowerPoint

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PowerPoint slide of a young Paul Miles Schneider, surrounded by vintage Oz books.

A sample PowerPoint slide.

No major biographical anecdote today. I’m sure I have plenty more of those coming, however.

🙂

Ah, memories …

But this is about the present!

I’ve been working away for the past few weeks on my upcoming book events in Kansas. I’m very excited about them. Four in all, and three have PowerPoint presentations incorporated to jazz up the proceedings and hopefully entertain the people who are kind enough to show up and listen to me prattle on about my book.

I’ve had a rude awakening, though. Being an Adobe After Effects animator for the past nine years (granted I’m no stellar award-winner, but still), I figured that PowerPoint was a giant step down for me. Simple stuff. Cut out a few images in Photoshop, design a cool background, and slide the graphics and text boxes around here and there. Point, click, and I’m done, right?

Well, yeah, right. I’m not a total stranger to PowerPoint (or Keynote, Apple’s sister program). I used it a decade ago in the corporate world. And one of my last projects at my old job involved me producing and supervising a team of on-site PowerPointers for a huge Paramount Pictures sales convention held in San Diego. You’d think I would have “gotten it” then.

PowerPoint is a relatively easy program, but you can also make it look terrific or lousy, depending on your designs and your timing for the simple movements and transitions. So, in addition to planning my speeches and slapping together some spiffy visuals, I’ve had to slow down and really study this deceptively friendly Microsoft program. Learn all the ins and outs. And raise the bar on the imagination and quality of what I was creating for “eye candy.”

I’m happy to say that they are coming along nicely now, and I should be in excellent shape by “showtime,” some six weeks hence. And the best part is that I’ve learned (or rather relearned) a very handy tool for speeches and events. And I have great respect for the people in the trenches who use PowerPoint every day in their work. Sure, it’s easy to create presentations. Not so easy to create good and stimulating ones, though.

Hopefully, I’ve done that. For all three of them! Time will tell.