The Overlords

For those of you reading this for the first time, The Overlords is a trilogy written by Mike Squatrito.  It is set in the fantasy genre, and has been an ongoing project of mine for the past eleven years.  I either found your email address, got it from you, or got it from a friend of yours!  Please continue to read this newsletter, and visit my website!

What’s New

First of all, I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekend.  Those of us in the northeast finally have been getting some well-deserved hot, rain-free weather!  Unfortunately, the combination of good weather, vacation, and school ending for the kids has slowed my work on The Talisman of Unification.  But, have no fear!  The vacation is over and I am eager to pick up where I left off!

Gardenia Press is still busily reviewing Legend of the Treasure and I’m hopefully a month away from getting my evaluation.  Keep your fingers crossed!  I’ve also made my reservations for Gardenia Press’ FirstNovelFest 2003, which will take place in October.  There will be workshops, keynote speakers, meetings with editors, agents, etc., and a whole lot of other activities geared toward the unpublished author.  If this sounds like something you might be interested in, go to www.gardeniapress.com and take a look at their schedule of events.

Lastly, I have been working on my website and have added a couple of new links.  I will soon have photos of you know who on the site too.  In the meantime, check out Diane Blue’s latest schedule of events, as well as who’s playing at The Elbow Room.

 About The Project

As all of you know, in the past month the latest Harry Potter novel has hit the bookstores.  The amount of book sales for this story has been astounding.  It also got me thinking.  I had always thought that my books would be geared more toward young adults than children, but I think that assessment was wrong.  I had a lot of interest from the 120 or so 6th graders I spoke to in April.  I know I would have sold a lot of books that day had I had a book to sell!  Also, I have had some kids read my story and all have thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was also surprised to learn that 10 to 12 year-olds not only enjoyed the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, but they have read the books too.  For those of you who have not read the stories, they are not an easy read.  My books, though they may be long, are much easier to read and will do quite well for this age group.  With that in mind, if you have any children who like Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings, you can bet they will love The Overlords as well!

Acknowledgements

At this time, I would like to thank the kids who have been involved in reading Legend of the Treasure.  They are my cousin’s son, Joshua Squatrito, along with Arleo LaRocque, Greg France, and Egan Muir.  All will be getting a questionnaire regarding the storyline, characters, ease of reading, etc., which will help me to understand the good points and bad points of the story from a child’s point of view.  I might need more readers in the future.  If you have a child or know of one that would be interested in this project, have them contact me.

Contact Information

Send all correspondences to the-overlords@cox.net.  I have accumulated many email addresses over the years, and have used them to create my mailing list.  Please pass this newsletter along to anyone you feel might be interested in my project.  The more contacts I make, the better the chances of having all my hard work pay off!

If you wish for me to use a different address or to be removed from my mailing list, please send me an email and I will handle your request.  Please feel free to visit my website at www.the-overlords.com.  There you will find character biographies, more details on my books, and links to other sights.  Be sure to visit them too!