The Ballad of Book Number Nine, a guest post by Michael D. Beil

On April 18th, my ninth book, BETRAYAL BY THE BOOK (the second in THE SWALLOWTAIL LEGACY series) hits the shelves in bookstores and libraries. When Teen Librarian Toolbox reached out to see if I’d be interested in writing another guest post, I said yes even though I had absolutely no ideas for a topic. Last year, when the first book in the series came out, I wrote about my love of islands and the creation of the fictional Swallowtail Island. BETRAYAL BY THE BOOK is set during Swallowtales, a writers’ conference on the island, and I considered writing about my own experiences at those events, but frankly, there wasn’t much to tell. Certainly not as interesting as what happens at Swallowtales. If any of the participants were murdered, the organizers must have done an excellent job of covering it all up.

My office, with Kit making sure that I hit my word count for the day.

In the meantime, all of the usual pre-publication stuff was going on: galleys were sent out into the world, reviews from the “big” reviewers began to trickle in, and publicity plans were firmed up. And, of course, optimist that I am, I couldn’t help wondering: Is this the one? (That sound you hear in the background is my wife laughing at the idea that I’m an optimist.)

And that’s when it hit me: I would write a poem, a ballad, about my ninth book—the dreams and fantasies, the anticipation, the doubts and insecurities, the frustrations (I’m looking at you, one- and two-star Goodreads reviewers), and finally, the pride and wonder and joy of seeing something that I wrote actually out there in the world for others to read, if they’re so inclined (and haven’t been driven away by a nonsensical Goodreads review. Let it go, Mike.) 

With Laura at the 2010 Edgars. I didn’t win, but thirteen years later, we’ll be back! WRECK AT ADA’S REEF has been nominated for Best Juvenile 2023!

Thus, with the assurance that messieurs Whitman, Shelley, Keats, et al. have nothing to fear, I give you:

The Ballad of Book Number Nine

I

With his pub date looming, mere weeks away, 

No longer can he keep his dreams at bay. 

From his brain’s recesses, dim, dark, and deep,

Into each waking moment they stealthily seep. 

Despite all evidence that nothing has changed, 

From common sense he’s become estranged. 

Book by book, his dreams torn asunder, 

Yet still he cannot help but wonder:

At long, long last, is this the one? 

II

Well past middle age, he’s barely mid-list,

But that matters not to this fantasist.

Through this ordeal, he’s been eight times before

And eight times before, there’s been sorrow galore.

Yet he feels there’s magic in book number nine,

With his name in print across the spine,

So once again he dares to dream

And to all the doubters he yearns to scream:

This time it’s diff’rent; this is the one!

III

An imagined call from his agent so loyal

Blithely reveals the fruits of his toil:

Starred reviews! and raves in the trades,     

Each smitten by his hero’s escapades.

There’s talk of awards and film rights are in play,

Translations and options and checks on the way!

With more news each minute his cellphone chimes,

Surely a place on THE list in the Times! 

Reese and Jenna and morning shows in the city, 

What’s that? A call from the Pulitzer Committee!

In his dreams it’s all true, and all do agree: This is the one.

IV

The day grows closer and some doubts creep in, 

A Goodreads review that’s a kick in the shin. 

One measly star, because she’s offended,

Despite finding the writing to be “quite splendid.” 

That gay character was just too much to take, 

If children read it, she wrote, their worlds would quake.  

So he logs out of Goodreads and similar sites, 

He swears off reviews, with their snark and their slights. 

And then he wonders and ponders

aloud as he wanders:

Is this the one?

V

There’s more to come as publicity commences, 

Vying hard to break down his feeble defenses.

For starters, some news from Publishers Weekly, 

A six-figure deal that affects him obliquely:

A middle grade novel by an actor quite famous, 

Ghostwritten, of course, for the big ignoramus.

But what makes our hero especially bitter,

Are those legions on Insta, on TikTok, on Twitter.

O, how can a midlister hope to compete,

With one who can reach millions with just one tweet.

Online he proclaims, to his dozens of fans, 

that it’s still somewhat likely

that this is the one.

VI

With each cycle the news turns more and more bleak, 

Is there any more havoc the far right can wreak? 

Book bans and boycotts and school boards gone wild, 

What if his book lands on the list they’ve compiled? 

It’s not like he had nothing to fear from the left: 

Sensitivity readers! Of hope he’s bereft. 

Algorithms now masters of what will be sold, 

He need not ask for whom the bell hath tolled.

Head under the covers, brain all out of steam,

Still he mutters and sputters, and clings to his dream:

Thisistheonethisistheonethisistheonethisistheone

VII

Launch day has arrived, an event long planned,

It turns out to be a bit less than grand.

No hordes at the bookstore, no line out the door, 

No audience cheering and begging for more.

But none of that matters, as the crowd swells to six, 

The truth hits him at last, like a truckload of bricks.

In the front row a boy hugs a signed book to his chest,

And smiles up at the writer, who feels suddenly blessed.

For when you get down to it, the truth is quite clear,

And moments like these to his old heart are dear. 

He writes not for reviewers, for bloggers, or prizes,

Nor for the money, he wryly surmises. 

Emulating the writers he loved as a child, 

With their stories that always left him beguiled.

He writes for the kids, for those smiling young faces, 

And that is the fate that he finally embraces. 

In the hotel that night he picks up his pen, 

And starts the outline for book number ten. 

– Michael D. Beil 

Meet the author

In a time not long after the fifth extinction event, Edgar Award-nominated author MICHAEL D. BEIL came of age on the shores of Pymatuning Lake, where the ducks walk on the fish. (Look it up. Seriously.) He is the author of The Red Blazer Girls series, Summer at Forsaken Lake, Lantern Sam and the Blue Streak Bandits, and Agents of the Glass: A New Recruit. For reasons that can’t be disclosed until September 28, 2041, he now lives somewhere in Portugal with his wife and their two white cats, Bruno and Maisie. He still gets carsick if he has to ride in the back seat for long and feels a little guilty that he doesn’t keep a journal. For more on the author and his books, visit him online at MichaelDBeil.com

Links: 

www.michaeldbeil.com

www.facebook.com/MichaelDBeil

About Betrayal by the Book

A writer’s conference brings twelve-year-old Lark’s favorite writer—and a suspicious death—to Swallowtail Island, in the second book in this middle grade mystery series by an Edgar Award-nominated author.

Swallowtail Island is hosting the Swallowtales Writer’s Conference. Lark’s ecstatic to be chosen as a “page” for her favorite author, Ann E. Keyhart.

But they say you should never meet your idols. When Keyhart arrives with her personal assistant in tow, she is nothing but a terror. And within a few hours, the assistant is dead! But the explanation isn’t sitting well. Not when lots of people had reasons to want to be rid of Keyhart, and especially not after it’s revealed the assistant recently completed a hot new novel and the file’s vanished from her computer.

Then Lark finds out the assistant had a bird—the match to the one she found hidden in her mom’s book—and she needs answers. It looks like Swallowtail Island still has secrets to reveal, and Lark’s going to uncover them.

A gripping new chapter in the Swallowtail Legacy series, Mike D. Beil spins another clever clue hunt that seamlessly slips in alongside the best classics of middle grade mystery.

ISBN-13: 9781645950509
Publisher: Pixel+ink
Publication date: 04/18/2023
Series: Swallowtail Legacy Series #2
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

Filed under: Guest Post