Two Cool!

What was supposed to be just one announcement has turned into two. My publishers just let me know that Isle of Swords Won the 2008 Silver Moonbeam Award. This is a mighty cool award to win because winning books are those that most inspire young people to read. As a reading teacher and an author, I am very grateful that my books are getting kids to read.

And now, for the big announcement...

Do you recognize the two rogues dueling in these two pictures?


If you said, well, that's you, Mr. Batson, dueling with author Christopher Hopper, you'd be 100% correct. And in spite of the way it must seem in these two photos, we are actually very good friends. So much so that two years ago, we began traveling to Scranton to write together. We found that our styles are very similar and our interests as well. We even joked that it might be cool to someday write a book together.

God tells us to trust in Him, and He will give us the desires of our heart. And well, to my complete joy, He has. Christopher Hopper and I have just contracted with Thomas Nelson to write not one, but two books together. It will be a Fantasy Series (surprise, surprise) and will quite literally turn the "Portal Fantasy" cliche on its head. More on the books as soon as we are at liberty to reveal. But for now, I thank God because writing with Christopher is an honor and a great, great bit of fun. We're about 20,000 words in, and all I can say is, you're going to LOVE this!