Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook

People often ask about the satisfaction of publishing a book and the answer has never been easier. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again: the best reward — more than any positive review and, certainly, more than any monetary gain — has been the gracious reaction from people in different corners of [...]

An old family friend asked another family member: Is that Tom on the cover?
Funny. But she was serious. In her defense, she’s a little older and hasn’t seen me in person since I used to slap tennis balls into her lawn during street hockey games.
Then it happened again. During the most recent string of appearances [...]

Question: How did you complete the research for this book?
Answer: Like a turtle completes a triathlon.
The running. I wanted as much of the book as possible to come from the observations of those who wrote about and talked to Charles Bender daily. That meant the most important sources were found in reels of microfilm of [...]

Question: Why the heck did you decide to write this book?
Answer: Charles Bender was Minnesota’s first representative in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and, for nearly fifty years, the only one. When other Minnesota-born players (such as Dave Winfield) started receiving consideration Bender’s name often popped up in local newspaper articles as a footnote. [...]

Question: I want to help spread the word. What can I do?
Answer: Well, Mom (and any other similarly good-hearted people), here are three things:
• Next time you stop by your local bookstore or neighborhood library, ask if they carry a copy and, if they haven’t yet joined the club, see if they might. The book [...]

Question: I see that there are many ways to order your book and I am having a hard time deciding which method to use. Can you help?
Answer: Actually, this is the question I wish I were asked. I am a proud supporter of independent bookstores and if I had my way readers would order all [...]

Question: I found your site looking for information about the Tom Swift people actually read about. Can you point me in the right direction?
Answer: Ouch. That hurts. Not like sitting on a bicycle without the seat, but it hurts.
I mean, really, do you doubt that I walk along a repelatron skyway? OK, try this link [...]

Question: Is that your name or did you make it up to sound more like a serious writer?
Answer: My real name is Boris Schimanski and my friends call me BS for short. Actually, that’s not true. They call me BS for another reason. In truth, my name generates a fair number of reactions when people [...]