Welcome to the fantastic 12 Authors of Christmas seasonal giveaway and blog tour!

Paul XmasToday I am interviewing the author of Lionel’s Grand Adventure series – Paul R Hewlett (wild applause)!  I’ve reviewed the second book Lionel Turns The Other Cheek and the third one Lionel’s Christmas Adventure – soon I’ll get back to the first one, Lionel and the Golden Rule.  Click those links for my reviews.

Hi Paul!

How do you describe Lionel’s adventures in one sentence?

Be careful what you wish for…

What prompted you to write the books about Lionel and how many do you think you’ll publish?

I’ve always had a vivid imagination and consider myself a people watcher. There is always a great story waiting to be told if you just pay attention to the general public. For instance, you might see a really wild outfit and create a backstory as to why the person wore it. Maybe they’re a spy and are trying to remain incognito. Maybe they’re wearing it on a dare with millions of dollars at stake. Then you go from there. I decided to write books about Lionel in an attempt to capture an idea I had floating around in my head for quite a while.

I’m not sure how many books about Lionel I’ll publish. I grew up on Encyclopedia Brown and the Three Investigators and they went on for a good while. I have a lot of ideas; I think I’ll just have to see how the stories unfold.

I know that feeling, although I do have an end point in mind for my Princelings books.

Are you more like Lionel or his best friend Skip?

Probably Lionel. He always tries to see the good in things and he’s upbeat. Lionel is a good guy. He may be a bit nicer than I am at times, but I try to embody those characteristics as well.

I suspect you’re being modest!  One thing that I’m interested in that maybe you could enlighten us on: Lionel has a lucky charm, or magic amulet, the foot of a Three-Toed Potbellied Walbaun.  For the nature lovers among us, could you give us a potted history of this strange beast; habitat, food, characteristics  etc.?

The Potbellied Walbauns lived near rivers and spent their days lazing around and goofing off. They resembled humans from the waist up. Their legs were hairy and tough, and of course, their feet resembled a rabbit’s—except for the fact that they only had three toes. They survived on berries, plants, and even hunted a bit to stimulate their appetite. They must have had quite and appetite, and obviously didn’t run like rabbits because their bellies looked as though they were carrying a bowling ball underneath their shirts.

Magic ran strong in them too. The only problem was that they used it to play tricks on one another and joke around so they never really mastered it. This didn’t prove to be much of a problem for the Walbauns as they existed on the riverbanks for a long time. Until, that is, a time came that saw them hunted and mistreated. This bit of history is a bit vague. No one seems exactly sure why this happened, but it did indeed happen. It’s been speculated that folks wanted to try to capture their magic somehow and use it for their own purposes, but this has never been proven. Not even their magic could save them; maybe because they never really learned how to use it to their advantage. Soon all that was left of the Walbaun was its foot, which resembled a lucky rabbit’s foot. For whatever reason a good portion of their magic is concentrated in this magical charm. Why this is no one knows, but Lionel is about to find out what it is capable of after he finds one.

Aw, poor Walbauns.  They say you never know what you’ve got until you lose it. 

Your biography says you’re a salesman by day, writer by night, and Air Force vet.  What’s the strangest experience you’ve had?

I’m from a small town. Let’s start with that. Well, it turns out that my wife’s dad is good friends with a former teacher of mine. Now my wife is not from the same town I am from. I ran into my former teacher and his wife at a wedding my wife and I attended. I liken the experience to a George Bailey moment in It’s a Wonderful Life. My former teacher’s wife was so happy to see me and went on and on about me to my wife. Now, this is my former teacher’s wife doing this, not the teacher who I knew a lot better. At that moment I knew what George Bailey felt like when he saw what life was like if he’d never been born. It was really a strange experience. I don’t know any other way to say it.

That does sound weird! I like It’s Wonderful Life, although it took me a long time to understand why people rate it so highly.  What would you like for Christmas?

A Clash of Kings: Book 2 of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin in hardback. I love that series and am trying to collect all of the books in hardcover for my bookshelf.

I’ll see what I can do – at least everyone knows now and you’ll probably get a dozen copies!  Thank you so much for doing these questions for the MGBookElves Giveaway & Blog Tour!

Who are the Authors on tour?

Our busy Book Elves are giving away a total of 30 prizes of books suitable for Middle Grade readers – age roughly 8 to 14 – from 12 great authors. The authors are interviewing each other, reviewing each others’ books and more in the Giveaway blog tour that started 1st December. Click the links to go to their websites and find out more about them, and check out their books in the InLinkz list below.

Jemima Pett: the Princelings of the East series (1st, 11th and 18th December)

M G King: Fizz & Peppers at the Bottom of the World (2nd and 10th December)

Fiona Ingram: The Secret of the Sacred Scarab (3rd and 12th December)

Wendy Leighton-Porter: The Shadows from the Past series (4th and 14th December)

Stanley and Katrina (Pet Authors): The Perpetual Papers of a Pack of Pets (5th and 17th December)

Ben Zackheim: Shirley Link, ace detective series (6th and 19th December)

Rebecca Douglass: The Ninja Librarian and Return to Skunk Corners (7th and 16th December)

Cheryl Carpinello: The Young Knights of the Round Table series (8th and 13th December)

S Smith: The Seed Savers series (9th and 18th December)

Julie Grasso: Caramel Cardamom series (11th and 22nd December)

Paul R Hewlett: Lionel’s Grand Adventure series (16th and 20th December)

S W Lothian: the Quest series (tba)

Check out all these books!

Now Enter the Giveaway!

You could win a prize from one of these authors. Most are offering one or two books from their series: if you’ve already got the first, they may offer you a different one if you win. The prizes are as detailed on the rafflecopter form.

Contest runs: December 1st to 23rd, 11:59 pm EST, 2013

Open: Worldwide

How to enter: Enter using the Rafflecopter – click this link.

Terms and Conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Winners will be randomly drawn through the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winner will then have until 28th Dec. to respond. If the winner does not respond in that time, a new draw will take place for a new winner. No cash alternatives to the ebooks offered. Authors may (at their sole discretion) offer a different ebook from that listed if the winner already owns the prize listed. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. This giveaway is sponsored by the authors named and is hosted and managed by Jemima Pett, the Princelings author. If you have any additional questions – feel free to send an email to jemima (dot) pett (at) gmail (dot) com.

#MGBookElves – an Interview with Paul R Hewlett
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