This week I had the pleasure of finding out some of the things I longed to know about Randy K. Mortenson and his delightful tale, Landon Snow and the Auctor's Riddle.

RK Mortenson, originally from Minnesota, is a Navy chaplain who has served in the Persian Gulf, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Hawaii, Brunei, Indonesia (Surabaya and Bali), Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia. He has been responsible for leading more than a dozen projects at schools, orphanages, a home for the handicapped, and a hospital in these countries.

In February 2004 the Mortenson family (mom, dad, and baby Kira Lee) moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Randy currently serves as a Protestant staff chaplain at Naval Station Mayport. He serves the sailors assigned to the base, as well as the civilian employees, and their families, and he also ministers to the congregation at the Chapel by the Sea.

Landon Snow and the Auctor’s Riddle is Randy’s first book.

Sally: Landon Snow is one of my new favorites as far as children's books go so I'd like to see a whole lot more from you. What made you decide to write for children and do you expect to stay down here in the kid's section for a while?

Randy: I could say that I love children and I love children’s books, and those are both true statements. When I started writing Landon Snow, however, I was simply writing a story that happened to involve an 11-year-old boy on a fantastical adventure. I’m a big kid at heart and I like to wonder about things and delve into my imagination—as a child might—and see what I can come up with.

As far as “staying down here in the kids’ section” well, it’s definitely a fun place to be and I’d like to stay and play a while longer yet. Perhaps until I’m kicked out or something.

Sally: Why the name Landon Snow? He's from Minnesota and I guess a good part of the year, if you jump off the porch you will land on snow, but how did you come up with this name?

Randy: At first he only had a first name, Landon, and that name seemed to come with the character. He was never called anything else, and I don’t know where the name came from (I’m not personally acquainted with any real-life Landon that he’s based on or anything).

When I rewrote the story and expanded it, giving Landon a family and such, I had to come up with a last name. I liked Snow because it’s short and simple and of course it carries that Minnesota wintertime imagery. I do know a wonderful Snow family in real life, although the book’s characters are not based on them.

Sally: Are kids connecting with Landon? Can you share a favorite fan letter or comment?

Randy: I think kids are connecting with Landon and with the story.

I haven’t received any fan letters yet, but a young girl at a book signing gave me a picture she had drawn that was inspired by the book. On it she had written “Landon Snow rocks!” So that was pretty cool.

I heard about a 10-year-old boy who had read the book twice already and simply “can’t wait for the next one!” in the series.

Sally: I know how he feels!

I thought the story really took off at a gallop once Landon hooked up with Melech. The two of them had a great rapport even while they dinged each other a bit. Will Melech be involved in future books?

Randy: “Gallop”—nice. :) Yes, Melech is involved in books 2 and 3. I’ve received comments from a number of readers who like Melech. He’s a good horse.

Sally: What about Landon's adorable, smart and/or sleepy sisters? I would love to see more of them in future books. Are they being developed for bigger roles?

Randy: Holly plays a key role in the second book, and in book 3 both she and Bridget have more substantial roles (than in book 1).

Sally: Who are the “Odds” and what do they represent?

Randy: The Odds are elfish creatures who live among the trees of Wonderwood. Each morning and evening they gather around a clearing called the Echoing Green to watch a giant gold coin get flipped into the sky. The Odds believe it is the tossing of the coin that determines whether it is sunup or sundown. They represent what all creatures would be had they simply “happened” by chance. We would all be merely “odds” then, wouldn’t we?

Sally: Your writing is gorgeous. Witty, and lyrical. Can you name some books that shaped your love of language?

Randy: Wow. Mind if I quote you on that? “…gorgeous. Witty, and lyrical.” There. Thank you.

Some books that shaped my love of language early on are Shel Silverstein’s books, particularly Where the Sidewalk Ends. Lots of Dr. Seuss. The Chronicles of Narnia, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Hobbit, Watership Down, and the Bible.

I did well in English class—spelling, reading comprehension, writing—throughout school and college. I found writing satisfying and did starting writing poetry at a young age (my first poem was published when I was eleven). However, writing remained more of a chore than something I did often for pleasure. As I grew older it actually became more this way, until I would rarely write unless I “had to” for a school assignment. Then I went to seminary and studied Greek. This—along with studying the Bible and other writings more in depth—is what really awakened in me a greater love for English than I’d ever had before. It also helped rekindle the desire to write.

Sally: What were your three favorite books when you were a kid?

Randy: You know, I don’t really remember what my three favorites were. I can tell you that Watership Down was the first book that had me up late under the covers with a flashlight. It was also my first “big book” at almost 500 pages in paperback. I first read it when I was eleven years old (that age again!), and it opened my eyes to a new way of seeing things (from a rabbit’s perspective, for one) and to a great adventure story. I loved Where the Wild Things Are and the books I’d mentioned in response to the previous question. I also remember really enjoying the Encyclopedia Brown books and The Three Investigators series.

Sally: Do you have children? If so, what ages and what are their favorite books?

Randy: I have a daughter, Kyra, who is almost 2 ½. Her current favorite book contains a number of stories about a dog named Biscuit.

Sally: I'm seeing Landon Snow and the Auctor's Riddle compared to Alice in Wonderland, The Phantom Tollbooth, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Did these books influence you, and if so, how?

Randy: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was a direct influence for Landon Snow. The first version I wrote was about 70 pages and I called it “Landon’s Tale.” It was, like Alice, rather nonsensical and episodic, and the fantasy turned out to be a dream in the end. The Landon Snow book as it is now is still rather episodic and contains some of the original nonsense from the early version, but it’s “packaged” in reality—it is not Landon’s dream—and has been infused with some semblance of a sustainable storyline. Goodness, did I just write “some semblance of a sustainable storyline”? Oh no, I just did it again.

The Chronicles of Narnia influence is less direct but may be just as pervasive (as Alice’s). What I mean is, I had Alice in mind (Landon’s grandmother’s name is Alice, a gentle nod there) when I wrote about Landon, whereas I did not have Narnia in mind. However, I had read and loved The Chronicles as a kid and again when I was in college. Along with many other writings by C. S. Lewis, his Chronicles had a great impact on my imagination and thought. My decision to make Landon’s adventures “real”—where he goes into a fantasy world and comes back again rather than sleeping—as well as the combining of fantasy with Christian world-view theology was certainly influenced and encouraged by The Chronicles of Narnia.

I have yet to read The Phantom Tollbooth so no, it did not have an influence on me. More than one reviewer has compared Landon Snow to this book, however, so I will have to take a look at it sometime!

Sally: I've read that your journey to publication took eleven years. Can you sketch that out a bit for us? Do you have several novels tucked away on a dusty old disk, waiting to be published?

Randy: It was a dark and stormy (I started to write “darm and storky,” hmm…) night in the summer of 1994 when I took out a pen and notepad and wrote these lines:

Could it be chance, mere circumstance
That man eats cow eats grass eats soil
And then man dies, and when he lies
To soil he does return?

In that same notepad I wrote about my dream of becoming a published author—a novelist—some day.

In the fall of 1994 I began writing “Landon’s Tale,” my first effort at an extended story—and way more writing than I’d ever done for any assignment in school. I incorporated the poem (which has two more stanzas) into the story and called the poem “Circa Auctorem,” which in my creative Latin usage means “about the Author.” I began sending query letters to publishers with no knowledge of how to get published. And “Landon’s Tale” was far from being publishable at that point. (Editors apparently weren’t overly impressed that my mom “loved it!”)

Eventually I put “Landon’s Tale” in a box and worked on other projects. I’ve written two (unpublished) adult novels of suspense—The Clairvoyant and Farewell House—a few starts on some young adult stories, and have had a military/spiritual memoir shopped around. I’ve also read dozens of books on writing and getting published. In June 2004 I dug out “Landon’s Tale” from its box and began rewriting it, giving it a more coherent storyline as well as expanding it to 140 pages. My big break came two months later when I attended Writing For the Soul, a conference at the Cove (Billy Graham Training Center) in North Carolina. There I met an editor from Barbour Publishing who was “intrigued” by my pitch. I told her Landon was Alice in Wonderland meets the Book of Ecclesiastes—a combination of whimsy and wisdom in a fun-filled fantasy adventure. The editor told me to send the manuscript to her soon. So I did.

Sally: Well, darm and storky is better than starm and dorky, anyway. =0) But there's nothing either storky or dorky about Landon Snow and the Auctor's Riddle. So what's next? Can you give me a sneak peek into Landon's future?

Randy: Here’s a sneak peek at Book 2, which is called Landon Snow and the Shadows of Malus Quidam:

Landon Snow is heading into the darkness, hot on the trail of his younger sister Holly who has set off on a mission of her own.

Emerging in the magical realm of Wonderwood, Landon discovers that Holly has been lured by shadows and fallen under Malus Quidam’s spell. With the help of his old friends—a horse named Melech, elfish Odds, and the poet/prophet Vates—Landon learns what he needs to do to set his sister free. But he’ll need lots of courage. Will Landon be able to rescue Holly from the shadows of darkness and free the Odds from Malus Quidam’s evil power?

Book 2 is going into production and will be released in March 2006. I’m working on the third book now, which has a very cool title and will be released in the fall of 2006.

Sally: That sounds like fun. And Holly seems like the type of gal to go off on a mission, so I'm glad she's making a move.

Now, last question, for extra credit: Who did that nifty noodle screen saver that can be downloaded from Landon's site? Did you make that yourself or did someone do it for you? And connected to that--have you met your illustrator and given him a big "thank you smooch" yet?

Randy: Web folks at Barbour put together the “nifty noodle screen saver.” Those illustrations, taken from the book, were done by a BJU grad named Corey Godby, whom I have yet to meet and give a big, uh, thank-you handshake. Okay, maybe a hug. Because his artwork really is top-notch and it adds a lot to the book’s appeal. (Extra extra credit: The book’s cover and interior layout was designed by Dogeareddesign—check out their Web site http://www.dogeareddesign.com and see what other great covers they’ve developed.)

Sally: I'll skid right on over. They really did do a fine, fine, job.

Thanks for the great interview, Randy.