James Carpenter

When I was in sixth grade, I had a teacher who lost control of the kids in my classroom. For most of the second part of the year, chaos reigned when we were in her room. It was during this chaos that I wrote my first novel called "The Adventures of Santa Claus," and told the story of Sam, a five year old boy who traveled across the United States during the late 19th century.

In any case, everyone in my classroom knew I was writing. Often, other kids asked, "Are you going to get it published?" Occasionally, other kids would read my writing aloud not long after it had been written. One of my friends found a line he really liked. It was "Kid, the bullet of this gun is burning to kill you." But most often I heard, "Jim, are you going to get it published?"

I never did publish "The Adventures of Santa Claus," but I have published "Hanged for the Few," "A Limitless Policy," "Why I Shouldn't Work with a Werewolf," "My Daze as a Vampire Hunter," "Economies of Blood," "Zombie Feint," "Blood of All Evil," and "Glory of the Pack. So the dreams of sixth graders can come true.