Another quick art update. J.P. Targete just delivered his newest NIGHTMARE ACADEMY illustration. This one is of "The Fifth," also known as "Mother" and the "Queen of Nightmares." All four of the Named Lords of the Nether have been devoted to bringing her to Earth.

This is not a good thing.



Click once or twice to enlarge.

MONSTER WAR (book 3 of the NIGHTMARE ACADEMY series) is finally available on store shelves in the UK. This completes the first trilogy of NIGHTMARE ACADEMY books and fans of the series will see many things wrapped up, as well as the direction of what I hope will be a second trilogy at some point. If you enjoy reading the books as much as I've enjoyed writing them, please tell your friends. Also, if you're interested in ordering online, I have some links on the home page of my website.

MONSTER WAR will be out in the US in the summer of 2010 and, later, in the over 20 countries where NIGHTMARE ACADEMY is published. Believe me, I'm VERY eager for everyone to get their hands on the book. I love all the books but, between you and me, MONSTER WAR is my favorite.

I get a good deal of email asking me to make sense of all the different editions of the various books between the US and the UK. If you're interested in that, you can find a guide to the various editions after the cut.

( Read more )

One last thing -- I thought I would mention that, in addition to writing and producing 'TIL DEATH, I started work as a writer/producer on a new TV series for the Fox network called BROTHERS. It stars Daryll "Chill" Mitchell, Michael Strahan (yep, from the NFL), Carl Weathers and CCH Pounder.



They're all terrific folks and I'm having a blast working with them. Look for the show on Fox this fall.

So, busy times but a lot of good stuff. I hope you all enjoy MONSTER WAR. Also, if you haven't seen it yet, scroll down to check out some great new NIGHTMARE ACADEMY art by the brilliant J.P. Targete.

Take care...

I just had to share this right away. The brilliant J.P. Targete just delivered his next NIGHTMARE ACADEMY illustration and this one is a stunner. This is Slagguron, the last of the Named, as he wreaks havoc on the San Diego Zoo while the military does their futile best to stop him -- it's a scene that should be familiar to anyone who has read book 2 (titled MONSTER MADNESS in the US and MONSTER REVENGE in the UK).

Also, if you look closely (and if you have some idea what my bald self looks like) you might recognize someone familiar...

Click on the picture a couple times to see it in all its awesome glory!

I got a lot of email asking for updates to the monster art on my website and I'm really happy to finally be able to say... here it is! J.P. Targete, the guy who did all the cool illustrations at www.deanlorey.com, is currently working on a bunch of great new stuff and I thought I would share it here as it arrives. Eventually, all the new art will all make its way to my website.

For today's image, I want to introduce you to Tyrannus -- one of the Named. Here he is facing off against Charlie and friends on the 5th Ring of the Nether. You can click on the image below a couple times to make it MUCH bigger.



Cool, huh? Tyrannus finally gets to take his place alongside Barakkas and Verminion. Here's Barakkas (and, again, you can click on these to make them bigger):



And here's Verminion:



J.P. is currently working on the illustration for Slagguron, the final Named. I'll post that when it's done.

Take care...

Just wanted to send warm wishes to Faith Hochhalter. I attended the Project Book Babe charity event in Arizona to help raise money for her fight against breast cancer. She recently had major surgery as part of her treatment and, apparently, things went very well, which is wonderful news. If you're interested, you can check out her blog about her experiences HERE.

In other news, a few weeks ago I was a guest at the Storymakers convention in Utah. Scott Savage (the author of the terrific FARWORLD series) invited me to deliver the keynote. I had a moment of panic when I later realized that I was expected to talk for 45 minutes to an hour. It wasn't exactly like I had an hourlong speech laying around, but I put something together and ended up having a great time.

I also got to hang out with my friends Janette Rallison and James Dashner (both authors) and I met a lot of very nice folks. The next day, I taught a class on the basics of screenwriting, which forced me to come up with something to actually SAY about the basics of screenwriting, which caused me to interrogate my screenwriting buddy Steve Mazur -- he teaches classes on it at AFI and knows that kind of stuff.

Outside of that, thanks for all the kind comments on my previous post about Lulu. Much appreciated.

Take care...

We had to put the oldest of our three dogs to sleep this morning. Her name was Lulu and she was fourteen, which is a very respectable age for a black lab. Here's a picture of her -- she's the one on the right (weird Willy is on the left).



She was found on the street over a decade ago by our friend, Jessica Cunningham. We tried to find her owner, but no one replied to the signs we put up and no one was looking for her at the local shelters and veterinarians, so we took her in and named her Lulu. We had her even before we had our first child and she always reminded us of when we were young and relatively carefree. She was cheerful and plucky and very very sweet, so it was a sad morning for us. We kept her collar and gave it to the kids, who were glad to have it.

I went straight from the vet's office to the writer's room for the TV show I'm working on. I wasn't really in a very funny mood. Luckily, we had a cockroach invasion about mid-day and we decided to head out and resume again tomorrow. I've never been so thankful for a cockroach invasion.

Take care...

I just realized my last post was a month ago. How did that happen?

So, I went to Project Book Babe and it was a blast. Seriously. Who knew writers were so funny? Stephenie Meyer was great. I got to hang with a bunch of old pals and an enormous amount of money was raised for Faith's breast cancer treatment. I don't know the total, but it was close to a hundred thousand dollars.

I even wore a dress.

Now, to be fair, all the writers did something sort of stupid -- James Owen sang (God bless him). A bunch of the others were backup dancers to his song (God bless them). And I modeled Stephenie Meyer's prom dress (escorted by the very dashing and lupine PJ Haarsma).



It sold at auction for several thousand dollars. Stephenie said she was just glad I wasn't able to zip it up or she would have been despondent. I suggested we take a poll to find out who the audience thought wore it better, which she nixed immediately because:

Stephenie (horrorstruck): What if you WIN?!

It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, while talking to my wife on the phone (hands free!) on the long drive back from Arizona, my window got shattered by a pebble from a truck. And this is the second time that's happened -- driving back from Arizona, talking to my wife. I blame either Arizona or my wife -- not sure which.

In other news, the writer's room on 'TIL DEATH is grooving along wonderfully. I love this staff. We've accomplished so much so quickly that I hesitate to even publicly state how much we've gotten done, but if any TV executive has a show that they need to get on the rails fast, they should immediately hire Don Reo to run it and this staff to write it. Seriously.

The kids have been out of school for spring break, which dovetailed with my younger son's (Alex's) 8th birthday, so we went to Disneyland for a couple days to celebrate. The weather was perfect and the trip was particularly meaningful to Alex because this was the first time he was tall enough to ride the Indiana Jones ride. You have to understand -- the Indiana Jones ride has been Alex's Holy Grail. EVERY SINGLE TIME we go to the park he immediately wants to see if he's big enough to ride the thing and EVERY SINGLE TIME he doesn't quite make the height requirement.

Not this time.

So, we had fun on that and we also enjoyed the Tower of Terror and the rafting expedition thing in California Adventure, which we rode over and over because the wait was only five minutes (at night, when it was cold, but still...) You ride it with several other people and we always were grouped with teenagers, which ended up being fun because they were ALL really sweet kids. Amazing. I told Elizabeth "this gives me hope for the future."

So, this weekend I did something I've never done before -- I went out cycling with my friends Vinnie and Serena. I've never been on that kind of bike before and was a little shocked at how gear intensive the sport is, but Vinnie and Serena and their friends got me completely outfitted. It was hard. REALLY hard. But a blast.

We rode about 22 miles in two hours in heat that approached 100 degrees. There was a hill at the end that nearly killed me. I thought they were going to have to helicopter me out. If you've never been on that kind of a bike (and I haven't) it's weird to get used to -- hunched forward, gear-shifting, feet locked into the pedals. It reminded me of driving on the opposite side of the road in Europe -- it's sort of familiar but completely alien at the same time.

I'm sore today, but happy. I want to try it again and I will. Aside from the cycling, this weekend has been taken up with errands. We updated the kid's and Elizabeth's passports because we're considering a trip to London later this summer for the UK release of NIGHTMARE ACADEMY 3: MONSTER WAR. I was thinking of doing some signings. If there's enough desire for it, we'll probably go. I also sent out a lot of signed, personalized bookplates for kids to put in their books. A teacher in the UK (John Kenyon, I think) asked for a bunch of them for his class and that's something I think I might look to do more of -- send bookplates to classes of kids. If any teachers are interested, let me know...

And that's all for now. Hopefully, I'll be a little more timely with my posts in the future.

Take care...

You probably don't know Faith Hochhalter, but you should. Wonderful woman, great book buyer, all around terrific person who has helped the careers of many struggling authors. She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is now in treatment. She's tough, but this is the kind of thing that no one should face alone, which is how PROJECT BOOK BABE came to be.

What is it? A benefit to raise money for her treatment. On April 4th in Tempe, Arizona, from 2 - 5pm, a VERY cool event is going to be taking place at the Marcos de Niza High School Auditorium. There will be music. There will be a raffle. There will be an auction. There will be a reception. And there will also be an hour and a half long author panel that you won't want to miss. Who's on it? I'm going to list the names in alphabetical order:

Frank Beddor (The Looking Glass Wars series)
Chris Gall (There's Nothing to do on Mars)
P.J. Haarsma (The Softwire Series)
Shannon Hale (The Princess Academy)
J.S. Lewis (The Revenge of the Shadow King)
Dean Lorey (The Nightmare Academy series)
Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight series)
Brandon Mull (The Fablehaven series)
James A. Owen (Here, There be Dragons)
Janette Rallison (Just One Wish)
Laini Taylor (The Faeries of Dreamdark series)

Read that list carefully. You might notice a fairly big name or two. Depending on the ticket you buy, you get all kinds of goodies including signed books and, I don't know, a whole bunch of stuff. Check out the website HERE.

The tickets are selling out quickly -- in fact the Platinum memberships are already gone -- so if you're interested, grab one while you can. It's for a good cause and a good person and, let's face it, there's got to be at least one name on that list that interests you. :)

Take care...

The last few posts have been about non-NIGHTMARE ACADEMY stuff, so I thought it might be a good time to get back to basics and share the UK cover for NIGHTMARE ACADEMY 3: MONSTER WAR. The book is, in all ways, an escalation of the story and this cover really reflects that. Here you go (and you can click on it a couple times to make it bigger):



It comes out in the UK this summer (June, I think) and in the US the following summer in 2010. And, yes, I know how disappointed some folks are in the US that it's going to take so long. The US publisher is planning to release Books 1 and 2 this summer in paperback, followed by Book 3 the following summer. Just so you know, publishing dates aren't up to me -- I just write 'em. I only hope that, when Book 3 finally DOES arrive in the US, you'll agree that it was worth the wait.

Take care...

So, Monday morning I'll pack up my pencil box and Trapper Keeper and put on my best new shirt and head off to my first day of work as an Executive Producer on the TV show 'TIL DEATH. If you haven't seen it (and, apparently, not many people have...) it's a sitcom that stars Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher as a long-time married couple. If you can't visualize it, here's the poster:



This will be my first time working on the series -- in fact, I haven't done any television since ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT was cancelled. After ARRESTED ended, I really wanted to take a breath and write books for a while, which has been a wonderful, rejuvenating experience. But, lately, I've been missing the comraderie of working on a show and when my friend, Don Reo, told me he was taking over 'TIL DEATH as showrunner and asked me to join him, I couldn't turn it down. After all, when Don Reo calls... you jump.

At least I do.

I've heard some mixed things about the last few seasons of the series but I'm truly enthusiastic about joining it because I think the actors are terrific and Don has a solid, inspired take on a new direction for the show. In addition, the writing staff will be filled out by a great group of veteran writers. In fact, I may well be the youngest person on the staff... and I'm in my 40's. Having spent the last couple years alone in my office writing novels, I'm really looking forward to the fun and activity of being back in television production, particularly since I'm going to be doing it with friends.

I'll also be working on my books -- that's never going to stop -- and will hopefully have some news for you on that front soon. MONSTER WAR is completed and will be coming out in various countries over the next year or so and I have some other very cool stuff percolating. More on that soon...

I'm also looking forward to posting a little bit about the inner workings of a TV writer's room. Mostly, it's a group of people sitting together all day long around a big conference table, trying to puzzle their way through the 22 scripts that will make up a TV season. Biggest difficulty: avoiding the inevitable weight gain that comes from inactivity and access to an endless supply of chips and sugary beverages. In fact, I should probably weigh myself now and keep doing that every couple weeks to chart my decline... but I can't bear to step on the scale.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world...

So we closed escrow on the sale of our house yesterday. It was a big and beautiful house, but we never felt entirely at home there. I guess we appreciated it more than we enjoyed it.

We first considered making a change toward the end of last summer. That's when Elizabeth and I started having our first, tentative conversations about "What do we want in our lives, exactly? What would make us the happiest?" I suspect we weren't the only ones having those conversations then and I doubt we're the only ones having them now. Somewhere in there, we came up with what seemed to be a big and daring idea:

What if we sell the house and move out of Southern California? What if we pick a place we like and reduce expenses and I'll just write novels for a living? It seemed like an exciting thing to consider and we actually investigated a couple places. A good friend of mine hosted us on the east coast for a long weekend and we looked at houses in that area. Loved the area, loved the people, and yet... we weren't entirely sold on moving at all, for one big reason:

Moving out of LA meant that I would be committing to not working in television.

That was a major decision because, truth be told, I really like working in television -- much more so than in movies. TV has a sort of communal "let's put on a show!" atmosphere that I've always loved. Sure, it's a pressure cooker and there are always big personalities involved but that's part of the fun. I wasn't sure I was ready to give all that up, even though I wasn't currently working on a show. Plus, there was another reason:

We actually like Southern California.

Not everything about it, of course. The expense of the place is horrific. So are some of the people. It's a crazy grab-bag of reality show cliches and runaway ego and tarnished values. And don't even get me started on the traffic....

But it's also a beautiful place to live. The weather is great and there aren't many areas in the US where you can be on the beach and then drive a couple hours and go skiing. Also, the kids are in a great public school system (the public schools are the primary reason we moved to Calabasas) and Elizabeth has made some good friends with other parents at the school and is very involved.

We finally decided that giving up a major avenue of employment and an area that we liked was a bigger change than we wanted at this point in our lives. But what about that house? Do we need it? Do we want it? On the pro side, selling the house would reduce our expenses and make it much easier to do things we enjoy -- like travel and work on projects that might not pay big but were satisfying. On the con side, selling the house would involve... selling the house! That's a major undertaking.

So... after taking a deep breath... that's what we decided to do. We listed the house in January, went into escrow fairly quickly and closed yesterday. Where are we now? Still in Calabasas, but we're renting a house for the time being. It's beautiful, with hardwood floors and great views. Oddly enough, even though we don't own it, it feels more like home. The kids will stay in the same schools.

As for what's next, I'm not entirely sure. We'll rent for at least a year and then probably buy another house. We have a couple areas in mind. My good friend Don Reo invited me to join him on a TV show that he's about to run and I'll likely do that if there's a deal to be made. Don ran MY WIFE AND KIDS and is just one of those people that influence your life in major (and positive) ways.

Book-wise, NIGHTMARE ACADEMY 3: MONSTER WAR is finished. It will come out in the UK this summer (June, I think) and in the US the following summer -- August 2010. For those of you that have been eagerly waiting for its release, I know that probably seems like an eternity but I hope it will be worth it. And, if you absolutely can't stand it, you can always order the beautiful UK edition off Amazon UK. :)

So that's where we are. I debated putting all this in a blog post, but I was getting a lot of concerned email of the "are you alright?" variety and thought I'd just let everyone know what we were up to and why we made the decisions we made. Strangely, in spite of the terrible economy, I'm feeling rather positive right now. I think most of it is the bounce you get from simply doing something, being active...

It has also been great to see how terrific my little family has been through all of these changes. Elizabeth has been miraculous -- supportive and cheerful -- and the kids have proved themselves to be remarkably resilient. We always think kids are these fragile little things, but they seem to roll with the punches much better than we do. We promised we would buy Alex a fish when the move was over and we bought him one over the weekend. He named it Samurai.

As for the future, I'm imagining a year where I'll be working on a tv show and writing a new novel -- I already have two of them underway. I know I've been sort of silent over the last couple months but, as you can see, I had a lot on my plate. And to all of you who expressed support -- many thanks. We're doing great. Sometimes it's good just to shake things up a little.

Take care...

So, I did this list for Facebook (because my wife tagged me on it) and I figured I might as well cross-post it here. As the title suggests, it's 25 random things about me:

1.) When I was in high school, I was a telephone salesperson for Olan Mills Photography Studios. I was terrible at it. My boss was a woman named Rae who wore Guess jeans and used to brag that they cost $50. I could never understand why someone would pay $50 for jeans.

2.) Also in high school, I played Don Quixote in MAN OF LA MANCHA. My mother still cries when she listens to a tape of me singing “The Impossible Dream.” FYI – I can’t sing.

3.) I discovered I was going bald when I watched a high, overhead shot of me walking down a hallway during dailies on the movie FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 9: JASON GOES TO HELL. I turned to my friend Noel and said “Did you know I was going bald?” and he said “didn’t you?”

4.) I met my wife, Elizabeth, on that movie. I wrote it and she was in the art department. I used to steal her parking spot. I am convinced she is still angry about this.

5.) I crack my knuckles.

6.) I have never smoked, mostly because my parents did and I hated it. When I was young, we lived in Florida and they used to smoke in the car with the windows rolled up and the air conditioner blasting. When I would try to roll the window down to get rid of the smoke, they’d tell me to roll it back up so I didn’t “let the air out.”

7.) I used to love horror movies and movies about things blowing up. Now I like romantic comedies about Americans going to beautiful foreign locales. I have become a woman.

8.) I was convinced that I would be able to raise my kids correctly, with a minimum of mistakes. I was mistaken.

9.) The most proud I ever was of my father was when he lost his managerial job and took a job as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman so he could pay the bills. The job was demeaning and he hated it but he did it because sometimes you do what you have to do. I doubt he knows that I even remember he did that.

10.) When I was a kid, my parents put my little sister in a pretty dress and told me to make sure she didn’t get it dirty, so I tied her to a tree. This solution was not looked upon favorably.

11.) I used to want to be a marine biologist and I loved Jacques Cousteau. When we lived in Florida, his ship, the Calypso, docked nearby and my parents took me there to see it. I got an autograph from a crewman. It was written in French. My father told me he was probably the guy who scrubbed the barnacles off the boat.

12.) I used to use PC’s. Now I’m a Mac guy. Don’t argue with me about it – I’m sure I’m right.

13.) My favorite authors are Stephen King and Roald Dahl. I used to wish I could be like Stephen King until I really started writing and realized he’s actually a genius, in spite of what the critics say.

14.) There were three things that didn’t interest me at all when I was a kid: football, music and designer clothes. When I got older, all three of those things started to interest me. Now, only two of them do.

15.) Here’s something I never realized about kids until I had my own – they open up a place in your heart that you never knew existed, but they also make you terribly vulnerable. It’s a fair trade-off.

16.) When I was in college, I made money by writing cover copy for novels from Bantam Books and Simon & Schuster. At an autograph signing, I finally got to meet Skipp & Spector, an author team who wrote a horror novel that I had written the sales copy for. I told them I wrote their copy. They said “Yeah. We rewrote that.”

17.) I also wrote copy for the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series.

18.) Elizabeth and I have been married for thirteen years. In LA, I think that’s a record. Like everyone, we’ve gone through good patches and rough patches. I think we’re in a good patch right now. She remains cheerful in spite of the gloomy economy and general stress we all feel. That means a lot.

19.) I have three dogs, but Hank is my favorite. There, I said it.

20.) When I was writing television, I couldn’t wait to start writing novels so I could be alone for a change. Now I want to start writing television again so I can get out of the house and be around people.

21.) I’m proud of Carr D’Angelo for quitting his job as an executive and opening up his cool comic book shop. Everyone talks about doing stuff like that. He did it.

22.) A relative once told me that I got all the worst physical features in the family – short, bald, big nose. What she doesn’t know is this – my pinkie toe is magic. Ha-ha!

23.) I remember rolling down a hill when I was a kid and thinking “there will never come a time when I won’t want to do this.” What happened to that feeling?

24.) I love World of Warcraft. My main character is a level 80 Mage named Primo. I took that name from the lead character in one of my favorite movies -- BIG NIGHT.

25.) I drink my coffee black, like the cowboys drink it. My friend, Todd, tells me that’s only because the cowboys didn’t have any milk or sugar with them on the prairie. Shut up, Todd.

Look, life is hard and we usually have to suffer a lot of failure to get to a success, so I'm sending many congrats to my buddy Todd Farmer on the release of his movie, MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D. It had a huge opening which, in turn, will open a lot of doors for him and his terrific family.



I've seen the movie and, if you like old-school slasher movies, it's a ton of fun. My wife and I met on FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 9 (which I wrote) so we have a soft spot in our hearts for this kind of stuff... and having a soft spot in your heart is weirdly apropos for a movie about a Valentine's Day killer.

IN OTHER NEWS...

I'm going to be at the Phoenix Comic Con this upcoming weekend, so please say hi if you plan to go. I'm on a bunch of cool panels -- some about novel writing and a couple about my horror movie background. In fact, I think I'm on a panel with Erin Gray, who was one of the stars of the F13th movie I did, which should be a lot of fun.

I'm also going to be at Brilliant Sky Toys and Books at 5pm on Thursday, January 22nd. I'll be doing a little presentation for NIGHTMARE ACADEMY as well as a signing. The address is:

BRILLIANT SKY TOYS AND BOOKS
4929 E. Chandler Blvd
#401
Phoenix, AZ 85048

Hope to see you there!

A couple quick things to share. First, I got a bunch of copies of the Japanese edition of NIGHTMARE ACADEMY book 1. Check it out (and you can click on the image to make it bigger):



It's a really great looking book with nice foil on the cover and all new art in the interior, as well as a cloth bookmark attached to the spine. I particularly love how Charlie is doing a "Karate Kid" pose!

I also got the galleys yesterday for NIGHTMARE ACADEMY 3: MONSTER WAR. I guess at some point getting galleys seems like old hat, but I'm not there yet -- it's such a thrill to see your words beginning to look like an actual book. There's also a certain amount of dread involved because it's really your last chance to make changes, so all your decisions seem so... permanent.

Anyway, the galleys are sitting here on my desk and I'm going to be diving into them soon while I listen to the windows rattle from the force of the winds howling through the canyons. We've been seeing weird weather here in Southern California. It has been unseasonably hot. In fact, yesterday it was in the 80's, believe it or not. I actually turned on the air conditioner because it was almost 90 degrees in the house.

I know that doesn't seem all that terrible to those of you in colder climates, but still... it's all a little surreal. Take care...

NIGHTMARE ACADEMY 2: MONSTER REVENGE published this week in the UK. Just to clarify, it's the same book that published last year in the US under the title MONSTER MADNESS. I LOVE these UK editions. They're like candy -- I just want to eat them up! The cover has a cut out on it that reveals this amazing piece of art by Brandon Dorman (and you can click on all these pics to make them larger):



This edition publishes in Australia and New Zealand in March of this year and the third book in the series (MONSTER WAR) will publish in the US and UK in late summer of this year.

Now, on to another movie recommendation!

Are you an Albert Brooks fan? I am. This guy has been writing and directing brilliant movies for years. MODERN ROMANCE is a hilarious, quirky little romantic comedy as is LOST IN AMERICA but my favorite is this one:



DEFENDING YOUR LIFE is the most complete of his movies. The others are wonderful and odd and they don't always come together at the end but DEFENDING YOUR LIFE is the whole package. Here's the premise:

When you die, before you can "move on" to the next phase of your existence, your previous life is judged by, well, a couple of judges in the afterlife. They take a look at several days from your time on Earth and decide if you've conquered your fears enough to graduate to a higher level of being. There's a prosecutor and a defender (in this case, the defender is the amazing Rip Torn) and they show several days from your life to make their case that you were either a stand up, fearless person or a scared little worm.

Albert Brooks is the guy on trial and he has a lot to defend. Luckily, he meets a woman there who's also on trial and they hit it off -- but it's hard to find romance while your entire existence on Earth is being judged. The woman is played by Meryl Streep, who couldn't be more funny and charming in the role.

Anyway... if you haven't seen it, check it out and let me know what you think.

Other than that, things are quiet around here (except for the ferocious winds that are blowing through Southern California). My wife and I did have some fun the night before last. My good buddy Todd Farmer just wrote the upcoming movie MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D and he and his wife Melanie came into town and stayed with us for a night. Here's Todd at last year's Comic Con holding up the teaser poster:



We all went to the premiere together, which was a ton of fun. The movie's great, super scary, and the 3D is really just incredible. If you see it (and, FYI, it's a hard "R" and definitely not for kids) make sure you check it out in a 3D theater. Todd's also got a small (but VERY memorable) role in the movie. He plays the trucker and I don't want to reveal any more about his role other than its very revealing.

The premiere was a lot of fun. As for celebrities attending, it was an odd little assortment of people. Paris Hilton was there. Wes Craven. Corey Haim. Hmmm, there were a bunch of others but now I'm blanking. There was a huge, bald guy who plays Jason Voorhees in the upcoming FRIDAY THE 13TH remake. The after party took place in a club in Hollywood & Highland and the waiters and waitresses wore mining helmets with lights on them -- pretty cool.

Anyway, that's it for now. Take care...

There's a handful of movies that I just can't stop watching. I used to think it was all about plot and fast action but, as I get older, I find that the stuff I keep coming back to is much more character based. I also seem to have a weakness for romantic comedies in exotic locales, which is sort of girly but what can I tell you?

Anyway, I thought I'd share a couple of the small movies that I have to watch at least once a year, usually twice. Here's the first one:



Ever heard of it? Probably not. It's a small movie that came out forever ago but I'd put it in my top five movies of all time. It's set in the '50s and it's about two brothers -- Primo and Segundo -- who have a little Italian restaurant in a seaside town in, I think, New Jersey.

Primo is the older brother and he's an artist with food. His Italian cooking is astonishing and he refuses to compromise his dishes just because the customers might want something else. You want a side of pasta to go with your risotto? Forget it! Starch doesn't go with starch! He hates "Americanized" Italian food.

His younger brother, Segundo, is the business part of the equation and he's desperately trying to keep the restaurant afloat, but they're in terrible trouble. Why? There's a big, loud Italian restaurant across the street that doesn't serve good food, but they DO serve the kind of food that people want -- steak, spaghetti with meatballs, dishes that end with the word flambe. It's owned by Ian Holm, who's a hilarious actor (and is probably most well known for playing the adult Bilbo Baggins in LORD OF THE RINGS).

Ian Holm seems to have a fondness for the Italian brothers and he respects them as artists, even though his restaurant regularly trounces theirs -- so he decides to help them out. He tells them that he's friends with the famous singer Louis Primo and that he'll get Louis to come to their Restaurant for a meal, which will get them lots of publicity and possibly save the business. Even though they're down to their last dime, the brothers decide to create the meal of all meals for this "big night."

It's a warm, funny, touching movie and, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you give it a try. Along with Ian Holm, it stars Stanley Tucci as Segundo and Tony Shaloub (MONK) as Primo. Minnie Driver is also in it, along with Isabella Rossellini, Campbell Scott and Allison Janney.

So that's today's recommendation. I'll have a couple more in the coming days. Any other small movies out there that people want to point a finger at?

Hey all. Just a quick post to let you take a look at the US cover for NIGHTMARE ACADEMY 3: MONSTER WAR. Click on it a couple times if you want to see it in a bigger size. I think it looks great! As far as I know, the book is due to come out in the US in September of 2009.

Take care...

We had a few requests for Halloween pictures, so here's our little family all dressed up to go trick or treating. As you can see, it was all STAR WARS, all the time. I was Darth. My wife, Elizabeth, was Queen Amidala and the kids were clone troopers.



We had a lot of fun walking around the neighborhood with friends of ours. Barak (not the presidential candidate), was Peter Pan. His wife, Candace, was a fairy as were their two little girls. I felt my boys could have defeated their girls -- because my boys were heavily armored and had futuristic weapons -- but I was told that their weapons were no match for the fairy's wands and that the girls were protected by "fairy dust".

Maybe. I'm still skeptical.

Elizabeth had purchased three bags of candy to hand out. Earlier in the day, I got nervous that we might not have enough, so I went out and purchased an additional bag of Snickers. After we were done trick or treating, we went back home to distribute goodies to the hordes of children I was sure were going to overrun us.

Only one kid came by.

Not sure why. In previous years, we always had tons of kids. Here's my theory: we live at the end of a cul de sac and, because we were the only ones handing out candy, all the houses around us were dark. I'm guessing that kids looked down the block, saw that there were hardly any lights on and didn't bother to walk over. At least I hope that's the reason. I hope we're not thought of as the creepy house at the end of the block that is to be avoided at all costs.

So, bottom line -- we have a WHOLE LOT of candy. What does everyone do with their leftovers? I have to get it out of the house. The temptation to eat it is too great and, besides, it looks to me like four bags of failure.

Anyway, my mother also came by to hang out and spend the night. It was great to see her and the kids always love it when she's around. Here's a pic of her with Alex:



So, it was a fun (if quiet) night. In other news, I just found out that NIGHTMARE ACADEMY: MONSTER HUNTERS is going to be available in a paperback edition through the Scholastic book club as well as the Scholastic book fair starting this spring, which is exciting. The more it gets out there, the better. I love book fairs. In fact, Elizabeth always works at the one at our kid's school. Mrs. Nelson's bookshop also has a really cool book fair, and they've been including NA in it for some time now.

Hope your Halloween was fun and safe.

Take care...

Wow! So, it's the morning after the awards banquet at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and I'm still giddy after discovering that NIGHTMARE ACADEMY 1: MONSTER HUNTERS won "Best Children's Novel of the Year" from the SCIBA.

The Southern California Independent Booksellers Association has been so supportive of the NIGHTMARE ACADEMY series and I genuinely like and respect all these great booksellers. I've been doing lots of school events through wonderful independent stores like VROMAN'S, BOOK SOUP, MYSTERIOUS GALAXY, MRS. NELSON'S and DARK DELICACIES and I plan on doing a bunch more soon. I can always be reached at dean@deanlorey.com if anyone would like to set up additional events.

The awards banquet was huge fun and I got to hang out with some old friends and meet some cool new people. P.J. Haarsma (who writes the SOFTWIRE series) and D.J. MacHale (who writes PENDRAGON) were both great guys who I'd met before and it was nice to get to spend some real time with them. I also got to see Jim Jennewein and Tom Parker, whose first book RUNEWARRIORS just came out. David Benioff (CITY OF THIEVES) was really cool and it turns out we both have a ridiculous fondness for John Carpenter's movie THEY LIVE. I also had a lot of laughs with Dorothea Benton Frank, who writes the LOWCOUNTRY TALES series. She's hilarious.

Anyway, it was a great time and winning this award was just a wonderful surprise. The other surprise was that a bunch of folks referenced stuff I'd said in my blog and I realized that some people actually READ this thing! I don't know why that came as such a shock but... hello everyone. :)

So, thanks again to all who voted! Truly. Now I'm all fired up to get back to writing...

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to my friend, Paul Malmont, who just got a wonderful (and well deserved) review on Aint-it-Cool-News for his new novel JACK LONDON IN PARADISE. You can check out the review HERE. I read it and it's just as good as Moriarty (the reviewer on AICN) claims it is. The book's not out until January, but if you pre-order it now, you'll forget all about it and then the mail will bring a nice surprise in the new year. :)

In other news, I spent a great week in Arizona visiting schools for MONSTER MADNESS, and I'm getting ready to head to San Diego in a few hours to visit some more schools and then go to a signing tonight at MYSTERIOUS GALAXY. In fact, here's the info:

7:00 pm on Thursday, Oct. 9th
MYSTERIOUS GALAXY BOOKS
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
Suite #302
San Diego, CA 92111
Tel: 858-268-4747

If you're in the area, please drop by. My older son, Chris, is off from school today and tomorrow, so he's going to come with me. He and I took a road trip to Arizona last year and he's such a good travelling companion I figured we'd do it again.

Outside of that, NIGHTMARE ACADEMY 3: MONSTER WAR is now officially done and has gone into copyediting. And I've got a new project percolating that I hope to be able to share some good news about soon.

Take care...