Advanced High School Fiction-Writing Class Enrollment for 2008-09

I will be teaching an advanced fiction-writing class for high school students again this fall. The class is two semesters and will continue through May of 2009. We will be meeting in Olathe, Kansas. Enrollment is limited, so please get your forms in as soon as possible.
For more information as well as a PDF of the sign-up form click here.

The One Year Adventure Novel Curriculum Now Available

For well over two years Carrol and I have been working on a very extensive curriculum package for young writers (grades 8-12). The One Year Adventure Novel leads students through the process of writing their own compelling novel in one school year, and is taught (by me, which is what took so dang long) on 7 DVDs in 78 video lessons. The course incorporates years of study and thought about what makes a story a story. My goal is to give young people the tools to create stories that will impact American culture by reuniting the dynamics of Story with Truth. Is this an ambitious--perhaps even pretentious--undertakng? You bet. Do I really think young people can change the course of a nation? Absolutely. Young people have a way of growing up and doing things.

Storytellers are the most powerful people in any culture. By teaching young writers how to make stories meanignful AND exciting, I hope to put power in the hands of those who won't use it solely to promote sex and violence.

Anyway, the project is at last complete and on sale now at oneyearnovel.com. The curriculum includes: 7 DVD set with all 78 video lessons, Textbook, Workbook, Teacher's Guide, Anthony Hope's classic novel, The Prisoner of Zenda, and a resource disc with additional features.

Runt the Hunted Wins 2008 Eric Hoffer Award

The Eric Hoffer Award was founded to "honor freethinking writers and independent books of exceptional merit."  I am honored to receive this year's top prize for young adult and juvenile fiction. Thanks to everyone who continues to support JaRed (Runt) in his various struggles with loneliness, despair, unbelief, and, of course, evil rats who want to kill him. 

Runt the Hunted Wins 2007 Book Award

LOS ANGELES, November 1 - USA Book News announced the winners of the National “BEST BOOKS 2007” Awards. Titles from Simon & Schuster, Penguin-Putnam, HarperCollins, Random House, Houghton Mifflin Co., John Wiley & Sons and hundreds of independent publishers competed in numerous categories. The top prize for Children's Fiction went to Runt the Hunted!

I am sincerely grateful to those of you who have supported the Runt series. Thank you!

"When I stay up too late, caught in a good book, I pay for it in the morning. Runt the Hunted was worth it. This sequel to Runt the Brave is just as exciting, thought-provoking, and hard to put down as the award-winning first book was." - EHO

"wondrous" - Midwest Book Review

"excellent" - Heartland Reviews

Runt the Hunted Now Available

The sequel to Runt the Brave was released July 2007 and is now available from your local bookseller or online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.  

Runt the Hunted has been nominated for a book design award, thanks in part to the terrific cover. Meanwhile, the distributor reports the first printing has nearly sold out three months in advance of the publication date. Details on a second printing will be forthcoming. You can still buy one of a limited number of signed advance copies of the first edition from the publisher here.

Auto-B-Good episode, The Monster Trap, debuts on PBS

Auto-B-Good brought cars to life way before Pixar released Cars, with terrific animation and character-based, non-violent stories. I was enormously pleased the people at Wet Cement thought enough of my script to send it into production. Show dates and times vary widely. (I'm still waiting for it to air in the KC metro area.)

Runt the Brave wins 2005 Ben Franklin Award

"Schwabauer combines the best of Narnia, Middle Earth and his own talent in this unforgettable retelling of David & Goliath." - Church Libraries

"absorbing" - Kirkus

“an amazing read” - Heartland Reviews

“fantastic” - Midwest Book Review

“fantasy for everyone” - VOYA

“a homerun” - R.E.A.D. to Kids

Listen to the opening chapters of the Runt the Brave audiobook

Runt the Brave - Opening

Runt the Brave - Chapter 1

Runt the Brave - Chapter 2