ARTICLES

Text Box: Tewksbury —

Text Box: Halloween is just around the corner, which means kids young and old will be dressing up in a costumes and going door to door trick or treating. For Tewksbury resident and author Dan Graffeo, his newest young adult novel in a series was released last month – just in time for Halloween – entitled, “Halloween Night Fever: The Cir-Cuss Comes to Town.” With Oct. 31 just days away, Graffeo took some time to discuss his writing, which is inspired by this time of the year. Regarding the book, what was your inspiration behind it? My inspiration behind it is the mythology and history of Halloween combined with a bunch of B movies I saw while growing up.   What is the writing process like for you? I write usually late at night as my jobs and family take up the rest of the time. I usually do five pages a session and every time I think a novel is finished, a little voice inside of me says, “Go over it one more time.”  As a result, I usually revise my stories about 30 times and even then, I still hear that valuable, yet aggravating whispering advice.   Because you’re a self-published author, what are your thoughts on the big e-book/self- publishing boom currently changing the face of publishing? It was inevitable. You can’t stop new technology whether it’s an e-book, a phone, or video entertainment. If it’s effective, it should be embraced. I doubt that it will completely replace print because too many people still like to hold books and add them to shelves. E-books will unlikely gain the same romanticism as print. You are writing a series, so when are the next books expected to be released? I’m determined to release one every two years, so “Halloween Night Fever: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall” will be out in the fall of 2013.   Where can people buy your book? The usual suspects like Amazon or Barnesandnoble.com. Sometimes they appear on local bookstore shelves as well. With Halloween just a couple weeks away, any plans to celebrate? Will you be dressing up as one of your characters? The one year I didn’t celebrate Halloween was the worst I ever had. I thought I was too grown-up for it.  Halloween, however, has gone through a wonderful evolution in that it’s not limited to kids anymore. I’ll be in costume, though I don’t know what at this time. I do know that I won’t be one of my characters. After taking my son trick-or-treating, I’ll probably watch some horror movie on TV and the latest batch of Christmas commercials. What are your hopes and aspirations for this series? Like most authors, I’d be thrilled if it achieved mass appeal.  I have hopes, but no delusions.  All I can do is give the reader the best story I can and if I’m lucky, the right person with the right connections will notice.  When I decided to release this saga, I figured that the worst-case scenario is that it would always be available in one form or another to anyone who loves Halloween, scares, and adventure.