What is your book series Munchkin Tales about?
Munchkin Tales, Book 1: Our lost Heritage is about three Munchkin cousins who want to leave Oz and have their own adventure. The first problem is no one is allowed to go out the back gates of the Emerald City which is the only way out. And no one knows why no one knows they can’t leave. They do find a way out, but only after some serious attempts to end them before they ever go. They can’t understand why it should be such an issue, but with the help of the Wizard, they soon at least get an inkling of who is behind them not wanting to leave. They have begun their quest and meet a strange and powerful ally, who they first thought would have them for dinner – as on the menu! Their world has just grown sevenfold, and their rather simple carefree life is suddenly flooded with more questions that only serves to make them more determined to find the answers to.

In Book 2, The Throg, they confront a whole new land. These kindred Munchkins, who when they last had contact with Oz, were at war with Oz. But getting through this land is imperative to solving the newfound problems they are discovering with their homeland. The problems they face are so much more complex than anything they would have ever dreamt of. Their best hope of getting through this land is the truth. But they soon learn that may just bring a quick end to any promise of getting the ultimate help they will need to save Oz. But turning back is no longer an option, and with both old and new adversaries coming after them, not to mention arrows, they are challenged to the max.

This will be a six book series with each book broadening their perspectives, while trying their best just to stay alive. The hope is to get back to Oz in time to save their families and their culture from pending doom.

What inspired this story?
These books started as rather simple bedtime stories I told my daughters when they were 7 and 9 years old. I was impressed with how anxiously they would climb into their beds waiting for the next chapter. Then it was all verbally made up as I went along. My daughters have been after me for years to write them down. These tales are much more complex and I am greatly enjoying the writing of them.

Tell us a little about you, who is Denny Griffith?
I, along with my wife, am the 45 year owner and operator of a child care center in Fort Collins, Colorado. I’m now 70 years old with three children and six grandchildren. I will soon be retiring and looking forward to working on this series of books and getting them out in a much faster pace than I’ve been able to so far. Although I’m really not much of a reader myself, I have enjoyed science fiction, many of the classics by the likes of Mark Twain, Edna Thurber, Robert Lewis Stevenson, and J.R.R Tolkien.

How can we read Munchkin Tales Book 2: The Throg and the other books in the Munchkin Tales series?
You can find Munchkin Tales available through Amazon, or at MunchkinTales.com.

Purchase Links:

• Munchkin Tales Book One: Our Lost Heritage (Paperback, Kindle, Autographed Print Version)
• Munchkin Tales Book 2: The Throg (Paperback, Kindle, Autographed Print Version)

We are super excited that MHD friend, author, and wrestling expert David Creighton has a an all-new anthology book and will be hosting a virtual book launch tomorrow on Halloween!

Here are the official details about the event:
This Halloween, Trent Radio host a virtual book launch with local author, and mental health advocate, David Creighton. Hear excerpts from his new book “Tales from Other Realms” and learn more about his struggle with Bipolar Disorder. 

I’ve known about this book being in the works for a while, and even was able to read preview/early versions of the time travel centric “The Grassy Knoll”, the space based “Logic Problems”, and the DND inspired “11”. The shorts are well written and engaging. I highly recommend the book for fans of fantasy, magic, and general wonder.

Here is a rundown of the seven stories that are part of this anthology collection:

METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING
Being an Avatar of a trickster god isn’t always easy, or even fun.

ZORRO
A new take on the classic legend.

THE GRASSY KNOLL
A time traveler is the last hope of a dying future. Can he save the world, before it is annihilated?

TO KILL THE DEAD
A Paladin follows his sworn answer, a powerful necromancer, into a deadly swamp. But, the swamp’s residents are just as dangerous, and not very friendly.

JESUS CHRIST: VAMPIRE HUNTER
Fanciful, modern horror starring the bad-ass messiah himself.

LOGIC PROBLEMS
A man. A machine. A battle against time to solve an unsolvable problem. A lone astronaut, and a damaged AI, must fight not only to save their mission, but their lives. A tense. cerebral, space thriller for those who value the mind over the body.

11
A gaming session hangs on one roll of the die.

The event will begin at 3:00pm pst (6pm est and edt) on Trent Radio, which streams live online at TrentRadio.ca. I can’t wait to hear what David has to say about these new stories!

I picked this book up at a Borders that was going out of business a long time ago on the vague notion that it was being made into a film and haven’t thought about it since. Even in my great stack of books, I seriously considered skipping it, especially since there are three book to film adaptations coming out next weekend and two the following weekend. But I picked it up anyway when I saw the big print that’s used so often in Children’s Lit and figuring I needed a break from some of the heavy stuff I’ve been reading.

I am so glad that I changed my mind about it. The book follows two kids as they start to question their world- an underground city built for a mysterious, but necessary purpose- and if there might be something more out there. It’s a little bit like Brave New World and a little bit like Wall-E, but mostly it’s a really cool and dark concept for a children’s book and I love what I’ve read so far. My only regret in picking this book up is that there are two more in the series that I know I won’t have a chance to read for some time.

Adapting this book into a film will prove to be interesting. While it has great characters and an easy and visual plot, I can’t imagine if it will be marketed as a children’s film or an action film. It should fit nicely into a Spy Kids or Journey to the Center of the Earth kind of audience, but as far as I know it’s being released next weekend (10/10) and I haven’t seen a single poster. I vaguely recall seeing a teaser attached to a summer release, but can’t remember who’s in it or what it really looked like. I’d hate to think that this series will go the way of Lemony Snicket– great source material, great movie, but not enough of an audience to make the rest of the series. Either way, I look forward to seeing this film. With how much I’m loving the book, I can’t imagine that the movie won’t do justice to such an awesome story.