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Adventure Comes To Book Store

May 29, 2008 12:15 am

By COLLETTE CAPRARA

FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR

The classic challenge for fiction writers is to create a cohesive alternative world, and provide readers with a threshold into that realm.

Multiply that task by 10 and you have the mission that D.J. MacHale took on eight years ago, when he launched his Pendragon series for young readers. Tomorrow, MacHale will celebrate the release of the ninth book in the series, "Raven Rise," at Jabberwocky, Fredericksburg's book store for children and youths.

In addition, the first graphic novel depicting Book 1 of the series, "The Merchant of Death," is also newly released and will be available at the book signing.

In each book in the series, the protagonist, young Bobby Pendragon, combats a plot of the evil Saint Dane whose ultimate goal is to destroy all of "Halla"--everything that has ever existed and ever will exist.

Each of these battles is waged in a different world, or territory, with unique inhabitants, landscape and physics.

In the first book, 14-year-old Bobby is tutored by his Uncle Press, who reveals that the youth has been chosen to be a traveler, with a mission of saving each realm and, ultimately, Halla. With that, the reluctant hero begins a series of adventures, traveling to successive worlds via transporting "flumes" to take on each new challenge.

While the fantastic dynamics of the series would lead one to believe that author MacHale had a background in quantum physics, in fact, he says that it is the idea of the story that dictated the depiction of the fantasy realms in which it would play out.

"I'm not a 'science fiction' guy, and I'm barely a 'science fact' guy!" MacHale said. "I'm less interested in the mechanics of it all than in finding interesting ways to create dilemmas and situations where the actions people take can affect other people and history. The idea of telling a multi-themed story came first, and creating different worlds became a mechanism to do that."

To date, sales of the Pendragon books have surpassed 3 million. Their wild popularity is due, in part, to their believability. While the action takes place in bizarre realms, Bobby is not a superhero or morphed nerd with magical abilities. He's a down-to-earth teen who uses his natural physical skills, creativity and instincts to meet the challenges that confront him.

MacHale's writing style is convincing and honest. His talent in creating realistic scenes and dialogue was honed in a career of writing television scripts, including those of Nickelodeon's "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"

The Pendragon stories unfold as first-person accounts that Bobby sends to his lifelong friends, Mark and Courtney, and narratives of their responses.

"Telling the stories through Bobby's journals not only tells us about what's going on, but also allows us to get inside Bobby's head and to find out what he's feeling about what's happening," said MacHale.

In addition, the villain Saint Dane's modus operandi has a ring of realism. He threatens each territory not by descending with super-powered wea-pons but by insinuating himself in each culture. There, he works to influence the decisions the inhabitants make as their societies reach a tipping point and hang in the balance between annihilation and preservation.

MacHale says that, although details unfold in the process of writing, he created an outline for the entire series at the outset, with a view toward the revelation of The Big Story: why Bobby was chosen to be a traveler, and what lies at the core of Saint Dane's motivation.

In fact, he has just completed writing the climax passage of Book 10.

"When I finished the words, I sat back and, at first, I felt 'Phew, I did it!' " he said. "But then it hit me! Yikes! I had just finished the series and climaxed the saga that I have been writing for eight years!"

No worry for those who are still yearning for additional books by MacHale. There are a lot more in the works--including a series for younger readers, another series for middle-grade readers and a picture book for children.

Collette Caprara is a local artist and freelance writer.