NINE by DM King and His Path to Publishing

TITLE: Nine
Author: D. M. King
Publisher: Snow Leopard Publishing, LLC
Publication Date: May 6, 2016

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About the Book . . .

16 year-old Faith Monroe needs to know if there’s an assigned seat for her in the universe before she loses her life. It’s the year 2025, and she’s one of several teens slated to discover her expiration date, but there’s only one complication: The transport she’s riding in has a number of teens, including herself, who never received the extraterrestrial death chip. A device implanted at birth set to kill you at your appointed time.

As perfect genetic matches for the leaders of the planet NINE, Faith and her friends must prevent an assimilation of their souls. Training her soul to resist won’t be easy. In fact, she’ll have to die first. A soul can’t fight back while it’s still attached to a living being. Faced with a nearly impossible choice, run away or stay and be trained, she summons the fearlessness to fight. Maybe she’s finally found the real reason she’s survived her illness, to restore the concept of dying by grand design rather than government mandate.

Don King Speaks About His Path to Publishing . . .

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” Einstein

For years I thought for sure I was pursuing what would one day be my full-time job: songwriting. Lo and behold, I’ve been teaching 8th grade English for 21 years, and while I still write a song or two when inspired, it is NOT my job. Having taught reading and writing most of my career, I’ve seen such a decline in teenagers reading books, unless they have to read them. I made it my mission to change that in my classroom, and now some students still come to me instead of the library when they want something good to read.

This is also the reason why I started writing YA novels. I pay attention to what teens want to read, so I have an inside track on their likes and dislikes. But that didn’t automatically make me a decent writer. I had a play published by Brooklyn Publishing and thought getting a book published would be as easy. WRONG. While I can honestly say that the past five years seeking an agent has been a learning experience for me, facing rejection after rejection took its toll. Fortunately– I never bowed to the temptation to quit, which is why I finally found success with Marc Estes at Snow Leopard Publishing. He saw something in my work that could be nurtured, and I’m proud to say my debut novel released in May 2016. It is entitled NINE, a YA/Sci-Fi novel reminiscent of Unwind by Shusterman, The 5th Wave by Yancey, and a little bit of Divergent thrown in as well.

On the surface, NINE may seem like just another alien takeover book, but it’s unique in a couple of ways. It combines the themes of survival, relationships, questioning authority, and overcoming the odds all in one book. While it embraces these concepts clearly, the true magic in the novel lies within the strong female protagonist and her cast of unlikely friends, all who somehow managed to NOT receive the alien technology death chip when they were born.  Faith Monroe’s view on life should appeal to the teenager in all people who struggle to understand where they fit in—I highly doubt trying to expose an alien conspiracy was on her or our list, however. Who knows? Maybe it should be.

NINE is Book One of a trilogy with SOULLESS coming out in December and FAITHLESS to follow. So what happens when the world governments decide to use humans as guinea pigs to test an alien device designed to cure an overpopulation problem? Lured by the raw gold given to them by the leaders of a parallel planet Nine, they agree to let earth be the test planet, only our government is a bit naïve. Getting rid of as many humans as possible would make it way too easy for the Niner population to move right in. Sometimes the solution is more frightening than the problem may be cliché, but it holds true in this series.

I’d never be a published writer if it wasn’t for friends like Brenda Drake and others like her who work tirelessly to provide all types of writers with contests and resources to improve. I do not have this writing thing all figured out yet, but I’m praying my curiosity and passion can keep me headed in the right direction. Hopefully—my talent can catch up with those traits one day, and I’ll be known for more than just one enigmatic science fiction series. When I grow up, I want to be just like Brenda because helping other writers is a much needed mission field. There are plenty of resources and workshops but not a lot of quality free help. The world needs more talented writers to keep people reading instead of wasting their minds on less-healthy pursuits.

Advice for writers? Allow rejection to be your motivation to improve instead of questioning the critics’ judgment. Not everyone loves Steven King or JK Rowling. Not everyone is going to love NINE by an unknown writer named D.M. King either. Accept that and just focus on creating the best literature you can. Stay curious, my friends. Giving up is for cowards. Believe me—I wanted to many times except… My love for creating new adventures trumped my doubts. Here’s hoping that happens for you as well. Dreams do come true, but they always have a price. So far—it’s been worth every cent.

Blessings,

Don M. King

D. M. King

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D. M. King has been writing novels for five years. NINE is his debut novel released in May from www.snowleopardpublishing.com. Also available on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble. He lives in NE Ohio with his supportive wife Cheryl and teaches middle school English. When he is not exercising his imagination, he’s is at the gym keeping fit, so he can keep up with his three grandsons. He enjoys movies, golf, spending time with his family, and leading worship at his church.