| Looking for Salina Journal photos? Click here! 
Discussion Salina.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here. Read our full online terms of service policy.
Most Commented: Mistrial declared because of article 8/7/2008 Man blames Salina crash on 'brain freeze' 6/10/2008 3-year-old takes drive, hits car 5/15/2008 Child care provider arrested 5/14/2008 Chapman recovering from tornado damage 6/12/2008 Most Read: Man blames Salina crash on 'brain freeze' 6/10/2008 Chapman recovering from tornado damage 6/12/2008 Twisters hit Salina, Chapman 6/11/2008 Drug raid yields unexpected results 8/25/2008 Anderson's Leather burns 5/21/2008
Additional Stories: Abstract Art Exhibition to open at Salina Art Center. 8/29/2008 Encore briefs 8/29/2008 Arts calendar 8/29/2008 Event calendar 8/29/2008 |
Print this story By KAREN MacPHERSON Scripps Howard News Service It’s been four years since his first children’s novel was published, but John Flanagan still gets a kick when he writes “author” on the paperwork he fills out when traveling overseas from his home in Sydney, Australia. Flanagan is doing lots of traveling these days as part of a whirlwind U.S. tour to promote “The Battle For Skandia” (Philomel, $16.99), the fourth book in his best-selling series called “The Ranger’s Apprentice.” It’s quite a change from the advertising copywriting that Flanagan, 64, did for much of the past 30 years. “I love the fact that I can say I’m an author when I’m asked what I do,” said a beaming Flanagan. Flanagan actually has been writing for years, just for a hobby, and then as a scriptwriter for an Australian television show he co-created. Two decades ago, he began writing the stories that eventually became “The Ranger’s Apprentice” series. Flanagan hoped to use the stories to catch the attention of his son Mike, who was then 10 years old and bored by books. To spark Mike’s interest in reading, Flanagan created a fantasy world in which the hero is a 15-year-old orphan named Will. Small but agile and smart, Will is the apprentice to Halt, a leader in the Rangers, the intelligence corps of the kingdom of Araluen. “Mike was a small boy, and all his friends were bigger and stronger,” said Flanagan. “I wanted to show him that reading was fun and that heroes aren’t all big and muscular.” Flanagan wrote 20 stories about Will’s adventures and gave them to his son in weekly installments. “By the third week, he came to me and said, ‘Where’s my story?’ That’s when I knew that I’d got him,” Flanagan said. Flanagan later filed away the stories, but took them out a few years ago at his family’s urging. He showed the stories to an agent, who suggested that Flanagan rework them into a series of books. Flanagan followed that advice, and the first Ranger’s Apprentice book, “The Ruins of Gorlan,” was published in Australia in 2004. |
|
||
