Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
When most of us were 10, we could barely write the letter Z in cursive. (Some of us still can’t.) Matthew Montgomery (ampmpress.com) wrote a science fiction novel with a subtext about bullying, Aliens in Disguise: Rise of the Heroes, at age 10. Now he’s 11, and naturally, working on a sequel.
• I got the idea to write a science fiction novel from a club me and my friends created. We all started liking sci-fi, and we started a club. I started writing down my ideas around November 2011, and I finished my book in March 2012. My dad edited it. He gave me “homework.” That means he read it and told me some things didn’t make sense and I should fix them.
• The plot of the book is about Dragonamir, a boy from Jupiter. He has special powers that get him into the space academy, and he hones his powers there and makes friends. He’s one of the good guys, called The Solar Alliance. But then there are villains, the Dark Alliance, who crash-landed on earth many years ago. The good guys don’t want the villains to escape. Alex, who lives in St. Louis, hides the good guys and helps them to get home and to avoid the government and the bad guys.
• People think it’s pretty funny and witty. It’s got good humor, and there’s lots of adventure and traveling. People at school thought it was cool that I wrote a book. My book is actually available for the Nook, and at my new middle school, a lot of kids have Nooks. My friends are reading it on the Nook, and people will be able to read the second one on it, too. They are excited to read the sequel. The first one is in the school library, so hopefully the second one will be, too.
• I wrote the book before and after school, but mainly before. I have to get up for school about 6:30 a.m. I wrote for 30 to 45 minutes, and then at 7:15, I got ready for school. I have no problem with getting up early.
• The stuff about bullying in the book was not purposeful. It was meant to be a science fiction book, but bullying was part of my life in elementary school, so it’s reflected in the book. When I was in fourth and fifth grade, I was being bullied, so it got into the book.
• People like the book; it got nothing but ratings of four and five stars as an e-book.
• Book signings are pretty boring. A lot of people come into the bookshop and look at the book and don’t buy it. That’s annoying. I once did one where only two people bought the book in two hours.
• My cover artist is John Kaufmann (jek2004.com). We found him at the Archon science fiction convention. We met with him, and he showed us some of his ideas. He’s working on the cover for the second book now. He’ll be doing the chapter art again, too.
• Writing books could be my job someday. I’m thinking about it. Originally, I wanted to be a movie writer, but I know I can do both.
• Right now I’m reading Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins. I also like Rick Jordan, Mark Twain, and old sci-fi and fantasy classics like Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth and books by H.G. Wells. I just read Lord of the Rings two months ago.
• My dad did not want me to reveal my real name for the book, and my middle name is Scott, so my pen name is M.M. Scott. M.M. is for Matthew Montgomery.
• I finished my second book and my dad is editing it right now. It’s a sequel called Aliens in Disguise: Mysteries Revealed. There will be three or four books in that series. I’m taking a break from sci-fi now to work on a fantasy.
