MG Author Spotlight & Giveaway: Interview with Greg R. Fishbone

This month's Middle Grade author spotlight and giveaway is extra special because it's also part of a much larger blog tour for Greg R. Fishbone's new book, Galaxy Games: The Challengers!

In this blog post you get:
- an interview with Greg
- a chance to win Greg's book plus a bonus book (courtesy of me)
- a chance to gather a puzzle piece for Greg's blog tour filled with other fabulous prizes
- to marvel at the fact that Greg R. Fishbone has the best children's author name ever

And all for the low, low price of...nothing! It's a bargain.

First, here is a bit about Greg's book.

Things are looking up for Tyler Sato (literally!) as he and his friends scan the night sky for a star named for him by his Tokyo cousins in honor of his eleventh birthday. Ordinary stars tend to stay in one place, but Ty’s seems to be streaking directly toward Earth at an alarming rate. Soon the whole world is talking about TY SATO, the doomsday asteroid, and life is turned upside down for Ty Sato, the boy, who would rather be playing hoops in his best friend’s driveway.

Meanwhile, aboard a silver spaceship heading for Earth, M’Frozza, a girl with three eyes and five nose holes, is on a secret mission. M’Frozza is the captain of planet Mrendaria’s Galaxy Games team, and she is desperate to save her world from a dishonorable performance in the biggest sporting event in the universe.

What will happen when Ty meets M’Frozza? Get ready for the most important event in human history—it’ll be off the backboard, around the rim, and out of this world!

INTERVIEW
To borrow (and modify) a question from James Lipton, what’s your favorite middle-grade appropriate “curse word?"
Greg R. Fishbone: M'Frozza likes to say "smazzroot" when there's something really good that she can't quite have. Smazzroot literally means "rotten fruit" because of a famous Mrendarian story about a child whose deliciously rotten fruit rolls into a ditch and out of reach.

Describe your elementary-school self in three words.
GRF: Imaginative, helpful, and friendly. But my daughter has those three traits down even more than I ever did.

If you were chosen to lead an intergalactic sporting event, which sport or event would you hope it was?
GRF: The Galaxy Game, of course! Any other game you can think of can be part of it, and the rules are different every time.

If aliens invaded the earth, what’s one technology you would hope they’d bring with them and share with earthlings?

GRF: If they've already taken control and it's not purely a social visit? In that case I'd hope they've come because they think we'd make cute and cuddly pets, and not because we all look so delicious... Maybe the aliens would bring a technology to provide us with endless hours of excitement and entertainment, like the way we use laser pointers with our cats!

What are two MG books you'd recommend and why?
GRF: There are so many! Readers looking for other books that combine science fiction with humor will enjoy The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. I'd also recommend the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer--the books seem like fantasy at first, because there are fairies, dwarves, and centaurs in them, but they're all creatures of science and advanced technology. Colfer takes tired old myths and reworks them in an original and refreshing way.

Thank you, Greg! Read on for how you can win out-of-this-world prizes. (Yes, I had to go there.)

BLOG TOUR
Here's the info you need for Greg's blog tour! An exclusive puzzle piece is below. Go to http://galaxygam.es/tour/ to find out how you can gather more pieces.

MY GIVEAWAY
Is now closed and the winner is Suzanne. Thanks to everyone who entered!