Frequently Asked Questions
(Anything not answered here? Then ask.)
What is the League of Scientists?
Who writes the League of Scientists?
How was the League of Scientists created?
Who is the League of Scientists for?
Dev Manny? What’s up with him?
What happened to the art section on the LoS website?
How do you write a League of Scientists book? What’s your writing process?
What is the League of Scientists?
The League of Scientists is a book series written by Andy Kaiser. It’s about the adventures of several young science geeks who use science and critical thinking to solve seemingly-supernatural mysteries.
At the time of this writing, the books are not yet in publication, but are scheduled to be in bookstores and online in late 2011. Subscribe to email updates to make sure you’re notified when books are available.
Who writes the League of Scientists?
Me. Andy Kaiser. I’m just a guy. But if you’d like to know more about me, read the author section or check out AndyKaiser.com.
How was the League of Scientists created?
I write the Dev Manny mystery stories. I’m also the creator of Digital Bits Skeptic. That combination might lead you to think I’m skeptical-minded and I like to write. You’d be correct.
Instead of self-publishing, I pitched the Dev Manny idea to a publisher, “Science, Naturally!“
SN said they loved it, but that’s not what they publish – their audience is younger. They asked, “could you write something similar, but for our age group?” …and I of course said yes.
Who is the League of Scientists for?
Well, I could do the generic “kids of all ages” claim, but that’s no help to you. To be specific: The publisher’s intended age range for the first book is from ages 9-12. The industry term for this is “middle grade”. While that’s the official group, I personally think the book will also appeal to older kids.
Dev Manny? What’s up with him?
Dev Manny is the grown-up version of Devin “Dev” Manuel from the League of Scientists. Dev Manny is my effort to write stories that are what I want to write, something where I don’t have to worry about fitting into a market. It’s something fun for me.
Not counting a bunch of short stories, Dev is my second official writing effort. Before Dev, I wrote a book, a 60,000-word science-fantasy novel called “Stationary”. After taking over a year to write it (successfully), and another year to sell it (unsuccessfully), I decided 1) the book wasn’t very good but writing it had been good practice, and 2) grinding through the submission process isn’t fun. So I decided to scrap the book and not worry about publishing. I started writing Dev Manny. It’s the opposite of “Stationary” – Dev is there to impress no one but me. If others like it, that’s cool but it’s not a requirement.
The League of Scientists straddles two worlds: It’s my take on the stuff I liked when I was younger – like The Three Investigators, The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Encyclopedia Brown, Cam Jansen, Tintin, Micro Adventures, The Great Brain and many others I remember but can’t name. Also, the LoS is something the publisher and I want to sell, so I do need to make sure it appeals to more than just me!
When I pitched Dev Manny to a publisher, this was unplanned – I hadn’t planned on submitting it anywhere and eventually self-published the first book. I contacted the LoS publisher on a whim after hearing their authors interviewed on NPR’s Science Friday. They were interested. And here we are with the League of Scientists.
What happened to the art section on the LoS website?
It’s gone. The original artwork on the site (including pages about artist Celia Kaiser and “Evolution of a book cover”) was removed because the publisher decided to go with a different artist. A remainder of this original artwork is the graphic you see above for the FAQ page – that was the original oil painting concept for the character of Malene Curtina.
How do you write a League of Scientists book? What’s your writing process?
I answer this question here, and a little bit here.
TekMage is a story inside of the League of Scientists’ world. It’s a popular series of movies and comic books (excuse me, I mean “graphic novels”), and Kimmey and Natsumi love it.
TekMage tells the ongoing story about a high-tech, magic-filled world and its two star-crossed lovers, Brand and Elda. The “TekMage” name describes the perceived bad guys – the TekMages are people who have forsaken their humanity for technology-enhanced superhuman powers. TekMages like Brand fight against other humans like Elda and those who have more “normal” nature-based magic.
The TekMage idea was my response to the surprising success of the books and movies like Twilight. TekMage was originally meant as pop-culture criticism, an example of how simple stories and routine plots can have astounding appeal. But then I started to really get into TekMage: I’ve now put enough effort into the TekMage backstory that I really enjoy the adventures (almost as much as Natsumi and Kimmey do).