Tania McCartney chats with DC Green about his Monster Blog Tour and brand new monstrous novel.
Tell us about the City of Monsters? Where is it located and how can kids get there?
DC: The City of Monsters is located far in the future of Earth. Full of four million monsters, it is a terrifying place for kids – and adults. Haven’t they heard that humans are an endangered species? (Also known as ‘monster food’.)
The only semi-safe way to enter Monstro City is through DC Green’s new novel, Monster School.
Are adults allowed in the grounds of Monster School?
DC: The only adults allowed are monster teachers and janitors, ogre bodyguards (for the wealthier goblin students) and, if someone is REALLY naughty, the mummy police!
Is it really, really, REALLY scary?
DC: Yes, yes, YES!
Monster School has been likened to Hogwarts. Only cooler. And with spiders. How does one get in? Will there be scholarships?
DC: Like Hogwarts, Monster School is a school away from home. Except THIS school has the weirdest teachers of any staff room, including a fiendish goblin professor, a wacky doctor with tentacles and a bunyip who smells like flea dirt.
Most of the students attend because their parents work at Castle Mount (it used to be a giant ant hill).
Yes, Bruce the giant spider won a scholarship. He was stoked to leave the Mythic Quarter, for reasons I’m not allowed to reveal. It’s also rumoured Bruce cheated.
Which is the coolest place to hang out after school? The Goblin Quarter or the Cyborg Eighth?
DC: In the Goblin Quarter, expect to be rained on by goblin threats, spitballs and lumps of hard, dry cheese. You won’t even be allowed to enter the Cyborg Eighth unless you’re wearing as much metal as Arnie Schwarzenegger in The Terminator.
What do the goblins have against your protagonist, PT Swamp Boy?
DC: The goblins hate PT the Swamp Boy because he is a swamp monster. Goblins also hate humans, elves, centaurs, skeletons, werewolves, ex-humans, other goblins and every other monster in Monstro City.
What’s PT’s secret?
DC: Yes, Swamp Boy has a terrible secret. I could tell you, but I don’t want to break the Internet, or ruin a big story surprise!
What creature is the most dangerous in this book?
DC: This sounds kinda dangerous…
What does Bruce the Spider do for a day job?
DC: Bruce is technically a student, but he claims his job is to be ‘the biggest bad-ass in class.’
What’s the Dead Gang’s story?
DC: The Dead Gang are the Class 10A rejects, minorities and outcasts. And yes, most of them are dead! They accept Swamp Boy into their gang because he ‘ain’t a hume or a gob’ as Bruce puts it. The other gang members include: Stoker, the rebellious vampire; Zorg, the creepy zombie, and Scarab, the 5,000 year-old teenage mummy.
Will there be laughter? And murder? And dragons? And pooping of pants?
DC: Yes, to all those questions! Well, hopefully not to the pooping of pants bit. But there will definitely be buckets of laughter, MASS murder and an AWESOME dragon. In a recent book review, teacher-librarian Sue Warren described Kalthazari the alpha dragon as ‘magnificent, dangerous and wise.’ That was nice – and my intention!
How much freaking out can readers expect with Monster School?
DC: They can expect low to moderate levels of trembling and sweating with a high likelihood of mouth-drying and buttock-clenching.
What’s next in the City of Monsters?
DC: Monster School is but the first of the three-book series, City of Monsters. For the second book - Mafia Goblins Rule! - readers can expect more high-velocity monster action, thrills and belly-laughs with the fate of Monstro City on the line. In bookstores: October 2014.
And … phew!
Thanks so much for the invitation, Tania. May your latest Riley yarn sell zillions! – DC.
DC Green is an acclaimed children’s author and award-winning surf journalist. Featuring amazing artwork by Danny Willis, his latest novel, Monster School, has won two pre-publication awards and has already received multiple five-star reviews on Goodreads.
You can find out more about DC Green and his work by visiting him on Facebook or Goodreads or check out his website, which also has all the details about his Monster Blog Tour. To purchase Monster School, visit Ford Street Publishing or Amazon.
