Sisters grad publishes young adult novel

Writing sports articles for her hometown Nugget Newspaper over 10 years ago, Molly Johnson never would have guessed her future path as a budding children's novelist. Johnson graduated from Sisters High School in 2000 and continued developing her craft as a wordsmith in witty restaurant, movie and art gallery reviews for Linfield College in McMinnville.

Her darkly comic adventure book, "Spartacus and the Circus of Shadows" was published by Portland's Raintown Press in October and contains references to many Oregon landmarks, including a passage set right in Sisters itself. It's been receiving excellent reviews and Johnson is proud of getting it on paper and seeing it born into the world.

"It's really amazing to see it in its physical form, and something you never expect to see happen," she said from her home in Portland. "This is like I've sent my child off to pre-school. My involvement now has diminished to only promoting it at book stores and schools."

Spartacus Zander is a loveable outcast in search of his mother, who has run away to join the circus to become The Amazing Athena, World-Famous Human Cannonball. On a quest to locate his missing mother, he meets and trusts a host of colorful characters who challenge his will and put him in dangerous situations, all in an odd odyssey to bring her home. It's a crazed road trip, coming-of-age tale with touches of the fantastic and the funny.

"The whole book is about deception and illusion, and how Spartacus believes in things he shouldn't. He has to learn the valuable lesson that everything is not as it seems. I created a world where not a single thing is certain. Because the minute you are sure of yourself, something will come along and prove you wrong."

Johnson moved to Sisters from Salem when she was 12 and spent her years in drama, choir, and playing softball. Her time spent in the pines grounded her and provided a quaint template for one of the fictional towns in her first novel.

"The inspiration for the story started 10 years ago when it was a short story for a class and it was about a kid who has a mean older brother that played a terrible prank on him. Everyone who read the story felt really bad for him and I just thought it was funny, and so it turned into my creative writing undergrad thesis. Having your mother run away to immerse herself in the circus is kinda flipping the script a bit."

Johnson needed something for graduate school at Portland State, and she continued to develop and polish "Spartacus" for the next two years and finished it in 2006.

"This never would have happened if I hadn't gone to Portland State," Johnson said. "They have a lot of great programs and I met so many amazing people who helped me stay dedicated and committed to the project through their student-run publishing program. After I graduated I submitted it to many publishers and was rejected, but one of my professors contacted me and asked if they could use my manuscript in his book editing class. Because of that, a student in the class who went on to start Raintown Press, Cory Freeman, remembered the story and wanted it for their first book."

Raintown is one of the first publishers to focus primarily on young-adult and middle-grade readers. With the popularity of the "Twilight," "Harry Potter" and "Hunger Games" books, the fantasy adventure genre is enjoying unprecedented attention and success.

The initial press run of "Spartacus" is limited to 1,500 copies, 750 softcover and 750 hardback, with an eBook coming soon.

"In researching the book I spent a lot of time on the Internet looking up circus lingo and jargon," she said. "I used Google Maps to figure out how places look and how much time it takes to travel to the places Spartacus needs to go. I'd use the 'street view' feature to see what he'd see and that's such an amazing resource for writers today. I kept trying to come up with terrible nicknames for him and anytime I came up with something new I'd sprinkle it into the story. It was so fun to find out these little pieces of information."

Johnson's writing schedule involved a lot of rewrites on plotting and revolving around ridiculous deadlines.

"I was writing basically every day, May through December, anytime I wasn't at work. I wrote on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day and was really grumpy. When it was all done there was so much relief. I took about three weeks and went to go see friends and could exercise and see movies. We were still editing up until the beginning of September."

The whimsical, fantasy drawings used to illustrate the book were done by Robin Kaplan. 

"She's so prolific, and she's very much into steampunk and fantasy realms and her illustrations really made the book," Johnson said.

Beside promotions for the book, Johnson has a new idea for her next book and other projects she's working on. She plans to embark on a book tour in support of "Spartacus" and discussion after the holidays and will include a stop in Sisters.

For kids and adults interested in writing, she offers a bit of humbling advice.

"The blank page is not going to write itself. You have to sit down and actually write to be a writer, and that's the hardest part," she said. "It's so lonely but so rewarding, too. It's like having homework for the rest of your life."

For more information visit www.raintownpress.com. For a signed copy of the book go to www.mollyejohnson.com.