We met author Dom Testa! (and so you get a chance to win FREE books!)

Author Dom Testa with a young fan and book 2 of The Galahad Series, The Web of Titan

Dom Testa’s a pretty cool guy. Also? Pretty smart. Which we’re big fans of here at Bookalachi—that cool/smart combo.  Not only is he an award-winning author (and radio show host), he’s a huge proponent of smart kids and savvy teens. Which is good, considering he sent a bunch of them off in a life-boat of sorts to save the human race in The Galahad Series.

I first heard of The Galahad Series when a friend enthusiastically encouraged me to review them. I was happy to look at solid science fiction books and quickly discovered how great the characters were. Even though they are considered Young Adult books, I was delighted that the content was surprisingly clean and easily appropriate for tweens (and their parents). Mr. Testa managed to create realistic teen characters without stereotypical teen vices—drinking, drugs and s-e-x. I was intrigued. I actually raced through the first book, The Comet’s Curse, before I realized I had nothing to comment on. 

Well, I thought, the second book is always darker—the first is just the gateway substance. I frequently remind parents of this; the further you go in a series, the more content there usually is to worry about. So, I read the next book in The Galahad Series (just released by Tor), The Web of Titan. While the danger level ratchets up a bit and the relationships get more complicated (teenagers, remember?), the content doesn’t.  Neato.

At the recent book launch of The Web of Titan at The Tattered Cover bookstore in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Mr. Testa spoke specifically to the issue of content. And, he provided fantastic cookies shaped like Saturn’s moon, Titan. (You can see a clip of the talk here and you’ll see part of the reason why we like this guy so much, in addition to the cookies.)  I think my favorite line is where he talks about the 251 teens that were hand-selected to save the human race and how they likely weren’t the ones cutting class and getting high. Hee.

In fact, he has a mission to convince kids that being smart is okay. As he speaks to (literally) thousands of middle school and high school students every year, he tells them that it’s not worth it to hide being smart for a few years to be cool. He states that no one will ever care how cool you were in high school after high school (and, really, most don’t care when you’re in school, either).  To that end, he has a non-profit foundation to support kids and encourage those ‘big brains’ (bigbrainclub.com). In fact, you might head over there and grab one of his new t-shirts for back-to-school, ‘Gettin’ My Nerd On.”

The third installment in The Galahad Series, The Cassini Code, is due to be released in November.  For more information about Dom, his passion for kids, or how on earth he found a great bakery to make Titan cookies, check out: ClubGalahad.com

P.S. Don’t forget to comment for your chance to win the first two books in The Galahad Series, personalized!  Squeal!

Tagged as: author, Dom Testa, Galahad series