A Friend of Quake Donates Royalties to D.M. Anderson and Family

Martin Bartloff, author of Torn From Normal, a compelling young adult novel, has pledged his next royalty check and all royalties between now and Christmas to help Dave Anderson, the author of Killer Cows who is in the ICU with an infection in his heart.

All of us at Quake thank Martin for his generous offer and hope many of our readers will take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the Anderson family. Give Torn From Normal as a gift or purchase a copy for yourself by clicking here.

A letter from a prison inmate

Dear Martin,

How are you and the rest of the family? Good I hope!
I have to say even though you just sent a book, it felt like when I was reading it, like talking to you—listening to a story from you. I truly thank you for thinking of me.

Torn from normal was great. It was better than great. It came alive and so sad. I’m grateful to be where I am today. I could have had it worse than I’ve had it. To hear Andy’s life tragedy makes me think life is too short to spend it away from family.

I have a son who loves me to death and it’s like why did I make the decision that I’ve made to be here, not be with him as he is growing up. It got me thinking, that I’ve got to be a part of that boy’s life, and not be dead to him, being in here. But anyways, great story, really. The best one I’ve read being locked up I will say.

So I just wanted to know, was that a true story or did you make it up? Because it felt like it could have happened, but I don’t remember you ever saying anything about that before. And even though it’s so sad, it made me feel like you brought home, away from home, to me. Thank you!!!!

Yours truly ……

P.S, is there gonna be another book? Thank you again!!

Glen Ellyn BookFest 2010

Mere days and I'll be on my way to Glen Ellyn, Chicago. The Glen Ellyn BookFest will be my first official, public appearance as the author of Torn From Normal. Preparations for my appearance in Glen Ellyn, has been ongoing for nearly one year now. Special thanks to Rosemary, from Bundles of Books & Gifts




I'm very excited to have Ophelia Julien (Echelon Press) to my side in Glen Ellyn. Present with a newly designed cover art of her proclaimed novel Saving Jake, Ophelia takes another running start, concurring the hearts of readers all ages.


We are all very excited to meet you in downtown Glen Ellyn June 19th. It will be a pleasure to speak with readers all ages and sign your personal copies of Torn From Normal.

Ryan Kelley and Torn From Normal

So if you're all scroll through my older posts, you will find Ophelia Julian guest blogging about me, Ryan Kelley, and of course Torn From Normal. My debut YA novel.






In the photo you see Ryan Kelley holding two copies of Torn From Normal.

Stay tuned as there is more, much more to come.

Mountain View, California??

No I'm not visiting California, at least not yet :-) What drives me crazy and I have to know, according to my sitemeter, every other day or so, somebody with the "Mountain View, California" location visits my blog. Whoever you are, you've been a loyal visitor and it kills me not knowing who you are. Comment or send me an email at bnzmn600@aol.com would you? The least I can do is send you a free copy of Torn From Normal if you don't already have one.

Okay, with that out of the way I can move on and apologize for not updating my blog regularly. Among skiing a lot, I've been super busy at my shop. While Torn From Normal has been selling itself, I could have, and need to do a lot more to keep spiking sales.

I like to thank all my friends and everybody else for purchasing and reading Torn From Normal.

The book trailer is still very much part of my plan for 2010. I'm trying to work out a deal with someone who would be very helpful for the trailer, but, Hollywood moves slow and I need to be patient, (chewing nails..Argh)






After two months of publication, I'm more eager today, to bring you Torn From Normal on screen, and I'm working on that as well. Very hard you should know.