SPOOKY!

Halloween may be months away, but maybe you’re the type of person who enjoys some suspense any time of the year.

If you’re the kind of person who likes a little mystery (but not too much scary!) you’ll probably find a friend in Rev. Dr. Steve Burt.

In addition to writing Christmas story collections like A Christmas Dozen and Unk’s Fiddle (originally written for his church’s Christmas services), Steve shares his skills in paranormal writing with his Stories To Chill the Heart series (of which, the book Oddest Yet won the 2004 Bram Stoker Award® for young readers).

Most recently, his FreeKs books that earned a Mom’s Choice Awards®! The books feature a group of psychic teens who are learning to use their “gifts.” These thrillers place the reader into the fast-paced action with the characters.

Here to tell us more about himself and his writing, please welcome Steve Burt to the Spotlight!

MCA: Welcome to the spotlight Steve! Can you please tell us about what motivated you to create your FreeKs series?
Steve: Partly it was my love of writing in the genres I love to read. I also realized that as a pastor, I can reach a half dozen kids at most in my small church. Through values-driven novels, I can touch and positively influence a hundred thousand!

MCA: Now that you have an award-winning book series, what are your goals for the next year?
Steve: I have just retired after 33 years as a Congregational minister, which should allow me to channel my energies into full-time writing.

This year, I’ll write the third in the FreeKs series about psychic and paranormal teens. I plan to get it to press in May 2014. FreeK Camp (2010) won two Mom’s Choice Gold Awards® and FreeK Show (2012) won a Gold, so I’ll submit the newest book when it is published and maybe earn an Honoring Excellence seal for the FreeKs series itself.

MCA: Nice! We look forward to reading it and wish you the best of luck. Could you please name three ways your Mom’s Choice Award® will help you attain your goals?
Steve: My wife (a retired middle school teacher) and I sell most of my books out of a 10′ x 10′ tent at arts & crafts shows. The Mom’s Choice Awards® name and the gold seals really give us clout. We have the opportunity to explain to parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians that although the books look dark, address the paranormal, and are mystery/suspense, they are actually about developing one’s gifts and confronting one’s “different-ness” with the help of others who are also “different,” learning to work together and share the complementary gifts, and making good moral decisions. The Mom’s Choice Awards® Honoring Excellence Seal validating it as family-friendly literature is visible testimony of that.

Unlike the many other awards the FreeKs series has received, all of which say the books are well written, the Mom’s Choice Award® also declares them in some sense “safe” and helpful to growing young readers.

As a self-published author, the Mom’s Choice Award® will help me and my wife sell enough books to break even financially, so we can write and produce more good books we’ll be proud to place before readers!

MCA: We love hearing that! Supporting and nurturing authors with empowering messages is why we are here. Can you share with us what you learned about yourself as an writer in creating your award-winning series?
Steve: I learned that I’m more engaging as a novelist and short story writer than as a preacher! More people follow me from the beginning to the end without falling asleep, and they are more specific when they offer a compliment.

Instead of “I liked your sermon,” they say “I loved this and that and the other part of the novel, and when the kids did such-and-such. When’s the next one coming out?” Nobody ever asked eagerly, “When’s the next sermon coming out?”

I learned that I’m actually entertaining and can create something nobody else can, and that what I create is appreciated.

MCA: Since launching your book, what has been your most rewarding experience in promoting or sharing it with the public? Do you have a favorite memory?
Steve: Reader response and parent response. Several times in the past couple of years we’ve had parents come back to us saying, “You got my kid to love reading!” or “They love reading again!” 

MCA: As a new honoree, do you have any questions you’d like some of the “old hands” to answer for you?
Steve: How do we get Hollywood to notice us and call about a movie deal?

MCA: That might be the first time that question has been asked in the Spotlight! Let us know, MCA Alumni – do you have any advice on getting your work made into a movie??

Mom’s Choice Awards® Honors

FreeK Camp: Psychic Teens in a Paranormal Thriller
by Steve Burt
Young Adult Books
Gold – General Fiction
Juvenile Books Level 2
Gold – General Fiction

FreeK Show: Where Nothing Is As It Appears
By Steve Burt
Young Adult Books
Gold – General Fiction

Contact, Connect, and Network with Steve

The Alumni Spotlight is a periodic feature on the official Mom’s Choice Awards® blog. It is part of our ongoing effort to “shine the spotlight” on you and your award-winning, family-friendly products, services, and media.