Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The Boy of Steel

I do mean that in the singular.

I wrote Boys of Steel in 2004, though as explained earlier, the idea of telling the Siegel and Shuster story in a new format for a new audience had been gestating in me for ten years prior.

When I sold the manuscript in early 2005, I expected the book would come out the following year.

What did come out was a picture book called The Boy of Steel.

I wasn't fond of the title. Or rather, the timing.

It does include at least one Superman-inspired illustration, and one of its themes is persistence, but the similarities end there.
The book is a touching story about a boy with cancer who gets to live out a baseball dream.

Still, in 2006, I was worried that my book (whenever it came out) would get mixed up with this one, or that I would be accused of "stealing." My editor said we didn't have to change the title.

There can be more than one book "of steel."

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