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Book 3 to be Titled "Truancy City"; Progress Log Now Concluded, posted 2008-08-20 by I.F.

The summer is coming to an end, I'm back in New York, and Truancy City is now halfway done. That was half as much as I originally wanted to complete, but I consider every day of work on it well spent. It's always a surreal yet awesome experience to enter into what I'd describe as a creative trance - a mental state wholly absorbed in the dancing and weaving of plot. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about; writer's hardly have a monopoly on it. Everyone has fantasies in their head that can sometimes seem realer than reality. My job is to have those every single day, and then commit them to paper.

I've now written two and a half novels within my four years of high school. Soon I will be entering college, where I intend to complete Truancy City, and then start dreaming up future projects. Keeping a daily journal about my progress was new concept for me, but I was pleased to be able to share the process with fans. The feedback, questions, and encouragement I received was very welcome and helpful.

Additionally, I have some good news. Advance Reader Copies of Truancy Origins will be printing this week. As soon as I can get my hands on some, I will post photographs. This means that the manuscript is really just about final now, and if all goes to plan it will be hitting shelves early in 2009.

Meanwhile, soon as Truancy City is complete, you will be first to know. Thank you for staying interested this far - I can only hope you'll remain interested all the way to the end.

Sayonara, I.F.

Book 3 Progress Log Now Up, posted 2008-07-07 by I.F.

It took long enough, but I’ve finally settled down to do my summer writing. This has become something of a routine for me. For each of the past three summers I have traveled to an isolated location, sealed myself off from as many distractions as possible, and worked on my books. Truancy was a product of my first summer. Truancy Origins (the prequel to Truancy, which will be published in early 2009) was completed over the course of my next two summers. For those trips I went to Maine twice and upstate New York once.

This time I have settled down somewhere in central Florida to write the third and final entry in the Truancy trilogy, a sequel to the first book. As I promised earlier, for the first time I intend to keep a journal about my literary progress, which will be updated on the forums, hopefully on a daily basis.

I’m not sure how many people out there are interested in this, but if you’re reading this and would care for a glimpse into the writing process, come on and take a look.

NPR "Tell Me More" Interview with Michelle Martin, posted 2008-06-04 by Zyid

A second big NPR interview just aired on NPR's "Tell Me More" show, which is apparently a pretty big deal!

You can check it out online here.

The author is flying to Budapest today for the Hungarian Book Fair, but I heard about this interview back when it was recorded. It's pretty great, I'd recommend giving it a listen.

Updates, posted 2008-06-01 by I.F.

As you might have noticed, the primary media push for Truancy has concluded. However, there's still a lot going on behind the scenes. Here are a few updates:

1. I recently finished editing the manuscript for the second book in the series, Truancy Origins. It has been accepted by Tor Books and is currently on track to be published in early 2009. The paperback version of Truancy should be released around the same time. I'm hoping that I'll be able to share more details soon.

2. On a personal note, those of you who have been keeping track may have realized that I am finishing up my senior year in High School. There are only a few weeks left to go, and then I will be done with public education for good. As you might imagine, I'm definitely ready for a change. For anyone who's wondering, I will be attending college at NYU next year.

3. I will be visiting Hungary this coming week to promote the Hungarian edition of Truancy. This will be my first trip to Europe, and I'm looking forward to it.

4. With everything that's going on I haven't had as much time to devote to the forums as I'd like, and I recognize that they've been stagnating. However, this summer I will be working on the third and final book in the Truancy trilogy, a direct sequel to Truancy. I intend to blog my progress on the forums every day, for anyone who'd care for a glimpse into the writing process.

NPR Interview with Rick Kleffel, posted 2008-05-18 by I.F.

My first NPR interview with Rick Kleffel aired this morning. If you missed the broadcast, I recommend that you check it out online here.

This is a widely syndicated show with a broad reach, and Rick was really a fantastic interviewer - I enjoyed doing this one quite a bit. Shortly after the broadcast, the Amazon ranking spiked pretty considerably. As of right now, it's in the top 50 most popular Teen's Books:

NY Comic-Con Article, posted 2008-05-02 by Zyid

The Village Voice recently did a nice article on the New York Comic Con, which the author attended as a panel guest.

"Isamu Fukui, a Stuyvesant High School student whose S-F novel Truancy (Tor) imagines an urban dystopia in which schools are no better than prisons, was a guest star at this con because he has much in common with these kick-ass comics legends, who also published young and had minds of their own."

You can read the entire article here.

Esquire "Last Line" Article, posted 2008-04-26 by Zyid

The author recently wrote an article for Esquire.com about his experience as a writer and a student. It is now posted and can be viewed at the Esquire website.

NY Comic-Con, posted 2008-04-18 by I.F.

If anyone is interested, I will be on one of the guest panels tomorrow at the New York Comic-Con.

You can catch me in Room 1E08 from 2-3pm on Saturday for the "New York City Through Its Authors" panel. Shortly after that, I will be signing copies of Truancy at the Books of Wonder booth, #2404 on the convention floor until 4pm.