NEWS FROM FAIRVIEW PRESS (http://www.fairviewpress.org / )

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — February 16, 2009 — Fairview Press, an independent publisher of inspiration and wellness books, announced today that it has signed Queenie Chan (artist of the best-selling manga In Odd We Trust, with Odd Thomas author Dean Koontz) to create sequential art for a middle-grade advice book called The Boy's Book of Positive Quotations (Sept. 2009, $13.95).
The books in Fairview Press' Positive Quotations series—which have sold more than 500,000 trade copies—originally began as reference anthologies. In recent years, author and series co-creator Steve Deger has re-envisioned them as illustrated gift books. Enhanced trade distribution in leading Big Box and nontraditional book outlets have helped individual volumes spend more than two years on Nielsen BookScan's bestseller reports for adult self-help and historical juvenile nonfiction.

Queenie Chan, author of the popular mystery-horror series The Dreaming and co-author (with Dean Koontz) of In Odd We Trust , will draw the manga for the The Boy's Book of Positive Quotations. The graphica will follow the life of a boy who receives mysterious text messages from a beautiful ninja. Her proverbs guide him on the honor code of the aspiring ninja and tie in with the rest of the book's modern-day advice, written by Steve Deger as well as compiled from various pop culture sources.

Says Deger: “The age-old storyline of the sensei and student gets a makeover in this hybrid manga/advice book. I'm excited to bring Queenie Chan’s brilliant artwork from the manga shelves to the inspiration aisles. It's proof that virtually any message can be communicated via graphica.”

Queenie Chan comments: “I want my artwork to inspire people to widen their horizons. Learning about the world, history, other cultures and having an appreciation for things outside your own little box is important. So I'm excited to have my artwork paired with the insightful thoughts of accomplished people from all corners of the globe.”



ABOUT THE CREATORS:

Steve Deger is the co-creator of the Positive Quotations series. A past speaker, fundraiser, and "Big" for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, he lives with his wife and frequent co-author Leslie Gibson in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Queenie Chan was born in 1980 in Hong Kong and migrated to Australia when she was six years old. Her three-volume mystery-horror series The Dreaming was published by L.A.-based manga publisher TOKYOPOP, and has been translated into six languages. She collaborated on the graphic novel In Odd We Trust with publisher Del Rey, a prequel to the Odd Thomas series of novels by New York Times best-selling author Dean Koontz. The book was published in June 2008, hitting #1 in graphic novel sales in the first week. She is currently partnering with Koontz on a second second Odd Thomas graphic novel.