Kodiak Media Kit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Edmonds, Washington

November 1, 2021

Dog Hero Story Becomes Novel in Verse

Fast-Paced Epic Poem Tells Story 
of Cross-Eyed Malamute 
Who Defends “Un-Hunted” Backyard
from Coyote Predator

“Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights....”

-C. S. Lewis

“A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story....” 

- C. S. Lewis

New Middle Grade Book for Adults, Too

In fewer than 17,000 words with 23 illustrations, Kodiak & The Un-Hunted Place: An Alaskan Malamute Battles a Coyote for the Heart, Soul, and Future of the World... 

...tells the story of a big, cross-eyed dog—a sled dog without a sled—a family pet who rises as a hero to fight a predatory coyote for the territory of his backyard. And becomes in the process, not only the protector of the many rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks who live in his “Un-Hunted Place”—and the pride of his human pack—but in a deep, true sense, becomes himself.

Kodiak is thus a classic coming-of-age story... but one with unusually high stakes... about adversity faced to the point of battle... and the growth that results from discovering and being true to one’s nature. 

The author’s use of storytelling tools found in free verse poetry, rather than slowing things down, speeds readers toward an ending at once inevitable—and a complete surprise. 

Written for kids, ages 9-12 in middle grades 3-6 (kids transitioning from being read to... to reading on their own), Kodiak is equally for young adult and young-at-heart readers who enjoy dog- and animals-in-nature stories—and who don’t regard them as childish. Books like Pax  and The Art of Racing in the Rain, Wind in the Willows  and Watership Down may not be direct matches but they rhyme.

Kodiak is published with 23 illustrations by Vera Kulikov and available from Amazon in Ebook, Print, and Large Print editions. (Libraries source through Ingram.) A future audiobook is contemplated. Says author Ryan Petty: 

“Kodiak & The Un-Hunted Place is meant to be read aloud. In fact, part of the revision process involved me recording it, then playing it back and editing and re-editing in that way through several drafts. The discipline of listening to the narrative read-aloud against the backdrop of silence helped me find and preserve the depth of the story and eliminate the occasional phrase too hard to say... and transform the whole of the story into something more entertaining and fun to read—a better experience for readers one very much hopes to delight.” 

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New from Provision House:

Kodiak & The Un-Hunted Place

Ryan Petty, author / Illustrated by Vera Kulikov

Publication Date: October 15, 2021

Distributed via Amazon and Ingram

Ebook: $4.99     ISBN 978-0-9354460-09-8

Paperback: $12.99     ISBN 978-0-9354460-10-4

Large Print: $21.99   ISBN 978-0-9354460-11-1

For further information contact: 

Ryan Petty

253-213-7719

RyanPettywrites@gmail.com

www.RyanPettyauthor.com 

https://Twitter.com/@RyanPetty77

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Kodiak & The Un-Hnted Place

About the Author

Ryan Petty lives in a ferryboat town near Seattle with his wife Melissa and the ghost of their cross-eyed Alaskan Malamute—Kodiak. He wrote this book for grandson John and his pet gorilla.

Ryan studied creative writing at Princeton under Jerzy Kosinski and Anthony Burgess and was, for a decade thereafter, the proprietor of Austin, Texas-based Cold Mountain Press, a small press publisher of signed, limited editions in poetry and fiction.

He writes novels in verse; historical fiction; and books for children. As this book goes to press, he’s working with illustrator Vera Kulikov on his first children’s picture book.

Kodiak is Ryan’s first novel, his first novel-in-verse, his first epic, narrative, lyrical poem… his first book about nature, his first work of fiction in which a place becomes a character, his first adult dog story meant for older kids to discover and share. 

Visit him at https://www.RyanPettyAuthor.com. 

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About the Illustrator

Vera Kulikov is a freelance graphic artist from the San Francisco Bay Area who loves the art of storytelling. She has eight years of commercial experience and has worked with several other writers illustrating picture books, middle grade novels, and book covers.

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Kodiak & The Un-Hunted Place

Frequently Asked Questions - of Author Ryan Petty

Q: Is Kodiak a true story? 

A: There was a real Kodiak who had the qualities and cross-eyed nature of the dog in the story. The coyote was real, too, and made a nuisance of himself. The Un-Hunted Place was and still is a backyard sanctuary for small animals. Beyond these things though, Kodiak is imagined. A work fiction. 

Q: "The Un-Hunted Place”—your name for Kodiak’s backyard—becomes almost a character in the story. I assume that was intentional. What did you hope to achieve?

A: I didn’t set out to write a story in which a setting becomes a character, but in early drafts I discovered it was happening and chose to go with it... to make it bigger, and have fun with it. I don’t know what I hoped to achieve exactly but, if I had one wish, it would be that readers of Kodiak discover their own un-hunted places and never see their backyards the same way again.

Q: The time it took to write Kodiak could have been used on other books. Why this one?

A: Kodiak was a favorite among our many dogs, and I wanted kids everywhere to get to know him. I wanted to use the magic of storytelling to make that happen. Initially I thought I’d write a series of three picture books: one about Kodiak and his chipmunks. Another about him and his squirrels. And a third about his relationship to rabbits. Each to take place in the “Un-Hunted Place.” Problem was my three stories began to overlap and each of them refused to be short enough for a picture book.

Q: That doesn’t explain why Kodiak became a novel in verse.

A: It actually started as prose. But I found that a straight narrative text, with its rules of punctuation and its prohibitions against such things as run-on sentences... and its constrictions on rhythm—so important in performance—was way too confining. As a writer you can bend, even break the rules, but at some point, you have to admit the shoes are simply too small. Free verse is the biggest tent in storytelling... so I went that direction and found it worked for Kodiak and me.

Q: Okay, but can you be more specific? 

A: Sure. Out of the ashes of my three failed picture book manuscripts, a new and unified story began to take shape. And I wrote the first draft of the first chapter—in prose... which set up the essential conflict of the book: between a cross-eyed dog and a coyote hell-bent on using the dog’s backyard as a hunting ground for rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and other small game. I soon completed a first draft of the entire story—yay! But it was unwieldy, full of run-on sentences that were tough to shorten, tough to divide, tough to do anything with. Then came a magic moment. With the help of a friend, I discovered that the story wanted to be an epic poem. Epic poems are story-driven—with enough rhyme and meter to aid memory. And epic poems, those long enough and done well enough, are great examples of what we call today “novels in verse.”

Q: The term “story-driven,” what more you can share about that?

A: “Story-driven” means just what it says. The driving force is the telling of the story, not its lyrical expression, important though that is. In other words, I didn’t write Kodiak to celebrate poetry for its own sake. I wrote it to tell a great story... memorably. As a writer, even of free verse, I needed to resist temptations of poetic flourish—in order for the story to meet the reader’s expectations of it. What I’m saying is that the purpose of rhyme and meter... in a novel-in-verse... is to make the story stick and stay in the mind of the reader... while the words flow and entertain but never compete with the story. 

Q: I’m not that familiar with novels in verse and thought epic poems went the way of the dinosaur. Are you on the cutting edge of a trend? or disconnected from the marketplace?

A: There is a trend but a small one. You see it in major book awards and bestsellers by authors like Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Jacqueline Woodson, K. A. Holt and Thanhhà Lai. So far as I know, though, there’s not yet been a best-selling dog hero story done as a novel in verse. I don’t predict one. I just wrote the story I had to write, the one that wouldn’t leave me alone in the middle of the night, in the best way I knew how. I’ll be more than satisfied, whatever comes.

Q: What advice do you have for young readers—who might like to write?

A: Read. Write. And don’t wait for permission to do either one. Read books of the highest caliber but also read for fun. Read all kinds of books but not just anything. Think about where you put your reading time for there follows from that... your mind. And write: Write now. And don’t wait to have sufficient experience. Don’t turn becoming experienced into a gatekeeper. Mix your curiosity and your imagination and all the gumption you can manage... together in a big stewpot and just start writing. It’s pretty clear—kids who never stop writing become writers. 

Other topics of potential interest?

Ecology and Kodiak? Native Americans in Kodiak? How a place becomes a character? What stories make good novels in verse? Favorite childrens books? Working with an illustrator? The magic of storytelling?

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Kodiak & The Un-Hunted Place

Ryan Petty, author / Illustrated by Vera Kulikov

Publication Date: October 15, 2021

Distributed via Amazon and Ingram

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Fact Sheet

Kodiak & The Un-Hunted Place

An Alaskan Malamute Battles a Coyote
For the Heart, Soul,
& Future of the World

New from Provision House

Ryan Petty, Author / Illustrated by Vera Kulikov
Publication Date: October 15, 2021
Distributed via Amazon and Ingram
Ebook: $4.99             ISBN 978-0-9354460-09-8
Paperback: $12.99         ISBN 978-0-9354460-10-4
Large Print: $21.99   ISBN 978-0-9354460-11-1

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Synopsis

A cross-eyed Alaskan Malamute fights a predatory coyote for the territory of his backyard, and becomes in the process, not only the protector of the rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks who live in his yard—and the pride of his human family—but in a deep, true sense, becomes himself. [A read-aloud, coming-of-age, epic poem (novel in verse) with 23 illustrations—for middle graders aged 9-12, young adult readers, and grownups ever-young at heart.]

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About the Author

Ryan Petty lives in a ferryboat town near Seattle with his wife Melissa and the ghost of their cross-eyed Alaskan Malamute—Kodiak.

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For further information contact:
Ryan Petty
253-213-7719
RyanPettywrites@gmail.com
www.RyanPettyauthor.com 
https://Twitter.com/@RyanPetty77