What was the First Book you Bought?

Think back as far as you have to go… what was the first book you bought? It could be with your own money or the first book you wanted for a birthday or Christmas. You could comment either one or both on the social media post that lead you here, or in the comments section below. I’m curious, especially because you can probably tell a lot about a person by the first book they wanted to spend money on.

My First book

I’m actually having trouble remembering what my first book would have been. As a youngest child I read or wanted people to read to me from a selection of hand-me-down books. I also rarely asked for money for school book fairs (which is where a lot of people got their start buying books) so it’s hard to say what the first book I wanted was. My earliest memory of buying a book with my own money was a manga (Japanese comic book) called Yu Yu Hakusho vol. 1. Sure, it was a graphic novel, but it I read it over and over again.

No wait, Maybe it was…

While I didn’t buy them myself, I know I got into the old Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice series. I didn’t get far, but they had fun pictures on the front and some interesting stories about Obi-Wan as a padawan. Even earlier than that, I briefly got into a series of books about a girl with a photographic memory and she would “take pictures” with her mind to solve mysteries. I don’t know if those were from the library or if my parents borrowed them, because I haven’t seen them since. I know the main character was known as “Cam” because it was a play on her photographic memory.

The First Book I Wrote was…

I started writing my own books very young. I would add loose leaf paper to a binder and even got a nice executive-style pen for my birthday one year because I wrote so much. The first real story I wrote was called “Car Trouble” and I still have it somewhere. It was about a family who was going on vacation, but their car drove off a bridge (I don’t remember why) and the whole family washed up unharmed on a deserted island. It was like Gilligan’s Island crossed with Scooby Doo. Eventually, the family discovers that there are other people on the island trying to take over the island because it has oil. The family foils the bad guys’ plan, and they got home somehow.

I was probably around 8 when I wrote that, but I wrote more, like “Tail Trouble” in which the older brother of the family grows a tail because *shrugs shoulders* and “Time Trouble” where a Team Rocket-esque pair of time traveling bandits leave their time machine unattended and the family wanders inside. I had big plans for what they would after getting stuck in the 1800s, but those ideas have long since left my head.

My First Published Book

But I wrote all of that before even making it to middle school. The first book I published was The Tragedy of Gia, and I got that in print just after graduating high school. While it is tangentially related to Withered Kingdom, it is not necessary to read to understand WK, nor is it all that good because I wrote it before going to school for creative writing. I am still selling it though, if people want to buy it. I’ve been lugging around a box of copies for more than 10 years now.

Buy Withered Kingdom on Amazon

Far more recently, I published Withered Kingdom through Kindle Direct Publishing, and I’m trying to spread the world so people check it out. It’s the story of a man named Gia, who wakes up on the planet Phyron with no memories. He befriends a half-giant that helps him learn to fight and use wind magic, and guides him through a world worn grey by a generational war. Gia’s quest for peace helps him remember his past life, and may explain why everyone thinks he’s an angel.