Article on my book published in Frederick News-Post

Local teacher/author uses student input to craft his work

Originally published March 03, 2012

By Blair Ames

News-Post Staff

Author Mike Taylor chats with members of Monocacy Middle School's book club Wednesday afternoon. Taylor fielded questions on his recent young adult novel, "Survival of of the Fittest: The Last Hope for the Human Race." He is a seventh- and eighth-grade language arts teacher at Monocacy. At right is seventh-grader Kieran Hosier.    

Members of Monocacy Middle School's book club had a unique opportunity Wednesday of spending time with the author of their assigned book for the month.

Mike Taylor fielded questions on his recent young adult novel, "Survival of the Fittest: The Last Hope for the Human Race." Some students said how much they enjoyed the book, while others thought it was just plain boring.

Taylor, who is also a seventh- and eighth-grade language arts teacher at Monocacy, said he expected both praise and criticism.

He is open to the criticism, he said, because it improves his writing while demonstrating to his students that no one's work is perfect, and that's OK.

"I think I learn and the kids also learn that being criticized isn't meant to hurt their feelings," he said.

"Survival of the Fittest" is Taylor's first published work; he has written 20 to 25 novels that were not accepted by publishers, he said.

"Survival" follows seven teenagers who wake completely alone one night, the sole survivors of an alien attack. They are now the last hope for humanity, but first must fight off the aliens.

Taylor described himself a doomsday scenario fan, which led him to write a science-fiction novel.

His second book, "Survival of the Fittest: The Closest Enemy," is finished and now under review by Monocacy students.

Feedback has been good, but slow to come in because the students are still reading it, Taylor said.

Taylor is in his second year teaching at Monocacy after working as a teacher in Florida and Pennsylvania. He holds bachelor and master's degrees from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania.

"Survival of the Fittest: The Last Hope for the Human Race" is available in middle school libraries across the county and at the C. Burr Artz Public Library in Frederick. It is the most requested book at the Monocacy Middle School library.

Taylor does not know how many copies of the book have been sold since its release in November. His Facebook page has fans from 24 different countries, with the most coming from Japan.

Having a book published is "one of the most difficult things in the world," Taylor said. He estimated his previous novels have been rejected at least 100 times.

"If you can't win (publishers) over in the initial email, they're not even going to bother looking at your manuscript," he said.

Taylor plans to keep writing young adult novels because that is the group of readers who must be reached to keep a literate society, he said.

"I think staying in this profession, staying where I'm at and reading, I'm actually going to create those kids who are going to go forth and keep society moving where it needs to go," he said.