Looking Glass Wars Author Partners With Nathan Fillion's Charity

It was announced today that Frank Beddor is partnering with actor Nathan Fillion's charity Kids Need To Read for a new initiative.

For every book sold by author Beddor at the upcoming Emerald City Comicon (May 1-3), and Phoenix Comicon (May 23-26), or ordered through his new Kickstarter campaign, he will be donating one to the charity’s book drive.

“We’re happy to participate in this great charity,” said Jim Demonakos, Convention Director of Emerald City Comicon. “We do numerous charitable events aimed at children at ECCC and this fits squarely in to our goals in their further education.”

“Frank has been a fixture at Phoenix Comicon since its early years and has been at the intersection of realizing success and using that success to the benefit of others for even longer,” says Matt Solberg, Convention Director of Phoenix Comicon. “Getting kids to read will be successful through these efforts.”

“We are so pleased to have Frank contribute in this way,” said Denise Gary, Executive Director for Kids Need to Read. “His books are extremely imaginative and so well-received by the children we serve. This book drive is a terrific gift to Kids Need to Read!”

“This was a no-brainer,” said Beddor, author of the New York Times Best Selling young adult series the Looking Glass Wars. “Getting books into the hands of kids is something every author needs to take part in. And Kids Need to Read is one of the best ways to do that.” Nathan Fillion, the charity’s founder, and star of ABC hit series “Castle”, expressed excitement about Beddor’s involvement, but no surprise.

“Yes, I am excited. But, you’re right, I wasn’t surprised,” said the actor. “I’ve known Frank for several years now. And he’s a great guy. And a great supporter of our organization.”

Beddor first learned of the charity through its co-founder the young adult novelist P.J. Haarsma. The two were partnering on the web game The Rings of Orbis, based on Haarsma’s young adult series The Softwire, when Haarsma explained the organization to Beddor.

“It seemed so simple, so logical. I was surprised no one had done it before,” said Beddor. “And I immediately told P.J. I’d do anything I could to help.”

“Frank has been a vocal advocate of Kids Need to Read since he first learned of it,” said Haarsma, echoing Beddor’s claims. “But I’m hugely excited that he’s made us a part of his upcoming Con appearance, book release, and Kickstarter campaign. We considered this both a big help and a great honor.”

Kids Need to Read has a simple mission. They provide books to underfunded schools, libraries and literacy programs with a special emphasis on those organizations serving disadvantaged children. They achieve these aims through auctions, events, and donations from publishers, authors, private individuals and other organizations.

According to the organization’s website, to date they “have provided over 42,000 books to 153 schools, libraries, and literacy programs in 41 states, as well as Washington, DC and Puerto Rico”. And they’ve “also facilitated the donation of three thousand books to the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library”.

Kids Need to Read was founded in 2008.

Frank Beddor ‘s route to best sellerdom has been circuitous. But circuitous routes are nothing new to this former World Champion freestyle skier, a sport from which he retired in 1983 to pursue a career in show business. First as a stunt man, then an actor and finally a producer. He is probably best known for producing the hit Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller vehicle THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY.

This success gave Beddor the chance to indulge his passion for writing. He spent several years writing the Looking Glass Wars trilogy, a unique take on Alice in Wonderland. It became a hit in both the UK and US, spending 21 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. It has also inspired the Eisner nominated graphic novel series Hatter M based on the series’ bladewielding analog for the Mad Hatter.

There have been three Hatter M original graphic novels published to date: Far from Wonder, Mad with Wonder, and Nature of Wonder.

A fourth volume Zen of Wonder will be released this May with a fifth and final volume Love of Wonder due out next year. These volumes end the current Hatter storyline.

The publication of the fourth volume will be aided in part by a Kickstarter, the popular online site which facilitates crowd sourced funding for a variety of products and projects.

But Beddor hasn’t given up on his career as a film producer. He’s currently in preproduction on THE JULIET for Sony Pictures and New Regency, a near future science fiction tale based on the classic story “Fondly Fahrenheit” by Alfred Bester. Rupert Sanders (SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN) has signed on to direct. And Brian Koppelman and David Levien (OCEAN’S THIRTEEN) have been hired to rewrite the previous script penned by Henry Bean. Beddor will be partnering on the project with producers Chuck Roven and Alex Gartner of Atlas Entertainment.