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PRESS KIT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (FULL BIO)

Scott Pinkowski didn't set out to become an author. It just sort of happened accidentally. You know, like you do. It started out as a just-for-fun collaboration with his daughter, Audrey. Together, they planned to take one of her handwritten and illustrated stories and develop it into an amateurly printed book. They brainstormed and plotted. They created an interesting cast of flawed characters. They dreamed up an imaginary city nestled in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Girl Power, the story of a young girl who stumbles across an artifact that bestows superpowers began to take shape.

However, as time went on, Audrey began to lose interest in the project, instead devoting an increasing amount of energy into her love of art. The project was a wonderful bonding experience, and Scott would forever cherish the times spent sharing their crazy ideas and seeing how they played out on the page. He'd fallen in love with writing. He had been both teacher and learner, and hated the thought of closing the book on Girl Power forever. Just because Audrey abandoned the story, did he have to?

Scott sat down with Audrey and expressed the desire to continue and Audrey enthusiastically gave her blessing, eventually becoming Scott's biggest motivator and even critique partner. The picture book became a chapter book and, after countless revisions, eventually developed into a young adult novel.

Even after several years, The Orphan Ark maintained its main premise: young Isabelle Cooley and her friends stumble across a mysterious artifact that grants them powers. Saddled with the burden of abilities they don't understand and can barely control, they talk each other into becoming amateur superheroes. (Well, wouldn't you?) However, power always comes at a cost and Isabelle and her friends soon find out that their accidental manipulation of this artifact will have xenocidal consequences. Caught between shadowy extraterrestrial hunters who would stop at nothing to prey off of their power and the unscrupulous head of a bioengineering firm, Isabelle and her friends will have to learn that there's much more to being heroes than possessing supernatural abilities. 

Isabelle Cooley, the protagonist of The Orphan Ark, also makes an appearance in the short story "The Rounder," which was featured in the 2023 installment of Brave New Girls, a young adult sci-fi anthology of short stories which features tech-savvy girls who save the day with their STEM prowess. Proceeds from Brave New Girls are annually donated to the Society of Women Engineers. Scott's second short story, "The Interloper," is featured in the 2024 volume of Brave New Girls.

Scott lives in southern Illinois with his wife, Tami and their two children. He's a mild-mannered graphic artist at a newspaper company by day and a wanna-be rock guitarist whenever he feels like it. He also might be spotted at various karaoke venues making people's ears hurt.

10 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT SCOTT PINKOWSKI
  1. My first car was a 1978 yellow and white Blazer with a coat hanger holding the driver's door shut.

  2. I played college football. (But I wasn't very good...)

  3. I love classic rock and heavy metal music.

  4. I have an irrational fear of bats.

  5. I'm a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan.

  6. I did a lot of research on my Grandpa's WWII photos, making contributions to several books published in Europe, French television, and even The Travel Channel.

  7. I can recite pi to three digits.

  8. I took three years of Spanish but hardly retained any of it.

  9. I was obsessed with dinosaurs as a kid.

  10. I've never had a broken bone. (Knock on wood.)

FAQs
Isabelle Cooley newspaper clipping

Where are you from? Where do you live now? I was born and spent the first eight years of my life in a Chicago suburb. After that, my family moved to the small central Illinois town of Hillsboro. I went to Millikin University in Decatur for college and later settled in southern Illinois. I've lived down in "Little Egypt" for almost thirty years now.​

 

How long have you been writing? I've written a few entertainment pieces for the newspaper company I worked for, but that was out of necessity since we had such a small staff. I've been "seriously" writing since about 2017.​

 

How did you start writing? I started out just collaborating with my daughter. We were trying to adapt one of her handwritten and illustrated stories into book form. Things got out of hand from there.​

 

What's your writing process? I'm a plotter through and through. I don't use outlines or spreadsheets, but things like "scene-sequel" and the "three act structure" are very important to me to stay on track and keep up the pacing. I have a tendency to imagine scenes cinematically. I've been known to do story-board type sketches to help me visualize scenes.​ (See gallery below)

 

For you, what is the most difficult part of the writing process? Finding the time to write! When I'm on, I can knock out pages a day, but more often than not, day-to-day life and adulting get in the way. I've taken extended hiatuses from writing, which leaves me longing to get back to it.​

 

Are any of your characters based on real people? Ahem! Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.​​​​

CONCEPT SKETCHES

Here are a few of the crude scribblings that were made during the early planning stages of writing The Orphan Ark, along with a bonus drawing by Audrey! Click on an image below to enter the gallery and see short descriptions.

Valley Journal clipping - April 14, 2017
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