Fischer, Scott M. 1971-

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Fischer, Scott M. 1971-

Personal

Born 1971; married; wife's name Teresa Nicole Fischer (a painter); children: one daughter. Education: Savannah College of Art and Design, B.A., 1994.

Addresses

Home and office—344 Stebbins St., Belchertown, MA 01007. Agent—Eddie Gamarra, Gotham Group, 9255 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 515, Los Angeles, CA 90069. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Painter, illustrator, author, and musician. Has designed trading cards for Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons game series. Amherst College, Amherst, MA, instructor at illustration master class, 2008. Musical recordings include children's songs. Exhibitions: Works exhibited at iO Gallery, Cornwall Bridge, CT, 2008.

Illustrator

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Twinkle, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

ILLUSTRATOR

Geraldine McCaughrean, Peter Pan in Scarlet (U.S. edition; British edition illustrated by David Wyatt), Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Rich Michelson, Animals Anonymous (poems), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2008.

ILLUSTRATOR; "SECRETS OF DRIPPING FANG" SERIES

Dan Greenburg, The Onts, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2005.

Dan Greenburg, Treachery and Betrayal at Jolly Days, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2006.

Dan Greenburg, The Vampire's Curse, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2006.

Dan Greenburg, Fall of the House of Mandible, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2006.

Dan Greenburg, The Shluffmuffin Boy Is History, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2006.

Dan Greenburg, Attack of the Giant Octopus, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2007.

Dan Greenburg, Please Don't Eat the Children, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2007.

Dan Greenburg, When Bad Snakes Attack Good Children, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2007.

Sidelights

Scott M. Fischer, an artist best known for his paintings featuring science-fiction and fantasy themes, has also created the original self-illustrated children's book Twinkle. As an illustrator, Fischer has also contributed illustrations to Dan Greenburg's popular "Secrets of Dripping Fang" series of middle-grade novels, and he provided the artwork for the U.S. edition of Geraldine McCaughrean's highly anticipated Peter Pan in Scarlet, an officially sanctioned sequel to J.M. Barrie's classic novel Peter Pan. In addition, Fischer, who has designed trading cards based on the Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games, also writes and performs his own songs for children.

In Twinkle, Fischer offers a unique interpretation of the children's tune, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." The work centers on two youngsters—a blue-haired alien who jets into space aboard a sailing ship and an Earth-born lad who reaches the heavens via his balloon-assisted tricycle. After an encounter with a meteor shower leaves both children stranded, they cobble together a vessel from the debris and head off together. Readers follow the friends' parallel journeys, which begin at opposite ends of the book, by flipping the work back and forth; the travelers meet in the middle of the story. According to a contributor in Publishers Weekly, Fischer's "digitally rendered pictures have the slightly smeared textures and bouncy colors of graffiti, and there are plenty of nifty details." In Kirkus Reviews a contributor praised the "intense colors and high-energy action" of Fischer's artwork.

Greenburg's "Secrets of Dripping Fang" series follows the misfortunes of the ten-year-old Shluffmuffin twins—Wally and Cheyenne—after they arrive at the despicable Jolly Days Orphanage following the tragic deaths of their father, who drowned in a porta-potty, and mother, who was attacked by bunnies. After Wally and Cheyenne are adopted by the repulsive Mandible sisters and taken to a mansion in Dripping Fang Forest, they discover a terrible secret: the Mandibles are actually giant ants bent on conquering the planet. Reviewing the first volume of the "Secrets of Dripping Fang" series, The Onts, for School Library Journal, Elaine E. Knight stated that Fischer's "eerie black-and-white drawings complement the heavily tongue-in-cheek plot."

Fischer's silhouette ink drawings grace the interior of Peter Pan in Scarlet, "an exquisitely rendered, magical return to Neverland," according to Horn Book contributor Lissa Paul. Commissioned by trustees of the Great Ormond Street Hospital to mark the centenary of Barrie's 1904 play, the book was written by McCaughrean after she won an intense, worldwide competition involving more than 200 authors. Set in 1926, the novel examines themes of memory, loss, and identity. Peter Pan in Scarlet proved to be a worthy successor to Barrie's tale, according to several reviewers, and Fischer's pen-and-ink artwork also drew praise. As Farida S. Dowler remarked in School Library Journal, the book's illustrations "add to the enjoyment of the story."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2006, Gillian Engberg, "Trouble in Neverland," p. 42.

Horn Book, January-February, 2007, Lissa Paul, review of Peter Pan in Scarlet, p. 51.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2006, review of Peter Pan in Scarlet, p. 1074; July 1, 2007, review of Twinkle.

Publishers Weekly, October 3, 2005, review of The Onts, p. 70; August 13, 2007, review of Twinkle, p. 66.

School Library Journal, December, 2005, Elaine E. Knight, review of The Onts, p. 112; June, 2006, Walter Minkel, review of Treachery and Betrayal at Jolly Days, p. 156; December, 2006, Farida S. Dowler, review of Peter Pan in Scarlet, p. 150; September, 2007, Martha Simpson, review of Twinkle, p. 164.