Randall Platt

Randall Platt

Ran´- dål Plåt -n. an award-winning writer of fiction for adults and young adults and for those who don’t own up to being either; a generally genial person with a rabid dedication to character and story; also, an athletic sort; see Handball.

Coming Soon!

Liberty's Christmas
Texas Tech University Press
Fall 2012

A red-haired girl in search of an education, a draft horse in search of one last chance, a broken-down tractor in search of a missing gear, and a Mexican- American boy in search of a home join forces in a time when nothing was king.

Now Available!

HELLIE JONDOE
Texas Tech University Press
November, 2009

It’s 1918. A war of nations is ending and a worldwide flu epidemic is just heating up, but to thirteen-year-old Hellie, the only battle that counts is her own survival.

Winner of the
2010 WILLA
Literary Award

For Young Adults

THE LIKES OF ME
Delacorte/Random
Chosen a Best Book by American Library Assn., and New York Public Library, Finalist for the Willa Literary Award, 2001

Cordelia Lu Hankins is half-Caucasian, half Chinese - and all albino. She has grown up isolated from the world, convinced she is ugly and that her father has deliberately hidden her away. Then in the summer of 1918, when she is fourteen, she meets the dashing Squirl...

HONOR BRIGHT
Delacorte/Doubleday
Winner of 1999 Keystone State Reading Award
Co-write/option deal signed!

In 1944, while much of the world is at war, fourteen-year-old Teddy wages her own war against herself, her twin brother, and her perfect, and perfectly despised, mother. As the summer unfolds, Teddy uncovers secrets about the past that has left her with badly scarred hands and has left her mother and grandmother bitterly divided.

THE FOUR ARROWS FE-AS-KO
Catbird Press
Filmed as Promise The Moon
by Sullivan Entertainment

When the owner of Oregon's largest cattle ranch - the Four Arrows - is shot by his horse in a freak accident, Royal Leckner suddenly finds himself charged with teaching the owner's retarded son to take over management of the ranch.

THE ROYALSCOPE FE-AS-KO
Catbird Press

In The Royalscope Fe-As-Ko, Northwest cattle rancher Royal Leckner finds himself in the middle of another fe-as-ko, this time in 1915 Hollywood.

Dreams of stardom for her daughter, Elsie, and for herself entice Royal's wife, E.M., to buy a silent film company. She quickly renames it Royalscope Productions in order to convince her fuming husband it's a gift...

THE 1898 BASE-BALL FE-AS-KO
Catbird Press

All it takes for Leviticus to become obsessed with The Game is watching two boys play catch with a baseball. But having inherited a ranch, Levi can do more than the average newcomer to America's pastime: not only can he join a team, he can be wrangled into buying a team for himself.

OUT OF A FOREST CLEARING
An Environmental Fable
John Daniel and Company

It is a well-known yet mysterious fact that animals possess the uncanny ability to forecast certain natural disasters. Given this, what would you do if every insect, mammal, fish, bird, and reptile completely deserted the area within miles of a nuclear submarine facility---simply vanished without any scientific or biological explanation...?

TEN CHANGES I'VE MADE TO BOOST MY CREATIVITY

STOPPED LISTENING TO AUDIO BOOKS - I love being read to, but I can't think about MY stories while listening to someone else's story. So, unless it's a long, boring drive or flight, I no longer listen to audio books. Instead, I think about my current project.
CREATE MY OWN SOUNDTRACK - I create IPod "soundtracks" for my own work in progress. I create a playlist of the tunes which inspire my story and characters.
CUT BACK ON THE FREE ADVICE - I am the sort who will stop and talk to anyone, anywhere about anything. So I don't answer letters or phone calls, but will zap a quick email instead.
SET REALISTIC GOALS - Just because I CAN write fast, does not mean I should, so I no longer try to get it written in two months.
FEWER GROUPS AND FORUMS - I used to belong to several writers forums, clubs and newsgroups, but now only belong to a few and I open my yap only when I have something important to add.
PICK MY BATTLES - Too many things far outside of my control were taking control of my time and mental energies. So, I write fewer letters, join fewer campaigns and stick to the business at hand - being a writer.
TOOK COMPUTER GAMES OFF MY COMPUTER - A minute here and a minute there adds up to vanished hours. I now play only ONE game a day - and that is a crossword puzzle the first thing in the morning to make my head come to life.
CUT BACK ON INTERNETING - Well, if you have read this far, maybe you need to do the same thing. Nah, just joking. Keep Reading. Number 10 scores!
TAKE WORK AND MUSIC EVERYWHERE - I am never without my work-bag. The time we spend waiting adds up. So, even if there is a ghost of a chance that I will be kept waiting wherever I go, I know I will fill that time with work.
TAKE SUNDAYS OFF - Okay, as you can see from the above nine items, I am a workaholic and it's taken me many, many years to realize I need one day to recharge, rethink and reset. Sunday is for family, food, reflection, and many times, sipping champagne. So when 4 am Monday rolls in, I am set for another week.... providing there hasn't been too much of that champagne thing.