A.S. Washington grew up on Stratford Place with my his mother and three siblings. he attended the Central Ward boys club as a kid while a student at Louise A. Spencer and University High School. In 1999 at the age of 16, just five days after his birthday, his mother joined my father in the afterlife. Her death was a major blow to his family, and there is still a hole in his heart. However, her passing did not break him and all the things they talked about still came true.

In 2000, he became NJ State Youth of the Year for the Boys & Girls Clubs in New Jersey. The same year, Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network awarded him a $25,000 scholarship for college. In the fall of 2001, he attended Temple University and graduated in 2005 with honors, with a degree in Economics. Despite having a degree in business, he returned to Newark as a Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark staff member to give back to my community. This is where he met De’Quan Foster.

Felix Rouse was a former club member who became a staff person at the clubs who mentored me while Washington was a teenager. In 2006, he became a mentor to De’Quan Foster when he was just eleven years old. De’Quan was a socially awkward kid. He was often made fun of for speaking properly, having a deep interest in comic books and geek-lore; and while he tried his hardest, girls looked the other way. He was like Washington in very many ways. He was a young man growing up fatherless to a single mother who had to struggle to make ends meet. All the while living in the rough neighborhoods of Newark, NJ, where it wasn't always cool to be the smart kid. The things above that we had in common were enough to draw us close and indeed they did. Their shared life experience though eleven years apart brought about many conversations. Some were of our common interests, and others were just me giving my advice to him on how life would turn out if he remained steadfast in whom he was. .

At the same time Washington found that De’Quan was a writer and was developing a story called Danger Kids. Washington being a fan of comic books as a kid, had me immediately interested in De’Quan’s creation. Over time, Washington began to help develop characters, ideas, and events for the story. In 2007, they began talking about what happened before the Danger Kids Series and how all the things that would happen would come to pass. DeQuan had spent a large amount of his time both at the Boys and Girls Club and Frost Valley YMCA developing the Danger Kids Universe.

Thus, in 2008 Washington began writing the story of The Twelve but put it down to write my first novel The Virgin Surgeon. he picked up the The Twelve again in 2010, but was quickly sidetracked by an idea for my second novel, Happy Hour. However, after reading another of De’Quan’s handwritten Danger Kids, book in late 2011, he was motivated to put The Twelve and Danger Kids at the forefront of my writing schedule and put Happy Hour on hold. In July 2012, just a month after De’Quan graduated from Science Park High School, their publishing company, Brickhouse Publishing, was legally formed as a limited liability company and we launched their site dangerkidsuniverse.com. On December 12, 2012, they published The Twelve.

It is their hope that through Danger Kids Universe while bringing a new cast of characters to the world that they will have a positive effect on society. They know that in today’s technologically advance world, entertainment and information comes blazing at us at warp speeds. But though they are authors they were and still are readers. Before television and computers, reading and writing was humanity’s primary means of communication, education, and entertainment. They want kids to read. They want adults to read. They want to make sure that reading is still an important part of entertainment throughout the world.

With the release of The Twelve, they have been able to reach hundreds of new readers in about a year and a half. They've visited elementary and high schools and gave away and sold books to excited readers, both young and old. They've generated a buzz through social media on Facebook and Twitter. Both De’Quan Foster and A.S. Washington make themselves available to fans through their social media accounts. They’re accessible and talk about the books, but also about every day things from movies to music.

Their dreams are to be the writers of fiction to a new generation of youth, who can grow up with Danger Kids like so many kids grew up with Luke Skywalker, Superman, Batman and Harry Potter. This is their dream. After reading this we hope you feel inspired and reminded that no matter where you come from or what you want to do in life it is possible. We hope that you share this story and share your own because you never know who you can inspire and we hope you feel inspired after reading this story.

If you would like to read the Twelve here is are links where you can find the book. Also their next novel is due out May 9th 2014 and it is entitled Danger Kids Book 1: A Generation’s Journey.

The Twelve:

Paperback- http://ow.ly/g3IcM

Nook Version- http://ow.ly/g3Iez

Kindle Version- http://ow.ly/g3Iha

Google Books-http://ow.ly/tjBIi

iBooks- http://ow.ly/haiUu

Hardcover- http://ow.ly/tjClG