Sean Cummings's Blog: POLTERBLOG!, page 12

Authors Andy Robb & Sean Cummings at the Brixton Book Jam

Oh yeah … we had a blast last night in Brixton. A decent turnout and …. beer! They let authors drink beer before reading to a room full of people!

 

Here’s Andy Robb reading from his fabulous book GEEKHOOD – ADVENTURES OF THE GIRL KIND:

And here’s me reading from STUDENT BODIES without my glasses hence the the reason for my clear lack of Andy’s dramatic flair. I chalk it up to middle age.

All told, a fun night of meeting authors. Very bohemian setting and my thanks to the organizers! Onward!

You’re invited! STUDENT BODIES book launch – Friday September 6th!

 

 

The good folks at the Big Green Bookshop are hosting the launch of my forthcoming STUDENT BODIES – how cool is that??

Where: Big Green Bookshop – Unit 1 Brampton Park Road, Wood Green London N22 6BG – Telephone: 020 8881 6767

When: September 6th, 7:00 PM

Why: Because book launches are fun!

You’re invited, some fabulous Andrew Nurnberg Associates authors will be on hand. There will be refreshments. I’ll be reading from STUDENT BODIES and I’ll be handing out cigars! Do come out if you can … I’d love to meet you!

POLTERGEEKS .. Cheapy Cheapy for Your Kindle! Like $1.99/£0.99!!!

Hey planet Earth …. with STUDENT BODIES, my second in the series is hitting bookstores in like … DAYS FROM NOW … the good folks at Amazon want you to read the first book in the series so that your brain can handle all the CRAZY SOUL WORM EVIL BAD STUFF that happens in book two!! Amazon cares! It’s true!!

And what a sweet deal it is. Got a Kindle? Load up some geeky witchy goodness on that bad boy for only

£0.99 if you’re in the UK.

$1.99 if you’re in the US or Canada!

We gots a teen love triangle of doomyness!
We gots first kisses!
We gots slamming of evil!
We gots zombies!
We gots mother-daughter angst!
We even gots a TALKIN’ FRIKIN’ DOG!  How cool is that???

This deal won’t last long … heck, it MIGHT BE GONE ALREADY! STOP READING THIS AND CLICK ONE OF THE LINKS ABOVE!

 

Have You Got The GUTS For This Writing Challenge?

There are less than three weeks left until the 3 Day Novel Contest.

That’s right, you heard me … the 3 DAY NOVEL CONTEST. Anyone can do NaNoWriMo, but have you got the kahones to write an entire book in 3 … FREAKING … DAYS?

 

What is it? Just an annual writing event held over the Labour Day weekend each year, that’s all. From their website:

Can you produce a masterwork of fiction in three short days? 

The 3-Day Novel Contest is your chance to find out. For more than 30 years, hundreds of writers step up to the challenge each Labour Day weekend, fuelled by nothing but adrenaline and the desire for spontaneous literary nirvana. It’s a thrill, a grind, a 72-hour kick in the pants and an awesome creative experience. How many crazed plot lines, coffee-stained pages, pangs of doubt and moments of genius will next year’s contest bring forth? And what will you think up under pressure?

Prizes

1st Prize: Publication*

2nd Prize: $500

3rd Prize: $100

*The first prize winner will be offered a publishing contract by Anvil Press after the winner announcement in the January following the contest. Once the contract is signed, the winning novel will be edited, published and released by the next year’s contest.

So yeah, it’s pretty intense. I took part in the event, now in its 3rd decade back in 2007. Why? Because I’m a little bit nuts, but mostly to see if I could do it. And guess what … I did it! I survived. And the 3 Day Novel Contest yielded me a godawful messy manuscript called SHADE FRIGHT which went on to become my 1st published work ever, ever ever ever! That led to a second book … then a third … then a fourth and now a fifth book which hits bookstores in the UK on September 5th and in the US/Canada on September 17th.

If I hadn’t done the 3 Day Novel Contest it wouldn’t have given me the confidence to take some risks with my writing. I’d have never come as far as I have in the six years since that caffeine-fueled weekend.

So … what are you waiting for, punk? Just DOOOOOO IT!!

 

STUDENT BODIES BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

 

Hi all – here’s where I’ll be – there’s bound to be some giveaways! If I have you down on the wrong date, please email me at INFO AT SEAN DASH CUMMINGS DOT CA and I’ll get it sorted.

 

August 19:

Moosubi Reviews! - http://www.moosubi.blogspot.com - Review

From the Writer’s Nest - http://throughthegateway.blogspot.co.uk/ - Review

Novels they Wrote or Movies they Made - http://novelstheywroteormoviestheymade.blogspot.com/ - Review

 

August 20:

A Dream Within A Dream - http://adreamwithindream.blogspot.com - Review

Mom With A Kindle - http://momwithakindle.blogspot.com - Promo Post

tales of an admin worker - http://charlottekane.wordpress.com - Review

 

August 21:

bethkempuk.blogspot.com - Review

Books for Birds - http://thepageturner-blog.blogspot.com/ - Review

 

http://tezmilleroz.wordpress.com/ - Guest Post

 

August 22:

http://deathbooksandtea.blogspot.ca/ - Review

Project Read and Review - Http://projectreadandreview.blogspot.con - Review

sisterspooky.co.uk - Author Interview

 

August 23:

https://leocristea.wordpress.com - Review

 

August 24:

 

August 26:

Mousehead and Tales - http://www.mouseheadandtales@weebly.com - Review

 

August 27:

Justified Lunacy - http://www.justifiedlunacy.blogspot.com - Review

 

August 28:

Danasquare – www.danasquare.blogspot.com - Review

 

August 29:

Books For YA! - http://bookforya.blogspot.com/ - Review

 

August 30:

http://bookforya.blogspot.com - Review

Book Bird Fiction - www.teenagefiction.blogspot.co.uk - Review

 

August 31:

Books Beside My Bed - www.booksbesidemybed.com - Review

Happy Book Lovers - http://www.happybookloversblog.com - Review

 

September 2:

 

September 3:

ismellsheep.com - Review

V’s Reads - http://vsreads.com - Review

Death Books and Tea 

Hey Author – Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?

Every author gets hit with this question and one thing we authors don’t often admit is that a lot of our ideas are actually pretty dumb.

No, seriously. Here’s an example of a dumb idea of mine:

My sleepless side for seven nights has kept me thinking about the person I used to be. Something snapped, like a dried out twig or an arc of electricity. And it isn’t a desperate change that overtakes me; it’s more of a gradual thing, like a passing shadow when the moon is full and round fat and silence is your only companion.

For others, it’s their mortal enemy.

I welcome my darker nature like an old friend. It caresses my face and whispers a promise that I know full well is another lie, but lies are far easier to believe when the truth of your life grinds you into bite sized pieces and consumes every last ounce of your spirit. I believe in those lies now, with all my heart. I have to because of what I am and what I become.

Um … barf.

While it reads well, the sad fact is this dumb idea has been done already by people better than me. Here’s a pair of examples of where this idea is done brilliantly:

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So yeah, darker nature manifests in book format. In this case, my big brilliant idea was to be a YA project and after writing a few chapters it occurred to me that I was writing The Incredible Hulk in teen form. That’s how it goes, by the way. We authors might think something is a fabulous idea but once we sit down and start slamming away at the keyboard, a lot of us can tell very quickly whether our “next big thing” is going to be the next thing on of flash drive called “crap ideas”.

At the same time, most authors report finding inspiration for stories in everyday life. The office, the marriage, the kids, something we saw while driving down the highway. Sometimes it’s a news story and other times we’re so inspired by a brilliant book by another author that we’re tempted to try our hand at a theme another author has hit on in their bestselling novel. Everyone wants to do their take on vampires, werewolves, zombies, superheroes. dystopia, utopia, time travel, pre-history, etc.Welcome to the world of genre fiction where the subject matter is the same but the characters are different. Where the superheroes live in a different world from what we see in traditional comic books and where a mystery is still a mystery – only there’s our own different approach in solving it as we plot out the story.

Inspiration and influence – I think that’s what it’s called. We are inspired by other fabulous authors and their stories. We are influenced to try to establish our own mark on the familiar. It’s important to remember that a lot of what we write might not even be marketable. This is because we are creating art in a world that is governed by the fundamental truth of capitalism: return on investment.

Publishers need to see a return on investment if they plan to take on a project that you’ve completed. And that’s the big crap shoot, isn’t it? It’s why the VAST majority of books don’t earn out their advances. It’s why publishers are looking to publish stuff they think is going to sell rather than to take a chance on a brilliantly written story by an author nobody has heard of. And it’s probably one of the reasons there are so many authors deciding to take a chance on self-publishing. It’s also one of those things that makes many authors decide to simply walk away from writing books entirely – because so much work goes into writing a book. It might flop. It might wind up being pilloried on Goodreads amid a haze of animated gifs posted by reviewers who think with pictures are excellent methods by which to critique a published work that someone put years into.

It’s a weird time in publishing right now and still a lot of us cling to the hope that one of our books will hit paydirt. And that book will lead to a series. And that series will lead to who-knows-what?

And I think that’s why I try like crazy to blot out the doom and gloom surrounding the book business these days. My ideas for stories come from to words: “What If”. That’s sort of how I think out an idea for a story and then I’ll write a few thousand words to see if it actually works. It’s sort of like the authorly equivalent of taking a car for a test drive. Does it make sense? Does it flow? Does it create a hero’s journey? Do I actually give a crap about the characters? If I get a “yes” for all these questions, then I will continue writing. I’m lucky as hell in that I have an agent to bounce ideas off. I also have a spouse who is very practical about what’s good and what sucks monkeybutt because she’s from the farm. And on the farm in the winter time when you don’t have cable TV growing up, guess how you spend your time? Yup. Reading.

Reading everything and anything that can get you as far the hell away from the farm as you can possibly get. My wife Cheryl is a reading machine and my ultimate sounding board for a book idea. She has, thankfully, stomped on most of my terrible ideas and she’s cheered me on for the good ones.

So, there you have it. That’s where ideas come from for this story hack. No magic pill. No miraculous inspiration. Just a lot of trial and error and experimentation.

Happy Friday!

A Shout Out To My Agent – And All Literary Agents

 

On August 24, 2013, I will have been an agented author for three years. During that time, I’ve learned a boatload about the business of publishing and more about the process of writing well.  My agent is Jenny Savill and the agency is Andrew Nurnberg Associates in London. Jenny has a bunch of other clients besides yours truly, and there are times when I think she might want to bean me over the head with a cricket bat because, well, I ask a lot of questions. I vent. I revise. I seek input. I bounce ideas. I seek validation that I am not, in fact, the worst writer in recorded history.

Interesting factoid: in nearly three full years of exceptional representation, I’ve sent 394 emails to Jenny on everything from works-in-progress, to revisions to “hey, how’s it going”.

Think about that for a minute: Nearly 400 emails from me in a three year period. And Jenny represents at least 15 brilliantly talented authors, each with their own works-in-progress, venting, idea-bouncing and “just checking in” emails. Add to this the fact that Jenny receives metric tonnes of other emails from people dying to land her as an agent. She’s buried in email submissions, partials, queries … not to mention the correspondence she has to keep in the way of selling her client’s books. The mind absolutely boggles at the sheer volume of stuff that winds up in her inbox. I’ve been in her office. There’s a real, honest-to-goodness slush pile. A big one! (She rescued me from the slush pile. Miracle of miracles.)

And she has to read all this stuff!!

She has to reply to it. She has to review gajillions of queries and  partials and full manuscripts. She has to help people like me become better writers. She has to break bad news to people who she isn’t going to take on as a client.  She has to roll the dice on the ones where she’s going to invest her precious time and expertise.

And I don’t know if I’ve really thanked her enough for all of this incredibly hard work that would make the average person’s eyeballs bleed.

My agent is and really, all literary agents are:

Editors
Proofreaders
Publicists
Idea factories
Negotiators
Mediators
Counselors
Social workers
Marketing wizards
Ass kickers
Advocates
Analysts
Party organizers
Book launchers
Fixers
Reality checkers
Cheerleaders

And so much more …

When I consider that I’ve sent 394 emails and I’m just one of Jenny’s clients, well, I can’t even imagine how she’s able to be so super organized, professional, courteous and downright brilliant every day she comes to the office. I don’t think I’ve done a very good job of actually considering how much time and work she and her team have invested in me because we authors tend to think it’s all about us. And it isn’t. We write the books, but without our agents kicking ass all over the place we simply wouldn’t be where we are today.

I am a better writer because of Jenny. I am a more patient writer because of Jenny. I’m living a dream that 95% of writers will never ever experience because she decided one day to take a risk on a bald dude from a place called Saskatchewan.

So thank you, Jenny. For everything.  A nice mention in the acknowledgements of a forthcoming book doesn’t come anywhere close to expressing how lucky and incredibly grateful I am to have worked with you for the past three years.

As mentioned in London last October … you’re stuck with me.

 

I’m Organizing a Blog Tour for STUDENT BODIES!

Want in on it? I’m looking at doing something from 19 August right on up to 3 September 2013. We can do interviews, YouTube stuff, there will be giveaways and some swaggage. Sound like you, dear Blogger? Well then click “CONTACT US”, fill out the form and I will be in touch!

Hey look … it’s a cover reveal for a book I wrote.

Behold the epic awesomness that is Paul Young’s gorgeous cover for my forthcoming STUDENT BODIES. Things take a terrifyingly dark turn in this sequel to my YA urban fantasy thriller, POLTERGEEKS.

(Click Image to Enlarge)

Whoever said being a teenage witch would be easy? For fifteen-year-old Julie Richardson and the city’s resident protector from supernatural evil, the Left Hand Path doesn’t give a damn if you’ve found true love for the first time in your life. There’s someone lurking the halls of Crescent Ridge High School with enough malice to unleash an epidemic of Soul Worms – supernatural larvae that feed on the very fabric of a victim’s humanity. 

After witnessing the death of one of the most popular kids at school, Julie and über genius boyfriend Marcus are in a race against time to find out who is behind the attacks. All the evidence points to a horrifying plot at the City Weir during the Winter Solstice; the place where icy waters of the Bow River and a thunderous spillway will mean the deaths of more than a hundred of Julie’s classmates. 

If she has any hope of saving their lives, she’ll need a little help from a coven of white witches and an Aboriginal mage whose snarky attitude is matched only by her magical prowess.

You can pre-order it all … over … the … place.

And for a limited time, you might luck out and get an ARC on Netgalley. It’ll be in bookstores on September 3, 2013.

It’s Canada Day – Here’s Some Of The Best Canadian YA

We’re 146 years old today – go us!

You know, if you ask a lot of people to name the first thing that pops into their head when you ask them about Canada, you’ll hear:

1) We live in igloos

2) Wayne Gretzky (who has been retired from hockey for the past fourteen years)

3) We’re very polite unless you diss Wayne Gretzky or worse, Bobby Orr.

 

We do have some literary giants though – the obvious one that comes to mind is Margaret Atwood. There’s Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro and my personal fave, Mordecai Richler. But what about those Canadian authors who aren’t writing literary fiction and instead are digging into YA?  We have some tremendous talents and I’m going list a few for your reading pleasure.

Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe

Cass McKenna much prefers ghosts over “breathers.” Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody . . . and Cass loves dirt. She’s on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school. But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass’s whole scheme is threatened. So when Tim asks her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, Cass reluctantly agrees. As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim’s life, she’s surprised to realize he’s not so bad—and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it’s time to give the living another chance. . . .

 

The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade (Go Saskatoon!)

When Mr. Socrates, a member of the shadowy PermanentAssociation, hears of a hunchbacked infant with theability to transform his appearance, he decides to take him in.Naming him Modo, he raises the boy in isolation, training himto become a secret agent. Then, when Modo turns fourteen,his education is complete. He is transported to the streets ofdowntown London and abandoned, penniless, to try to survive.

But Modo is resourceful, and he finds a way to get by,keeping to himself . . . until one day, when the beautiful OctaviaMilkweed knocks on his door. Soon, with the help of Mr.Socrates, Modo and Octavia find themselves uncovering a sinisterplot being carried out in the very sewers beneath their feet.Will they be able to stop the mad scientist Dr. Hyde before heunleashes his monstrous plans upon unsuspecting Londoners?

PS – Arthur Slade is a Governor General Award winner whose novel DUST should be required reading in Canadian classrooms.

 

40 Things I Want To Tell You by Alice Kuipers (Go Saskatoon!)

Amy (a.k.a. Bird) seems to have the perfect life: loving parents, a hot boyfriend, the best friend ever. She even writes an online advice column, full of Top Tips, to help other teens take control of their lives. But after a new guy shows up at school, Bird can’t seem to follow her own wisdom.

Pete is the consummate bad boy. He’s everything Bird is not: wild, unambitious and more than a little dangerous. Although she knows he’s trouble, Bird can’t stay away. And the more drawn she is to Pete, the more cracks are revealed in her relationship with Griffin, her doting boyfriend. Meanwhile, her parents’ marriage is also fracturing, possibly for good.

Bird is way out of her comfort zone. All it takes is one mistake, one momentary loss of control, for her entire future to be blown away . . .

 

This Dark Endeavor – The Apprenticeship Of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel

Victor Frankenstein leads a charmed life. He and his twin brother, Konrad, and their beautiful cousin Elizabeth take lessons at home and spend their spare time fencing and horseback riding. Along with their friend Henry, they have explored all the hidden passageways and secret rooms of the palatial Frankenstein chateau. Except one.

The Dark Library contains ancient tomes written in strange languages and filled with forbidden knowledge. Their father makes them promise never to visit the library, but when Konrad becomes deathly ill, Victor knows he must find the book that contains the recipe for the legendary Elixir of Life.

The elixir needs only three ingredients. But impossible odds, dangerous alchemy and a bitter love triangle threaten their quest at every turn.

Victor knows he must not fail. Yet his success depends on how far he is willing to push the boundaries of nature, science and love—and how much he is willing to sacrifice.

 

Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston

Clarinet Reid is a pretty typical teenager. On the surface. She’s smart, but a bit of a slacker; outgoing, but just a little insecure; not exactly a mischief-maker … but trouble tends to find her wherever she goes. Also? She unwittingly carries a centuries-old Druid Blood Curse running through her veins.

Now, with a single thoughtless act, what started off as the Summer Vacation in Dullsville suddenly spirals into a deadly race to find a stolen artifact, avert an explosive catastrophe, save a Celtic warrior princess, right a dreadful wrong that happened centuries before Clare was even born, and if there’s still time— literally—maybe even get a date.

 

And hey … if you really want to dig into Canadian Middle Grade & YA talent, check out The Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award list. There’s a ton of awesome books written by Canadians.