Andrew Shaffer's Blog, page 11
February 5, 2014
Fifty First Times Cover
Fifty First Times is a collection of fictional short stories from variety of published Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Romance authors (including Julie Cross, Sophie Jordan, Carrie Ryan, Lyla Payne, Andrew Shaffer, and Roni Loren) aimed at a New Adult audience. Each story magnifies a moment in two characters’ lives that shows the reader their decision to take physical intimacy to a new level, the events leading up to this moment and in some cases, the events that follow.
- Add Fifty First Times to your Goodreads shelf -
On Sale Feb 25: Amazon • Barnes & Noble
January 22, 2014
Start Here Volume 2
There are so many fantastic authors and great books out there that sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin. Start Here solves that problem; it tells you how to read your way into 25 amazing authors from a wide range of genres--from classics to contemporary fiction to comics. Start Here Vol. 2helps by showing you how to read your way into 25 amazing authors from a wide range of genres--from classics to contemporary fiction to comics.
Each chapter presents an author, explains why you might want to try them, and lays out a 3- or 4-book reading sequence designed to help you experience fully what they have to offer. It’s a fun, accessible, informative way to enrich your reading life.
Each chapter is written by critics, authors, and bloggers with expertise and passion to help you get started reading authors you’ve always wanted to try.
Includes chapters on reading your way into:
Alan Moore
Anne Carson
Charles Portis
China Mieville
Colum McCann
Daniel Woodrell
Dave Eggers
David Mitchell
Dorothy Parker
Douglas Coupland
Flannery O'Connor
George Orwell
Isaac Asimov
James Salter
Jennifer Egan
John Green
John Steinbeck
Octavia Butler
Philip Roth
Roald Dahl
Salman Rushdie
Toni Morrison
Ursula K. LeGuin
Virginia Woolf
William Faulkner
Buy Online: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Kobo
January 2, 2014
Preview of My New Adult Short Story
Here's some more info on "Bunga Bunga," my New Adult Romance short story from the upcoming Fifty First Times anthology. It's my first published short story since last winter's An Earl Grey Christmas. The ebook goes on sale February 25 from Avon Impulse. It's a "digital-first" title, which may appear in print at a later date.
The password is "fellatio."
Barrett might only be a college junior, but he senses the course of his life is about to change profoundly when he scores an invitation to an underground sex party.
The idea of a roomful of naked bodies thrills and terrifies him in equal measure, all the more so because his best friend Allen will be there — the best friend he’s had a crush on since freshman year.
Anthology Description: Fifty First Times is a collection of fictional short stories from variety of published Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Romance authors (including Julie Cross, Sophie Jordan, Carrie Ryan, Lyla Payne, and Roni Loren) aimed at a New Adult audience. Each story magnifies a moment in two characters’ lives that shows the reader their decision to take physical intimacy to a new level, the events leading up to this moment and in some cases, the events that follow.
- Add Fifty First Times to your Goodreads shelf -
Pre-Order: Amazon • Barnes & Noble
December 17, 2013
TOUSLE ME: The New Adult Parody You've Been Waiting For
I recently had the opportunity to read Lucy V. Morgan's New Adult Romance parody, TOUSLE ME. I found it so funny that I even provided a blurb for the cover! If you enjoyed FIFTY SHAMES OF EARL GREY, I guarantee you'll enjoy this book.
He’s exquisitely hot. Exquisitely tousled. Exquisitely screwed in the head.
Cammibelle Hicks just wants to survive her first year of college. Desperate to forget her troubled past, she throws herself into her degree and book review blog. So what if her life is one long Tumblr page of grumpy cat GIFs? She doesn’t need to get out more, and she definitely doesn’t need a man.
Hunter von Styles approaches life like he’s spoiling for a fight: with a tempting scowl. A cage-fighting, ex-rocker billionaire, it’s unclear why Hunter’s at college. Frankly, it makes no sense. Then Cammie falls into him—literally—at a party, and he’s obsessed. He needs her more than a moist towelette at a barbecue.
Though Cammie’s friends warn her against Hunter, she can’t resist his charms; especially not when he buys her shoes. And GoodReads. And a unicorn. But when her handsome best friend, medieval re-enactor Archer Riddick, makes a play for her heart—and challenges Hunter to a jousting match—it turns out that Hunter has demons of his own. Demons that aren’t real ones, but metaphorical ones—which are MUCH WORSE, when you think about it…
Join Hunter and Cammie on an emotionally exhausting journey into love.
And co-dependence.
And probably therapy.
December 16, 2013
FIC On Sale Now
Fic is on sale now, and features essays from me (Andrew Shaffer), Tiffany Reisz, Christina Lauren, Ron Hogan, Anne Jamison, and a foreward from Lev Grossman.
Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World
Description • Buy Online (Print and eBook)
Smart Pop Books • ISBN-13: 9781939529190
December 15, 2013
Fifty Shames of Earl Grey Holiday Story
An Earl Grey Christmas
By Andrew Shaffer, writing as Fanny Merkin
Download eBook (Free PDF/ePub/Kindle)
Read this short holiday story featuring Earl Grey, star of the Goodreads Choice Awards-nominated parody, Fifty Shames of Earl Grey, for free. Merry Christmas!
November 1, 2013
Fan Fiction Anthology On Sale This December
Fic is on sale December 3rd, and features essays from me (Andrew Shaffer), Tiffany Reisz, Christina Lauren, Ron Hogan, Anne Jamison, and a foreward from Lev Grossman.
Everyone who signs up for the Fic mailing list on the Smart Pop site will now get a free PDF excerpt from the book that includes the full introduction.
To download the excerpt, you just need to scroll down to where it says "Sign Up for Free Chapters & Book Updates": http://www.smartpopbooks.com/book/fic.
October 31, 2013
Edward Snowden Fanfic, Chapter 6
In Andrew Shaffer's new satire, technical contractor Eddie Snowjob leaks top-secret details of the FDA’s massive surveillance infrastructure — codename: GISM — and becomes the target of a global manhunt. He also totally gets laid.
Anya Chapstick threw back the shot. She slammed the glass upside down on the bar as the vodka burned its way down her throat, and then grunted her dissatisfaction. The bartender, with his long blonde locks and smoldering eyes, snatched up the glass and wiped down the bar. “Too strong?” he asked in a thick Australian accent.
She scoffed. “In Russia, we have water with higher alcohol content than this.”
“Hold on,” he said, examining the bottles lined up against the mirrored wall. He picked one out — the bottle was entirely printed with Chinese characters, which she couldn’t quite make out in the dim light — and poured a fresh shot. “On the house. Fair warning, though: This might put hair on your chest.”
She eyed him suspiciously, and sniffed the drink. It smelled like paint thinner. A good sign. She didn’t need any more body hair — her waxing bills were high enough as it was — but what the hell. She had a job to do, a job that she couldn’t do without getting hammered. Anya slammed the shot back and convulsed as it worked its way down her throat, a slow, agonizing chemical burn that reminded her of the time she’d been captured and tortured in Afghanistan.
“Better?” the Aussie asked.
“It’ll do,” she said, sliding a cartoonishly large amount of Hong Kong currency across the bar. “Give me the bottle and two glasses.”
“You got it, mate,” he said.
Anya took the half-empty bottle and glasses and glanced around the hotel bar. It was all but deserted except for a trio of raucous Chinese businessmen taking turns singing Bing Crosby Christmas karaoke…and a reedy American in a grey button-down shirt and wire-framed glasses. She made a bee-line for the American, who had taken a seat by himself in a darkened corner of the bar.
Read more of chapter 6 here....
or catch up on previous chapters:
October 28, 2013
A Halloween Song (VIDEO)
One of the very few Halloween songs that doesn't suck.
Featuring like a million musicians, including: Arcade Fire's Win & Regine + Redd Kross' Steve McDonald + Beck + R.E.M.'s + Joey Waronker + Buck 65 + Rilo Kiley's Jenny & Black + David Cross + Roky Erickson + Devendra Banhart + Sloan's Chris Murphy + Elvira, Mistress of the Dark + Smoosh's Asya & Chloe + Feist + Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore + Gino Washington + Sparks' Russel Mael + Les Savy Fav's Syd Butler + Subtitle + Islands' J'aime + Sum 41's Stevo + Malcolm Mclaren + Tagaq + Peaches + That Dog's Anna Waronker + Postal Service's Jimmy Tamborello + Wolf Parade's Dan & Spencer + Yeah Yeah Yeah's Karen O.
(via YouTube, also on iTunes)
October 21, 2013
Edward Snowden Fanfic, Chapter 5
In Andrew Shaffer's new satire, technical contractor Eddie Snowjob leaks top-secret details of the FDA’s massive surveillance infrastructure — codename: GISM — and becomes the target of a global manhunt. He also totally gets laid.
Just three steps into his hotel room, Snowjob stopped, his knees butting up against the twin-size bed. He tossed his suitcase down on the comforter, as there was no room on the floor to drop it. The room was smaller than the backseat of his old Mini Cooper.
He carefully shuffled around the bed and threw open the curtains, and found himself face-to-face with an elderly Chinese woman hanging her laundry out a window not more than six feet away from him, in the next building. She stared at him, expressionless.
He snapped the curtains shut. Any other time, he might have begun disrobing in front of the woman and see if she would respond in kind. But not now. It was ten in the morning local time, and he'd slept only sporadically on the flight. Even after balling the flight attendant, he'd been too anxious to sleep. Not only was he traveling with a thumb drive of documents that could damage the reputation of the U.S. government, but he was doing so under an alias.
The closer the plane got to its destination, the more doubt that crept into his mind. His papers had passed TSA scrutiny back home, but they weren't too concerned about outgoing threats. Would the fake British citizenship papers he'd paid a five-thousand dollars for be worth their weight in gold? All the worry had been for naught, as customs stamped his falsified passport.
"Welcome to Hong Kong, Mr. Bandersnatch," the official had said with a wink. With her pigtails, she didn't look a day older than eighteen.
"Thank you, love," he said, using the British accent he'd perfected watching Downton Abbey.
"Anytime," she said.
Read more of chapter 5 here....
or catch up on previous chapters:
