Bryce Moore's Blog, page 168

How to Support The Memory Thief

 

People started getting their hardcover copies of THE MEMORY THIEF yesterday in the mail, and the official release date is next week, on Tuesday (September 20th). Hard to believe that it’s finally here! I’ve had quite a few people ask me what they can do to support the book, and I thought I’d give a comprehensive answer here.

First off, buy it! (I know–pretty obvious, isn’t it?) But did you know there are good ways of buying the book and not-as-good ways?

DISCLAIMER: All of this information is just for people who are really interested in this process. If any of you buy the book, I’m very grateful to you–regardless of how you buy it. I appreciate the support. Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you.

Got that?

Then onward!

What’s It About?

My publisher’s calling it a mashup of Something Wicked This Way Comes and Inside Out, and I actually think that’s pretty accurate.

From the jacket:

Twin brother and sister Benji and Kelly wander off at the local county fair after witnessing their parents argue. When Benji runs into a group of bullies, he escapes into a tent called The Memory Emporium, where he meets a strange old man inside named Louis. The old man shows him a magically vivid memory of a fighter pilot, in the hopes of getting Benji to pay to see other memories Louis has collected from people over the years.

Benji quickly realizes the ability to take memories could help his parents stop fighting with each other, and he asks Louis to teach him how to become a “memory thief.” But Louis isn’t the only person with the ability to show and manipulate memories. There’s also the mysterious Genevieve, a Memory Thief with much more nefarious motives.

Benji learns how to manipulate memories himself, but having that power comes at a cost to his family, and possibly to his own mind as well. Genevieve’s powers get out of control as she steals more and more memories from people in town—including Benji’s sister, Kelly. Benji must learn to use this newfound power, as he is the only one able to stop Genevieve.

Who is It For?

THE MEMORY THIEF is primarily aimed at Middle Grade, so 8-12 year olds. It’s spooky and creepy in places, but it’s not gory and doesn’t have any questionable content in it. (For reference VODNIK was aimed at YAs, so ages 12-16.) The main character is a boy, but his twin sister is a girl. I think it would appeal to both genders across the board. Yes, it would make a great present for your son/daughter/nephew/niece/grandchild and all of their three dozen friends.

When to Buy

First off, one of the key indicators of how well the book performs is first week sales. If those first week sales are strong, then bookstores perk up their ears more than if first week sales were average. In other words, if I’m going to sell 1000 copies, it’s better to sell 750 the first week, then 250 the second week than it would be to sell 500 the first week and 500 the second. Make sense? (Even though it probably doesn’t–ours is not to question why the book business behaves the way it does. Ours is simply to smile, nod, and buy the first week.)

Where to Buy

So getting the book the first week is a very good thing. However, the next question is where to buy it. The answer is different than when I wrote this post for VODNIK back in 2012. This time, THE MEMORY THIEF is exclusive to one place and one place only: Barnes & Noble. Whether it’s in person or online, that’s the one spot you’re going to be able to get it for the next six months. (In March, I’ll do a second push when the book is available on wide release, from everywhere.)

It would probably be better for me if you went and bought the book in person, just because then the stores would see copies flying off the shelves and order more to replace them. Those extra copies can then be seen by other people, who will of course love to buy the book as well. But really, better to buy it right this second than to wait and get it in a few weeks in person.

What Else You Can Do

Of course, there’s always more you can do (besides buying more books to give to all your many friends and relations). For one thing, you can go to your local public library (you do have a card, right?) and ask them to buy the book. A lot of people don’t realize that public libraries pay a lot of attention to what their patrons want to read. If you ask them to buy something (not just my book), they often will. They have budgets set aside for just that purpose. More of my books in libraries mean more of my books read. It’s a circle of readers, and anything we can do to help that circle grow is a good thing. (Unfortunately, I’m not sure how many libraries buy books straight from B&N. This might have to wait until March.)

You can also help promote the book. Word of mouth is key. Anything you can do to help other people hear about the book is great. Here are some ideas:

Write a review. I’m not making this up, people. Whether it’s on Amazon, Goodreads, or Barnes & Noble, written reviews are huge. As of this second, Amazon and B&N have no reviews at all for the book, and Goodreads has a whopping total of four. Even if you don’t write an actual review, going on and giving the book a star rating helps. (For that matter, VODNIK could still use the same love, if you haven’t reviewed it yet.)  This is huge. Lots of people and libraries use these sites to do research for which books to buy (even if they end up buying the books somewhere else). We’ve all been on Amazon and seen a book with one or two reviews and that’s it. If you see a book with a lot of (hopefully good) reviews, then you automatically think more of the book. Go figure. It also helps if the reviews are well-thought out and not obvious shills. I don’t want you to lie about the book. But if you read it and genuinely like it, please do review it. I know a ton of my friends who told me how much they loved VODNIK. It’s way more than reviewed it on any of those sites.
Blog about the book
Share the book on Facebook or Twitter
Tell your friends how awesome it is, and how they must buy a copy for them and their dog. (Makes an excellent chew toy!)
See if your local school wants to have me come visit–or do a Skype visit. I’m happy to do either. (Well, if your local school isn’t very . . . local to me, then I think I’d rather do the Skype visit. But still.)
Really–anything you can do to make the book more visible helps.

So there you go–plenty of ways to support the book in the coming months. You can start by sharing this post with others.

Thanks again for all the interest and support, people–I really appreciate it!

The Peanuts Movie

I mentioned on Facebook yesterday that I watched The Peanuts Movie last night with my family, and so of course I have to write a review about it today. (Though, for the record, I also wanted to make sure to get this conversation down that started our viewing. I told the kids we were going to watch a movie.

Tomas: What movie?

Me: The Peanuts Movie. It’s supposed to be great.

DC: Why did they call it the Penis Movie?

Me: Peanuts. Peanuts!

It’s an important T in that title. Reminds me of this:

Anyway. The movie was pretty much awesome. I was impressed to see how well they transitioned the characters from the simple animation specials over to a full blown CGI film. In my head, there was no way they were going to pull that off, but in the end, it just worked.

The story is classic Charlie Brown and Snoopy. You’ve got all the main characters, Charlie Brown constantly doing the right thing and getting bad results from it, Snoopy and the Red Baron, Vince Guaraldi tunes trilling in the background. You name it. I worried that the hour and a half running time would drag on too long, but that didn’t end up being an issue either. The movie felt light and fun and innocent. So different from any other movie I can think of that’s come out recently.

One of the biggest differences was that there were no “adult references” hidden in the film, as opposed to so many other animated movies getting released these days. It didn’t try to entertain an adult crowd and a children crowd on two different levels: it just stuck to what it wanted to do, and it did it so well. The movie was actually rated G, for crying out loud. How many of those come out each year?

I was even more pleased to see the movie did well in the theaters (well over $100 million). I see so few movies in the theaters these days, not because I don’t want to, but because I generally just don’t have the time. But I know how important those theater numbers can be to a movie and a genre’s success. My hope is that more films like this get made because of that. I’d like some variety in the movies out there.

If you like the old Charlie Brown specials and you haven’t seen this movie yet, you owe it to yourself to sit down and watch it. I loved it from the beginning to the end. 5/5

Traffic Snakes

There have been plenty of times when I’ve been driving and got stuck in traffic for forever, only to finally come to the other side of the jam and see no visible sign of whatever caused it in the first place. It’s never  made sense! Where did the jam come from? Why was it here? (Being stuck in traffic causes me to wax pretty philosophical.) At last, I have my answer: monkey drivers.

This makes sense to me, and I’ll no longer wonder. So that’s good.

On the other hand, I have no time to write a real blog post today. So this is all you get. Good compromise?

The Best Constellation Helper Ever

We’ve been tearing down the awful insulation job our last contractor left us with last year, in preparation for one that actually won’t rot our roof in a year or three. It’s a messy, miserable job, made worse by the fact that it’s really hot up here in Maine right now. (Seriously, Maine? It’s September, and I don’t live in Arizona.)

Add to that the fact that Denisa is teaching in the afternoons and Tomas is sick, and I’ve been on my own for two of the three days. Or I would have been. That’s what I’d expected. Who else would help me, after all?

DC to the rescue.

I mentioned to her on Tuesday that I was heading up to work on it, and off I went. Fifteen minutes later, she magically appeared, ready and willing to help. This was a pretty new sensation for me. Tomas can be very helpful when he’s properly persuaded, but I can’t remember the last time he just came and willingly enlisted for a job. I raised my eyebrows at DC. “Really?” I asked.

She nodded. I put her to work gathering up the bits and pieces of insulation strewn everywhere as I ripped it down. I didn’t expect her to last very long. Again, it’s a miserable, thankless job. But she lasted the whole time. And she signed up again for it Wednesday, and again yesterday.

Even more surprising, she didn’t seem to mind the work at all. She happily chatted with me as we worked, talking about the insulation (or “constellation,” as she kept calling it), and trying to decide if it looked more like pink fluff or cotton candy. (Verdict? Cotton candy. “Most of the time.”) We discussed potential uses for the space we’re finishing off, and what we should ultimately call it. (“The loft” won out over “the other upstairs.”)

I know a lot of the time Tomas ends up getting a fair bit of attention on this blog, mainly because he’s older and has been more involved in various endeavors, but I wanted to be sure to take a minute and recognize what a wonderful daughter I’ve somehow ended up with. She made what should have been a real pain into a fun experience, and that takes real talent.

Thank you, DC!

If I Had a Time Machine

Forget killing Hitler. That seems rather ambitious, and there are all those paradoxes to work out. No, if I had a time machine, I think I’d do something a bit smaller. Simpler.

I was reading through old blog posts yesterday as I was writing up my article on using lists to deal with stress (checking to see if I’d blogged about it before). And what did I find? This post about how great it was to let professionals handle home renovation. I wrote about how wonderful it was to listen to them work away up there, doing a job far better than I could do it.

The same “professionals” who put in the insulation I was cursing as I tore it out last night with the fam, in preparation for spray foam to be put in on Saturday morning at 7am. (Because sleeping in is for the weak, I guess.)

If I had a time machine, friends, I’d head back and fire that louse before I gave him another penny. As I read that blog post, I just wanted to reach through the screen and slap myself in the face. Tell myself to go boot them out of the house and save myself a whole ton of money and headache.

But I don’t have a time machine, so I didn’t do that.

Not that I don’t still believe in letting professionals do their job, but I certainly have learned the lesson of not believing a professional is what he says he is. Trust, but verify.

What small but large mistake would you fix in your past? Nothing that would shatter the space-time continuum. Just a simple tweak that would save you a bunch of trouble?

Please share, and have a wonderful Thursday.

The Power of Lists to Deal with Stress

I might have blogged about this in the past, but certainly not in the last few years (at least, not that I could find in a quick search on my blog). Either which way, it’s on my mind at the moment, so that’s what you’re getting.

Sometimes in my life I’m busier than at others. I try to avoid this by planning things out well in advance, and spreading the load via effective goals, so that life doesn’t just overwhelm me. But let’s face it: life is life. There are going to be times when it just gets busier than others. It can get to the point where I feel like I’m drowning in tasks that are never going to get done, and I start worrying about every seeing daylight again.

For those times, I make lists.

Lots of lists. Daily lists. Weekly lists. But I always start in the same place: I make a list of everything I have to do. Everything. Right down to eating breakfast or brushing my teeth. No task is too small to make it on the list. (I even put “Make a list” on the list.) The goal is to dump all my stress from my brain (where it’s making me panic and hyperventilate) and down on paper where my brain can look at it and process it better. So all of it goes down.

Often, that act alone helps me cope, because sometimes seeing it on paper, it doesn’t look so bad. Of course, sometimes it looks even worse than I thought it would. (The last week or two have felt like that right now.)

But that’s where it’s handy that I’ve put everything down on the list. Sure, it seems overwhelming. But I can already cross one thing off: making the list. And I can barrel through a few other things on there pretty quickly as well. Little things that don’t take longer than a few minutes to do. I tear through the easy things, and then that usually helps me feel like I’m making progress. Like being “finished” isn’t just an abstract thought.

Of course, there are other items on that list that are going to be much much more difficult to get rid of. Time-intensive beasts that will dominate my life if I let them. So I look at them and think about how I can break them down into smaller goals. Bite-sized pieces that I can deal with. That might mean instead of “finish my novel” I put “write 1 hour a day.” Or maybe “declutter for 15 minutes.” I take big things and turn them into small things, and then when I finish that small thing for a day, I check it off the list.

Sure, the big thing isn’t done, but it’s done for today, and that’s what really matters. Because for me to stay sane, I know I need time to relax and recuperate. To enjoy life some. That’s just as important as everything else. (I’ll even add the fun things I want to do on my list. I’m not kidding about loving lists.)

I’ll write a new list every day. List all the things I want to get done on it, and then churn through them. They all lead toward finishing the big things on my bigger list. Everything’s connected.

And that’s my biggest secret to staying sane and getting things done that I have. Bite-size goals and lists. It’s gotten me through three children, a career, three degrees, fifteen novels, and multiple construction projects. It might not work for everyone, but it works wonders for me.

I hope it comes in handy for some of you.

And with that, I have to go cross off “write blog post” from today’s list.

Salt Lake Comic Con Review

I’m back from my trip to Salt Lake Comic Con, and I’m here to give you all the juicy details. Well, not really. There’s nothing too juicy, but it was a very fun event. I’ve never been to a convention that big (100,000+ people), and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Now that I’ve attended, I’ve seen the main difference is the showroom floor, which was absolutely mobbed, both with vendors and with attendees. I’m not a personal huge fan of big crowds, so a few hours of that was all I could take, but it was interesting sitting up in the green room watching everyone mill around.

The paneling was much like paneling I’ve done elsewhere, however. Similar room sizes and similar crowds. (No, they didn’t hold my event in the basketball arena, even though I said that many people might show up.) What did I present on?

Writing for Children: Middle Grade and picture books were covered on this panel, with some solid questions from the audience. We talked about how to break into the field, and we gave some interesting anecdotes of experiences we’d had so far. (I discussed selling MEMORY THIEF twice.) It was a good panel.
Writing for Young Adults: This one focused a lot on the nuts and bolts of what makes YA different from other genres, as opposed to getting into how to actually write it. One idea that surprised me on the panel was that YA was under attack somehow. That the genre could be overtaken by outside forces. This is the first I’ve heard of the worry, and I have to admit to being skeptical. The justification given was that a lot of the people who read YA aren’t actually young adults, and so young adults might have their own interests trumped by adults who are YA fans. I hear this, and I fail really get worried about it, however. YA is YA because of an evolving set of expectations from the genre. If it morphs into something actual teens don’t read, then something new will come along to cater to that hole. The market will fix that. People are very good at making money. If there’s an audience, then I have complete faith that someone will find a way to shake them down for loose change.
Plotting a Story: This one took me by surprise. It ended up being more a caricature of plotting than anything really serious. The audience would shout out suggestions, and the panelists were expected to turn those suggestions into something like a plot. Far too goofy for me, and I worried a bit that some would walk away thinking that was actually how plotting happens. I don’t know. I just wasn’t feeling it. I tried my best to goof along with the rest, but . . . I don’t think I’ll be volunteering for another panel like that. It’s not who I am.
Signing: Adaptive had sent a box of ARCs for me to give away for free, and it was amusing seeing how many people were really skeptical about the “free” part. (I made a little sign to announce the fact, because so many people were just walking by without even looking at me.) I don’t blame them. That floor was jam packed with people who wanted to sell you anything and everything, and everyone had an angle. Lots of things were overpriced. So to have someone with an actual book and he was giving it away? But after I assured them that yes, it was free, and no, I wasn’t just talking about my autograph, they were overjoyed. I could easily have given away hundreds of ARCs. I was also surprised by how many people there had never had an author sign a book for them. They were confused when I’d ask if they wanted it personalized or not. Many just said “whatever,” in hopes this strange man would stop asking them strange questions. Funny.

In between all of that I had some great German food, visited with family, watched BYU beat Arizona in a last minute nail biter, and played some board games. The definition of a successful Utah trip. Best of all, the trip out and back was pretty much smooth sailing. No delays. No lost luggage. No nothing. Sure, it was a redeye flight, but I even managed to sleep on the plane! Bonus.

Now, alas, I have too much work at my job to do, so I’ll have to cut this short. Thanks to all of you who I got to see in Utah, and to the Con for inviting me out. Hopefully I can come again sometime.

 

Minecrafting on YouTube

I’ve fallen off the Minecraft bandwagon lately. Just too many other things going on in my life for me to keep it up. But Tomas is still going strong. He and a friend have even started a YouTube channel, posting some of their exploits online. And after repeated requests, I figured today is a good day to give them a plug. If you’re looking to see how a couple of 12 year olds approach the game these days, look no further than The Awesomepole Gaming.

Tomas is m34ndr. (Funny aside. Since I picked that name as a leet spelling of Meander (from Cavern of Babel), Tomas sort of fell into it by accident. He was using my account, which had the name, and so he got the name. But because of that, he’s a big Meander fan now. And my mom has a bunch of Meander t-shirts still kicking around, so he proudly got to wear a new one for his first day of school. I certainly didn’t picture that scenario back when I was writing the character ten years ago or whatever.) He’s not in all the videos, but he’s working on being in more.

I think this is step one of their plan of eventual global domination. Making boatloads of money off the videos is involved in there somewhere, and to that I wish them the best of luck. What will be really fun is when he’s a few years older. I wonder what his thoughts on the channel will be then?

In any case, give it a gander and leave a comment on it, if you’re so inclined. Like the video. Subscribe to the channel and really make their day.

Movie Review Roundup

I was traveling 12 hours yesterday, and I had the chance to watch three movies while I was underway. So before I traipse off to Comic Con, I’m here to let you know what I thought of the films. Ready?

City Slickers was shown on the bus ride from Augusta to Boston. The screen was tiny, but I watched it anyway, mainly because it was something to do. I think I’d seen pieces of it here and there over the years, but never the whole thing from start to finish. It’s a Billy Crystal movie where he and two of his lifelong best friends decide to go on a cattle drive, despite all of them being confirmed urbanites. Hilarity ensues. Overall, it’s a decent comedy. Some really funny parts, along with a feel good message about the importance of family and living in the moment. That said, there were multiple times it just dragged on with too much silliness. Action sequences that overstayed their welcome, etc. 3/5

Concussion was a movie I’ve wanted to see for quite some time and I really enjoyed it. Will Smith stars as the doctor who discovered the adverse effects football can have on the human brain. It’s compelling from start to finish, and I particularly appreciated how they didn’t just film a “football is evil” plot. True, many of the NFL people aren’t presented as anything other than money-grubbing weasels, but efforts are made to show not just the violence of the sport, but the beauty too. I’m a huge college football fan, and I would be very sad to see the sport die. But at the same time, it needs to be played in a way that is safe for the players. This isn’t ancient Rome. By including clips from the early 2000s, it’s interesting to see what the approach to football used to be little more than 10 years ago. Big hits. Hard hits. Vicious hits. All celebrated, because “it’s not like it’s hurting the players.” They had helmets on, right?

I’m not a doctor, and I’d be interested hearing what a medical professional thought about the movie. It did a good job conveying to me what was going on, but I wondered how accurate it was.  I’ll give it a 5/5, but realize that it’s pretty much right up my alley. If someone’s not a fan of football and research, this might not scratch all the right itches.

Tomorrowland is another movie I’d been wanting to see, and I never got around to seeing it. George Clooney stars in a Disney adaptation centered loosely around various Disney ideas. In a nutshell, it focuses on how fifty years ago, when people talked about the future, they talked about the awesome things that were coming. It was a Jetsons future with flying cars and easy jobs and robots to do all your housework. But today, people talk about melting polar ice caps, global catastrophes, and dystopias. Wouldn’t it be great if we could go back to that version of the future where we all thought it was going to be incredible?

It’s a nice sentiment, even if I feel like it oversimplifies the matter a great deal. Sort of like people wishing for the wistful days of the 1950s, when life was simpler . . . and some people’s lives were absolute misery because sexism and racism and other -isms abounded. But I digress.

There are some plot issues the movie has, mainly with characters who do things for little motivation or explanation, and a few gaping plot holes, but overall I really enjoyed the movie. The future it presents isn’t a future like the Jetsons. It’s an inclusive Utopia, and I can get behind that. I wasn’t sure for the first while if I’d give the movie a 3 or a 4, but I think it stuck the landing, so it’s a 4/5 for me.

Any of you see any of these movies? Any thoughts?

Back to School!

No pics on this post, since I’m just going to do what the rest of the civilized world does these days and post them directly to Facebook. But I’m here to say that today, Tomas (he’s old enough now for me to have him go by his real name on the blog, methinks) and DC headed off to school. Seventh grade and third grade, even though it feels to me like Tomas is the one who ought to just be barely old enough to be going to third grade.

MC is really excited to be going to preschool, but she won’t be doing that until October, I think. (That doesn’t stop her from talking about it all the time, of course. “I’m going to preschool when there are pumpkins!” she tells people. “Mom’s going to be so sad,” she almost always adds. She’s very fond of the idea that her absence makes people sad. Go figure.)

It should be an exciting year for all of them. Tomas is in honors 8th grade algebra, one of only two or three seventh graders in his school to do that. The more math, the merrier, I say. DC is going to start violin lessons.

And thus we officially conclude the summer of 2016. It was a fun one. Two trips to the beach, a trip down to Pennsylvania, tennis lessons, swimming lessons, cousins visiting us in Maine, a trip up to Presque Isle, the Olympics, zip lining at Sunday River, plenty of ice cream and goodies, and more. I think we crammed in enough fun.

My personal favorite part of the kids going back to school? I no longer feel like such a poor thing for having to go to work every day. How am I celebrating? By going to Salt Lake Comic Con, instead. I’m heading out today, so stay tuned for what exciting travel disasters might befall me.

I live to entertain.