Jack Chaucer's Blog, page 8

Streaks of Blue readers raised $127.16 for Newtown families in year one

Two more Amazon paperbacks sold just under the wire. 78 copies of “Streaks of Blue” = $127.16, which I just donated to the Newtown Memorial Fund. Thanks to all my awesome and generous readers! Any copies sold from now on will go toward my donation on 12-14-14. The book is actually set in 2014 so I hope it does even better next year. God bless the angels of Newtown and their families on this sad first anniversary.

P.S. My radio interview with Larry Rifkin of WATR-1320 AM went very well on Friday — an interesting conversation about how we prevent the next one. Sadly, that very day, there was another shooting in Colorado, just eight miles from Columbine. Two more victims plus the shooter. Our struggle continues …

After book signing, 58 copies of "Streaks of Blue" now sold; $99.11 raised for Newtown families as rough month of December begins ...

It was a fantastic day at the Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington, Conn., on Sunday. I met some great people, signed some books and raised a lot more money for the Newtown Memorial Fund. Members from a book club in Northfield came to the signing and told me they have chosen “Streaks of Blue” as their next book club selection. They even invited me to discuss the book with them at a dinner party in January. I signed books for a ninth-grader all the way up to an elderly couple from Newtown. One woman bought three copies. Thank you to all who turned out and to Hickory Stick owner Fran Keilty for hosting this event. Fran also will be donating a portion of the proceeds to a Newtown-related charity.

The great news is I get 60 percent of paperback sales at Hickory Stick. That means those 11 copies sold add $79.13 to the $119.09 in royalties already collected.

“Streaks of Blue” has now sold 58 copies in just over 2 months for a total proceeds of $198.22. That’s $99.11 raised for the Newtown Memorial Fund!

Today's newspaper story about "Streaks of Blue" ...

BY ALAN BISBORT
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Like so many people in the area, Litchfield author John Cullen could not get the unspeakable horror at Sandy Hook Elementary School out of his head. The father of 2-year-old twins, he was forced to think the unthinkable: How safe are my kids, really, if such a thing can happen at Sandy Hook?

Even for someone who has worked in newsrooms for 22 years, and thought he'd seen and heard every permutation on human tragedy, Cullen was left dazed by what happened in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012.

"This event will never go away," said Cullen, a layout editor at the Republican-American whose pen name is Jack Chaucer. "It seemed like the rock bottom of civilization had been reached. Twenty first-graders are gone just like that? It was a hopeless and helpless feeling, but you want to do something on top of donating money to change the world your kids live in. It almost forced me to write about it."

He said he felt numb for a month after Sandy Hook.

"As a novelist, my mindset was either I write nothing for a long, long time, or I tackle this head on," said Cullen, who previously wrote the futuristic thriller "Queens are Wild" (2012). "Any other subject seemed trivial."

So, he did what came most naturally to him — he began writing. Before long, he realized that the act of writing had gone beyond the therapeutic and he suddenly had a cast of characters, a setting and a plot that carried him along as much as he helped shape it.

"I knew I wanted a girl with blue hair as the main character," he said. "Thematically, we are in a streak of blue with all of the shootings that have happened. But I also knew that I wanted the students to be older, in their teens. And I didn't want to saddle any specific town, so I made up a fictional town and set it in New Hampshire."

The end result is a newly published 259-page novel with a long title: "Streaks of Blue: How the Angels of Newtown Inspired One Girl to Save Her School." The book is available in both trade paperback edition ($11.99 at Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington, Conn., and Amazon) and as an e-book ($2.99 at Kindle, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and smashwords.com). Cullen is donating half of the proceeds to the Newtown Memorial Fund, which supports the families of all 26 victims and others affected by the massacre.

Though the general plot backdrop was inspired by the Sandy Hook tragedy, the danger lurking within the story bears more resemblance to the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colo., in April 1999. At Columbine, two boys filled with hostility toward their classmates plotted out their shooting rampage with military-like precision weeks ahead of time.

With a slightly futuristic cast to it — set mostly in the weeks leading up to the two-year anniversary of Sandy Hook in December 2014 — "Streaks of Blue" imagines a similar story arc taking shape at Lakeview Regional High School in New Hampshire. The would-be Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are Adam Upton (echoes of Adam Lanza, the shooter at Sandy Hook) and Thomas "Lee" Harvey (as in Oswald, the alleged shooter of JFK). Their main "beef" is the contempt with which the majority of the school holds them for being "trailer trash." They also come from broken families with a history of drug and alcohol abuse.

The only person standing between them and their goal of annihilation is 17-year-old Nicole Janicek. A sensitive, outdoorsy girl who likes to dye her hair blue, "Nikki" has a scary premonition while camping under the stars on Mount Washington just before her senior year. In the dream, the "angels of Newtown" appear and urge Nicole to reconnect with Adam, a boy she used to know in elementary school.

The angels not only warn Nicole about the shooting plot, but they also give her hope that a friendship with Adam could prevent it.

"My hope was to channel their bravery, strength and goodness into Nicole," Cullen said. "So far, based on the positive reaction to the book — and especially Nikki's character — I think that's how it turned out."

During its launch this fall, "Streaks of Blue" garnered 345 requests for advance copies from around the world on the website NetGalley. To date, the book has been reviewed by 47 readers on Goodreads and 17 on Amazon. The interest and feedback, particularly from teens and teachers, has been particularly gratifying, Cullen said.

"A teenage girl in Georgia (Asia) wrote in her review that she felt as if I had actually been to her own high school," Cullen said. "She was inspired to reconnect with former friends after reading the book. Another teen in India wrote that she wanted to start mountain climbing. I love that the story had such an impact on two young people from the other side of the world."

He noted that he tapped into his own experiences from growing up in Rhode Island. One particularly effective scene in "Streaks of Blue" — in which a teacher makes Nikki's class discuss the lyrics from the album "Synchronicity" by The Police — was drawn from real events in Cullen's high school classroom experience.

"My English lit teacher Paul Richards did that exact same lesson with us back in 1985," he said. "My point in using it in 'Streaks of Blue' is that same discussion becomes very different today. You can't talk about a song like 'Murder By Numbers' the same as we did in 1985. Back then there were no Columbines or Newtowns."

Whether Nikki succeeds or fails in her attempt — no spoilers here — "Streaks of Blue" directly addresses the issue of school violence, but in a creative, compelling and non-preachy manner.

"I don't attack guns. I don't focus a lot on mental health. I do focus on human relationships and having the courage to be friends with people who don't have many friends," Cullen said. "At the end of the day, I wanted to write something meaningful. If you can reach out and inspire a kid to help another kid before he or she does something terrible, then I would be happy."

For information, visit the author's website, http://queensarewild.wordpress.com, and Goodreads page, http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/....

BOOK TALK AND SIGNING EVENT

Litchfield author John Cullen will appear for a book discussion and signing Dec. 1 at 2 p.m. at the Hickory Stick Bookshop, 2 Green Hill Road, Washington, Conn. Both Cullen and Hickory Stick will donate a portion of the proceeds to Newtown-related charities.

Hiking memories and a good cause make "Streaks of Blue" extra special ... $34.20 raised so far for Newtown families

"Streaks of Blue" has sold 25 copies so far for a net proceeds of $68.40. That's $34.20 raised for the Newtown Memorial Fund thus far. Thank you to all you have bought the book and I appreciate anything you can do to spread the word. Special shout-out to avid hiker Vin Mansolillo, the inspiration for Vin's character in the final scene on Mount Kearsarge North. He bought a copy and said he really enjoyed the book. He said he got so into the story that he sometimes forgot the person who wrote it used to be the little kid who tagged along with him and my old man on a whole bunch of hikes in the White Mountains back in the 80s.

Streaks of Blue has raised $11.27 and counting for the Newtown Memorial Fund so far

Here’s an update on Amazon sales since “Streaks of Blue” was published on 9-27.
Seven paperbacks have sold on Amazon so far. That is my best month since I started publishing on Amazon in May with “Queens are Wild.” My royalty is $3.22 on every paperback for net proceeds of $22.54. That means I pledge $11.27 so far to the Newtown Memorial Fund.

There is a greater lag time on e-book sales, but so far two people have told me they bought the book on Kindle and two more on Apple iTunes. I’ll pass along those figures when Smashwords relays them to me.

As an indie author/publisher, every sale is a well-earned victory. Thank you to those who have bought “Streaks of Blue” and I plan to donate half of whatever proceeds the book has reaped on the first anniversary of the Newtown shooting, 12-14-13. For more info, visit www.newtownmemorialfund.org

Below are numerous purchase links for the book, which is now available virtually everywhere online and at Amazon for the paperback version:

Amazon/Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/Streaks-Blue-An...

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/strea...

Apple:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/strea...

Kobo:

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/book...

Smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...


Thanks!

Jack

"Streaks of Blue" is released today. Here's why I wrote it and how you can buy it. Half the proceeds go to Newtown Memorial Fund.

First, I just want to thank everyone for their interest and support. This novel is my own little attempt to turn something horrific that happened on December 14, 2012, into something positive. The massacre left all of us feeling helpless. As a novelist, I turned to writing about this issue directly because what happened that day should NEVER be forgotten and we all need to do SOMETHING about it to prevent the next Newtown.

Based on early reviews from readers young and old, inside the USA and out, “Streaks of Blue” already has inspired a teen in Georgia (Russia) to reconnect with former friends, a mom in upstate New York to squeeze her young son much tighter and a teen in India to go mountain climbing. There are currently 10 reviews up on Amazon and about 16 on my Goodreads page if you want to get the full perspective. Not every review is 5 stars, but even the 3-star reviewers are impressed with main character Nicole Janicek. They all agree she is a rare gem of a female lead in the YA genre for her bravery and compassion along a difficult journey.

Again, I will be donating half of the proceeds from this book to the Newtown Memorial Fund. Below are numerous purchase links for the book, which is now available virtually everywhere online and at Amazon for the paperback version:

Amazon/Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/Streaks-Blue-An...

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/strea...

Apple:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/strea...

Kobo:

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/book...

Smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...



Thanks!

Jack

My YA drama "Streaks of Blue" comes out Friday. Here's Nikki's poem which captures the essence of the book:

Red, white and ...

Streaks of blue

Far off the path

I search for truth



Live free or die

A state of beauty

Will we be next

To look to the sky

And find more stars

Than the night just passed?

Lessons never learned

The youngest of souls

Pay with their lives

So for them I cry



The rain in my heart

Soaks every ring

This paper on which I write

Once was a sapling

So young and new

But now it's a vessel

On a lake

Beneath a cloud

And onto it flow

My streaks of blue



Again and again

More trees fall

No not me

But it might as well be

For I die with them



As the view gets clearer

And the truth gets nearer

I am sad to discover

That we truly are lost

So I look in the mirror

And dye my hair blue

So I brook through the mountains

And keep my heart true



I'll blaze a new trail

No matter the cost

One without labels

One that is just

Souls are for saving

While we're still walking

So strap on your packs

Your hopes, your boots

And keep your eyes open

For my streaks of blue



Yes, I'll blaze a new trail

A path for the lost.

First review ever for "Streaks of Blue" (5 stars) ... I'm blown away

"Streaks of Blue: How the Angels of Newtown Inspired One Girl To Save Her School" by Jack Chaucer

I'm re-posting a review by Christine Cheff, a blogger for the Books Unhinged
website. She accessed my book via NetGalley.

5 stars

Wow. After reading this book, I am truly at a loss for words right now. I have so many emotions running through me I’m not sure how to organize my thoughts into coherent sentences to get my point across and not sure I will. I am just not sure I can do the author justice. Knowing that there might have been references in this book to the Newtown, CT massacre had me indecisive about reading this book because of all the sadness and heartache which surrounded the event but I am glad I took the plunge.
This book is about two very disturbed boys Adam and Thomas, that are plotting the next big school massacre at their New Hampshire high school. A senior, Nicole, who knew Adam in elementary school, tries to reconnect with the damaged teen at the start of their senior year after having a “dream” or “premonition” of the shooting. She tries so very hard to pull him from the darkness into the light and is becoming successful. Or is she? I’m not sure if it is the constant reference to the shooting massacre in Newtown, CT or the fact that I have a little boy who will be attending kindergarten in 2 years but I was an absolute emotional wreck through this book. I felt like there was a vice squeezing my chest waiting for the horror to come as I read page after page. I was angst ridden during most of it. It was chilling and horrifying to hear the thoughts these two boys had and the lengths they went to, to complete their plan of massacre. Their lack of compassion for human life brought out the most emotion in me. Because these boys were from the “wrong side of the tracks” they had been stereotyped at an early age and had endured endless bullying in school. The effects of bullying know no limits. I’m not even going to get into my thoughts on bullying because they are so strong but after reading this book, it has opened my eyes even more on it. It is admirable for the heroine in this book to try to help Adam in this story but it also is made very clear that one person alone can not fix what is broken in a boy like him. This book casts light on the truth that even adults in higher positions in communities that are supposed to be trained to deal with these issues, can be blind to it. I felt such anger and rage towards these two boys but at the same time felt sad for them. There were many cries for help from these boys some blatant and some subtle, that were just passed right over. It brought back all the sadness and heartache I felt for the Newtown Massacre. As time goes on, you forget. You forget the rage and loss you felt when you watched the news that day. You forget how a community pulled together to grieve and move on. You forget the individual stories of the senseless lives lost. You forget how easily this can happen anywhere. I just can’t put into words how profoundly this book touched me. I am still trying to digest all of what I read. It has however, helped me be a lot more informed of bullying and the effects of it and signs to look for. I almost want to say that teens should read this book but as an adult even I wasn’t prepared for the emotions I felt reading it and the after effects of it. Kudos to the author for writing on such a sad topic, a sad event in history and the topic of bullying. I feel fortunate that I got to read this before it has actually been released. I am wondering how controversial this book will be when it comes out and how many emotions it will bring to the surface. I can only hope that if it only helps one person, it has done its job. I feel that a book like this when read can almost make people be better parents. It’s a reminder that children’s personalities are formed and shaped at such a young age. I’m going to go and try to pull myself together now and smother my little boy with hugs and kisses.

Chapter listing for "Streaks of Blue"

1. Lakes of the Clouds

2. 14th & Stardust

3. Bat-shit Crazy

4. Driving Mr. Brody

5. The Police

6. Three Words

7. Calling for Backup

8. Demons and Trail Angels

9. “We’re Going to be Friends”

10. Sugar Cubes

11. The Acid Den

12. Inside Information

13. The Punch Heard ‘Round Lakeview

14. Talking About Trips

15. 9/11

16. The Unexpected Diagnosis

17. Bucket Lists

18. A Date at Chili’s

19. A Shot in the Dark

20. The Aftermath

21. The Wounded Poet

22. AC 360

23. Kearsarge North

The Smashwords interview with Jack Chaucer ...

Q: Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
A: I grew up on Chaucer Drive in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, so it must be fate that I became a writer. I enjoyed Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” in high school, too. As a result, I picked Chaucer for part of my pen name.
My family moved to Chaucer Drive when I was 6. By age 7, I was already the leading force in creating a neighborhood newspaper with other kids on the block. We’d pass the handwritten paper around at the end-of-summer block party and all the adults would get a good laugh.
Writing novels and raising twins may be my day job, but I’m still in the newspaper business at night. I edit and design pages at the Republican-American in Waterbury, Conn. I’ve been in the journalism business for 22 years now at four different papers in three states.

Q: What’s the story behind your latest book?
A: My latest book is “Streaks of Blue: How the Angels of Newtown Inspired One Girl to Save Her School.” I know. The title is quite long — kind of like Pearl Jam’s song “Elderly Woman Behind a Counter in a Small Town” or a Fiona Apple CD title. The subject matter of this book, however, is no laughing matter. When 20 first-graders and 6 women were gunned down at an elementary school on Dec. 14, 2012 — and not all that far from where I live with my wife and kids — the whole world seemed to stop and pay attention. How could gun violence in our schools and country get any lower than an entire class of first-graders being wiped out 11 days before Christmas? But, of course, the world goes on about its business eventually.
Not for me. In fact, this was the only topic I could think about as I considered what to write about next. My new book, which will be published on Sept. 27, is the culmination of eight months of wrestling with this brutal but extremely relevant plague on our society.
The protagonist, Nicole, receives a warning in a dream that one of her classmates — a boy she once knew in elementary school — is plotting the next big school massacre at her high school in New Hampshire. The story follows her attempt to reconnect with and befriend the boy before it’s too late.
It was an extremely hard story to write, but I’m very proud of how it turned out and I look forward to sharing it with the world very soon. I’ve dedicated the book to the Newtown victims and have pledged to donate half of the proceeds to the Newtown Memorial Fund, whose motto is “Hitch Your Wagon to A Star.”

Q: What motivated you to become an indie author?
A: I think it has become cool to be an indie author, so much so that even Big Six authors are going off on their own and e-pubbing directly to readers now. It’s an exciting time for writers. It’s such a bold and empowering challenge to try to become an author and publisher in my own right that I simply could not resist. I’ve cranked out four novels in four years and continue to learn a lot every day, mostly through trial and error. It’s already been a fascinating journey through this creative/marketing process. Though I’m still basically an unknown author, I have this gut feeling that my new book “Streaks of Blue” will put me on the map. It’s an exciting time and, much like a reader of a page-turning thriller, I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Q: How has Smashwords contributed to your success?
A: Smashwords is amazing. It gives you the ability to create something special and then distribute that creation to the entire world FOR FREE. It gives you the financial freedom to hire quality editors (Bill Bernardi and Dave Krechevsky, you both rock!) and amazing cover designers (Damon Za and Ida Jansson, you both rock!) to polish your novel before e-shipping it out to every corner of the planet. In short, if Mark Coker ran for president, I would vote for him.

Q: What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
A: Do you remember the 1980s show “The A Team?” I think it was the Hannibal character who always said “I love it when a plan comes together.” Then the music would kick in.
Well, I love it when you start with this one great idea and you keep developing it until it spawns more great ideas and, eventually, the whole plan comes together, resulting it a great book.
It’s like putting a giant puzzle together, but all you get to start with is one completely blank page.

Q: What do your fans mean to you?
A: So far I only have a few, so every one is precious! Their positive feedback is a huge boost!

Q: What are you working on next?
A: After four novels in four years, I need a bit of a mental break following “Streaks of Blue.” But my next goal is to attempt to write a trilogy. So far I’m toying with the name “Mammyth,” but it’s all very nebulous at this point.

Q: Who are your favorite authors?
A: George R.R. Martin is a big one. I’m a huge fan of the “Game of Thrones” series. I would love to find a way to world-build 1/100th as well as him!

Q: What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
A: My twin son and daughter. I’m not sure “inspire” is the right word though. They’re both 2, so it’s more like they demand that I get out of bed each day.

Q: When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
A: Working, raising twin toddlers, cutting a lot of grass (we have a pretty big yard) and, very soon, preparing for my league’s fantasy football league draft!

Q: What is your writing process?
A: I actually hand write the first draft. I can’t sit at the computer for that phase of the project. It takes too long to come up with all of my ideas. When I do get a good idea, I never have writer’s block. The first draft takes me about 3 months. Then it’s rewriting, overhauling and editing for another 3-5 months. The cover concept took a lot longer to finalize for “Streaks of Blue” than for “Queens are Wild.”

Published 2013-08-24.