Andrew Buckley's Blog, page 7

Want to Win a Signed Copy of HAIR IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES?

I'm giving away 3 signed copies of my new teen novel, HAIR IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES. Want to win one? Just head over to Goodreads or click the enter button below!

​Happy howling . . .  .goodreadsGiveawayWidget { color: #555; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; background: white; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget p { margin: 0 0 .5em !important; padding: 0; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink { display: inline-block; color: #181818; background-color: #F6F6EE; border: 1px solid #9D8A78; border-radius: 3px; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; outline: none; font-size: 13px; padding: 8px 12px; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink:hover { color: #181818; background-color: #F7F2ED; border: 1px solid #AFAFAF; text-decoration: none; }Goodreads Book Giveaway Hair in All the Wrong Placesby Andrew Buckley

Giveaway ends July 25, 2016.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Book Signing - Chapters, Kelowna, BC

Hair in All the Wrong Places hits book shelves! - Reviews

My latest novel has finally been unleashed! HAIR IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES, published by Month9Books was released on June 7th. After receiving honourable mentions at both the 2016 New York and San Francisco Book Festivals, the book has continued to receive positive reviews all round with many people being able to relate to the adventures of awkward teen, Colin Strauss, as he struggles with puberty, his first crush, and his untimely transformation into a growling, drooling, hairy creature of the night. 

Here are just a few of the review excerpts:

"Oh that title! You feel like you know just what you’re getting when you see it. A funny, tongue-in-cheek middle school book about werewolves. Puberty and monsters, in one silly package." - Read Full Review

"I would love to read more stories a about Colin. I expect he is gonna have an exciting life." - Read Full Review 

"I had a great time with this entertaining, loveable middle grade novel." - Read Full Review 

"A lovely mix of coming-of-age, mystery, young adult romance, and paranormal/ fantasy, with some interesting sub-themes of identity and belonging, this is adventurous and fun fiction."

"The writing had an infectious rhythm to it that drew me in, the characters were well-drawn, and the plot was intriguing, all of which made for a page-turning read."

"Hair in All The Wrong Places is fast-paced and fabulous. I loved Andrew Buckley's ironic writing style."

"Hair in all the Wrong Places is a highly entertaining, adventurous story with a ton of humor, a little bit of romance, and mysteries abound."

"I absolutely enjoyed reading this book, it was comical, mysterious and entertaining. Andrew Buckley did well to blend in the awkwardness of a pubescent teen who has self-esteem issues. As if that isn't a hard enough period in life, add in a dose of werewolf-itis and you've got a pretty disastrous entry into teenhood."

"I really enjoyed this story and Colin's experiences as puberty takes on a whole new meaning for him. I hope he will have more adventures, the setting is wonderful and there are so many secrets yet to uncover!"
​ PICK UP YOUR COPY TODAY!

#ShakespeareWeek on Goodreads

It's #ShakespeareWeek on Goodreads and they're doing all sorts of bard-related fun stuff! Like having people write deleted scenes from Billy's work! Naturally, I couldn't resist at taking a crack at it myself. Please find below for your amusement, the alternate ending to Romeo & Juliet . . .

Romeo & Juliet - Alternate/Original Ending (taken from the 1st draft)

Prince: We settle a dark peace this morning. The sun is too sad to show itself. Let’s go, to talk about these sad things some more. Some will be pardoned, and some will be punished. There was never a story more full of pain than the story of Romeo and Ju--

Coroner: Actually, they're not quite dead yet, sire.

Prince: What do you mean 'they're not dead yet'?

Coroner: Looks like Juliet nicked a couple of arteries but we managed to stop the bleeding and she'll be fine. We were able to counteract the poison in Romeo's system with a simple transfusion. 

Prince: Are you sure?

Coroner: Oh yes, quite sure. Modern medicine at its best, sire. 

Prince: Well, alright then. it appears they're going to be fine. So, new agenda: We'll be hanging Romeo tomorrow for the murders of Paris and Mr. Tibbs (*Tybalt's original character name -  1st draft). Juliet will be imprisoned for drug trafficking along with her dealer, Friar Laurence.

Friar Laurence (shocked): Me, sire?! But I'm just a simple Friar.

Prince: You're not fooling anyone! You're obviously a drug dealer. How else can you explain that dodgy-looking haircut?

Friar Laurence: I'm a Friar! It's the style.

Prince: Guards! Arrest him!



Prince: So, once again, we settle a dark peace this morning. The sun is still too sad to show itself. Bloody miserable weather. Let’s go, to talk about these sad things some more. Some will be pardoned, pretty much no one actually, and some will be punished, as I just stated. There was never a story more full of pain than the story of Romeo and Juliet. And don't forget about the obligatory pot-luck lunch after the hanging tomorrow. And don't just bring potato chips, put some effort into it! I want to see some variety!

THE END

 

Braxton Woods Mystique

Today marks the official release of Adam Furgang's debut novel, BRAXTON WOODS MYSTIQUE! Adam and I share the same literary agent and I had the pleasure of reading the book over a year ago (ha! in your face everyone else!). 

Adam's delivery in this novel is flawless as he twists a tale so charming and compelling that you'll have a difficult time putting it down. I highly recommend it!  SYNOPSIS: 
RUN TOWARD WHAT SCARES YOU… After losing everything in a fire, Leo and his mom move into an unfinished development far off in the middle of Braxton Woods. As summer vacation begins, Leo and his new friends set out to explore the land behind their homes. They are alarmed to find sinkholes, horrific creatures, electrical disturbances, and even a buried carnival from long ago. Despite their growing fears, they are drawn toward solving the extraordinary mystery. Little do they know they are about to unearth a sinister force and discover a dark, forgotten secret from the town’s past. Ultimately, they must overcome the willies, heebie-jeebies, creeps, shakes, and shivers as they chose danger over a far greater threat—a dull summer.
Buy for Kindle Buy Print Copy

Batman V. Superman - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (in reverse)

Admittedly, I didn't hate BvS as much as, well, most of the world. I actually enjoyed it. Is it flawed? You bet your ass it is. Is it convoluted? Damn right! Should we trust Snyder with more DC properties? Nope!

​So why did I enjoy it? Let's break it down. We'll run this in reverse so we can end on a positive note and yes, you may find some elements fall into more than one category because I enjoy contradicting myself. 

​**WARNING: Contains Spoilers!**

Cue the theme music (insert whatever music you feel is appropriate) . . .  The Ugly Lex Luthor's Plan - The backbone of this movie relies on the nefarious planning of evil genius Lex Luthor, but we're not shown the full story. As shown in the deleted scene posted after the movie's release, there's more at play in the background with Lex and the villain in Justice League than the movie shows. This was obviously cute because of length. Maybe it'll make more sense in the R-Rated Director's Cut? Also, was Lex making it up as he went along because a lot of the timelines don't really match up? Why even bother going to the trouble of asking permission when you're an evil genius? Just sneak the damn kryptonite in. Why sweet talk Holly Hunter at all? At what point did he decide to kidnap Ma Kent? Speaking of which . . .

Snyder - Give it up, Zack. You don't understand the characters enough to carry them through multiple phases, ala Marvel. Time to pass the torch.

Ma Kent - Can we really blame Superman for turning out to be a brooding, confused, murderer? Look at the parental guidance he's had thus far! His father Jor-El wanted him to be a god. Pa Kent wanted him to let the busload of kids drown. And now, the voice of love and reason, Ma Kent ends up telling him to 'not give a crap' because he owes the world nothing. Really? I'm pretty sure without earth he'd have no powers and would be floating around in a capsule in space like Ripley at the beginning of Aliens (**Watch Aliens, THAT's a good movie).

Doomsday looks like the love child of a LOTR cave troll and one of Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Expect God to lawyer up - Enough with the saviour/crucifix imagery. We get it. They're gods among men, they make sacrifices. No need to hammer it home with people worshipping Superman and throwing crosses in the background all the time.​

Doomsday - This thing looks like the love child of a LOTR cave troll and one of Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It got more Doomsdayish as the fight went on but overall it's just a big CGI monster and it was hard ​to see it as anything other than that.

​Lois Lane - Is Margot Kidder still available? I'm certain she'd still make a better Lois Lane than Amy Adams. She serves no purpose in the movie, she's the reason Superman puts some guy through a wall, she throws the kryptonite spear in the water, she has no chemistry with Cavill . . . and come on, pant suits all the time? Again, Margot Kidder anyone? The Bad Pink eye. It sucks. Superman - Possibly the worst interpretation of the character to ever grace the screens. Not that he's badly acted (I generally like Cavill), but he's completely unlikeable. This movie promised repercussions from the events in Man of Steel but all we got was a Superman who saves people but also kills people. Not exactly the bright shining example we want to see from our hero who stands for truth, justice, and the american way (although there's an argument to be made that violently putting a warlord through several brick walls is fairly american). 

Wonder Woman - Just bring on the Wonder Woman movie. Gadot is a decent choice and I'm curious to see her in the solo outing. She was shoe horned into this movie and wasn't really required to move any of the plot forward. 

​Alfred - Go home Jeremy Irons, you're too young. 

Justice League - So was Batman seeing a vision of the future, or Flash appeared to him in a dream, or Flash was in Batman's dream which was within a dream . . . ? They would have needed Leonardo DiCaprio to solve that inception. It was possible to set up the Justice League movie without showing the future dream; as it was it did nothing for the plot. Batman still could have uncovered the footage of the other meta humans but why convolute it with the dreams and the Flash visit? Darkseid isn't mentioned in this movie. Again, maybe it works better in the director's cut. Which isn't an excuse. If it doesn't add to the story then cut it!

More dreams. This time with 80% more bats and 100% more floating children.

Batman Origin Story - I didn't mind the tweak they made in his origin with his dad fighting back, didn't bother me. I was more bummed that they showed his origin story again. We've seen it. A few times. Show some gravestones, move on. 

Batcave/Well Discovery - More dreams. This time with 80% more bats and 100% more floating children.

Glowing Eyes - Why do so many characters require glowing eyes? Honestly not something I noticed in the movie but totally noticed it when I was looking for pictures for this blog post.

Dialogue for the sake of the trailer - "I thought she was with you?" Obviously you didn't, Batman. I think you'll find that your bat-pants are on fire. The line makes no sense. He's been emailing with her for the last half of the movie. Which means it was something cool for the trailer but makes no sense in the movie and makes Batman look like an idiot. The Good Batman - I hated the idea of Affleck playing Batman but I was completely wrong. Now I'd absolutely watch a solo Batfleck movie (this has now been confirmed by DC with Affleck at the helm which is a great move). He looks the part as Bruce Wayne and he brings that grim and dark determination that Batman needs to the formidable character. Yes the armour looked clunky, yes he may have killed a few henchmen, and yes we can argue about whether Batman could really beat Superman, and sure his detective skills were not up to their usual level but when it comes down to it, this was still a great incarnation of the character. He looked the part. It was the warehouse scene that sold me. When he busts in to rescue Ma Kent, it's exactly the style of action I want to see from Batman. He's methodical, he's strategic, and he's brutal. What a weird world we live in where Batman is more likeable than Superman. 
​
Superman the Alien - I thought the concept of an all-powerful alien coming to earth and attempting to be a superhero but not being accepted by everyone was a well grounded idea in today's society. Everything is so transparent today. Opinions are shared as they're formed and thrust out into the world. And this version of Superman is someone who came to earth in secret, only appeared when more of his people showed up to destroy the earth, and then proceeded to fight them and killed thousands of humans. People would see him as a threat. Others would see him as a god. Others as a hero. That conflict is a very grounding notion but I don't think it was fully executed properly. I expect Captain America: Civil War will execute this notion perfectly.

For all the twitches and weird nuances, I liked Jesse Eisenberg's version of the silicon valley-styled tech genius. He was weird and quirky and slightly unstable.

Alfred - He's not old enough for the character but I didn't mind this take on Bruce Wayne's butler. He's no Michael Caine, nor is he meant to be. He has more practical skills and can still throw in the occasional quip but he matches Bruce's battle-worn attitude.

Lex Luthor - For all the twitches and weird nuances, I liked Jesse Eisenberg's version of the silicon valley styled tech genius. He was weird and quirky and slightly unstable. I think once we see more of what was influencing him in the director's cut, he'll make a lot more sense. And for once a movie version of Lex Luthor wasn't trying to pull some sort of stupid real estate scam.

​Wonder Woman - Gadot looks great as Wonder Woman and there's one moment during the Doomsday fight where she takes a beating, gets up and smiles, and goes in for the attack, like she's truly enjoying herself. That tiny little gesture sold the character for me. 

Visuals & Action - One thing that Zack Snyder does well is create epic visual shots. He probably gets a little too tied into the CGI these days but he's great when it comes to creating action sequences. My favourite thing about Watchmen was the fight sequences. They're done well and they're equally good here, particularly Batman.

​​Overall - It was a fun popcorn movie! People get very serious and over-analytical about superhero movies (see this post for example) but that shouldn't detract from the enjoyment of seeing our comic book heroes on the big screen, no matter what incarnation they take. I advise everyone to sit back, eat your popcorn, and enjoy every stupid minute of it. ​

Hair in All the Wrong Places - The Official Cover Reveal

Today I'm revealing the cover for HAIR IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES which releases June 7th, 2016! Check out the awesome cover and enter to be one of the first readers to receive an eGalley!

Here's a little bit about the book:

Hair in All the Wrong Places is the result of a misspent childhood watching late night movies about werewolves and other creatures that go bump in the night. The story follows Colin Strauss; an outsider in the small town of Elkwood who, in addition to dealing with the struggles of puberty, also finds himself being turned into a werewolf. As if dealing with homework, bullies, and an unrealistic crush on the hot goth girl wasn’t enough! I love this cover because it perfectly captures Colin’s character and his discovery that he might indeed be growing hair in all the wrong places.
​
On to the reveal!HAIR IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES is now available for pre-order, everywhere!

Amazon | B&N | TBD | BAM | Kobo | Google Play Books | iBooks | GoodreadsMonth9Books is giving away a free e-galley of the book!
Enter via the Rafflecopter below!a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Writing Confessional . . .

A lot of thought went into writing a book that was outside of my usual genre. When I decided to write HAVELOCK, a new writing persona was required to market the work so it would stand on its own two feet. And yes, those two feet wore high heels and shaved her legs . . .

My Writing Confessional . . .

I played this one fairly close to the chest but like with anything, the truth has to come out eventually. Welcome to the Saturday night confessional . . . 

We've started a discussion over on Goodreads if anyone would like to lend their opinion: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18000526-havelock-confession

Kids, Writing, and Why I Quit Sleeping

Being a writer is a challenge. We're looking at a literary landscape full of landmines determined to blow your leg off at the first misstep. It's exhausting, there's tons of competition, social media makes advertising too easy creating nothing but noise, and then there's the self publishing/traditional publishing thing, and 'do I need an agent?' and 'how in the hell did that fifty shades woman become famous overnight?' questions and so on and so forth. When you actually make it, it must feel (I imagine) like you just performed the most amazing magic trick ever, but you're completely befuddled at how you did it. The girl is clearly cut in half, but her toes are still wiggling! ​ Now let's get really creative and throw kids into the mix. How do you accomplish the above with kids running around? It's do-able. It's just another part of the magic trick. A magic trick called the home-work-kids-life-balance. Sometimes it'll feel like you're trying to keep a lot of plates spinning while balancing on a ball, while being attacked by the goblins from the Labyrinth. Did I just add a Labyrinth reference so I could use the above picture? Maybe. On a side note, wishing for the Goblin King to take away your screaming baby does not work. I tested it. 

I have a wife and three kids, three jobs, one cat, a needy dog, and life that I love. I balance everything extremely carefully. I don't generally have hobbies. I haven't touched a video game in a year and a half. I like going to movies but seldom have time and end up watching them later, on my tablet, over the course of three days, in five different parts. I read as much as I can, mostly on the toilet (you all do it, don't act like you don't). But when do I write? Whenever I can. Mostly late at night after the kids are in bed, their lunches are made, I've read with my 5 year old, helped the other two with their homework, hung out with my wife until she falls asleep, and then I bust open the laptop and add however many words I can. 

Is it ideal?   But I wouldn't change it for the world. The best advice I can give for anyone looking to balance kids and writing is to tell you this "remember what's most important." In a lot of ways, my writing comes last. That's partially a bad procrastination habit but mostly it's because my time with my wife, kids, and family is more important in the end. I plan on living a long time, I'll get all the ideas that rattle around in my head written down and published at some point. I've been published twice and have two more books already signed. I know I can do it. 

The alternative option is to give up sleeping (I sleep 6 hours a night on average). Here are ways you can do this:
Caffeine! Sure it's probably killing all of us but look how alert it makes us! ​ Become a vampire. Don't get excited, it's not as cool as it used to be. Now they're all sparkly and shit. Become a Time Lord. Sadly, trying to use a blue port-a-potty as a TARDIS is completely ineffective as a time travel device. Or you can just quit writing all together? Yup, never going to happen. Write on, people!