Andrew J. Peters's Blog, page 18
April 16, 2014
Join Me Next Month at Talking Leaves Books
I’m super excited to be heading back to my hometown Buffalo to do a reading event for The Seventh Pleiade at Talking Leaves Books.
The event is Saturday, May 17th 3:00PM at Talking Leaves Main Street store (3158 Main Street). Join me for a reading and a discussion, and of course bring a copy of the book or buy one at the store for a signing. 
The event is also posted here on Goodreads if you would like to RSVP to attend.
Talking Leaves Books is Buffalo’s oldest independent book store, and this event is really special to me since I spent a lot of time there in high school and during visits back home. Many thanks to owner and founder Jonathon Welch for hosting the event! I’m so glad that the stores are thriving while so many brick-and-mortar booksellers have disappeared over the years.
Share this:
March 25, 2014
Book Signing at the Rainbow Book Fair This Weekend!
I’ll be signing copies of The Seventh Pleiade at the Sixth Annual Rainbow Book Fair this Saturday. So if you’re in the area, I hope that you’ll stop by. The event runs all afternoon and features lots of interesting panels and exhibits, including a reading by author Edmund White.
I’ll be at the Bold Strokes Books booth from 4:00 to 5:00PM. Hope to see you there!
Share this:
March 5, 2014
What’s your favorite big cat?
That’s the question to answer to win a chance for a free copy of my latest release Werecat: The Glaring.
The contest is going on this week over at LGBT romance blogger Elisa Rolle’s popular site. Check it out!
Elisa was the first blogger to take notice of the Werecat series début Werecat: The Rearing back in June 2013. It made good sense to celebrate the release of Book 2 at her blog. While over there, you’ll see that Elisa also coordinates the annual Rainbow Book Awards.
Here’s the back cover blurb from Werecat: The Glaring:
Free from Benoit, the man who made him a shifter, twenty-two-year old Jacks tries to get on his own two feet while crashing with Farzan, the only person who knows about his werecat nature. It will take a grueling schedule of off-the-books jobs and a steady mantra of self-control.
Then a raid on a bodega pushes Jacks to transform into his mountain lion self to fend off a group of gun-wielding gangbangers.
Jacks scrambles to disguise the truth, but the incident leaves a thundering wake of questions. The police want to know what really happened to a freaked-out young thug in custody. Farzan, who has been crushing hard on Jacks since they met, begins to doubt that it’s safe to have Jacks living with him. Jacks wants to know where he belongs: with the man who took him in when no one else would or among his own kind. As he searches for answers, Jacks is confronted by a secret shifter society The Glaring. They have come to avenge the death of Jacks’ maker and to claim a powerful item that Benoit left behind.
And here’s my favorite big cat.
via YouTube
Share this:
March 3, 2014
Jacks is Back: Release Day for Werecat, Book 2
I’m happy to announce that the next installment in my Werecat series is out today.
Werecat: The Glaring continues Jacks Dowd’s adventure in the terrifying and erotic world of shifters.
Free from Benoit, the man who made him a shifter, twenty-two-year old Jacks tries to get on his own two feet while crashing with Farzan, the only person who knows about his werecat nature. It will take a grueling schedule of off-the-books jobs and a steady mantra of self-control.
Then a raid on a bodega pushes Jacks to transform into his mountain lion self to fend off a group of gun-wielding gangbangers.
Jacks scrambles to disguise the truth, but the incident leaves a thundering wake of questions. The police want to know what really happened to a freaked-out young thug in custody. Farzan, who has been crushing hard on Jacks since they met, begins to doubt that it’s safe to have Jacks living with him. Jacks wants to know where he belongs: with the man who took him in when no one else would or among his own kind. As he searches for answers, Jacks is confronted by a secret shifter society The Glaring. They have come to avenge the death of Jacks’ maker and to claim a powerful item that Benoit left behind.
You can buy the e-book for $2.99 at All Romance E-Books, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Some fun promotions will be coming soon!
Many thanks to the team at Vagabondage Press for bringing this latest project to life: my editor N. Apythia Morges, book cover designer Maggie Ward, and managing editor Fawn Neun.
Share this:
February 24, 2014
My Own Little Blog Hop
I’ve been idle for a while here, but that’s mainly because I’ve been skipping around town lately to promote The Seventh Pleiade. Many thanks to the generous folks who opened their doors to guest posts, interviews and giveaways.
If you haven’t caught me tweeting or FB’ing about it, here they are: (and did you know I have a Facebook author page? I’d love it if you ‘liked’ it. Please?)
Brandon Shire: Brandon is a gay fiction author, and he was good enough to look at a review copy of The Seventh Pleiade and run an interview with me. We got to talking about modern versus ancient world sensibilities and came up with the title: “Wasn’t Gay Marriage Legal in Ancient Greece?”
The Old Bat’s Belfry: If you’re an epic fantasy fan, you should know about The Old Bat’s Belfry where “grandmom” blogger Shari talks about what’s going on in the genre. I pitched my book to her, and she very kindly ran two pieces last week.
The first was a Spotlight Post on The Seventh Pleiade. The second was sitting me for her “Wacky Interview” series, which was lots of fun.
True Colorz: Last but not least, LGBT young adult blog True Colorz has an author interview and giveaway drawing for The Seventh Pleiade running from Feb. 24th to March 2nd. You can enter it here.
True Colorz is a wonderful site run by LGBT fiction authors Jeff Erno and Madison Parker. In addition to raising awareness of good books for LGBT teens, the site lets people know about charitable organizations across the country that fight homophobia and provide lifesaving services.
Now here’s something for your listening pleasure…
via YouTube
Share this:
February 16, 2014
Werecat, Book 2 Cover Reveal!
I just received the final cover art for the second installment in my Werecat series.
It now can be revealed…
It’s the same model from The Rearing with a new profile and a hint at what’s to come in Jacks “Cherokee” Dowd’s latest adventure. All credit to Maggie Ward at Vagabondage Press. We went back and forth a bit conceptually, but Maggie put in the real work making the cover come to life.
Werecat: The Glaring will be available for purchase February 28th. I’m hugely excited about it. Some more hints about the story and promotions will be coming soon!
Share this:
February 4, 2014
Catch Me on YA Highway!
I’m super happy to have a guest post article on YA Highway this week!
Check out: “Waiting for the Breakthrough LGBT Hero: LGBT Teens and Equality.” It’s a reflection on my life as an activist, and now an LGBT YA activist particularly, and the progress and continuing challenges toward reaching cultural equality.
Many thanks to Kate Hart and the rest of the YA Highway gang for the opportunity to address their readership.
Share this:
January 31, 2014
“Atlantis Fandom Makes a Comeback”
There have been crickets chirping over here while I’ve been gearing up and now starting the semester, plus editing a new novel and lining up some guest posts for The Seventh Pleiade.
On that latter score, head over to speculative fiction blog Layers of Thought to check out my guest article: “Atlantis Fandom Makes a Comeback,” wherein I talk about the ebb and flow of interest in Atlantis and why this is the right time for Atlantis stories to make a big splash.
(hardee har har…sorry about that).
Share this:
January 9, 2014
An Amazing Night of Fantasy at the REZ Reading Series
From L to R, Nora Olsen, Daniel W. Kelly, Tim Fredrick, Charlie Vazquez and Andrew J. Peters
No other way to describe it, tonight’s fantasy-themed program at the REZ Reading Series was amazing!
Tim Fredrick read from his near-future technology dystopia short story. Daniel W. Kelly gave an excerpt from his paranormal horror recent release No Place for Little Ones. Nora Olsen read from her young adult science fiction novel Swans and Klons. Charlie Vazquez shared a passage from his book of Puerto Rican folklore-inspired paranormal shorts. I read the first few pages from my young adult fantasy The Seventh Pleiade.
Many thanks to all the readers, our fabulous audience, the wonderful folks at Odradek’s Coffee House and REZ Reading Series founder Deborah Emin!
Share this:
December 19, 2013
My Favorite Movies of 2013
Here are the top movies that inspired me creatively during the past year.
I have to say, 2013 was not a great year for me and sci fi/fantasy films. I saw Oz, The Great and Powerful, the film adaptations of Beautiful Creatures and Mortal Instruments, Oblivion, the new Superman: Man of Steel, and Pacific Rim. (I happily skipped mega-bigot Orson Scott Card’s Enders Game). I thought each of those movies was good, but none was especially memorable. I still want to see the Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Gravity, Thor: Dark World and the second Hobbit movie, so maybe there’s still time for another sci fi/fantasy film to get added to my annual list. As it is, I only have one.
I really liked everything about Jack the Giant Slayer, from the re-told fairytale storyline, to the mood and the atmosphere, and to the acting and the action sequences. It got pretty crappy reviews and was branded as another lazy Hollywood fairytale remake, along with 2012′s Snow White and the Huntsmen, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and Red Riding Hood. But for me, Jack stood above those films simply for sticking to action adventure rather than overpowering the story with sexuality, modern sensibilities and/or “deeper meaning.” It’s not destined to be a classic, but I thought it was really fun and well-conceived.
The rest of my picks were contemporary dramas, comedies or a combination of the two.
You can’t go wrong with a Woody Allen movie in my opinion.
It’s always tough for me to say what was my favorite film of the year, but if held above a flame, I’d give it to Blue Jasmine. I thought that the two lead characters, portrayed exceptionally well by Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins, had great stories to tell. That was interesting to see since so many of Allen’s films take things from a male character point-of-view. Blue Jasmine was wonderfully neurotic and complex, and I’m a sucker for that.
Besides fantasy, dysfunctional family drama is probably my next favorite genre. Give me a fantasy with dysfunctional family drama and I’m chomping at the bit; erm, Game of Thrones perhaps?
This quiet film adaptation of Henry James’ novel What Maisie Knew is squarely contemporary, and I thought it was very impressive. Great writing, great acting, and heart-wrenching without pound-you-on-the-head sentimentality.
Based on the 1947 expedition of Swedish explorer Thor Heyerdahl to prove that ancient South Americans migrated, on rafts, to the Polynesian Islands, Kon Tiki is worth the ticket price just to see its cinematographic achievement. I literally swayed and lurched in my seat as the crew hung on throughout their perils on the open sea.
Beyond that, it’s an uplifting adventure story based on fresh subject matter.
Sliding further over to the dark side, this Danish film (a 2012 film but arriving in the U.S. for wide release in 2013) is about a father, displaced by an acrimonious divorce, who is falsely accused of sexual abuse when a troubled girl at the kindergarten where he works discloses fragmented feelings and memories. Loaded issues abound here, and what’s remarkable is the restrained portrayal of both the father and the young girl. Sympathy builds organically as the events unfold, and the only villains are some misguided vigilante fathers in the community who terrorize the main character. Even they get some redemption in the end, but the scars remain.
I have to include one guilty pleasure each year, and This Is The End got my guilty seal of approval for 2013. I watched the movie on a flight from New York City to Los Angeles, and granted: I had tossed back a vodka tonic or two. I laughed out loud so much, I’m sure it was majorly irritating to the nearby passengers.
That’s about all I should say about my feelings on this film in order to preserve a little integrity.
I feel bad that none of my picks so far have gay characters or themes. That’s not because I don’t support gay films. It’s just because none of the gay films I saw this year were 2013 releases. (I did see The Dallas Buyers Club, which has Jared Leto as a transgender/gay supporting character and deals with the early AIDS epidemic; I thought it was good but not great).
So I’ll give honorable mention to a couple of gay films I discovered this year.
This 2012 indie film had a grassroots tour across the country that went into 2013. I saw it On Demand in the spring. I thought the acting and the writing were solid, and the modern storyline was very appealing. Though I Do was marketed in part as a film about marriage equality and its implications for cross-national couples, I thought the movie’s handling of universal, tragic themes–the aftermath of the sudden death of the main character’s brother–was equally compelling.
Elliot Loves is a 2012 indie film that I watched On Demand this year. (My husband and I order in films a whole lot more than going to the movie theater these days). I thought the title character was an excellent portrait of an urban gay man growing up in the 90s/new millennium, on one hand experiencing greater freedom to express himself, but on the other still struggling for connection as he overcomes wounds of childhood, including and beyond homophobia.
Share this:
