Tag: Royce Buckingham

What’s a Book Release without a Party?

For most authors, there’s not much fanfare when a book comes out. No big U.S. tour. The national media isn’t clamoring for interviews. And adoring fans don’t line up for a midnight release. To my current publisher’s credit (St. Martin’s Press), there’s been a good pre-publication effort by my publicist, and the marketing team is ready to hit the social media waves hard.

It’s up to me, however, to organize an event to publicly acknowledge my book releases. Ever since my first book, Demonkeeper, came out, Village Books–Bellingham, Washington’s wonderful independent bookstore–has been the place to gather. And it will be the venue again this month to celebrate the release of my first adventure thriller, Impasse. I’ve included a link to the Facebook invite below if anyone reading this is in the area on March 20. Until then, ‘Man up’…and to get the reference, you’ll have to read the book…

Book launch party!

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Impasse is a “heart-pounding modern legal thriller of survival –

 – action packed suspense with humor, adventure, betrayal, and delicious sweet revenge.”

This review by Judith D Collins with booklikes is everything an author hopes for. She nailed it…and I’m glad she gets my jokes too.

Impasse comes out March 3rd!

 

 

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Library Journal Highly Recommends Impasse!

I am very pleased to share this review of my debut adventure thriller, Impasse…

Library Journal, February 1, 2015
IMPASSE by Royce Buckingham
Impasse. Thomas Dunne: St. Martin’s. Mar. 2015. 304p. ISBN 9781250011541. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250021069. F

Stuart Stark is an understandably cautious man. Fired from the Bristol County, MA, DA’s office for botching a case that allowed a murderer to go free, he now practices civil law with Clayton Buchanan, who is willing to overlook not only the finer points of the law but ethics as well. When the two men come to an impasse over their fee in a liability case, Clay decides risk-averse Stu needs an adventure to rediscover his manhood. But what was supposed to be a joint hunting trip to a remote cabin in Alaska turns into a terrifying ordeal when Stu, dropped off alone in the interior with winter coming on and no cabin in sight, soon realizes that the float plane is not coming back. VERDICT Older readers may recall Frederick Manfred’s Lord Grizzly, based on the real-life frontiersman Hugh Glass, left for dead after a grizzly bear attack. ­Buckingham (Demonkeeper; The Terminals) spins an equally tense but thoroughly modern thriller of survival and revenge in which a man is forced to confront both deadly peril in the wild and a sadistic manipulator and unfaithful wife at home. Highly recommended for those who enjoy men’s adventure tales.—Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

 

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How Demonkeeper Came to Life

Last summer, the coolest thing happened when my book Demon Keeper went live. Thanks to the vision of Deb Currier, a theater professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA (where I live), the story came to life as a full stage children’s theater production called Monster Keeper. The play featured a 30+ person cast including life-sized muppet style puppets, special effects and an amazing set. Since Deb’s so smart, she videotaped all three performances which have been edited into a complete version of the show. Deb has also created a documentary on the making of Monster Keeper.

But wait! That’s not all! Now she plans to hold a  screening of both the play and the documentary. She’s even going to set up a museum in the WWU Performing Arts Lobby with props, artwork and puppets from the show. If you go, you can meet the actors, take pictures with the puppets from the play and get autographs.

The event is Sunday, February 15th starting at 2pm. Here’s a link to all of the details.   

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Summer Youth Theatre Institute at Western Washington University, which Deb pours her heart and soul into every summer to introduce kids of all ages to the magic of the stage. My kids participated in the program for a number of years and loved it.

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My Latest Writing Tips Via Twitter

Here are some of my latest writing tips that have appeared on Twitter. If you think they’re helpful or know someone who would benefit, go ahead and follow me on Twitter. You can also Like my author page on Facebook. The tips show up on both.

Writing tip: Set daily goal for word count. Simple, but effective. Do a daily minimum, not average. Averaging leads to excuses. Excuses lead to suffering (says Yoda)…

Writing tip: Use small details from real life. In its simplest form, this technique requires that you just look up from your computer. 🙂

Writing tip: Specific details over vague. “The dish with the half moon chip.” Not – “The broken dish.”

Writing tip: Cliffhangers = okay by me. The cheese factor is the key. Make them only as cheesy as tone of your overall story.

Writing tip: Eliminate “he said” and “she said” if it is clear who is speaking from the context.

 

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What my English Degree Did for Me

Last year was my 25th reunion at Whitman College, where I obtained a degree in English literature. Whitman Magazine invited me to write an essay reflecting on how my experience at Whitman and my degree helped shape my professional life. Below is the first paragraph of the essay and a link to the whole thing.  

“It’s been 25 years since I graduated with a degree in English literature from Whitman, and I’ve been asked to reflect on how it prepared me for life as a working fiction author and attorney. I suppose it starts with the college’s general premise: “A Whitman liberal arts education offers great breadth over specialization …” More specifically, Whitman’s English Majors’ Handbook states, “Whatever else students of English call ourselves, we are first and foremost readers and writers.” So, presumably, I graduated a broadly educated reader and writer. But that’s not a profession, it turns out. So how is that degree turned into a career? In my case, it went something like this:”

To read more, click here.

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Getting Teens to Read for Fun

Psyched to see The Terminals cited in the same article as The Fault in Our Stars, Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Divergent as great books for teens to simply enjoy reading.

Article by Writer, Reviewer and Teacher Christine Stock is HERE 

 

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So Royce has been Doing a LIttle Genre Jumping Lately

By Guest Blogger: Cara Buckingham

Royce has been on a roll. As you may know, his book, The Dead Boys won Washington State’s 2014 Sasquatch Children’s Book Award. Naturally, you might be wondering what middle grade readers can expect next. Well…he has more stories to tell for that age, it’s just that they’ll have to wait. You see, Royce’s first YA title, The Terminals just came out and he has an adult legal thriller called Impasse due out next March.

The Terminals is a spy thriller for young adults with a twist. Royce started developing the story several years ago when he wondered ‘what if  group of teens with only a year to live could spend their remaining time completing dangerous spy missions?’ The result is an action-packed, entertaining read that is still fun but more grown up than his middle grade monster stories.

And talk about growing up, Royce’s next book, Impasse, is a full-fledged adult legal thriller. The story follows Stu, a washed up attorney who’s sent into the Alaskan wilderness for a week by his law partner to ‘man up.’ Royce says his experience as an attorney prepared him to be a technician when it comes to writing. He never thought he’d come home from work and write about work – he’s a prosecuting attorney having worked in the criminal justice system for 13 years and has practiced law for more than 20.

For all of his middle grade fans, don’t you worry, he has many stories to tell and feels lucky to be able to be creative and try out new genres. And he has several outlines prepped for more middle grade novels. In the meantime, feel free to recommend Demonkeeper, The Goblin Problem (formerly Goblins! An UnderEarth Adventure) and The Dead Boys to your friends…and stay on the look out for the Kindle release of Demonkeeper II and III.

 

 

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When your Book Goes Live, On Stage!

Monsterkeeper art

What a fun weekend ahead! My book, Demon Keeper has been adapted for the stage and will be performed as Monster Keeper at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. Thanks to WWU Professor Deb Currier for writing and directing the play and to Margaret Bikman with the Bellingham Herald for preparing this interview!

Bellingham Herald Article

 

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