Michael Buckley’s YA debut, UNDERTOW, is set in Coney Island (photo by Dana Gallagher)
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Brooklyn-based author Michael Buckley has gone from writing advertising copy to the text for Macy’s holiday window display to a pair of New York Times bestselling series for middle-grade readers, the Sisters Grimm and N.E.R.D.S. He has now made the leap to YA with Undertow (Houghton Mifflin, May 5, $18.99), the first in a trilogy about an alien race, known as the Alpha, in Coney Island. A tall, gregarious fellow, Buckley, who was born and raised in Ohio, was a stand-up comic, and it shows in his wickedly wry and playful sense of humor. He’s just finishing up a nine-city book tour that took him to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Salk Lake City, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Rochester, concluding May 19 in Brooklyn, where he lives with his wife and young son. (He will also be signing at BookCon at booth #2541 at the Javits Center on May 31 at 2:00.) I’ve known Buckley for more than ten years now — his wife and my wife are partners at Stonesong, his literary agency — and it’s been exciting watching his career skyrocket. Just as he returned home from the tour, we discussed Coney Island, migraines, immigration, China, and imaginary friends.
twi-ny: On your blog, you recently wrote, “Undertow is the culmination of a lot of hard work and a whole lot of wishing and risk taking — not only by me but a whole lot of other people.” What were some of those risks?
Michael Buckley: Anytime a writer tries to do something new there’s a risk that their audience is not going to embrace it. For some, a fear of losing their fans can get in the way of growth as an artist, but I don’t do anything because it’s the safe thing to do. I want to try new stories and ways of telling them. I’m blessed to have editors and publishers who are supportive, because it’s not easy on them either. Every time I try something new, it takes a lot of energy by lots of folks to get the word out about it, to find ways to get my readers to give it a chance, and to make sure booksellers get excited about it as well. That’s a lot of long hours at work for everyone. I try not to lose sight of the fact that every risk I take is one I am not taking alone.
twi-ny: In the book, you write very candidly about migraines, which the protagonist, Lyric, suffers from and grades on a scale. Are you writing from personal experience?
MB: Actually, I rarely get headaches at all, but I have friends who get them and from what I understand they can be destructive. I asked a few what it felt like and how they handled it and most of them had different experiences and different strategies that helped them cope. Some have little tricks they do that can fend off a migraine, while others know the stimuli that cause the pain so they can avoid them. I have the utmost sympathy for these people, but I’m also in awe of them, too. There is an incredible amount of bravery and personal strength in people who suffer from migraines. They’re tough people, far tougher than me.
twi-ny: Undertow is set in Coney Island. Prior to writing the book, what was your opinion of Coney Island? Were you a regular visitor?
MB: I’ve been drawn to Coney Island since I moved to NYC in ’96 and have spent many a summer day in Rudy’s Bar or walking on the boardwalk. It’s grungy in the best possible ways — a real people’s amusement park, filled with faces from every corner of the world. I also worked in documentary films earlier in my life and researched Coney Island’s glorious history. It was once the biggest tourist attraction in the world until the original park burned to the ground in 1911.
twi-ny: What do you think about the changes going on there these past few years?
MB: I like some of the things that are happening down there now — the Cyclones’ ballpark is spectacular, and some of the new rides are fun, but it’s important to me that the park stays affordable. It’s getting a bit too expensive in my opinion, especially for the people who live in that neighborhood. I hope the city and the investors are considering the community.
twi-ny: The story in Undertow is an apt metaphor for the current heated debate over immigration in America. Where do you stand on that issue? I gather you’re not hiding much by giving the female politician most against the Alpha the last name Bachmann. Then again, you also give an ultra-right-wing conservative pundit the last name Rifkin.
MB: America is an amazing place to live, so no one should be surprised when people want to come here. We’ve also got a giant statue in New York Harbor that asks the world to send us “your huddled masses yearning to be free.” I mean, if we’re not going to welcome the world to this country, then let’s take the statue down — it’s false advertising. I think it’s hypocritical — we’re either welcoming them with open arms or we’re not. It’s not like we don’t have the room. There are plenty of places to live in the US. Have you ever been to North Dakota? Fifteen people live there! As for the Bachmann name, that could be purely coincidental. I mean . . . the character in my book is clearly insane and manipulative. She’s also a moron. Who could that be? [As far as that other name,] I’m not sure whom you’re referring to . . . ahem.
twi-ny: Undertow has elements of a number of science-fiction movies, from Alien Nation to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Did any specific films or books either influence or inspire Undertow?
MB: I was wildly inspired by District 9. That movie blew me away — not because it was a film about aliens, but rather that it felt real to me. I have no doubt that if an alien species crash-landed here and could not fly away, we would put them in a camp with a big fence around it. I was inspired by books as well. The Outsiders was a huge influence.
twi-ny: Your previous series, the Sisters Grimm and N.E.R.D.S., were for middle-grade readers. With Undertow, did you consciously set out to write a YA trilogy, or did it just happen that way?
MB: Undertow is the first young adult novel I have written and it was daunting. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. First, the themes and ideas in a YA book are far more complicated than in middle-grade books. You can explore ideas and feelings in a way that you can’t when writing for a younger audience, and I had never really had the opportunity to try it. To prepare, I gave myself a sort of master’s in young adult literature, reading everything I could get my hands on, then interviewing some of the authors behind the books I loved the most to find out what they thought was important for the readers, how to write a teenage girl, how far to go with adult themes — they were true friends and mentors to me. When I felt like I understood YA, and more importantly, when I realized I loved YA, that’s when I knew it was time to give it a try.
twi-ny: You’ll be at BookCourt on May 19 in Brooklyn, where you live. Is it exciting to come home, or is a book tour all just a big blur?
MB: Book tours can be both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. I get to meet fans and booksellers and teachers and librarians and occasionally other authors, so that part is always fun, but getting up early and racing to airports and forgetting what your rental car looks like — well, there’s a million stories there. I’m excited to finally have an event here in Brooklyn. BookCourt has always been a great supporter of what I do and it’s a fantastic indie shop that really knows what people like to read.
twi-ny: Do you have anything special planned for the event?
MB: We’re going to throw a little shindig with some mermaid cupcakes and a little wine for the grown-ups. I’m hoping to see a lot of faces both familiar and new.
twi-ny: You’ve also contributed the story “Mr. Shocky” to Jon Scieszka’s sixth Guys Read volume, Terrifying Tales, and you’ll be signing copies of the book later this month at BEA. How did that come about?
MB: Jon is one of the leaders in getting boys to read, which is sometimes a complicated endeavor. He’s done a few of these Guys Read books in the past, but this was the first one in which I was able to contribute. I was thrilled to be able to write something scary — another new thing I’d never tried. I’m very excited to see how people react to it. Everyone involved has said my story is one of the scariest they’ve read.
twi-ny: I agree; it’s tremendously scary. It deals with a boy and his imaginary friend; did you ever have an imaginary friend growing up?
MB: I had an imaginary friend, but then he met another imaginary friend, and they both stopped hanging out with me. That’s sad. Wait, that could be a great story!
twi-ny: You recently got back from a trip to China with your wife and son. What was that experience like?
MB: China is nothing like I expected. Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, during the Cold War, we were taught to fear all things Communism, and I had heard a lot of stories about China that turned out to be nonsense. What I saw was a vibrant, exciting country filled with amazing architecture and food and art. The people were friendly and kind and there was very little of the “police state” I was led to believe existed. In fact, if you ask me, they could use more police. Everyone drives like a maniac there! I can’t wait to go back.
twi-ny: Do people ever confuse you with so-called “Internet Celebrity” Michael Buckley of The What the Buck Show?
MB: I do get confused with him all the time and even get some of his fan mail. We connected on twitter awhile back. He gets some of my fan mail, too. I’ve become a fan of his — he’s hilarious, but every once in a while someone puts a picture up of him when they should have put a picture of me. Then, it’s not so funny — lol.