Clarion West Write-a-thon

Earlier this year (or late last year - can't remember), I applied for one of 18 coveted spots in the Clarion West Writers' Workshop.  I wrote an excellent introductory letter and supplied a spectacular sample of my writing.  Unfortunately, I failed to be accepted.

A while ago, in what I can only describe as the height of gall, they asked if I would care to participate in their annual fundraising write-a-thon which runs concurrent to the workshop they felt disinclined to invite me to attend.

Well, I've always been a big fan of gall.  I said sure.

I've been working away on a new novel called, Doc Merl's Rolling Apothecary and I set myself a personal goal of muscling through  a first draft of it before the end of summer.  It just so happens that the Clarion West Workshop (and their write-a-thon) runs six weeks through that very same summer.

If you'd like to sponsor me and donate a little cash toward the workshop you can follow this link.

Who knows?  Maybe I'll apply again next year.

The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife

I can now announce that my short story, The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife, will appear in Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada From Coast to Coast to Coast, coming this autumn from Edge Publishing.   Here's the release I was e-mailed this morning:

We are pleased to announce the official Table of Contents for Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast.

This anthology of speculative Canadian writing will be out this fall from Edge Publications. It was no easy task choosing from the over 450 submissions and we had to turn away many a good tale. In the end, we have a representation of Canada that spans all provinces and territories (with the exception, alas, of Nunavut). The tales themselves reach far into the past and much farther into the future.

TESSERACTS 17: SPECULATING CANADA FROM COAST TO COAST TO COAST

·         Introduction: Colleen Anderson

·         Vermilion Wine: Claude Lalumière

·         Night Journey: West Coast: Eileen Kernaghan

·         The Wall: Rhea Rose

·         2020 Vision: Lisa Smedman

·         Why Pete?: Timothy Reynolds

·         Bird Bones: Megan Fennell

·         Bedtime Story: Rhonda Parrish

·         Graveyard Shift: Holly Schofield

·         Path of Souls: Edward Willett

·         Sin A Squay: David Jón Fuller

·         Hereinafter Referred to as the Ghost: Mark Leslie

·         Anywhere: Alyxandra Harvey

·         Secret Recipes: Costi Gurgu

·         Star Severer: Ben Godby

·         The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife: Dave Beynon

·         Graffiti Borealis: Lisa Poh

·         My Child Has Winter in His Bones: Dominik Parisien

·         Team Leader 2040: Catherine Austen

·         Sand Hill: Elise Moser

·         The Ripping: Vincent Grant Perkins

·         Unwilling to Turn Around: J.J. Steinfield

·         Pique Assiette: Catherine MacLeod

·         Leaving Cape Roseway: John Bell

·         Everybody Wins: Rachel Cooper

·         In the Bubble: William Meikle

·         Hermione and Me: Dwain Campbell

·         Blizzard Warning: Jason Barrett

·         M.E.L.: Dianne Homan

·         The Calligrapher's Daughter: Patricia Robertson

·         Afterword: Editing Anthologies Made Easy: Steve Vernon

Whether by design or accident, my story falls precisely at the centre of the anthology.

It should be out in September at your favourite book store (get them to order it in), or you can pre-order from Amazon.

Treasure Hunting - every year during the 1st Weekend of May

The Elora Festival holds a used book sale every year during the first weekend in May.  It brings folks from all around and is their major fundraising initiative.  There's something for everyone and the Beynon family always comes home with some treasure.

 I've always got my eye out for a few select authors and John Gardner is one of them.  This particular volume is packed with woodcut illustrations.  Speaking of illustrations, here's a little something from 1964 by Roald Dahl.

Almost a first edition - unfortunately the ISBN tells me this is the second printing of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Still, it's a beauty of a book.  A book from 30 years earlier was handed to me by my dear friend Diane.  This one was a first printing.

...and it had treasure inside...

The card above was used as a book mark.  Let's have a closer look at the date on that one penny card...

1939.  Take a look at the text of the card:

That's quite a find.  I love when a book nets me unexpected surprises.  Here's a gem we found among the thousands of volumes at the sale:

This tiny volume is a collection of the works of Percy Shelly...

...and it's old...

1837!  But that's not the oldest book we found at the sale.

This was:

The Vicar of Wakefield.  Admittedly, in very rough shape, but you'd be in rough shape too if you were...

190 years old!   And this book came with a surprise inside too.  Look at the dedication:

...and the dedication wasn't the only surprise.

Newspaper illustrations of The Vicar of Wakefield were tucked inside the book.  Have a look:

I'd say we had a successful day.