Edited by author 12-20-2006 10:39 PM

Postcard Fiction is a story approximately 500 words or less. It's a challenge and it's fun. On Sunday Jan. 21 the Flying Medifore reading series is hosting an open mic night for writers who would like to read their stories!

Show up with a story of 500 words or less (2 or 3 stories if you like!) It can be about your vacation, your latest love, your latest heartbreak, a story about times changing, times staying the same...It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be.....short.

If you have heard about the Flying Medifore reading series but have never been, if you've been trying to write but haven't found a reason, if you would like to say hello to some like-minded writers, come on by. We've been waiting for you!
 
Date: Sunday, January 21, 2007
Time: 7:00 pm.
Location: Zemra Bar Lounge 778 St. Clair Ave. West (just west of Christie)
Contact: Brenda 647-403-5694

Hi,
Susan Glickman, or any body else reading this, what is the interpretation of the poem "Poem About Your Laugh"? I have been sitting on it for the past couple of days and can't seem to grassp the theme.

Help would be greatly appreciated,
Sincerely,
Kanzaba

Sorry, my post didn't show up with the picture of the ebook. If you'd like an e-copy of our free Christmas eBook, visit http://www.writersville.homestead.com/seasonsgreetings.html.

Happy holiday to you!

Dorothy Thompson
Editor, The Writer's Life
www.thewriterslife.net

Season's Greetings from The Writersville Gang

New Reading Series I'm organizing, come out and read! Open Mic!

Edited by author 11-14-2006 11:14 PM

COMING APRIL 2007 - Preorder your copy now at Amazon.


An acclaimed novelist’s riveting memoir about what it means to be adopted and how all of us construct our sense of self and family
Before A.M. Homes was born, she was put up for adoption. Her birth mother was a twenty-two- year-old single woman who was having an affair with a much older married man with children of his own. The Mistress’s Daughter is the story of what happened when, thirty years later, her birth parents came looking for her.
Homes, renowned for the psychological accuracy and emotional intensity of her storytelling, tells how her birth parents initially made contact with her and what happened afterward (her mother stalked her and appeared unannounced at a reading) and what she was able to reconstruct about the story of their lives and their families. Her birth mother, a complex and lonely woman, never married or had another child, and died of kidney failure in 1998; her birth father, who initially made overtures about inviting her into his family, never did.
Then the story jumps forward several years to when Homes opens the boxes of her mother’s memorabilia. She had hoped to find her mother in those boxes, to know her secrets, but no relief came. She became increasingly obsessed with finding out as much as she could about all four parents and their families, hiring researchers and spending hours poring through newspaper morgues, municipal archives and genealogical Web sites. This brave, daring, and funny book is a story about what it means to be adopted, but it is also about identity and how all of us define our sense of self and family.

Edited by author 11-12-2006 11:02 PM

I am helping to organize a new reading series at Zemra's. Come on out this Sunday Nov. 19th!!!!

I Owe One to Robert Eggleton

October 30, 2006, by Evelyn Somers, The Missouri Review

Earlier this year I was contacted by first-time novelist Robert Eggleton, asking if I would review his forthcoming e-book. If people knew how many requests of this kind editors get, they would understand that out of self-preservation we sometimes… well, I ignored the request.

Robert tried again. There was something in the tone of his e-mail: this mattered to him. So I said yes, I’d take a look, though I didn’t think we could review Rarity From the Hollow. This is all fogged somewhat in memory: in the months since then our magazine moved its office, I was hospitalized for a cat bite (yes, they’re dangerous), we’ve published two issues, read hundreds of manuscripts, I went to Africa, etc., etc. But as I recall, Robert sent me the first chapter, which begins with two impoverished schoolgirls (from the Hollow of the title) studying together and spelling the word for a sex toy. It was quirky, profane, disturbing. I said I’d look at the book, not entirely sure what I could do to help.

He sent me the whole thing by e-mail. I read portions of the book, which is subtitled "A Lacy Dawn Adventure," after the girl protagonist, Lacy Dawn. I liked Lacy Dawn, who lives in a world of poverty, classmates with precocious sexual knowledge and/or experience, unemployed men, worn-down women, and cruelty so casual that it’s more knee-jerk than intentional. Maybe I was just too bothered by the content, but at a certain point I knew I couldn’t do anything. My time was nonexistent.

So I deleted the book from my desktop.

Robert contacted me again, and I got soft. You see, there was something about the whole project in general. Robert is a social worker who has spent at least a portion of his career working with child-abuse victims in Appalachia. The book was partly about that, and mostly very strange. In the Hollow, Lacy takes up with an android named DotCom, from "out of state," which really means off of this planet. Under DotCom’s wing, she decides that she will "save" her family. Little does she know she will end up saving the universe. The subject was not exactly run-of-the-mill. And Robert was donating the proceeds from sales of the e-book to help child-abuse victims.

Robert is not a kid; he’s maybe my age, maybe older. What was at stake wasn’t youthful ambition, vanity or reputation. This was about some kind of personal calling. I believe in those. I also believe in people who are driven to get their writing out there to an audience, through whatever venue. The e-book idea intrigued me. The earnestness of the appeal got to me. Send the book again, I said. He did. It’s still on my hard drive. (I suppose I should delete it, since I haven’t paid for it.)

Robert kept after me. If I liked it, could I write a blurb? Yeah, of course. I was fund-raising for my African trip (a Habitat for Humanity build), teaching, editing, raising three kids. But who is not busy and overwhelmed? We set our own priorities. I put Robert, and his book, lower than some other things, which really wasn’t fair because I had said I would do something, and I didn’t.

And it has bothered me. Here’s another thing people don’t know about editors. They sometimes have consciences about books/stories/poems/whatever that they’ve allowed to slip through the cracks, to get lost or neglected in the shuffle of what amounts to thousands of pages.

So I’m belatedly giving Rarity From the Hollow a plug. Among its strengths are an ultra-convincing depiction of the lives, especially the inner lives, of the Appalachian characters. The grim details of their existence are delivered with such flat understatement that at times they almost become comic. And just when you think enough is enough, this world is too plain ugly, Lacy Dawn’s father (who is being "fixed" with DotCom’s help) gets a job and Lacy Dawn, her mother and her dog take off for a trip to the mall "out of state" with Lacy Dawn’s android friend, now her "fiancé" (though as Lacy’s mother points out, he doesn’t have any private parts, not even "a bump.") In the space between a few lines we go from hardscrabble realism to pure sci-fi/fantasy. It’s quite a trip.

Rarity is published by FatCat Press, which has other e-books for sale as well. You can find it at www.fatcatpress.com. The blurb on the website says in part:

Lacy Dawn is a true daughter of Appalachia, and then some. She lives in a hollow with her mom, her Vietnam Vet dad, and her mutt Brownie, a dog who's very skilled at laying fiber-optic cable. Lacy Dawn's android boyfriend, DotCom, has come to the hollow with a mission. His equipment includes infomercial videos of Earth's earliest proto-humans from millennia ago. DotCom has been sent by the Manager of the Mall on planet Shptiludrp: he must recruit Lacy Dawn to save Earth, and they must get a boatload of shopping done at the mall along the way. Saving Earth is important, but shopping – well, priorities are priorities.

Yes, priorities are. I should have had mine in order. Robert Eggleton's book deserves your attention. Check it out.

Ottawa book launch:

Matthew Firth will hold the Ottawa launch of his new book - Suburban Pornography and Other Stories, Anvil Press - Saturday November, 18th at 5 pm at the Manx Pub, 370 Elgin Street. Tel. 613-231-2070. Or firth@istar.ca for more info.

Anvil Press Book Launch (the Toronto edition)

Sugar Bush & Other Stories by Jenn Farrell
and
Suburban Pornography by Matthew Firth

With special guest reader Tanya Chapman, author of King (Coach House Books)

Friday, November 3rd, 6–9pm
The Victory Café, 581 Markham Street
Hosted by Michael Bryson • Free Event • DJ to follow
More info 604 876-5646

Edited by author 10-19-2006 02:39 PM
Thursday, November 16 and Friday, November 17, 2006
Insider Guide to Getting Published
Presented by the Humber School of Creative & Performing Arts

You’ve written and revised a manuscript you’re proud of. Or you’ve got a great idea you would like to develop. What’s the next step? Whether your work is fiction or non-fiction, for children or adults, this two day workshop will tell you everything you need to know to start you on the path to publication. Workshop leader Cynthia Good will share what publishers look for when they accept a manuscript, what outside influences affect publishers’ choices and provide some insights into the internal decision-making process. She will show you how to prepare cover letters and book proposals that get results and look at the pros and cons of working with a literary agent. She will cover what happens after your manuscript has been acquired by a publisher; what your contract might look like, the editorial process, the marketing of your book and more.

Cynthia Good is the Director of Humber College’s Creative Book Publishing Program and was the President and Publisher of Penguin Books for 20 years.

Time: 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Cost: $329 for non-members, $299. for TWC members
Place: Toronto Writers' Centre, 101 Yorkville Avenue, Toronto
For information: Cynthia Good
                        (416) 675-6622 ext 3462
                        cynthia.good@humber.ca
To register: Hilary Higgins
   (416) 675-6622 ext 3449
   hilary.higgins@humber.ca

Edited by author 10-04-2006 01:42 PM

Enter the 3rd Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest.

1st Prize: $250, 2nd Prize: $150, 3rd Prize: $100

Send a postcard along with a story that relates to the image. The relationship can be as tangential as you like, so long as there is a clear connection to the image or place. Maximum 500 words, fiction or non-fiction.

Entries must be postmarked no later than December 1, 2006.

The three winning entries will be published in Geist magazine.

Entry fee: $20 for the first entry, This includes a 1-year subscription or subscription extension (value: $15). $5 for each additional entry.

For more details and to read last year’s winning entries visit www.geist.com.

MAGIC VIAL UNCORKED!
Josh and the Magic Vial is a book for young readers based on intensely spiritual themes. Love is the creative universal force, but the will to love is always tested by those who hate and would destroy for the sheer pleasure of it. Josh Dempster, Millie Epp and Ian Lytle - the book's protagonists - must learn how to "love thine enemy" in their battles with the underworld forces of Lord Vortigen and Sirus Blackstone. Fast paced and a great read for kids and adults. Excerpts from the book are available at http://www.finelinefiction.com. You can also subscribe to The Investigative Journal of Inspector H. Puddifant, an ongoing exploration into the intrusions of the underworld into our own dimension.

I'm a therapist in a children's mental health program in West Virginia. I wrote a science fiction novel: "Rarity from the Hollow." It was published as an ebook: www.fatcatpress.com. A satirical essay about its self-promotion was also published in July by Wingspan Quarterly: www.wingspanquarterly.com. Jag Lall, English comic book artist, did the cover pro bono.

I can't afford to promote the novel, so I post anyplace I find that will let me after I get home from work. I'm not complaining because I knew I'd never make much of a salary in the child welfare field. And besides, my work is what inspires me to write.

"Rarity" has received several blurbs, some of which are on the publisher's site. Others are available, including one by Piers Anthony. One scifi/fantasy site gave me a year's free advertising. A review is in Baryon Online: http://www.baryon-online.com:

=========

Robert Eggleton
Rarity from the Hollow, A Lacy Dawn Adventure
Robert Eggleton
www.fatcatpress.com, $6.95, 411 pages, ISBN: 0977644839 reviewed by Barry Hunter

Lacy Dawn is the last person you would pick to be the savior of the universe. She’s in the fifth grade in the backwoods of West Virginia. Her best friend – Faith, is the ghost of a school mate that was beaten to death and lives in a tree. During recess she gives advice to her schoolmates about their future. Her boyfriend – DotCom, is an android that has lived in a cave for thousands of years keeping watch over her lineage from the first days of humankind.

Her dad - Dewayne is a disabled vet and her family is on welfare. Tom, the next door neighbor, grows "buds". Jenny, her mom does the best she can. Lacy and DotCom do some "reprogramming" on the parents to make them smarter and stronger and Lacy is up to college level in her studies with DotCom.

It turns out that in order for Lacy to save the universe; she must raise the prestige of Earth by becoming the greatest shopper of all time and negotiate the best deals for her services and those of her family on the planet Shptiludrp.

Eggleton has crafted a novel that deals with social commentary mixed with some eerie science fiction and a strange problem that Lacy has to solve to save the universe with the help of her family and her dog, Brownie. I can almost hear a blue grass version of Metallica while reading this. I expect to see more from Eggleton and Lacy Dawn. Good satire is hard to find and science fiction satire is even harder to find.

===========
Depending on a schedule, from ten to fifty percent of any profits I receive will be donated to prevent child abuse: Children's Home Society of West Virginia (CHS, Dennis Sutton, Executive Director).

All of the above info is verifiable and I'll provide any additional info on your request. I'm writing to ask that you check it out and tell others, mention it to your friends, post this email on a wall, or whatever you think would help promote this project. Advertising is too expensive and ebook publishers don't promote the way that traditional publishers have in the past. Unless one has name recognition, actually, few paper publishers today invest much in promotion.

Anything that you can do to pass the word would be appreciated. I'm a novice on the internet and have been stumbling around trying to let people know. Sometimes I've gotten myself called spam, which is especially discouraging. However, since it's an ebook, please caution folks not to share the actual novel because it would be like ripping off the kids.

Thanks,

Robert Eggleton
robert_t@charter.net

LONG HORN, BIG SHAGGY: A TALE OF WILD WEST TERROR AND REANIMATED BUFFALO
by Steve Vernon
Nova Scotia's hardest working horror writer

What's it about? Back-from-the-dead mountainmen, time-travelling mad scientists, carrion stallions, and zombified buffalo.

You will never look at a severed head the same way again.

Check it out here.

http://www.khpindustries.com/longhorn.html

For more information go to my website
http://users.eastlink.ca/~stevevernon

Edited by author 07-29-2006 06:38 PM

The Chronicles of Samuel Sassodoro,Book One

Description of fictional novel:

From a place beyond the space/time continuum, known as No-Time, Samuel Sassodoro, is born into this world. He possesses a certain faculty for bringing together the opposing forces of Good and Evil that beleaguer mankind; a potential for moving towards a new rung on the ladder of psychic evolution. Yet Evil would oppose any such change. Samuel must find within himself the integrity and courage to confront The Whore and Her monstrous ally, The Antichrist. When all seems lost, help arrives from a totally unexpected quarter. This is a tale of human frailty and its conscious recognition, whereby all is possible, and nothing is inconceivable.

Website: http://www.geocities.com/philomon65/

Edited by author 04-29-2006 12:20 AM

Grant Writing Seminar www.kgsambrano.com

 

 

 

 Author Helps Immerse Readers in Adventures

 

            Colleen Madonna Flood Williams is one of several authors in Windstorm Creative’s Orchard Academy My Adventure Series. Colleen’s titles include; My Adventure to the Arctic, My Adventure to the Fair, My Adventure to the Forest Clubhouse, My Adventure to the Harbor, My Adventure to the Playground, My Adventure to the Science Center, and My Adventure to the Secret Cave. These books allow children to immerse themselves in the adventures by adding written details, as well as visual information to the stories. She has also written a holiday adventure series for Windstorm that is in production at this time and is writing for their time travel adventure series and regional adventure series.

 

            Colleen Madonna Flood Williams explains, “These are books that children and their parents will treasure for many years to come. The child gets to put his/her name on the front cover and assume the role of author/illustrator for each of these titles. The child is taken on a guided adventure, and yet he/she gets to determine many of the feelings and sensory elements that he/she experiences along the way. Reading, writing, and illustrating have never been so much fun!”

 

            Flood Williams is the author of more than a dozen children’s books. She has written for Chelsea House and Mason Crest, as well as Windstorm Creative’s Orchard Academy Press. She has a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and is a full time freelance writer, wife, mother, and Homer, Alaska Bay Club Gym Member.

 

To read a review of My Adventure to the Fair or My Adventure at the Forest Clubhouse go here

http://www.yabookscentral.com/cfusion/inde...27&CFTOKEN=38627044

 

 

Hi, there!

 

My name is Colleen Madonna Flood Williams. I am a published children’s author from Homer, Alaska. I am promoting a new series of books that I am working on for young children. These books are part of the Orchard Academy My Adventure Series. My first two books in this series are My Adventure to the Fair and My Adventure to the Forest Clubhouse. They will each be available for purchase within a month or two. Next year, a greater number of my titles will be available, including a series on holidays, a series on the regions of America, some time travel adventures, and some animal adventures. Two upcoming titles that may interest Alaskans especially are My Adventure to the Arctic and My Adventure to the Harbor.

 

Reading, writing, and illustrating has never been so much fun! These are books that children and their parents will treasure for many years to come. The child gets to put his/her name on the front cover and assume the role of author/illustrator for each of these titles. The child is taken on a guided adventure, and yet he/she gets to determine many of the feelings and sensory elements that he/she experiences along the way.

 

You can see/order my titles at http://www.windstormcreative.com/academy/2293X.htm

 

If you are a group or a bookstore go here http://www.windstormcreative.com/orders/index.htm to order my books at a discount.

 

(You can also see my other titles for older students by searching my name at amazon.com.)

 

For workshop situations, I prefer working with children in first grade, second grade, third grade, and with appropriate age/grade level special education students up for the challenge of writing/illustrating their own books. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Art and have some personal experience background with special education children. If you wish to schedule a writer’s workshop for children, I only ask that students/customers be willing to each purchase one book, so that we can work on it during my visit. If you are across the water from Homer or further away than Anchorage, I would also ask for my transportation to and from Homer or Anchorage to be paid for by your organization and for lodging to be provided for me. If you are on the road system and I can drive to your location, then transportation expenses will be minimal.

 

I will first talk to the students, then guide them through the process of writing their own books. If time allows, I will also guide them through illustrating the text, as well. If time does not allow, the students may illustrate their books on their own time or with their classroom teachers or parents.

 

If you contact me and want to arrange a regular author visit, book signing, or writer’s workshop, I will have my publisher contact you and set up an author visit date. I will also contact you so that I can

arrange to have enough books with me for all of your students should you arrange for a workshop. The books will cost under $10.00 a piece. You may charge an additional fee to benefit your organization for the workshop.

 

At the end of the visit, your students/customers will each receive a certificate signed by me that announces their emergence as an up and coming author/illustrator.

 

I hope to hear from you soon. If not, keep reading, writing, creating, illustrating, and learning!

 

Interested in a media kit to review my work? Want to interview me? Would you like to carry or purchase my books? Want to schedule an event? Contact the publishers at windstormcreative.com
 

Bear in mind that we can always arrange a cyber visit to your school, too!

 

Thanks for your time,

Colleen Madonna Flood Williams

Check out Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, George Murray and many others

Edited by author 03-31-2006 08:43 PM
Publishing Studies:
BOOK PUBLISHING 1

Rowland Lorimer, John Maxwell, and Jillian Shoichet (editors)

An inside look into various aspects of the publishing industry, including title aquisition, author-editor relations, marketing, purchasing and new technology.

This comprehensive collection of articles is a must-read for anyone interested in publishing, and is also a valuable resource for authors who want to know more about the publishing process.

For more information, visit http://www.ccsppress.com

Now available on amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097387270...40?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Edited by author 03-26-2006 08:38 PM

A SOFTER WORLD 1: Truth & Beauty Bombs.</div>

Available now for pre-orders: The first A Softer World book. Features:

- Every comic available on the internet + 25 new just-for-print ones.
- 100+ pages at 3.5" x 8.5", opening landscape.
- full colour!

Pre-orders will be taken from now until the end of April. They will be shipped out approx. a month before the book is available in stores AND will come with a thank you bonus pack of stickers, 1" buttons, etc.

Please visit The Loose Teeth Press at http://www.looseteeth.ca to order.

For more info on the comic please visit http://asofterworld.com.

PoetryReviews.ca - new kid on the block. The goal is to promote Canadian poetry and poets. I'm currently looking for reviewers and books to review. I'm also offering special rates to writers who would like to host their Web site with my company, Shadow Box Creative Media.

Thanks,

Eric Barstad
Shadow Box Creative Media Ltd.
Web Sites for Non-Profits
www.shadowboxcreative.ca

Edited by author 03-05-2006 10:06 PM

open call for manuscripts!


http://www.looseteeth.ca/submit.htm

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading from her novel, The Nettle Spinner, at The Ottawa Public Library (Main branch) on March 15 at 7 pm. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. Please come. Kathryn has a profound fear of large empty Ottawan auditoriums.

For more information:
120 Metcalfe
Ottawa ON K1P 5M2
(613) 580-2945

Does anyone still read these old boards? If so, I'm having a launch for my novel The Violin Lover at Nicholas Hoare bookstore in Toronto on March 22. Everyone welcome! 6-8 pm. Wine and stuff to eat. GOod company.

Susan Glickman

But before I read in Windsor, I've got a few other dates lined up.

Next is Montreal, Zeke's Gallery (3955 St. Laurent), Feb. 1 at 7:30, with Stephanie Bolster, Geoff Cook and Robyn Sarah.

Goran Simic and Zach Wells will be reading in Windsor on `Monday, February 13th, at the Flying Monkey, 255 Ouellette, at 7 pm.

For those in The Vancouver area on February 9th:


BIBLIOASIS IS PROUD
TO ANNOUNCE THE LAUNCH OF
 
Bright Objects of Desire
A sparkling collection of short stories by
Vancouver author and screenwriter Michèle Adams
 
           Thursday, February 9 at 6:30 pm
Café Montmartre
4362 Main Street @ 28th Avenue
 
Refreshments will be served at 6:30 pm. Author reading will begin at 7 pm.
Please RSVP to fernanda@shaw.ca

1)It's amazing what you can accomplish with an email account, a background in transportation logistics, and prolonged periods of unemployment.

2)Pretty much. I got a grant and I work for the railroad (during the less prolonged periods when I'm not unemployed).

3)I don't have a dog, nor the attention span required to write a novel. Congratulations on that; it seems from my vantage point way harder than organizing a tour. A novel, that is. A dog I could handle, if only I could stay at home long enough.

Oy vey, Zach, I'm exhausted just reading your itinery. Two questions:1) how on earth did you organize all this?
          2) were you able to get all your transportation covered?


I have a novel coming out in two months and should probably be working on promotion but mostly I'm too nervous to do anything but keep walking the dog.

The Zach Wells X-Country Poetry Roadshow is about to begin. I'll be appearing at a venue near you at some point during the next 6 weeks. Come one, come all!

January 29, Ottawa, 2 pm: Reading at Collected Works bookstore, 1242 Wellington St. W. (at Holland).

January 29, Ottawa, 7 pm: Reading at Dusty Owl series, Swizzles Bar (246-b Queen Street below the Thai Garden Restaurant)

February 1, Montreal, 7:30 pm: Reading at Zeke's Gallery (3955 St. Laurent), with Stephanie Bolster, Geoffrey Cook, Robyn Sarah

February 5, Hamilton, 7:30 pm: Reading at the Lit Live Reading Series, The Junction Café, 197 King William St. and Ferguson Ave. N., with Richard Sanger, Jennifer Lovegrove, Steven Laird, Derek Beaulieu and Gary Barwin.

February 7, Toronto, 8 pm: Reading at the Art Bar Reading Series, Victory Cafe, 581 Markham St., with Richard Sanger and Gary Barwin.

February 8, Peterborough, 8 pm: Reading at Peterborough Arts Umbrella, 378 Aylmer St. N.

February 10, Toronto, 8 pm: Reading at the I.V. Lounge Reading Series, 326 Dundas St W, across from the AGO, with Damian Rogers and Chris Eaton.

February 11, Toronto, 7:30 pm: Presentation of People's Prize to Goran Simic, Fellini's Shoe, 226 Carlton St.

February 13, Windsor (ON), 7:30 pm: Reading at The Flying Monkey, 255 Ouellette Ave, with Goran Simic.

February 14, St. Catharine's, 7:30 pm: Reading at Grey Borders Reading Series, The Merchant Ale House, 98 St. Paul Street.

February 18, Winnipeg, 4 pm: Reading at McNally Robinson book shop, 208-393 Portage Avenue.

February 20, Saskatoon, 7 pm: Reading at McNally Robinson book shop, 3130 8th Street East, with Jeanette Lynes.

February 23, Calgary, 7 pm: Reading at McNally Robinson book shop, 120 8th Avenue SW, with Micheline Maylor.

February 24, Edmonton: Reading, with Ian Letourneau and others, Downtown Library, across from Churchill Square.

February 27, Prince George: Reading at University of Northern British Columbia, Northern Studies Department. Details TBA.

February 28, Wells, BC: Reading at Art Gallery. Details TBA.

March 6, Vancouver, 7:30 pm: Reading at Vancouver Public Library.

March 9, Lasqueti Island: Reading at Lasqueti Island Arts Centre.

I'm right here, damnit!, busy "promoting" myself.

Geez, what you kids call it these days.

File this under better late than never:

I'm launching my new chapbook, Ludicrous Parole, tonight at 8:30 the Economy Shoe Shop on Argyle St. in Halifax. Also reading will be Brian Bartlett, Wayne Clifford, Rachel Lebowitz and possibly the elusive Martin Wallace.

i hope this message is appropriate to post here.

this summer, i'll be participating in the friends for life bike rally to benefit the toronto people with aids foundation. i will cycle 600 km from toronto to montreal to raise money for the foundation. i need to raise $2,000 by june to participate in the rally.

even though registration doesn't begin until february, i'd like to get a head start on fundraising. here's where you lovely lit. types come in.

in an effort to raise money for the foundation, i would like to auction off signed books on ebay. if you would like to donate one of your books, signed by your sweet self, please let me know. my e-mail address is below. if you're interested in the auction, e-mail me and i will provide you with a link to the auction when it goes live at the end of february.

for more information on the friends for life bike rally, visit http://www.bikerally.org/home.html

i can be reached at couturedani@hotmail.com.

thanks!

dani

No, man, I've just gone in a different direction.

Won't happen. You already sold out long ago.

Zing!

G

Congrats on the new chappie, Alex. Little fishcart makes lovely little books.

I reckon I'll have copies on hand at the I.V., yes, barring a stampede sellout between now and then...

And Zach will be reading from it at the IV lounge in Toronto (326 Dundas St W) Feb 10, so come on out. Will you have it for sale, Z?

As for me, my new chap is called Urgent Baby (concerning a self-obsessed character of the same name) and it's available from little fish cart press (littlefishcartpress.ca)

Edited by author 12-09-2005 02:20 PM
Haven't seen it myself yet, but my new chappie, Ludicrous Parole, is now available from Mercutio Press.

Good luck, y'all. How sad that I am now too old to make it into any anthology of "new" poetry! Will be busy that night at a fundraising dinner for Vietnamese writers in prison or I would hobble there on my walker to support you.

Thank goodness I'm not a ninja. Ninja Schmidt doesn't sound very good...

Ninja Murray reading this Saturday

Toronto ninjas! I am reading this weekend in support of the Vehicule Signal Editions poetry anthology The New Canon. Info below. Please come and introduce yourself.

Launch of The New Canon
Featuring readings by:

Kevin Connolly

Pino Coluccio

Noah Leznoff

Laura Lush

Asa Boxer

Richard Greene

Walid Bitar

Adam Sol

Richard Sanger

Carla Hartsfield

Shane Neilson

Geoff Cook

George Murray

Saturday, December 10, 2005
7:00 p.m.
Rivoli
334 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario
Subway: Osgoode

For more information:
416-596-1908


Home

December 6, 2005
 
Evie Christie, author of Gutted, will be reading as part of The Art Bar Poetry Series on Tuesday December 6, 2005. The event takes place at The Victory Cafe, 581 Markham Street, Toronto. The reading starts at 8:00 p.m. and is free. (Betsy Struthers and Phil Hall also reading!)
 
December 9, 2005
 
Evie Christie, author of Gutted, will be reading at the IV Lounge (326 Dundas St. W.) on Friday December 9, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. Come on out for a great night of readings!
 (Walid Bitar and Steve McCabe reading as well!)

My sonnet
Yes, You Did Say You Wanted to be a Mountain Climber
 is among the Random Highbrow entries.

I know I know, I should've thrown it in solitary confinement with all my other sonnets and limericks...

Monday November 28, 2005

Come on out to ECW's Fall 2005 poetry event to help us launch Evie Christie's Gutted, and matt robinson's no cage contains a stare that well. Be at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St. W.) on Monday November 28, 2005 from 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. to partake in the fun. The evening will include a Speed Reading segment with Evie and matt, along with fellow ECW authors Jason Anderson, James Grainger, plus many more! You won't want to miss this literary party, so be sure to jot down this date on your calendars now.

Join Adrian Michael Kelly as
he launches his novel
Down Sterling Road
with special guests
Don Austin and
Andreae Prozesky

Tuesday, November 15
8:00p.m.
The Ship Pub
St. John's, NL
Free.

Sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts and Coach House Books.
Presented by Poetry Tourism Newfoundland.

Littlefishcartpress announces a fresh batch of Chipbooks (smaller than chapbooks and considerably cheaper) which will be introduced to the world this Wednesday, November 16th from 7-10 pm at the Peterborough Arts Umbrella. The PAU is located at 378 Aylmer Street North (behind Artspace) in downtown Peterborough.

We will be introducing Chipbooks by:

David Bateman, Alex Boyd, David Cameron, John Climenhage, Jeramy Dodds, Cameron Esler, Gabe Foreman, Zach Gaviller, Lea Harper, Gordon Johnston, Leigh Kotsilidis, Steven Laird, Nathan Reeves, Ingrid Ruthig, Betsy Struthers, Florence Treadwell and Joshua Trotter

Readings by

Cameron Esler
Lea Harper
Gordon Johnston
Steven Laird
Ingrid Ruthig
Florence Treadwell

and surprise guests

Check us out at littlefishcartpress.ca

Will do my damndest.
   
  Dan

QT - Bookninja <qtopic+25-iMY7nWEdwRBK5@quicktopic.com> wrote:
< replied-to message removed by QT >

Attendance for Windsor ninjas (Windjas) is mandatory. I expect to see both of you there.

G

I think the Canada Council for the Arts and the University of Windsor Department of English also arrange for food, and sometimes wine. Decent food & drink, awesome poetry...

The George Murray public reading:
Nov. 15, 7:00 pm
Sunset Cafe (formerly the Grad House)
458 Sunset Ave.
University of Windsor Campus

G's chapbook is stunningly beautiful in every respect. I've been practically drooling over it ever since it arrived.

I'll look forward to that reading.

I will be visiting Windsor University in November, speaking to the MFAs on the 14th and giving a reading on the 15th.

The public reading will be:
Nov. 15, 7:00 pm
Sunset Cafe (formerly the Grad House)
458 Sunset Ave.
University of Windsor Campus

Both events sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts and the University of Windsor Department of English.

George

Actually, both Goerge's and George are pronounce gorgeous. It's a bit embarrassing.

G

Goerge's. Pronounced gorgeous?

They are beautiful, & since I have advance ordered Goerge's, should get it in the mail soon. I can guarantee you that they are damned cheap for what you get: comparable presses cost 100-200 for the quality FH produces. See Barbarian, or some of the other letterpress presses, & you'll see what kind of bargain FH really is.. Just buy one less case of beer or bottle of scotch & I expect you won't regret it..

I've got a couple of FHP chappies on my shelf (wrapped in plastic, of course!) and have to say that they are worth the price if it's an author you're into. I'm pretty sure they have to charge as much as they do just to break even; the materials they use can't come cheap, never mind the enormous amount of labour that must be involved.

Congratulations, George. Not everyone has the opportunity to experience their book as a crafted object.

Edited by author 11-04-2005 06:35 PM
I know, but I just got home and damn is it beautiful. Puuuurrrty! It's like owning a nice watch. I'm so happy. Finally, someone cares about my words.

G

[P.S. I can see how the price is daunting, but if you're a bibliophile, in the tactile sense, it doesn't get much better than this. It's not like it's one of above/ground's one staple wonders. There's something to be said for that quick and dirty approach, but there's also something to be said for this kind of craftsmanship. And I've paid over that for a broadsheet even. It won't be for everyone for sure. Maybe it depends on where you place the value.]

Forty dollars!

For a chapbook!

I'm sure it's beautiful, but that is one pricey luxury item! I thought the printing press was supposed to bring the word to the masses.

Damn, wish I could afford it.

Shameless self-promotion

I have a new chapbook available from one of Canada's finest small hand presses, Frog Hollow. I just received copies in the mail today, and they're drop-dead gorgeous (so I'm told - the books are at home and I'm at work! Torture!). So, if you too would like to drop dead, please feel free to buy a copy here. They're expensive, as far as small books go, but it's an extremely limited print run and sure to be a collector's item among people foolish enough to collect Canadian poetry. Plus, you'll be supporting a great small press venture.


Home

Edited by author 10-30-2005 10:55 PM

Postcard Fiction night at the Bloor Gladstone Library!
Postcard fiction is a story approximately 500 words or less. It's a challenge and it's fun. On Nov. 8th the Gladstone Library Writing and Publishing Workshop is having a drop-in night for people who would like to well...drop-in.
 
Bring in a story 500 words or less. It can be about your vacation, your latest love, your latest heartbreak, a story about postcards, a story about life, or life in the slow lane, times changing, times staying the same...It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be.....short.
 
So if you have inquired about our workshop but have never been, if you've been trying to write but haven't found a reason, if you would like to say hello to some like-minded people, come on by. We've been waiting for you!
 
P.S. Feel free to forward this to anyone you might think is interested. The more the merrier!
 
Date: Nov. 8th.
Time: 6:15-8:15
Location: Bloor\Gladstone Library (3 minute walk east of Dufferin)
Admission: FREE
If details needed please email: gladstonelibrarywritersworkshop@yahoo.com

Matthew Francis - acclaimed UK poet will be in Toronto next week to launch Whereabouts, a collection published by new Toronto small press rufus books. A whole range of events are scheduled as follows:

Monday, October 31st, 6.00 p.m. - informal talk about the 20th century Scottish poet W.S. Graham. Matthew Francis is a Graham scholar and recently edited his New Collected Poems (Faber and Faber, 2004). Carr Hall, Rm 406 (St Michael's College, Celtic Studies Dept, UofT).

Tuesday, November 1st, 8.00 p.m. - reading at the Art Bar, with Gil Adamson and Souvankham Thammavongsa.

Wednesday, November 2nd, 4.00 p.m. - reading at Victoria College, Old Vic building, Rm 212.

Thursday, November 3rd, 7.30 p.m. - launch of Whereabouts, (also marking the launch of rufus books). Hart House Library, 7 Hart House Circle, UofT.

Sunday, November 6th, 7.30 p.m. - reading at LitLiVe at gritLit festival. Junction Cafe, Hamilton.

Whereabouts will be available to buy at these events and through the rufus books website, www.rufusbookspublishing.ca. Copies of the out-of-print Blizzard (Faber and Faber, 1996), and Dragons (Faber and Faber, 2001), will also be available at the events.

Edited by author 10-21-2005 12:34 PM
two toronto readings:

i'll be reading with sandy poole at the misunderstandings mag. launch at the zemra lounge on sunday.

778 st. clair (just west of christie)
8:00pm

also, there's a reading next week that i'm looking forward to:

sandra alland and stuart ross --
acta victoriana night

thursday, october 27, 8:00 pm at cat's eye pub, in the basement of the wymilwood building, 150 charles street west (charles street is one block south of bloor, east off university, go around the east side of the building)
i think it's free. not sure.

-- dani couture

Goran Simic's first collection of short fiction, Yesterday's People, is available. In the Toronto area thus far: Rosedale Library, Pages. It's also available at Collected Works in Ottawa, and soon more widely elsewhere. Please get your local independent to order it.

The launch is on Saturday October 29th at Fellini's Shoe, 226 Carlton, 7:30. We will also be launching Mike Barnes' novel Catalogue Raisonne, that evening.

Biblioasis and Page & Turners Bookstores are proud to announce the winner of the first Annual Metcalf-Rooke award. The winner is:


Patricia Young, for her short story collection Airstream.

Patricia will receive:

• a publishing contract with Biblioasis
• a $1500.00 prize from Page & Turners Bookstores
• a leather-bound copy of Airstream
• multiple launch parties
• a six-city book tour
• a national promotional campaign

The judges for this year's award were John Metcalf and Leon Rooke.

Jay, you just wanna be on top, admit it.

K

Edited by author 10-19-2005 01:27 PM
BookThug Launch

Come one, come all to a fall launch of Thugs and Books. Featuring local poets Gregory Betts (author of If Language) and Rob Read (author of O Spam, Poams: Selected Daily Treated Spam), as well as Morten Søndergaard of Copenhagen (author of Vinci, Later translated from the Danish by John Irons), and a reasonable facsimile of Elizabeth Bachinsky of Vancouver (author of Curio: Grotesques and Satires from the Electronic Age).

25 October, 7:30pm at Yammy the Cat 1108 Yonge Street (at Roxborough), in Toronto.

Hope to see you there.

(For more information on these books visit www.bookthug.ca)

Has the World Ended Yet?
A little while ago I posted about Amazon Shorts, an iTunes-like service for literature, only cheaper (under 50 cents a download) and easier to use. I think it's a great idea, so I gave them a new story to sell. (You can read an excerpt for free here.)

Home

Attention Toronto-area Ninjas!

Friday, October 7th. 8pm
Insomniac Press presents the launch of:

Over the Roofs of the World (poetry)
by Olive Senior
and the rerelease of Gardening in the Tropics (poetry)
also by Olive Senior

Man & Beast (poetry)
by Eric Cole

and Ladies of the Night (stories)
by Althea Prince.

Victory Cafe
Markham Street south of Bloor
Toronto

See you there.

Sue Wheeler takes her Habitat on the road:

Toronto - Tuesday, October 11 at 8 p.m. Reading with Susan McMaster and Marina Malvada at the Art Bar Poetry Series at the Victory Café, 581 Markham
Street, Bathurst & Bloor (1 block West of Bathurst, 1 block South of Bloor).

St. John’s - Sunday, October 16 - 2 - 4 p.m. Reading at Bianca’s Bar with Genevieve Lehr, music by Dave Panting, at 173 Water Street.

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia - Tuesday, October 18 at 7 p.m. - Reading by the 3 Sues - Sue Wheeler, Sue Goyette and Sue Macleod - at the Biscuit Eater Books
& Café, 16 Orchard Street.
 
Halifax - Wednesday, October 19, 8p.m. - 3 Sues again, at the Khyber Club (likely, but still tentative. Check local listings.)

Ottawa - Thursday, October 20 at 7 p.m. - Reading with Anita Lahey at Mother Tongue Books, 1067 Banks Street (at Sunnyside).

Calgary - Monday, October 24 at 8 p.m. - Reading at McNally Robinson Booksellers, 120-8th Ave. SW.

I've read Suzanne Buffam's book, and it is damn good. Wish I could make the reading.

Friday Sept 30 at the IV lounge reading series,
326 Dundas St W in Toronto, 8pm, free

Stan Dragland (Stormy Weather: foursomes)

Suzanne Hancock (Another Name for Bridge, poetry)

John Lavery (You, Kwaznievski, You Piss Me Off, fiction)

Suzanne Buffam (Past Imperfect, poems)

Rimbaud, please repost, if you like, in the Poetry Quatrain thread. It's not really appropriate for this thread.

http://www.quicktopic.com/28/H/L9RMPgZdCmr

Thanks,
G

Edited by author 09-26-2005 11:25 PM
BENEFIT READING FOR ADULT LITERACY

Abbotsford Station Book Launch & Benefit Reading for Adult Literacy. Come on out to an evening of poetry, prose, humour and music as Invago Publishing launches new books by k.g. Sambrano, Simon Leigh, and Nik Beat. Musical guest- Ryan Neufeldt w/ Random Acts of Kindness.

When: October 14th 7:30 p.m.
Where: Touch Lounge & Dining 499 King St. W. (1 block west of Spadina)
Cost: Sugg. Donation $15.00

Proceeds to Adult Literacy. Official press release at http://www.kgsambrano.com

Edited by author 09-26-2005 11:27 PM
WRITING WORKSHOP OCTOBER 8TH 1-4 PM SWANSEA TOWN HALL


Hi folks! I'm running a Creative Writing wordshop on Sat. October 8th. It's the second in a series of eight. It's called an Introduction to Personal Creativity. It will be fun and interactive. The main goal of this workshop is to unleash your creativity. Enrolment is limited and at present I have 3 places left open.

More information please contact me. Donuts included. 416-835-6099

Biblioasis and Page and Turners are pleased to announce the finalists for the first annual Metcalf-Rooke Award. They are:

Julie Booker. Silver Hearts. Short Fiction.

Patricia Robertson. The Goldfish Dancer. Short Fiction.

Patrick Roscoe. The Reincarnation of Linda Lopez. Novel.

Patricia Young. Airstream. Short Fiction

The winner will be announced October 20th, and will receive 1500.00, a publishing contract with Biblioasis (for Spring, 2006), a regional book tour, a leather bound copy of their book, and a national promotional campaign.

EAST COAST LAUNCH OF IN FINE FORM: THE CANADIAN BOOK OF FORM POETRY

With readings by Brian Bartlett, Carole Langille, Sandy Shreve and Zachariah Wells.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005
The Economy Shoe Shop, 1633 Argyle St.,
Halifax, 8:30 pm

Edited by author 09-04-2005 05:53 PM
• Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading from The Nettle Spinner at McNally Robinson Bookstore in Winnipeg on September 7th at 7:30.
http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/content.php?intFileID=15
    
• Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading from The Nettle Spinner at Pages on Kensington Bookstore in Calgary on September 8th at 7:30. Lawrence Osgood will also be reading this evening.
http://www.pages.ab.ca/

• Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading from The Nettle Spinner at Our Town Café in Vancouver on September 9th at 8:00 with the inimitable duo of Timothy Taylor and Steven Galloway.
http://vancouver.wifimug.org/index.cgi?OurTownCafe

Edited by author 08-17-2005 03:17 PM
Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Jay MillAr and Adrienne Weiss will be reading at the I.V. Lounge Friday, August 19th at 8pm

This event is free.

The I.V. Lounge is a reading series hosted by Alex Boyd and located at 326 Dundas St W, across from the AGO in Toronto.

I am working on new Tees. Black. Sold by me in Canadian dollars. Keep your Giftmas list open.

G

This tee would make a nice alternative to the cafepress stuff:
http://store.cottonfactory.com/tee-0283.html

Readings from DESIRE, DOOM AND VICE
Nathaniel Moore, editor.

featuring Ryan Bigge, Angela Rawlings, Jessica Westhead, Sarah Selecky, Al Zabas, Michael Bryson.

As part of the IV lounge reading series,
friday Aug 5,
326 Dundas St W, Toronto, across from the AGO, 8pm, free

That's tonight...

My first reading in Toronto to shamelessly promote my first book This Is Not Eden
http://www.thistledown.sk.ca/cgi-bin/thist...ispbook&bkid=186&nf=

Tuesday, August 2nd
Art Bar Poetry Series
Victory Cafe, 581 Markham St.
featuring Tracy Hamon,Steven Laird and Alessandro Porco Rudy Fearon will host the reading

Hope to see you there!

Ooh, ooh, Mr Kotter, I know how to do this. Check out my new website www.zombielogicpress.com. Soon it will be an ezine in the style of Exquisite Corpse. Here's how pretty I am. And single, too. Screw that my file's too large, but what's new?

Bookninja got kudos in the Globe today:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Art...6/Entertainment/Idx

Edited by author 07-12-2005 04:18 PM
Hi, there will be more shameless self promotion to come... my new book, When the Light of Any Action Ceases, will be out next month... but for now... I shamelessly promote my move to Windsor to teach writing at the University of Windsor. I will be in town July 22 setting up the new pad and office and getting settled. If you are a Windsor ninja please do contact me at annefwalker @ berkeley.edu, or annefw @ uwindsor.ca

... especially if you know of a good restaurants/cafes, readings, a good running used car, or dinning room set, household stuff, animal-print planters, that kind of thing... i'll be setting up a whole new home.

Cheers

Anne

Goran Simic will be reading from his new book "From Sarajevo, With Sorrow" at Fellini's Shoe, 226 Carlton, 7:30 PM Monday June 27th.

Damn, I wish I could go to that reading! Stupid job. I've just been listening to Pete Trower singin' blues and reading poems set to music. Great stuff. And great to hear that Trower's Sel