Lorina Stephens's Blog, page 17

Tesseracts 22: Alchemy and Artifacts reveal

There is nothing new in the world except the history we do not know.

Alchemy and Artifacts (Tesseracts Twenty-Two), edited by Lorina Stephens and Susan MacGregor, is a collection of twenty-three amazing stories based on historical artifacts combined with fantastic historical fiction.

The stories meld culture, concept and incident into a rich collection of ‘what if’ speculations that provide warnings yet revel in the cultural celebrations we continue to observe today. They are the touchstones that resonate with all who listen to and learn from the past.

For, once the instigators are dead, the wars ended, and the political machines decayed, only artifacts remain. And it’s through these cultural artifacts that we glimpse the possibility of what may have occurred in the past and may yet occur in the future.

You are invited to delve into the motivations behind the events of the past, the quests for power, the fights against repression, and the sacrifices to a greater cause — human dramas that reflect the worst and best of who we are — to see what satisfaction comes from sudden insight and awe.

Featuring works by these Canadian writers:

Colleen Anderson, Lara Apps, Leslie Brown, Katherine Cameron, Chris Patrick Carolan, Geoff Gander & Fiona Plunkett, Bev Geddes, Mary-Jean Harris, Geoffrey Hart, Kate Heartfield, R. W. Hodgson, Kurt Kirchmeier, Jason Lane, Halli Lilburn, Cat McDonald, Tony Pi, Mike Rimar, Bianca Sayan, Holly Schofield, Michael Skeet, Erik Jon Spigel, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Michal Wojcik.

The stories in Alchemy and Artifacts (Tesseracts Twenty-Two) nourish those who wander in today’s wilderness, and who, without the benefit of the past, are destined to plunge blindly along a path of ignorance, destroying all that has been, everything that is true and beautiful and that which nourishes our global community.

Release dates:

2019-05-13 – Cover Reveal / Pre-order

KINDLE
KOBO
NOOK
google PLAY


2019-06-10 – Ebook Release
2019-06-24 – Amazon Book Release
2019-09-02 – Book Launch (Official)

Review: Then She Was Gone, by Lisa Jewell

Then She Was Gone, by Lisa Jewell, is a complete departure from my usual reading fare: thriller, whodunit, mental illness crime.

Jewell offers up a perfect golden girl who suddenly goes missing at the age of 15, and the resulting fallout for her family, most particularly her mother. The novel is sketched with safe tropes and cardboard characters, known entities for lovers of this genre. Everyone is beautiful and brilliant except for the villains who are nasty and smelly.

Is it riveting? Kind of, because I wanted to know if the conclusions I’d drawn after the first chapter were correct. And because once I’m into a novel I really do hate to give up on it.

There are a great number of implausibilities in the novel. The writing is sharp, not at all florid. But by the end I felt as though I’d eaten way too many potato chips and pretzels.

Having said all that, it would be a good novel for a beach read or mindless escapism.

Two stars

Review: Tell, by Frances Itani

Seems I have spent a great deal of time reading during my knee replacement recovery, and a lot of it rather unsatisfactory.

So, guess what, here comes another downer review from me, this time for Frances Itani’s Giller Finalist, Tell.

I know, I know, another Giller novel. And we already know my antipathy for Gillers, which leads one to ask: Lorina, why do you keep doing this? I suppose I keep delving into Giller novels because I’m trying to figure out what I’m missing. And guess what? I still don’t know, because Itani’s waffling novel did nothing to address that quest.

Set after WWI in Deseronto, Ontario, the novel at first appears to be one which deals with Kenan, a severely wounded veteran (loss of one ear, eye and arm), who returns and attempts to pick up the shattered remains of his life, with a wife and a community who dearly love and admire him. It has all the hallmarks of a rich tale about PTSD.

However, about half way through the novel Itani apparently changes her mind, and instead focuses on the dissolving marriage of Kenan’s aunt and uncle, and the aunt’s affair with the new choirmaster.

When I compare this post WWI novel to Joseph Boyden’s shattering masterpiece, A Long Journey Home, I can find no reason whatever for the accolades accorded to Itani’s work. Itani meanders and whines. Boyden skillfully and slowly rips your heart out.

Should you read it? Sure you should. Will you enjoy it? Damned if I know.

Two stars.

Review: Leaving Tomorrow, by David Bergen

It seems every time I pick up a novel associated with the Giller Prize, I am disappointed or frustrated, a response which likely has more to do with my own tastes or lack thereof, than of the literary works which garner such esteem.

However, Leaving Tomorrow, by David Bergen, once again had me scratching my head.

The novel is set in Alberta’s ranch country during America’s Vietnam War, and explores the spiritual and physical journey of a Mennonite raised individual, Arthur, who is, frankly, a self-indulgent, navel-gazing twat. Bergen’s treatment of the character does nothing whatsoever to endear the character to the reader, so that by the very anti-climatic climax, you wonder how you’re ever going to recover those hours spent on this witless journey from Alberta to Paris to Alberta again. It is a pretentious novel, with a pretentious protagonist, filled with smug literary allusions, and not-quite scintillating sexual dalliance. This is allegedly a novel which explores the complicated lives of ordinary people. However, if the characters in this novel are ordinary, well, so is Donald Trump.

But I have been known to be hard to please, a harsh critic, and even a twat myself. So, if you like the type of CanLit which earns CanLit its negative response from the average reader, then knock yourself out. For myself, I think the novel does a disservice to the term CanLit and is simply pretentious.

Two stars.

Review: Only Time Will Tell, by Jeffrey Archer

I have to admit I’ve never read anything by Jeffrey Archer, most likely because I tend to avoid blockbuster novels. But the setting and time period of this one intrigued me, and not realizing this was the first of a seven book series known as the Clifton Chronicles, I figured why not.

Set after WWI, Only Time Will Tell opens with a charming idyll set around the Bristol docks, introducing us to Harry Clifton, brilliant and truant boy who would much rather spend his days trundling after his dockworker uncle, or listening to the yarns and wisdoms of Old Jack Tar, a Boer War veteran and hero.

Thereafter the novel progresses through varying viewpoints until the final, dastardly conclusion is drawn, or rather not drawn, because Archer employs an almost vaudevillian cliffhanger ending, so obviously designed to have the reader panting to purchase the next in the series. Didn’t work on me. I don’t like cheap sales tricks.

And after that first introduction to Harry, things degenerated to stereotypes, old tropes, and blatant commercialism. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a decent read for a lazy day if you don’t want to be challenged and just want to escape. But I’m afraid I’m always looking for a little more from what I read. And by the time Archer had illustrated for the umpteenth time what a perfect, honourable, and brilliant boy is our erstwhile protagonist, Harry Clifton, I’d had about enough of this too-good-to-be-true cardboard figure.

Two stars.

Review: The Lightkeeper’s Daughters, by Jean Pendziwol

I came to Jean Pendziwol’s novel quite by chance, drawn by its setting on Porphyry Island on the north shore of Lake Superior.

This is a story of loss, of relationships and discoveries, of isolation and madness, told from the perspective of a delinquent girl who is doing community service at a senior’s residence as her penance, and the old woman she comes to know during that time. There’s a missing diary now found, connections realized, a secrecy exposed.

Throughout the narrative, which alternates between Morgan, the adolescent girl, and Elizabeth, the senior Morgan comes to know, Jean Pendziwol employs spare language and deftly drawn environments that resonate with detail. The isolation of the lighthouse on Porphyry is perfectly captured, running like a subtext through the fractured and sometimes temprelationships Pendziwol reveals.

Four stars. Recommended.

A Shadow Song get well to Lorina

The first novel I ever published, Shadow Song, is a history set in 1830s Upper Canada, painstakingly researched, representing close to a decade of writing. I am still proud of this novel. And I hope it’s one you will allow me to share with you while I’m setting about making a new knee work for me.

Generally, Shadow Song, was and still remains well-received by readers. What perhaps was the biggest kick for me was about 15 years ago when I was sitting in a rheumatologist’s office, and lo, there on a side table was a copy of Shadow Song. I kind of wanted to hold the book up and show the other people, point at the byline and myself, grin like an idiot. But propriety reigned, and I refrained.

I should warn you, however; if you’re a tender heart, read or listen to the novel with a box of tissues, because you’re going to need them.

You can send me an encouragement card in the form of a purchase of Shadow Song as a trade paperback, ebook, or audiobook. The audiobook is narrated by Susan J. Iannucci.

Thanks for your well-wishes!

Get well, Lorina, with From Mountains of Ice

So, 12 days since my knee surgery. I will have perhaps reported on my progress by now, or perhaps not. My physiotherapy assessment was last Wednesday. And, yes, I’ve set up a series of blog posts in advance of all this to blatantly solicit your well-wishes and encouragement in the form of book purchases.

This week I’m badgering you about my cultural, dark fantasy, From Mountains of Ice. It’s a story about an unwilling hero, about underdogs and wresting power from a despotic narcissist. Sound familiar? What’s of interest is I wrote From Mountains of Ice long before the drama unfolded in the United States.

From Mountains of Ice is set in an Italian-influenced country, beset by raids and political threats from both within and without. And then there are the bone-speakers, those who are gifted with the ability to speak with the dead — the cuculatti. It is a story full of twists and intrigue. And one I hope you will enjoy as much as I did writing it.

You can enjoy the novel in three formats: trade paperback, ebook, or audiobook. All the links are on the page for From Mountains of Ice. And you can also purchase it through your favourite online bookseller worldwide. The audiobook is beautifully narrated by Diana Majlinger who lends her delicious voice and accent to the exotic feeling of the novel.

I do so enjoy getting your well-wishes in the form of book sales. Imagine me grinning like an idiot right now.

 

While I’m recovering, what not Caliban?

I’m writing this post in advance of my knee surgery, which I’m hoping has gone swimmingly well, and that I’m now home and deep into physiotherapy. I am determined to be fully mobile and up to mischief by August. I’m even dreaming of attending Can-Con this fall. But perhaps I get ahead of myself.

What would really help is for you to encourage me in this journey by sending me a get-well message in the form of an acquisition of my novel, Caliban. Better than sending a card, or flowers, or chocolates — much as I love that dark temptation.

I will admit Caliban is a strange novel, about a strange creature who takes a strange journey. It’s an examination of the concept of beauty, of what is reality or illusion. There are moments of brutality. And moments of ineffable beauty.

Caliban is easy to acquire. Just click on the link to Caliban’s page on my website where you can purchase the novel in trade paperback or ebook. Or, if you prefer, you can purchase through your favourite online bookseller. Hell, you can even badger your local bookstore into ordering you a copy. They may resist, but tell them you’re all about supporting fringe authors.

And thanks if you do. You’ve truly made my day.

 

The Rose Guardian

My newest novel, The Rose Guardian, is now available for pre-order in trade paperback. Just follow the PayPal links on the page for The Rose Guardian. 

A pre-order for the ebook will be available in a few weeks. Or, if you’d prefer, you can wait a few months for The Rose Guardian to be available for pre-order through your favourite bookseller worldwide.

I am so excited about this novel. Jeff Minkevics designed the gorgeous cover, which perfectly captures the tone of the novel.

While I’m in hospital this week getting a new left knee, you’d make me ever so happy to pre-order a copy for yourself, your parent, your aunt or uncle, your university student, the neighbour across the road, your babysitter, your lover, your boss, a person you love, a person you loathe, for your sidewalk library. Why not acquire a copy and just leave it on the train, or the subway, or the plane, your Uber or cab, your doctor’s office, your workplace? Share the experience.

Because, after all, that’s what writers do in a way; we share. We share the stories that wake us up in the middle of the night, scribble in solitude, mutter to ourselves when we think no one’s watching. Ours is a silent voice which is only heard when you, the reader, pick up our book and slide into a world we insinuate into your imagination.

So, yeah, I think this is a story you’re going to love. Even if you don’t, that’s fine too. Just think of your purchase as a get well card to me.