Lorina Stephens's Blog, page 26
April 13, 2016
Aurora Award StoryBundle
How would you like to own, at an incredible bargain, ten books that readers like yourself have already voted to be the best examples of speculative fiction published in Canada? Well, here’s your chance. The Aurora Award Bundle contains winners and finalists for Canada’s premier speculative fiction award, the Aurora Award.
Our curator, Douglas Smith, has won the Aurora three times and been on the final ballot another sixteen. One of his goals when putting this bundle together, aside from offering the best books possible, was to have a gender balance in the selected authors. Mission accomplished. The bundle includes five female and five male authors. You’ll also get a great mix of SF and fantasy, adult and YA novels, as well as a selection of short fiction. The bundle also reflects the long history of the Auroras, with titles spanning over twenty years of Canadian speculative fiction.
You can read more about how the bundle was assembled here.
How it Works
Support awesome indie authors by paying however much you think their work is worth!
Pay at least $15 to unlock books by Douglas Smith, Candas Jane Dorsey, Robert J. Sawyer, Susan MacGregor and Dave Duncan!
Read all the books on just about any tablet, ereader, laptop or even your smartphone.
Purchase here.
The Bundle Includes:
Blood and Water
The Patterns Scars by Caitlin Sweet
Nobody’s Son by Sean Stewart
Cagebird by Karin Lowachee
Gifts For the One Who Comes After, by Helen Marshall
Chimerascope, by Douglas Smith
Black Wine, by Candas Jane Dorsey
Starplex, by Robert J. Sawyer
The Tattooed Witch, by Susan MacGregor
West of January, by Dave Duncan
April 7, 2016
New Website, New Look!
We’ve worked very hard to make our new website more functional, visually pleasing, and extremely mobile friendly.
You’ll find all our books here, but now each book has its own page, as does each author. That will make it easier for you to share your favourite books and authors with your friends and colleagues.
And we’ve simplified our shopping cart to make it easier for you to purchase either the print or ebook version. As an ebook bonus, you’ll now be able to use a link we send you immediately where you can download the epub version of your book.
There’s a contact form to simplify any queries you may have. And for submissions we’ve created a form for that as well.
And check out the sliders we’ve included on our home page! Very cool stuff, not only of our existing catalogue, but of all the books which have either won literary awards, or been short-listed. With some of the new novels we’re publishing this year, we think that awards slider may very well increase next year.
Lots of good changes. Lots of growth. And thank you to all of you who have supported and cheered us over the past eight years.
March 4, 2016
Hunter’s Daughter and a Hot Toddy: Good Books and Warm Drinks
Hello, readers! Welcome to the weekend! At Five Rivers, we always celebrate the short moments in which you can enjoy a pocket book (or an e-book, you tech-savvy, you). And the weekends are just the right time to commit to a book whether you want to go on whole-day marathon, or reserve the lucky tome for your night-time quiet-time. We want to fix you up with the perfect book you would be happy to spend your alone time with. For this week, may we suggest something that would challenge you? It’s a murder mystery, but it’s so much more! We give you Nowick Gray’s Hunter’s Daughter.
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Hunter’s Daughter will bring you to Northern Quebec in 1964 where you will be confronted with a series of unsolved, mysterious murders. You will experience the events with two sets of culturally influenced perspectives—Jack McLain, a white RCMP officer, and Niliq, a young Inuit woman—and you will bring to this reading your own cultural beliefs and expectations. Hunter’s Daughter is thought-provoking, and it’s not just the murder mystery that will make you think. Hunter’s Daughter is a great book to remember that at the heart of differences, we are still the same.
For its drink pairing, Hunter’s Daughter goes well with a hot toddy (because Jack enjoys his whiskey and ginger ale!)
Hot Toddy from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/hot-toddy-233821
Ingredients
1 tsp honey
2 ounces boiling water
1 ½ ounces whiskey
3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 slice lemon
1 pinch of nutmeg
Pour the honey, boiling water, and whiskey into a mug. Spice it with the cloves and cinnamon, and put in the slice of lemon. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes so the flavours can mingle, then sprinkle with a pinch of nutmeg before serving.
If you don’t have a copy of Hunter’s Daughter yet, you can purchase your copy at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indigo, Kobo and Indie Bound.
Do follow Nowick Gray’s website for more thought-provoking contents and author updates. Let us know what you think of the book, the hot toddy, or anything you have in mind. See you in the comment box!
Hunter's Daughter and a Hot Toddy: Good Books and Warm Drinks
Hunter’s Daughter will bring you to Northern Quebec in 1964 where you will be confronted with a series of unsolved, mysterious murders. You will experience the events with two sets of culturally influenced perspectives—Jack McLain, a white RCMP officer, and Niliq, a young Inuit woman—and you will bring to this reading your own cultural beliefs and expectations. Hunter’s Daughter is thought-provoking, and it’s not just the murder mystery that will make you think. Hunter’s Daughter is a great book to remember that at the heart of differences, we are still the same. For its drink pairing, Hunter’s Daughter goes well with a hot toddy (because Jack enjoys his whiskey and ginger ale!)
Hot Toddy from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/hot-toddy-233821
Ingredients
1 tsp honey
2 ounces boiling water
1 ½ ounces whiskey
3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 slice lemon
1 pinch of nutmeg
Pour the honey, boiling water, and whiskey into a mug. Spice it with the cloves and cinnamon, and put in the slice of lemon. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes so the flavours can mingle, then sprinkle with a pinch of nutmeg before serving.
If you don’t have a copy of Hunter’s Daughter yet, you can purchase your copy at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indigo, Kobo and Indie Bound.
Do follow Nowick Gray’s website for more thought-provoking contents and author updates. Let us know what you think of the book, the hot toddy, or anything you have in mind. See you in the comment box!
February 28, 2016
Review: A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
It is hard to fly in the face of popular culture when reviewing a much-beloved novel. Such is the case with John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. Indeed Irving had much to say, it would appear, when he wrote Owen Meany.
The novel examines morality both personal and state, religion and faith (in this case Christianity), and the concept of fate or precognition.
Released more than a decade after the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, Irving criticized loudly and clearly his government’s actions in the novel. In fact, so loud was Irving’s condemnation it very nearly became the undoing of the story. There are interminable pages of statistics enumerating the escalation of troops committed and troops returned as bodies, over and over again, so that all action and tension is suspended so the reader can wallow in Irving’s almost Oliver Stone-like docutainment.
There are those who would defend Irving’s grim and calculated reportage, stating the moral bankruptcy of the US government’s involvement in the Vietnam War was a cornerstone premise of the novel. That is true. But certainly Irving’s point could have been made with a less heavy hand. There is no nuance. There are only interminable statistics.
Human morality is handled in an equally obvious manner, employing what amounts to almost Dickensian caricatures, and thus Irving’s message is rendered less sympathetic.
Irving’s examination of Christian religion and faith is no less heavy-handed. It is, in fact, quite burlesque, from the fiasco of a Christmas pageant through to Meany’s own fevered belief his life, and indeed his ending, is preordained, inescapable.
Marry all of these shortcomings to a writing style devoid of any memorable insight or beauty, and the whole epic, for this reader, fell very short of what it could have been.
That is not to say A Prayer for Owen Meany is not a novel you should avoid. Quite the contrary. It should be read. What Irving has to say is worth your effort and attention. Just don’t expect to necessarily enjoy the journey.
February 27, 2016
#FTR Week: Allowance for Failure
Web Banner from freedomtoread.ca. // Barbara Klunder (illustration), Reva Pomer (design), Webcom (printing)Another day in Freedom to Read week where we get to encourage people to read what they want by having someone tell you not to.
Yes. That’s our angle.
Dear Five Rivers Publishing,
I really must protest. I have spent many years trying to get my children to conform to society. Excessive imagination and self-reliance are not things that will help my kids blend into the background so they can live boring but safe lives.
And then you bring out your Mik Murdoch books (beginning with that most shameful atrocity, Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero). Boy Superhero? Really?
I wish I could say it was mindless drivel – that I could support. More mindless drivel is needed to help shape tomorrow’s youth.
Unfortunately, Mik Murdoch is not that. You have the audacity to publish something that encourages risk and free-thought—the character wants to be a superhero for goodness sake. I simply cannot condone it; promoting these things can only lead to dreams, and from dreams comes trying, and from trying…I shudder to say this, but from trying comes a risk of failure.
My children don’t need to experience failure. They need to live knowing that mediocrity is safe and should be sought after. They need to know that good things are their due without effort.
All that being said, I must insist you stop publishing such hopeful tripe. I am certain you were only misguided by the hack, Michell Plested. As such, you cannot be held responsible for this book.
In good conscience,
Edith Buckley
We don’t know about you, but we think Mrs. Buckley wants to kill ambition. To save ambition and keep it alive, please adopt a copy of Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero. You can find your copy at Amazon, Kobo or Indigo! Also watch out for Mik Murdoch, Crisis of Conscience. Updates coming really soon.
Let us know how you’ve been exercising your right to read. Happy Freedom to Read Week!
#FTRWeek: Keep Calm and Read On
Web Banner from freedomtoread.ca. // Barbara Klunder (illustration), Reva Pomer (design), Webcom (printing)Another day in Freedom to Read week. What have you been reading? If you need some motivation, we have another concerned letter that you have to read! The writer worries about highly impressionable teens, damn cool pirates and rustlers, and some bad hygiene from church men.
Dear Five Rivers:
My fourteen-year-old son is not much of a reader, so I was very pleased when I found him immersed in one your books, which he had found in the school library. After a couple of days, though, I felt compelled to suggest that he put it down for a while and go outside to get some exercise. I was delighted when he agreed and said that he would go for a run.
Imagine my shock when he limped home ten minutes later, with his feet so cut, bloody, and blistered that I had to drive him to the clinic for treatment. He explained that he had been trying to do what Ivor did. Ivor, I discovered, was the hero of the book he had been reading, who had regularly run fifty miles a day, barefoot, over moors and mountains in ancient Scotland.
I have some Scottish blood in my veins, and I was horrified, having confiscated the book—which is called The Adventures of Ivor—to find Scotland described as full of pagans, rustlers, pirates, wizards, and monsters. The only holy man mentioned was described as suffering from severe BO problems! I think you should be ashamed to print such filth. You ought to recall every copy, and refund the price to everyone who bought it.
Yours sincerely,
Hedley McCavity (Mrs.)
We have to say if Dave Duncan’s The Adventures of Ivor is as fun as this letter (and it is!), then everyone should enjoy it.
Sorry Mrs. McCavity if your son ran until he bled from reading a book. We are more concerned about him reading Hunger Games. If you see a bow and arrows hanging around his room, better have that talk.
How has your Freedom to Read Week been going? Read any interesting books you would run 50 miles for? If not, try The Adventures of Ivor. Find it at Amazon, Kobo and Indigo. Fun, magic, and BO guaranteed! The running is up to you. We suggest footwear!
Happy Freedom to Read Week!
February 24, 2016
#FTRWeek: Inviolably Multicultural
Web Banner from freedomtoread.ca. // Barbara Klunder (illustration), Reva Pomer (design), Webcom (printing)Another day, another belief system challenged! Welcome to Freedom to Read week, you hooligan-supporters of the postmodern idea of multiculturalism. Five Rivers Publishing is celebrating your right to read anything you want by delivering you impassioned letters stating why you shouldn’t read our books, and get the satisfaction of defying another person who tells you what to read or think!
Dear Five,
It has come to my attention that the book Hunter’s Daughter, by Nowick Gray, is an affront to our sacrosanct Canadian values; as such, it should be banned from further publication, lest it infect the steadfast beliefs of our young and future generations. Need I cite any further evidence than the book’s premise, that an RCMP officer going rogue and subverting the rule of law in the sovereign territory of the Queen, is somehow a sympathetic hero?
The book portrays all too well the abject poverty, backwardness, and, though it pains me to say it, anarchy of the uncivilized tribes of the region of Arctic Quebec. Established Christian religion, which for centuries has sought to improve the lot of those unfortunates, is given short shrift in this nod to postmodern ‘multiculturalism’—aside, that is, from the odious portrait of the decrepit and complicit Anglican priest, Father Tomlin. Instead we see glorified the self-serving antics of various self-styled ‘shamans’; and if the plot’s scandalous outcome is any indication, we readers are meant to, at best, regard their flouting of the region’s vested authority as somehow justified.
To complete the topsy-turvy sideshow celebrating a travesty of justice, the Hudson’s Bay Company—the third leg of that historical triad of Government, Church and Business which we should rightly credit with the salvation of the impoverished Eskimos (referred to in this revisionist tale with the trendy moniker, ‘Inuit’)—we see the Bay manager presented as a corpulent parody of a materialistic lord in his castle, mean-spirited and bent on destruction of the remnants of this obsolete aboriginal ‘culture.’
In short, the ill-conceived ‘novel’ known as Hunter’s Daughter is but a thinly disguised manifesto for the toppling of every pillar of our dear Western Civilization. In the name of blessed Queen Victoria, let all such tracts be burned and banned, forever!
—E. L. Wrathwight
Did E.L. Wrathwight make you cringe as much as he made us? If you want to write back to Mr. Wrathwight, our comment box is welcome to you. I have to be honest, though: if this had been real I would print it out to tear it to shreds, then stomp on it, then burn it, then put it in my cereal so its only way out would be to become shi—I mean, crap. But hey, that's my approach.
If you want the calmer (and more rational) approach in defying Mr. Wrathwight by reading Hunter's Daughter, pick up your copy in Amazon, Kobo, or Indigo, then tell us all about it.Happy Freedom to Read!
February 23, 2016
#FTRWeek: You See Us Trollin’, You Hatin’
Did you know that it’s Freedom to Read Week? Yes, you heard right. The annual celebration of intellectual freedom started on Sunday, and Five Rivers thought we should join the party. Five Rivers has been lucky to have all our books challenge-free, but we still believe that every time you pick up a Five Rivers book you are exercising your freedom to read, explore and think.
We are ecstatic you deem our books worth your time, and do know that somewhere out there, you are defying oppression against freedom of thought! To encourage you, we give you (fictional) letters to stoke your reading fire because, baby, we love that little rebel in you!
Dear Five Rivers,Trolls are traditionally undesirable characters. They live under bridges taunting unsuspecting billy goats. They carelessly eat meat past dawn. And they have been known to have particularly disgusting bogies. My Life as a Troll by Susan Bohnet depicts an on-line world where trolls aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. They have cool abilities and the hero of the story, a teenage boy with enough things to worry about in his life, becomes more and more troll-like. This is both disturbing and captivating. Readers shouldn’t have to face ambiguity about the nature of trolls in their literature. This book should be banned!
Name (and sense) Withheld
Well, you can’t blame Mrs. Withheld for her concern about the confusing internet terminologies. Or can you? Can we tempt you to write back?
[image error]If you are unlike Mrs. Withheld and would like to have your young’uns know there is more to trolls than taunting billy goats and meat pies after dawn, check out My Life as a Troll, because you have that freedom to read! My Life as a Troll will open to you a world of online games where trolls are the crew you want to hang out with and be like, but ultimately, not really.
If you’re looking for a copy of My Life as a Troll, you can find it on Amazon, Kobo, and Indigo. Come see us trollin’, and join us defeating Mrs. Witheld for troll word usage diversity!
We are also issuing a call for response; if your wit is quick and sharp we want you on our team and in our comment box! Of course, you can also use it for questions, and things.
Happy Freedom to Read!
#FTRWeek: You See Us Trollin', You Hatin'
Web Banner from freedomtoread.ca. // Barbara Klunder (illustration), Reva Pomer (design), Webcom (printing)Did you know that it's Freedom to Read Week? Yes, you heard right. The annual celebration of intellectual freedom started on Sunday, and Five Rivers thought we should join the party. Five Rivers has been lucky to have all our books challenge-free, but we still believe that every time you pick up a Five Rivers book you are exercising your freedom to read, explore and think.
We are ecstatic you deem our books worth your time, and do know that somewhere out there, you are defying oppression against freedom of thought! To encourage you, we give you (fictional) letters to stoke your reading fire because, baby, we love that little rebel in you!
Well, you can't blame Mrs. Withheld for her concern about the confusing internet terminologies. Or can you? Can we tempt you to write back?
Dear Five Rivers,
Trolls are traditionally undesirable characters. They live under bridges taunting unsuspecting billy goats. They carelessly eat meat past dawn. And they have been known to have particularly disgusting bogies. My Life as a Troll by Susan Bohnet depicts an on-line world where trolls aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. They have cool abilities and the hero of the story, a teenage boy with enough things to worry about in his life, becomes more and more troll-like. This is both disturbing and captivating. Readers shouldn’t have to face ambiguity about the nature of trolls in their literature. This book should be banned!
Name (and sense) Withheld
If you are unlike Mrs. Withheld and would like to have your young’uns know there is more to trolls than taunting billy goats and meat pies after dawn, check out My Life as a Troll, because you have that freedom to read! My Life as a Troll will open to you a world of online games where trolls are the crew you want to hang out with and be like, but ultimately, not really. If you're looking for a copy of My Life as a Troll, you can find it on Amazon, Kobo, and Indigo. Come see us trollin', and join us defeating Mrs. Witheld for troll word usage diversity!
We are also issuing a call for response; if your wit is quick and sharp we want you on our team and in our comment box! Of course, you can also use it for questions, and things.
Happy Freedom to Read!
