Lorina Stephens's Blog, page 31
July 28, 2015
Review: Truth and Bright Water, by Thomas King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Thomas King is that rare writer capable of not only telling a compelling, interesting story, but of seamlessly marrying that to literary devices which, like a painter who understands the medium, is capable of allowing the transfer of light off and through opaque and transparent pigments, creating depth where before there was only two dimensions.
Truth and Bright Water is a story of restoration, reparation, relocation of both the body and the spirit. It follows the lives of a two young boys, and an artist who restores paintings. And it is so much more than that.
In weaving together the narratives of these people, King creates a remarkable, sustained metaphor wherein a church is restored by the artist, returning it to the land by painting it to blend into the landscape around it, yet the church’s interior, like a Tardis, remains, in this case the habitation and, if you will, the spirit of the artist who has taken an edifice of misery to the First Nations and made it part of his own self. It is a brilliant bit of writing.
Highly recommended.
July 26, 2015
Five Rivers 5-Book Launch in Victoria, BC
July 20, 2015
Review: The Queen Mother: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, Who Became Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, by Lady Colin Campbell
[image error]The Queen Mother: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, Who Became Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother by Lady Colin Campbell
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Campbell has penned a prurient, verbose, self-aggrandizing pseudo-biography worthy of the British scandal sheets. To call this tittle-tattle a biography is to shame every journalist of integrity, for journalism this is not.
This reader, having been subjected to egregious gossip throughout this interminable book, came away no more enlightened as to any of Elizabeth Bowes Lyon’s accomplishments or history. Instead, Campbell has delved into her own personal speculation, snobbery and even racism of the worst sort, putting forth arguments of a medical, political and societal nature on which she is unqualified to write, and plainly is too cavalier to bother to research. Why research when we can have tea with Lady Such-and-So and gossip away the afternoon?
It is ridiculous in the extreme to put forth the argument the Queen Mother was a harridan exceeding her ancestor, Lady Macbeth; that Edward VIII would have single-handedly kept together the British Empire; that Wallis Simpson would have made a far better queen by virtue of her fashion elan.
What is plain is Campbell’s obsession with superficial beauty, starvation-mode thinness, the need to associate within accepted, rarefied circles, and a compulsion to the nasty degradation of anyone Campbell feels unacceptable. In short, Campbell has penned a gossip sheet right out of discussions in her own parlour whisperings.
Not once does Campbell make even slight mention of the Queen Mother’s extensive charitable work, the extraordinary strides to which she and George V went to bolster British spirit and capability during WWII. Instead we are given to believe the Queen Mother was an old soak who lay abed gorging on chocolates and manipulating every person within her sphere of control, and avoiding any sexual congress whatever with her husband. She even goes so far to assert all of the Queen Mother’s children were the result of artificial insemination, so allegedly adverse was the Queen Mother to intercourse.
George V is portrayed as a booby. Edward VIII as the mistreated exiled king. Which does not even touch upon the the fictional creations she has made of Charles, Margaret, Phillip and even Elizabeth Regis.
Truly, if you want to read a decent biography of the Queen Mother, choose some other author, nay any other author than what this ridiculous dabbler has created in this trumped up bit of tripe.
Day in the Life of an Editor
So...my 11 year-old is having trouble getting to sleep one night, so I offer to sit with her until she is asleep. I bring my computer so I won't be bored and so she can't talk to me when she should be trying to get to sleep. And I'm doing my email, because that's the sort of not-having-to-concentrate work you do when you're in a dark room waiting for your 11 year-old to finally fall asleep, when I get an email from horror writer JW Schnarr...which I open to see this:
...which not something you want your 11 year-old to see last thing before she goes to sleep, particularly since you're there because of the potential monsters under the bed. I yank the computer screen to face the other way before she sees it, and of course that motion causes her to sit up and ask what is wrong and etc., and I'm trying to think of how to explain why there is a man eating a leg on my computer screen, when I realize she has a sleep mask on and couldn't have seen anything anyway.
Phew.
I calm her down again, and then turn to replying to Schnarr's email. My problem is, I had asked Schnarr to send me a photo for a poster I was doing for Five Rivers Publishing featuring a number of authors, Schnarr included, because he had objected to my using this photo:
Now, I had assumed he vetoed this one because it was too aggressive, particularly in a poster featuring the smiling, approachable head-and-shoulder photos of the other authors. But apparently I was completely wrong, and he had objected because it was too tame. I forgot that horror writers do not see the world quite like you or I.
So, I wrote back saying that he had perhaps misunderstood the purpose of the poster, which was to help attendees at the When Words Collide Festival recognize Five River authors to make them more approachable, and not, as he apparently believed, a wanted poster to scare people away. I further explained that sending me such photos as I sat with my afraid-of-the-dark 11 year-old was counter-productive, vis-a-vis getting her to sleep. To which he replied:
Definitely not "calm down and go to sleep, there are no monsters" material.
My daughter was brought up on a slightly different strategy. The "Yes there are monsters, and they are hiding under your bed waiting for you to get up or make some noise, so they can drag you away into the darkness..." strategy.
Worked like a charm! My kid NEVER got out of bed!
Did I mention horror writers see things very differently?
I should clarify that Schnarr is in reality one of the nicest guys I ever met, and I've met his daughter who seems a well-adjusted, creative teenager.
JW Schnarr will be at When Words Collide Festival, Calgary, August 14-16, 2015, along with six other Five Rivers Publishing authors and two 5R staff. JW Schnarr is the author of Things Falling Apart and A Quiet Place.
July 16, 2015
Five Rivers at When Words Collide Festival
Five Rivers will have seven authors and two staff attending the When Words Collide Festival in Calgary, August 14-16, 2015. It's my favorite writers convention because of the high proportion of writers, the cross-genre orientation/cross-pollination, and the high quality of the programming.
And I get a lot of business done there. Of the seven 5R authors who have so far confirmed they are going this year, I signed five of them to book deals with Five Rivers after meeting/hearing them read/talking to them at WWC. (The two exceptions are Nowick, who submitted through the publisher; and Susan MacGregor who I had first heard read at another convention, and I merely badgered her for her series at WWC. Still....WWC represents a great networking opportunity for writers, editors, publishers, and fans.)
I missed that Susan MacGregor was going to WWC this year until after I'd already done the poster, but she'll be there too, and doing a reading from book 3 of the Tattooed Witch series.
For Five Rivers annual book session at WWC, this year we are doing a DOUBLE book launch on Saturday at 1PM (in Fireside Room): Marie Powell's Hawk and Nowick Gray's Hunter's Daughter. Hawk is a young adult fantasy set in 1282 Wales, with a brother-sister team trying to save their family and the royal baby from the English invaders; Hunter's Daughter is a murder mystery, and definitely not young adult. Nowick's book has been available for a couple of months, but have to admit it's touch and go whether Hawk will arrive in time from the printer's--I caught a glitch with the chapter headings just as it was about to go to print, which put us a week or so behind schedule. Still, reasonably confident there will be copies to show and sell at the launch.
Five Rivers will also be doing a pitch session (come and try to sell your novel to Five Rivers and join the likes of the above, Dave Duncan, Ann Marston, Matt Hughes, and a host of others...; a blue pencil café where editors critique something you've written (for free!); and a number of panels.
I also recommend the pre-conference workshops, for which I understand there are still some openings, which I have found in the past to have been outstanding. Well worth the very low--deliberately accessible rates--charge. Last year I think I paid $40 each to listen to Adrianne Kerr--Penguin Canada's editor for commercial fiction--and Mark Leslie Lefebvre, head of Kobo's Writing Life arm, either of whom could easily command 10 times that for a workshop. (I can't be there myself again this year, because I'll be in New York until just the day before WWC Festival, otherwise would love to attend this year's workshops.)
Try to catch our Five River author's readings and panel appearances, and talk to our authors and staff at the various parties over the weekend. WWC doesn't end when the programming is over--various publishers and organizations host open parties to which everyone is invited; and there is also the convention 'consuite', a low keyed, continuous party hosted by the con. Lots of opportunities for networking.
If you are going to WWC this year, I'd love it if you could get some pics of 5R people for me to post on the blog, Facebook, Pinterest and so on. Hey, maybe I should organize a scavenger hunt, with the first person/group to get pictures of all 9 5R authors/staff at WWC this year to get a free book? Well, we'll see.
June 23, 2015
Are Canadians Boring?
Jeet This Week (June 23, 2015) on CBC's Q gave a fascinating rant entitled, "Canada hides behind the myth of boringness". It's worth the nine minutes and 3 seconds it takes to listen, though I'm most interested in what he has to say in the last half: his theories of why Canadian history is (portrayed as) so boring.
He's not wrong when he says "Canada has constructed a mask of boringness...a facade...." (7.28) It's not that interesting things don't happen here, it's that we don't want to acknowledge anything negative or controversial in our history. Jeet's explanation is, in my view, right on. Worth a listen.
I can't even refute Jeet's statement (8:23) that
"If I'm working with a Canadian editor, and there's anything that's quirky or funny, that gets taken out right away. Whereas, if I hand the same piece to an American editor, they'll like, again, just circle it and say, 'put that in the first paragraph'."
I would love to say that never actually happens, but...that's been my experience as a writer too. When my co-editor and I turned in our first textbook (Thinking About Teaching: An Introduction) I was really proud of the fact it had a lot of funny bits in it--which the publisher's editors promptly made us take out. The problem was that when the publisher sent the text out to instructors in similar courses across Canada--that is, the book's potential buyers--they all complained that we weren't 'serious' enough about the various topics covered. That made no sense to me: since when did 'serious' equate with 'dull'? But I needed tenure, which meant I needed to get the book published, so what could we do? We took the funny bits out.I did manage to retain one extended Star Trek reference, and I fought to keep one chapter that was clearly outrageous (because it was an article I had written, and therefore, again something I needed for tenure), but that was the best we could salvage. (Well, it was still a decent textbook, just not what you'd call entertaining.) Significantly, while the text went out of print relatively quickly, that one 'outrageous' chapter has been reprinted in course readers in Education courses across Canada every year since for the last 25 years--because, I suspect, it's really hard to find readings on Canadian education that aren't boring.
The point, of course, is that it doesn't have to be this way. Now that I am Senior Editor with a publisher, I'm finally in a position to say 'no' to boring textbooks. Our series on the Prime Ministers of Canada does not shy away from the controversial, from the negative, or from engaging writing.
Nor have we committed the other crime against history that Jeet didn't get into: textbooks that condescend to their readers. Have you looked at your kid's text lately? These days, most K-12 texts seem to strip out substance for pages of colorful but questionably relevant pictures; include cute cartoon characters to cajole students to read the next paragraph; include 'review questions' that send students on a 'scavenger hunt' to find facts they can pluck out of context to fit in the blanks of meaningless worksheets. Head::Desk. As if students could never find their own history interesting, could never voluntarily read a biography of their Prime Minster(s); could never actually read a block of text without pictures. Perhaps there are students so overwhelmed by hypertext and visual media that they can no longer tolerate actual books, but if those hypothetical kids actually exist anywhere, they are not our target audience. We publish books for readers, and believe that given half a chance, kids, like adults, prefer books that don't talk down to them.
And that aren't boring.
See also:Runté on the Prime Ministers of Canada series Author interviews: The Prime Ministers of Canada series
June 17, 2015
Shadow Song, by Lorina Stephens, called haunting and beautiful
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Shadow Song by Lorina Stephens
Published by Five RiversHaunting and beautiful, I couldn't put this book down. Partly historical, partly supernatural yet grounded, and always in tune with nature. This is a child's journey to adulthood through very different lifestyles. Beginning in pre-Victorian England, only child to moderately wealthy parents, Danielle sees her world crumble as her uncle, the older son who had inherited from his parents, proceeds to bankrupt his younger brother, Danielle's father. As a result, it isn't long before the family is reduced to living on the streets. The deaths of her parents through starvation, disease and depression leave her an orphan and she is sent to live with her only living relative, the uncle who caused their demise.
Arriving in Upper Canada, she is amazed at so much living nature...tall forests everywhere, the world feels alive. But she fears her uncle, and apparently rightly so, as kind people are worried for her welfare and do their best to protect her on the long journey she must take before reaching her uncle's hovel. Based upon a true tragedy that occurred in the village of Hornings Mills, Ontario, Canada, what follows is a terrifying escape and run for her life. Her uncle is so ruthless he will hunt her down forever.
Meeting Shadow Song, an Ojibwa shaman, the story becomes beautiful amidst the horror she will soon face. She has a self-appointed protector in Shadow Song, and he is always watching out for her. I loved this wonderful lyrical story. It will linger with me for a long time. Lorina Stephens is a mesmerizing writer, combining historical settings with mystical story-telling. No matter the horrors that may appear in the story, there is beauty as well. This is a coming-of-age story and an adventure story unveiling itself exquisitely. I am now definitely a fan of Lorina Stephens.
Posted by nightreader at 9:52 AM No comments:
Links to this postLabels: Canadian, fiction, historical, Ojibwa, orphan, pre-Victorian England, shaman
Format Print $23.99 CAD eBook $4.99 CAD
June 15, 2015
Eye of Strife 'a page-turner' says Goodreads reviewer
Tony King's Reviews > The Eye of Strife
ReadMy rating:1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars[ 5 of 5 stars ]The Eye of Strife
by Dave Duncan
Tony King's review
May 16, 15
4 of 5 starsRead in May, 2015
The Eye of Strife is not a long book, but it is brimming with everything Dave Duncan fans love and have come to expect. The religious and political systems ring true. There's intrigue, romance, action (yes, more swordfighting), gods who take an active interest in the lives of their worshippers, a mysterious, possibly powerful, talisman, and a strong sense of justice. His voice is engaging, devious, sly and humourous.
It's a book that will appeal especially to those who like the Omar books and The Alchemist's Apprentice series. In some ways, it's a cross between Agatha Christie's gathering of the suspects and Tolkien's quests.
That this is his 50th book had escaped my notice until today; it's an accomplishment worthy of applause. The Eye of Strife is a page-turner from start to the all-too-soon climax.Like ∙ flagFollow Reviews
Format Print $17.99 CAD eBook $4.99 CAD
June 12, 2015
5 stars for Hunter's Daughter at LibraryThing
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.I received this through the Early Reviewers' program.This is by far the best book I have received through Library Thing's Early Reviewers' program.
A tense crime story, this is not the usual sort of police procedural (a genre I read often and enjoy). The difference was that this is placed in a particular culture clash: between Inuit people of northern Canada and the (mainly and dominant) white Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
This made for a fascinating story. The police officer, working against incredible cultural odds in northern Quebec, trying to solve a murder mystery in really remote parts of that province. The native people, some of whom have had no contact with 'western' people, have a very different way of dealing with the issues that arise.
I enjoyed this story from the very start to the end. The setting was just so different from my personal experience that I was in thrall. The culture clash, while set in this story in the 1960s is just as real today in places where native peoples have no way of understanding the ways of the ruling culture.
For a complete outsider, this was great story-telling. Thank you Nowick. I'll be looking for other books of yours. (
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Hunter's Daughter is available in print and eBook formats directly from Five Rivers, or from your favourite online bookseller.Format Print $24.99 CAD eBook $4.99 CAD
June 3, 2015
Five from Five: Five Rivers' Book Launch in Victoria BC
At this book launch, we are proud to present:
Nowick Gray's quintessential Northern mystery, Hunter's Daughter
Paula Johanson's biography King Kwong: the China Clipper who broke the NHL colour barrier released May 1st and the newly revised and expanded edition of her fantasy, Tower in the Crooked Wood released June 1st.
Dave Duncan's 50th book fantasy mystery, The Eye of Strife and the omnibus edition of Ivor the Runner series, The Adventures of Ivor. 
This will be a great opportunity for the BC SF community to come together and celebrate Canadian Literature. There are parking spaces available, and the venue is also accessible by bus.If you have any questions, please send it our way through comments or e-mailing info@5rivers.org.
We hope to see you there!
