Lorina Stephens's Blog, page 40

Prix Aurora voter's package now available

The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association now have available the 2014 voter's packages for the Prix Auroras. Two of Five Rivers' books are short-listed for the Prix Auroras, The Tattooed Witch, by Susan MacGregor, and Out of Time, by D.G. Laderoute.

short-listed for Best Novel
short-listed for Best YA Novel

From the CSFFA administration:The purpose of the Aurora Awards Voter Package is simple: Before you vote for the Aurora Awards this year, we want you to be able to read as much of the nominated work as possible, so you can make an informed decision about what is the best of the year. Please note: the package is only available while voting is open. Remember voting ends Saturday, Sept. 6th at 11:59:59 EDT! (That’s 9pm if you live on the West Coast)
The electronic versions of these Aurora Awards nominated works are made available to you through the generosity of the nominees and publishers. We are grateful for their participation and willingness to share with CSFFA members. If you like what you read, please support the creators by purchasing their works, which are available in bookstores and online.
The works in the Aurora Awards Voter Package are without Digital Rights Management, because the authors and publishers trust that you will use this Aurora Awards Voter Package as it was intended – to help you make the best choice for the Aurora Awards.
By accepting this package you agree not to share the works therein with anyone other than the CSFFA members in your household. Your agreement will make a difference in convincing authors and publishers to contribute to this package in the future. 
The works in the Aurora Voters Package are formatted in:Rich Text Format (.rtf), Adobe Reader Format (.pdf), eReader formats (.epub and mobi).
Each format opens with free software that is available on the Web if you don’t already have any on your computer.
For .rtf formatted files:OpenOffice: http://www.openoffice.org/ For .pdf formatted files:Adobe Reader: http://get.adobe.com/reader/ To convert a PDF file to these formats: epub and mobi we recommend you use: Calibre: http://calibre-ebook.com/download
Happy Reading!! We look forward to seeing you at VCON39 / Canvention 34 October 3 - 5, 2014 in Vancouver, British Columbia 
http://www.vcon.ca

4 stars for Old Growth, by Matt Hughes

A glowing 4-star review for Old Growth, by Matt Hughes, from a LibraryThing reviewer. Old Growth is the second book in the Sid Rafferty Thriller series.
available in print and eBook
from Five Rivers
and online booksellers worldwide

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.The language has a straight forward reading style and I finished the book in a couple of hours. My overall impression of the work is that it is quite masculine in feel. I do not mean that the crime solver, "Raff," is a super hero kind of sleuth. In fact, he has a bit of the charming bumbliness of Inspector Clouseau, a bit of the exactitude of Holmes, and a smidge of the class of Poirot. This is not to say that he cannot survive several thrashings with injuries that most of us would not be able to manage. He does what it takes to make a living. He is sort of an ordinary Joe who finds himself, by chance, in the midst of the evil doings of greedy people. We like him and we want him to thrive. The book has gore and it has humor. The title is a term in forestry. Should we clear out the remains of the woods to build homes for humans? Does this land need to be "developed?" Should we disturb life as it has been for generations? Read it before it gets snapped up by media moguls. My thanks to LibraryThing for a complimentary copy. (  )    |   flagmusichick52 | May 7, 2014 | 

Out of Time on Wattpad's Time and Eternity Reading List

Recently short-listed for the YA Prix Aurora Award, Out of Time, by D.G. Laderoute is now one of 14 titles listed on Wattpad's Time and Eternity reading list.



The list is compiled and maintained by Wattpad's team, and reflects stories Wattpad feels worthy of notice.

Congratulations, Dave! 

Five Rivers represents in the 2014 Prix Aurora nominees

The 2014 Prix Aurora Award Ballot nominee list was released yesterday, and Five Rivers is pleased to have two of our publications short-listed, as well as two of our team nominated for work in other categories.



Susan MacGregor's The Tattooed Witch has been short-listed in the Best English Novel category.



D.G. Laderoute's Out of Time has been short-listed in the Best English Young Adult Novel category.



Susan Forest's The Gift has been short-listed in the Best English Short Fiction category. Five Rivers published a collection of Forest's short fiction, Immunity to Strange Tales in 2012.

Susan MacGregor's blog, Suzenyms, is short-listed for Best English Related Work.

Robert Runte's address, Why I Read Canadian Speculative Fiction: The Social Dimension of Reading, which was the Scholar Keynote Address at ACCSFF '13, Toronto, is short-listed for Best Fan Related Work.

Well done all of you! We're just tickled silly.

Voting will open to members of CSFFA in a few days on their website. There will also be digital review copies provided by participating publishers for voting membership.

The complete list of Aurora nominees follows:

2014 Aurora Award BallotWe are proud to announce the 2014 Aurora award ballot for work done in 2013 by Canadians. Voting for the awards will begin for members of CSFFA* (Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association) on May 3rd and will close at Midnight (end of day) EDT on Saturday, September 6th, 2014. For full details join us at www.prixaurorawards.ca. The awards will be presented at VCON (www.vcon.ca) in Vancouver, Oct 3 – 5, 2014.
Best English NovelRed Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer, Penguin CanadaRiver of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay, Viking CanadaThe Tattooed Witch by Susan MacGregor, Five RiversTombstone Blues by Chadwick Ginther, Ravenstone BooksA Turn of Light by Julie E. Czerneda, DAW Books
Best English YA (Young Adult) Novel
The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles: Demon Gate by Marty Chan, Fitzhenry & WhitesideInk by Amanda Sun, Harlequin TeenThe Lake and the Library by S.M. Beiko, ECW PressOut of Time by D.G. Ladroute, Five RiversResolve by Neil Godbout, Bundoran PressThe Rising by Kelley Armstrong, Doubleday Canada
Best English Short Fiction"A Bunny Hug for Karl" by Mike Rimar, Masked Mosaic, Canadian Super Stories, Tyche Books"Angela and Her Three Wishes" by Eileen Bell, The Puzzle Box, EDGE"The Awakening of Master March" by Randy McCharles, The Puzzle Box, EDGE"Ghost in the Machine" by Ryan McFadden, The Puzzle Box, EDGE"The Gift" by Susan Forest, Urban Green Man, EDGE"Green Man She Restless" by Billie Milholland, Urban Green Man, EDGE"Living Bargains" by Suzanne Church, When the Hero Comes Home 2, Dragon Moon PressBest English Poem/Song"A City of Buried Rivers" by Clink, David, The Literary Review of Canada, vol. 21, no. 9, November"Awake" by Peter Storey, Urban Green Man, EDGE"The Collected Postcards of Billy the Kid" by Helen Marshall, Postscripts to Darkness, Issue 4, October"Lost" by Amal El-Mohtar, Strange Horizons, February"Night Journey: West Coast" by Kernaghan, Eileen, Tesseracts Seventeen: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast, EDGE"Turning the Leaves" by Amal El-Mohtar, Apex Magazine, Issue 55, DecemberBest English Graphic NovelLooking for Group by Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza, webcomicRock, Paper, Cynic by Peter Chiykowski, webcomicWeregeek by Alina Pete, webcomicWild Game: Sweet Tooth Vol. 6 by Jeff Lemire, VertigoBest English Related WorkThe Puzzle Box by The Apocalyptic Four, EDGEUrban Green Man edited by Adria Laycraft and Janice Blaine EDGEOn Spec published by the Copper Pig Writers’ SocietySuzenyms by Susan MacGregor, blog suzenyms.blogspot.caImaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing edited by Sandra Kasturi andSamantha Beiko, ChiZine Publications Best ArtistErik Mohr, cover art for ChiZine PublicationsMelissa Mary Duncan, illustrations and cover artDan O'Driscoll, covers for Bundoran Press and the SF Aurora bannerApis Teicher, body of workTanya Montini, cover design for The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles: Demon GateBest Fan PublicationsNo award will be given out in this category in 2014 due to insufficient eligible nomineesBest Fan MusicBrooke Abbey for writing and publishing 12 songsDebs & Errol for CTRL+ALT+DUETS, EPChris Hadfield for his performance of Space OddityKari Maaren for Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off, CDDevin Melanson, Leslie Hudson and, Kari Maaren for Pirate Elves in Space, CDBest Fan OrganizationalEvelyn Baker and Alana Otis-Wood, co-chairs Ad Astra, TorontoS.M. Beiko and Chadwick Ginther, co-chairs Chiaroscuro Reading Series, ChiSeries WinnipegSandra Kasturi and James Bambury, co-chairs Chiaroscuro Reading Series, ChiSeries TorontoRandy McCharles, chair When Words Collide, CalgaryMatt Moore, chair Ottawa Chiaroscuro Reading Series, ChiSeries OttawaRose Wilson, Art Show Director, VCON 38, VancouverBest Fan Related WorkR. Graeme Cameron, weekly column in Amazing Stories MagazineSteve Fahnestalk, weekly column in Amazing Stories MagazineRobert Runté, ”Why I Read Canadian Speculative Fiction: The Social Dimension of Reading”, Scholar Keynote Address at ACCSFF ’13, Toronto
* CSFFA is a federally registered non-profit society that is open to all Canadian citizens and landed immigrants.

Interview with Aaron Kite, author of A Touch of Poison

ISBN 9781927400593 $19.99
eISBN 9781927400609 $4.99
Releases August 1, 2014
August 1, 2014 Five Rivers releases a captivating YA novel from Calgary author, Aaron Kite, A Touch of Poison, winner of the 2012 Watty for Most Popular Fantasy.

The story revolves around Gwenwyn, who is the most miserable princess ever, and for good reason. Merely brushing up against her or touching her exposed skin is enough to cause painful burns, or worse. And if that wasn't enough, she's just discovered the singular reason for her existence - to act as the king's secret assassin, murdering neighboring princes with nothing more than a simple kiss.

Lorina Stephens recently interviewed Aaron Kite about his forthcoming novel, A Touch of Poison.

LS: A Touch of Poison is a beautifully detailed YA novel with unexpected twists and an atypical heroine. What was your inspiration for this story?

AK: The idea originally came from me while reading about these women in Hindu folklore known as the Visha Kanya, or 'poison girls'. Legend has it that their blood and other bodily fluids were poisonous, and that they offered themselves as concubines in order to assassinate kings and other high-ranking men of power. I started to wonder what it would be like for someone who had to live with that sort of condition, and how lonely a life like that would be.



Originally, I'd thought the whole concept would make a nice short story, but the more I thought about it the better I liked the overall idea. Pretty soon I realized that I had way too much material to stuff into a short story, and opted to make it a full length novel instead.

LS: Were you intentionally looking to create a variation on the Midas story?

AK: Not intentionally, no. The story of Midas was more of a "be careful what you wish for" cautionary tale about greed and unintended consequences, whereas Gwenwyn isn't given the choice, and must simply cope with the realities of her unusual situation. There are some similarities between the two characters, true, but there's also some fairly significant differences. Midas embodied greed, while Gwenwyn is more about trying to do the right thing, and attempting to keep hope alive.

LS: Was this a burst of inspiration, or an initial burst followed by endless revision?

AK: Definitely the latter, which is what seems to happen with everything I write. I come up with the initial idea, get all excited about it, and then when I'm about three or four chapters in it becomes more about putting my nose to the millstone and grinding my way to the finish line. 
Once I'd finished there were quite a number of edits that needed to be done, which I've always found more difficult than writing the actual story. As it stands I've probably read the whole thing beginning to end about thirty times, fixing problems or tweaking this and that. Then again, I suppose that's why we have these things called "first drafts".

Still, I'm very glad that I (and several others) put all of that work into polishing it up. When all is said and done, I'm quite happy with how this story turned out.

LS: The novel was originally published on Wattpad, and went on to win the 2012 Watty for Most Popular Fantasy. Tell us about that process and the award.

AK: Well, for anyone not familiar with it, Wattpad is kind of like a cross between a social media site and a library, where anyone with an account can make their stories available for other people to read. I started uploading the first chapters of [A Touch of Poison] in the spring of 2012, and around the 3rd or 4th chapter it really started to grab the attention of the Wattpad community. 
Once that happened, the story started getting thousands upon thousands of reads, propelling it into the #1 spot in the fantasy category for pretty much most of the summer. Then, a few people started leaving comments or messages asking if I was planning on entering the story in the Watty awards.

I did a little checking, and discovered that the only requirements to enter your story was that it had to be a completed story, and had to have been written between January and November of that calendar year. So, figuring I had a shot at winning, I finished writing the first draft, entered it in the fantasy category and crossed my fingers.

There's a lengthy voting period, which allows the Wattpad community the opportunity to read as many of the books as possible. In the end, readers vote for their favorite story in the genre that most interests them, and the votes are counted once the contest deadline has passed. My story ended up getting the most votes, and I won the award for 'Most Popular Fantasy' for 2012. Not only was there a cash prize, but Wattpad featured the winning stories on their site, which in turn allowed the story to be discovered by even more people. Right now the total number of reads for that particular story is almost 4.5 million, which still boggles my mind.

LS: Will we hear again from Gwenwyn, the heroine, soon?

AK: We haven't seen the last of her, that's for sure. "Are you writing a sequel to A Touch of Poison?" is the one question I'm asked the most from people who are fans of the story. I hadn't been planning on writing a sequel originally, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed to make sense. So yes, you'll definitely be hearing from Gwenwyn again. Soon, I hope.

Shakespeare for Slackers: Romeo and Juliet available for pre-order

The zany, irreverent and completely relevant interpretation of one of Shakespeare's most beloved, tragic love-stories is now available for pre-order: Shakespeare for Slackers: Romeo and Juliet. 


available in print and eBook
from Five Rivers Publishing
and booksellers worldwide
The book releases May 1, 2014, and is available in both print and eBook versions.

7 x 10 Trade paperback, 150 pages
ISBN 9781927400555
$21.99

eBook, EPUB
ISBN 9781927400562
$4.99



Format Print $21.99 CAD eBook $4.99 CAD

Re-scheduled signing for D.G. Laderoute

D.G. Laderoute's recently scheduled book signing at Chapters, Thunder Bay had to be quickly cancelled due to the arrival of his first grandchild. Congratulations to all the family!

To quote Laderoute's recently post on Facebook:

The third time's the charm, as they say. So, my book signing event at Chapters in Thunder Bay for my novel Out of Time will now be on Saturday, April 26 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. This is the third date I've set for this, and this one is gonna go ahead!

When Words Collide Festival, Aug 8-10, 2014

The When Words Collide Festival, August 8-10, 2014, is an excellent Western Canadian writers conference. Five Rivers has always had a presence at WWC and this year will be launching all six of its Spring Releases at the conference. Three other Five Rivers authors and two staff have already confirmed they will be at WWC.

If you are going to WWC this year, make sure you attend the Five Rivers Book Social at 2 PM, and watch for Five Rivers authors, editors and artists on various panels. We will be posting information on panels with Five River authors when the times have been confirmed, closer to the conference dates.
Authors from Western Canada who may be interested in submitting to Five Rivers may wish to note that Five Rivers Senior Editor, Robert Runté, will be at WWC and will hold a pitch session wherein authors may take five minutes to pitch their books directly to Five Rivers. Successful pitches will be invited to submit a manuscript to Five Rivers; unsuccessful pitches will receive constructive feedback on how to pitch their work to another press. In this context, it is worth noting that one of the six books being launched this year at WWC was originally pitched to Robert at the very first WWC.

When Words Collide Fesitval, Aug 8-10, 2014

The When Words Collide Festival, August 8-10, 2014, is an excellent Western Canadian writers conference. Five Rivers has always had a presence at WWC and this year will be launching all six of its Spring Releases at the conference. Three other Five Rivers authors and two staff have already confirmed they will be at WWC.

If you are going to WWC this year, make sure you attend the Five Rivers Book Social at 2 PM, and watch for Five Rivers authors, editors and artists on various panels. We will be posting information on panels with Five River authors when the times have been confirmed, closer to the conference dates.
Authors from Western Canada who may be interested in submitting to Five Rivers may wish to note that Five Rivers Senior Editor, Robert Runté, will be at WWC and will hold a pitch session wherein authors may take five minutes to pitch their books directly to Five Rivers. Successful pitches will be invited to submit a manuscript to Five Rivers; unsuccessful pitches will receive constructive feedback on how to pitch their work to another press. In this context, it is worth noting that one of the six books being launched this year at WWC was originally pitched to Robert at the very first WWC.

Editor Robert Runté Interviewed on His Writing Process

CBC's Joe Mahoney interviews Five Rivers Senior Editor, Robert Runté, about his writing process as part of a blog hop, April 7, 2014 at http://sfeditorca.blogspot.ca/2014/04/writing-process-blog-hop.html
Joe Mahoney