Lorina Stephens's Blog, page 93

And Just Because We Need to Feel Good on Wednesday

The T-Mobile Dance

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Two Upcoming Events

Two events occur this week for Five Rivers' authors.

Authors Show Radio InterviewFriday, May 15 Lorina Stephens will be featured at The Authors Show, http://www.theauthorsshow.com/. I'll be talking about my anthology of short, speculative fiction, And the Angels Sang. The interview will run all day. Just let the introduction play through and the interview will follow immediately after. My thanks to Don MacCauley and the staff at The Authors Show for making this medium available.

Saturday, May 16,

Advice to Writers

Seems I’m sitting on the other side of the desk quite a bit these days in the capacity of editor for Five Rivers. Unfortunately what I’m seeing from writers is unpolished work, writing that tends to the passive rather than active voice, a penchant for too many adjectives and adverbs, cliché plots and stereotyped characters.

As a result I thought I’d illustrate the kind of work we’d like to publish here at Five Rivers, why we’re looking for this kind of work, and set out our submission guidelines

Tweaking and Twiddling

I finished writing the Afterword for From Mountains of Ice early this morning, and have basically put to bed the formatting and layout. So very pleased with two graphics I developed for chapter headers and section breaks; I think they lend themselves very well to the overall theme of the book, and hope they will add to the reading experience.

It's my opinion the layout of a book should be a work of art, just as should the literature, and with From Mountains of Ice I'm striving more and more towa

Interview on Authors Radio Show

Recently I was interviewed for the Author’s Radio Show (http://www.theauthorsshow.com/) with regard to my anthology of short, speculative fiction, And the Angels Sang.

Just found out this morning that interview is airing all day on Friday, May 15. To hear it just go to the site, let the small promo run, and the interview should just start playing.[image error]

Red in the Cover

Despite the fact the overwhelming majority of people liked the revised cover for From Mountains of Ice, in which I addressed the title problem, it would seem there were a couple of dissenting voices. In an attempt to address those issues, I've come up with Version 3 of the cover, pictured here.

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated, as it is, after all, you, my followers, who may potentially purchase this new novel, and I want you to like the cover.
If not, well, I'm back to the board again a

Proposed Cover for From Mountains of Ice

While waiting for comment to come back on my new novel, From Mountains of Ice, I've been working the cover, pictured here, for your comment.[image error]

Review: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

I don't know why I waited so long to read Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. This is a work of genius.

From a literary perspective, Richler's style is relentless, employing very little environmental description, choosing instead dialogue that scintillates. He cements plot with sharp, keen characters, an elegantly simplistic language. There isn't a scene, a phrase, a word out of place here.

From an entertainment perspective this a rocketing good read, with a beginning that see

Update: From Mountains of Ice

My latest novel, From Mountains of Ice, is now out for comment from a few trusted colleagues whose opinions I value. This is the first new novel I've written since the early '90s, and one about which I'm very excited.

I suppose it was a rediscovery of my own roots that led me to set the novel loosely in an Italian Renaissance world, although there are definite ancient Roman and Byzantine influences there as well.

Along the way I discovered the cucullati, which are iconographic hooded figures, fo

Chapters/Indigo Now Stocking '60 Days'

Just received more good news from Indigo! The non-fiction buyer has agreed to stock Paul Lima’s book, How to Write a Non-fiction Book in 60 Days, in the following locations:

World’s Biggest Bookstore, 20 Edward Street, Toronto, Ontario
Chapters, Bayers Lake Power Centre, 188 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Chapters, West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Alberta

Sales performance will be reviewed in six months time, and if the buyer feels the book has performed well (which I’m positive it will), the