Catherine Austen's Blog, page 22

Online Launch of Tesseracts 17 – this Wednesday

Want to win a $50 Amazon gift certificate? Want to chat with authors of speculative fiction from across Canada? Want to celebrate longstanding independent book publishers? Then please come to the virtual book launch of Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast, hosted by BittenByBooks.com on October 23rd through 24th, from noon to noon CST.

Drop by to cheer the launch of this latest collection of great Canadian speculative fiction. (Check out the history of this awesome anthology here.) Because it’s a virtual launch, you can can come in your PJs and no one will judge you.

I’ll be there at the beginning and end of the launch to celebrate the inclusion of my short story, “Team Leader 2040,” and all its zombie mayhem.

Did I mention that one lucky guest will win a $50 Amazon gift certificate? Yup. Could be you. And did I mention that submissions are open for Tesseracts 18? Get writing and polishing. In the meantime, I hope to encounter you at the launch of Tesseracts 17.

Filed under: authors, books, short stories Tagged: bitten by books, book launch, book release, science fiction, team leader, tesseracts, writers

There’s more to life than books, you know.

I’m tagging along with my husband on some work travel. I flew across the country yesterday evening, drove for an hour through the dark to our hotel, and collapsed into bed thinking, “While Geoff’s at work tomorrow, I’ll work in my room. I’ll get up and blog, then finish my manuscript revisions, and maybe even have time to revisit a short story.”

Then I woke up this morning, looked out the window of my hotel, and saw this:

And since I happened to have some of these on hand:

I really didn’t have time to blog today.

And my manuscript revisions can wait a few more mountains. I mean days.

(And yeah, I was a teen in the 80s, I had Morrissey on cassette, I know the words that follow “There’s more to life than books, you know,” are “But not much more, not much more.” And there are some days I’d agree. But not today.)

Filed under: authors, nature, writing Tagged: creative process, procrastination, Rocky mountains, travel, writing

Friday Fable: The Writer and the Cottager

You may know the ancient tale of the Wild Boar and the Fox:

One day this baby boar will sharpen its tusks.

A wild boar was about to take a walk in the woods one pleasant day, but he stopped to sharpen his tusks against the trunk of a tree first. A fox, lazing in a nearby glade, laughed at the boar. “Paranoid much?” the fox teased. “I see no hunters. I hear no hounds. Why are you wasting time sharpening your tusks? It’s a beautiful day. Why not chillax?”

The boar snorted and said, “If I run into  hunters and hounds on my walk, it will be too late to sharpen my tusks then, won’t it, foxy?”

And the moral is: Be prepared.

That is a good old tale. But if Aesop were a modern slave to the written word, he might have called his fable, The Writer and the Cottager:

A writer and her neighbour were packing up their cars on a Friday night. “I’m going to a writing conference,” the writer said, packing her laptop and business cards and pens. The neighbour laughed, closing his trunk on a cooler full of steaks and beer. “Why waste two days sitting inside talking with a bunch of writers if you’re not even done your manuscript? It’s a beautiful weekend. Why not chillax at the cottage?”

Lack of tusks is no excuse for lazing around.

The writer snorted and said, “I need expert advice, I need peer support, I need to get the skills and inspiration to finish my manuscript. And I need to get away from the kids — they’re driving me nuts — and besides, the lake’s too cold for swimming.”

And the moral is:  You should sharpen your tusks at a writing conference. 

If you’re in central Canada, this is a fine time to get together with your peers and learn a thing or two.

Next weekend – October 4-6 – is the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)’s “The Art of Story” conference in Montreal. (I am very sad I’ll have to miss it – the lineup is fabulous.)

And next month – on November 16 – is the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers (CANSCAIP)’s annual Packaging Your Imagination conference in Toronto (followed by a CANSCAIP Get Published Bootcamp on November 17th at the same venue). Also with an awesome line-up, and you can join in from your home computer.

Check them out. Sign up if there’s a spot left. And get prepared for your next book.

(Baby wild boar image courtesy of anankkml at FreeDigitalPhotos.net. Fox image courtesy of Marc Aert at FreeDigitalPhotos.net. Thanks.)

Filed under: Friday Fables, writing, writing conference Tagged: aesop's fables, art of story, children's books, pyi, writing workshops

Fearless Friday

Achilles was a fearless slayer, not a fear-slayer.

I’m thrilled to be working with Carrie Gleason, my editor at Lorimer, on another sixth grade comedy. Dave Davidson, 6th Grade Fearslayer, will be published in Spring 2014. This will be a boyish sort of follow-up to 26 Tips for Surviving Grade 6. It’s completely unrelated, with all new characters and stories, but it shares an episodic format, school setting, and goofy humour.

There’s a lot to fear in grade 6. Public speaking contests. School dances. Mean kids. Scary teachers. Puberty.  Everyone needs a friend like Dave Davidson to help them get through it.

Don’t be scared. Call Dave.

The book has already received a solid review from my 11-year-old son, whose only complaint is that it’s too short. “Can you write more Dave Davidson stories?” he asked. “Even if it’s just for me?”

I just may.

I’ll fill in more details on Dave and his misadventures in the months to come.

Filed under: authors, books, middle grade novels Tagged: 26 tips for surviving grade 6, children's books, lorimer, publishing

The Squirrels Stole my Picture Book!

My sister Lori and I at our high school graduation.

Who doesn’t love squirrels?

Apparently Aesop. I spent 45 minutes looking for a fable about squirrels to tie into my new and exciting squirrel picture book. Yes, I said “new and exciting squirrel picture book!” Here’s the news:

When Squirrels Stole My Sister, written by Catherine Austen and illustrated by To Be Determined, will be published by Fitzhenry and Whiteside in Spring 2015. Hurrah!

I get to feel that magic again of handing off a few pages of text and getting back a work of art. Ooh, I can’t wait.

A squirrel fable would have been a nice intro to this news but, alas, I could not find one. Monkeys, mice, and hares aplenty. But no squirrels.

So I looked for a fable with a moral of, “Sometimes if you wait around doing nothing, it all works out.” But again, no luck. That is not a message Aesop is known for. (Waiting around doing nothing didn’t work out so well for slaves in ancient Greece.) So I have no fable this Friday.

But I do have a NEW AND EXCITING SQUIRREL PICTURE BOOK on the go! And that’s better than a fable.

My sister Sharon and I several decades later.

No, the book is not about waiting around doing nothing – didn’t you notice the exciting sister-stealing title? It’s just that things worked out without much effort on my part, so a fable to that effect would do nicely.

I submitted the manuscript ages ago to a lovely editor who loved the story but wasn’t able to take it on just then. Being disorganized and loathe to market my work, I left it hanging, hoping the timing might improve and – hah! what do you know? – it did. Go figure, Aesop. (Me and the singing grasshopper are having a party at my place, no ants allowed.)

The mama squirrel who lived in my maple for 3 happy years.

But who needs fables when you have based-on-a-true-story picture books? Yes, When Squirrels Stole my Sister is a true story. Sort of. Pretty much. “Inspired by,” anyway. Was one of my sisters stolen by squirrels in younger years? I’m not telling. Not yet.

You can expect a lot more squirrel stuff on this blog between now and the publication date. I love an excuse to go squirrel crazy. For now, check out my ”Peanut Adventure” on Youtube — it’s a 2-minute video I made last year, in thanks to the Eastern gray squirrel who inspired the book. (Yeah, that’s me talking baby-talk to the wildlife in the background. Just ignore me and focus on the beautiful blue jays.)

That’s all for this Friday. Have a great weekend.

Filed under: authors, books, Friday Fables, picture books Tagged: aesop's fables, children's books, fitzhenry and whiteside, sisters, squirrels

My First Short Story in Twenty Years

This is a tesseract.

Okay, it has been three weeks and you might be wondering if I was kidnapped by the Storyfest kids I mentioned in my last post. No such luck – I had to leave Hudson when the event was over. It was lovely, BTW, and if I’d had my act together sooner, I’d have blogged about it.

Instead I’ll announce one of my new publications. (I have three new contracts and I’ll blog them one at a time, so when I think, “Oh poop, is it Friday already? I should blog. What’ll I blog about?” I’ll have a ready answer for at least three Fridays. Not that it’s a lack of topics that keeps me away but, still, this plan makes me feel on top of things.)

So here goes:

My short story (not so short, really – it’s almost 5,000 words), “Team Leader 2040,” will be in Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast (edited by Colleen Anderson and Steve Vernon), to be published in October 2013 by Edge/Tesseract Books.

Tesseracts – the first anthology cover (1985)

If you’re Canadian and into sci-fi, you probably know about Tesseracts. It’s not just a four-dimensional cube thingy. It’s an annual anthology of speculative fiction that has been going strong since 1985.

I am Canadian but, um, well, I’m not really into sci-fi. Or at least I thought I wasn’t. But since I grew up glued to Star Trek and the Twilight Zone, since “The Playground” by Ray Bradbury is one of my all-time favourite short stories (not quite as fave as “The Dead” by James Joyce but it’s up there), and since my novel All Good Children won the 2012 Sunburst Award (for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic), I’ve been broadening my mind. Apparently I am into sci-fi. So I’m totally thrilled to be part of the great Canadian Tesseracts tradition.

Not having known that I was into sci-fi for most of my life, I have not read any of the first 15 Tesseracts anthologies. But I did read Tesseracts 16 before I submitted my story, and I can attest that it is good stuff. (I especially loved “Gregor Samsa was never in the Beatles” by J.J. Steinfeld and “Blink” by Michael Kelly.)

Also, while looking up “Tesseracts” online, I stumbled upon Hourman’s fun blog post  about movies and culture — apparently there is a tesseract in “The Avengers,” which I can’t remember because it was a lousy movie I never could have sat through if I hadn’t been quilting on the couch while it was on TV. (On the other hand, I saw “Star Trek: Into Darkness” twice. I’m sure this says something about me but I don’t know what.)

So, about “Team Leader 2040″…

Remember how I’m supposed to be finishing the sequel to All Good Children? Remember how I wrote, oh, four versions of a sequel and didn’t like any of them because they were all so freaking depressing? Well, I have been pilfering all those drafts and making chunks of them into short stories, all set in the same future world. This has allowed me to remove the saddest and grimmest bits from my young heroes’ adventures, so that I can (a) finish their sequel without totally depressing myself and my readers (note to writers: Don’t write a sad book while experiencing menopause. Just don’t. It gets messy.) and (b) write a bunch of short stories set in a grim future for an eventual awesome collection.

Good plan, huh? What’s a couple years late in the big scheme of things?

So yeah, about that story…

This is not the sort of zombie in “Team Leader,” but it’s the only zombie I have a photo of. Yet.

It’s a zombie story. But it’s not like all the other zombie stories out there. It’s a new take on zombies. Yeah, there’s gore and guns and hiding out in a shack in the woods. But really it’s about big money vs. the little guy. With zombies. You’ll see.

I wrote short stories in my teens and twenties (and published about a dozen in literary journals), but I stopped writing for a while and when I got back to it, I mostly wrote for children. “Team Leader 2040″ is the first short story for adults I’ve written in, oh, 20 years. I was a little nervous submitting it. But what do you know, I got lucky. I’m back in short story form. And it feels great.

I can’t wait till October.

Expect a few zombie posts between now and then. (And a couple more announcements on my forthcoming picture book and novel.)

Filed under: book awards, books, young writers Tagged: publishing, science fiction, speculative fiction, tesseracts, writing

Storyfest for Kids

I’ll be in Hudson, Quebec, this weekend, for an awesome new event, Storyfest for Kids.

Storyfest is Hudson’s annual celebration of writers, readers and storytellers, which has been taking place every fall for the past ten years. But that’s not the one I’m at. I’m at a brand new spring celebration, Storyfest for Kids, which is a one-day event that happens to be this very Saturday. (There’s a rain date of next Saturday but it doesn’t look like we’re going to need it.)

I’ll be reading and chatting and pulling out props about books and literacy and cats and ancient Egypt. Of course I will have a craft for the little ones – I don’t go anywhere without my craft box.

And there’s more to the festivities than just me. It’s three hours of fun at the Greenwood Centre for Living History. Here’s the line-up (in case that jpg above isn’t clear):

Saturday, June 15th, 11:00 - 2:00: Family Day/StoryFest For Kids

Author Catherine Austen

Puppet Show written by Mary Vuerola

Strolling Musician Tim Walsh

Craft station, Book station, Lemonade and cookies

Guided tour for kids of Greenwood

Bring a picnic or pre-order one from Everyday Gourmet

Tickets $5/person or $20 family, at Pure Art

See you there.

(And yes, that is my photo on the poster, and no, it’s not flattering. But that’s okay because if you have a lousy author photo, people meet you in person and think, “Wow, she looks so much better than her photo!” If you have a gorgeous author photo, everyone is disappointed with you. See? The secret to happiness is low expectations.)

Filed under: authors, books, What's New Tagged: author visits, cat books, children's books, hudson quebec, storyfest

Too much Traffic?

I set out to update my website – which I haven’t done since, oh, December – but I was redirected to a notice saying the site’s traffic quota had been exceeded. Huh?

I didn’t know there was a traffic limit on my website. (But since I opted for the “free basic” level from my hosting service, I probably should have guessed.)

I didn’t get any details on who all’s been visiting my site clogging the freeways. For all I know, my website traffic limit is 10 visits a month, and it took three years of www.catherineausten.com before I exceeded that quota.

But no matter. The point is: somebody somewhere tried to visit my outdated website and couldn’t get in to view my outdated information. That’s not good. Is it?

I forked out some cash, and my updated (not free but half price for the first year) unlimited service plan should come into effect by this evening – or perhaps by the time I finish this blog – at which time all site traffic quotas will disappear. Let the hordes rush in.

What are the chances I can update all my pages (via Nvu) and get ready to upload them (via FileZilla – perhaps I’m coming off a bit cheap?) before my site traffic frees up tonight?

Not good. I have an annual report due in three and a half hours. And an incredibly messy bedroom to clean and empty in preparation for an ant exterminator tomorrow morning. (Apparently my son has been sharing his bedroom with thousands of ants. And I distinctly said no sleepovers.)

Plus I have to get to my website to figure out what all needs updating – because I’ve frankly forgotten what’s up there and I’ve gotten grants, won awards, and sold stories since I last visited – but I can’t do that because of the traffic problem.

By Monday I should be on top of things. (Especially the ants.)

BTW, if you’ve never read Bernard Werber’s Empire of the Ants, you really should. It’s AWESOME. I am sad to have to exterminate ants – I catch and release flies and bees or single ants I see – but there are about five thousand of them living in my son’s window frame and catch-and-release is not an option. They have exceeded their traffic quota.

I’ll be sure to post an update, on the ants if not the website.

Filed under: authors, writing Tagged: ants, book promotion, publicity, websites

Forest of Reading Honours

If you’re a children’s book writer, a teacher, a librarian, or a student in Ontario, you probably know about the Forest of Reading, Ontario’s children’s choice book award program. (It’s like the Hackmatacks on the East coast, the Red Cedars on the west, and the Willows and MYRCA in between, but larger in scope and population.)

Run by the Ontario Library Association, and delivered by dedicated librarians, teachers, and volunteers across the province, the Forest of Reading introduces new titles, from picture books to teen fiction, to thousands of young readers each year. And I mean thousands — more than 250,000 readers of all ages participate through their school or library every year.

Having your book nominated for one of the Forest’s 8 awards is a huge honour and a great opportunity to reach new readers. This year I was fortunate to have my teen novel, All Good Children, selected as one of the ten books nominated for a White Pine Award (the teen fiction “tree”). Last week, All Good Children was named a White Pine 2013 Honour Book. (That’s like a runner up at a beauty contest.) That means a lot of young readers got to know and love my book through this program — and I got to meet quite a few of them last week at the Toronto Festival of Trees. What an honour that was.

Here is a list of this year’s Forest of Reading winners, chosen by young readers themselves.

The 2013 Blue Spruce Award Winner:

Kate and Pippin by Martin Springett and Isobel Springett

Blue Spruce Honour Books: Splinters by Kevin Sylvester; Don’t Laugh at the Giraffe by Rebecca Bender

The 2013 Silver Birch Fiction Award Winner: Making Bombs for Hitler by Marsha Skrypuch

Silver Birch Fiction Honour Books: Missing by Becky Citra; A Tinfoil Sky by Cindy Sand-Eveland

Silver Birch Express Award Winner: Margaret and the Moth Tree by Brit & Kari Trogen. Honour Books: Dalen & Gole by Mike Deas; Harry Houdini by Janice Weaver

The 2013 Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award Winner:

No Shelter Here by Rob Laidlaw

Silver Birch Non-Fiction Honour Books: Case Files by Larry Verstraete; 50 Underwear Questions by Tanya Lloyd Kyi and Ross Kinnaird

The 2013 Red Maple Fiction Award Winner:

The Vindico by Wesley King

Red Maple Fiction Honour Books: This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel; The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen

The 2013 Red Maple™ Non-Fiction Award Winner

Real Justice: Fourteen and Sentenced to Death by Bill Swan

Red Maple Non-Fiction Honour Books: Last Airlift by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch; Running To Extremes by Steve Pitt with Ray Zahab

The 2013 White Pine Award Winner:

Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts

2013 White Pine Honour Books: Witchlanders by Lena Coakley; All Good Children by Catherine Austen

Le Prix Tamarac 2013 Laur é at:

Le mystère des jumelles Barnes by Carole Tremblay

Honour Books for Le Prix Tamarac: Hackerboy by Julie Champagne; Biodôme by Frédéric Antoine and Yohann Morin

Le Prix Tamarac Express Laureat: Billy Stuart by Alain M. Bergeron & Sampar. Honour Books: Du soccer extreme by François Gravel & Philippe Germain; Ziiip Sur Terre! by Johanne Mercier & Yvan Deschamps

Le Prix Peuplier 2013 Lauréat:

Le zoo de Yayaho by Geneviève Lemieux & Bruno St-Aubin

Honour Books for Le Prix Peuplier: Salto by Pierre Labrie & Tristan Demers; Prince Olivier et le dragon by Caroline Merola

It was wonderful to be included among all these great titles and so many others. Check out all the selected titles from last year — and next year — on the Forest of Reading website.

Filed under: authors, book awards, books Tagged: all good children, children's books, forest of reading

Hackmatack Children’s Choice Winner

Hey, I won!

What a wonderful trip to the Maritimes I had last week. I flew into Bathurst, New Brunswick, on the 6th to begin my Hackmatack Author Tour. I spoke with students in elementary schools along the Miramichi (returning to my birthplace of Newcastle) on the 7th and 8th, then met up with fellow Hackmatack nominees Freida Wishinsky and Peter McMahon for the drive to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a bit of schmoozing on the 9th.

During the tour, I met many dedicated teachers and librarians who’d been running Hackmatack Book Clubs in their home towns and who drove me from one stop to the next and made the trip a stress-free one. (Thanks to Dayna, Joy, Bonnie, Gail, Nancy, and Joanne for helping me find my way. And a huge thanks to Kate Watson for uber-organizing the week.)

The Hackmatack Award ceremony was held at Pier 21 in Halifax on the morning of the 10th, when all nominated authors in attendance got to meet boys and girls who’d read and loved their books. (That was fun - I even met some girls who told me they and their friends were creating dramatic skits based on scenes from my novel. Could a children’s writer get a better compliment? Nope.)

It was a thrill to learn that my middle-grade comedy, 26 Tips for Surviving Grade 6, won the children’s choice award in the English fiction category. I’m honoured by the votes of all those boys and girls (I’m guessing mostly girls) who made my book a winner. (See the Press Release on the winners in all categories.)

The event was live-streamed through the Hackmatack website, so the wonderful people at Lorimer, my publisher, were able to send me their congratulations immediately.

I flew home that afternoon, ending one of the best work weeks I can remember.

Filed under: authors, books Tagged: 26 tips for surviving grade 6, book awards, children's books, Hackmatack Award