Philippa Dowding's Blog, page 16

1 week left to win a copy of Gwendolyn Golden

Promoting a goodreads giveaway on a goodreads blog is maybe a bit of a house of mirrors, a mobius loop, an Escher drawing, call it what you will, but here goes ...

There's 1 week left to put your hand up to win one of five copies of The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden! The book is out January 25, but you can win a copy now: http://bit.ly/1hQNoDp

It's been called "a gold standard teen-cusp read" by ebooknewsca (thank you!), and is featured in this month's Middle Shelf magazine.

I hope you win!

A Banner Day for Gwendolyn Golden

Wow, my forthcoming middle grade novel, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, has had an extraordinary day.

First, it received an amazing review from ebooknews.ca. They called it "A gold standard teen-cusp read" and "a must-add to home and public libraries." Wow. So honoured! Here's the link: http://ebooknews.ca/home/

Then, as if that wasn't enough, Middle Shelf magazine (which is free btw, and if you're into middle grade books, you can subscribe at the link below) published their new Jan/Feb. issue, and featured an excerpt from the book on their "6 cool books for cool kids" ... another wow!

http://issuu.com/shelfunbound/docs/mi...

PLUS, Helen Kubiw at Canlit for little Canadians.ca added the book to it's key books to look for in 2014.

http://canlitforlittlecanadians.blogs...

Three wows. Thanks ebooknews.ca, Middle Shelf magazine and Canlit for little Canadians, I'm really delighted! A banner day for sure.

The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden Giveaway!

Hey Goodreads buddies, go and sign up to win one of 5 copies of my forthcoming title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

No dawdling, the contest ends January 15, 2014.

Here's the book trailer too (one more time because it's really beautiful):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW5lI...

Enjoy and I hope you win a copy.

The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden Book Trailer

For all of you who have ever wanted to fly ... here's a beautiful book trailer for my forthcoming title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, available January 2014. Many thanks to the talented George Panayotou for the transcendant video design.

Enjoy the flight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW5lI5...

The Sound of a Gothic Gargoyle Ballet ...

It's the stroke of midnight ... and the gargoyles come out to dance!

Listen to the Gargoyle Ballet: https://soundcloud.com/phdowding/the-...

Inspired by a scene from The Gargoyle at the Gates (p. 91), written and played by the author. Enjoy!

A one-of-a-kind review for The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

Thank you to Shannon, for this lovely, insightful and extremely well-written review of my upcoming book, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden. Parts of the review resonated with me in a startling way, almost like having a twin whisper in my ear.

The book is a middle grade magic realism novel about a young teen girl who, for no apparent reason, wakes up one morning floating around the ceiling of her room like one of her little brother's Batman balloons.

Here is the link to the review: http://www.giraffedays.com/?p=18630

Here is the goodreads page for the book, so you can see what others had to say: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Thank you Shannon, I'm really honoured!

Silver Birch Express Nomination!

So pleased and very, very honoured to say that The Gargoyle at the Gates, book three in my Lost Gargoyle series, has been nominated for a Silver Birch Express 2014 award! Wuhoo!

Thank you to the Ontario Library Association, and thank you to my hardworking (long suffering?) publisher, Dundurn Press. A nomination like this shines the light on my characters and my book, yes, but I'd like to reflect some of that light onto the book people, the librarians, the readers and the hard working people behind the scenes (my editor, publicist and marketing manager come immediately to mind).

I'm really looking forward to another winter of school visits promoting gargoyles, Toronto and reading. Here's a link to another blog post about the nomination: http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2013/10/...

I didn't get to meet Gordon Lightfoot last time I was nominated in 2012, but hey, maybe this year K'naan will show up! THAT would be very, very cool!

Sunflowers on Sussex Street

Yesterday, I came across a front yard of gorgeous sunflowers on Sussex Street, behind Robart's Library at the University of Toronto. It reminded me of William Blake's poem, Ah! Sunflower, the subject of the first university essay I ever wrote. My daughter is studying Blake this year, and I stood and contemplated how cyclical our lives are, just like Blake's sunflowers, yearning toward the sun:

Ah! sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;

Where the youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves and aspire;
Where my sunflower wishes to go.

William Blake (1757-1827) P. 1793

Here's a link to my blog and a photo of the gorgeous September sunflowers on Sussex Street: http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2013/09/...

A book is a sneeze and other literary truths

Today my child at university posted a lovely letter on my FB wall. She must have known that I needed a little inspiration, a little voice of wisdom from an author I admire.

The letter was from E.B. White to his publisher, about why he wrote his classic children's book Charlotte's Web. He ends with some extraordinary literary insight:

"I haven't told you why I wrote the book, but then I haven't told you why I sneeze, either. A book is a sneeze."

Exactly. An involuntary impulse to stimulation from our environment.

Here's a link to a longer blog post about my thoughts on E.B. White (and why he is responsible for my own career as an author): http://bit.ly/13MJ8j4

Achoo!

Here's what I think about airshows ...

It's airshow weekend here in the big city. I can't say that I like them. Our house rocks and shakes like a tin house in a gale when the huge engines roar overhead. My young dog barks insanely, then very wisely runs for cover. Who wouldn't? Plenty of people have died at this annual event by the lake (I can think of at least nine deaths on three separate occasions over the years off the top of my head).
I wonder how other people feel about them? I'm torn. They are scary. They cost lives. They are expensive. They do remind us, I suppose, of past soldiers and loved ones who took up arms and sacrificed everything for freedom. Sir Hugh Dowding was my grandfather's cousin and the head of the RAF during WWII for a few years. Much as I hate warfare and the pomp of the airshow, where would the free world be without people like him? My uncle was a Spitfire pilot in WWII, and survived 52 skirmishes in the nighttime sky over London during the Battle of Britain. In 1952 he died in a Battle of Britain airshow re-enactment. He crashed.
Here's a longer blog post about what I think about airshows: http://bit.ly/OBP1br