Matthew Ledrew's Blog, page 18
January 25, 2019
Bestselling author Matthew LeDrew revealed as a ‘Dystopia from the Rock’ author!
Engen Books is happy to announce that one of the established authors joining the 2019 Dystopia From the Rock team will be none other than Engen Books’ founder, Matthew LeDrew!
A native Newfoundlander, LeDrew holds an Honours Degree in English from the Memorial University of Newfoundland with a minor in Anthropology and studied Journalism at College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville, Newfoundland.
He has written twenty novels for Engen Books, including the ten book Coral Beach Casefiles series, The Long Road, Cinders, Sinister Intent, Faith, Family Values, Jacobi Street, Touch Your Nose, Infinity, The Tourniquet Reprisal and Exodus of Angels.
LeDrew brings with him two stories, “Views,” a story of YouTube bots left to gain sentience after the fall of man, and “Young Republicans.” He joins Ali House, Lauralana Dunne, Nicole Little, and Jon Dobbin on the list of authors who secured two positions in the upcoming collection.
His latest solo novel, Touch Your Nose, deals with corporate espionage and the difficulty of living someone else’s identity.
Touch Your Nose | Matthew LeDrew
Simon Monk is a spy living a lie in San Francisco, struggling to maintain his cover as he attempts to infiltrate one of the largest companies on the Eastern seaboard: Shane International. Using his tech and his contacts and his cunning, Simon will get closer to some sinister dark secrets than anyone ever has… and possibly lose it all after a careless romantic slip.
How long can a man pretend to be someone else without losing who they are?
C$20.00
Eight other authors will be joining Matthew LeDrew, Lauralana Dunne, Diane Lynn McGyver, David Wright, Erin Vance, Jon Dobbin, Elizabeth Whitten, Peter Foote, Chantal Boudreau, Ellen Curtis, Finnan Beaton, Christopher Walsh, Lisa Daly, Jeff Slade, Michelle Churchill, Ryan Belbin, Nicole Little, Brad Dunne, David Rimmington, Heather Nolan, Gareth Mitton, Shannon Green and Ali House for the 2019 Dystopia on the Rock collection! We still have award-winning and prolific authors in the genre to announce! Who will join them? Stay tuned and Never Look Back!
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
January 24, 2019
Lauralana Dunne announced as a Dystopia from the Rock author!
Engen Books is proud to announce the inclusion of Lauralana Dunne of St. John’s Newfoundland as one of the authors to be featured in the 2019 anthology collection, Dystopia from the Rock!
Dunne has proven herself to be a force to be reckoned with in Canadian writing circles over the course of the last year. In December 2018 her short story, ‘Venus Flytrap,’ was featured in the astonishing collection Kit Sora: The Artobiography, which pair talented authors with the artist known as Kit Sora to achieve spectacular combinations of story and photography. She joined that 2018-2019 Board of Directors of the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland in October 2018, an organization which contributes to a supportive environment for writing in the province and fosters public recognition of Newfoundland & Labrador writers.
She describes herself as a slayer of imaginary monsters.
Dunne was one of a select few authors allowed to have more than one story in this collection, joining Jon Dobbin, Nicole Little, and one to-be-named author in that regard. She brings with her her tales “Future Tense” and “Future Imperfect.”
Her short story, “Venus Flytrap” is available as a part of Kit Sora: The Artobiography.
Kit Sora: The Artobiography
A stunning, hundred-plus page hardcover collection of over 80 of Kit Sora’s most ambitious photographs, paired with short fiction inspired by the art by Canada’s best authorial talents. Includes stories by USA Today Bestselling Author Kate Sparkes, USA Today Bestselling Author Victoria Barbour, and Bestselling Author Amanda Labonté.
C$75.00
Nine other authors will be joining Lauralana Dunne, Diane Lynn McGyver, David Wright, Erin Vance, Jon Dobbin, Elizabeth Whitten, Peter Foote, Chantal Boudreau, Ellen Curtis, Finnan Beaton, Christopher Walsh, Lisa Daly, Jeff Slade, Michelle Churchill, Ryan Belbin, Nicole Little, Brad Dunne, David Rimmington, Heather Nolan, Gareth Mitton, Shannon Green and Ali House for the 2019 Dystopia on the Rock collection! We still have award-winning and prolific authors in the genre to announce! Who will join them? Stay tuned and Never Look Back!
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
January 23, 2019
Winner: “The Price of Beauty” by Ali House | Kit Sora Flash Fiction Photography Contest
After much deliberation, Engen Books is proud to announce the winner of the December 31 2018 Kit Sora Flash Fiction Photography Contest: Ali House with her story, The Price of Beauty!
A native Newfoundlander, House is a graduate of the Fine Arts program at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College (MUN). She currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she works in arts administration and spends more time than a person should in and around theaters. House is an avid traveler and foodie, and uses her adventures for her inspiration when she writes. In addition to her first novel, The Six Elemental, and its upcoming sequel, The Fifth Queen, House is a prolific short story writer, with stories appearing in Bluenose Paradox, Unexpected Stories, Fantasy from the Rock, Chillers from the Rock, Sci-Fi from the Rock, Gathering Storm Magazine and the upcoming Dystopia from the Rock.
There were three judges for this month of the contest:
[image error]Kate Sparkes is a USA Today Bestselling author of Fantasy and Urban Fantasy. She currently lives in beautiful central Newfoundland, a magical island at the very eastern edge of North America. She has two kids, one husband, and a handful of pets keep her plenty busy when she’s not writing. She also writes under the name Tanith Frost, and it is under this name that her most recent novel, Temptation, has been released! It’s the fifth book in a series about vampires in St. John’s Newfoundland: we wholly recommend giving it a try!
[image error]
Matthew LeDrew has written twenty novels for Engen Books, Black Womb, Transformations in Pain, Smoke and Mirrors, Roulette, Ghosts of the Past, Ignorance is Bliss, Becoming, Inner Child, Gang War, Chains, The Long Road, Cinders, Sinister Intent, Faith, Family Values, Touch Your Nose, Jacobi Street, Infinity, The Tourniquet Reprisal and Exodus of Angels.
[image error]Kit Sora Photography. Kit Sora is an artist and photographer from St. Johns, Newfoundland. Her photography draws inspiration from fantasy, dystopia, and thrillers to create evocative imagrey that startles, inspires, and excites.Kit signed with Engen Books in 2018 as head photographer, producing the thrilling image for Chillers from the Rock and re-imagining the covers to the entire Black Womb series into the Coral Beach Casefiles series. Drew Power is a currently seated member of the Sci-Fi on the Rock committee. He was recently featured as the model on the cover of the bestselling collection Chillers from the Rock.
Runners up include Gentle by Chantal Boudreau and Forget Everything by Peter Foote.
The Flash Fiction Photography Contest is sponsored in part by FictionFirst Used Books, which specializes in previously enjoyed Sci-fi & Fantasy Novels, Roleplaying Manuals and Graphic Novels. It is run out of his home in the Annapolis Valley and open by appointment only. Their inventory is currently over 5000 titled strong and they ship within Canada, USA and Europe. You can find them on Facebook, here.
The winning entry will be featured on this website as well as on the Fantasy Files newsletter (click to join!). The second and third place entries will also be featured in the Newsletter.
The first year’s worth of these amazing short stories have been collected in a lovely hardcover edition from Engen Books, featuring photos from the author and flash fiction stories from some of Canada’s top talent! Pre-order your copy today!
Kit Sora: The Artobiography
A stunning, hundred-plus page hardcover collection of over 80 of Kit Sora’s most ambitious photographs, paired with short fiction inspired by the art by Canada’s best authorial talents. Includes stories by USA Today Bestselling Author Kate Sparkes, USA Today Bestselling Author Victoria Barbour, and Bestselling Author Amanda Labonté.
C$75.00
Diane Lynn McGyver announced as a ‘Dystopia from the Rock’ author!
Engen Books is proud to introduce Diane Lynn McGyver, author of the novels Shadows in the Stone and Scattered Stones as one of the authors in 2019’s Dystopia from the Rock collection!
“This first book in Diane Lynn McGyver’s Castle Keepers series is very well done and will keep you turning pages right to the end. What I particularly enjoyed in this solidly mainstream fantasy is its fresh focus on established themes. It’s like an award-winning movie director telling the person behind the camera to lower or raise the picture in the viewfinder for a new angle.“ — Amazon.com Review of Shadows in the Stone.
Diane says she fell in love with the fantasy genre when an awesome dungeon master introduced her to Dungeons & Dragons at the age of 13. From there, she landed into the world created by Terry Brooks and then the ones created by Mercedes Lackey. By the age of 19, she knew she was truly lost to the other realm.
Ten other authors will be joining Diane Lynn McGyver, David Wright, Erin Vance, Jon Dobbin, Elizabeth Whitten, Peter Foote, Chantal Boudreau, Ellen Curtis, Finnan Beaton, Christopher Walsh, Lisa Daly, Jeff Slade, Michelle Churchill, Ryan Belbin, Nicole Little, Brad Dunne, David Rimmington, Heather Nolan, Gareth Mitton, Shannon Green and Ali House for the 2019 Dystopia on the Rock collection! We still have award-winning and prolific authors in the genre to announce! Who will join them? Stay tuned and Never Look Back!
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
January 22, 2019
David Wright announced as a ‘Dystopia from the Rock’ author!
Engen Books is proud to introduce the inclusion of prolific short story and novel author David Wright in 2019’s Dystopia from the Rock collection!
Born in Vancouver, Wright is the author of over 70 stories published since 2004. His career spans publications in the United States, Australia, & the United Kingdom. He is currently the author of seven novels: Flight of the Cosmonaut, Codename Vengeance, Elf Lord, A Travel Guide to Murder, A Travel Guide to Murder: Hawaii, and, A Travel Guide to Murder: Caribbean.
For his efforts he has been awarded the Second place Prize in the Burnaby Writer’s Society creative writing contest. He is a teacher currently living on Canada’s majestic west coast. He lives in Coquitlam with his wife and two daughters.
He brings with him his story, ‘The Lost Generation.’
Eleven other authors will be joining David Wright, Erin Vance, Jon Dobbin, Elizabeth Whitten, Peter Foote, Chantal Boudreau, Ellen Curtis, Finnan Beaton, Christopher Walsh, Lisa Daly, Jeff Slade, Michelle Churchill, Ryan Belbin, Nicole Little, Brad Dunne, David Rimmington, Heather Nolan, Gareth Mitton, Shannon Green and Ali House for the 2019 Dystopia on the Rock collection! We still have award-winning and prolific authors in the genre to announce! Who will join them? Stay tuned and Never Look Back!
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
January 21, 2019
Erin Vance returns as editor for ‘Dystopia from the Rock’!
Erin Vance returns as one of the editors of 2019’s Dystopia from the Rock!
Erin Vance is an editor and a graduate of the Memorial University of Newfoundland English Honors Program.
Erin won the Arts and Letters competition when she was just 14 years old in 2007 with her short story, “Something White.” She is featured in the Nelson Literacy 7 Homegrown (Newfoundland Edition) with her poem “Rough Draft.”
Erin wrote her Honors thesis paper, Song of the Mockingjay
on exploring the nature of Katniss Everdeen’s agency in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series. She is creative, spiritual, and loves reading, writing, and anything to do with words.
Erin is the co-editor of the From the Rock anthology series, which highlights Newfoundland talent in genre writing.
Erin is the editor-in-chief for Engen Books.
Twelve other authors will be joining Erin Vance, Jon Dobbin, Elizabeth Whitten, Peter Foote, Chantal Boudreau, Ellen Curtis, Finnan Beaton, Christopher Walsh, Lisa Daly, Jeff Slade, Michelle Churchill, Ryan Belbin, Nicole Little, Brad Dunne, David Rimmington, Heather Nolan, Gareth Mitton, Shannon Green and Ali House for the 2019 Dystopia on the Rock collection! We still have award-winning and prolific authors in the genre to announce! Who will join them? Stay tuned and Never Look Back!
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
January 20, 2019
Award-Winning Author Jon Dobbin announced as a ‘Dystopia from the Rock’ author!
Engen Books is proud to announce one of the authors that will be returning in 2019’s Dystopia from the Rock collection: Jon Dobbin!
A native to the St. John’s metro region, Dobbin tied for first place in the 2017 48-Hour Writing Marathon, sponsored by THE Creative Learning, Thrive, and Engen Books. He placed second during the WANL Nightmare on Water Street event in October 2018. He describes himself as “the father of three, the husband to an amazing wife, an educator, and a tattoo and beard enthusiast.”
Dobbin made his publishing debut in Chillers from the Rock with two entries: Man of Fire and The Chosen, and since then has had a banner first year as a published author. His Flash Fiction was featured in Kit Sora: The Artobiography, and his first novel, The Starving, was announced for a 2019 release.
He brings his stories “Blood Red Horizon” and “The Other,” and is one of the few authors who got two stories into the collection, along with Ali House, Nicole Little, and two as-yet unnamed authors.
Thirteen other authors will be joining Jon Dobbin, Elizabeth Whitten, Peter Foote, Chantal Boudreau, Ellen Curtis, Finnan Beaton, Christopher Walsh, Lisa Daly, Jeff Slade, Michelle Churchill, Ryan Belbin, Nicole Little, Brad Dunne, David Rimmington, Heather Nolan, Gareth Mitton, Shannon Green and Ali House for the 2019 Dystopia on the Rock collection! We still have award-winning and prolific authors in the genre to announce! Who will join them? Stay tuned and Never Look Back!
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
January 19, 2019
Quick Nickel vs the Long Dollar: When to say no to opportunities
This January I was commissioned to write two short articles. It had been awhile since I did the freelance thing, and these pieces were outside the niche that I’d been carving for myself recently, but I said yes because it was an opportunity to make some quick money after Christmas. Also, the publisher has always been a pleasure to work with. And, I mean, it’s pretty hard for a writer to turn down a paying gig. However, I soon realized that taking on these sorts of projects was holding back my career. I was chasing the quick nickel instead of the long dollar.
When I first started my writing career back in 2013, I didn’t understand the value of specialization (among many other things). My passion had always been to write novels, ever since I was little kid, but I didn’t have a voice, didn’t know where to start. So I decided to follow the path laid by many other writers before me that I’d admired: journalism. I did a six-month internship at The Walrus magazine then embarked on a brief freelancing career.
I was interested in a lot of different things and figured it was all just writing. I chased after every possible pitch. I wrote articles about food banks, homelessness, women in the Canadian film industry, Newfoundland traditions, food, and immigration. I said yes to any opportunity.
This taught me two important lessons: 1) in order to be a great writer, or anything really, you have to focus on one very specific thing, and 2) to do that, you have to say “No” a lot.
[image error]I took this from a Casey Neistat video
In his book Essentialism, Greg McKeown shows very simply the power of focusing on one thing vs several things. You can try to do ten things to the first degree, or you can do one thing to the tenth degree. Doing the former means you’ll spread yourself thin and only really nibble around the edges. The latter means you’ll end up actually mastering your chosen field.
There was no way I could write about immigration one week, food the next, and somehow find time to write novels in the meantime without my work suffering.
This begs the question: How do I find my niche? It’s easier said than done. Some people know from the start what they want to do. For example, you may have always wanted to be a sportswriter and every step you took from high school was in that direction. On the other hand, like me, you may have a lot of interests and can’t decide. In that case, I’d suggest doing a lot of things until you find your niche. After writing enough things that I wasn’t interested in, I managed to deduce what I was interested in.
Once you’ve reached this point, you’re ready for step number two: Saying No.
[image error]
Focusing on one thing means that you’re gonna have to say no to things that don’t contribute to your long term goals. And you’re going to have to say no a lot. Like a lot, a lot. What’s more, as you gain success and notoriety in your niche, more opportunities will come your way. You’re gonna need to parse which ones are right for you.
This is difficult for two reasons. 1) Turning down opportunities feels wrong. Like you’re being lazy and unappreciative. This requires discipline and focus. And 2) Knowing the right time to say no requires sound judgement.
Warren Buffett, who is worth an estimated $82 billion, says that the thing that separates successful people is that they say no to a lot of opportunities. Buffett owes approximately of his wealth to just ten investment stocks. Therefore, there is a tonne of value to be found by drilling narrowly and deeply.
Or, consider Stephen King. After Carrie, he had to a choice to publish either Salem’s Lot, which would cement him as a horror writer, or Roadwork, which was more literary. King wasn’t afraid of specializing so he went with the former. I think that’s worked out pretty well for him.
So, whenever an opportunity comes your way, you have to ask, “Does this contribute to my long term goals? Am I chasing the quick nickel or the long dollar?”
That was the mistake I made when I said yes to those commissions at the start of the year. It wasn’t a bad opportunity, just not the right one for me. I don’t want to sound ungrateful or snobby, like it’s beneath. It just didn’t fit in with my long term goals. I was chasing the quick nickel.
Cheers,
-b
Elizabeth Whitten announced as a ‘Dystopia from the Rock’ author!
Engen Books is proud to introduce one of the exciting new talents in genre fiction that will be making their debut in 2019’s Dystopia from the Rock collection: Elizabeth Whitten! She brings with her her short story, ‘Unsettled.’
A native of St. John’s, Whitten is an editor and freelance journalist. At the 37th IRMA Conference, she was awarded the History Feature-Merit for “A Force to be Reckoned with,” which ran in Downhome Magazine, January 2016, p. 128-131.
‘Unsettled’ will be her first published piece of short fiction, and deals with issues of rising oceans.
Fourteen other authors will be joining Elizabeth Whitten, Peter Foote, Chantal Boudreau, Ellen Curtis, Finnan Beaton, Christopher Walsh, Lisa Daly, Jeff Slade, Michelle Churchill, Ryan Belbin, Nicole Little, Brad Dunne, David Rimmington, Heather Nolan, Gareth Mitton, Shannon Green and Ali House for the 2019 Dystopia on the Rock collection! We still have award-winning and prolific authors in the genre to announce! Who will join them? Stay tuned and Never Look Back!
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
January 18, 2019
Returning Rocker: Prize-Winning author Peter J. Foote announced as returning for ‘Dystopia from the Rock’!
Engen Books is proud to announce the triumphant return of author Peter J. Foote to this year’s From the Rock collection, Dystopia from the Rock.
Peter J. Foote is a bestselling speculative fiction writer from Nova Scotia. Outside of writing, he runs a used bookstore specializing in fantasy & sci-fi, cosplays, and alternates between red wine and coffee as the mood demands.
His short stories can be found in both print and in ebook form, with his story “Sea Monkeys” winning the inaugural “Engen Books/Kit Sora, Flash Fiction/Flash Photography” contest in March of 2018. As the founder of the group “Genre Writers of Atlantic Canada”, Peter believes that the writing community is stronger when it works together.
You can visit him at www.facebook.com/peterjfooteauthor/, and @PeterJFoote1 on Twitter.
Foote’s submissions have gained entry into each of the four modern From the Rock volumes. His story ‘The Silence Between Moons’ appeared in 2016’s Sci-Fi from the Rock, ‘A Troll by Any Other Name…’ in 2017’s Fantasy from the Rock, and ‘A Friend in Shadow’ in 2018’s Chillers from the Rock. Foote has proven himself to be a renaissance man of genre fiction, capable of rising to the occasion of any challenge thrown his way. As competition over placement in the From the Rock series has improved, so has Foote steadily grown in his authorial abilities. His newest story in titled ‘Final Edict.’
In March 2018, Foote won the Kit Sora Flash Photography Fiction Prize for his shot story, ‘Sea Monkeys.’ He won again in September 2018 with his short story ‘Little Star and Shepherdess.’
His prize-winning short story is available for purchase along with many other prize and award-winning authors in Kit Sora: The Artobiography, available now through Engen Books by clicking the button below.
Kit Sora: The Artobiography
A stunning, hundred-plus page hardcover collection of over 80 of Kit Sora’s most ambitious photographs, paired with short fiction inspired by the art by Canada’s best authorial talents. Includes stories by USA Today Bestselling Author Kate Sparkes, USA Today Bestselling Author Victoria Barbour, and Bestselling Author Amanda Labonté.
C$75.00
Peter Foote is a Freemason and owner of the FictionFirst Used Bookstore, a bookstore located in Nova Scotia that ships used genre fiction and manuals worldwide. He is from Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia and currently resides in Kings County, Nova Scotia.
In 2017, Foote endeavored to bring the Atlantic Canadian writing world together by forming a group known as the Genre Writers of Atlantic Canada (GWOAC) that seeks to cross promote and support authors working in the genre fields at any level, including hobbyists all the way up to experts in the field. The group is currently 264 members large and grows daily.
Fifteen other authors will be joining Peter Foote, Chantal Boudreau, Ellen Curtis, Finnan Beaton, Christopher Walsh, Lisa Daly, Jeff Slade, Michelle Churchill, Ryan Belbin, Nicole Little, Brad Dunne, David Rimmington, Heather Nolan, Gareth Mitton, Shannon Green and Ali House for the 2019 Dystopia on the Rock collection! We still have award-winning and prolific authors in the genre to announce! Who will join them? Stay tuned and Never Look Back!
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
