Tim Weed's Blog, page 21

Early Reviews: Will Poole’s Island

Ron Samul of the New London Patch has written a thoughtful advance review of Will Poole’s Island. Here’s an excerpt:

“Will Poole’s Island is more than a coming of age story . . . the reader is left with a longing to find that place, that moment when everything is right and the everything is possible. It is a longing we all search for spiritually, geographically, and emotionally. This book proves that oppression, obstacles, fate, and the world we live in should not stop us from seeking that place. If we can’t find it right now, walk in the shoes of Will Poole and rediscover that lost island in your life. It will inspire you.” Click here to read the full review.

Author and blogger Patrick Joyce has also written eloquently about the book:

“Will Poole put me in mind of other boys in other places who ran away into the great wide world, searching for their place in it, also casting their lots with a social or cultural Other: Huck Finn, Jim Hawkins, and, most of all, Kim. Their stories had equally strong senses of place, with a similar innocence; Kipling’s Kim combined those with a spiritual element. And like Kim, Will Poole’s Island ends with a satisfying, ethereal quality.” Click here to read the full review.

The novel’s official launch date is August 15, but advance copies of the book are already available to order from Nantucket Book Partners, Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, or through your own favorite independent bookstore. For occasional news and updates, “like” the Will Poole’s Island page on Facebook.

Advance Review: Will Poole’s Island

Ron Samul of the New London Patch has written a thoughtful advance review of Will Poole’s Island. Here’s an excerpt:

“Will Poole’s Island is more than a coming of age story . . . the reader is left with a longing to find that place, that moment when everything is right and the everything is possible. It is a longing we all search for spiritually, geographically, and emotionally. This book proves that oppression, obstacles, fate, and the world we live in should not stop us from seeking that place. If we can’t find it right now, walk in the shoes of Will Poole and rediscover that lost island in your life. It will inspire you.”

Click here to read the full review.

The novel’s official launch date is August 15, but advance copies of the book are already available to order from Nantucket Book Partners, Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, or through your own favorite independent bookstore. For occasional news and updates, “like” the Will Poole’s Island page on Facebook.

“Tower Eight” wins Grand Prize in Outrider Press anthology

“Tower Eight” is one of my favorite short stories, first published in Gulf Coast way back in 2005. So I was very pleased to hear that an extended excerpt of that story will be appearing in Outrider Press’s forthcoming anthology, The Mountain. Even happier to learn that “Tower Eight” has been selected as the anthology’s Grand Prize winner, which comes with a nice cash award.

Since 1996, Outrider has produced the renowned “Black and White” anthology series, so named because of their unique signature covers, each different but all designed solely in black and white. For now, you can pre-order the anthology by emailing outriderpress@sbcglobal.net. I’ll post a notice when the book comes out about other buying options.

New interview up at The Grub Daily

This has actually been up for awhile but i just found it (it was done in the lead-up to Grub Street’s wonderful and exhilarating Muse and the Marketplace conference). Some thoughts on good books, strange places, favorite bookstores, and more.  Read the full interview here.

At Muse14 with my wonderful cousin, the author Eleanor Henderson

Historical Fiction talk at Grub Street’s Muse and the Marketplace 2014

Very excited to be heading down to Boston tomorrow morning for Grub Street Writer’s annual Muse & The Marketplace conference. I don’t attend many writing conferences, but I’ve been lucky enough to have participated in this one for the last two years and it’s very, very good. Grub Street is somehow able to attract such a smart and friendly crowd of writers, agents, editors, and various others associated with this business of putting words on paper to enrich and enliven our world.

Also exciting: this year will be my first as a presenter, or “Special Guest,” in the official parlance. I’ll be giving a talk called “Narrative as Time Machine: The Art of World-Building in Historical Fiction.” The talk will feature excerpts from some of my favorite works of historical fiction, including Edith Wharton’s classic The Age of Innocence, Mary Renault’s The King Must Die, James Welch’s Fool’s Crow, Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. Very much looking forward to it!

While there, I’ll have a chance to run a couple of works-in-progress by a few agents and editors, and, perhaps most exciting of all, I’ll be bringing along (and giving away) several advanced readers’ copies of my new novel, Will Poole’s Island, which has an official release date of August 15, 2014, and which, ahem, can now be pre-ordered on Amazon. Wish me luck!

Short fiction collection a finalist for the New Rivers Press Many Voices Project

I actually got a call about this a few days ago, but I didn’t want to post it here until it was “official,” i.e., until the public announcement had been made. Anyway, now that is is official, I am honored to report that my short fiction collection, provisionally titled Crime and Fly Fishing,  has been selected as one of ten finalists for this year’s Many Voices Project prize! New Rivers Press is a wonderful Minnesota-based organization whose mission, in part is to “publish and promote enduring contemporary literature.”  The Many Voices Project (MVP) is an annual competition the press has run since 1981 for “new and emerging” writers, meaning writers that have not published more than two books of creative writing. MVP is the oldest competition of its kind and has a prestigious reputation, and I couldn’t be more excited to be among the finalists. Please keep your fingers crossed!

Prize winning story “The Afternoon Client” is up at Writer’s Digest online

“The Afternoon Client,” the Ninth Annual Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Crime Award winner, is up at Writer’s Digest on-line. You can read it here, although I prefer the formatting here.

Apparently it’s a “bonus on-line exclusive,” so you’d better get it while it’s hot . . .

Back into the time capsule

Excited to be heading back to Cuba with National Geographic Expeditions from March 30 to April 7! I’ve done this particular itinerary a good number of times now, and there are almost always surprises — most of them pleasant, all of them fascinating.

Then again, it’s impossible to be in Cuba on any given day and NOT have a fascinating experience of one kind or another. This is particularly true because the island is undergoing such a rapid period of change; every time I return there are changes, most of them subtle, some of them not. Don’t worry, I’m taking notes!

If anyone is looking for an opportunity to experience for yourself what I’m talking about, here’s an upcoming program I particularly recommend.

New short fiction for younger readers out at Stone Crowns Magazine

Thrilled to announce publication of my story “Faces in the River” in Stone Crowns Magazine. You can download the full issue here for FREE for your e-reader or as a pdf to read on your desktop. The story is accompanied by some wonderful artwork by S.P. McConnell.

This story grew out of  historical research I did for my upcoming novel, Will Poole’s Island, which will be released by in July 2014. It was inspired by a little-known landmark in our part of southern Vermont, a detail of which is pictured here. These petroglyphs near the Connecticut River, sacred to the Abenaki people, are very much worth a visit if you’re going to be in the Bellows Falls area. If you don’t know how to find them please feel free to get in touch.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy “Faces in the River” and the rest of Stone Crowns Magazine Issue #3!

New short fiction out at Sixfold

Hey everyone, my short story “The Afternoon Client,” winner of the Crime Category in the 2013 Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards, is now up at Sixfold. You can read it on-line here, or, if you’d rather have a a print version of the entire winter fiction issue and at the same time support  the  efforts of this innovative little review, you can order the paperback here.

I hope you enjoy the story!