Meeting my readers’ needs I’ve heard over the years from many of my readers regarding the high price of print books and of shipping. I can’t do anything about the cost of an individual print book, because it is what it is. Neither can I do anything about the cost of shipping, because, well, it is what it is. But I have been thinking. And that resulted in what might be a good thought, something…
The Book of Secrets by M.G. Vassanji My rating: 3 of 5 stars Vassanji’s novel, The Book of Secrets, which was the recipient of the first Giller Prize, is a complex saga revolving around a diary kept by an Assistant District Commissioner in the fictitious town of Kikono, situated near the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, set around the time of WWI. The diary isn’t so much a book of secrets. Rather, it is the secrets…
The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received notification of this remarkable book through a group of archeologists specializing in Scandinavian history, specifically Viking. Their praise of Neil Price’s work did not disappoint. My interest in this history pertains to a current novel in progress of my own, and certainly I’ve come away with a head bursting with all the latest…
A colleague of mine shared a fascinating new capability for authors who have their books listed on their website. He says: There’s now an easy way to link directly to participating Canadian indie bookstores, local to whomever is clicking the link, to look up and/or order your chosen book. The caveat is that it only looks up indies that are using Bookmanager software, but Bookmanager is widely used and also a Canadian indie so it’s…
Probably the creepiest novel I’ve written is From Mountains of Ice. Imagine you could speak with the dead, unwillingly, but able. Imagine their voices sometimes clamoured in your head, their memories, experiences, advice all there whenever you touched something made from their bones. Then imagine your prince gone m ad, your country drowning under taxation and a ruinous rule, and you the hope your people, dead and living, entreat to set things aright. And so Sylvio…