It would seem Mirella Patzer at The Historical Novel Review has ploughed through my two novels in a hurry. Her review of Shadow Song appears on the blog today. And a very fine review it is. Mirella sums up her review with: ‘Shadow Song was a beautifully written story, one that was well researched as it pertains to the lives of settlers in the wilds of Upper Canada. Lorina Stephens’ prose is lyrical and evokes…
There is a new review today for From Mountains of Ice on the Historical Novel Review blog. One of the best bits of Mirella Patzer’s review states: The author’s writing style is lyrical and emotive, making the story enjoyable and credible with its vibrant descriptions and introspection. In essence, this is a grand story, richly told. From Mountains of Ice is available in print and digital format from online retailers globally, as well as select…
Mark Leslie Lefebvre brought to my attention another nifty indie bookseller in Ottawa, Collected Works. The Ottawa Citizen article sums up the bookstore better than I could, so I’ll leave it to you to click through. While you’re at it, take a gander at Collected Works’ website. Pretty decent. Informative, interactive, even has a link to an online shopping cart. Wonder how they feel about indie publishers? I’m going to find out. For now, I’d…
Reading Lorina’s rankings of Independent bookstores in previous post, I tried to imagine the sort of store I (Robert) would like to see. My vision of the independent bookstore of the future is one with an Espresso Machine, a coffee bar, a flat screen monitor flashing random 30 second shots of coverart/coverblurbs from the available Espresso catalog, and a set of bookshelves filled with ‘staff picks’ off the Espresso machine. Maybe a couple of computer…
Over the years I’ve heard a lot of huffing and puffing from independent booksellers about their pitiful lot in life, about mice trying to survive in the presence of mammoths, about lack of customer support, of government support, of financial support. I’ve listened carefully to the arguments, considered, researched, and I’m still of the opinion very few independent booksellers get it. What do I mean by get it? I mean it remains most independent booksellers…