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Are you Ready to Embrace Your Inner Chicken?

My friend, the wonderful Mahtab Narsimhan, has a new book out this month. I’ve read it, and I can tell you that in addition to the story being lovely… it’s going to make you hungry. I decided to invite Mahtab in for a little chat to talk about that, and a few other things, too. As a bonus, we’re going to give away a couple of copies of the new book at the end. Just look at this great cover!

kc: Okay, let’s get started, shall we? Mahtab! Thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell me a bit about the spark that lit the fire under this book for you?

Mahtab Narsimhan: Actually — there were three!

Food (I’m a self-proclaimed foodie!)
A fun character, and…
An immigrant’s personal experience of wanting, desperately, to fit into Canada.

I was an adult when I immigrated to Canada, and my son was just four years old. He started his schooling here, so he had no trouble fitting in and within a couple of years had made a friends who stayed with him throughout elementary, secondary, and high school.

But I have seen the very real struggle of teens and tweens, who immigrated later in life, as they try to fit in. Sometimes, they are ashamed of their roots, their culture and background. I knew this, and the ensuing embarrassment, was just their perception of the situation because Canadians, by and large, are amazingly inclusive and diverse. What better way to address this issue than through a compelling story and character?

kc: Well, you totally nailed it, Mahtab. I love this story for its empathy, and for its main character. How fun was writing Shivani? Did you know where you were going with her when you began the story?

MN: It’s always fun to write a character who can learn and change through the process of a story. I’ve always loved coming-of-age stories and this one is close to my heart. Truth be told, all my stories and characters are close to my heart.

kc: What about the other players in the story — do you have a fave?

MN: Ma is my favourite! Such a strong, feisty character despite her shortcomings. Inspired by my own mom who is an incredibly strong woman who faced adversity with courage. Luckily she passed on that strength to her children.

kc: Okay, let’s talk a bit about research. How much of your own life experience do you bring into the story? Did you get to do any interesting research before writing this book?

MN: I’m an immigrant. I’ve always tried to be true to country I left behind and the country I now call home. All this is based on real life experiences as I struggled to fit in, make friends and yet remember my own culture which I’m very proud of.

The first few years were extremely hard. Thankfully, there weren’t any language barriers (like Shivani’s mother faced) but there were many other challenges which I managed to overcome.

Of course, in writing an interesting story, you do need to put your characters through the wringer and so I added the language barrier and located the Das family in a small town where they stood out like a couple of gulab jamuns in a bowl of ras malai.

kc: Have you ever had to ’embrace the chicken’ in your own life?

MN: Yes. When I first came to Canada, I would be extremely wary of wearing Indian clothes except when I was at home. My lunches to work would be sandwiches or salads. I was too afraid to stand out by taking aromatic Indian food.

When I became comfortable with my surroundings and my colleagues I started to embrace my Indian-ness more openly.

These days I’m always giving it a bear-hug. I’m proud to be a Canadian-Indian and happy to share my culture and my food with my friends.

kc: Ha! I have been lucky enough to benefit from that. But can I just say how much I love the food in this story? It leaps off the page and into my mouth, I swear! Now, I happen to know that you love cooking — is it fun to bring that element of your life into your writing?

MN: A resounding YES! I love food. Reading about it, writing about it and above all sampling it. All my books have vivid descriptions of food. After all, taste is one of our five senses. How can we ignore it when trying to immerse a reader into the story setting?

In fact, if I read a story where the characters sit down for a meal, and the author skips over the description of it, I feel cheated. I have Enid Blyton to thank for my love of food descriptions. As a young reader she delighted me with meals of tinned peaches, potted meat, and scones even though, at the time, I was not familiar with these foods.

kc: I remember Enid Blyton’s potted meat from Famous Five picnics! I have to say, the food in your stories is a hundred percent more appealing. Now, ‘Embrace the Chicken’ is a story of mothers and daughters, of trying to fit in, of friendships made and lost, and of course, food! What was your favourite part to write?

MN: The final chapter/scene when Mrs. Das gets up on stage to thank the principal. It’s a poignant moment. I hope the readers can feel her fear (I used to be terrified of public speaking) and Shivani’s concern and pride. And her realization that she should have trusted her mother to do the right thing for her kids.

kc: I felt a little weepy reading that scene, I have to say. She was so brave! Mahtab, when you look at the experience of writing your earlier books, how did writing ‘Embrace the Chicken’ compare? Does it get any easier with each new project?

MN: Each project presents a different challenge. Though this one is a lot shorter in wordcount than my previous books, it’s a hi-lo which means a high interest-low vocabulary for reluctant readers. I have to thank my wonderful editor, Tanya Trafford, who told me to write the way I normally do (longish sentences and slightly high vocabulary is the way I like to go because I love challenging my readers). During the editing process we worked hard to ensure that it would fit into the Orca currents series in every way.

kc: What’s got you excited right now? Can you tell us something about your next project?

MN: A middle-grade novel that has horror and magical realism. And it has rats. Lots of them. That’s all I’ll say for now!

kc: <shivers> Oooo! I can’t wait. In the meantime, where can readers find you online?

MN: My website is www.mahtabnarsimhan.com and I’m on twitter at @MahtabNarsimhan.

Thanks so much for joining me today, Mahtab!

Okay, readers, — here’s a challenge for you. If you’d like to win one of two copies of ‘Embrace the Chicken’ tell us the name of one of Mahtab Narsimhan’s earlier novels, either in the comments below, or on twitter or FB.

We’ll do a draw next week for the winners!

And, as always, more soon…!

~kc

Secrets and Skygers…

My friend Lee Edward Födi is launching his new book this week, and it’s AMAZING! To celebrate this event, I’ve invited Lee over onto my comfy couch for a chat about The Secret of Zoone. Join us, won’t you? [And yes — there is an awesome book giveaway at the end!]

To begin with a bit of background. Lee Edward Födi is an author, illustrator, and specialized arts educator—or, as he likes to think of himself, a daydreaming expert. He is the author of Zoone series (HarperCollins) and the Kendra Kandlestar series (Simply Read Books). He has also illustrated books for other authors. Lee teaches kids how to put their own daydreaming to good use at schools, libraries, and through workshops with the Creative Writing for Children (CWC) society, which he co-founded in 2004. During his free time, he’s a traveler, adventurer, and maker of dragon eggs. He lives in Vancouver, Canada, with his wife, son, and unhelpful cat.

kc: Now Lee, as you know I’ve been a fan of your Kendra books forever. It’s the magic of the Eens that has always captured me. I won’t ask you to give away the secret, but where is Zoone? What took you there the very first time?

LEF: Zoone is the nexus of the multiverse—a world between worlds, where a thousand doors lead to a thousand places. You can think of it as a train station, but instead of trains coming and going, there are portals that people can take to reach different worlds.

Zoone stems from my own love of and yearning for travel. I grew up on a farm, which meant our summers weren’t spent vacationing—they were spent harvesting. How I vacationed was through books. Narnia was my go-to series and one of my favorites was The Magician’s Nephew. That book features a place called “The Wood Between the Worlds”, where pools in a magical forest lead to different worlds. I had always wished that C.S. Lewis had written more stories using this location. Eventually, I decided that I could do my own version of a world between worlds.

So, I started doodling and brainstorming ideas, gradually creating the nexus of Zoone. Like Lewis’s idea, my final idea turned out to be a forested realm, but instead of pools as entrances to the worlds, Zoone uses doorways.

kc: Ha! We’re going to talk about your doorways in a minute. But first, tell me a bit about Ozzie. Did you know where you were going with him when you began the story? What about the other players in the story — do you have a fave?

LEF: Way back in 2007, I wrote a scene of a boy coming home from school to discover a lion lounging on his couch. Those two characters evolved into Ozzie and Tug the skyger. A lot of this evolution played out in my notebook through drawings and doodles. Even though Tug’s physical appearance changed significantly (a skyger is a winged lion), his personality is pretty much spot-on (or stripe on!) compared to that first scene.

Ozzie is the character who really changed. He went from a serious no-nonsense boy to a daydreaming kid who can never keep his shirt on straight or his shoelaces tied up.

I think a lot of readers will adore Tug, mostly because of his gentle and earnest personality. I love Tug, too, but the character that resonates the most with me is Ozzie’s Aunt Temperance. In many ways, she based on me. We don’t get a whole lot of Aunt Temperance in this book, but she’ll play a much bigger role in Book 2, The Guardians of Zoone.

kc: Ooo– I can’t wait to meet Aunt Temperence! But let’s go back to the audience. Your Kendra Kandlestar books have always resonated with young readers. How was writing Ozzie different from writing Kendra?

LEF: The voice of the Zoone books is quite a bit different than the classical storytelling style I chose to go for in Kendra Kandlestar. Ozzie’s voice is a little more modern and conversational.

The other big difference, of course, is that Ozzie is a boy—in fact, he is the first main character boy I’ve written so far. I think I shied away from writing boy characters in the past because I wasn’t a “typical” boy growing up and I wasn’t sure how to capture an authentic boy voice. Eventually, I realized that it didn’t matter. There are plenty of characters who aren’t typical in children’s lit, and my boy character didn’t need to be typical either.

kc: I love that. The less typical, the better to my mind. Okay — here come the doors! I happen to know that you have, for a long time, had a fascination with doors. Have any of the interesting doors you’ve found in your travels make their way into this story?

LEF: Doors have long been my fascination—or, maybe obsession is a better word! When I first started photographing them, I had no specific intention or purpose—I was just interested in them. Once I decided that Zoone was a world of doors, I became a little more purposeful in my photographing, making sure that I was getting all the parts, angles, and aspects of doorways I encountered so that I could draw upon them as inspiration. There are many specific doors—and especially their doorknockers—that I drew upon in my descriptions for Zoone (not just Book 1, but the upcoming sequels).

kc: The land of Een is a place filled with imagination, but I wouldn’t describe it as a multiverse. What are the challenges of writing a story in such a different setting?

LEF: One of the first things that I did for this book was start building worlds. I did this mostly in my brainstorming journals, by creating profiles of different worlds, adding to them as they developed. At that time, I wasn’t sure what the plot of the book would even be about. I just started with designing the worlds and the characters that came from them. I think the challenge of building fantasy worlds is that they have to seem different and intriguing to the reader—but at the same time believable, as if you could actually go there.

As an illustrator, I spend a lot of time thinking visually. That means I draw symbols (like crests or flags or emblems) to represent those cultures. I also prop-build artifacts. I even write myths or legends to help ground those worlds in an imagined reality. Of course, the reader sees very little of this background work, but I think it has informed my writing.

Just as with the doorways of Zoone, I did a lot of research for the worlds in the Zoone multiverse by traveling and documenting different places. A good example of this is the Empire of Quoxx, which is where one of my main characters, Fidget, is from. We don’t get to visit Quoxx in Book 1, but we will in Book 3. Quoxx is a sort of fusion of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Longqing in China, Jejudo in Korea, and Japan.

kc: Another place where all your travel has paid off! What’s been the most exciting part of discovering Zoone for yourself?

LEF: I always enjoy the brainstorming part of a writing a book. It’s the moment in the process when anything and everything is possible. This book has a big and ambitious concept, but it continues to be fun to develop—because I’m still working on it for the upcoming book in the series. I love inventing new corners of the multiverse and coming up with characters to populate them.

kc: How does writing this series compare with your earlier books? Does it get any easier with each new project?

LEF: Since I write fantasy, the first book in a series is always the most difficult for me, since I have to establish a voice and build the world. Subsequent books in a series are easier in the sense that those key decisions are made. The challenge then becomes pushing the characters in different directions and trying to keep everything fresh, while at the same time maintaining the spirit that readers (hopefully) loved the first time around.

The interesting part about Zoone is that the second book was completely finished and delivered before the first book was released. So, I don’t have a sense of what readers like about Book 1, whereas with Kendra, I did, because I didn’t even decide to write Book 2 until after the first one was out.

I don’t think writing ever gets easier. I’m always trying to explore different ideas or experiment with different voices. And when you experiment, you fail or get frustrated . . . but it’s all part of the process.

kc: Heh — I can relate to that for sure. So, what’s got you excited right now? Can you tell us something about your next project? And whereW can readers find you online?

I’m elbow deep in Book 3 of the Zoone series, The Legend of Zoone. And I’ve got a couple of new ideas that are rattling around in one corner of my brain—I’ll turn my full attention to one of them soon! Readers can find me online at www.leefodi.com, which has all the links to my social media profiles.

Thanks so much, Lee! It’s so exciting to see this new story take flight! And, if I can make a recommendation, if you are interested in the process of watching an author-illustrator’s story take flight, be sure to follow Lee on twitter. He’s great at sharing his process!

And now? It’s your turn. Want to have a peek at the very first book in this amazing story? I have two copies available, and will do a draw for them this upcoming week to celebrate the launch of THE SECRET OF ZOONE. To enter, leave a comment below, or share this post on FB or Twitter. And if you want, why not tell me what secret world YOU would open a door, if you could?

More soon…

~kc

Edited to add: Just did the draw for two SIGNED copies of THE SECRET OF ZOONE by @leefodi. Congratulations to Maxine Cumming and @Mrs_Ennis_OMS! Email me with your snail mail addy: kcdyer at shaw dot ca.

You Owe Me…

Just this month, the amazing and prolific author Eileen Cook has released her latest salvo onto the YA market. Eileen’s novels are available in eight languages, and have been optioned for film and TV. She remembers spending most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which turned out to be great training to become a writer! In addition to writing, Eileen is also an instructor/mentor with The Creative Academy and Simon Fraser University Writer’s Studio Program where she loves helping other writers find their unique story to tell. She lives in Vancouver with two very naughty dogs.

Her latest book, YOU OWE ME A MURDER is a reimagining of Patricia Highsmith’s ‘STRANGERS ON A TRAIN’, with the contemporary, youthful twistiness that is so typical of Eileen Cook’s thrillers. I was lucky enough to have her agree to sit down for a chat about the book. Care to listen in?

kc: Hey Eileen — welcome! Shall we just jump right in? Let’s talk about your protagonist in You Owe Me a Murder. Did Kim walk fully formed into your head, or was it more of a process of discovery as the story unfolded?

EC: As with many of my characters, I think I know them at the start of the story, but they have a tendency to evolve and change on me. They are very sneaky that way. Kim has that insecurity that’s common when you’re a teen and is trying to figure out what she wants from her life. She has the problem of getting herself into a difficult situation and making some bad decisions in an effort to get herself out of it. Not that I’ve ever done that, (feel free to laugh here) but I’ve at least never accidently gotten myself in a murder scheme.

kc: Heh. Can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that. So — tell me a bit about Nicki. She is so different from Kim — how was she to write? Fun? Scary?

EC: I’m not sure what it says about me, but I found writing Nicki to be so much fun. She’s deliciously evil. Writing villains gives me a chance to let out my dark side.

kc: You? Dark side? No way! Although, come to think of it, your last few titles have explored the dark side of the teen psyche. You have a background in counselling yourself. Does what you learned in your old day job come into play in your writing at all?

EC: I would love to say that I had chosen the field of counselling because I knew it would be helpful to me when writing, but that was a happy accident. Working as a counsellor is all about understanding and having empathy for people who may be making difficult choices as they navigate challenging times in their lives. I studied and explored how people make decisions and why they behave in the way that they do. This has become hugely important as I focused more on writing and I find it useful much more than I ever expected.

kc: That really shows, I have to say. Okay, let’s talk about research. What kind of research does one have to do to write about committing murder?

EC: I’m quite certain that my online search history is going to result in me being on some kind of watch list. Research, be it on murder, or any other area, from historical period details to how DNA sequencing works, serves two purposes. It allows you to immerse yourself in the world, even if specifics don’t end up in the story and it is also important to readers. I guarantee there is a reader out there who will be an expert in the area and if you get a detail wildly wrong it can throw them right out of the story.

kc: Yes — As a reader, I really hate that. On the other hand, you and I share the same problem with our search histories! So, what about travel? YOMAM is set mostly in London — did you go there — or anywhere else — to get a feel for the background of this story?

EC: London is one of my favorite cities in the world. I’ve been several times and I feel like I could go a million times more and never grow bored. I did go when I was researching this book. Although I had been several times, I wanted to go again to check some details. When I was in university, I did a semester in London and I wanted to recreate several of my experiences as a student, but without disclosing how long it’s been, I had to update a few things.

kc: Ha! The good thing is that London is always London, right? Okay, let’s step away from this book for a moment. Can you talk about the challenges of writing in different genres? How do love stories compare with thrillers?

EC: If I was a “brand savvy” writer I would choose a genre and write in it consistently, but I tend to follow my heart. I find a topic interesting and I run off to write a book about it. I don’t think it’s easier to write in any one genre, each one has different kinds of challenges. For me, writing thrillers/mysteries was harder because it required paying attention with plotting. When I started writing, this was the area that was the most difficult. Having to make sure I wove together all the different story lines was my biggest challenge. The desire to beat that hurdle was partly what made me want to write in that genre. On the upside, writing thrillers and murders is a great way to work out some aggression!

kc: Ah — that explains why you are always so calm and collected these days! How did writing this story compare with your earlier books? Does it get any easier with each new project?

EC: I live in constant hope that things are going to get easier. Alas, so far it hasn’t. What I feel has become easier is the realization that there are some things I can count on. These include an initial wave of excitement for a story, then the dreaded three-quarter point where I’m certain the story is horrid and that no one will ever want to read it and that I’ve written myself into some type of dark hole corner for which there is no escape, but then, it does work out in the end. That’s the miracle, not that the process is easier, but that I can have faith that things will work out because I’ve been here before.

kc: Yeah, I think as writers, we tend to under-rate the value of our subconscious minds for pulling us through those dark holes. So, what’s got you excited right now? Can you tell us something about your next project?

EC: I have several projects on the go. I’m moving soon so that consumes a lot of my time. Who knew so many things bred in closets and drawers? You pack it up, turn around and somehow more things are there.

On the writing front, I’ve just started working on an adult novel. It’s funny (or at least I hope it is!) with a twist of darkness.

Lastly, I’ve always known that I enjoy working with other writers, so I’ve started offering coaching and mentorship with The Creative Academy an online community for writers at all different stages.

kc: That’s amazing! I know how a move can eat your head, so having everything else on the go right now might at least distract you from the horrors inside the closets. If readers — or other writers — are looking for you, where can they find you online?

EC: My website is: www.eileencook.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/Eileenwriter and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eileencookwriter/

Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today, Eileen! To celebrate, we’re going to offer two copies of YOU OWE ME A MURDER to readers of this blog — International included! To enter, tell me your fave Eileen Cook title in the comments below, on Twitter or FB. We’ll do a draw from all the names entered on Sunday, March 31, and announce the winners on April first — no foolin’!

More soon…

~kc

Edited to add: Thanks to all who shared and tweeted this post. Congratulations to book winners Janet Oakley and Sarah Meral. Email me with your addresses, and the books will be on their way!

Ducking the Spam

As a follow-up to my last post, I thought I might offer a few tips about getting the word out when you’ve made New Art and are ready to share.

I am ALL ABOUT the joyousness of this occasion. There is nothing like having a new book/website/other brilliant work baby, and sharing it with your friends and readers is half the fun. So, yes — blog, tweet, Instagram that baby out into the world! Have a party! Hire a skywriter! YAY!!!!

But you know what? Spamming people you don’t know, or worse, someone you’ve shared an email exchange with once or twice with repeated pleas to buy your book, look at your site, read your article — is so, so uncool. And if I’m the recipient, it’s the quickest way to get blocked, for sure.

I LOVE lifting up other writers. I love when other writers lift up the stories and works of writers THEY love — it’s my favourite way to find new writers and stories for myself, after all.

But dude — if you have never engaged with me in any way in person, or on social media, flooding me with tweets, emails or other ‘personal messages’ that you have work you want me to magnify is not going to get you anywhere. Your site is the greatest at helping other writers? Sure, wonderful. But I am never going to see it if my only interaction with you is couched in the form of harassment.

I can only speak for myself, but my life as a writer is just like that proverbial duck — what shows on the surface does not reflect the maniacal paddling going on underneath. There are only so many hours in the day, and I hate spam sandwiches. I want to spend the scanty free time I have amplifying as many deserving voices as possible.

The way to get noticed in this industry is to talk to people. It is a MUCH smaller group than you might think. And we do all talk to each other — once in a while, anyway, when we climb out of our darkened lairs and stare, blinking, into the sun. So engage on social media, or in person. Discuss, ask questions, enquire about what interests other artists. Bring something to the table and your work WILL get shared. Writers are the biggest readers, after all.

More soon…

~kc

Collegiality, Rising Tides and Spam Sandwiches

Part the first…

I am very fond of my writer friends. I have also been very, very lucky to be surrounded by a community of wonderful writers, throughout my career, who have not blinked when it comes to lifting each other up.

My first internet writer friends came from the Compuserve Writers Forum, which still lives on as the Literary Forum. IRL groups that have supported me over the years include the North Shore Writers, Canadian Authors, CWILL BC, CANSCAIP, The Writers’ Union of Canada and the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. This last group, SiWC, is like a homecoming for me every year; going back to a safe place filled with writers who are willing to share the knowledge, the trials, and the joys of the writing life. All my successes I owe to the people I’ve met here, who have befriended me, who’ve shared what they know with open hearts and the sure knowledge that writers who help each other are the better for it. [All my failures? They are ON ME, man.]

These people are special to me because we’ve gone through it all together. Some of these folks I only see in the flesh once in a blue moon. A bunch of them I only know on-line. But we have relationships that have been years in the making. The beauty of this job is that I continue to make new friends, over the internet, and at workshops and readings and signings and conferences. I work as hard as I can to pull my own weight, too — lifting up other writers, sharing their work and linking to their expertise. I try to be a rising tide whenever I can, lifting my own boat and all the others, big and small, around me.

However. There is a dark side to this industry. A dodecahedron of dark sides, to tell you the truth. And part of my work with SiWC and other groups over the years is to steer unwary writers away from those parts of the industry looking to eat them alive. ANYONE who tells you they have all the answers to finding success in this business — ESPECIALLY if they expect you to pay for it — is worth stepping away from. Successful writers, particularly those who are excellent teachers, will tell you what they’ve picked up over the years, and what worked for them. Learning from them, adapting their lore and wisdom into a plan that works for you is the way to go.

Buying into a quick fix is not.

All of this is to say, I am never going to direct the writers who come to me for guidance toward these bad actors. I’ve been living inside this industry too long for that. And if you do want to talk to publishing professionals about getting your own work out there? Hounding them, sending them harassing emails, tweets or other social media contact is definitely not the way to go.

Next time, I’m going to talk about getting the word out about your book or your publishing service — the right way.

Avoiding spam sandwiches, and other delectable delights.

More soon…

~kc

Fan Girling…

If you have spent any time in my company over the past two years, you’ll know that I have completely fallen for, and devoured multiple times, the ‘Rivers of London’ series by Ben Aaronovitch. You will know this, because I can’t really conduct a conversation without declaiming endlessly about how much I love these books. [One day I plan to inform Ben of this to his face, actually, but let’s save that little tidbit until it comes up in my stalking trial, shall we?]

If you haven’t come across them, I [obviously] can’t recommend them highly enough. The first one [‘Rivers of London’ in the UK, ‘Midnight Riot’ on this side of the pond] is the gateway drug. Go ahead. You’ll thank me. But strangely enough, my main goal with this post isn’t to talk about the books themselves, but instead, about the audio versions.

All the books in ‘The Rivers of London’ series are narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. Now, I have the same little problem with audio books that I do with the paper variety. The only difference being, when the Big One hits, the piles of books throughout my house will serve to hold the roof up, whereas my audio books may be less useful on that front.

Still, of all the scores of audiobooks I’ve listened to, [with the exception, of course, of Finding Fraser, which is marvellously narrated by Romy Nordlinger] I think Kobna is my favourite. He embodies Metropolitan PC Peter Grant perfectly, but where he really shines is with the wide cast of other characters. He’s a brilliant voice actor, and I’m feeling a bit bereft, because I just finished the most recent of the novels [Lies Sleeping, book 7 in the series] today. I may just have to start listening from the beginning again…

Luckily, as a big fan [and also a friend] of Mary Robinette Kowal, I have her new books ‘The Calculating Stars’ and ‘The Fated Sky‘ cued up to get me over my end-of-series emptiness. Yay! I’ll pop back in here once I’m done to share my thoughts.

But in the meantime, what do YOU think? Who is your favourite audiobook narrator? Do you have a fave series you can recommend? Please share — I’ll make a list!

More soon…

~kc

It’s Emma’s Birthday!

Happy Valentine’s Day! This is the day that kicked things off for Emma Sheridan, sending her on her quest to find her Fraser. “I first met Jamie Fraser when I was nineteen years old. He was tall, red-headed, and at our first meeting at least, a virgin. I fell in love hard, fast, and completely. He was older than me. He was taller than me. He knew how to ride a horse, wield a sword, and stitch a wound. He was, in fact, the perfect man.

That he was fictional hardly entered into it. “

To celebrate the start of Emma’s amazing journey, I’m giving away ten first edition paperback, signed copies of ‘Finding Fraser’, to the first ten people who RT this on Twitter or share on FB. International!

Happy birthday to Emma, and Happy Valentine’s Day to YOU!

More soon…

~kc

Favourite Cookbooks?

Old and new

So, today, after a visit to the winter farmer’s market, I took the plunge and for the first time, made cabbage and leek soup. I’ve always side-eyed anything with cabbage in it — not so much that I don’t like the taste, but that I’ve never been convinced I’ve got the skill set to carry it off.

This has led me thinking about giving some non-fiction a bit of love here on the blog. I’ve added some new Noir to my TBR list from last week’s blog — what do you have to say on the subject of cookbooks? My favourite go-to cookbook is by the wonderful Jennifer Browne. It’s called Vegetarian Comfort Foods, and I just love the recipes she includes.

But this Christmas, at the aforementioned Farmer’s Market, I picked up a copy of ‘the plant-based Foodie Vancouver’ as a present for my sister. It’s a book that talks about the various plant-based restaurant options in my city, with sample recipes from all of them.

I lasted until this week before I bought myself a copy, too.

Kermit-approved recipe from 'the plant-based FOODIE Vancouver' book. — Kermit-approved recipe from ‘The plant-based FOODIE Vancouver’ book.

While it definitely has a whiff of ‘trendy’ to it, I have to say I’m dying to try most of the recipes, and the photography is simply gorgeous. And purchase of this book sends donations to community partners ‘Fresh to Families’ and ‘Animal Justice’, both worthy causes

So — help me out, here. Do you have an old, family favourite cookbook you’d like to share? Or what about something more recent? Help me load up my pantry shelf! [Oh, and by the way? My cabbage-leek soup turned out great!]

More soon…

~kc

Favourite 2018 Fiction

Best of 2018…what do you think?

2019. Seems such a weird number. Now that cheque-writing is not so much of a thing any more, I’ve hardly become used to 2018, yet.

Slow to adapt, I guess.

One of the things I’m trying to do better this year is to talk about the books I’ve read and listened to. I’ve always felt that reading was my biggest weakness. These days, now that I am no longer regularly feeding my son at home, it’s my biggest expense, for sure. [Of course, I do have a library card, and I could do it so much more cheaply if I didn’t feel the need to keep the little buggers once I’ve read them…]. And of course, now I am old enough to realize that reading is my biggest strength. Every story I read serves to make me a better writer.

Anyway, knowing you can never have too high a bedside book pile, I’d like to hear what you have been reading, too. Let’s shine a light on some of the great books out there! Breaking it down a little further, I’m planning an upcoming post on audio-books, as well as a regular feature on favourite older titles, so let’s keep today’s discussion to books that came out in 2018.

I’ll start with a new mystery-writing favourite I discovered when I was on a wee research jaunt in Iceland. Iceland is a country of readers, and last fall I was there just in time for Jólabókaflód. This is the annual flood of books published in time for the holiday season. By sheer accident [and perhaps a reflection of my choice of evening locales] I stumbled on THREE separate book launches in the week I was in Reykjavik.

Yrsa Siggurdardóttir writes both children’s fiction and crime novels. While I was mooching around bookstores in the [a bit snowy, extremely windy] environs of Iceland in November, I stumbled upon her ‘Children’s House’ series. The latest, Brudan, was pubbed in 2018, but I’d strongly recommend you begin with the first book in the series: The Legacy, which was published back in 2014. [Original Icelandic publication title was DNA.]

These stories are full-out Nordic Noir, with child psychologist Freyja unwillingly teaming up with police officer Huldar to solve a baffling murder case. With little romanticism of setting or character, and I found that in addition to a compelling mystery, the books give a real feeling for modern, everyday life in this amazing country. Wonderfully character-driven, as soon as I surged through the first book, I ended up bringing the second one to read on the airplane ride home.

Okay, now it’s your turn. What was your favourite novel of 2018? Let’s make a list!

More soon,

~kc

Icelandic cliffs near Vik, November, 2018.

Tap, tap, tap…

Is this thing on…?

Happy New Year!

<whispers> I’m back….

More soon!

~kc