In Places Between

Yesterday in the mail I received a copy of In Places Between, 2012, a Calgary publication containing the winners/runners-up, etc. of the Robyn Harrington Memorial Short Story contest. run by the Imaginative Fiction Writers' Association.  I was excited to see my story, "Creature Comfort", in the collection, and to receive thel cheque enclosed. In Places Between is published by IPB Short Story Contest, P.O. Box 31014, Bridgeland P.O., Calgary, AB T2E 0C0

The winners of the Ottawa Book Awards were announced October 24. Like many other Ottawa book authors, I entered but didn't win.  The short list this year was made up, for the most part, of established writers publishing with established traditional publishers. Is it worth entering next year? I'm mulling over that question.

My reviews in Canadian Materials

My review of Norah McClintock's Sea of Sorrows (a novel for those in their early teens) is in the current issue of Canadian Materials,  a weekly online magazine from the University of Manitoba, edited by Education professor Dave Jenkinson, at www.umanitoba.ca/cm/

 I have been reviewing books for Canadian Materials for several years now and  have reviewed quite a few novels for young people that an adult would find worth reading. Perhaps my favourite was the award-winning novel, The Landing, by John Ibbitson,set in Depression-era Muskoka.  For fun, my book club decided to add this novel to our list last year, and everybody liked The Landing. We liked the grandmother-figure, a woman "of a certain age", who wasn't your stereotypical cookie-baking, knitting Grandma and who turned out, in the end, not to be a fairy godmother.

Google Canadian Materials to find out about worthwhile books for young people on your holiday gift list.

Another review in "Compulsive Reader"

To read my review of Barbara Forte Abate's novel, Asleep without Dreaming, please visit
http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3183