Canada Day Blog Hop Day I: The Favourites

Welcome to the first official day of the Canada Day Blog Hop: though my blog readers know that this has been going on all week.

Recap:

• Kick-Off Post
• Hey Canada Blog Tour
• Mountie Day
• Jessica Strider's 5 Canadian Sci Fi and Fantasy picks! 

GIVEAWAY information:  Yes, friends! I am thrilled to offer a Giveaway for residents of Canada and the United States.  Simply comment on ANY Canada Day post this week and tell me the name of your favourite novel by a Canadian. I will draw names from a hat!  

What's in the Giveaway:
-Oh Canada tea from DavidsTea ( the best tea in the country)

-a signed copy of Jolted: my favourite Canadian YA novel as personally provided by our friend Arthur Slade (who incidentally is our guest-star on Canada Day so come back here then to be subject to his brilliance! )

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Top 5 CanLit Picks from your Friendly Neighbourhood Rachel:

The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery: Umm, my blog title and incessantly loquacious ramblings speak volumes to my passion for this book [I divulge my love on Booklust]

That Summer in Paris by Morley Callaghan: It's Hemingway's A Moveable Feast in that it speaks to that gorgeously glorious and golden Parisienne era of written beguile. [adoration housed here]

The Blooding of Jack Absolute by CC Humphreys: I friggin' love this book. It makes me laugh. Really hard. It's just brilliant, fun, whip-smart writing.  [Courtney and Rachel talk Jack ] 

Deafening by Frances Itani [it was my first pick in my Certified Savvy Readers for Harper Collins Canada]

Jolted by Arthur Slade [he is TOTALLY going to be featured on ye olde blog on Canada Day and I am super stoked! *gleeful fangirlish squeal* read my review of this awesome book!]

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But wait! I am not the only reader with some awesome CanLit picks. Howdy to our extra special guest Katie (and a personal favourite booklover of mine) who blogs at the Teacup Tortoise.

CanLit Picks from the Teacup Tortoise: 

It’s a toss-up for me between Stones and Forbidden City as to which is my favorite book by William Bell. What is special for me about both of these, is that my appreciation for them comes from somewhere entirely unrelated to academia or any intellectual standpoint: they are simply well-written, well-crafted, and fantastic reads.

While I treasure my copy of Forbidden City because it is actually signed by Bell himself (Thank you, Rachel for that!), the book is definitely one of my favorites in the Canadian YA genre. The plot, the characters, the connection to history - I can’t pick just one reason as to why I love this book. It made me want to learn and know more about the history of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and about China’s overall history.

I have always loved Stones, and remember checking it out of the school library over and over again when I was younger. Who doesn’t love a bit of a ghost story? The fact that there was a local element as well always made me enjoy it even more. Again, it’s the characters, the events and plot twists, and (not surprisingly) the connection to 19th century history, that always keeps me coming back to Stones as one of my all time favorite YA books.

Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod is a collection of short stories that I discovered fairly recently. I have not always been a big reader of short fiction, but having taken classes with Dr MacLeod, and knowing that this book was shortlisted for the Giller Prize a few years ago, I was compelled to pick up a copy. Light Lifting is an extraordinarily good read. The stories are tight and well crafted, the characters are flawed, believable, and so wonderfully human. I found myself wanting every piece to continue, wanting to know more about these people and their own stories. Each of these short works acts like a snapshot, a clear look into the lives of these characters. I believe the title of the work is particularly significant as well, because it isn’t just the moments of huge import that make or break us - it’s all the light lifting along the way, those little imperceptible moments and choices that add up over time. While I may be biased about Light Lifting, I really love this collection of Canadian short fiction. It’s pretty fantastic, and definitely worth a read!

The Empire of Ruins: Book three in the Hunchback Assignments Series by Arthur Slade

Guess what, lucky Americans?....today is your day!...Empire of Ruins is the third installment in the Steampunk-ed Hunchback Assignments by award-winning CANADIAN Arthur Slade  and it is available in your country. Like, right now. 

This is what the book looks like in AMERICAN

Heard of Arthur Slade?  He's the guy whose e-book version of Dust (winner of the Governor General's Award--- a big deal here up in Canada) is currently beating Stephen King in horror sales for Kindle... yah.

As is the case with the first two books chronicling Modo’s adventures as a shape-shifting spy, so the third speaks to darker themes lurking slightly beneath the over-arching fantasy fun.  Here, Modo,at one point, is forced to stand up to his father-figure/mentor Mr. Socrates when it comes to a matter of protecting an Australian tribe and their customs.

Yes, Colonization is a theme that fits well in a book which speaks to British subjects, territory expanse and the looming threat of the Clockwork Guild.  A languid sea voyage, hot air balloons, an archaeologist gone mad, foreboding spikes, eerie caves, a fantastical God Face and odd, mechanical birds populate the intrepid Modo and the delightful Octavia Milkweed's adventures.   You even get a glimpse of explorer David Livingstone’s pompous funeral within the enclaves of glorious Westminster Abbey.

Didactic title, n'est pas?

Octavia gets a pair of trousers (finally), Modo is reunited with one of his closest friends, Tharpa gets his game on, Mr. Socrates has a heart (sort of) and Modo and Octavia reach a point in their bond that could further solidify or break it.

I found Australia a very interesting geographical choice: British enough for the whole colonial motif; wild enough with unknown tribes and vast, unpopulated expanses to set the stage for mayhem and close enough to Canada (in a theoretically comparative sense--I am not that geographically-challenged) to be, sort of, Canadian (FACT: Canadians travel to Australia when they want to "live exotically" in "perpetual summer" while still maintaining all of the stuff they are familiar with. TRUE STORY).   Unfortunately, it has no prairie-like terrain and we all know that I find Slade to be at the height of his powers when writing about the geography he knows best: that of the Saskatchewan prairies.

I have enjoyed the Hunchback Assignments series and highly recommend them for kids --- boy and girl (Really, Octavia! She be of the empowering type); there’s an inkling of romance to keep your heart tripping and enough compassion to have readers of all ages rooting blindly for Modo ( as his new tribal friends do), but I find myself missing the Slade of old…. Of Dust and Tribes and JOLTED!

This is what the book looks like in CANADIAN!

AND NOW, I GIVE YOU....


OCTAVIA MILKWEED MOMENTS:
a.) "I'm not dainty! I'm Octavia!"
b.) Octavia:"'Sorry, I meant busybody, not bumblebee. Where are my manners? And, about Mr. Socrates, you know you agree with me in your gut at least, even if your mind hasn't caught up yet.' she paused.' I have missed our reparting.'"
Modo: "I believe the word you want is repartee"
c.) "It was a pair of trousers, perfectly sewn and softer than any material a man would wear---but trousers! She read the note in Mrs. Finchley's tidy handwriting[...] Octavia promised herself she would hug the woman the moment they next met. Trousers!"
d.) On David Livingstone: "She would have been amazed to meet the man while he was living and breathing, but now that he was dead he was rather a bore"
(NOTE: it's worth reading these books for Octavia alone)

 Read Rachel's rambles on Hunchback I

 Read Rachel's rambles on Hunchback II

Perfect addition to my RIP reading ( Steampunk madness and the same Chapter font as the Horatio Lyle books---again!)

Courtney also liked it.

Arthur Slade and the E-Book Industry on LE RADIO

Fair readers, you all know that we subscribe to the school of All Things Arthur Slade. He is, as you know, Canada's best YA novelist ( at least in my awesome opinion) and a personal favourite of mine. As someone who works in the publishing industry (albeit on the educational side), I find Slade's consistent fascination and experimentation with the tenets of Canadian publishing appealing. That, and he does Skype visits to lucky classroom children across the globe.

Without further ado, I give you Arthur Slade on the Radio (once again proving he has the EXACT same speaking voice as my high school drama teacher--whom I liked, so that's a good thing):

Directions:
->Go to CBC Sunday Edition Website here
->Search under the Hour One paragraph and click midway through the black box there ( past all that asbestos exports stuff--- though that is interesting, too, if you are so inclined).

Slade speaks to his infatuation with Star Wars and how it triggered his imagination so acutely he began writing screenplays, teleplays and short, self-proclaimed "gory" stories.

As per always, most resonant of the Slade written agenda are the glorious glades of the Cypress Hills in rural Saskwatchewan.  This landscape informs so much of his fictional backdrop (he speaks to pouring poison down gopher hills in his youth---this guilt perhaps exorcised in Jolted) from Dust to Megiddo's Shadow.

He speaks to his respect for W.O. Mitchell, his over-active imagination and how his favourite librarian was a bit of a Google search engine for him ( especially when it came to hunting down books on medieval torture devices...)

He even speaks of Iron Maiden, his favourite "literary" band...

It's a veritable smorgasbord of fun.

Yes, he talks to the e-book thing.

YOUR TO-DO LIST:

1. Listen to Arthur Slade ( as mentioned)
2. Go to his website
3. Read this amazing blog entry (funniest author blogpost ever)
4. and buy ALL of his books (e-book or otherwise)

hurrah.

[Funny story: I once had a blog reader comment and ask me what my commission was and if he could hire me to promote his new book the way I promoted Arthur Slade around the web.
Sooo funny...
I just like promoting Canadian writers (especially the good-natured and talented ones)

Inevitable Promo Post for "Empire of Ruins"

Thanks to our friends at Harper Collins Canada, I got my hands on a copy of Empire of Ruins! Everyone knows I love promoting Arthur Slade on le blog because it is fun to do and he makes me laugh… AND (and probably MOST importantly) he is from Saskatchewan: province-extraordinaire.

Just an FYI that this is officially published on March 1, 2011( according to Amazon) and yes! … you should be pre-ordering it NOW (should: meaning FIVE MINUTES AGO ALREADY!)

Here! I’ll help you.

You can order it here

Or here

And then you can read about it here

And…LOOK! someone blogged about it keenly in December here

As far as I gather there is...
-Octavia
-Modo
-Mr. Socrates
-LARKS
-steampunky stuff
-steam and punk
-Victorian-style adventure
-lots of consonance and pitch-perfect descriptives ( it’s an Arthur Slade novel)
-MORE LARKS and in the RAIN FOREST!!!


Canadian Authors ROCK! I support them and so should you!

Indubitably, I’ll have more to say about this later….

2010 in books (and more)

( above: me wearing my spectacular traditional Austrian hat in Innsbruck this summer)

A few favourite books and book moments of 2010:

I can't tell you how many books I read. I read every morning on the subway and average about 5 books a week. During holidays, that can inflate or deflate. I probably average about 100-125 books a year in all genres. Though I don't blog about every one ( because who has time? ), I try to read one non-fiction ( biography, memoir, history, literary criticism ) a month.

Lifelong dreams inspired by books that came true: A Trip to Vienna, inspired by my childhood ( and adult love) of Vienna Prelude. I traveled from coast-to-coast for work and my favourite re-visits were Victoria, BC, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and, of course, St. John's, Newfoundland.

I also had the privilege of attending the TD Canadian Children's Lit Awards at the CARLU (where Arthur Slade won for The Hunchback Assignments). Arthur Slade also wrote the single best author blog entry I read this year and we crashed his signing at Chapters

Once upon a time, I was a judge for the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour ( here in beloved Canada), and I knew if I put my mind to it, I could read and judge things again. So, when the call for INSPYs judges was sent out, I jumped at it! I was so fortunate to read for the Historical Fiction Category of the INSPYs ---and a fabulous book won!

Mystery:

-A Stranger in Mayfair by Charles Finch

-Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

-What Angels Fear by C.S. Harris

-Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris

-The Mistress of the Art of Death by Arianna Franklin

-A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen

-The Keeper of Secrets by Judith Cutler

SERIES I GOT HOOKED ON: Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries, Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series, C.S. Harris's Sebastian St. Cyr series, Alexander McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series.

Christian:

-She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell

-Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers

-The Bridegrooms by Alison Pittman

-While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin

-Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner

-Courting Morrow Little by Laura Frantz

General Market:

-The Help by Kathryn Stockett

-Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

-Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace

-Venetia by Georgette Heyer

-Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer

-Scout, Atticus and Boo by Mary McDonough Murphy

-The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

-Death by Fame: A Life of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria by Andrew Sinclair

-The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

-The Piano Teacher by Janice K. Lee

-Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith

-Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant

YA

-Smith by Leon Garfield

-The Dream Thief by Catherine Webb

-The Dark Deeps by Arthur Slade

-Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

-Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Favourite Book of 2010: The Dream Thief by Catherine Webb (unsurprisingly)

This was not a fantastic year for film; but there were a few stand-outs.

My favourite film of the year, is the King's Speech

followed closely by How to Train Your Dragon

I also enjoyed the return to vintage Disney with Tangled

As a Canadian, I enjoyed the Trotsky

Television was a bust this year; but I still watch House ( though it jumped the shark, in my opinion) and Republic of Doyle ( new season starts next week)

I watched Small Island this year and the 39 Steps, on the BBC front, as was the new series of Foyle's War. In media, my favourite offering of 2010 was the BBC Sherlock ( I adore it so much )

RIP CHALLENGE: the Dark Deeps by Arthur Slade

Modo and Octavia, under the orders of the complicatedly sinister Mr. Socrates have re-emerged from their last disastrous adventure to trace the whereabouts of a missing fellow spy.

To New York they go, disguised as husband and wife and then to sea where a twist of fate sends the inimitable Modo to the very depths of the abyss.

A french spy, Colette, a man with the amazing power to make himself invincible named Griff and the villainous Captain of the steam-powered submarine ship Ictineo pepper the fast-paced homage to Victoriana.

I must confess that these stories are especially fun for those who are familiar with their source material. Drawing on Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Dickens, Hugo ( to a lesser extent in this volume than in the first Hunchback Assignments ) and even Arthur Conan Doyle, this addition to the extremely popular Steampunk genre will be a hit with kids.

The isolating cabin wherein Modo finds himself trapped at the bottom of the Ocean as well as the gruesome circumstances surrounding Modo and Octavia’s missing colleague and the re-appearance of the Clockwork Guild add the thrills and chills needed for the Hallowe’en Season.

I was at a reading of Arthur Slade’s where an adorable child reader pronounced that Modo satisfied all of her “reading needs.” The Dark Deeps is a compelling follow- up to the ˆHunchback Assignments and a perfect addition to the RIP challenge.

As per usual, Slade writes deliciously and there are few contemporary writers whose prose seems so sparkly and alive. Humour (also, as per usual) is threaded throughout and I caught myself laughing aloud more than once: even in public places!

When the cunning spy Octavia ( probably my favourite character in the series) attests : “ I do not cough. I expel air daintily”, I snorted coffee up my nose on my morning train commute. Just before Modo falls deep deep into the ocean, he has a last, fleeting moment to part with Octavia: “He tried to find some final, memorable words to leave her with, but all that came out of his mouth was ‘uh—ohhhhh!’ and he fell into the Atlantic.”

Not wanting to leave Modo without a wily and winsome heroine, Colette and Modo join tentative sides aboard the Ictineo. Colette is as equally as savvy and sassy as Octavia and bemoans her boredom in captivity on the ship: “Twenty-eight day and four hours, not that I’m counting. I hope you like reading books and looking at fish!”

When Colette questions Modo’s being in Iceland, Modo cleverly quips: “We were travelling to Iceland for diplomatic reasons. And smoked cod, of course”

Slade doesn’t really stop. Ever. There is a winning line on almost every page.

Thematically, the emphasis of Utopia and Captain Monturiol’s obsession with an underwater Utopia provides a deep and level contrast to the moments of humour, of monsters and of invisible men. Slade also quotes Coleridge for good measure ( seriously, folks, when was the last time someone threw Xanadu into a kids’ book? )

The only thing the book lacked was MORE OCTAVIA! While Colette was certainly interesting and Griff a surprising foil for Modo, Octavia and Modo’s relationship and the chemistry in the snap-crackle-pop dialogue flitting between them was sorely missed. I can only hope she turns up to greater extent in the next Hunchback novel.

This series is absolutely, tremendously and utterly unique and, as always, proves its writer’s almost ridiculously wide-spanning literary range.

Slade’s narrative voice is like a comfort zone to me: like the smell of pumpkin pie or macaroni and cheese--- it’s something I am so used to and so enjoy sinking into. A tremendously great yarn full of things that go bump in the night ( and at the bottom of the ocean, no less); of gaslight and creaking carriage wheels; of people who are not who they say they are; of steam-powered madness; of distant utopias on strange, green lands--- or on the crust of the ocean’s silvery bottom. The Dark Deeps is an imaginative smorgasbord.

( and while you're at it---- read Jolted ---one of my favourite books ever)

Author Field Trip: the Arthur Slade edition

So, last month Courtney, Kat and I headed out to Chapters Brampton ( read: the middle of nowhere ) to meet Arthur Slade who was in town ( all the way from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) promoting the excellent novel, The Dark Deeps, book II in the incredibly amazing, breathtaking, action packed, brimming with verisimilitude, mindblowing, earth-shattering, Jules Verne meets Victor Hugo at tea with Sherlock Holmes with Robert Louis Stevenson serving scones HUNCHBACK ASSIGNMENTS series.

Slade remains my favourite YA author in the WORLD ( o.k. tied with Catherine Webb) and the only author ( with the exception of LM Montgomery via séance) I would trek to Brampton to see.

Courtney trekked from Cambridge and Kat and I trekked from Toronto. (Kat and I had the better end of the deal because we had a massive Ziploc full of JellyBellys)


Once there, we got to meet Arthur Slade and get books signed and stuff! Of course, we are ten years ( okay, MORE than ten years ) older than his usual demographic but WHO CARES! ??

I was also two or three times taller than all of the kids in front of me in line ( the curse of being an adult who loves kids’ books). Yes, we did let the children go first. It’s all about the children, don’t y’know.


MOMENTS: One little girl ( of the B.O.O.K.E.D series ) who was introducing Ye olde Slade mentioned that “Modo satisfies all my reading needs”. I promptly died of cuteness.

Ye olde Slade rambled about a book on submarines from a bargain bin ( he gets geeked out about stuff, apparently--- ).

It was a night of nerdy wonderfulness and quite well documented in LIVE TWEETS in REAL TIME by my friend, Kat. RELIVE THE MAGIC FOR YOURSELVES, reader-friends


· At Chapters in Brampton, fangirling over @arthurslade ! :) 6:46 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: I don’t appreciate being called a “fangirl”, I prefer the term: learned book enthusiast)
· @rachkmc just asked @arthurslade a question. @moonsoar and I are amused! 6:46 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: I did ask A.Slade a question: I wanted to know where he got his delicious character names)
· "Modo rhymes with Frodo." - @arthurslade 6:47 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE:not only is A. Slade a brilliant, Governor-General’s award-winning author, he apparently knows how to rhyme)
· Cheap books are not cheap, they're bargains! A la @arthurslade 6:51 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Apparently, A. Slade is also savvy with synonyms)
· @arthurslade totally just HOPPED down the stairs! Amazing! :) 6:52 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: It was basically a breakneck-paced action film by this point. Like, someone get Bruckheimer on the phone. STAT.)
· @moonsoar just blanked on her question to @arthurslade . @rachkmc and I are amused! 6:54 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Courtney did rally. Besides, we were all speechless in the presence of brilliance: the kind of brilliance that talks about Star Wars ad nauseum)
· @arthurslade just hopped again! Best author move ever! via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: in summation, A. Slade is quite the animated author… either that or he thinks he’s a rabbit and his treadmill desk is keeping him in tip-top shape)
· @arthurslade 's fave character is #DarthVader ! Hot dog! ;) via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: see? I mentioned the Star Wars thing, did I not?)
· Ppl are getting their books signed by @arthurslade now. @rachkmc , @moonsoar & i will wait until it shrinks 2 almost nothing. We r patient. via Echofon
·
· Okay, we're in line. I wish I had my TP copy of Megiddo's Shadow for @arthurslade to sign. Curse you Amazon!!! Will get #Hunchback1 signed. via Echofon
·
· Free Starbucks samples in line waiting for @arthurslade to sign our books! Score! via Echofon
·
· Almost our turn! Special salute @arthurslade ! via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: upon arriving, A. Slade gave his audience a special salute for coming. Kat returned the favour)



Then we all went home and had to become grown-ups again with careers and deadlines and early mornings.

PFFFT!

The Dark Deeps

Hey blogiverse!

New Arthur Slade out super soon! ( how lucky are we seeing as Hunchback was just released in September!... not even a year! )

.....and it's called The Dark Deeps ( How Jules Verne-y is that? )

Yah. Neat-o.

What's even neater is that you can BROWSE INSIDE IT!!! A SNEAK PEEK thanks to our friends at Harper Collins.

Expect a review as soon as I get my hands on a shiny copy.

So, to summarize:

a.) go pre-order The Dark Deeps ( and while you're at it buy out Slade's backlist)

b.) go see How To Train Your Dragon (o.k. slightly unrelated but my favourite movie by far this year)

On Savvy Reading; winning spots in books and killer goats

Happy Thanksgiving bloggosphere!

So, here are a couple of bookish things that are filling my brain this beautiful (rainy) Friday morning.

• First off, I am mentioned at the Savvy Reader: TWICE (Score. This is like fame to me so let me have my moment) here and here

• Take this contest where you can create a character to feature in a book. Why do authors do this to themselves? This is certainly not the first time. You can buy a spot for your name or the name of someone you love for a price ( like buying a star), you can create characters ---you can even ( let's all look at Dan Brown with a wiltering eye) purchase an ad spot in a popular best-selling book. As a writer ( and I don't use that term so seriously when in conjunction with my amateurish efforts), I enjoy creating stories and characters that are wholly mine. When I outline and plot and plan and complete the arduous task of spade work ( see LM Montgomery for reference), I know exactly what fits where in my elaborate puzzle. Why then, would I allow the grand order of things to be upset by the inclusion of someone else's thought process? Now, I am sure that our friend Mr. Slade is not going to re-write the entire plot of his subsequent novel; nor will anything earth shattering come about ( lest he is oddly inspired by a contest entry), but for me it feels tainted. Like someone else's thumbprint ( even some random eight year old's) would be in a work of fiction already well-crafted. An oddity in an established fictional world.

(Disclaimer: we all know I love Arthur Slade's books, right? So I am allowed to have this opinion without people going all "tsk, tsk, Rachel. How could you! So mean to nice author.Nice author who connects with reading public. And he's From Saskatchewan, you heartless fiend, for shame! From Saskatchewan!" Ok? As long as we're good).

• And now for the fun part, in the tradition of Pride and Prej and Zombies, I give you Great Expectations and Killer Goats by ME

Great Expectations and Killer Goats


My name is Philip Pirrip but everyone calls me Pip. Here are my parent’s conjoined burial sites. Hi Dad! Hi Mum! ( Also Georgiana, Wife of the Above). I was on the marshes today and it is chilly. I better be getting home to the forge before my sister, the blacksmith’s wife, beats me.
Wait! Ugly, snively man is grabbing me.
“I am a convict,” he snarled, “bring me wittles.”
I shuddered and scurried home.
My brother-in-law, the kind blacksmith, stroked his flaxen curls while sitting with his great leg up to the fire pondering things.
“What larks, Pip ol’ Chap!”
“Joe! I ran into a convict! He told me to come back at midnight and bring him wittles!”
“They’re like vittles, methinks,” said Joe, looking perplexed and child-like. I looked up to him in my heart.
Mrs. Joe came home then on the rampage with a worn cane called tickler brandished in her right hand. She shook it at me and I cowered.
“Where have you been? You useless mangy orphan! Honour those who brought you up by hand.”
Joe and I had our tea and bread and butter in silence. I think he wondered if I was going to go on my wittle mission. I slid the heel of the loaf of bread down my trouser leg and when the house was quiet, I stole into the pantry and replaced the brandy jar with tar water and packed the brandy for the convict.
I stepped into the blustery cold; my breath dotting the sleek, black dark; the wind creaking and moaning against the forge door and over the barren marsh.
I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Joe!” I exclaimed.
“C’mon, Pip ol’ Chap!” he grabbed the packet with the food and brandy from me and we drudged across the soggy mass.
The convict was filing away at his chains under a leafless tree.
He looked up at us: his eyes listless pools just catching a sliver of moonlight.
“Beware!” he sniffed. “Beware the killer goats!”
Joe and I exchanged a look and I felt Joe’s hand close tightly on my shoulder with unexpected warmth. Joe and I turned away from the convict: heard him grunt and slurp and demolish his food behind us. The wind howled and I neared into Joe. Suddenly, from the great beyond a large shadow appeared in our path. Silhouetted against the darkish grass was the outline of a black body with pointy horns.
“A killer goat!” yelped Joe, throwing his large frame in front of me and steadying me behind him with a calloused hand.
“Just hold on, ol’ chap!”
I shivered in my boots. The goat bleated: a terrifyingly haunted bleat.
“Baaaaaaaaah!” said the goat, like the bellows of the forge just when spark meets flint.
Fortunately, Joe and I escaped. The next night, bringing the poor convict vittles under the vapid tree, Joe and I encountered the killer goat again. This time as its shape rose affront us, Joe grabbed his long poker; still heated from the gulping fires of the forge and stabbed the beast as it towered over me. We hauled the killer goat’s carcass back to town and an eccentric old lady with crazy hair and a stained and yellowing wedding dress named Miss Havisham and her man-eating ward gave us a reward.

It also turned out I had Great Expectations! Money kept pouring in as I was set up as a gentleman in London. I thought for sure it must be Miss Havisham. My roommate Herbert Pocket who called me Handel thought so too!

But we were wrong.

Later I found out it was the convict who was giving me money after moving to Australia and tending sheep and the man-eating ward was just a ruthless witch and so was her guardian.

Joe married my tutor and I lived happily ever after.


(Though I became a bit of a snob.)

Special Guest: on Why We Love CANADIAN AUTHORS

I was teased on twitter ( good alliteration, Rachel ) for being a nationalist last week when I was making people vote for Canadian YA for the Cybils! And I got to thinking about it and I AM A NATIONALIST! I love my country. I love our literary history and if I were born anywhere else in the world ( besides Victorian England) I would probably come and track Canada down because we suit each other.

Know who shares my love for fair Canada: True North Strong and Free? Court. Yep.

So, she is guest-posting here today all about CANADIAN AUTHORS WE LOVE!

[Rachel Edit: This Will Ferguson cover is TAKING UP YOUR SCREEN! ]

Rachel asked me to write a guest post on Canadian authors that we both share a passionate and undying love for. And there are many, but here I will focus on our three biggest - Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of the Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon series, The Blue Castle, and many other awesome books), Will Ferguson (author of HappinessTM, Why I Hate Canadians and co-author of How To Be A Canadian) and Maureen Jennings (author of the Detective Murdoch series).

[Rachel Edit: I was a reader for the Stephen Leacock Humour Award a couple of years back and met Mr. Ferguson at the big gala dinner. There, I got a napkin signed for Court. Huzzah!]

Our first shared love was the ever-brilliant Lucy Maud Montgomery. She is part of what brought Rachel and I together, and it is VERY rare that she is not brought up when we start talking about fictional male characters that we love - whether we are speaking of the top fictional males we will always love, debating which male leads are better (in the Emily books, she is for Dean, while I highly prefer Teddy), or are explaining how awesome other male leads are in comparison with other male leads. (For example, if Rachel were to say that someone was just like Barney Snaith, then I would know that he is a brilliantly charming black sheep.)

Then there was the brilliantly hilarious Will Ferguson, humourist and novelist. We may both have huge writer crushes on him, with perfectly good reason. First: he is Canadian and writing about a country that we both love. Second: he has that signature Canadian wit, even in his novels that don't take place in Canada (though Rachel has still as of yet not read Spanish Fly, no matter my attempts at coercion).

[Rachel Edit: I will read Spanish Fly when Courtney reads The Blooding of Jack Absolute which was not written by a Canadian but has enough Canadian stuff in it to make it Canadian]

Lastly, there is Maureen Jennings. Rachel has been a Jennings fan for a long time - she even goes so far as to actually know the author in real life! Sadly, though, Jennings is a newer discovery for me; I only started reading her Murdoch books a couple of years ago. One of the best things about this series is that it takes place in Victorian Toronto - a place we know in a time period that we both are rather fond of. (I also hear that Rachel love Jennings' other series, which takes place up in her home town, but I haven't read those yet - so looking forward to it though!)

So what is it about these awesome Canadian authors that make us love them so much? I've been thinking about this for a few days, and I think there are two reasons. They write with passion about Canada. The books may not speak specifically about the country, but it's evident they way they describe the places their books are set in that they love their country. And Canada's geography is all so vastly different! Just by reading Jennings' books, you can feel like you've been to Toronto at the turn of the twentieth century. By picking up one of Montgomery's books, you can visit either PEI or Northern Ontario - and you can SMELL the sea coming out of the pages from Montgomery's books that take place in PEI. And Ferguson, oh, Will Ferguson! Specifically his Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw - this book takes you on a cross-country tour that is chock-full of history, so what is not to like about it? Then there is the fact that they write in a way that is so obviously Canadian. Canadians have a distinctive voice - you can see it a lot in the tv comedy shows we produce. It's a lot more like the British humour than it is like our southern neighbours, the Americans. It's drier, less in-your-face, and more polite.

We also like to make fun of ourselves quite a bit. This humour is most evident in Ferguson's works, but there are hints (hint the size of a two by four being smacked along the backside of the head in some instances) of it in Montgomery's and Jennings' works as well. Even without the humour there is something distinctly Canadian about these authors' books, though it is hard to put a finger on exactly what it is.

Of course, there are many other awesome Canadian authors that we both love - Arthur Slade, Maggie Woods and Gordon Korman (mainly his older stuff, mind!) - but these three share the most fangirlish love that we have for authors. And I have to say that it IS a passionate fangirlish love that we are both proud to have and spread (sort of like a bad bout of the flu, only much more enjoyable!).

[Rachel Edit: Arthur Slade= JOLTED! ]

The Hunchback Assignments ( or saving the world from Stephenie Meyers one Arthur Slade novel at a time)

DISCLAIMER: As readers I think we sometimes take ownership of authors and books--- we stake our "professional" reputation on them (before I worked in publishing I was a bookseller and would sell Slade's books....a lot), we are excited when they succeed and, if we discover them before they are known by the greater public, we feel a sense of pride when they gain recognition and a wide readership.

The marketing of Hunchback and Slade's prospective Steampunk series strikes me as Harper's attempt at the Next Big Thing. If it becomes the Next Big Thing ( with key chains and happy meals and knapsacks and movies) ... I just wanna say, having read EVERY SINGLE Slade book ever.( including the "ologies" and those little ghost stories )... that I staked my "professional reputation" on this author long ago.... and I, of course, have impeccable taste ...



The Hunchback Assignments is a Steampunk retelling of Notre Dame de Paris by Hugo....but this time with steampunk, explosions, sinister plots and a grotesque London underbelly...
Modo was purchased from a traveling freak show at a young age by the enigmatic Mr. Socrates. Socrates and his body guard Tharpa educated Modo in all things military, cultural and intellectual: priming Modo for a great future as a shape-shifting spy. See, Modo has the ability to transform his deformed appearance and hunchbacked frame into anyone he wants: provided he clear his mind and concentrate.

When he becomes a teenager, Mr. Socrates leaves him to his own devices and Modo sets up practice as a shadowy private investigator who uses the rooftops and his shape shifting abilities to unravel mysteries in the darkest parts of Victorian London.

Meanwhile, Octavia Milkweed, a resourceful girl determined to shake the shackles of Victorian propriety, uncovers a sinister plot involving children tortured into strange creations. The reader discovers the kids are prey to the devilish Mr. Hyde whose unethical experiments are a hybrid of warped evolution, steam and industry.

Modo and Octavia intersect and learn they are both connected to Mr. Socrates and both vital to a dangerous mission involving corrupt politics; underhanded science and clues only the maze of the London sewers will reveal.


There is a lot to like about the novel. The first being its sheer originality. No two Slade books are alike and Hunchback is no exception. Next, the characters. Modo is utterly believable and touchingly vulnerable ( without naivete) and humane. A conflicted toy for a sinister master, Modo is a misdirected and awkward outsider whose unsymmetrical appearance reflects the emotional confusion within. Next, Octavia! I adored Octavia: a strong, feisty and opinionated heroine resourceful and sly who can shift in and out of accent and appearance as quickly as Modo can out of shape. Young readers will find traits in each to relate to.

The basic evil threading the plot: from Modo's early beginnings in a traveling freakshow; Hyde's grotesque experiments and the grainy and smoky Victorian perimeters wherein the story unfolds offer a chilling darkness I also enjoyed. The juxtaposition of dark and light: be it through appearance; theme or inward struggle will give young readers a lot to think about.

I enjoy YA novels that serve a binary purpose: to entertain young readers with surface appeal of a fast-paced enjoyably "meaty" story while being fun to dig into for older readers with a penchant for YA.

The writing itself is technically perfect ( unsurprising considering the source) . I am fascinated by the word-pairings; sounds, consonance and alliteration which prove the novel perfect to read aloud. There are also some underline-worthy sentences---- such as when Modo falls asleep and "into a story" ( loved that picture)
.

While Slade's previous novels dapple in theology ( see Megiddo's Shadow and Dust), here we have visceral, calcuated science( a bleak enemy) which, when pitted against the stark humanity and emotional resonance of an endearing, effusive protagonist presents a strange paradox.

From my understanding, the novel is the first in a series which will feature 19th C classics retold through a "Steampunk" lens. Wells, Verne and Doyle ( Wilde, even) seem quite logical offerings. Hugo, on the other hand, is a perplexing choice. Perhaps the Hugo portion of the story with its Romantic connotations represents the changing pace and world the Victorians underwent: from the philosophical Romanticism of the Century through the chugging Industrial revolution ushering in science, calculation, and, of course, steam and metal.

Hunchback explores the clash between both.

I think kids ( mostly thoughtful ones) will enjoy the action; the pace; the freakshow and mystery; the sewers and, most importantly, the connection they will establish with Octavia and Modo as well as the queer absurdity which makes the plot almost impossible to explain.

I found that this novel lacked a certain spark ( for a lack of an inexplicable explanation ) that Slade's other books possessed. But, I have a feeling he is just warming up to this element. In the next book in the series he will have staked his ground. The author obviously has an inherently "geeky" side and it is delightful to watch him play with it in here.

Perhaps, immediately, one might think: "It's not as good as Jolted". But they're just very different.

And, as my friend Court would say: "Of course it's not as good as Jolted! NOTHING'S as good as Jolted"


She may be right---- so, to be on the safe side, you should go to Chapters or Amazon or your nearest bookstore and BUY BOTH ....



visit Hunchback here

EDIT: Remember that gawdawful Russell Smith column in the Globe about how "authors don't need friends" and he needs no community and what's-her-face who wrote Transient Dancing just need the work to speak for them? A couple of weeks ago? That one? Yah. Well. Q&A with Mr. Slade defending author/reader community. I like this approach better.

shameless canadian author promotion: The Hunchback Assignments

Hey kids!


Remember when this intermittent blogger said that she was going to be sporadic, but would return for important things like, say, condensing the Aubrey/Maturin series, raving about Derek Landy and if Arthur Slade wrote something new?

Well whatydaknow? Arthur Slade wrote a book. Good on him.

You'll read a full-blown review next week, I am sure.

But, for now, as I am hovering in my apartment; half-dead from laryngitis; home from another long stint away; peppermint tea-in-hand- Gigi in the background ( you sing it, Maurice Chevalier, you SING IT!), I thought I would take a moment to provide you with a fun link:

Hunchback Assignments

Look reading public! You only have TWO Days until a new Arthur Slade novel! YAY! This only happens once a year ( used to be twice-ish when he wrote for Tundra but who is counting?)


oh! and Toronto has a fantastic Word on the Street this fall! With lots of great Canadian authors (including Kenneth Oppel who I recently forgave for Starclimber) check that out here!



And just in case Canadian authors have not tantalized your weekend enough, read about the class act that is Alice Munro here. She pulled out from the Giller this year ( because we all know she would have won it, no matter who else was in the running).

And finally, in a totally un-related vein, thank goodness the new Alatriste is finally going to be released this September. That's right, Arturo Perez Reverte, I am looking at you--- sure, you wrote it ages ago, but you have to get on those translators to get it into my greedy little hands uber quick!


Alright, off to wallow in late-Summer flu-ness.



Go support Canadian authors!

books I love that you've probably never read:

While reading Scott Lynch this weekend, I was forced to think about all of the books that I love that a lot of people would never stumble upon or read under normal circumstances.

So, I give you a bunch of books that have probably fallen under your radar, but are worth every word:


The Blooding of Jack Absolute by CC Humphreys. You've probably heard of Sharpe by Bernard Cornwell, you probably haven't heard of Humphreys. I love this series. Especially this book. It's one of the funniest I have ever read.


The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle, The Doomsday Machine, the Obsidian Dagger by Catherine Webb. Actually, if you have stumbled upon this blog you have read about them because I seem to talk about nothing else.

Captain Alatriste ( and subsequent novels ) by Arturo Perez Reverte. You have probably read or heard of the Flanders Panel and The Club Dumas but you have probably not read Alatriste.


Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt. This is a gorgeous, dark and brooding fairytale with a chilling ending that will steal your breath.


The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies and soon The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. Sort of George RR Martin, Sort of Robin Hood, a heist and witty repartee that would make The Sting jealous, the best of high fantasy/imagined historical fiction.


Tribes by Arthur Slade. If you're Canadian, you have probably heard of Dust and Megiddo's Shadow but you probably skipped Tribes. Shame on you. Good book.


The Spell Book of Listen Taylor by Jaclyn Moriarty. This book is published by House of Anansi and has not quite risen to the status of The Year of Secret Assignments or The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie but it is brilliant and worth the read.

Deafening by Frances Itani. Set in small town Ontario during the years preceding and during the Great War, a well-spun romance between a deaf woman and a hearing stretcher-bearer who develop a language of their own. Glimpses of the homefront and the warfront are expounded upon poignantly.


Skulduggery Pleasant, Playing with Fire etc., by Derek Landy. Fire-throwing Skeleton detective pairs with whipsmart 12 year old in this funny and fresh series with the quickest dialogue since Nick and Norah Charles. Unbelievably good!


Montmorency: Thief, Liar Gentleman by Eleanor Updale. I am a champion of young adult novels with adult protagonists ( see Horatio Lyle ). A Jekyll and Hyde-esque romp through Victorian London.


Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede. Magical, luminous historical novel.


The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner. Medieval-type fantasy starring sword-wielding heroine and a plethora of moody eccentrics.

Jolted: Newton Starker and the Incredible genre-defying YA novel

For my professional review of Arthur Slade's new novel, "Jolted: Newton Starker's Rules for Survival" (Harper Collins, 2008), I wrote "every classroom and library DESERVES a copy of this unique and clever novel."

I will shake my wording up a bit here to exclaim: go buy this book NOW!


I argue that, for sheer range alone, Arthur Slade is Canada's finest YA novelist and if you read "Jolted" sequentially with the excellent "Megiddo's Shadow" you will concede.


I also argue that "Jolted" cannot really be genre classified. But, this only makes its appeal seamless. In one sense, it is a booksellers' nightmare ( in a good way). For if I were still Rachel the Bookseller, and asked by some antsy 12 year old "What kind of book is it?", I would stretch for words and comparison.

Suffice it to say, it has elements of everything: gothic, supernatural, mystery, fantasy, comedy ( an almost unprecedented plethora of ), and history ( Jerry Potts namesake of Newton's stellar Academy of Higher Learning and Survival holds connections to the Riel Rebellion. In a stroke of brilliance, Potts' headmaster is named Dumont. Get it Gabriel Dumont, anyone, anyone.....Duck Lake? Northwest Rebellion? Fine. I'm a nerd).

In a nutshell, "Jolted" is about a 14 year-old boy, the eponymous Newton Starker who is the last surviving memeber of a family cursed by a long and ancient string of lightning-provoked deaths. (Well, technically second-last, next to his spiteful great grandmother Enid who is described as being as "friendly as a pickled wolverine." Newton, incidentally, is described as "handsome in an Edgar Allen Poe kind of way, that meant he was pale and dark" and likewise as "the quiet cutie most likely to turn into an axe murderer" -- just so you get a sense of how classic this writing actually is).



Newton takes what precautions he can considering his inevitably lugubrious fate. He has long known that his end-result will be catastrophic and spent his formative years adorned with a lightning-deflecting tinfoil hat that while protecting him from the cumulonimbus clouds he so fears, also kept him far away from friendship.

Newton's tale unravels in an exotic and magical realm known as Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and the prestigious Jerry Potts Academy of Higher Learning and Survival wherein students wear kilts and learn important lessons about how to brandish a knife, survive in the Cyprus Hills and make gopher quiche. Newton makes friends including Jacob ( a burgeoning author whose novel "The Brilliad" is optioned for publication), Violet ( a towering female who kicks the crap out of Newton in a boxing match ) and a pig called Josephine ( whose ancestry includes a porker once belonging to Emperor Bonaparte).


As infinitely clever as the plot itself, are the literary devices that infuse every page. Savvy readers will get shivers. I would love to confiscate a grade 6 or 7 class and read this aloud. Consider verb usage:" Were those cumulonimbus clouds skulking under the half moon?"; alliteration ( 4 bs on one sentence)" the Belfry's Bronze Bell Began to toll"; literal and figurative meanings used simultaneously, such as the word "shock."

Silly and wonderful chapter headings, interruptions by the narrator for backstory, emails, National Globe articles, phone conversations with Environment Canada and even insight into 18th Century journal entries, make this novel fresh and inviting. It is like nothing I have read before.


And it is funny. Really funny. For example, a lame comeback care of Newton prompts the narrator to observe: "These were the second stupidest words ever spoken by a Starker. The stupidest being when Andrew Starker ran towards a summer storm, clutching a lightning rod and shouting 'Give it your best shot, you spawns of the Devil!' They did. He died."

This book is ridiculously, giddily, brightly and wonderfully constructed making for the ultimate fresh and funny read.

Out of the hundreds of YA books I read for my work a year, I find but a handful that really make me want to start a sentence with, "Hi I'm Rachel. Go read *insert fantastic novel here*

If I were still wiling away my post-university hours at the World's Biggest Bookstore, I would be handselling this like mad to anyone who appreciated a great yarn ---regardless of minute details like age-classification and genre.

Newton likes to ready himself for adventure (read: impending doom )with a bold: "Okay Newton, time to take on the world!"

And, you know what?, I really really think he should!


Here's some good stuff for you to look at: Arthur Slade's erudite blog;

And, here you will find some of Arthur Slade's guest blogs at Harper Collins' the Savvy Reader


Finally, my LM Montgomery experiment continues here at Maud and Me