STORYWORLD

It's always exciting to welcome in a new year even though that means cold, snowy winter weather here. It's even more exciting now that I have new agency representation from Trident Media Group and have completed two new novels. More news to come later about that! For now I've attached reviews of two novels I read recently. Both very different. Hope you enjoy! WARLIGHT by Michael Ondaatje Only Michael Ondaatje could pull off a novel like Warlight. Named after the twilight that shrouded London during World War 2 when all the streetlights were dimmed to avoid lighting the way for German bombers, the story itself seems to flicker in dreamlike fragments as the world awakes from the horrors of war. The world in this novel is post-war London, brilliantly captured in loving detail in Ondaatje's achingly beautiful prose. This is a battle-scarred and battered London where people who have worked covertly in the shadows, find themselves emerging into the changed world of ...

After a crazy, turbulent winter season that lasted until April, we here on the prairies entered a brief spring period that has now transformed quickly to summer with temperatures in the high 20's and blossoms only just blooming on the trees.  A walk along English Bay Thankfully we were able to escape the unexpected April blizzards and rainstorms by escaping west to British Columbia in April where spring was in full bloom . We flew out of Winnipeg just as the storm approached, and landed in the mountain-ringed, oceanside, leafy green city of Vancouver. The city is a bustling beautiful metropolis and perfect for endless walks around English Bay, Granville Island, Davie Village, Yaletown, Robson Street, Gastown and the stunning harbour front. I can highly recommend the location of the hotel we stayed in: The Executive Suites at Vintage Park , which is a short walk away from the Granville Island taxi and the sweeping panorama of English Bay. It's also just across the street from Th...

 I'm so happy to get back to my blog after a long hiatus spent writing, revising, experiencing three book launches and seeing those novels catapulted out into the big, wide world. It's been an exhilarating experience, but one that's not for the faint of heart. After years of self-publishing, in 2021 three of my novels were picked up by publishing houses. The Savage Instinct was published by Inkshares in May, The Secret Sister by Canelo in April, and The Perfect Family Man by Canelo in October. Here are some of my takeaways from this dizzying year: Many would-be authors strongly believe that getting an agent and an offer of publication means their troubles are over and they won't have another anxious moment. That's like saying, once the wedding is over, you'll never need to worry again! Publication opens up a whole new set of concerns: reviews—how will the readers respond? Will they love the book and become your newest fan, or will they pan it or worse still DNF ...

THE SAVAGE INSTINCT, release date May 18th 2021 It's been almost eight years since I made the startling discovery that the street just around the corner from my grandmother's house in Hetton-le-Hole, Tyne and Wear, UK was actually the birthplace of Mary Ann Cotton, one of Britain's most prolific murderers. Once I started reading about her case and the sensation it caused in the newspapers of the time (1872-73), I knew I had to write a novel inspired in some way by the events at the time. I didn't want to write it from the murderer's point of view. Many articles written since that time have argued about the extent of Cotton's guilt, and there is still wide disagreement about how many people she actually killed. Instead I was more interested in how the case influenced the men and women reading the newspapers at the time and how it caused sensation and outrage at a time when women's roles were restricted to the domestic sphere, and fulfilling one's role as ...

The publishing date for The Savage Instinct has been moved to May 18th .  I never realized how much promotional work is done in the months before a book is launched. Here's a quick rundown: Once all the line edits and copyedits are done (and they're exhausting), the book goes onto Net Galley. That's the online site where numerous reviewers from media to librarians to educators and book bloggers apply to read an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of your book and provide a review, which is usually shared to Goodreads. This is a nail-biting time for authors, waiting to discover how your book will be received by people in the biz. You find yourself checking back numerous times a day to see if someone else has left a review and what they have to say. With The Savage Instinct it's been a great experience. So far the book has garnered over 83 amazing reviews. There's such an active community of Instagram book bloggers. I'm amazed at how many of these people are dedicated to pr...

Canelo set to publish two dark and twisty suspense novels by M. M. DeLuca. Commissioning Editor Leodora Darlington has acquired WEL rights to new standalone suspense novels by M. M. DeLuca in a two-book deal.  The Secret Sister  is a gripping suspense novel with a twist that will leave readers reeling. We follow our protagonist, Anna, on her whirlwind romance that ends in her marrying almost-too-perfect Guy. But how much does Anna know about the man she has married? And how much does Guy know about his new wife? She’s certainly keeping her share of secrets, and the biggest one of all is the identity of the sister she lost many years ago, the sister she is still searching for now.  M. M. DeLuca studied psychology at the University of London and now resides in Canada. She studied Advanced Creative writing with Pulitzer prizewinning author, Carol Shields. Her first novel,  The Pitman's Daughter  was shortlisted for the Chapters Robertson Davies first novel in Canad...

TAKE IT BACK, an explosive and riveting drama. Kia Abdullah has written a bold and compelling novel that deals head-on with difficult and divisive issues. This page-turning novel explores the conflict between justice and pursuit of the truth versus family and cultural loyalty; rape and the sexualization of women; women's rights versus cultural  misogyny. If that's not enough, then there are also thematic threads related to substance abuse and bullying. The main story centres around Jodie, a genetically disfigured 16-year-old who reports that she's been raped by four young Muslim boys from her school. Main character, Zara, ex-hotshot barrister, now a sexual violence legal advocate, takes the case and is immediately thrown into an explosive and highly publicized courtroom drama where the focus immediately switches to race rather than rape. Pitted against her estranged Muslim family and her community, Zara is branded a traitor to her race and nothing more than an "Uncle T...