"My Life Among the Apes" on the Giller Long List

It was a bit of a shock to hear Marc Cote of Cormorant tell me on the phone this morning that the new story collection, "My Life Among the Apes," is one of the thirteen books on the Giller long list. Now the shock has worn off, many emails from friends have come in, and I'm feeling...pretty darn good. Most exciting is knowing that more people will actually read the book. By the way, if you're looking for the book it is shipping to bookstores at this very moment. Yes, the trucks are rolling out. By Thursday or Friday it should be in stores in Toronto and also available online; a little longer for the rest of the country. The ebook editions will be up by up by the end of the week. The long list gets whittled down to the finalists, to be announced on Oct. 1. I've been writing and publishing long enough to know you have to enjoy the good stuff when it happens so I'll celebrate now. And congratulations to the other authors, whose books I look forward to reading. I hope you'll come and celebrate at the book launch, which will be a casual affair--no reading. Monday, Sept 24, 6-8 p.m. at Another Story Books, 315 Roncesvalles Ave. Do come and say hi. **** Here's the whole list: http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/2012-longlist/

The story begins...

It's time to post the cover of my new kids' novel, 'The Boy in the Box,' first in a trilogy called 'Master Melville's Medicine Show.' This is my second trilogy but it's a little older and darker than the Kaspar Snit books. And while those have separate stories, this one follows one arc from the first book to the last. The challenge, of course, is to make each book satisfying in itself at the same time it's part of a larger design. The books is appearing this fall from Penguin Canada (in Canada) and Clarion Books (in the U.S.). Both are new publishers for me--always an anxiety-producing experience--but they have been a pleasure to work with. If you want to read more about the story of a boy kidnapped by a travelling medicine show, follow the l

ink to Amazon: http://www.amazon.ca/Boy-Box-Cary-Fagan/dp/0670065854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344526068&sr=8-1

What's in that hat?

It's time to write a post about the first of two new kids' books coming this fall. The new picture books is "Mr. Zinger's Hat," with illustrations by Dusan Petricic. I've really enjoyed reading this story to audiences of adults and kids over the last couple of years, I guess because it's really a story about storytelling. Because it's not old Mr. Zinger's hat itself that's important, but the story that seems to be stirring inside it. Mr. Zinger himself was inspired by one of my favourite writers. (I won't say who, but he shouldn't be too hard for some people to figure out.) Even as an old man, this writer was busy making up stories and he used to walk around the courtyard of his apartment in New York for exercise and inspiration. My story is a kind of fantasy, then; what if I'd met the writer when I was a boy? What might have happened?

When the party's over

It was a fine time at the Forest of Trees awards last week. The day began with some rain but sure enough the sun came out for the ceremony. (Jan Andrews was the winner of the Silver Birch Express Award.)

The first photo is of two of the posters put up for kids to sign with messages for the author. Mine's on the left, Monica Kulling's is on the right. (Thanks, Monica, for sending me the photo.) Pretty nice! The second photo is from the workshop on the banjo that I gave. My friends Rachel (fiddle) and Conny (guitar) are playing a couple of tunes with me. I'm on my homemade banjo. It was a good time. (Thanks to teacher Jane Mundell for the photo.)

The Trees are coming, the Trees are coming!

Last month I had a great tour of northern New Brunswick, ending up in Moncton for the spectacular Hackmatack Awards ceremony. I was up for 'Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas' and no, I didn't win. But I'm used to that. And the winner, Hugh Brewster, was a very worthy choice. I also got to spend a little time with him and he's a very swell person. He actually writes about important things. And coming up next week are the Forest of Tree awards. I'll be down at Harbourfront on Wednesday, duking it out for the Silver Birch Express Award. My nominated book is "Banjo of Destiny." I'm doing a workshop as well and have roped in two musician friends, Conny and Rachel, so we can play a couple of tunes on fiddle, banjo, and guitar. They're pros, so only I'll be nervous! In other news, I'll soon be posting the cover image of my new kids' novel on the bog here. And my new picture book, for that matter. Some of you may have read the post about my upcoming book of short stories (an adult book, this), 'My Life Among the Apes.' It was supposed to come out in April but has been delayed. I'll post the new pub date when I have it.

New story collection coming soon(ish)

Although my last five adult books have all been novels, I've never stopped writing short stories. Some have taken me over a decade to finish, others less than a year. They've benefited from the editorial eye of several journal publishers but now at last they'll live together under one cover, where they belong.

"My Life Among the Apes" will be published by Cormorant Books. The pub date has been delayed a couple of months, to May, and I hope that date sticks. In the meantime, here's the cover.

By the way, I continue to love reading stories as well. At the moment I have collections by Annie Proulx, Ann Packer, William Trevor, Anton Chekhov, Haruki Murakami, and Amy Jones by my bed.

Have to love the Willow tree

I've always loved willow trees, maybe because there's a giant one in the next-door neighbour's front lawn of my parents. (My parents have always complained about its little leaves everywhere.) So I'm naturally pleased that "Ella May and the Wishing Stone" has been nominated for a Shining Willow Award. The award is voted on by kids in Saskatchewan.

Here's the link:
http://www.willowawards.ca/nominated-books/2012/shining-willow

I remember driving across Saskatchewan a couple of times with my brothers when I was about 19 years old. I loved the landscape, those endless planted fields and that big sky. We didn't stop long in towns or cities but I had a good impression of Saskatoon. And we also stopped in the town (what was the name?) where the film version of "Who Has Seen the Wind?" was shot. Time to go back!