"My Life Among the Apes" on Amazon.ca Best 100 Books of 2012

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1770860878/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1KJ12P0P7CBRBCH7SH8B&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1375923922&pf_rd_i=915398

"My Life Among the Apes" gets a starred review in 'Quill & Quire'

"Cary Fagan...is a writer whose critically lauded books regularly attract the notice of prize juries. He deserves an audience to match those plaudits. With any luck, "

My Life Among the Apes," which earned a spot on the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist--will deliver that broader readership. The volume's ten stories are, without exception, splendid yarns, told with the practised ease of a natural storyteller." *Vit Wagner, "Quill & Quire," November 2012. (See the whole review at http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=7831).

Pulling some reviews out of the hat

Here are some early reviews of the new picture book, "Mr. Zinger's Hat." * "'Mr. Zinger's Hat' is a wonderful story about the shared process of creating. The illustrations by Dusan Petricic are beautiful and expressive. Four Stars." --CM Magazine. *"The magic of discovering a story from within--within a hat, within a heart, within one's imagination--is extraordinarily fulfilling. Inspiring." --Canlit for Little Canadians. *"Here is a magical children's book that will stir the imagination of young readers anywhere in the world. Delightful." --"Spirituality & Practice". *"I love this story. I love the encouragement of imagining, of sharing the wonder of stories, and creating your own. It's just a lovely, lovely thing." --"UrbanMoms.com

Monday's book launch for "My Life Among the Apes"

I hope you'll come and celebrate the official launch of "My Life Among the Apes" at Another Story Book Shop, 315 Roncesvales ave. Monday, Sept. 24, 6-8 p.m. It would be great to see you there. If you haven't been to Roncesvales lately, it's a pretty cool street with a lot of places to eat. And Another Story is an appealing indie bookstore--well worth getting to know.

"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?