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!