Fortune Cookie Prologue

I hope everyone is staying health and safe in these unprecedented times. Please wash your hands regularly, stay six feet away from people and do your best to support those who need some help. 

Read books that you enjoy! If you like, you can read the prologue of my novel Fortune Cookie🥠 for free on the Tightrope Books web site at this link.💜📚

Fortune Cookie Goodreads Giveaway

There's currently a Goodreads Giveaway for a signed copy of my first book, Fortune Cookie. Enter by November 28 for your chance to win. The Goodreads link to the book is here.

Boldface "Editors for Life" Q & A

Happy spring everyone! Many thanks to Jennifer Foster for doing this fantastic "Editors for Life" Q&A with me for the Editors Toronto BoldFace blog.

GMM Quick-Hit-a-Thon

In the countdown to the World Fantasy Awards being announced at the end of the October and with Halloween/Monster month about to begin, I'm embarking on a mini social media "quick-hit-a-thon" mentioning the authors and mythological creatures from Stone Skin Press' Gods, Memes and Monsters: A 21st Century Bestiary anthology, edited by yours truly.

As the book is an alphabetical bestiary, the first creature in GMM is the "Agave" by the wonderful Arinn Dembo of Vancouver, BC. The entry opens with: "She comes down just once a year from the dry hills of Los Altos..."

World Fantasy Award Nomination!

Much to my complete shock and surprise, I am greatly honoured to have been nominated for a 2016 World Fantasy Award in the Special Professional category for my work on Gods, Memes and Monsters: A 21st Century Bestiary. I am some very stellar company!

As anthologist, I am deeply aware that an anthology is a joint effort involving all of the contributors, the proofreaders the copyeditors, the publisher and all of the publishing staff. I thank Cat and Simon and everyone else at Stone Skin Press for making the anthology happen, and I especially thank Robin D. Laws for bringing me on board the project in the first place.

Most of all, I owe a debt of gratitude to all of the authors in the anthology for their amazing work. They are:
Arinn Dembo, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Greg Stafford, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Rupert Booth, Sam Agro, Steve Berman, Marie Davis & Margaret Hultz, Laura Lush, Patrick O’Duffy, Dennis Detwiller, Jerry Schaefer, Chris Lackey, Ed Greenwood, James Ashton, Sandra Kasturi, Peter Birch (Aishling Morgan), Molly Tanzer, Monica Valentinelli, Peter Dube, Peter M. Ball, Carrianne Leung, Dennis E. Bolen, Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, Isabel Matwawana, Peter Chiykowski, Jacqueline Valencia, Kyla Lee Ward, Jim Webster, Jean-Francois Chenier, Kenneth Hite, Jonathan Blum, James Wallis, Helen Marshall, Charlene Challenger, Bill Zaget, Myna Wallin, Robin Laws, Julia Bond Ellingboe, Jonathan L. Howard, Kurt Zubatiuk, Emily Care Boss, Ann Ewan, David Barnes, Malcolm Devlin, Greg Stolze, Andrew J. Borkowski, John Scott Tynes, Richard Dansky, Kate Story, Ekaterina Sedia, Kate Harrad, Nancy Kilpatrick, Dave Gross, Lilly O’Gorman, Nick Mamatas, JM Frey.

Authors for Indies Day

April 30 is Authors for Indies Day! I'll be at Book City In the Beach hand selling books from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Come by 1950 Queen Street East to say hello! Sarah Elton, Tanis Rideout, Joyce Grant, Angela Misri, Jason Ramsay-Brown, Ann Elizabeth Carson, Lisa de Nikolits, Nettie Cronish, Lesley Livingston, Ken McGoogan, Zoë S. Roy are the other fabulous authors at the store that day.

My publisher has my books on holiday sale!

My two books, Roll With It, and Fortune Cookie are currently on "festival sale" from Tightrope Books, so here comes the shameless self-promotion: one or both books might make for great holiday gifts!

Charlene Challenger, author of the Aurora nominated The Voices in Between, says she re-reads Fortune Cookie every year—“Heather J Wood’s Fortune Cookie is my annual end-of-the-year read—as classic a tale for me on December 31st as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is on December 24th.”

In the interest of peace, love and understanding

With our news feeds now being bombarded with hatred, war and violence, I thought I'd post my short story, "Women's Only Hour," as my little nod to the possibilities of different people coming together and getting along. A slightly different version of the story was first published in 2005 on the now defunct site, Artistry of Life, and then in my 2007 PressOn! chapbook Barbies, Breasts and Bathing Suits.

WOMEN’S ONLY HOUR (THE BLUE NUN)

“Gentlemen, please clear the training centre,” the attendant announces. “It’s time for women’s only hour.”

     After the last man reluctantly leaves the University of Toronto’s weight room, I watch her perform her customary ritual. Carefully, she removes her head scarf and long navy robe to reveal the modest track suit underneath. I don’t know what she calls the vestments now hanging over the handles of a stationary bike... burqua... chador... abayah... hijab.... We have never spoken. I don’t know her name. In my mind I dub her the Blue Nun, after the wine I drank a long time ago.

    

I frequent the women’s only hour because the room is quiet and there is plenty of space to move. There are no beefy jocks smirking while I lift my five pound weights. But, for the Blue Nun, this must be the only time of day she can exercise. Such restrictions seem like a waste of a gym membership, unless she also uses the pool. There’s an aquatic women’s only hour, too.

    Perhaps she does swim. I wouldn’t know; I don’t venture near pools anymore. Years ago, I was a lifeguard at the Women’s Y in Montreal. Women like the Blue Nun were under my supervision then. I hated guarding the lap lanes because of the skirmishes between slow and speedy swimmers, but I was grateful for the harmony of the whirlpool. Whether they followed Torahs, Testaments, Korans or Upanishads, women happily sat together in that hot, cramped basin. I used to think we’d achieve global peace if the wives of world leaders could gather in one giant tub of whirling water.

   The peace of the Y’s whirlpool was sometimes interrupted, not by conflicts or quarrels, but by the arrival of men. No matter how many times they were warned, janitors showed up unannounced to test the water or check the pipes. Muslims and Hasidic Jews ran for the cover of towels, hiding their heads and bodies as quickly as they could. I’d blow my whistle and yell “don’t run”, but it never made any difference. The dictates of theology came first.

    The other lifeguards often complained about the Hasidic women. In addition to breaking the “no running” rule, they had trouble complying with other pool regulations. “It’s an hour of freedom,” I explained to my colleagues. “They have to follow rules every other hour of the day.”

    I liked the wig-wearing Hasidic ladies myself. One of them was a queen-sized goddess of a grandmother named Malka. She called me shaineh maidel. She brought me honey cake and deemed me thin. No one else said that about my then generous curves.

     Malka was in the whirlpool one afternoon when it was filled to capacity with matrons who spoke Yiddish, Arabic, Farsi and Urdu. They frequently broke into cackles, telling jokes in a broken English I could barely understand. My shift was nearly over when a maintenance man waltzed onto the pool deck. In a flash, all of the women scurried away. All of them except for Malka. “Aren’t you supposed to get out, too?” I asked her.

    “Too old for dis nonsense,” she replied with a wink. Then she stretched out her ample figure and luxuriated in the empty tub.

    “It’ll be our secret,” I said, smiling.

    I smile now watching the Blue Nun. She reminds me of Malka, although she is no more than twenty. I wonder why she is committed to her exercises. The purpose of my devotion to sweaty contortions is, of course, to pound my body into submission. I do everything I can to stay slim and encourage admiring looks from men. But if I were the Blue Nun, I would slacken and fatten up under those blue robes. Why bother with the training if no one can see the results?

    Five minutes before the end of the hour, the Blue Nun returns to the stationary bicycle and begins putting on her scarf and robe. I wander over to her. “Did you have a good workout?”

    “I did,” she says sweetly. “I like to feel my heart pumping. It makes me feel truly alive.”

    “Yes… yes,” I say, hopping on a bike. For once, my body feels comfortable on it.

    It’s the end of the hour. The Blue Nun waves goodbye and walks away. I wish I knew her name.

October is Monster Month!

October is monster month, so why not pick up a copy of the Gods, Memes and Monsters anthology (edited by yours truly)? This unique 21st century bestiary from Stone Skin Press features the work of 60 international authors* (see names below) and it just might give you some cool Halloween costume ideas. Who wouldn't want to dress up like a Brain Monster, a Trashsquatch or Zmeu?

The fabulous GMM authors are: Arinn Dembo, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Greg Stafford, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Rupert Booth, Sam Agro, Steve Berman, Marie Davis & Margaret Hultz, Laura Lush, Patrick O’Duffy, Dennis Detwiller, Jerry Schaefer, Chris Lackey, Ed Greenwood, James Ashton, Sandra Kasturi, Peter Birch (Aishling Morgan), Molly Tanzer, Monica Valentinelli, Peter Dube, Peter M. Ball, Carrianne Leung, Dennis E. Bolen, Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, Isabel Matwawana, Peter Chiykowski, Jacqueline Valencia, Kyla Lee Ward, Jim Webster, Jean-Francois Chenier, Kenneth Hite, Jonathan Blum, James Wallis, Helen Marshall, Charlene Challenger, Bill Zaget, Myna Wallin, Robin Laws, Julia Bond Ellingboe, Jonathan L. Howard, Kurt Zubatiuk, Emily Care Boss, Ann Ewan, David Barnes, Malcolm Devlin, Greg Stolze, Andrew J. Borkowski, John Scott Tynes, Richard Dansky, Kate Story, Ekaterina Sedia, Kate Harrad, Nancy Kilpatrick, Dave Gross, Lilly O’Gorman, Nick Mamatas, JM Frey.

The Writers Blog Tour: I’m Up!

Carrianne Leung, author of the Toronto Book Award nominated, The Wondrous Woo, has tapped me and Lisa de Nikolits to take part in the next stop of the ongoing Writers Blog Tour. 

I must say that I’m grateful to Carrianne for giving me this much-needed kick in the keyboard, as it’s been an unduly long time since I last updated this blog. I promise my subsequent update won’t be after quite such a long interlude. Hey, I've even half-written my next post. Honest! 

 So, without further ado, here are my four Writers Blog Tour questions and answers.

What am I working on?

I’m currently creating a young adult novel (working title - Overshadowed) that’s essentially a parody of Twilight and other popular YA fantasy books. The novel’s protagonist is a snarky 15-year-old science nerd named Veronica, whose mother just happens to be the author of an internationally popular fantasy series for teens. Veronica HATES her mother’s books, which feature helpless female characters and teenagers who transform into zombies and werewolves for daring to engage in sexual activity. Things get wacky when it appears that Veronica is falling for a pale and brooding transfer student named Theo, and Veronica begins to wonder if she is somehow recreating the story line out of one of her mother’s books. 

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Hmm, interesting question as everyone's work differs in some way. For this project, I would say that the writing is mainstream YA fiction meets feminist literary fiction meets the fantasy genre, so I guess that’s a bit different. The book aims to be funny (I hope) and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Veronica makes for a somewhat prickly protagonist rather than a straight up heroine, but she does kick butt in her own special way.

Why do I write what I do?

I’m not sure I really know the answer to this question. I write what I write about because “something” is compelling me to do so. Sometimes, this is a particularly clear and strong urge but often it is not. At times, I write what I write because the project makes me happy, and at other times, it’s because I have something I feel I MUST say. In the case of my Overshadowed project, I’m writing it because, as a feminist, I’m somewhat horrified by the popularity of the Twilight books, what with the series’ regressive politics and all. But mostly, I'm working on the book because I find it fun and it makes me laugh.

 How does my writing process work?

It depends. My “process” is all over the place, depending on what else is going on in my life or how I feel about the particular project I’m working on. I tend to write a lot of “semi-comprehensible” notes about my ongoing writing projects, but rarely work from detailed outlines. I write best in the mornings, but I also work well with actual looming deadlines, because I don’t think ever quite got over my “finish homework only at the last minute” syndrome. I do have a terrible tendency to want to polish and edit my work at too early a stage, rather than just ploughing through the early drafts. I’m trying to correct this tendency because I think it will improve my process over the long haul, but it "ain't easy" as they say. My favourite parts of the process are those “aha” times when I’m not “over-trying” and ideas and characters and plot points just seem to organically emerge from me. I just wish those eureka moments happened more often! But hey, the ebb and flow of creativity are a writer's lot in life.

Richard Scarsbrook is up next on the tour, so watch his blog for updates. Please also check out Mary Lou Dickinson's Blog Tour post. Lisa and I both tagged her on the tour, but Lisa got there first!

THE NEXT BIG THING!

I was asked by my friend and fellow scribe Richard Scarsbrook to participate in "The Next Big Thing" project. TNBT is a way for wordsmiths to promote upcoming work. Basically, a writer answers ten questions about a new work and then get other writers to do the same. It's sort a online literary chain letter, only way cooler. Or something like that ;) So without further ado, here are my Next Big Thing Q & A's:

What is your working title of your book?


Women’s Hours

Where did the idea come from for the book?


I was going through some of my various short stories and realized that many were about women and their various relationships, so I thought I should write more pieces that fit into that general theme and voila... a short story collection!

What genre does your book fall under?

Literary short fiction


Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?


Since it’s a collection of short stories, I would imagine that any film would be made up of four or five vignettes. For one of the 20-something break-up vignettes, I’d choose Lena Dunham to play the female protagonist.

And I'd choose Robert Pattinson to play the jerky boyfriend who deserves to be dumped.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Women's Hours is a short story collection, which explores the various relationships of female protagonists.


Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Don’t know yet. I need to finish it first!


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?


Well, as I’m still writing it, the answer is complicated. Several of the stories were written as stand-alones over five years ago. I only started to think of them as a collection a few months ago. I’m guessing it will take me about year to write the additional stories. Or maybe less, if a book contract suddenly appears on the horizon.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I’m lightyears away from Alice Munro’s stratosphere of talent and skill. However, if I were to put on my marketing and puffery hat, the work could be considered in the vein of a youthful urban-oriented Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage.


Who or what inspired you to write this book?


I’m also working on a young adult novel, which is a long, long, long way from being finished. When I was writing my first novel, Fortune Cookie, I wrote short stories when I wasn’t getting anymore on the book. I thought that working on a short collection at the same time would help me feel less frustrated with my slowish progress on the new YA book.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Most of the stories are very short, so they can be read on transit, on a coffee breaks or in the bathroom. Several of them are funny. Or at least, I think so.

And now check out The Next Big Things of these wonderful writers.

Danila Botha

Sonia Di Placido

Kristyn Dunnion

Kathryn Mockler

Carolina Smart

Check out my guest post on Lisa Young's blog!

Constraint: The Creative Gift