New book: Park Bagger – Adventures in the Canadian National Parks, by Marlis Butcher

Hi, Brian.

I did it! My book Park Bagger – Adventures in the Canadian National Parks will be published by Rocky Mountain Books in April 2021. Here’s the blub:

"An inspiring collection of thrilling personal adventures and stunning photographs sharing the incredible diversity and profound beauty of Canada’s national parks.

"Explorer Marlis Butcher has “bagged” all of the Canadian national parks. In her quest to visit and get to know the parks, Marlis canoed, kayaked, mountain-biked, backpacked, hiked, snowshoed, snorkelled, and trekked by whatever means of travel she could devise.

"During her park explorations she’s encountered grizzly and black bears, polar bears, wolves, and wolverines. She’s survived incredible storms, falls off mountainsides, and sinking boats. Marlis has investigated uncharted lands and travelled down quaint country roads. In Park Bagger, she shares her adventures, with the objective to encourage others to explore the national parks and to protect Canada’s vast wilderness."

Marlis

Pre-orders are available from Indigo/Chapters (here), through your local independent bookstore (here), and from Rocky Mountain Books here. 

Thank-you for your courses and for confirming that I can write and that people are interested in my stories.

Marlis Butcher

Canadian Park Bagger

www.canadianparkbagger.com

Note: Rocky Mountain Books publishes books both for adults and for children. For information on submitting to Rocky Mountain Books {among 22 publishers that publish Kid Lit}, see here. 

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including online and in-person writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Southampton, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

New Toronto literary agency seeks authors

Lake Effect by Dayle Furlong
represented by 5 Otter Literary    

5 Otter Literary

Toronto, Canada

https://fiveotterliterary.com/

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the Follow Brian by Email box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. If you’re not yet on my newsletter list, send me an email, including your locale to: brianhenry@sympatico.ca ~Brian

A new literary agency, has launched in Toronto. 5 Otter Literary is a full-service, international literary agency founded by long-time friends and publishing industry colleagues, Olga Filina, Ali McDonald, and Cassandra Rodgers, who all previously worked together at The Rights Factory.

5 Otter represents literature across all audiences, categories, genres, and formats, for traditional publishing as well as audio, translation, and film/TV. Two of the three agents are actively looking for new authors:

Olga Filina brings over twenty years of book industry experience to her work as an agent. From bookseller and buyer at national and independent bookstore chains, to director of literary festivals, library board member, publishing consultant, independent editor, book reviewer, and founding member of the Professional Association of Canadian Literary Agents (PACLA), she has the specialized knowledge to find the best direction for her clients’ work.

At this moment, Olga is most especially looking for historical fiction She’s also seeking literary and book club fiction, crime, mystery, suspense, and memoir with exceptional writing, focusing on underrepresented voices. Plus, narrative and prescriptive nonfiction projects across all categories.

In the children’s space, she is looking for middle grade fiction with memorable characters, contemporary YA, and nonfiction across all categories.

Query Olga at: olga@fiveotterliterary.com

Include the first ten pages of your manuscript or your proposal in the body of the email. No attachments unless requested.

Cassandra Rodgers has been a literary agent for over seven years. She’s worked with a diverse group of clients on both fiction and nonfiction projects. Her clients’ books have been featured in publications such as Oprah, The New York Times, and USA Today.

Cassie is focused exclusively on adult work and at the moment is most especially in upmarket commercial fiction in the vein of JoJo Moyers or Liane Moriarty. She’s also seeking historical fiction and suspense.

On the nonfiction side, she is looking for fresh views on topics such as politics, history, science, finance, and sports. Inspiring and meaningful memoirs are always on her wish list.

Query Cassandra at: Cassandra@fiveotterliterary.com

Include the first ten pages of your manuscript or your proposal in the body of the email. No attachments unless requested.

Ali McDonald specializes in children’s and young adult literature. Her clients include The New York Times bestselling author Laura Nowlin (If He Had Been With Me and This Song is (Not) For You), Hugo-award-winning Emily Pohl-Weary (Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl), and multi-award-nominated and Best Book-listed author Jo Treggiari (Blood Will Out and The Grey Sisters), among others. 

Ali is currently accepting submissions only by referral.

See the 5 Otter submissions page here.

Kids Can Press editor
Kathleeen Keenan

If you’re interested in meeting an agent and in getting published, don’t miss our online How to get Published workshop Saturday, March 6, with Alice Speilburg of the Speilburg Literary Agency (see here).

And if you’re specifically interested in writing and publishing Kid Lit, don’t miss our online  Writing for Children and for Young Adults workshops with Scholastic Books Executive Editor Anne Shone, Saturday, Jan 30 (see here) and with Kids Can Press editor Kathleen Keenan, Saturday, Feb 27 (see here).

The online Writing Kid Lit and Young Adult Fiction weekly class set to begin Tuesday Feb 2 (see here) and the online Writing Little Kid Lit class set to begin Wednesday Feb 3 (see here) are both probably full. But let Brian know if you’re interested for the spring. Email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Author Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Beyond that, Brian’s schedule continues to take shape...

Online: Writing and Revising, Saturday, February 6.  Details here.

Online: How to Write a Bestseller, with New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, Saturday, April 3.  Details here.

Online: How to Build Your Novel, with author Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, Sunday, April 11. Details here.

Online: Beginning Right – How to open your novel, Saturday, May 15. Details here.

Spring  classes:

Online: Welcome to Creative Writing, an introductory, low pressure course to get the creative juices flowing, Thursday evenings, April 15 – June 24 {no class May 27}. Details here.

Online: Writing Personal Stories, nine weeks of creativity and fellowship. Thursday afternoons, April 15 – June 24 {no class May 27}. Details here.  

Writing retreat:

Algonquin Park: Writing Retreat at Arowhon Pines Resort, an island of luxury in the middle of a wilderness. Friday, May 28 – Monday, May 31.  Details here.

For more details or to register for any workshop, retreat or weekly class, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including online and in-person writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Southampton, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Navigation tips: Always check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. If you're searching for more interviews with literary agents or a literary agent who represents a particular type of book, check out this post.

Congratulations to Barbara, Jane, Sue, Linda, and Emily!

If you’ve had a story (or a book!) published, if you’ve won or placed in a writing contest, if you’ve gotten yourself an agent, or if you have any other news, send me an email so I can share your success. And be sure to let know if you're looking for a writers' group or beta readers; a notice in Quick Brown Fox, will help you find them. 

Email me at brianhenry@sympatico.ca

 

Hi, Brian.

My YA novel, Summer of Lies, has a cover and a release date – February 1.

Quill & Quire magazine is going to feature it in their upcoming edition. No guarantee how big a space. At the very least it will be listed with their recommended books for the coming season.

It's happening and getting more real. Woohoo 2021!

Barbara Wackerle Baker

Summer of Lies is available for pre-order. Get the Kobo version here. For other formats, see here. 

 

Hi, Brian.

My story, “Some Assembly Required,” which was workshopped in the Friday morning Intensive class, was published today in The Penmen Review.

And more good news, another story has been accepted by The New Quarterly for spring/summer publication: "Mango Madness" – also workshopped in class. 

Jane Finlayson

Read Jane’s story, “Some Assembly Required” here.

For information on submitting to The Penmen Review, to The New Quarterly, and to 20 other publications, see here.

For information on upcoming weekly classes and one-day workshops, see here.

Hi, Brian:

Just wanted to let you know that I’m doing some travel writing now for Luxury. I had offered to ‘gift’ a piece of my writing related to my favourite vacation spot - St. Maarten and since then I have had 3 paid assignments. So cool. I just finished one on the Top Hotels in Niagara-on-the-Lake - which will launch soon. Your editing suggestions in class, helped me draw people, in while keeping it succinct and interesting.

Sue Kelly

Read Sue’s piece on St. Maarten here.

 

Hi, Brian.

I have some good news! A story I wrote in the first Personal Stories class and then polished as my homework and read to a breakout group the next week, has made it into the finals of the WOW creative nonfiction essay contest.

Yay! First time!

See you in class!

Linda Young

Note: Women on Writing {WOW} runs two quarterly contests, one for short essays, one for flash fiction. Sally Basmajian of Niagara on the Lake – who many Quick Brown Fox readerswill know from our classes in Burlington – came third in the Winter 2020 Flash Fiction contest. You can read Sally’s story, “War Baby” here.

For information on submitting to upcoming WOW contests, see here.

 

Hi, Brian.

I wanted to let you know the good news. My fiction piece "Not Quite in Love" has been accepted by Wild Roof Journal. Janine from the writing class read it for me and gave me feedback. I'm going to tell the rest of the class this Wednesday when we meet up on Zoom.

Emily Z.

Read Emily’s story, “Not Quite in Love,” here.

For information on submitting to Wild Roof Journal, see here.

 

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including online and in-person writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Southampton, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Online workshop: How to Write a Bestseller with New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong

How to Write a Bestseller

 With book editor Brian Henry

  & New York Times #1 bestselling author 

   Kelley Armstrong 

Saturday, April 3, 2021
1 – 5 p.m.

Offered online, so you can join from wherever there's Internet

This workshop will give you the inside scoop on what gives a novel best-selling potential. You’ll learn how to get readers emotionally involved in your story, how to raise tension, control your pacing and keep your readers turning the pages. But you won't just hear about some of the best secrets of the trade; you'll learn how to apply them to give your own writing a sharp new edge.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing teacher for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia, Ontario, to Saint John, New Brunswick. He has helped many of his students get published, including guest speaker Kelley Armstrong...

Kelley Armstrong  lives in Aylmer, south of London, Ontario, with her husband and three children. She used to program computers and attend Brian Henry workshops. Now she writes international bestsellers. Kelley has hit the New York Times bestseller list with both her supernatural thrillers for adults and her urban fantasy for teens.

Kelley's principal publishers are Penguin Random House in Canada and St. Martins in the U.S. To date, she's published more than 50 books, most recently A Stitch in Time, a gothic novel for adults,  Wolf’s Bane, a YA urban fantasy, Every Step She Takes, a thriller for adults, and The Gryphon’s Lair, a middle grade fantasy novel. Coming in February 2021: A Stranger in Town, an adult mystery/thriller.  

Bitten, a TV series based on Kelley’s first 13 novels, was on the air Jan 2014 through April 2016.

Fee: $39.82 + 13% hst = $45 paid in advance by mail or Interac

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian's complete current schedule here, including online and in-person writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Southampton, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, reviewed by Dale Rutherford

William Morrow, 2019. Available from Chapters (here) or from your local independent book store (here).

This book was a Christmas gift from my sister, who had already read it, loved it and thought I would too.

She was right.

Beautiful in its simplicity, Meet Me in Monaco, is a light read, full of everything you want in a January curl-up-on-the-couch read.

I was captivated from the first page to the last, loved the main characters, Sophie and James, and even the “baddies” Lucien and Mrs. Duval played their parts well.

Due to their respective involvement in the courtship and eventual marriage of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco, Sophie Duval and James Henderson meet by chance and a friendship begins.

Sophie is the owner of Duval, a small perfume company based in Grasse, France with a shop in Cannes. I loved both of these settings and found this an interesting background for her side of the story. I was immediately sympathetic to her desire to continue her family’s business in the tried and true methods of old, to see it come back to life and to save it from uncertain times.

There were wonderful themes here that the authors explored; of memories evoked by scents and creating fragrances as individual as the wearer, and eventually the need to move forward out of the past. Sophie’s relationships with her mother and Lucian also gave me reason to cheer her on.

Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

As an amateur shutterbug myself, I sympathized with the photographer in James who would much rather have photographed sunsets and beautiful landscapes than find himself amid the thousands of press people chasing Grace Kelly’s every movement. However, in his need to capture just the right shot for his paper, he meets Sophie, something sunsets and landscapes would never have given him.  

Naturally, they fall in love and of course we want them to be together, but there are problems, people and things that stand in their way. James has a ten-year-old daughter, at home in London, England. Sophie has Lucian and a meddling mother. And Grace has Prince Rainier of Monaco.

Meet Me in Monaco is well written with realistic characters, flowing and beautifully descriptive narrative, creative and genuine dialogue and wonderfully vivid settings.

Much like Grace Kelly is portrayed in this novel, Meet Me in Monaco is charming and quite simply, beautiful.

***

Note: Quick Brown Fox welcomes your book reviews – or any kind of review of anything, of anywhere or of anybody. If you want to review your favourite coffee shops or libraries, babysitters or lovers (no real names please), go for it. See examples of book reviews here (and scroll down); other reviews here (and scroll down). Read about how to write a book review here.

QBF also welcomes essays about a favourite book or about your experience of reading or writing. To get a taste of what other writers have done, see here and scroll down).

Submit to: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Include a short bio at the end of your piece and attach a photo of yourself if you have one that’s okay. 

Dale M Rutherford has a passion for historical fiction, sweeping sagas and happily-ever-afters. Her writing career began late in life as her commitments to work and family lessened allowing her time to focus and research. 

Born a small town in southern Ontario, she is the third of four daughters born to a peach farmer and his wife. Growing up on the farm, on the shores of Lake Ontario in the house built by her great grandfather, Her family roots, which run deep into the heart of Scotland, Ireland and England, provide inspiration for the creation of her protagonists. 

In her spare time, Margery is a certified Energy Healer, Life Coach and Past Life Regression Therapist with an avid interest in genealogy, and photography. Her two grandchildren keep her young in mind, body and spirit.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including online and in-person writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Southampton, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.