Friends and colleagues brought out a wealth of new books in 2024....

Mortified by Kristy Jackson, illustrated by Rhael McGregor (from HarperCollins)

Mortified was a finalist for a Governor General’s Award for best Canadian book for young people in 2024. The winner was Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne, but we were all ecstatic to see Kristy get into the finalist circle with her first novel – way to go Kristy!

(Not to mention everyone in the Friday morning class was tickled that she’d included all our names in her acknowledgements.)

So what’s Mortified about?

For fans of Remarkably Ruby and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, comedy and cringe come together in this sweet novel about facing your fears.

When someone secretly signs up Belinda Houle, the school’s shyest kid, to audition for a play, Belinda turns to her best friend, Sally, for help. Sally isn’t like the other kids. Unlike Belinda, she isn’t embarrassed by anything. Also, Sally thinks she’s a witch.

Belinda doesn’t believe in magic, but if Sally has a spell for confidence—well, it couldn’t hurt to try it. Could it?

Mortified is available from Chapters/Indigo here.

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Kids Can senior editor Patricia Ocampo

And speaking of award winners and finalists, Yvonne Denomy won in the Picture Book category for the CANSCAIP contest this year with I am Cheetah, while Susan Wollison was a finalist with her picture book manuscript, A Monster's Guide to Children. Neither Yvonne’s or Susan’s books have been picked up yet by a publisher, but we have hopes!

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By the way, if you’re interested in writing for kids, don’t miss “Writing for children and for young adults,”  with Patricia Ocampo, senior editor with Kids Can Press, offered online, Saturday, March 1. Details here. 

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"(Not so) Extreme" class doing well

Two participants in our “(Not so) Extreme Creative Writing” class on Thursday afternoons in Burlington brought out books this year:

Donna Kirk published her first novel, Death in the Suburbs:

Marshal Keene lost both his legs, his family, and then his job as a rookie police officer when a drunk driver crashed into Marsh’s car. Now, seven years later, that drunk driver’s gotten out of prison and someone’s murdered him. Naturally, the police are looking at Marsh as suspect #1.

To top that, Marsh’s father-in-law finds his law partner dead, and $200,000 meant to pay off the partner’s gambling debt gone from the office safe.

As if Marsh’s life weren’t already complicated enough, with him pursuing his new career as a reporter while trying to get around town on prosthetics and canes – though, truth to tell, solving a couple of murders feels to Marsh like something that might set him back on his feet.

Donna’s first book was a memoir, Finding Matthew. Doctors tld Donna that her newborn baby boy Matthew wouldn’t live through the night. They were wrong. Finding Matthew details the four decades of his productive and rewarding life.

Death in the Suburbs is available on Amazon here.  Finding Mathew is available here.

 

Dave Moores (also from the “Extreme” class) came out with his third novel: Sparkles and Karim 

Iraq, 2014. ISIS is on a roll and Sparkles and Karim need to find a dangerous cache of radioactive material before it's used to make some western city glow. Read a review here.

Sparkles and Karim is available from Chapters/Indigo here, as are Dave’s earlier novels: a YA titled Attitude, and a sexy sailboat adventure titled Windward Legs.

 

Alumni of the “Extreme” class also had a good year 

Nancy Taber found an agent (Alice Speilburg) at one of my “How to Get Published” workshops, and Alice found  a publisher for Nancy’s first novel, A Sea of Spectres:

On the choppy coastline of Prince Edward Island, an ocean-phobic detective evades the deadly lure of a phantom ship by delving into her family’s history and harnessing her matrilineal powers of premonition.

A Sea of Spectres is available through Nimbus Publishing here or through Chapters/Indigo here.

 

And Hannah Mary Mckinnon (also an alumni) published her seventh thriller in 2024: Only One Survives (Mira Books).Jeneva Rose, a New York Times bestselling author calls it “Rock’n’roll with a dash or two of murder.”

See all of Hannah’s novels published under her own name at Chapters/Indigo here. 

Under her pen name, Holly Cassiday, Hannah also brought out her latest RomCom: The Christmas Countdown (Penguin Random House). This is Hannah’s follow-up to The Christmas Wager, published last year. Both available from Chapters/Indigo here.  

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At this point, it looks like this winter’s Thursday afternoon “Extreme” class in Burlington is full. But sometimes people have to change their plans, so if you’re interested, email me: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

And for sure, we still have space available in our Thursday evening “Writing Personal Stories” class in Burlington. Details here. 

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Two more of the many picture books friends & colleagues published this year

Chang Hong published her first picture book with Kids Can Press: Greetings Floof, illustrated by A.J. Smith.

An interactive adventure full of way-out-there fun starring an adorable alien named Floof!

Floof — from the planet Ploof — has just landed on Earth! Luckily, alien expert Dr. Greta Goodnote is here to guide readers on how to interact with him. She explains how to make Floof feel welcome by raising your arms and jiggling them, protect him from the rain by blowing clouds away, and most important of all: stop him from poofing up when he gets wet! There’s a whole lot to do and a whole lot of silliness to enjoy.

Available from Chapters / Indigo here.  

 

Robin Heald published The Light from My Menorah: Celebrating Holidays around the world, (Pajama Press) illustrated by Andrea Blinick:

The light from a menorah takes a young boy on a fantastical journey around the world to experience different festivals of light, and the people who celebrate them.

Also in 2024, Robin published the third book in her Sapphire Family Series (Robin Ray Books): Mason and Invincible Igor, illustrated by Alexandra Artigas:

Eight-year-old Mason writes and illustrates his own superhero series, “Invincible Igor.” Tonight, his goal is to finish book six in the series. But with all the interruptions, how can he?

The earlier two books in this early reader series were Jackson and Jillian and Alicia and Annie.

Check out all of Robin’s books here.

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Plus, three YA novels

Jean Rae Baxter published her tenth book, Battle on the Ice (Crossfield Publishing):

It's December 1837, a winter of discontent, with Upper and Lower Canada on the verge of civil war. “Dory” Dickson, a farm boy, needs to leave home to find work. Despite his father’s warnings to stay away from the border towns, where rebels are recruiting for an invasion of Upper Canada from the United States, he walks straight into trouble at his first stop….

Battle on the Ice is available through Chapters/Indigo here as are Jean’s other titles here.

 

Susan Thomas also has a new YA novel out for 2024: Willow (BWL Publishing):

A teen stumbles out of a wheat field on a hot September afternoon, torn, battered, and in a state of shock—but who is she? Daniel calls her Willow and is determined to protect her from her past. Despite the horrific memories that plague her, Willow reluctantly allows Daniel and his cousin Zach to try and uncover her identity. 

The journey they undertake puts all three of their lives in danger. Deception and murder are in her past, what else will they discover? One thing is certain … Willow is not sure that she wants to know.

Willow is available from Amazon here. And you can find Susan’s earlier YA novel, Missing, here.

 

And Laurie Ness Gordon self-published Finding Home. This novel follows two characters in early Canada. Sarah, a servant orphaned in London in 1869, desperately seeks family. Richard, the disgraced son of an Ontario sawmill owner, must redeem himself, then make his own way. Their journeys are brought together by a group of Home Children.

Finding Home is available at Novel Idea in Kingston, Books on Main in Bath, Trousdales General Store in Sydenham, and Spark Books and Curios in Perth as well as in local libraries. 

 

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Susan Garrod-Schuster and Giang-Chau Ghent published Biography of a Woman 

This, the true story of Giang-Chau’s life, has never been told before. Giang-Chau’s mother was brought to the royal palace to be raised by her aunt, the dowager empress of Vietnam. But Chau did not live the life of a princess; her story is one of harrowing persecution in the years after Saigon fell to the Communists.

Then in 1979, Chau escaped her homeland aboard a small boat that was easy prey for pirates. The courage she found to endure her perilous voyage and final journey to freedom in Canada were shaped by the wisdom passed down from her female ancestors and the strength of her Buddhist faith

Biography of a Woman is available here.

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Friends and colleagues also published a number of novels strictly for adults in 2024

Karen Barrow’s novel Palmyra comes with this tag line: “I used to think the past was dead and gone, that time erased memories....”

Rich in historical and geographical detail, Palmyra chronicles a time when an educated elite rose from the ashes of slavery and indentureship to challenge the ruling white plantocracy and create an independent nation.

A finalist for the Guernica Prize for Literary Fiction and winner of the Whistler Independent Book Award for Fiction, Palmyra is part coming-of-age story, part Gothic mystery, and thoroughly conjures a world teaming with divided loyalties, family secrets, and ambition.

Palmyra is available from Chapters/Indigo here.

 

Benjamin Rempel published Infect: 

As their community unravels, estranged half-brothers, Andrew and Xavier Stone, must uncover the terrifying truth about a virus ravaging their town if they are to find their parents and survive one more night from the things that hunt them. 

Hailed as “violent, mysterious, and powerfully empathetic,"  Infect explores human behaviour in a high-stress environment where nothing is sacred and survival is the highest priority!

Infect is available from Chapters/Indigo here.

 

Finally, Emily A. Weedon published her first novel, Autokrator (Cormorant Books):

Autokrator brings to life a deeply-etched, speculative world in which two women, born nameless, fight against their tyrannical society.

And coming in 2025: Hemo Sapiens (from Dundurn Press) is an audacious and bloodthirsty fairy tale, pitting one man against a community beyond good and evil, in a modern tale of intrigue and female sexuality.

Read more about Emily’s novels at Chapters/Indigo here.

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And is that it for books in 2024? Not at all! Stay tuned for Books from Friends and Colleagues Part 2.

See upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day retreats here.