THE REVIEW

PUBLISHED BOOK AUTHOR!


Margaret came to Wednesday’s meeting with the first copy of her published book “Blow Up The Castle”. It was quite exciting to see her stories in print. She has drawn a poster about her book which I will forward to everyone in a separate email. Margaret pointed out to me that the author’s bio on the book was taken almost word for word from her bio on our website. So there you go.

In honour of Halloween, Margaret read an article of hers published in The Vancouver Sun Oct. 26th, 2004, “A Dead Mother’s Visit With Her Daughter” which details how Margaret saw an apparition of her deceased mother at about the same time her father passed away.

Ellie had two poems to read. The first one, “Fall Morning Ritual” was a humourous account of her and her dog’s morning ritual of going outside for the dog to do its business, and then the mishap of Ellie stepping in it. But the dog caught a mole, so the excursion wasn’t a total loss. The second poem was “A Change, Your Sister”. This starts out lighthearted as a young girl is happy when she’s allowed to tag along with her brother and his friends, until one day when a vicious rape occurs. It’s a powerful poem speaking volumes about life’s uncertainties.

Jason is attending the Surrey International Writers’ Conference and plans to submit the first chapter of his novel for a “flash” critique in front of all participants. So he brought it to read to us beforehand. The title of the trilogy is now “The Roots of Creation” and the first book’s title is “Provoked”. The rewrite Jason has done is remarkable. The story starts with a teenaged sexual assault where the heroine is saved by a sinister figure and sees the blood of her teenaged assailant in the swimming pool. The writing is tight and the story grabs the reader right away. Good luck, Jason!

I read a short story I wrote touching on the topic of elder abuse, partly in response to ads on T.V. lately, but also the result of someone else’s personal story. But rather than allowing a happy ending, I ended with a question about the new caregiver, because I wanted readers to really think about issues facing seniors and not think it’s always going to work out just fine if somebody else takes care of the elders in our lives. Elder care is never easy for anybody, on either side of that equation. I title the story “Treachery?” and hope to enter it in the CBC Literary Awards Contest.

Jim read Chapter 13 of “Coventry Ghosts”, where we see Leanne trying to alleviate Robin’s pain and discomfort from his leukemia and the necessary chemotherapy sessions. She cannot save him, though. While helping Robin, she is asked to attend a meeting of the Ghastly Committee because ghost essences are still disappearing, and it is thought some human is using some apparatus to capture and steal them. This is an exciting storyline and I’m sure young readers will want to keep turning the pages.

Gemma has said she was busy working for three months, but hopes to maybe attend our next meeting. Ellie and Jason are probably both at the SIWC right now. Margaret will not be at the book fair at that conference today, as the physical challenges of going there were too great. But her publisher will be there with a display of Margaret’s book. Bob is still busy playing bridge.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, Nov. 3rd at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

FAITHFUL FOUR


Jim, Margaret, Ron and I were the four who were faithful to The Muse last Wednesday. Bob is off learning to play bridge with his wife for a few weeks. Anne B. is re-writing her thesis. And Jason was busy parenting while his wife was away on business.

Margaret read of Coffin deciding to move since he was worried about Sam Chou’s ghost that also resided where he lived. He rented an apartment over Ling’s laundry, but couldn’t access the communal toilet since another tenant was in there reading on the throne. So then he moved to 13 Ivy Lane. Unknown to him, Dye received a request to eradicate a ghost at that address.

Sometime this week, Margaret’s book, “Blow Up The Castle” should be out. And she will be doing a signing at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference on the 23rd, from 5:30 till 7:00 p.m.

Ron was recovering from his daughter’s wedding, so didn’t have any new work to read. But he did share with us his friend’s experience at being accepted by a New York agent, who told him he was accepted because he could write. So what did that mean? Steps in the process of getting there were: meeting the agent, submitting first page and a half, then submitting the next 50 pages, then the rest of the manuscript, and then doing the suggested re-write of 2/3 of the book. Ron also recently posted another article about his father’s dementia on his website at www.rdyoungwrites.com if you want to check it out.

I read another story for my “Honey” collection called “Mr. Sticky”, about our experience buying a newly demonstrated consumer product and then bringing it home and trying it out. I also read an article from the Vancouver Sun which was a copy of a letter from Hunter S. Thompson applying for a job as a journalist at the Sun in 1958. The application was wildly aggressive and totally hilarious.

Jim read the last half of Ch. 12 in his “Coventry Ghosts”, where we see the ghostly essence of Ilancueitl being sucked into the laptop of the evil Jason. Ilancueitl and Sherlock had been investigating the disappearance of the Green Lady’s essence, when Sherlock felt Ilancueitl disappear. He gathered her ghostly shell and went to inform the Committee. Jim has finished the first draft of his second novel in this series but is not willing to share it with us yet. Also, he has again entered the Coffee Shop Authors’ Contest. This time he is doing a collection of short stories to enter.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, October 20th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. The Muse cordially invites any Halloween stories you might offer to sacrifice for communal consumption. Hope to see you on the 20th.

Lisa