Archives
Why I’m not Stephenie Meyer
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/01/Why-Im-Not-Stephanie-Meyer.mp3[/podcast] I’m a full-time writer, but not, alas, a fabulously wealthy and/or successful one. James Cameron isn’t bugging me about film rights; Oprah isn’t plugging me on TV; fans aren’t lugging great stacks of my books around, chasing me for autographs. It’s easy, when you’re one of the little guys in any creative field, be it fashion, books, movies or music, to envy the runaway successes and wonder what, for example, Stephenie Meyer’s got that you ain’t got. Are her books, objectively, truly so much better than everyone else’s? Or, more to the point, than mine? Probably not, suggests recent research: in fact, runaway successes are runaway successes in part because they’re runaway successes...and efforts to figure out what “the next big thing” ...Nominations open for Prix Aurora Awards
Back in August, I had the great good fortune and honour to win the Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English for my novel Marseguro (that's me holding it at left, alongside my editor and publisher, Sheila Gilbert of DAW Books). The Prix Aurora Awards honour the best of Canadian science fiction and fantasy from the previous year. In 2010, the Aurora Awards will be handed out at Key-Con in Winnipeg in May...and nominations have just opened. Any Canadian citizen, whether or not they live in Canada, or any permanent resident of Canada may nominate for the Prix Aurora Awards. The categories have been ...An interview with Robert J. Sawyer
The following article was just published in the July/August issue of FreeLance, the newsletter of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. *** Robert J. Sawyer: The Philosophical Science Fiction Writer By Edward Willett The Canadian Light Source, the giant synchrotron in Saskatoon, does not immediately spring to mind as a likely venue for a writer-in-residence. Unless, perhaps, that writer is renowned Canadian science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer. Then it seems like a perfect fit. “Most of my books involve working scientists,” Sawyer notes. “I have often visited science institutions, but I've never been immersed for weeks on end in the ...I’ve now got an author’s page on Amazon!
Author Central, the author's service on Amazon, is still in beta, but it's expanding, and I've now got my own author's page. Check it out! It's a great place to find all my books listed in one hand-dandy location. Be the first on your block to collect them all! (Hey, that approach works for toy-stuffed breakfast cereals...) It also echoes these blog posts. Which means you could be reading this post on Amazon, and discover a link to the page you're already reading...hopefully this will not result in an endless recursive loop, collapsing down to a black hole from which you will never escape. Someone click the link and find out for sure!I get a box full of disease detectives!
Oh, all right, not the actual detectives themselves, but my latest book from Enslow, Disease-Hunting Scientist: Careers Hunting Deadly Disease. That's the cover at left. Here's the blurb from the back: Working from high-tech labs in Canada or remote villages in Africa, epedemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases. Learn how these "disease detectives" are coming up with new wayts to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too! I'd seen that before. What I hadn't seen, until the books arrived today, was this very nice cover quote from Jonathan M. Samet, MD, Professor ...Book review: Defining Diana by Hayden Trenholm
Defining Diana by Ottawa author Hayden Trenholm, published by Bundoran Press, is a near-future police procedural, a combination of mystery and science fiction that I personally find irresistible if it's done well--and Defining Diana is definitely done well. I'll let the back cover copy handle the set-up: Found naked and alone in a locked room, the beautiful woman was in perfect health--except she was dead... It's 2043 and much has changed: nuclear war, biotechnology and all-powerful corporations have transformed the world... Now science is taking DNA manipulation to new, unrestricted levels. Superintendent Frank Steele is an old-fashioned cop. He commands a small, elite police unit that is handed all the biazarre and ...Final book giveaway winners selected–and a new offer for reviewers!
And (drum roll, please!) we have our winners in the final week of Terra Insegura/Marseguro giveaway draws for the month of May, to celebrate the release of Terra Insegura. The winner of a signed copy of Terra Insegura this week is Willis Couvillier of Reno, Nevada, and the winner of the signed copy of Marseguro is Mike O'Brien of Sacramento, California. Congratulations to all the winners, and for those who didn't...well, remember, you can always go out and BUY the books! :) Now I have one final giveaway offer to announce. I have an additional 10 copies of Terra Insegura set aside to go to reviewers. If you review books on your blog, or for print, and haven't received a copy of Terra Insegura, ...Book review: City of Glass, by Cassandra Clare
City of Glass is the third and concluding book in Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments YA fantasy trilogy (the previous two being City of Bones and City of Ashes), and the proof that enjoyed the first two quite a bit (aside from the fact I said as much on this blog) is that I bought it in hardcover as soon as I saw it. There's not much point in summarizing what happens in this one, since the only way anyone is ever going to read it is if they've read the first two and enjoyed them. Suffice it to say that all ...Book giveaways Week 2: two more winners! Enter now for Week 3…
The draw is done, and we have the winners of the second week of my month-long series of book giveaways to promote the release of Terra Insegura. I don't have mailing addresses yet, so I can't tell you where they hail from, but the copy of Terra Insegura was won by Tom Barclay, and the copy of Marseguro by Victoria Lee. Week 3 entries are now being accepted! Again, you can either leave a comment below (the comment form will ask for your email address; no need to put it in the comment body), or email me at edward(at)edwardwillett.com with Terra Insegura in the subject line. Two more draws to go!Marturia.net reviews Terra Insegura
Ian Hecht at Marturia.net fires one of the first Terra Insegura reviews into the the blogosphere, and though he has some quibbles (not to be confused with tribbles--although both can multiply rapidly on occasion, tribbles are furrier), in general, he likes it. (As he did Marseguro.) Herewith, some excerpts: Willett’s usual moral tale style is in high gear here, with the logical next step of the question he posed in Marseguro, “What makes someone human?” When the Selkies are forced to confront their prejudices not only of “normals”, but also of a race far more modified than their own, questions arise as to where to draw that line. How the different characters answer the question ultimately decides ...
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Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
