Archives
Quill & Quire review raves about Song of the Sword
I was pleasantly--very pleasantly, as you'll see--surprised to discover a review, the first I've seen, of Shards of Excalibur: Song of the Sword in the September issue of Quill & Quire, Canada's magazine of book news and reviews. The review, by author Robert J. Wiersema, almost gave me a heart attack with the first sentence, though. It begins: Authors who incorporate, interpret, or subvert Arthurian legends in works of contemporary fantasy take a huge risk: the failure rate of such books is staggeringly high. Gulp. Fortunately, he continues with: Every so often, though, a writer is skilled enough to utilize the stories of King Arthur and Camelot to significant effect. ...My short story in Space and Time
My short story "Waterlilies" has finally appeared in Space and Time Magazine, which bought it months and months ago (as is obvious by the bio, which refers to my seven-year-old daughter--that would be the one who just turned nine). Anyway, it's nice to see it in print, my name up in lights--well, on the cover, at least. "Waterlilies" is a humorous apocalyptic nanotech art story. Just so you know. The cover art at left is by Patrick Thomas. My story is illustrated by Alan Beck.Lobster Press Fall/Winter 2010 catalogue released, Song of the Sword gets pride of place
Lobster Press has just made its Fall/Winter 2010 catalogue available, and my new YA fantasy Song of the Sword gets pride of place as the first book listed. Guess I'd better get busy and write the second book...A nice blog review of Lost in Translation
Mass-market paperbacks have a short shelf life, but that doesn't mean people aren't still reading them long after they're hard to find in a bookstore. Case in point: a nice new review of my first book for DAW, Lost in Translation, just popped up at Scott's Corner, a blog I was hitherto unaware of, but now, of course, can't recommend highly enough! The eponymous Scott has nice things to say: This was a great book, headed by two well drawn characters. The book alternates POV chapters between the two characters. The S’sinn are sufficiently alien, and Kathryn is a great viewpoint character. It's an interesting ...Terra Insegura on recommended book list for Australia’s MS Readathon Novel Challenge
I have no idea if this is a big deal or not and I frankly can't imagine how my book ended up on it, but ego-Googling popped this up today: Terra Insegura is one of 10 books on the "Buff Your Brain" recommended reading list for the "Novel Challenge" fundraising effort of MS Australia. Someone in the organization must have liked it!Terra Insegura is an Aurora Award finalist!
Just heard this morning that Terra Insegura, my sequel to last year's Aurora Award-winning science fiction novel Marseguro, is a finalist for this year's Aurora Award for best science fiction or fantasy novel in English. Sounds like they had a record number of nominations, too, so that makes it even sweeter. The other finalists are Wake, by Robert J. Sawyer, Steel Whispers by Hayden Trenholm, Druids by Barbara Galler-Smith and Josh Langston, and The Amulet of Amon-Ra by Leslie Carmichael. I know every one of these authors. It should be a great evening at KeyCon in Winnipeg in May when the winners are announced. Voting will ...Nice mention of “bleak and beautiful” Marseguro
"Bleak and beautiful" is a nice phrase. Even nicer when it's applied to my DAW SF novel Marseguro, which is what happened today in Strange Horizon's review of 2009 by its corps of reviewers...one of whom is my fellow DAW author Kari Sperring (author of Living With Ghosts), who said this: The Hugos were rather predictable, but the Canadian Prix Aurora went to Edward Willett’s bleak and beautiful Marseguro, a novel which has not received the attention and acclaim it deserves. I would never be so forward as to apply the phrase "bleak and beautiful" to my own work, but it's nice to know Kari feels that way about it! As for the ...Terra Insegura makes a top-10 books of 2009 list…
...from blogger and reviewer Shaun M. Duke at The World in the Satin Bag. He puts Terra Insegura at No. 6, just ahead of (ahem) Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Here's his entire list, and here's what he had to say about Terra Insegura: 6. Terra Insegura by Edward Willett One of the few science fiction novels I reviewed and loved this year, Willett's sequel to Marseguro is exactly what science fiction needs: action, awesome ideas, and good characterization. No more good vs. bad plots. There's so much grey in Willett's book that it makes you really think about everything, from what occurred in the previous novel to what ...A nice review for my book Disease-Hunting Scientist…
...comes from Children's Literature (via the Barnes & Noble page for the book): "Science is a verb." that is what science teachers tell their students, and this book describes just that. I found the book to be an exciting collection of seven scientists doing their jobs, and sometimes I was jealous. As scientist, Marta Guerra, describes, "for people who like to do fairly exciting things… you feel like you are actually helping people, [disease hunting in Uganda] is a wonderful experience." The book is scientifically accurate, and, with a bird flu expert hinting about new emerging pandemics, the book is very current. It ...The centre of the universe likes Marseguro & Terra Insegura!
OK, I should probably explain that the centre of the universe is a blog. The blogger, who goes by the handle Cenobyte, writes, in part: There is just enough nerd factor in these books to make them sciencey, and there is just enough of a fabulous story to make them fictioney. In fact, both of them are the perfect blend of those two things... There are themes of racism, colonialism (don't those two go hand-in-hand anyway), civil rights, and, ultimately, survival. Terra Insegura is more than a sequel; it takes everything that happened in Marseguro and ramps it up a notch... Willett's characters are fascinating and real, although at times are frustrating as hell...But what really makes these books for ...
Edward Willett is a The Shards of Excalibur, Book 1: Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel, coming in October from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
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…
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.
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.
