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The Fifth Princess by Alice Willett
This is the short story my 10-year-old daughter Alice (that's her in the picture--she's the one on the right) entered in the Canadian Children's Book Centre's Book Week 2012 Writing Contest for Kids & Teens. She didn't win or get an honorable mention, but I still think it's pretty good. (It's also possible she was disqualified because, try though she might, with everything I could suggest, she couldn't get the story under the 1,500-word limit...although she was close. But since the first version of this story was more like 2,500 words, and at that, she'd left out some elements she intended to include, I thought she did pretty ...Saturday Special That’s Not Actually from the Vaults: The Seven-Sentence Story
I'm conducting a workshop this afternoon on writing science fiction and fantasy, in my role as writer-in-residence (for just one more month!) at the Regina Public Library. Now, it's easy to just talk for an hour and a half about writing, but I want people to actually do some writing: and to that end, I'm going to make us of an exercise that SF author and high-school teacher Jim van Pelt came up with, The Seven-Sentence Story. Since I want to make sure everyone writes SF or fantasy, I've made one alteration to his rules, insisting that the first sentence establish the fantastical nature of the piece. Here's how it works: The seven-sentence story 1. Introduce what the main character wants and the ...Saturday Special from the Vaults: The Shepherd
This is another really early story; in fact, I'd completely forgotten about it until I found the file on my hard drive. I must have written it when I was 21 or 22. I was pleasantly surprised it holds up as well as it does. It was never published, though I think I submitted it a few times. *** The Shepherd By Edward Willett Danell woke. Dream-images of warriors with bright swords and glittering armor shattered around him, and he was left with only his narrow cot, his patched wool blanket, and the aftertaste of the bitter disappointment he had taken to bed with him. Today had been the day of the great fair and market in ...Ebooks! Get your red-hot ebooks! Spirit Singer! Andy Nebula! and The Chosen!
I was an early adopter when it came to ebooks in more ways than one. I owned a very early dedicated ebook reader, the HieBook, and read a ton of stuff on it. But I was also an early adopter as a writer, publishing my YA fantasy novel Spirit Singer with Awe-Struck Publishing (now owned by Mundania Press LLC) 10 years ago...you know, clever me, before ebooks really took off. As an experiment, it ...Saturday Special from the Vaults: Follow a Song
Last Saturday I posted the opening to the first novel I wrote, when I was 14 years old. This week we jump ahead four or five years to when I was attending Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas (that's a photo of the library). This story, "Follow a Song," was a winner in the school's annual creative writing contest, which meant a lot to me at the time: maybe I actually could become a published writer some day! The next year I was out of university and working at the Weyburn Review as a reporter/photographer, but it would be a while longer before I actually sold a short story. Re-reading this for the ...Saturday Special from the Vaults: The opening to the first novel I wrote as a teenager
I've worked with young writers quite a bit over the past few years, teaching the Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience for three summers in a row, serving as writer-in-residence at Riffel High School and now, of course, as writer-in-residence at the Regina Public Library. I've also edited the Saskatchewan Writer Guild's magazine for young writer, Windscript, and was involved in an on-line mentoring program for young writers for a couple of years. One reason I like working with teen writers is because I used to be one. I wrote my first short story at age 11 ("Kastra Glazz, Hypership Test Pilot"), wrote a fairly long piece called The Pirate Dilemma in Grade 9, when I was 13--and then, in my Grade ...Magebane shortlisted for Saskatchewan Book Award
Magebane has been shortlisted for the Regina Book Award in this year's Saskatchewan Book Awards. The Regina Book Award is described this way: "In recognition of the vitality of the literary community in Regina, this award is presented to a Regina author (or pair of authors) for the best book, judged on the quality of writing." Other shortlisted in the same category: Mark Cronlund Anderson & Carmen L. Robertson, for Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers (University of Manitoba Press); Wilfred Burton and Anne Patton for Call of the Fiddle (Gabriel Dumont Institute; illustrated by Sherry Farrell Racette and translated by Norman Fleury), Britt Holmström for Leaving Berlin ...The Space-Time Continuum: These Are a Few of My Favorite Links
We already live in a science fictional future: your pocket, after all, probably contains a powerful communicator/computer with which you can log onto a world-spanning information network. Not surprisingly, science fiction (though not overly successful at predicting its rise) has taken to this futuristic resource in a big way. But how to choose which sites to visit? Here’s one way: visit the ones I visit! Let’s start with general news sites. I’ve previously mentioned Locus Online, the website of the most important science fiction news magazine. Besides publishing news, links to interviews and reviews and more, there alone you’ll find a links page directing you to more sites than you could possible ...Saturday Special from the Vaults: A 1997 interview with Tolkien artist John Howe
John Howe is an artist particularly well known for his illustrations based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. He and Alan Lee served as the chief conceptual designers for The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, so you have well have seen his work without even knowing his name. But when I interviewed him for InQuest Magazine back in 1997, all that lay in the future. You can read all about his current work on his website, but 15 years ago, this was what he had to say... (Photo: John Howe, 2003, by Stefan Servos) *** Vital Stats Name: John Howe Birth: August 21, 1957, in Vancouver, B.C. Occupation: Illustrator Base of Operations: Switzerland Family: Howe's wife, Fataneh, ...Nominations open for Aurora Awards for best Canadian science fiction and fantasy: Magebane eligible!
Nominations are now open for the Prix Aurora Awards, presented annually by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) for the best in, you guessed it, Canadian science fiction and fantasy. I was fortunate enough to win an Aurora in Montreal in 2009 for Marseguro (that's me holding the award, flanked by Betsy Wollheim, left, and Sheila Gilbert, right, publishers and editors of DAW Books), and Terra Insegura was a finalist in 2010. This year, Magebane by (ahem) Lee Arthur Chane is eligible. If you liked it, I'd be honored if you'd nominate it (and vote for it, too, of course, if ti comes to that!) But whether ...
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
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
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel 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….
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).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
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.
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