Archives
In the author spotlight at Lobster Press: me!
With the release date of Song of the Sword, book one in The Shards of Excalibur series barreling down on us, Lobster Press is beginning its marketing in earnest. Today they ran an interview with me on their blog. It begins: With our Fall books soon on the way, we want to start introducing you to some of our new authors! This week, we have a behind-the-scenes Q&A with Edward Willett, author of the upcoming novel, Song of the Sword, the first book in the Shards of Excalibur series. Why did you choose to re-envision the story of the Lady of the Lake and Merlin? I’ve been ...Up close and personal with Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison and wife Mardele
Yesterday I posted my cover story from the spring issue of Fine Lifestyles Regina, an interview with Regina businessman Paul J. Hill. Today, I'm posting my cover story from the spring (and premiere!) issue of Fine Lifestyles Saskatoon, an interview and Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison. Enjoy! The summer issues of both magazines are just around the corner... *** Saskatoon Mayor Donald Atchison likes to say anyone who doesn’t like the way things are going in this city should call his wife, Mardele, “because she was the one who encouraged me to run.” It’s a joke, of course, and yet there’s an element of truth to it. She ...Up close and personal with Paul J. Hill
With the summer issue of Fine Lifestyles Regina just around the corner, I thought I'd post my cover story from the spring issue, an interview with Regina businessman Paul J. Hill. Enjoy! *** Paul Hill says he’s most known in Regina for three things: his blue 1976 Mercury Marquis, his habit of consuming eight Diet Cokes a day, and his addiction to non-fat frozen yogurt. Of course, that list leaves out one other minor thing of note: Paul is president and CEO of The Hill Companies and Harvard Developments Inc., companies intimately intertwined with the history of Regina, owning and/or managing more than two million square feet in ...An interview with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall
I'm in the throes of finishing up the Winter issue of Fine Lifestyles Regina, so it seems like as good a time as any to post my cover story from the September issue: an interview with Brad Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan. Enjoy! *** Premier Brad Wall: “The luckiest guy in the country in terms of a job!” By Edward Willett (Originally published in Fine Lifestyles Regina, Fall, 2009.) Brad Wall fully realizes that as premier, he has to represent the entire province—but he still hopes people will understand, if they see him at a Western Hockey League game between the Swift Current Broncos ...The Nipawin Journal reports on my reading there last week…
...and I have to say it's one of the best articles of this sort I've seen anywhere. Thanks to the reporter, Joel Cherry! (Oh, sure, there's one instance of the dreaded "one-T Willett" misspelling of my last name, but if I worried over much about that very common typo I'd go crazy.) The story begins: The term freelance was first used by Sir Walter Scott to describe a medieval mercenary warrior, (a "free-lance") in his novel Ivanhoe. The freelance would fight for whoever needed him. Science journalist, biographer, critic, singer, actor, and Aurora-award winning author of science fiction and fantasy Edward Willett is a freelance if ever there was one. Oct. 20 the Regina-based writer paid Nipawin a visit, ...Montreal WorldCon Day 3: Food, glorious food…
It would be hard to improve on yesterday, when I won the Aurora Award for Marseguro (did I mention I won the Aurora Award? I did? Hmmm, imagine that), but today was another good day at the World Science Fiction Convention here in Montreal. After a great breakfast at a local cafe, I had my Kaffeeklatsche, a chance for readers to meet authors in a small group and ask questions. I had two at mine, one fewer than had signed up, and one of those two was our Ottawa friend who attended the con with us. But the one fellow who showed up was interesting to talk to, and so it was an hour well-spent. I attended two presentations today, one ...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 ...The Saskatoon Book Report Interview
I was just a little too late getting home last evening to record the whole thing, but I managed to capture the bulk of the interview Ian Goodwillie, host of the Saskatoon Book Report on Saskatoon's CFCR community radio station, conducted with me a couple of weeks ago and which aired yesterday. And here it is! [podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2009/06/Saskatoon-Book-Report-Interview.mp3[/podcast]Listen to a radio interview with me!
I'll be on Saskatoon's CFCR Community Radio's Saskatoon Book Report program today at 6:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time (that's Central Standard Time, NOT Central Daylight Time, thank you very much; we don't hold with that new-fangled high-falutin clock-changing nonsense here, nosirree!). You can listen as host Ian Goodwillie attempts to get coherent answers out of me by calling up this live feed at the appointed hour: http://barakastreaming.com:8088/cfcr.McNally Robinson posts an interview with me
Chadwick Ginther of McNally Robinson Booksellers (an independent chain with stores in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Toronto and New York) has just posted a lengthy online interview with me on the company's website. Here's how it begins: CG: You've written a wide variety of works: SF, YA, Fantasy, as well as non-fiction for adults and children. Where did you get your start as a writer? EW: Like most writers, I began as a reader. I was the kid who always had his nose in a book, who won the prize for reading the most books in the course of the year, who prefaced every answer I gave to every question in class, "I read somewhere that..." So it was pretty natural ...
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.
