IslandShorts

For a Great Read, Slip Into Our Shorts!

IslandShorts is an imprint of IslandCatEditions, an artisanal publisher specializing in ePublishing short works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Here’s a list of online sites where you may purchase IslandShorts eBook: where-to-purchase-islandshorts-ebooks7

From The Minden Times: Author embraces e-publishing with series of e-books

Five eBooks of individual long-form short stories by J. Michael Fay have been published and are available online to purchase.

Dan James graduates from college in 1967, a time of major conflicts in the US, when friends are being drafted to fight in the war in Vietnam. Dan, however, chooses to become involved in a different fight, one for human rights. He eventually heads north to Canada, a place where he can pursue a life working for the betterment of all. But also a place where the conflicts turn out to be much more personal.

“Sparkling dialogue and detailed scenes evoke the 1960s in this tale of tested loyalties – loyalties to friends, to country, and to ideals. The Vietnam War overshadows two young men’s dreams, from the white columns of the graduation prom to the red blood of cracked heads at a demonstration, as boyhood rivals Dan and Graham trade quips, barbs and lovers.”
~ Penney Kome, author and journalist

1963 is a pivotal year for Dan James. Believing his destiny was set at the age of eleven when he stood next to his father’s coffin, he enters the seminary at seventeen to become a priest. A well-read fellow seminarian and the world-shaking event later that year cause Dan to question his true passion in life.

“This is a thoroughly engaging story about a young man’s coming of age and discovering while enrolled in a seminary that his calling is not for the priesthood but for literature and writing. One can smell the incense in the chapel and hear footsteps echoing in the stone hallways while young Dan James wrestles with his decision before walking out into a world with much to relish, treasure and describe.”
~ Dennis Gruending, journalist and author of Pulpit and Politics

In southern Alberta during the hot, dry August of 1909, young cousins meet again after a lengthy separation of their families. Tenderness is the bittersweet story of Luke and Rachel as they come to terms with their losses through learning more of a shared heritage. Written in a style evoking the prairies of a century ago, J. Michael Fay’s story unfolds with quiet and gentle grace and a reverence for the era, the setting and his characters.

“Michael Fay’s aptly titled Tenderness dramatizes the bond between two young cousins in southern Alberta in 1909 formed when a family member dies tragically. Fay‘s lucid, elegant and enduring prose is tinted with the classic light of W.O. Mitchell’s Who Has Seen the Wind and Wallace Stegner’s Wolf Willow. Authentic and convincing, Fay’s voice here is entirely his own and completely contemporary.”
Bruce Hunter is an award-winning novelist and poet.

The Whirlabout takes us back to America during the 1950s, when a quarter bought a movie ticket as well as a bag of popcorn, city neighbours gathered on front porches to listen to a ballgame on the radio while kids played in the street and, for an evening out, entire families climbed into their cars to go to the then-new drive-ins. Through innocent eyes, a young boy describes this time and place with precise detail and the memory of how he learned life’s lessons through the example of his own solid father.

“With crisp details Fay vividly and movingly portrays the interplay between father and son. He quickly draws you into this quirky yet familiar world and builds to such a stunning heart-racing climax you won’t forget it or the people he so marvellously renders.”
~ Robert Hilles, author of Time Lapse, Partake and A Gradual Ruin

In 1957, Danny is struck down with rheumatic fever and discovers a strange and frightening world on the children’s ward of the hospital. During months of recuperation his powers of observation are heightened and ultimately the time spent alone teaches him not only about survival, but about becoming the “big boy” the nurses constantly urge him to be, as he learns to accept the inevitable tragedies of life that surround us all.

“In Michael Fay’s rich new story, Danny’s rheumatic fever sends him to hospital where he encounters Sammy, a leukemic boy who tells him of a Healer who will come when called, and who will heal all who ask. Danny later feels great need of the Healer when his own life takes a dizzying, tragic turn. In openhearted, unsentimental prose, Michael Fay’s coming-of-age tale reminds us that our own inner resilience trumps all invisible wishes for a Healer who may or may not come.”
~ Kimmy Beach, author of The Last Temptation of Bond (The University of Alberta Press, 2013)

Samples of all stories are available as FlipBooks …
Tenderness
The Whirlabout
The Healer
Passion

About J. Michael Fay …
Michael Fay studied creative writing with W. O. Mitchell, Alice Munro, and Richard Ford and was also the founder of the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society in Calgary. Michael lives in Minden, Ontario, with his wife, Dr. Fay Martin. Michael has been featured on Reading Recommendations.

In On Writing “Tenderness” J. Michael Fay describes the background and inspiration that went into writing his short story, available as a free FlipBook.

As well, Karen Sloan of Wall Flower Studio Art has posted Judging a book by it’s cover … on her blogsite describing her involvement with providing the original cover art for this series of eBooks.

Also available is That Last Summer by Susan M. Toy.

Susan M. Toy captures the magic of the summer of ’65 in this tale of love and loss of innocence. The lake is alive with boys and girls, skiing and romancing. Rachel constantly spars with her younger sister, neither girl realizing the extent of life-changing problems that float below the surface for both a friend’s family and their own. Toy writes with confidence and elegance in That Last Summer and, as Juliet says in a famous scene performed around an August bonfire, “Parting is such sweet sorrow … ”

“In the summer of 1965, Rachel Wainstaff is uprooted from her life in Toronto and her boyfriend to spend a reluctant summer with her family at their secluded cottage at Lone Pine Lake. In this story of self-discovery and young love, Rachel’s joys and disappointments are inextricably tied to making new friends and meeting a special boy, all while dealing with the irritation of her younger sister. Still, the true heart of this piece lies in the complicated relationship the teenaged Rachel has with her mother and father. That Last Summer is a poignant love letter to the lazy, sun-soaked days of an Ontario summer at the cottage.”
~ Kim McCullough, author of Clearwater

Listed on Authors to Read by Brittney Sahin

Five Star Treatment on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life

Review on Tricia Drammeh’s blog, Authors to Watch.

Reviews on Goodreads.

Review on Poetry by Pamela.

A sample of this book is available as a Flipbook
That Last Summer

Susan M. Toy spent all the summers of her youth at the family cottage near Minden, ON. During that time, she was a voracious reader and always dreamed of becoming a writer of her own stories. That Last Summer was originally written as an entry for the 3-Day Novel Contest, and it is the third eBook to be published by IslandShorts, an imprint of IslandCatEditions. Susan is also the creator of the author-promotion blog, Reading Recommendations.