So, what did you do yesterday?
Me? Funny you should ask … I finished gathering together the necessary materials, checked one last time to see that everything was as correct as it could be, assigned two ISBNs for ePub and mobi editions, and sent off all the files via email to Human Powered Design in Calgary for formatting. I received an immediate reply from Gina telling me that, not only had she received our submission, but the job was already in the queue and will likely be seen to within this next week. Which means we will have a finished eBook all ready and listed for sale well before the projected date of March 1st I had originally suggested would be the case. Hooray!!
So here’s our first announcement for this new publication, folks!
A new longform short story, written by J. Michael Fay, and titled Passion, will be published by IslandShorts, and we are very excited about this!!
As with Michael’s other publications, once again the original cover art was provided by Karen Sloan of Wallflower Studio Art in Minden, ON.
The indomitable Rachel Small, Faultless Finish Editing, provided the final editing and proofing services.
And here’s a little peek at what all the excitement is about … the synopsis and a few blurbs from advance readers of Passion!
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.
Passion is the next in Michael Fay’s series of long-form short stories, following The Whirlabout and The Healer. Along with Tenderness, all have been published by IslandShorts.
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.
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
What a vivid evocation. Detail, precision, clarity, and echoes of Joyce: the butterfly emerges from its chrysalis. Youth discovers vocation. Nice!
— Ken McGoogan, author of Celtic Lightning: How the Scots and the Irish Created a Canadian Nation
In the story of Dan James and his time in the seminary, Michael Fay explores the moment a young man steps into adulthood, and captures with grace and insight the realization that a vocation needn’t be holy to be true.
— Kim Pittaway, award-winning journalist and editor
So, there you have it! It’s not just every day that we at IslandShorts get to press “send” on a new publication! If you’re interested in this new eBook by Michael Fay, please stay tuned and check back to this blog where we’ll be announcing the exact publishing date and availability online, once we have all the links and information.
And if anyone is interested in previous publications from IslandShorts just click here for the list of eBooks and where to purchase. As we like to say …
For a Great Read, Slip Into Our Shorts!
(Anyone interested in reading to review any of our publications please contact me directly: susanmtoy (at) gmail.com)
Michael Fay’s Stories from IslandShorts!
Featuring 3 eBooks by J. Michael Fay!
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
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.
You may purchase all three of Michael’s eBooks by clicking on the following links:
Tenderness
Amazon (Kindle)
KOBO
iTunes
The Whirlabout
Amazon (Kindle)
KOBO
iTunes
The Healer
Amazon (Kindle)
KOBO
iTunes
All eBooks are also available for libraries to purchase from Overdrive.
IslandShorts is dedicated to ePublishing the very best short fiction, long form creative non-fiction, and poetry by talented writers. For more information on all our publications, please click here.
On eBooks and ePublishing – Part 1
This is the first of a planned 3-part posting about eBooks, print books, and what I’ve discovered after a year of reading both formats. I’ve been collecting articles over the past few months that cover the views of many people about the state of publishing at the moment and what that means for authors and, more importantly, readers. I hope that everyone will find something of interest here …
First up is the link to an eZine I maintain on all things eBook and ePublishing: eBook News and Reviews
The opportunities ePublishing presents
From dna: The Evolution of e-publishing: Why India has lagged behind in adapting eBooks by Gargi Gupta
From HuffPost Books: The 8 Most Influential People in E-Book Single Publishing by Howard Polskin
From Forbes: EBooks Breathe New Life Into Novellas by Suw Charman-Anderson
From io9: How can you make the eBook novella boom work for you? by Charlie Jane Anders
Which is exactly what we’ve discovered here at IslandShorts!
Getting eReaders and eBooks into the hands of bricks-and-mortar-bookstore patrons
From GoodEreader: Kobo to bring eReaders and eBooks to Spain via La Central Bookstore by Michael Kozlowski
From Galleycat: Buying eBooks Through Your Local Indie Bookstore by Jason Boog
And how innovative bricks-and-mortar bookstores can prosper by embracing eBooks
From TeleRead: Ada’s Technical Books shows how bookstores can survive in an e-book world by Chris Meadows
New innovations in publishing that are good for the entire business
From The Shatzkin Files: Now HERE is an experiment that looks like it worked and is worthy of replication
From The Digital Reader: HarperCollins Reports Revenues Down, eBook Revenues Up – a Sign That the eBook Market Hasn’t Flattened by Nate Hoffelder
What authors need to know if they are contemplating ePublishing
From Callisto Green: What every author needs to know about ebooks
From MorgEn Bailey’s Writing Blog: Guest post: Time to Kiss and Make Up? by Dave Sivers
The relationship between Libraries and ePublishers
From Library Journal: eBooks for Libraries: Still a Ripoff by AnnoyedLibrarian
From Forbes: You’ll Need a PhD To Make Sense Of The Pricing Schemes Publishers Impose On Libraries by Ava Seave
And from the Readers’ perspectives
From Talking Writing: Why Aren’t More People Reading eBooks? by David Biddle
From BBC News Africa: Will e-publishing help Africa switch on to reading?
From The Shatzkin Files: The truth is we do not yet know whether ebooks will work for anything except readerly books
From The New York Review of Books: E-books Can’t Burn by Tim Parks
Everyone’s A Winner!!!
As the Carnies always say, “Step right up! Step right up! Everyone’s a Winner!!!”
And that’s what happened with my recent contest in which all you had to do to enter was write a comment. Easy-Peasy, folks! Six people did just that. They took the time to make a comment and so I decided they would all win! I’m feeling rather generous at the moment, it being the season and all. But I am also very thankful for their support. So Jaclyn, Mandy, Maria, Lockie, Joan, and “Jazzybeatchick” have each won copies of both my eBooks, Island in the Clouds and That Last Summer. Thanks very much to all of you for entering!
As for the rest of you … What are you going to do the next time I run a contest like this on my blog? That’s right! You’re going to enter, because more likely than not I will be feeling overly generous again and EVERYONE will be a winner!!
Reading Recommendations – 7 Authors Listed!
And many more to come!
If you haven’t yet checked out the site since I first announced its inception, you may want to mosey on over to Reading Recommendations and find out about some terrific authors and their books. There are now seven authors listed and many more queued up for posting on the site in the coming weeks. You may read now about Armand Rosamilia, Tim Baker, J. Michael Fay, Mike Martin, Inge Bremer-Trueman, Brian Brennan and Lisa Bowes. There’s already something here for everyone: Horror, mysteries, coming-of-age fiction suitable for teens and adults, short stories, a picture book for children, and an autobiography. There are print books and eBooks listed by American as well as Canadian authors, and each author has provided us with links where their books may be purchased. You’ll also read about the authors’ own reading recommendations!
Coming up – watch for more fiction for adults, a just-published eBook (the first from a brand new ePublisher!), a restaurant review guide for Calgary and area, and erotica as well, all written by Canadian and UK authors. As I said earlier, there will be something here for everyone! So please, subscribe to the Reading Recommendations site and receive notice every time I post a new listing. You never know what new author you will stumble across on there …
And, Authors, please remember that you too may be listed on this new promotion site. Just read the About Page for information on how to submit your name for consideration.
The Healer by J. Michael Fay – new title in the IslandShorts series!
IslandShorts will soon be publishing a new short story by Michael Fay. Here’s the cover, with art by Karen Sloan …
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.
The Healer is the third short story written by J. Michael Fay (also available: Tenderness and The Whirlabout), and the fourth in a series, published by IslandShorts.
“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)
The Healer is available to preview as a Flipbook sampler here.
For more information on all the titles published by IslandShorts and where to order these eBooks, check out our page on this blog.
More milestones to mark – and prizes to give out!!
On Aug. 11th, I hit the 200 Followers/Subscribers mark for this blog and wrote about it here!
I announced then that I would award more prizes when I achieved several other milestones. I’m happy to say that I’ve reached three of these four (number of views – 60,000; number of comments – 1000; number of times the blog has been shared – 300) and the following people have been selected to receive their choice of Island in the Clouds, either print or eBook edition, or That Last Summer, my latest IslandShorts publication, available only as an eBook.
Congratulations to Charlotte, logankrebel, and Barb who have been notified by email that they have won.
There will be two more prizes awarded when I have published a total of 500 blog posts (I’m currently at 492) and 250 Followers/Subscribers) (currently the number is 222).
Thanks to everyone who has viewed, commented on, shared, followed/subscribed and, most importantly, READ my blog over the years. I couldn’t have done this without you!!
That Last Summer – now available to purchase online!
As the summer slips away, a great way to bring it back! ~ J. Michael Fay
My new novella, That Last Summer, is now available to order from Amazon for reading on Kindle, from Kobo, and from iTunes!
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
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.
Help us launch IslandShorts – TODAY!!
Invites YOU to join us for our
New Publications Launch
on Sept. 29th, 2-4 p.m., in Minden, Ontario, Canada
Featured readings by Michael Fay, Susan Toy and Bruce Hunter
Light refreshments will be served
Books and eBooks will be available to purchase
Original cover art on display by Karen Sloan and Judy Gibson
Looking forward to co-hosting and reading at this event today! It’s a beautiful day in Minden, and we have lots of refreshments for the full house we expect will attend. There’s no doubt that IslandShorts will be launched in style!
That Last Summer – a new IslandShorts ePublication!
IslandShorts is pleased to announce the release of a new ePublication in a series of short stories, novellas, poetry and short pieces of non-fiction.
That Last Summer by Susan M. Toy will be available shortly to download from all the usual sites.
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
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 is the third eBook to be published by IslandShorts, an imprint of IslandCatEditions.
A sample FlipBook is available to read here.
And, coming soon, The Healer, another short story by J. Michael Fay!
Books: Publishing, Reading, Writing 