Guest Blog: The Lie That Tells the Truth

In this guest blog, YA author Adira Rotstein ruminates on the craft of writing fiction and what purpose the genre serves for readers.
THE LIE THAT TELLS THE TRUTH

It is said that “fiction is the lie that tells the truth.”  It’s one of my favourite quotes, although I believe it was originally applied to visual art, [...]

Q&A with Jill Downie, author of Daggers and Men’s Smiles

Who can resist a good murder mystery? Especially when it involves an aristocratic Italian family with a secretive past, two determined detectives, and the picturesque land- and seascapes of Guernsey – a place that award-winning writer Jill Downie knows all too well. In Daggers and Men’s Smiles, she takes us there with Detectives Ed Moretti [...]

Self Condemned Has Been Set Free

We had so much fun with last year’s BookCrossing adventure, we decided to do it again this year (this decision has absolutely nothing to do with it being a gorgeous autumn Friday here in Toronto. Nothing. Ahem).
BookCrossing is an online community of booklovers and book-sharers. Members release books into the wild and give other [...]

Q&A with Tom Henighan, author of Nightshade

Tell us about your forthcoming novel.
My first two attempts at fiction were mystery novels, one of them based on a real murder I investigated in the British colony of Aden (now Yemen), the other set in the north of England, where I lived and studied for several years. Later, as a university professor, I taught [...]

Q&A by Nicholas Maes, author of Locksmith and Laughing Wolf

One of my teacher friends keeps telling me that Locksmith is her favourite teen fiction!  Nicholas Maes has just released a new book, Laughing Wolf.
Tell us about your book.
Locksmith tells the story of 12-year-old Lewis Castorman who can pick any lock, no matter how complicated it might be. His talent comes to the attention of the [...]

Dressing Up An Old Friend

Last week, along with mystery writer Vicki Delany, I was a guest of the Public Library in Picton, Ontario. I read two scenes from my recently completed manuscript, Black Tupelo. The audience was relaxed and conversational, and one of the questions I was asked during the Q&A was “What are you working on now?” I [...]

Salvaging A Novel I Wrote In 1983

My first novel, like most first novels, was transparently autobiographical. It was also, I’m guessing, derivative of writers I admired at the time I wrote it, which was 27 years ago, writers like Hemingway and Faulkner. I am guessing that this is the case because I haven’t reread it since it was rejected, after 11 [...]