Friday Night Cool...

Yes, sir -- it's been a busy week. However, I have managed to accumulate a shipload of cool, and since it is the coolest night of the week, I'm going to share it all with you.

Cool Item #1:

Darby got a great review in The Muskoakan: [www.muskokan.com]

A Walk Through A Window

By K. C. Dyer

Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2009, 230 pages, $12.95 paperback

Darby’s idea of a great summer is hanging out with her pals in Toronto doing whatever is dear to the hearts of young teens anywhere. To her dismay, her parents pack her off to her grandparents in an out of the way village on Prince Edward Island while they renovate their house and generally sort out their shaky marriage. Big time bummer, thinks Darby. Little does she know………….

                K. C. Dyer has skillfully woven a coming of age story into dramatic, action packed glimpses of Canadian history that include early aboriginal nomads, desperate settlers fleeing the potato famine in Ireland and Scottish immigrants seeking a new life in the colonies. The literary device of letting a character step over a magic boundary into a totally different time gives the story the ghostly quality that readers relish. Darby’s connection to her ancestral past as she discovers more and more about her grandparents’ genealogy brings her an eye-opening new appreciation of her family as well as a more exciting summer than she could have ever imagined.

                This is a lovely summer read for girls from 10 to 14.  

 

Thanks, guys!

One of these days the newspaper style-police will learn to just leave the name in lower case. No caps. No periods. Just kc dyer  -- lower case, low key. Canadian.

Think it'll happen?

Nah, me neither. I'm just happy they liked the story!

Cool Item #2:

Got my flu shots this week. I've got asthma, and that puts me in the high risk group, I guess. Not really cool...but this is:

[hat tip to QI elves...]

Hmm. Not sure that worked...

But, come ON,  who wouldn't want to learn how the flu takes over your body?

And finally, Cool Item #3:

Not quite sure how big those viruses really are?

Check out the very cool comparative size chart, from the size of the font here [Times New Roman 12 pt] to a carbon atom -- and many things [including viruses!] in between:


http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/



[hat tips to a tweet from Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, and to the University of Utah for building the page]

Okay -- I think that must be just about as much cool as any person can stand, even for a Friday night.

More soon!

~kc

Forget Labour -- Viva Brazil!

I'm sitting in Dundas Square in Toronto, at the moment, typing on my knees and surfing the only free wifi I can find [outside my hotel room] on this Labour Day, 2009. Sheesh -- you'd think in Toronto I'd be able to work on this day to celebrate work, wouldn't you? But it's taken me two hours to get set up here.

And I am not alone. I am surrounded by crowds of rowdy Brazilians, celebrating their day in brilliant yellow and green and some very funky music. There is a band setting up on the stage, but the crowd aren't waiting -- they are singing along with each other in a big group in front of the stage. It's Brazilian Day Canada, the sun is shining, and Toronto is Brazilliant.

 

Getting ready to start the Viva Brazil party...

I'm here to meet with my publisher tomorrow, but today I need to get SiWC work done -- emails sent, schedules compiled and so on. So for you, dear readers -- a little round up of some of the arcana that has caught my eye recently:

• First, a nice little review of WALK on TheFreeLibrary.com HERE
  
• Care to find out how the internet sees you? Check out your Persona online.
  
• And finally, for those among you who are Mythbusters fans, [and who could not be?] Adam Savage has created a geekfest he's calling Wootstock. Looks like it'll just be in California, with dates set up in San Francisco and LA in October, but surely there'll be a geek or two livestreaming the thing, so here's hoping! http://tinyurl.com/mnwf6p

 Now, can someone tell me how to type without leaping up to salsa?

~kc

Today's Parent Hearts A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW

The August issue of Today's Parent Magazine gives a big thumbs up to Darby's relationship with her Nan and Gramps. Reviewer Stephanie Simpson McLellan sez:

Thirteen year old Darby is less than thrilled about spending the summer with her Nan and Gramps in Charlottetown. But then she finds a way to slip into Canada's past, where she meets her great-great-great-grandmother, and starts to understand her family's strength.

In other news, this week Darby interviews Caitlin Decter, star of Robert J. Sawyer's latest novel WAKE. You can win a signed copy of both WAKE and A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW by entering the contest here: http://tinyurl.com/mgrgwz

Tweet or blog about the contest for an extra chance to win!

~kc

KIdsWWWrite Loves WALK

A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW gets 4 stars and a great review from Mena at KIdsWWWrite, a terrific on-line site for kids 16 and under to read and write reviews.



Mena writes:
" I found the way the Darby goes “through a window” to travel an original idea among so many time travel books. "



Read the whole review HERE.

~kc

Christianne's Novel Knickers, and Darby plunges into new waters

Had a completely fabulous time at Christianne's Lyceum last night, chatting with the Novel Knickers (and a few Knicker Parents, too)!

We held a very thorough and wide-ranging discussion, encompassing history, writing, reading and punctuated with extraordinary food and truly appalling pictionary. I loved every minute -- thanks for having me, Christianne!


The best part of the night was hearing Maddy Richardson's incredibly perceptive and carefully written book review of A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW. Maddy starts with a summary of the novel and then moves on to her thoughts. With her permission, here it is:

A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW is about a girl named Darby who is sent away to live with her grandparents on Prince Edward Island for a summer. At first she is mad that she has to stay in a little old town instead of her amazing home in Toronto, though I suspect her irritation really was because she suspected that her parents were planning a divorce and needed her out of the house. Anyway, she goes to PEI to spend the summer with grandparents she doesn't know. Her Nan is strong and kind, but her Gramps is on the verge of losing all reality and this makes Darby's journey all the more lonely.

One thing leads to another and she meets a boy named Gabriel who leads her through a window that takes her to different times and places. Gabriel actus as a kind of guide in teh sci-fi part of the novel, and it seems his role is to 'open her eyes' in more ways than one. In the end, Darby grows up in ways she never expected and never could have imagined.

I think that the book was amaing and led me on terrific adventures. I liked the fact that Darby was an avid writer -- it was a good contrast to the 'skateboarder' stereotype she seemed to like to associate herself with. The book described Nan as a strong, maybe even a hard person, but I get the feeling that she had a huge heart, but was too protective to show it.

I give this book an 8.5 out of 10. It did not get a full 10 because I found myself confused in some parts. I didn't understand why Darby didn't play with Fiona's gift more than once and why when she went on her first journey there was all of the white mist. It never really made sense and I kept expecting the fog to relate back to something. Finally , Gramps was an amazingly strong person for someone with Alzheimer's but I found it sad to see him losing his sense of reality. But for all the confusion, I was very curious and this was a really good read.

Thank you, Maddy!

And you know, the best thing about being face-to-face with one's (very brave) reviewer is the opportunity to talk about the story --about the concepts of metaphor and imagery, and how they help a story to unfold. It was a real treat to meet Maddy and all the Novel Knickers -- and the Inuksuk brownies were amazing!

One final note: If you hie on over to Darby Speaks, you'll find she and Maurice have embarked on a new adventure -- interviewing characters from other novels. If you'd like to win one of Lee Fodi's Kendra Kandlestar books, or if you'd like to suggest a character for future interview, leave a comment!

~kc

The Conundrum of the Book Review

For my friend Anita Daher and all the other authors I know...
just read an interesting column on the process of reviewing books with excerpts from both John Updike and Dave Eggars on the Tor.com site HERE.




These thoughts are tender ones to me, as my newest book baby will be born on March 3rd. I both long for and dread reviews -- the whole process of selling books is one fraught with contradictory emotions for me.

As an author, of course I want people to read, love and connect with my book. But I find the process twists me -- I don't ever want to be in a position to have to sell the public on my work. I want to put it out there, set it free to be enjoyed. You can see where real-world values might clash with this artistic ephemera. I think I have to side with Updike and Eggars, here. What do you think?

~kc

More Ms. Z Reviews

MS. ZEPHYR'S NOTEBOOK has received a couple of very nice reviews lately. The Globe & Mail's book section on the weekend coupled a review of Ms. Z. with VISIONS, Book 2 of Carol Matas' FREAK series. Of Ms. Z., reviewer Wendy Kitts says: "Although the concept of this young adult book is quite ingenious - from its cover design made to look like a notebook to the way the story, like an intravenous drip, is fed to us gradually through snippets of notes - the best part of this story takes place in the present tense."

The full review can be found here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070908.BKKITT08/TPStory/Entertainment

Carolyn Cooke, reviewing for SURREY NOW, says "Ms. Zephyr's Notebook is a great read -- fast-paced, engrossing with memorable characters struggling with overwhelming issues."

The full review is also online at:

http://www.canada.com/surreynow/news/leisure/story.html?id=54b07e1f-2638-4923-8e63-15460c92fec4

SiWC author profiles up soon -- have to feed the rapacious hordes first...

~kc