For love and money: Harlequin and the mainstreaming of erotic fiction

Sylvia Day, E.L. James

Earlier this spring, romance juggernaut Harlequin Enterprises announced a new ebook partnership with Cosmopolitan magazine. Launching on Aug. 15, the Cosmo Red Hot Reads From Harlequin series will feature two monthly 30,000-word titles, designed for reading on mobile devices.

The series might not have attracted much attention had it not been for the fact that the first two titles will be written by bestselling erotica author Sylvia Day, who received a seven-figure contract for her efforts.

This hefty sum is not without precedent for Harlequin: the company, a division of Torstar, has offered comparably cushy deals to authors such as Susan Wiggs, Linda Lael Miller, and Harlequin Teen star Julie Kagawa.

What is significant is the fact that Harlequin had to poach Day from her former publisher, Penguin. The mainstream success of erotic fiction – led by E.L. James’s Fifty Shades trilogy – is attracting major publishers to territory traditionally controlled by Harlequin, leading to more competition and escalating advances.

What does this mean for one of Canada’s most successful publishing companies? “There is a greater awareness now in the marketplace of how wide the audience for super-sexy editorial can be,” says Malle Vallik, Harlequin’s director of editorial digital initiatives.

The mainstreaming of erotic fiction began in March 2012, when Random House imprint Vintage acquired James’s self-published Fifty Shades trilogy in a deal reported to be worth seven figures. The blockbuster series went on to sell more than 70 million copies by the end of the year, securing a 75.6 per cent profit increase for Random House (and $5,000 Christmas bonuses for all its employees worldwide).

Like James, Day’s meteoric success began when she was still a self-published author, selling 100,000 copies of her ebook Bared to You (also available via a print-on-demand service) in April 2012, before receiving a deal a month later with Penguin’s Berkley imprint. Her second title with Berkley, Reflected in You, was a Canadian bestseller and debuted at number four on The New York Times’ bestsellers list – right behind James’s Fifty Shades trilogy.

Tamara Faith Berger, Lisa Gabriele (a.k.a. L. Marie Adeline)

Homegrown authors are also cashing in on the boom in erotic fiction.

Before the manuscript was completed, rights to S.E.C.R.E.T., a novel by pseudonymous Toronto author L. Marie Adeline, had been acquired by publishers in more than 30 countries. Dubbed the “Canadian Fifty Shades” by media at last October’s Frankfurt Book Fair, S.E.C.R.E.T. (published by Random House of Canada imprint Doubleday Canada) follows an underground society of women who guide each other to sexual liberation.

For the February launch, Doubleday Canada promoted the novel via a multi-tiered marketing campaign featuring appearances by a male model and a public unmasking of Adeline (revealed to be Toronto author and TV producer Lisa Gabriele) on CBC Radio’s The Current. Social media, including a dedicated Twitter account ­(@SecretNovels), played a key part in the rollout.

“We went above and beyond what we typically do for a book promotion online,” says Cassandra Sadek, director of online marketing at Random House of Canada.

A website (secretnovels.com) provides supplemental content, including backstory tidbits and music playlists. A Facebook page has been instrumental in nurturing the book’s fan base, while providing a mechanism to track readers’ expectations for the forthcoming sequel.

The online campaign has paid off. According to Tracey Turriff, Random House of Canada’s senior vice-president of marketing, by April, S.E.C.R.E.T. had spent six straight weeks at number one on BookNet Canada’s bestsellers list, with nearly 100,000 copies sold.

While the building of S.E.C.R.E.T.’s online community mirrors the trajectory of Fifty Shades’ early buzz, Sadek says Doubleday Canada did not explicitly link the two titles in its promotional copy, in hopes of differentiating between them.

Coach House Books, on the other hand, gave in to the temptation. Last summer, the Toronto press hosted a “sex trade-in” sale through which readers could exchange a copy of Fifty Shades for a discount on Tamara Faith Berger’s erotic novel Maidenhead.

“In our copy we talked quite explicitly about Fifty Shades, that this was a smarter and dirtier version, which gave people something of an entry point,” says Coach House editorial director Alana Wilcox. “But I don’t think it dramatically changed our marketing. It’s not the same crowd of people reading Maidenhead as Fifty Shades.”

Wilcox says there wasn’t much consumer response to the promotion, but Maidenhead – which concerns a teenage girl’s sexual awakening (borne through a sadomasochistic entanglement) – did well critically, winning The Believer magazine’s annual book award. This month, Coach House is releasing a single-­volume reprint of Berger’s first two novels, Lie with Me and The Way of the Whore, collected under the title Little Cat.

“If you thought that Fifty Shades was pretty extreme, you’d have a hard time getting through Maidenhead,” Wilcox concedes. “We didn’t want to push too much to that crowd. You don’t want to horrify your readers.”

Although the titles have their differences, James’s trilogy did prove helpful in getting Maidenhead onto booksellers’ shelves. Wilcox says that, while initial orders for the book were lacklustre, stores ordered more copies as Fifty Shades’ popularity grew.

“We had some bookstores that just wouldn’t order [Maidenhead] because it was dirty, and then they came around,” she says. “I think it would have been harder to get it out there and taken seriously without Fifty Shades.”

***

Promoting erotica is old hat for Harlequin, but even the company’s more risqué titles are enjoying greater exposure, with popular authors such as Tiffany Reisz dealing in subjects once considered too taboo for mainstream publishing. The genre’s recent popularity has translated into a noticeable sales boost for Harlequin author Megan Hart, whose novel Switch landed on The New York Times’ bestsellers list last fall.

However, Susan Swinwood, executive editor at the digital-first ­imprint Harlequin HQN, says James’s success hasn’t affected what the company publishes so much as how. Ultimately, Fifty Shades demonstrated that self-published digital titles can take off in the mass market.

“The digital side of things has really exploded in the last six or eight months, to the point where we really have to watch who’s publishing digitally and how they’re performing, and whether or not the author is interested in going with a traditional publisher for print or for future digital rights,” says Swinwood.

While Harlequin and other publishers pore through fan-fiction and writers’ websites in hopes of discovering the next E.L. James, erotica remains something of a specialized genre. Agent Hilary McMahon, vice-president of Westwood Creative Artists in Toronto, has observed a rise in “self-published, very low-priced ebook originals,” but says it’s still not a large part of her business. “It’s interesting that, post–Harry Potter and post-Twilight, I was inundated with queries featuring wizards and vampires,” says McMahon, “but I’ve seen surprisingly few queries about erotic fiction.”

Still, Swinwood says there’s no denying the shift in consumer attitudes catalyzed by Fifty Shades. “It opened up a lot of people’s minds to what erotica is,” she says. “It’s been a popular genre underground for a long time. We certainly weren’t the first to publish it and we won’t be the last. But [Fifty Shades] validated people who were already reading erotica, and made it more acceptable for people who were new to it.”

From the May 2013 issue of Q&Q.

Marthe Jocelyn’s fertile mind

It’s not surprising that kidlit author Marthe Jocelyn’s idea of a Florida vacation in January means attending a Key West literary seminar to learn about writing short fiction. That particular form of storytelling is, after all, one of a shrinking number of genres the prolific jack-of-all-trades hasn’t touched.

Or wait, scratch that. “My next book, the one that I’ve just handed in, started as linked short stories,” she tells me during a break from the workshop. “Then it turned into a novel. So I guess this course is a little late for me.” Maybe, but based on her track record, it’s doubtful she needed any help.

Beginning her writing career in her early forties after first working in kids’ clothing and toy design, Jocelyn has now published more than 25 books that run the full range from alphabet lessons for toddlers to novels and non-fiction for teens. The illustrated board books she collaborated on with artist Tom Slaughter (her former partner) have been translated into four languages, her decade-old picture book Hannah’s Collections is used to teach math in schools across North America, and Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril and Romance – a fictional diary of an eighth grader growing up in Stratford, Ontario, at the turn of the 20th century – was awarded the inaugural TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award in 2005.

Jocelyn uses a crafty metaphor to explain her creative breadth: “I don’t try to filter the ideas that come into my head,” she explains. “They all sit up there in a jumble, like the junk drawer in your kitchen. Sometimes, I pull out a tack. Sometimes, it’s a bundle of string.”

That description is especially apt for her latest release. Sneaky Art: Crafty Surprises to Hide in Plain Sight (Candlewick/Random House) is a guide to making guerrilla artworks from materials found around the house. Jocelyn says the project, which already has a sequel underway, was inspired by her time living in New York City among the street graffiti, the accidental “installations” of found objects on the sidewalk, and the burgeoning trend of yarn bombing. (Jocelyn is now based in Stratford full time.)

But while her productivity benefits from an open mind, it is equally due to the fact that she lets one book plant the seed for the next. Ten years ago, Jocelyn’s research into the orphanage where her grandfather was dropped off as an infant informed A Home for Foundlings (Tundra Books), a history of a London hospital that began a program to raise abandoned children in the 18th century. The book, Jocelyn’s first work of non-fiction, inspired her subsequent YA novel, Folly, published five years later, which speculated on the life and motivations of her great-grandmother. “In [Folly], I imagined what might have led her to give up her child when he was nine months old,” she explains.

The same research also led to Scribbling Women: True Tales From Astonishing Lives (Tundra), Jocelyn’s collection of brief biographies of influential but little-known women writers. While poking around the foundling hospital’s history, she came across letters from Mary Wortley Montagu, an English Lady who, while abroad in Constantinople, witnessed a technique for inoculating against smallpox that was unknown back home. “She wrote a letter about what happened, a very precise, step-by-step letter. And that single letter changed the course of medical history,” she explains. “I thought, if this single letter had such an impact, how many gazillion other letters changed the world in even small ways?”

Jocelyn’s greatest source material, however, is her two daughters, Hannah and Nell. In fact, a new genre the author recently tackled is the mother-daughter collaboration, which has spawned a pair of picture books, co-authored by Nell, for early readers: 2011’s Ones and Twos and Where Do You Look?, released in February by Tundra Books. The duo started working together after Marthe sent one of Nell’s high school projects – an abecedarian of 26 ways to die – to her publisher. Tundra wasn’t prepared to print something so edgy, but her editor encouraged the two to work together.

“She always had everything going on at once,” Nell says of her mother. “When we were younger, she used to illustrate homemade books, but also worked as a clothing designer, was a great cook, and was involved in our school.” The intense level of activity, she says, is reflected in the studio where the two work on layouts for their books. “It’s like a bar with peanut shells covering the ground, but it’s paper clippings instead. I don’t even know where the surfaces are because they’re so cluttered.”

For her part, Marthe is happy to share her chaotic studio with her daughter for as long as she can have her. “The thing about Nell is, I’m trying to get her to work with me now because she outranks me as an artist,” she says. “At some point she’ll realize she doesn’t need me.”

If that time does come, it’s unlikely to affect Jocelyn’s output. She still has new formats to master. “I would love to write an easy-to-read book – a first reader,” she says. “And I’d like to write a mystery. I’m working on a ghost story right now. And I’m collaborating on another book, a middle-­grade adventure fantasy with Richard Scrimger, a children’s book author of some renown.”

She adds: “I made a vow very early on that I would try to do something in every children’s genre. I’m two-thirds of the way there.” Whether or not she achieves the goal, that optimistic ambition has certainly been the secret to her success.

From the March 2013 issue of Q&Q.

Poetry reviews: Michael Crummey, Lorna Goodison, Anne Carson, and more

The April issue of Q&Q celebrates Poetry Month with reviews of 10 new collections.

Click on the thumbnails to read the reviews.

Susan Musgrave edits new anthology of B.C. women poets

In the introduction to Force Field: 77 Women Poets of British Columbia, Susan Musgrave, the anthology’s editor, shares a personal anecdote. Shortly before his death in 2000, Al Purdy presented Musgrave with a copy of A Book of Women Poets from Antiquity to Now. She calls the gesture “an endearingly clumsy gift.”

“I knew when he gave me that book he wasn’t going to read it,” says Musgrave by phone from her home on Haida Gwaii, where she runs the Copper Beech Guest House. (She was in the midst of making sourdough bread for her guests when I spoke to her.)

Musgrave acknowledges that Purdy, who once edited an anthology of 51 poets that included only two women, was from another generation. “It was sweet, but it was his way of saying you can kind of join the club, but as a poetess,” she says.

If Force Field is any indication, the club has opened up since Purdy’s heyday. Published in April by Salt Spring Island’s Mother Tongue Press, the anthology is the first of its kind since 1979’s two-volume D’Sonoqua: An Anthology of Women Poets of British Columbia, edited by Ingrid Klassen.

Musgrave, who claims she doesn’t often think about gender, credits Mother Tongue publisher Mona Fertig with the concept. She says the idea orginated during a discussion about anthologies, while Fertig was visiting Musgrave at Copper Beech.

Fertig says, “After 34 years I felt it was high time for another anthology of women poets, for a bird’s eye view of the force field in this province.”

An invitational call went out in 2010, resulting in an overwhelming number of submissions. Roughly 150 B.C. poets expressed interest in participating. “On Salt Spring Island alone there’s probably 77 women poets,” says Musgrave, laughing.

As a reader, Musgrave appreciates the breadth and variety of larger anthologies. “I like to look through them, discover somebody, and move on,” she says.

Organized alphabetically, Force Field recognizes established talents (such as Lorna Crozier, Marilyn Bowering, and Anne Cameron), as well as recent award winners (Griffin Poetry Prize finalist Jan Zwicky and Pat Lowther Award recipient Evelyn Lau). During the editing process, a few poets, such as Vancouver’s Rhea Tregebov, volunteered to drop out to make space for younger voices, including Joelene Heathcote and Leah Horlick, students from the University of British Columbia’s MFA program, where Musgrave is an online instructor.

Narrowing down the number of mid-range poets was where the selection process got tricky. “I feel badly because the other 77 would make up a good anthology,” she says. “We should’ve done two parts.”

As editor, Musgrave was also careful to balance poetic schools and styles, ensuring Force Field represents a broad cross-section of contemporary B.C. poetry.     “If I just chose poems that were my taste, then it would be my playlist,” she says. “[The book’s] not called Musgrave’s Favourite Poems.”

Q&A: kidlit specialist Vikki VanSickle

You would be forgiven for thinking that children’s literature specialist Vikki VanSickle must never sleep. In February, the Toronto author released Days that End in Y, the third book in her Clarissa trilogy, and she has another middle-grade novel, Summer Days, Starry Nights, due to hit shelves in June (both from Scholastic Canada). She is also a marketing specialist at Harper­Collins Canada, where she manages the company’s school outreach program.

In addition to her day job, VanSickle lectures on kidlit and writes book reviews, and is co-creator of Small Print Toronto’s Story Jams, a series of workshops for kids. Q&Q asked VanSickle about her busy career, and her view of children’s publishing in Canada.

What compels you to work so hard in kidlit? I started my M.A. in children’s literature in 2005 and have been working in the industry  in some capacity ever since. My twin passions – children and literature – dovetailed nicely into a career, and I feel lucky to play a role in so many different facets of an industry I love. When things start to compromise my writing time I scale back, but I find it difficult to turn down work that I genuinely enjoy.

How has your marketing job changed the way you promote your own work? I was involved in social media, organizing launches, and booking my own school visits before I started at HarperCollins, but now I have a much better sense of the scope of possibility in marketing and the importance of accurately representing my work to the right market.

The children’s industry has many specific niches. Media, festivals, schools, bookstores, libraries, and bloggers all have different interests and needs. It’s important to recognize this in your marketing efforts. As an author, I can relate to the all-encompassing and often tiring work of self-promotion, which I hope makes me more empathetic to the authors I work with.

What is most exciting about children’s publishing in Canada? The industry is very grants-driven, which provides some financial security and allows publishers the freedom to publish interesting, risky fiction and relevant non-fiction. Our writers are doing intriguing things, and editors are picking up on this. Canadian publishers do not need to churn out high-concept, formulaic series in order to stay afloat, which allows for greater diversity.

What’s most frustrating? The most frustrating part by far is the lack of media attention. Book coverage in general is shrinking, but the lack of children’s coverage is embarrassing in a country that produces such internationally respected children’s literature. When I was a bookseller [at the defunct Flying Dragon Bookshop in Toronto], customers came to me completely overwhelmed, with no idea where to start. In the absence of a devoted bookseller and without quality review coverage, where does the average person looking to purchase a children’s book turn?

Will ebooks be the death of traditional children’s books? More adults are discovering the pleasures of children’s books through digital formats, which is wonderful exposure for our industry. As for apps, I think they will develop into their own genre, a sort of hybrid between computer games and picture books. There are already apps and enhanced ebooks that offer an extended reading experience, much like special features on a DVD.

I think this is all good news for children’s books and literacy. Regardless of the format, we will need good content and creative design. Even as ebooks and apps become more sophisticated, I can’t imagine a time when children won’t crave the sensory, tactile experience of reading a physical book.

What is the climate in children’s publishing right now? The climate is, as always, one of cautious optimism. We are a modest industry, financially speaking. Nobody decides to work in Canadian children’s publishing for any reason but pure passion. How many other industries can say that?

Inspired reading: getting kids to engage with important books

(illustration: Byron Eggenschwiler)

Whether it’s war and poverty on the evening news or bullying in our own schools, we all wish we could protect children from life’s harsh realities. But at the same time, we want them to grow up to be well-informed, open-minded adults with an understanding of the world outside their front doors. No doubt they’ll pick up some of this information from the media, the Internet, and their friends at school, but wouldn’t it be better if we introduced them to the wider world in a supportive environment, to avoid the spread of misinformation and promote understanding?

For Linda Granfield, author of more than 20 children’s books, it’s important not to shy away from difficult topics. Her upcoming picture book, The Road to Afghanistan (due from Scholastic Canada in August), is aimed at ages seven and up, and tells the story of three generations of a family who all take part in different wars. (The book is illustrated by Brian Deines.)

“Kids won’t [choose this book on their own], but that’s why we need these materials,” says Granfield. “A kid isn’t going to pick up a book on AIDS either, but it could be part of their family story, and it’s definitely part of the community story.”

Granfield stresses the importance of having a grown-up share her books with children, as the stories inevitably lead to questions. “These difficult topics do need an adult who is sort of a go-between, who selects the material and then presents it,” she says.

Janet Wilson, whose non-fiction picture book Our Rights: How Kids Are Changing the World (Second Story Press) is coming in April, agrees this type of book should be read in a supportive setting, and acknowledges that most children won’t be drawn to them on their own. “The publisher is aware of that risk and still commits to producing these books, because they recognize the importance,” says Wilson. “I’m just so grateful that we have publishers like that in Canada.”

The Road to Afghanistan doesn’t shy away from the realities of war – Granfield mentions sleeping in trenches with rats, killing enemy soldiers, and suffering horrific injuries – but she balances those descriptions with relatable stories of hope and family bonds, and tries to convey soldiers’ motivations without introducing personal bias.

However, Granfield strives to create books that are more than simply didactic teaching tools. She’s aware kids may need some persuasion to read about war, and that’s why she believes the picture book format, combined with a story as focused on human emotion as it is on historical detail, will help hold their interest. “The language has to be very simple, so I was very careful about word selection – not in the sense of censoring, but the sound of words,” she says. “It’s very much made to be read aloud.”

Another way of attracting young readers to difficult subjects is with a charismatic young protagonist who stands up to an enemy. Such is the case with When I Was Eight (Annick Press), a picture book by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton about an Inuit girl who faces humiliation at the hands of a cruel nun at a residential school. With the Idle No More protest movement having become a prominent Canadian news story, this aspect of our country’s history – the abuse suffered by native children at residential schools – is arguably more relevant than ever to today’s kids.

“We meet many students from foreign countries who have been through some pretty rough ordeals, and they’re able to gather things from Margaret’s stories to give them strength,” says Jordan-Fenton, who wrote the book based on the personal experiences of Pokiak-Fenton, her mother-in-law. “I guess what I would most like children to know is that, even as children, they have the strength inside of them to get through anything and come out with a very positive view, as Margaret did.”

For Lana Button, an early childhood educator and author of two picture books for three- to seven-year-olds, the goal is to provide social and emotional guidance through her writing. “It’s very hard to get young children to see somebody else’s point of view, but that’s one of the duties of a picture book,” says Button. “It allows you to open up a page and show a child and say, ‘How do you think that made her feel?’ It allows children to see not just their own perspective, but their friend’s perspective as well.”

In Button’s Willow Finds a Way (the follow-­up to 2010’s Willow’s Whispers, both from Kids Can Press), the shy protagonist and her friends learn the power of the phrase “You can’t come to my birthday party!” when a girl at school lords her upcoming celebration over her classmates, leaving some feeling left out. It’s a form of social bullying, and for someone as timid as Willow, it takes a lot of courage to overcome.

The success of the first Willow book has already proven that these stories are reaching the kids who need them. After it was published, a teacher sent Button a brief letter from a young ESL student that said: “I feel like Willow. I feel invisible. I’m going to try harder to speak up.”

That, for Button, was worth more than any book review. “That was so inspiring for me,” she says. “I think socially, emotionally, if she felt connected and thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to take a deep breath and stick up for myself,’ that’s all you can ever hope for.”

With books that tackle challenging subjects, the hope is that young readers will actually enjoy reading them – that they will be good, not just good for you. Ideally, the educational element is blended into a story that is compelling, relatable, and boosted by illustrations – kind of like sneaking bits of cauliflower into your kid’s mashed potatoes.

And although the authors hope children will enjoy simply reading these books, Janet Wilson emphasizes the importance of taking it one step further. “Discussion is an important part of any book that deals with a difficult subject,” she says. “You don’t just read it and put it down like a Cinderella story – it’s the basis for a conversation.”

– From the March 2013 issue of Q&Q

Why do so many genre authors adopt pseudonyms?

Michael Redhill

This summer, Michael Redhill came clean about his secret identity. The Canadian author of the literary novels Martin Sloane and Consolation revealed that he is also Inger Ash Wolfe, creator of the three-book Hazel Micallef detective series, about a policewoman in the fictional Ontario town of Westmuir who gets involved with manhunts and mutilated corpses.

Redhill is far from being the only recent Canadian author to have adopted a pseudonym in pursuit of a divergent literary path. Sylvain Reynard’s Gabriel’s Inferno series and L. Marie Adeline’s forthcoming S.E.C.R.E.T. (the first of at least two books) – both billed as erotic thrillers in the vein of Fifty Shades of Grey – are written by Canadians whose true identities remain shrouded in mystery. And HarperCollins Canada has acquired world English-­language rights to a pair of self-published romance novels by Meadow Taylor, the pen name for two historical-fiction authors.

Writers use pen names for all sorts of reasons. Taylor’s agent, John Pearce of Westwood Creative Artists, boils it down to two primary motivations: privacy and branding. “Meadow Taylor is a pair of writers who have worked together with me on three historical novels that are, let’s say, more serious,” says Pearce. “For us, it makes sense to distinguish [romance] from their historical work, because it can get confusing to follow different genres under the same name.”

Nita Pronovost, L.M. Adeline’s editor at Doubleday Canada, says authors often use pseudonyms to draw attention away from the author and focus on the work. “I think it’s a way of letting fiction speak for itself instead of having an author who explains their creation,” she says. “It’s an opportunity to explore without the weight of expectations about what they should be writing. There’s a freedom that comes from writing under a pseudonym.”

From an author’s perspective, writing a pseudonymous book can be especially enjoyable. Before writing the first Wolfe novel (2008’s The Calling), Redhill had long flirted with the idea of an alter ego. “It simmered and then matured, and what came with it was the idea of a secret life that had its own working parts,” he says. “The longer I worked on these books, the more a weird conduit opened.”

Redhill dropped the ruse just prior to publication of the third novel in the series, A Door in the River, only because the publicity-related disadvantages had become clear: there was no author to shake hands, give readings, or smile for the cameras. He sensed it was making life more difficult for the people who worked on his alter ego’s books. “If you haven’t yet run into any publicists who hate me, you will,” he says.

Still, Lorissa Sengara, Taylor’s editor at HarperCollins Canada, acknowledges that working anonymity into a publicity plan can have short-term advantages. “There might be interest among readers in the ‘story behind the story,’” she says. “Sometimes simply the fact of a pen name is a source of fascination and can create buzz, even if that is not the original intent.”

There is, of course, an undeniable connection between certain genres and the insistence on anonymity. Perhaps the reason so many authors of thrillers, mysteries, and erotica seek anonymity is nothing more than persistent genre bias? After all, most “serious” writers would never use the words “hot” and “loin” in the same sentence unless describing braised pork.

But there’s another way to look at it. Very few people have the opportunity to try on a new persona, and even authors like to have a little fun with their work.

Redhill says that, post-disclosure, he will happily continue writing under the Wolfe name. “It expanded my frame of reference as a writer, and I realized that writing a book is difficult no matter what it is,” he says. “Every book has its own logic and internal framework and you have to show respect for every genre and its readers.”

This article appeared in the December 2012 issue of Q&Q.

Spring preview 2013: non-fiction and international titles for young people

Rumours to the contrary notwithstanding, publishing is alive and well moving into spring. In the January/February issue, Q&Q looks ahead at some of the spring’s biggest books.

Non-fiction

The April release of Pedal It! ($19.95 cl.) by Victoria author Michelle Mulder marks the introduction of Footprints, a new series on environmental issues from Orca. The book looks at how bicycles can make the world a better place. • Athletic kids will love Weird Zone: Sports (Owlkids, $22.95 cl., $13.95 pa., April), in which former OWL magazine managing editor Maria Birmingham relays interesting facts about zany sporting activities, with the help of illustrations by Jamie Bennett. • For those looking to try something out of their comfort zones, Inhabit Media presents Games of Survival: Traditional Inuit Games for Elementary Students, ($12.95 pa., March), in which arctic athlete Johnny Issaluk and photographer Ed Maruyama provide instruction for traditional Inuit activities used to teach kids survival skills for Northern climes.

From Rona Arato comes the harrowing true story of how brothers Paul and Oscar Arato and their mother survived the Second World War. The Last Train: A Holocaust Story (Owlkids, $16.95 cl.) will be published in March. • Until his recent retirement, Ken Setterington was the first Children and Youth Advocate for Library Services for the Toronto Public Library. His new book, What Is the Pink Triangle? (Second Story, $15.95 pa., April), informs readers about the persecution of gays and lesbians by Nazis during and following the Holocaust. • Toronto social worker Steven Solomon explains the ramifications of using put-downs and other homophobic language in Homophobia: Deal with It and Turn Prejudice into Pride (Lorimer, $24.95 cl., $12. 95 pa., April).

Zoocheck Canada founder Rob Laidlaw tugs on animal lovers’ heartstrings with Saving Lives and Changing Hearts: Animal Sanctuaries and Rescue Centres (Fitzhenry & Whiteside $19.95 cl., Jan.), in which he explores efforts to improve the lives of animals around the world. • Budding entomologists will be drawn like moths to a flame to a pair of titles by Chris G. Earley. Caterpillars: Find, Identify, Raise Your Own ($19.95 cl., $6.95 pa.) and Dragonflies: Hunting, Identifying, How and Where They Live ($19.95 cl., $6.95 pa.) will both be released by Firefly Books in March.

Neil Flambé creator Kevin Sylvester teams up with fellow CBC personality Michael Hlinka to track what happens to hard-earned cash after it’s handed over to a cashier in Follow Your Money: Who Gets It, Who Spends It, Where Does It Go? (Annick, $24.95 cl., $14.95 pa., Feb.). Presumably, the authors hope some of it comes back to them after you buy the book.

International

Irish writer John Boyne tells of The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket (Doubleday Canada, $19.95 cl., Jan), in which our hero has problems staying Earth-bound. Oliver Jeffers, no stranger to whimsical predicaments in his own books, provides spot illustrations for the novel.

From Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler* – the creative team behind The Gruffalo – comes The Highway Rat (Scholastic $18.99 cl., March), about a snack-stealing rodent. • Renowned Brazilian children’s author Ana Maria Machado adds another title to her vast cannon with What a Party! (Groundwood, $18.95 cl., March), in which a pre-birthday fête gets a bit out of hand. Parisian illustrator Hélène Moreau provides the visuals. • The adventures of a girl and her amphibious pal continue in the graphic novel Anna and Froga: I Dunno, What Do You Want to Do? (Drawn & Quarterly, $14.95 cl., June) by Anouk Richard.

From The Secret Mountain comes a storybook and CD combo that explores how birds have influenced music throughout history. Classical pianist Ana Gerhard contributes text to Listen to the Birds ($22.95 cl., May), illustrated by Cecilia Varela, which accompanies the CD of 20 recordings by the London Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Chamber Orchestra, and more.

Q&Q’s spring preview covers books published between Jan. 1 and June 31, 2013. • All information (titles, prices, publication dates, etc.) was supplied by publishers and may have been tentative at Q&Q’s press time. • Titles that have been listed in previous previews do not appear here.

*Correction Jan. 17: In the print and an earlier online version of this story Axel Scheffler’s name is spelled incorrectly.

Spring preview 2013: fiction and picture books for young people

Rumours to the contrary notwithstanding, publishing is alive and well moving into spring. In the January/February issue, Q&Q looks ahead at some of the spring’s biggest books.

Fiction

Judging by the titles coming out this spring, dystopian fiction may be finally releasing its death grip on the world of YA publishing. Fantasy (urban, historically inspired, or otherwise), old-fashioned narrative fiction, and coming-of-age and issue-driven stories are represented in a big way. Which isn’t to say we won’t be seeing more tales of post-apocalyptic mayhem, just maybe we’re ready to focus on something else for a while.

Leading the pack of highly anticipated releases is Lesley Livingston’s tongue-twistingly titled Every Never After (Razorbill Canada, $15 pa., March). In the follow-up to 2011’s Once Every Never, Al finds herself “shimmering” back in time after touching a skull at an archeological dig in Glastonbury Tor, and ends up getting caught in the middle of a battle between Roman soldiers and rampaging Celts. Best-friend Clare and new beau Milo race against the clock to get Clare back to the here and now before it’s too late – or, wait … maybe that should be too soon?

Hunted by two powerful Cabals, Maya and her friends are quickly running out of places to hide, and their powers are getting harder to control, in The Rising (Doubleday Canada, $19.99 cl., April), the final entry in the Darkness Rising trilogy by horror-­fantasy master Kelley Armstrong. • Journalist-turned-poet-turned-author Michelle Barker’s dark debut fantasy novel is The Beggar King (Thistledown Press, $15.95 pa., March). To save his mother and other political prisoners in the lands of Katir-Cir from the clutches of the invading Brinnian forces, 14-year-old Jordon must learn to master the “undermagic” that has long been hidden because of its dangerous unpredictability.

Kidlit multi-tasker Vikki VanSickle wraps up her debut trilogy with Days that End in Y (Scholastic Canada, $8.99 pa., Feb.), in which Clarissa’s feeling of abandonment by her buddies is only intensified when her mother announces she’s getting remarried. Clarissa embarks on a search for answers about her absentee father, but discovers her mom’s teenage secrets in the process. • Truths I Learned from Sam (Dundurn Press, $12.99 pa., March), from veteran B.C. author Kristen Butcher, follows the up-and-down summer of 17-year-old Dani after being shipped off to a town she’s never heard of to stay with an uncle she’s never met while her mom and new stepfather jet off on a European honeymoon.

A spate of books arriving this season will tackle heavy topics, from bullying to sexual abuse to physical and mental disability. From Lorimer’s Sidestreets series comes Touch ($9.95 pa., April), by Calgary writer Kim Firmston, which tells the story of Ethan, whose attempt to impress his IT security dad by creating a computer virus goes horribly wrong when he hacks into his father’s computer and discovers evidence backing up his stepsister’s claims of abuse. • In Shadow Girl (Tundra Books, $12.99 pa., Feb.), debut author Patricia Morrison tells the story of a young girl who, left to fend for herself by neglectful parents, spends days on end at the mall until an observant saleswoman intervenes, providing the girl with a real home and sense of self worth. • Told entirely through dialogue, The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley (Great Plains Publications, $14.95 pa., Feb.) by Jan Andrews is about a boy who becomes so frustrated with being shuffled from one foster home to another that he stops speaking. • Fostergirls author Liane Shaw brings readers The Color of Silence (Second Story Press, $11.95 pa., March), the tale of a troubled 17-year-old girl named Alex who is sentenced to community service and meets a young woman whose active mind is trapped in a body she can’t control.

Sharon E. McKay has built a career writing the kinds of books that take readers by the shoulders and give them a shake. In February, the PEI-based author will release a graphic novel adaptation of her 2009 Arthur Ellis Award–winning novel, War Brothers (Annick Press $24.95 cl., $14.95 pa.). The new edition, illustrated by cartoonist Daniel Lafrance, follows a 14-year-old Ugandan boy who is abducted and forced to become a child soldier in Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army.

Set in a Nova Scotia coal-mining town in the 1960s, The Power of Harmony ($12.95 pa.) tells the story of Jennifer, who is taunted by school bullies until a native girl transferred from a recently closed residential school becomes their primary target. Red Deer Press will release the middle-grade novel by Jan L. Coates in May. • Caroline Adderson showcases her subtle hilarity in Jasper John Dooley: Left Behind (Kids Can Press, $16.95 cl.), in which our hero discovers that every day is an adventure. Ben Clanton provides spot illustrations in this second instalment of the series, due in March. • From Simon & Schuster comes The Awesome, Almost 100% True Adventures of Matt & Craz ($18.99 cl., April) by former Disney Channel and Nickleodeon screenwriter Alan Silberberg. In this novel with cartoon-like spot illustrations, best buds and avid cartoonists Matt and Craz discover a magical pen that brings whatever they draw to life. Not surprisingly, zany shenanigans ensue. • In a fantastical tale from the multi-talented Cary Fagan, a boy finds himself trapped at the bottom of a construction pit that he must find his way out of with only his backpack, his wits, and a poetry-­reciting mole for assistance. Oh, and there’s a snake down there, too, but he’s not overly helpful. Danny, Who Fell in a Hole (Groundwood Books, $16.95, cl.) ships in April.

Debut author S.M. Beiko presents the story of 16-year-old Ash, who discovers more than books in the library of a mysterious condemned building on the outskirts of town. In The Lake and the Library (ECW Press, $14.95 pa., May), a charming mute named Li resides in the library, and Ash must choose between him or getting back to her own reality. • In The Metro Dogs of Moscow (Puffin Canada, $12.99 pa., Jan.), embassy dog JR (short for Jack Russell) explores the Russian capital while his human performs diplomatic duties, and uncovers a mystery involving disappearing dogs along the way. Author Rachelle Delaney works as a writer and editor for the David Suzuki Foundation when she’s not writing novels.

Hannah and the Salish Sea (Ronsdale Press, $11.95 pa., Feb.), the second instalment of Carol Anne Shaw’s series, sees Hannah investigating poachers with her friend Max and a Métis girl named Izzy Tate, who bears a striking resemblance to the Cowichan girl Hannah met two years before. • Family tragedy, misogyny, bullying, racism, and high school football play central roles in Living with the Hawk (Thistledown, $15.95 pa., March) by Saskatchewan author Robert Currie.

Maxine Trottier’s contribution to Scholastic’s I Am Canada series is Storm the Fortress: The Siege of Quebec, William Jenkins, New France, 1759 ($14.99 cl., Feb.). In the book, a 14-year-old boy signs up to serve on a warship during the Seven Years’ War in a story that culminates in the battle of the Plains of Abraham. • The second instalment of Patrick Bowman’s Odyssey of a Slave trilogy is Cursed by the Sea God (Ronsdale, $11.95, pa., Feb.), in which Homer’s classic is reimagined from the point of view of a young Trojan boy captured by Odysseus after the fall of Troy.

Beth Goobie tells the story of Meredith, whose quest to claim the “cool” seat in her grade 10 homeroom puts her in the bad books of the school’s “kingpin of the underworld,” a guy known for holding a grudge. The Throne (Red Deer, $12.95 pa.) lands in May. • In Vancouver author Shelley Hrdlitsckha’s Allegra (Orca Book Publishers, $12.95 pa., April), a dancer thinks attending a performing-arts high school will change her life for the better. But the pitfalls of teendom still reign, and Allegra finds unlikely refuge in a music theory class – and her young, good-looking teacher. • In The Fall, (Great Plains, $14.95 pa., March) by Colleen Nelson, three boys choose vastly different methods of coping when their friend dies in a tragic accident. • Three O’Clock Press will publish the debut novel by Suzanne Sutherland in April. When We Were Good ($14.95 pa.) tells the story of a high school senior who embarks on a journey of self-discovery that leads her to explore the underground music scene in Toronto.

Picture Books

Inhabit Media introduces a new imprint this season called Inhabit Community, which celebrates the cooperation of the Inuit community in the publishing process. The first book released under the label is Nala’s Magical Mitsiaq ($10.95 pa., May), illustrated by Qin Leng. The story, based on the experiences of author Jennifer Noah, tells of Nala and Qiatsuk, who become sisters through Inuit custom adoption – a traditional practice that sees Nunavut families place children with adoptive parents within their own community. • Known for her free-verse YA novels, Alma Fullerton moves further into picture book territory with the publication of Community Soup (Pajama Press, $19.95 cl., May), about Kenyan children who must fend off a herd of goats to gather the vegetables they need to make soup.

The reptiles in veteran author Hazel Hutchin’s What the Snakes Wrote (Annick Press, $21.95 cl., $9.95 pa., Feb.) enlist a dog to help them save their farmyard home. Tina Holdcroft illustrates • Here’s hoping there aren’t any slithery creatures around when Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping (Kids Can, $16.95 cl., April), Mélanie Watt’s latest in the popular franchise.

Barbara Reid has received every major Canadian children’s book award over the course of her prestigious career. So, you know, her new board book, Welcome, Baby (Scholastic Canada, $9.99, Feb.), might also find a receptive audience. • Author Hélène Boudreau issues a challenge to readers in her first picture book, I Dare You Not to Yawn (Candlewick/Random House, $18 cl.), a fun, frolicking bedtime read that lands in March. • Dan Bar-el takes a more subdued approach to bedtime in his poetic ode to sleepiness, Illustrated by Vancouver’s Kirsti Anne Wakelin, Dream Boats (Simply Read Books $19.95 cl.) docks in May.

Current “it boy” Jon Klassen illustrates the new Lemony Snicket book, The Dark (HarperCollins, $19.99 cl., April), in which a young boy named Lazlo is forced to face his biggest fear when his nightlight burns out. • Mr. Flux (Kids Can, $18.95 cl., April) sounds like a book Mr. Snicket would approve of. Once again drawing inspiration from an unlikely source, author Kyo Maclear bases her tongue-in-cheek tale, illustrated by Matte Stephens, on the 1960s art movement known as Fluxus.

Stephanie McClellan’s Hoogie in the Middle (Pajama Press, $17.95 cl.) is about an adorable monster who isn’t big like her sister Pumpkin or tiny like her brother Tweazle, but thanks to her mom and dad she discovers being in between might not be so bad after all. The book, illustrated by Dean Griffiths, comes out in April.

For the littlest bibliophiles, Tundra has the second and third board books in a series by author J. Torres and illustrator J. Lum coming in May. The black-and-white colour scheme of Checkers and Dot at the Beach and Checkers and Dot on the Farm ($8.99) should hold great appeal for babies. • Richard Van Camp’s Little You (Orca, $9.95, April) is a delightful board book that celebrates the child within us all. Julie Flett illustrates.

There’s a party going on in Newfoundland, and author Gerald Mercer asks, What’s Going on at the Time Tonight? (Nimbus Publishing, $19.95 cl., April). Bookish Jill-of-all-trades Holly DeWolf illustrates the rollicking rhyme about a “time” (or party) with an underwater setting that sees jellyfish and sea lice having a ball. Yup, partying sea lice. • Diana Bonder takes her readers on a musical underwater alphabet adventure in A, B, Sea (Whitecap Books, $19.95 cl., May). • Mother and daughter team Marthe Jocelyn and Nell Jocelyn play with words and images, using detailed collage illustrations to spark interest in Where Do You Look? (Tundra, $17.99 cl., Feb.).

Q&Q’s spring preview covers books published between Jan. 1 and June 31, 2013. • All information (titles, prices, publication dates, etc.) was supplied by publishers and may have been tentative at Q&Q’s press time. • Titles that have been listed in previous previews do not appear here.

Spring preview 2013: Canadian non-fiction, part one

Rumours to the contrary notwithstanding, publishing is alive and well moving into spring. In the January/February issue, Q&Q looks ahead at some of the spring’s biggest books.

Memoir & Biography

Readers of Laurie Lewis’s previous memoir, Little Comrades, followed the author – who went on to have a successful career as a book designer – from her childhood in Western Canada to New York City. The follow-up, Love, and All that Jazz (The Porcupine’s Quill, $22.95 pa., June), describes her brief first marriage and remarriage to a man whose drug addiction (fuelled by his involvement in the 1950s jazz scene) forced her return to Canada.

There have been many memoirs describing the experience of coming out as gay, but few have dealt with what it’s like to be raised by a gay parent. Vancouver author Alison Wearing does just that in Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter: Growing Up with a Gay Dad (Knopf Canada, $24 pa., May), which originated as a one-woman show. • Men write about the loss of their fathers – from divorce, death, or emotional abandonment – in Lonely Boy: Stories About Sons and Fathers (Cormorant Books, $23 pa., June), a collection edited by journalist Carla Maria Luchetta and including pieces by David Miller, RM Vaughan, Tim Falconer, and JJ Lee.

Poet Priscila Uppal hadn’t seen her estranged mother for two decades when they spent 10 days together in Brazil. Despite discovering a shared passion for cinema, the reunion wasn’t as happy as the author would have liked. Uppal describes the intensely emotional experience in Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother (Thomas Allen Publishers, $24.95 pa., March). • A bestseller in Quebec, Lise Dion’s Secret of the Blue Trunk (Dundurn Press, $21.99 pa., Feb.) tells the life story of the author’s mother, a former nun who spent the Second World War in a German concentration camp.

Author and adventurer Jay Ruzesky follows in the footsteps of Roald Amundsen (a distant relation) and other explorers in his new book, In Antarctica: A Pilgrimage (Nightwood Editions, $28.95 pa., Feb.), which interweaves historical narratives with the author’s own insights on journeys to Canada, Norway, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. • In The Truth About Luck: What I Learned on My Road Trip with Grandma (House of Anansi Press, $22.95 pa., March), Iain Reid didn’t exactly hit the road when his 92-year-old grandmother came to stay with him in Kingston, Ontario. Instead, the author of One Bird’s Choice ended up going on a journey of a different sort, learning about his grandma’s inspiring life story and picking up some wisdom along the way.

Helen Humphreys is the well-regarded author of the novels Coventry and Afterimage. In Nocturne: On the Life and Death of My Brother (HarperCollins Canada, $24.99 cl., March), she writes about suddenly losing her brother to cancer when he was just 45.

Amber Dawn has developed something of a cult following as a filmmaker and for her Lambda Literary Award–winning first novel, Sub Rosa (2010). Her follow-up, How Poetry Saved My Life (Arsenal Pulp Press, $15.95 pa., April), uses poetry and prose to examine her experiences as a sex worker on the streets of Vancouver.

Canadian collectors are likely familiar with the name David Mason, an antiquarian bookseller who has maintained a shop in downtown Toronto since 1967. The Pope’s Bookbinder (Biblioasis, $37.95 cl., April), which includes personal anecdotes involving subjects as diverse as William Burroughs and Pope John XXIII, is billed as “a must-read memoir for Beat buffs and bibliophiles.” • Both Hands: A Life of Lorne Pierce of Ryerson Press (McGill-Queen’s University Press, $49.95 cl., May), by Carleton University instructor Sandra Campbell, tells the story of a man who, as the driving force behind Ryerson Press from 1920 to 1960, once described his editorial desk as “an altar at which I serve – the entire cultural life of Canada.”

Politics & current affairs

As the former China correspondent for CBC and Radio-Canada, Michel Cormier witnessed first-hand the struggle for human rights and freedoms within the country. The Legacy of Tiananmen Square (Goose Lane Editions, $29.95 cl., April) takes an historical approach, chronicling the many failed attempts to bring democracy to China over the past century.

In 2012, the CBC dealt with significant budget cuts, but Wade Rowland argues the biggest challenges facing the national broadcaster are still to come. In Saving the CBC: Balancing Profit and Public Service (or Solving the Public/­Private Conundrum) ($14.95 pa., $12.95 ebook, May), Rowland charts a new course for the Mother Corp, laying out his argument in a slim, 80-page volume from Linda Leith Publishing.

Acclaimed journalist Sally Armstrong travels from Africa to Asia to explore the plight of women around the world who are fighting to gain control over their lives and their bodies. But Ascent of Women (Random House Canada, $32 cl., March) also offers hope, arguing that empowering women is key to social and economic justice.

Whatever Happened to the Music Teacher? (MQUP, $34.95 cl., March) is not a book-length answer to the seemingly innocuous question in the title. Rather it examines how policy decisions are made by government and how the role of public servants is evolving, as described by Donald J. Savoie, who holds the Canada Research Chair in public administration.

Julie Devaney scored a Q&Q Book of the Year nod for 2012’s My Leaky Body, about her experience negotiating the Canadian health-care system as a patient. She’s back this season as co-editor, with Dave Molenhuis, of Mess (Tightrope Books), an anthology of hospital-themed writing. • After the Error: Speaking Out About Patient Safety to Save Lives (ECW Press, $19.95 pa., April), by Susan McIver and Robin Wyndham, collects true stories about the causes of medical errors – responsible for an estimated 24,000 Canadian deaths each year – and what we can do to fix them.

Child soldiers in Northern Uganda became a cause célèbre when the Kony 2012 video went viral, but abuses in the region continue. In Child to Soldier (University of Toronto Press, $24.95 pa., March), Toronto-based educator and broadcaster Opiyo Oloya examines how children in warlord Joseph Kony’s infamous Lord’s Resistance Army have been socialized into violence. • The Lucky Ones: African Refugees’ Stories of Extraordinary Courage (Great Plains Publications, April) collects first-hand stories of African refugees who have settled in Manitoba. The volume was compiled by Anne Mahon, a board member of Humankind International.

Good food is not only the domain of fine dining and celebrity chefs – it can also be a tool for social activism. At least that’s the argument of Nick Saul, who as executive director of Toronto’s The Stop transformed an inner-city food bank into an internationally recognized “community food centre” complete with gardens, greenhouses, and farmers’ markets. Saul makes his case in The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement (Random House Canada, $29.95 cl., March), written with Andrea Curtis.

Science & environment

As a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Lee Smolin is on the front lines of scientific discovery. The U.S.-born physicist – a noted critic of string theory – also happens to be a leading popularizer of the latest theories about the origins of the cosmos. He brings readers up to date with Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe (Knopf Canada, $29.95 cl., April).

In The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be (Random House Canada, $29.95 cl., May), Vancouver journalist J.B. MacKinnon – perhaps best known as co-author of The 100 Mile Diet – meditates on the wonder found in nature, and calls on readers to rekindle their passion for the natural world. • Novelist George Szanto has long found inspiration in nature. In his memoir, Bog Tender: Coming Home to Nature and Memory (Brindle & Glass, $19.95 pa., March), the author reflects on his creative process and the sanctuary he has discover at his B.C. writing studio, which is situated on a bog. • In Spirit Animals: The Wisdom of Nature (Eschia Books, $18.95 pa., Jan.), Edmonton novelist Wayne Arthurson writes about the tradition of spirit animals in native culture.

How do you get readers excited about a book about, well, crap? A tongue-in-cheek title sure helps. According to the marketing material, in The Origin of Feces: What Excrement Tells Us About Evolution, Ecology, and a Sustainable Society (ECW, $16.95 pa., May), veterinarian and epidemiologist David Waltner-Toews “makes a compelling argument for a deeper understanding of human and animal waste.”

Residents of the Kirkland Lake region of Northern Ontario were understandably upset by a proposal to ship Toronto’s garbage to the remote community and dispose of it in an abandoned mine. The Watershed: The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War (Between the Lines, $24.95 pa., Feb.) explores the grassroots movement to shut down the mine, as detailed by author and NDP MP Charlie Angus, who cut his teeth in politics protesting the project.

Whether you live in the eastern or western half of the country, Dorling Kindersley has you covered with Birds of Eastern Canada and Birds of Western Canada (both $22.95 pa., April) by the appropriately named ornithologist David M. Bird.

Q&Q’s spring preview covers books published between Jan. 1 and June 31, 2013. • All information (titles, prices, publication dates, etc.) was supplied by publishers and may have been tentative at Q&Q’s press time. • Titles that have been listed in previous previews do not appear here.