Showing posts with label Kenneth Oppel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kenneth Oppel. Show all posts

Monday, 30 June 2014

Spend Canada Day With a Great Canadian Author

My official list is much too long to include in this blog, but here is a random sampling of my favorite Canadian authors. There's a genre for every mood. Happy reading!

The Republic of Love by Carol Shields

A contemporary story told in two alternating points of view that proves no matter how willing you are to believe the opposite, there is such a thing as love at first sight.

goodreads.com



An Audience of Chairs by Joan Clark

Hilarious and heart breaking at the same time. A mother mourns for the two daughters she lost as a young woman.

Through a series of flashbacks, we learn about the devastating effects of Moranna’s mental illness on her life and that of her family. But An Audience of Chairs also gives us a glimpse into the mind of a true iconoclast and wild spirit, who has managed despite overwhelming odds to keep hope alive.—Goodreads

goodreads.com

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Pluto's Ghost by Sheree Fitch

A male point of view love story/tragedy/mystery with a voice so authentic it reads like a diary.

Jake Upshore has loved Skye Derucci since before he can remember. Volatile, complex and frustrated (he's got a label disorder from all the labels he's been given) at the best of times, Jake's on a desperate quest to find Skye before she aborts the baby he believes is his. As he hurtles headlong toward certain tragedy, Jake relives the fatal choices he's made and the powerful forces that have led him to this to end. A gripping thriller and a heart-wrenching love story, Pluto's Ghost is a raw and powerful novel about anger, escape, and redemptive love.—Goodreads

goodreads.com



The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

A badly disfigured burn victim is visited in the hospital by another patient—a woman from the psychiatric wing. She tells him they were lovers in a past life, and so begins the epic love story of how they've met again after centuries.

goodreads.com


The Sisters Brothers by Partick deWitt

This book proves you CAN judge a book by its cover. This is one fabulous Western romp.


goodreads.com



Random Passage by Bernice Morgan

A pregnant stow away, an English family forced to escape to another land to save a thieving brother, a holy man, a murderer, and a young girl who starts a diary detailing all their secrets and miseries as they struggle to build a new life on the inhospitable shores of Newfoundland.

goodreads.com


February by Lisa Moore


In 1982, the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank off the coast of Newfoundland during a Valentine's Day storm. All eighty-four men aboard died. February is the story of Helen O'Mara, one of those left behind.—Goodreads 



goodreads.com



The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro

Of course you're going to read this. *cough* Nobel Prize *cough*


goodreads.com



The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy


Plunged into an alien landscape, readers orient themselves in elephant time, elephant space, and elephant consciousness, and begin to feel, as Gowdy puts it, what it would be like to be that big and gentle, to be that imperiled, and to have that prodigious memory.—Goodreads


goodreads.com



The Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein and inseparable until Konrad falls gravely ill. In the forbidden Dark Library, Victor finds an ancient formula, and seeks an alchemist to recreate the Elixir of Life.—Goodreads



goodreads.com




What books will you be reading this holiday?







Wednesday, 21 December 2011

Trailer Trash

A book trailer can be a great way to promote your upcoming novel in a flashy, mini preview. Think of it as a query letter with pictures and music. And like a good query letter, your book trailer should answer the three C's; character, conflict, and crisis. However, I've noticed a lot of trailers are full of gorgeous imagery and music, but leave me scratching my head as to what the story is about.

If you're thinking about making a book trailer, consider the following advice.

1. Whatever makes your story/character unique should be showcased. Avoid ambiguous statements like, "a true love so strong she'd die for him." This tells me nothing. It should be SPECIFIC. You need to make your book stand out from the other, "a-true-love-so-strong-she'd-die-for-him" stories. 

2. Make sure the music compliments the storyline. If you wrote a contemporary, coming of age novel, the theme from Halloween probably isn't the best match.

3. SPELL CHECK. I'm not kidding. And the only reason this is here is because someone didn't SPELL CHECK before they posted their trailer.

4. Keep it simple and concise. The most enjoyable trailers are less than two minutes.

5. End with the title in bold so it's the last thing the viewer sees, and remembers.

Check out the the two trailers below. They were so AWESOME, I bought the books the next day.





What are some of your favorite trailers?

Cheers!
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