GIVEAWAY TO WIN all 6 books in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series!

ENTER THE 49th Shelf GIVEAWAY! WIN ALL SIX BOOKS!

Enter the 49th Shelf GIVEAWAY to win all 6 books in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series including brand new QUINN AND THE QUIET, QUIET, out September 21/2019. 

There are two sets of the books to be won and the contest ENDS Sept 27, so don't wait. 

ENTER THE CONTEST: 49th Teachers Giveaway, Weird Stories Gone Wrong
Thanks to Dundurn Press for supplying the books; thanks to 49thShelf for running the contest.

AND, here are a few pictures from the book launch for Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet, and a reading at the Hamilton SuperCrawl from this past weekend, so fun and many thanks to Indigo Yonge & Eglinton and publisher Wolsak and Wynn for the festivities:

World Premier reading at the
Author's tent, Hamilton SuperCrawl
Thanks to Author E. L. Chen for the photo
and to Wolsak and Wynn for hosting!

Me with pals at Indigo Yonge/Eglinton launch!

Free Teacher's Guide for OCULUM

Q6. Grannie can remember Cambridge and the boys’ choir there. How old does that make Grannie? How far in the future must we be? (38)

Q10. Who built Oculum? (94)

Q14. Why does Miranda1 call the dogs Caliban and Ariel? What is she referencing? (171)

OCULUM has a wonderful new Teacher's Guide from the publisher, Dancing Cat Books! For grades 6-9, the guide develops language and critical thinking skills, plus offers ideas for further study and activities.

FREE GUIDE: OCULUM Teacher's Guide

Quill & Quire Review
Goodreads Reviews   
More about OCULUM on this BLOG






ANSWERS from the author:
A: Q6, I imagined that Grannie could be between 50-75 years old. She could have heard about Cambridge and its famous boy's choir from adults as a young girl or adult. This story is therefore @60-100 years in the future.
A: Q10, The Olden Begones built OCULUM.
A: Q14, Miranda1 is referencing her favourite story in the WillBook, which is Shakespeare's The Tempest. 

Happy U.S. Book Birthday to OCULUM, love, death and peaches

Oculum, cover by Emma Dolan

"May the sun shine, may the sweet rain fall and the fruit trees blossom once again." Then she mumbles under her breath, "What I wouldn't give for a peach."
--Oculum, Dancing Cat Books, Sept/2018

Those words are spoken by Grannie, the older woman who manages to keep all the boys in her village fed and clothed after the fall of civilization, in my new middle grade dystopia, Oculum.

Peaches, along with all the other fruit bearing trees, are long gone due to an environmental disaster 70 years (or so) earlier. Of course, there ARE peaches in the story, but they are just for the lucky few living in the domed world of Oculum.

The cover of the book shows Mother of Miranda1, a robot mother, holding out a peach.

It's peach season in Ontario right now. My daughter and her boyfriend brought me a carton of fresh Niagara peaches for my birthday dinner this week. We devoured them, they're delicious, sweet and perfect. And they're also a perfect symbol of what we stand to lose in this world if we completely tank the planet.

As I ate a peach this morning, I tried to imagine a world without them. Then realized I didn't want to.

There are other things missing in Oculum. Inside the dome, there is no talk of love and no one has ever died or grieved for a loved one, because all the children are under the age of 13, and their "adults" are all robots. But the children grow up ... and love blooms anyway.

Just like peaches.

And death is unavoidable, inside the domed world and out.

Does Grannie get her peach? Give Oculum a read, and find out!

Happy U.S. book birthday to Oculum, which is available in the U.S. tomorrow, September 1/2018. Buy a copy now: OCULUM

Quill & Quire loved it, here is their review: OCULUM

Also Highly Recommended by CM Magazine, Oculum Review

Goodreads Reviews

More about OCULUM on THIS BLOG

OCULUM at the Chiaroscuro Reading Series, June 20th

It's Official! I'm reading from my new middle-grade dystopia, OCULUM, for the first time at the Chiaroscuro Reading Series in June.

Where: The Round Venue, 152a Augusta Ave, Kensington Market (Toronto)

When: Wednesday, June 20, 8:00-11:59

Website & More Info: Chiaroscuro Reading Series

I'll be joining fellow dystopian authors Kate Blair and Adrienne Kress that night, so please join us for a wonderful evening of reading and contemplating the future of humanity. Hope to see you there!

Bakka/Phoenix Booksellers will sell books during the event.

Read the first reviews of OCULUM:
CM Magazine, Highly Recommended
Goodreads

Mother of Miranda1 holding a peach for Mother's Day...

Mother of Miranda1 holding a peach ...
Cover Illustration by Emma Dolan

My new middle grade dystopia, OCULUM, has been arriving in bookstores and libraries all month! 

Since it IS Mother's Day weekend and the book tells the story of two sets of children and their Mothers (one set of Mothers are robots) both inside and outside the perfect, domed world of OCULUM, here are a few pertinent words from the Acknowledgements Page:

"This book began as a weird, vivid dream, in which mechanical arms tucked a human child into bed. I’m not sure whose arms they were (or whose child), but I did take inspiration for the Mothers in this story from parenting my own children, Sarah and Ben. Thank you to them for our bedtime ritual which always ended with a little extra tucking before the lights went out.

I’d like to acknowledge that the character of Grannie in this story is inspired by the heroic feats of grandmothers the world over, raising the next generation of children orphaned by AIDS, war, addiction or in the case of this book, the end of the world. I’ve also taken much inspiration from my lifelong friend Sarah, to whom this book is dedicated, who has fostered, adopted and supported many, many children over the years, all who needed loving arms."

Mothers come in many forms, I think, even robot form. In the case of this story, one of the main characters outside the dome of OCULUM is a 12-year-old boy named Mann, who happily carries the family's baby on their journey through their ruined world (and doesn't mind changing a diaper here and there, either). 

We all need loving arms from time to time, be they human or robot. Hug back and Happy Mother's Day 2018!

Oculum is available everywhere
Put your copy on hold at Toronto Public Library
Visit the Publisher's Website for Media Copies and more
More about Oculum on THIS BLOG

OCULUM, coming Spring 2018!

COMING SPRING 2018 from
Dancing Cat Books | PRE-ORDER NOW

Introducing OCULUM, my new middle-grade dystopia, coming from Dancing Cat Books, April 2018. 
Here's the back cover copy:

“William, you cannot go out that door. You have no idea what’s out there. If there IS anything out there!”

So says Miranda1 to William1 in their perfect, domed world of Oculum. They are the oldest children of the one thousand chosen, raised by robot Mothers, taught to read, write and tend the fruit trees, but in a closed world without love or freedom.

Then one day, William1 finds a hidden door. What awaits Outside?

A destroyed ancient city of rubble, where orphaned children like Mann and Cranker live rough with only Grannie to feed and protect them. It’s a world without beauty or fruit trees, plagued with death and hunger.

But change is coming, if only Miranda1 and William1 can find the way out of Oculum …"

New author photo! No one LIKES taking author photos,
I don't think, but this one is OK. 

Oculum is available SPRING 2018 
For Media and Preview Copy Contact 
ORDER a copy now