Kevin

6th Anniversary of the Release of THE CAMINO CLUB!

Today is the anniversary of the release of my most successful novel, THE CAMINO CLUB.

I was obsessed with this story when I walked the Camino de Santiago back in May of 2014. I began my pilgrimage on the Camino with the kernel of an idea. I wanted to create an homage to THE BREAKFAST CLUB, but I wanted it to be fresh. Instead of a Saturday in the school library, make it a couple of weeks walking across Spain. Instead of a fully straight white cast, make it gay and diverse. I walked with these 6 characters I created in my head, and I breathed life into them with every footstep.

It was my first time walking the Camino de Santiago. I did not know what to expect, so I went with my good friend, SUE KENNEY. She had, by then, been organizing yearly group pilgrimages on a portion of the Camino. I thought I would try it on for size…to see if the Camino was really my thing.

Sue Kenney, walking into Monte de Gozo…MOUNT OF JOY! May, 2014. Sue was my intro to the Camino de Santiago. It was the greatest gift she ever gave me.

Spoiler Alert! The Camino, as it turned out, was definitely my thing. It has since become a part of my identity. I actually dream of organizing groups of my own to do a portion of the Camino…but as a group of writers, writing and sharing our words along the way. I can envision this, but I do not, as of yet, have the bandwidth for such an endeavour. Never say never, though.

I walked that first Camino–from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela–with my characters in mind. I built the story up along the way. This is the first time a novel came to me in this way. I didn’t write anything down, apart from a few point form notes, but I felt like it was forming in stone with every step I took.

I finished The Camino Club circa 2017/18/19…depending on what you call finished. There were tinkerings and rewrites and edits.

It was released on this day in 2020. October 6th! By Duet Books, the YA imprint of the LGBTQ+ publisher Interlude Press. Interlude was later bought by Chicago Review Press…which is why THE CAMINO CLUB‘s home is now Chicago Review Press. It’s been on a journey.

You can pick up a copy of THE CAMINO CLUB wherever books are sold! Or give your local library a shot. At last count, it was in over 3,000 libraries across North America.

I LOVE this book! I know you’re not supposed to have favourites, but of my 9 novels this is my favourite. I think because of the way it evolved…and because of the journey I went on to research it and bring it into being. The Camino de Santiago is a magical place that I want to share with EVERYONE. That’s why I wrote about it. If ONE SINGLE PERSON reads the novel and puts the Camino on their bucketlist, that’s enough for me!

Here’s the synopsis:

THE CAMINO CLUB (Duet Books/Chicago Review Press) – After getting in trouble with the law, six wayward teens are given an ultimatum: serve time in juvenile detention for their crimes, or walk the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across Spain over the summer holidays with a pair of court-appointed counselor guides. When it becomes clear the long walk isn’t really all that much of an option, they set out on a journey that will either make or break who they are and who they are to become.

The Camino Club was a SILVER WINNER in the Teen Fiction category of the 33rd Annual IBPA Benjamin Franklin Book Awards!

Happy 6th Anniversary, little book of mine!

FREE BOOK ALERT! DIVERSE BOOKS PROMOTION for I WILL TELL THE NIGHT!

My latest novel, I WILL TELL THE NIGHT, is free on KOBO for a limited time as part of their DIVERSE BOOKS PROMOTION.

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Synopsis:

Finn Barker escaped his family in Miramichi, New Brunswick, decades ago for the anonymity of Toronto. When he learns of his mother’s impending demise, he decides to make the trip back home to say goodbye. But going back will awaken all the sleeping ghosts Finn’s not quite sure he’s willing to stir. With no time to decide, his split-second decision to jump back in has him driving across the country, with his boyfriend Steven behind the wheel. Along the way, Finn begins to unpack the mess he left behind. There’s the grandmother, MyImogene, he adored, and the twin brother who died of cancer when his own parents would have preferred to lose the other twin. There’s also the huge scandal Finn orchestrated with a teacher that gave him the Dutch courage he needed to flee. It was almost all bad.

Finn makes it in time for goodbyes, but then there’s the still very active strife between him and his father, the funeral, the family, and the secrets that shed new light on the cause of the rift between his parents and his beloved MyImogene. Every family carries secrets. Finn discovers they’re the one thing you can’t escape, no matter how far away you run. Secrets always catch up. Often, it’s death that has a way of bringing them back into the light of day. He was able to make peace with his dying mother, but can Finn make peace with all the rest…or is it time to run away for another thirty years?

If you’re a Kobo user, grab your free copy of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT while this promotion is live.

I wrote the first draft of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at the 72hr 2016 Muskoka Novel Marathon. The marathon is a fundraiser for literacy. 40 writers in one room writing 40 novels in 72hrs. One of the best writing experiences I have ever had. THE best writing experience I have ever had, actually.

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Buyer Beware – Camino Publications

Just a short public service announcement today.

There is a new website called Camino Publications. I do not want to share their website here, because it is fraught with complication and duplicity.

They are offering publication and all the guidelines are vague at best as well as deceiving. If you’re a writer with a book about or set on the Camino, do your due diligence before getting involved with this company. Sketchy is a kind way of describing them.

They are ‘promoting’ Camino books from all over the world…in the worst possible way. Their book ‘recommendations’ come off in the worst possible light. You have to read on a separate page that the books they’re displaying are not, in fact, their own creations.

Unless your book actually appears on their site…then you absolutely KNOW they are in no way affiliated with it.

People have pointed out the incongruities, but they do not seem to care.

Anyway, here’s my book among a group of other books on the front page of their website and on their Facebook banner:

If you look closely, you will see THEIR LOGO on the bottom of each of these books that they have absolutely nothing to do with.

Imagine my fury.

I asked them to cease and desist with this absolute and utter bullshit.

Here is their response:

“no problem at all, it was an AI produced image, thank you for pointing this out. Your book will also be removed from our recommended reads list and our forthcoming advertising campaign of Recommended Camino Reads with YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. I read your book personally, I thought it was a great read, such a shame you don’t want Camino Publications to promote it.”

If you’re a Camino author whose book is on their site, I suggest you take the same action I took. It sounds like they’re about to cross media post all these books with no real clear explanation that they did not in fact publish the books.

I ask you what is more important—the fact that you may get some un-asked for publicity for your book in this manner, or that we stop some unsuspecting as yet unpublished Camino author from being roped in to publishing their book with this company…a company they will think published all the Camino books they’re ‘advertising’?

There are lots of scams out there just waiting for vulnerable writers to fall into. Get all the facts before you do anything.

Traditional publishers do NOT CHARGE THE WRITER ANY FEES. Vanity publishers DO CHARGE FEES. Quite often, scam publishers will disguise themselves as one or the other of these two entities.

This ‘publisher’ has been live since July and quite a few people attempted to explain what is wrong and unethical with their site. Note that their are no names and they are completely hiding their identity. They only use Camino Publications as their username on Facebook and they’ve been ask to reveal the people behind the name, to no avail.

BUYER BEWARE. Sometimes staying unpublished is better than being taken for a ride or even being badly published.

They also call themselves NON-PROFIT. What is that about? So many RED FLAGS.

IMAGINE PUTTING YOUR LOGO ON TOP OF BOOKS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU. I HAVE NOW SEEN IT ALL!

What absolute fuckery.