Category: Book Review

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!

 

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT Has Been Reviewed in THE MIRAMICHI READER!

“I Will Tell the Night is a touching novel about going home again. There are so many vivid details in Craig’s work, and it will fill one with a bit of necessary hope.” – Alison Manley, from the review of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT on THE MIRAMICHI READER

As a writer, I’m almost certain I’m not alone in having a literary bucketlist. One of the top items on my own literary bucketlist (LB) came true this week. Not once, but twice! For years I looked toward The Miramichi Reader as one of those publications I wished to be a part of…at any level. It’s right up there on my LB alongside the item Get Poem Published in the Paris Review.

I was absolutely thrilled a couple of months back when they responded to my wish to be a part of their WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK feature with an ‘absolutely!’ I prepared and submitted my piece for that feature at the speed of light, just in case they had a change of heart.

My Why I Wrote This Book piece came out earlier this week. You can click the image from their Facebook page below to go directly to the piece…there are several different books/authors featured:

Today The Miramichi Reader posted a review of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT. It’s such a lovely review too. I don’t know about other writers, but when I know a publication has one of my books with the intention of writing a review I am on pins and needles until that review comes out! It never gets easier. This is my ninth novel. I was as scared waiting for this review as I was ALL the rest!

“It’s a sweet and tender read, surprisingly wholesome…”

“I felt cared for by the river in Craig’s very realistic dialogue.”

I’m not going to lie, the quotes above brought a few tears to my eyes. I invested so much into this story. I still feel as though it might be the best thing I ever wrote. It, at the very least, has a very special place in my heart.

You can read the full review HERE.

I would like to thank Alison Manley (the reviewer) and The Miramichi Reader for taking the time to review my novel. I could not be more thrilled to have it featured at such a prestigious site at The Miramichi Reader!

Here’s the synopsis of the novel:

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT – 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?

You can purchase your copy of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT here:

Amazon Canada | Amazon USA | KOBO Canada | KOBO USA | Amazon UK |

It’s available in all Amazon and Kobo countries in either paperback or ebook.

If you read I WILL TELL THE NIGHT, please consider leaving a review on GOODREADS.