CanLit – Page 2 – KEVIN CRAIG

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT Ready to Launch!

I did it! I set myself the goal of JANUARY 7th, 2025 for the release date of my FIRST self-published novel and I reached my goal! It’s all ready to launch.

I just finished the final round of edits on I WILL TELL THE NIGHT and submitted the final final final final manuscript! It was a lot of work getting this ready. More than I thought it would be. All I can do now is wait for the release date to come and hope that readers embrace it.

I put my life into this manuscript! Originally written at the 2016 Muskoka Novel Marathon, I WILL TELL THE NIGHT has had a long life. I wrote it and I rewrote it and I rewrote it. Then I edited it a few dozen times.

I’m most proud of the fact that the original first draft incomplete novel won the BEST ADULT NOVEL AWARD at the Muskoka Novel Marathon. The judges saw something in the raw first draft that warranted giving it that year’s coveted prize. That prize came with another amazing Muskoka chair! And my heartfelt thanks to the marathon organizers.

Now, I’ve set it off into the world. The last draft…the very last and final draft.

I hope you enjoy it!

The much abused ARC of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT. This copy has more red ink and scrawls in it than you could possibly imagine. Wait…I take that back. I didn’t have a red pen. The scrawls are all in blue/black ink. Trust me, this copy is a wreck.

The biggest thing you could do right now, to help me, is to PRE-ORDER your copy of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT!

Otherwise, please consider sharing anything you see relating to the book! That will definitely help. I now know the difference between having an army of publisher personnel behind you and being all on your own. Nobody was cheering me on, helping me make decisions, guiding my way. It was just me. Please consider lending a hand and sharing any info you can on this release! I would be eternally grateful.

Look for this trinket in the story. Its place in the story is fully fictional, but it is real. It exists.

Here are the pre-order links for AMAZON CANADA and AMAZON USA. It is also available in all other countries that Amazon sells in. Just search for I WILL TELL THE NIGHT in your Amazon!

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT – AMAZON USA PRE-ORDER LINK

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT – AMAZON CANADA PRE-ORDER LINK

Click those buttons, pre-order that book, share those posts on social media! JANUARY 7th is COMING! (-;

The Paperback is Ready! I Will Tell the Night Coming Soon!

After much editing and formatting the paperback of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT is finally ready for its upcoming release date of JANUARY 7th, 2025!

I could not find a way to put the paperback up for pre-order. I think this has something to do with changes effecting the printing cost and price. At any rate, it will not be up for pre-order. If you would prefer PRINT, you can order it directly from Amazon on the release date.

The cover you see above is MATTE finish, but after much deliberation I have decided to go with a glossy finish for this cover. I think the gloss will give the artwork a better finish. I haven’t witness this with my own eyes as of yet, but I can sense it. (-;

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?

PRE-ORDER THE KINDLE VERSION NOW! Read on release day – JANUARY 7, 2025!

Kindle available in all Amazon countries.

Amazon Canada | Amazon USA | Amazon UK

Paperback available on release day from Amazon.

I’m doing this on my own this time, so I would really appreciate shares on social media. Any share will help. Thank you in advance!

And if you’re one of the souls who have already pre-ordered I WILL TELL THE NIGHT, thank you from the bottom of my heart. This was a long labour of love and it’s a story close to my heart. I hope you enjoy it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Is Fiction the Lies of Truth? Do We Hide Our Own Lives Within the Words?

As my latest novel, I WILL TELL THE NIGHT, moves closer to its release date, I can’t help but think about the way fiction is often an alternate version of reality. The manipulative way we mingle truths in with the creative lies is almost vulgar. Those who know the writer can pick out little bits here and there that seem to be almost autobiographical. It’s the same with every novel ever written.

As I work my way through my final pass, I’m seeing similarities between story and my lived life. Let me make this perfectly clear from the onset, though…this upcoming novel has almost nothing to do with my own life. It is totally a work of fiction. Any similarities is coincidental, blah, blah, blah!

But the fine hairs… let’s just say there are hidden truths in all fiction.

The horse pictured above sat on a shelf in my grandmother’s house back in Nelson, Miramichi, New Brunswick. That happens to be the geographical setting of most of my novel I WILL TELL THE NIGHT. It’s the story of a gay man who was born and raised in that small town in the East Coast of Canada. A man who fled to the big city of Toronto, Ontario, when his homosexuality was not accepted. It’s a family saga about dysfunction and redemption.

The horse above makes an appearance in this fictional story. See, it just seeped in. I had nothing to do with it. I was happily writing along and suddenly this horse appeared in the story. The horse is real, but it’s also fictional. This is exactly what I’m talking about. We bleed little pieces of reality into our fiction without actually realize we’re doing it.

The story has nothing to do with my own life. But I did steal tidbits and peppered them through the story. I used some of my own experiences, geographical familiarities, etc. Hell, I even used the bric-à-brac and tchotchkes from my own life. These are the details that make the lies of fiction more believable, aren’t they.

I’ve had more than one person tell me they were nervous about reading this one. I guess the plot line invites the possibility of autobiographical fiction. But it’s not! This novel is all lies…all make belief…all fiction. If you spot similarities, I guess it just means I did my job properly. I strive more than ever to make this novel ‘believable’. But it’s not a story about me…in any way.

On the Miramichi, August, 2024. Michael and I took grandboy Edward down for the Labour Day Weekend.

Although I spent most of my childhood summers in the Miramichi, visiting my granparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, I am not FROM there. I never in a million years would have made an escape from the shores of the Miramichi the way my main character did in the novel. If anything, I would have ran toward the place. It’s still one of my favourite places in the world.

I have always wanted to write a novel set in New Brunswick. ALWAYS! This one came about in 2016 after a series of events transpired. In April of that year, my mother passed away. My parents were living back in the Miramichi at the time of her passing. My brother and I made a last minute trip to get there prior to my mother’s passing. We made it. We said our goodbyes.

Then, fast-forward three months to July and it was time, once again, for the Muskoka Novel Marathon. With our experiences fresh in my mind, a story came to me. Who knew the heartrending experience of driving a thousand miles to see our dying mother one last time would remain fresh in my mind and beg to be used in a fictional setting?

A panel of judges chose the novel to win the 2016 BEST ADULT NOVEL AWARD at the Muskoka Novel Marathon.

There is a gossamer resemblance to our journey East and the journey taken in the novel, but all similarities fall apart after that. I know this may come across as ‘thou doth protest too much’, but the truth is the entire story is FICTION. This is what authors do. They take a square and mold it into a circle. The square is still there…but you just can’t see it. We twist and pull at our own life experiences, mold things into a story, and then we pull out all the identifying details. What’s left is pure fiction. If you write close enough to the bone, though, that fiction is also reality. We create something new.

I have said enough. I now feel like I’m attempting to convince a horse of his essential cow-ness. If you know me, and you read this story…you may think, “hmmm???” But you won’t find me in it’s pages. None of it is true.

PREORDER I WILL TELL THE NIGHT today! It drops on JANUARY 7th, 2025. I promise you, it’s all LIES.

PREORDER CANADA LINK

PREORDER USA LINK