Category: CanLit

I Will Tell The Night – A Family Saga LGBTQ Literary Novel

It’s happening! My 2016 Muskoka Novel Marathon novel, I WILL TELL THE NIGHT, is being released. This is the novel that won me the BEST ADULT NOVEL AWARD for that year. It was originally scheduled to be released from the same publisher who published my novels SUMMER ON FIRE and PRIDE MUST BE A PLACE, but that publisher closed its doors before the release.

After unsuccessfully attempting to find another home for this baby, I have decided to self-publish this one. It would seem that it’s difficult to find a publisher for LGBTQ Literary fiction. This is especially true when there is zero heat level in it.

I have very strong feelings for this novel. So much so that I feel I can’t move forward before first putting it out into the world. The release date will be JANUARY 7th, 2025! So I have some work ahead of me, as we are about to go on vacation and I want to do a one-last-pass edit on it before I release it. Just know that I have done everything in my power to make it the best possible story I could make it. I’m super proud of this one…it feels…real. I want to get it as polished as possible before releasing it.

I have had so many readers and edits on this manuscript…so many eyes that I’m not sure there’s anyone left who hasn’t read it.

I really have to work on the cover blurb for this, so for now you will have to settle for the query letter synopsis.

Finn Barker escaped his family in Miramichi, New Brunswick decades ago for the anonymity of Toronto. Now is his chance to reunite with the strangers they’ve become. But going back will awaken a hell of a lot of ghosts Finn’s not sure he’s willing to awaken. 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, the twin brother who died of cancer when his own parents would have preferred to lose the other twin, and the scandal he created with a teacher that gave him the reason 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?

I have some work ahead of me. Watch for updates on the release, etc. All I have now is a finished manuscript that needs one last edit, and a cover.

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT – COMING SOON

Pre-Order links will be in my next post…which will be going live later this morning!

Say His Name, Say His Name…Wayson Choy

This past Saturday was the 5th year anniversary of the passing of Canadian Literary icon Wayson Choy. I’m sure everyone who knew him gave a few minutes of contemplation over to Wayson this weekend. Wayson was just that kind of guy. He made you feel special, like you were the only one.

Just one of the many photos in existence filled with those lucky enough to have known and loved Wayson. This is the group of volunteers who made up the behemoth that was the Ontario Writers Conference. The OWC was a labour of love that Wayson took under his wing and nurtured for more than a decade. The decade was our Époque of Wayson and we will always have the cherished memories of that time.

Over the years in which I was fortunate enough to know Wayson, he imparted so much wisdom onto me…and he gave it freely and without expectation.

Every time I saw Wayson, he had something valuable to say. And he was one of those people who stopped the world around you when he spoke to you, just long enough for his words to sink in. His words came through without static…his natural ability to focus became a part of you while you were within his orbit. He slowed you down and then he gave you his gift. It was a bit mesmerizing, really…

I don’t know how to say it. Think of those creatures that have the ability to paralyze their prey with a cocktail of toxins prior to going in for the deadly blow…BUT in a good way. His demeanor would calm you to the point where you’d be sent to this zen-like space—and then he would move in for the final attack…WITH WISDOM!

Don’t get your panties in a knot. I’m certainly not saying that Wayson was like a cone snail, with their hypodermic needle tooth sending paralyzing venom into your veins. Not my intention at all. My intention is to say that Wayson was my Buddha. My calm place. He had an uncanny ability to put people into that place where they should always live…contentment.

Whenever he could, Wayson would give me actual writing advice specific to whatever hurdles I was facing at the time of our meeting. He had a way of peeling away the detritus and getting right to the point. And he would never let me wallow and seesaw about things. It was hard advice lovingly delivered.

Don’t ever be precious enough to carry a notebook too pretty to write in…because Wayson will pop that cherry. This is what he wrote in a notebook I carried to three OWC conferences without once writing a word in.

After a near-death experience, Wayson decided to write a memoir and it is one of the most beautiful memoirs I’ve ever read. NOT YET. He wasn’t ready to leave the beauty of this world behind…he fought to continue and he survived. Do yourself a favour and read this gem…

Wayson’s memoir on almost dying…

Anyway, today’s post is just to say his name. When you are in the memory of those you have left behind, you are still alive in them. Maybe today is a good time to think about Wayson and how his gentle nature impacted your life.

In our OWC circle, we used to joke about The Church of Wayson…but it wasn’t really a joke. It was a church I would attend.

There was something of the dickens in Wayson, and we all knew it. Take his book, ALL THAT MATTERS. What a great line to work into a dedication when book signing, right? He’d work that title into every signature…and we would walk away with our copy, hugging it to our chests thinking, “Oh my God, that’s so sweet! Wayson said that I was what matters!” And he’d give a bit of a rascally wink when handing back your copy. Only later, would we all realize we all received the ‘you matter‘ treatment in one form or another above his signature.

The deep truth of all those signings, though, and I’m sure you see it coming—is that we all did actually matter to Wayson. He meant the You Matter, You’re what Matters, You are All that Matters words he jotted down. It was okay that we compared notes, because he was sincere every time he wrote the words. He was present each time, singularly focused on the one person he was book signing for…pure Wayson.

Wayson was no angel, but he was an exemplary example of how humans could live their everyday lives. Make friends and take no hostages. Was it Bill & Ted who said, BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER? Perhaps Wayson was just a fan who took those words to heart and lived them every day.

Keep resting in peace, Wayson. We’ll continue to say your name.