A Delicious Review & Wee Updates

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I’m plunking along revising Làkansyèl (novel). This is both a tiring and an inspiring task. The first drafting was intense, scary, exciting. Returning to source materials and writing copious notes, then going through those notes and deciding what remains, what goes, what needs to be fleshed out, doing the fleshing, and then inserting them into the narrative…fascinating, nerve-wracking, a feat of endurance, and a lot of fun.

A few days ago I signed a contract with Adams Media for my contribution to the anthology Out of the Broom Closet, scheduled for release in September. This is not speculative fiction, or fiction at all, but is autobiographical and centers on spiritual life. So for that book I am using another name, to keep the two streams of my writing clearly separate.

I am pleased to be a part of this project and am looking forward to reading the other entries.

The Vancouver Public Library is the first library to order Finding Creatures & Other Stories—it is a relief to know that those in Vancouver who can’t afford to buy it will now have the option to borrow it. If you are in another town and would like the book to be available or simply can’t afford to buy it yourself, please consider asking your library to buy a copy. There are generally forms on library websites for suggesting purchases, or call or drop in and ask the procedure. Many thanks to those who requested FC&OS through VPL.

Although the publisher and I have sent out a number of review copies, and more copies of the book are showing up on LibraryThing, very few actual reviews have been posted.

Don D’Ammassa, longtime SF fan in the eastern US, posted this paired review, unfortunately contained in his “Horror” section. FC&OS is definitely Not Horror, so I’m not sure what good it will do, but the suggestion that the stories ought to have been published in Fantasy & Science Fiction or Realms of Fantasy is satisfying.

Finding Creatures & Other Stories by C. June Wolf, Wattle and Daub, 2008, $15.95, ISBN 978-0-9810658-0-9 1864

Both of these are from small presses and both are authors whose names I didn’t recognize…The second collection tends more toward contemporary fantasy. I hadn’t read anything by Wolf either, and most of these stories apparently first appeared in small press and Canadian markets. They vary from okay to quite good and once again I’m surprised that none of them came from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction or Realms of Fantasy. I’d rate the Wolf collection as slightly the better written of the two, but the subject matter in Thomas’ book appealed more to my personal prejudices. 12/8/08

A very lovely review appeared on LibraryThing this week.

Once opened Finding Creatures and Other Stories turned out to be impossible to close, I had to keep going and read just one more until too soon I reached the end. Even the most fantastic dreams, beings from other worlds and wild creations of human mind were made so real you'd almost expect to see some when you raise your eyes from the page. If only the book itself was as magical as its contents, after finishing one story there would forever be another.

Kirjastonhoitaja | Mar 3, 2009 |

I have also signed up for Twitter under the name C. June Wolf. My goal there is to write one 140 character or less comment each day tied to writing, as a way to keep focused and connected with others around writing. If you wish to follow my Twitters please search for me there or click straight from here to my homepage there. Unlike our beloved but in ways unwieldy Facebook, Twitter is brief and to the point.

And with that, I return to Làkansyèl.

As for you, may you notice one clear moment in your day and meet it joyfully.

Casey