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Defining Canada
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Defining Canada is a Dundurn book blog to present and promote a wide-range of Canadian books. Visitors will have the opportunity to check out the latest new releases and interact with authors.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'Mystery'
Life in a Vacuum
Sometimes we exist in a vacuum. By that I mean that often we have books that we get very excited about, for instance the upcoming Something Remains and Pilgrim in the Palace of Words, but despite our...
Dressing Up An Old Friend
Last week, along with mystery writer Vicki Delany, I was a guest of the Public Library in Picton, Ontario. I read two scenes from my recently completed manuscript, Black Tupelo. The audience was relax...
An Ellis Nomination for Maureen Jennings!
Like many people who now work for a publishing company one of my first jobs in the field was working at a bookstore. In my case it was the independent mystery bookstore Prime Crime Books in Ottawa. W...
Intern Net
My first blog for Dundurn. My second week of my internship. I’m part of the sales and marketing staff here at Dundurn, and it’s been a handful getting acquainted with the titles. Everyone ...
SALVAGING A NOVEL I WROTE IN 1983
My first novel, like most first novels, was transparently autobiographical. It was also, I’m guessing, derivative of writers I admired at the time I wrote it, which was 27 years ago, writers lik...
HOW I KEEP MY TOOLS SHARP
My latest manuscript, Black Tupelo, took me three years to complete. I worked on it every day — creatively or editorially — weekends included, for months at a time. Every once in a while I...
TWO SCENES FROM BLACK TUPELO
Although some people can write purely from their imaginations, others require actual experience upon which to base their writing. Stephen Crane never experienced combat, but he was able — throug...
WHAT I’M WORKING ON NEXT — by J. D. Carpenter
I wrote my first two novels — neither of which was published — in the 1980’s. The first one, called Country Music, was a coming of age story about a group of young men in Haliburton,...
THE DEATH OF JOHN UPDIKE
I’d intended to write about my next project in this blog, but something far more important came up: the death of John Updike. For any serious reader of modern American fiction, Updike is a must....
J D CARPENTER - ON WRITING #2
All writers of fiction depend on their imaginations. The more vivid the imagination, the better the writing. But there’s no replacement for experience, and that’s why Karen and I set off t...
Beat the Cold with Still Waters
With the temperature siting at -17 Celsius here in Toronto and no relief in sight ’till Saturday and an Arctic blast striking much of the American Midwest with temperatures dipping down to -40 C...
And We’re Back
Happy 2009! From Tim Hortons to Old Navy, gift cards for retailers remained a popular present this year. If you’re still debating on how to use that Chapters gift card you received over the Holi...
J. D. CARPENTER: ON WRITING
In the summer of 2007, my girlfriend Karen and I embarked upon a 12,726 kilometre road trip which took us from Picton, Ontario, to Bayou Sorrel, Louisiana — via the Colorado Rockies and the Gran...
A Deeper Look at Life’s Foibles
Those who are well-acquainted with mysteries may be interested in this mystery-to-literary fiction spin-off. J.D. Carpenter, author of the Campbell Young mysteries, takes us on a different journey w...
More Reviews for Still Waters
The reviews for Still Waters by John Moss continue to flood in with reviews in Quill & Quire, Bookgasm.com, and New Mystery Reader. Here’s what the critics had to say about this psycholog...
John Moss - a literary kin of Robertson Davies
Still Waters, the newest addition to Dundurn’s Castle Street mystery line, by noted academic John Moss has been receiving great reviews from mystery critics since its publication last month. T...
New Review for Angel in the Full Moon
One of the leading mystery blogs, ReviewingtheEvidence.com, just posted a review of Don Easton’s Angel in the Full Moon. Here’s a portion of that review. “Easton has taught his read...
Granite - A Cozy Fall Read
Although it’s still warm and sunny, the calender and the weather forecasters are telling me that Fall is right around the corner. As with movies and food our tastes change with the weather fro...
The Law of Three is The Lone Survivor!
This summer 75 teens took part in the Orillia Public Library’s Teen Survivor Book Club, which saw 7 books - Everlost by Neal Shusterman, How to be Popular by Meg Cabot, Slam by Nick Hornby, Oper...
Sarah Martin versus The Afterlights
Yay!!! The Law of Three by Caroline Rennie Pattison has made it into the final round of the Orillia Public Library’s Teen Survivor Book Club and is one step closer to becoming the Lone Surviv...
And Then There Were Three
The Law of Three by Caroline Rennie Pattison survived another round of the Orillia Public Library’s Teen Survivor Online Book Club! The club started with seven books, and each week sees club mem...
Staff Picks
Not everyone in the office reads every book that comes through our doors. Unbelievable but true. That’s why we often rely on each other to provide insightful comments on the books that have been...
Jack Taggart At His Best
It was a pretty good weekend publicity wise for Dundurn with three mentions in the Globe and Mail Books Section. First up, Angel in the Full Moonby Don Easton, which was reviewed by Margaret Cannon a...
Law of Three - One Step Closer to Being the Lone Survivor
The Law of Three by Caroline Rennie Pattison survived another round of voting and is now one week closer to being named the Lone Survivor of the Orillia Public Library’s Teen Survivor Online R...
Not Just Another Kid Detective
That’s what reviewer Stephanie Yip had to say about The Law of Three by Caroline Rennie Pattison, which features teen sleuth Sarah Martin. In The Law of Three, Sarah is teamed up with Byron Hop...
Bookgasm.com Features Angel in the Full Moon
Bookgasm.com’s front page features a review of former undercover operative Don Easton’s latest Jack Taggart mystery, Angel in the Full Moon, which hit bookstores earlier this month. He...
No Moose But Plenty of Author Sightings at Saskatchewan Festival of Words
Novelists - including Maureen Jennings - poets, non-fictions writers, storytellers, and over 300 fans gathered in Moose Jaw from July 17th to July 20th for the 12th annual Saskatchewan Festival of Wo...
An Undercover Mystery Writer Revealed
Don Easton, author of three Jack Taggart mysteries, answers questions about his writing and future plans. Tell us about your book. The primary story of Angel in the Full Moon is about two Vietnamese c...
A Fine Review
This past weekend, Don Graves of The Hamilton Spectator reviewed Don Easton’s Angel in the Full Moon as part of his Canadian Mysteries column. Here’s a portion of that review. To read the ...
Defining Canada Renewed
You may have noticed that Defining Canada has been changing in very subtle ways over the past few weeks. You may have even noticed over the past couple of days that the look of the website is totall...
