Category Archives: Engen Books

Brad Dunne, Engen Books

Write Like No One’s Reading | Brad Dunne’s Blog

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This weekend I will be launching my debut novel, After Dark Vapours. It’s obviously a very exciting time for me; publishing a book has been a dream for me ever since I was a little kid reading Goosebumps. Likewise, I’ve been lucky to have experienced an outpouring of support and enthusiasm from friends and family. Perhaps the most common refrain I hear, especially from bookish friends, is that they too have always wanted to write a book. If you’re reading this and also feel the same, believe me when I tell you that if I can do it, you can do it. So, with that in mind, I’d like to give you all some advice that I wish someone gave me when I started writing:

Write like no one is reading. Continue reading Write Like No One’s Reading | Brad Dunne’s Blog →

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Engen Books, Kit Sora

Winner: “Little Star and the Shepherdess” by Peter Foote | Kit Sora Flash Fiction Photography Contest

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After much deliberation, Engen Books is proud to announce the winner of the September 30 2018 Kit Sora Flash Fiction Photography Contest: Peter Foote with her story, Little Star and the Shepherdess!

Peter Foote is a Freemason and owner of the FictionFirst Used Bookstore, a bookstore located in Nova Scotia that ships used genre fiction and manuals worldwide. He is from Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia and currently resides in Kings County, Nova Scotia.In 2017, Foote endeavored to bring the Atlantic Canadian writing world together by forming a group known as the Genre Writers of Atlantic Canada (GWOAC) that seeks to cross promote and support authors working in the genre fields at any level, including hobbyists all the way up to experts in the field. The group is currently 244 members large and grows daily.

There were three judges for this month of the contest:

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Brad Dunne is a freelance writer and editor from St. John’s, Newfoundland. He began his writing career as an intern at The Walrus magazine and has published journalism and essays in publications such as Maisonneuve, The Canadian Encyclopedia, and Herizons. His short fiction has been featured in In/Words, Acta Victoriana, and The Cuffer Anthology.

His debut novel, After Dark Vapours, is available now. He maintains a blog at braddunne.ca

He’s also active on twitter (@braddunne1796) and instagram (@yoloflaherty).

 

Matthew LeDrewMatthew LeDrew has written eighteen novels for Engen Books, Black Womb, Transformations in Pain, Smoke and Mirrors, Roulette, Ghosts of the Past, Ignorance is Bliss, Becoming, Inner Child, Gang War, Chains, The Long Road, Cinders, Sinister Intent, Faith, Jacobi Street, Infinity, The Tourniquet Reprisal and Exodus of Angels.

6S2A6303Kit Sora Photography. Kit Sora is an artist and photographer from St. Johns, Newfoundland. Her photography draws inspiration from fantasy, dystopia, and thrillers to create evocative imagrey that startles, inspires, and excites.Kit signed with Engen Books in 2018 as head photographer, producing the thrilling image for Chillers from the Rock and re-imagining the covers to the entire Black Womb series into the Coral Beach Casefiles series. Drew Power is a currently seated member of the Sci-Fi on the Rock committee. He was recently featured as the model on the cover of the bestselling collection Chillers from the Rock.

Runners up include The First Day of Spring by Jennifer Shelby and Imagine That by Nicole Little.

The Flash Fiction Photography Contest is sponsored in part by FictionFirst Used Books, which specializes in previously enjoyed Sci-fi & Fantasy Novels, Roleplaying Manuals and Graphic Novels. It is run out of my home in the Annapolis Valley and open by appointment only. Their inventory is currently over 5000 titled strong and they ship within Canada, USA and Europe. You can find them on Facebook, here.

The winning entry will be featured on this website as well as on the Fantasy Files newsletter (click to join!). The second and third place entries will also be featured in the Newsletter.

The first year’s worth of these amazing short stories have been collected in a lovely hardcover edition from Engen Books, featuring photos from the author and flash fiction stories from some of Canada’s top talent! Pre-order your copy today!

Kit Sora: The Artobiography

A stunning, hundred-plus page hardcover collection of over 80 of Kit Sora’s most ambitious photographs, paired with short fiction inspired by the art by Canada’s best authorial talents. Includes stories by USA Today Bestselling Author Kate Sparkes, USA Today Bestselling Author Victoria Barbour, and Bestselling Author Amanda Labonté.

C$60.00

Ali House, Editing, Engen Books, NaNoWriMo, writing

NaNoPrepWeek | House Blog

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The stars have aligned, Mercury is in retrograde*, and I’m prepping for NaNoWriMo!

I say that because this will be the first year I’ve actually done prep work for a NaNo story – and not ‘I’ve got a character name and an idea’ prep work, I mean ‘names, backgrounds, world-building, and outline’ prep work.

My first NaNo was a ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ affair, and since I managed to hit my word count I figured that this was the way to go. However, that story was also a really rough draft, consisting of many odd ramblings (when I’m desperately trying to hit a certain word count it’s almost like the ghost of Charles Dickens possesses me and I can suddenly spend paragraphs describing a lamp – good for word count, but not for content). The subsequent NaNos either had similar ramblings or failed to meet the word count**.

 

Nano-meme

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Engen Books

London Calling | Chelsea Bee

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London Calling

Olivia Williams used Shakespeare’s timeless words to comfort herself through childhood sexual abuse, disordered eating, and a toxic relationship. She thought a summer studying in London in the legendary Globe theatre would be the healing learning experience she always longed for. Surrounded by new friends, beautiful culture, and budding romance, Olivia knows her life is about to change. She doesn’t expect this, though. Not again.

C$25.00

Title Information:

ISBN: 978-1-926903-82-8
Release Date: June 15 2017
EBook Purchase: Amazon.com
Amazon.CA
Amazon.UK
Page Count: 256

Related Titles

toucheb Chillers from the Rock Call of the Sea, cover, Amanda Labonte

Reviews

“The perfect book for the #MeToo era of storytelling,”
— Matthew LeDrew, author of Coral Beach Casefiles and Xander Drew.

 

Amanda Labonté, Anthologies, Call of the Sea, Chillers from the Rock, Engen Books

Call of the Sea, Drawn to the Tides, & Chillers from the Rock at Chapters St. John’s this month!

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Need some extra chills leading up to Halloween this month? Chillers from the Rock is available now at Chapters Kenmount Road in St. John’s. Featuring an introduction by Dale Gilbert Jarvis, as well as stories from 20 different authors, including award-winning author Kelley Power and horror bestseller Paul Carberry! Perfect for youth to adult to get in the right mood for Fall!

Also at Chapters this month: Call of the Sea and Drawn to the Tides by Amanda Labonté! With the start of senior year approaching, Alex and Lia struggle to find their place in an ever-changing reality. As Lia develops a new appreciation for human culture and norms, Alex learns more about what it means to be a human in the merrow colony. But integrating into a new world is not without its pitfalls. In his search to understand his place, Alex will come face to face with hidden truths about his past that could drastically affect his future.

Dive deeper into the mysterious, enigmatic world of magic and intrigue as Alex struggles to uncover what it means to be the blood of the sea!

Chillers from the Rock should be in the Local Interest / Thriller sections, and both Labonté’s titles should be in YA Fantasy!

Check out these three amazing titles now, they should be in-stock and in-store up until November 1 2018!

Ali House, Editing, Engen Books, The Six Elemental, writing

Trusting Your Brain | House Blog

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Sometimes it seems like my brain knows more than it lets on.

Even when I don’t notice, it’s back there – constantly churning out story ideas, thinking about writing projects, and generally working in the background. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

The thing that amazes me is that I think my brain is smarter than I am.

When I wrote The Six Elemental I was writing about Kit’s journey of coming to terms with being a living mythical being. It was only after I’d gone through my third draft that I realized there was an underlying theme of how outside influences can effect* how a person grows up. There’s a big difference between the person Kit is (growing up on Briton with a Humanist step-father) and the person Kit could have been (with a more accepting influence).

When I wrote The Fifth Queen (still in it’s editing stages), I was writing about a different character’s journey (plus a few familiar ones). After I’d written the first draft I realized that I’d done another parallel theme – this time, about accepting responsibility. One character accepts that they have a duty to uphold, while another character rejects it.

But I’d never thought about that when I was writing the story. That parallel hadn’t crossed my mind once while I was writing. Instead it was something that just happened to appear when I was going through the first draft.

My brain put it there because it’s smart, y’all. Maybe too smart…

So if you’re writing something and you’re not sure where your story’s going or what it’s all about, don’t worry about it. Just keep writing and eventually you’ll figure something out. Sometimes you won’t know until the end of your first draft (or maybe even the fifth), but as long as you’re telling a compelling story with interesting characters, eventually it’ll all become clear.

Trust your brain.

It knows – even if you don’t.

_______

*It’s too late** for me to care whether effect/affect is right, so this is the word I’m using. I’ll figure out if it’s wrong/right sometime maybe never.

**It’s only 11:54pm AST, so I’m not late! It’s still Sept 18th over here!

Engen Books, Kit Sora

Preorder Kit Sora: The Artobiography!

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Kit Sora: The Artobiography

A stunning, hundred-plus page hardcover collection of over 80 of Kit Sora’s most ambitious photographs, paired with short fiction inspired by the art by Canada’s best authorial talents. Includes stories by USA Today Bestselling Author Kate Sparkes, USA Today Bestselling Author Victoria Barbour, and Bestselling Author Amanda Labonté.

C$60.00

Announcement: The wait is over! You can preorder your copy of Kit Sora: The Artobiography now from Engen Books! Copies of this lovely 8.5×11 volume will be made available at the launch date, which will be mid December.

When in December? We will be announcing that very soon. Production proofs of the books are on their way, and so long as they meet the artist’s standards we’ll be set to order copies and set the launch date.

Can the book be shipped? Yes! If you’re not in the St. John’s area or can’t make it to the launch event, Engen Books will gladly ship a copy of the book to the address of your choosing. Addresses will be collected and sent for any titles not collected during the launch event.

The book will retail for $75 CAD. Preorder customers will be given the discount price of $60 CAD per copy.

Kit Sora: The Artobiography was edited by Erin Vance, and along with Kit Sora’s tremendous artwork, the collection features accompanying short fiction from some of Canada’s bestselling, award-winning authors. Some include Kate Robbins (Bound to the Highlander), Carolyn R. Parsons (Charley Through Canada), Chelsea Bee (London Calling), Jon Dobbin (The Starving), Candace Osmond (Love & Magic), Michelle Churchill (The Last Tree), Ali House (The Six Elemental), Brad Dunne (After Dark Vapours), Ellen Curtis (Infinity), Matthew LeDrew (Jacobi Street), Kate Sparkes (At Any Cost), JJ King (My Brother’s Keeper), Amanda Labonté (Drawn to the Tides), and USA Today Bestselling author Victoria Barbour (Hard as Ice).

The collection will also feature numerous prize-winning stories, including Frigid by Catherine Rector, Starling by Cristina Ozon, Sweet Sixteen by Nicole Little, Tarnished by Jennifer Combden, Bubbly by Sara Burke, Running by Georgia Atkin, Extinguished by Jeff Slade, and Sea Monkeys by Peter Foote.

The collection will be available in both hardcover print and eBook formats.

Image copyright © 2018 Kit Sora Photography, used with permission. Logo and distinctive ‘oval spike’ design copyright © 2007 Engen Books.