Backwater Mystic Blues, a collection of literary essays by Lloyd Ratzlaff published by Shadowpaw Press

 

Backwater Mystic Blues, the second acclaimed collection of literary essays by noted Saskatchewan author Lloyd Ratzlaff, out in new editions from Shadowpaw Press 

Backwater Mystic Blues, the second acclaimed collection of essays reflecting on nature, spirituality, and growing up on the prairies by noted Saskatchewan author Lloyd Ratzlaff, now has a new home with Shadowpaw Press Reprise, which publishes new editions of notable, previously published work. Shadowpaw Press also recently republished Ratzlaff’s first collection of essays, The Crow Who Tampered With Time. 

“Many thanks to Shadowpaw Press for publishing new editions of Backwater Mystic Blues and The Crow Who Tampered With Time,” Ratzlaff says. “These books first confirmed me as a writer, The Crow a tribute to an urban park which became my sanctuary during a period of loss, and Backwater a tribute to my home village and its countryside. I’m delighted and more than grateful to Shadowpaw for giving them another life and offering them to new circles of readers.” 

“As with Lloyd’s previous collection, each essay in Backwater Mystic Blues sparkles, provoking nostalgia, smiles, introspection, and reflection,” says Edward Willett, editor and publisher of Shadowpaw Press. “I’m excited to release this new edition of Backwater Mystic Blues, and I hope it will find many new readers who will enjoy it as much as I did.” 

Backwater Mystic Blues can be ordered through most bookstores, online or off. It can also be purchased directly from Shadowpaw Press at https://shadowpawpress.com/product/backwater-mystic-blues/. 

More about the book

Shortlisted for the Non-Fiction Book Award and Saskatoon Book Award,

2006 Saskatchewan Book Awards 

In this second suite of intimate essays, Lloyd Ratzlaff summons the secret hiding spots, makeshift rafts, and uncomplicated childhood joys that lay the foundations for adult philosophy. In tune with the vivid simplicities of the sensuous world and the honour of unassuming people, Ratzlaff explores the disguises shaped by religion, family, and memory as he recreates the discovery and illumination that his past has offered. 

Critical praise 

“Backwater Mystic Blues is an extended aide memoire of . . . everyday objects and gestures, retrieved from memory and made to live again in a phosphorescent prose that ‘restores the world to word’ as he writes and whistles in the dark.” – Myrna Kostash 

“The essays sing the blues, touching readers as music does, not through linear development or logical exposition but through scenes that resonate emotionally: past reverberates with present and ordinary stuff is transposed into mystical keys . . .In this second instalment of reflective, irreverent, worshipful essays, Ratzlaff bends our usual angles of vision and sheds light and colour on religious experiences of one kind or another.” – Edna Froese, Journal of Mennonite Studies 

“The drag of the mundane and the mixed rapture/terror of the divine both find expression—the mundane made keenly relevant and the divine fully believable and grounded . . . Consider it narrative poetry . . . a series of intimate snapshots . . . and find the soul of a poet and a friend within its pages.” — Martin van Woudenberg, Pacific Rim Review of Books

About the Author

The most recent book by Lloyd Ratzlaff is a third collection of literary nonfiction, Bindy’s Moon (Thistledown Press). His essays are also featured in several anthologies, including Sons and Mothers: Stories From Mennonite Men, Reading the River: A Traveller’s Companion to the North Saskatchewan River, and apart: a year of pandemic poetry and prose. A former minister, counsellor, and lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan, he has taught writing classes for READ Saskatoon, the Western Development Museum, and the University of Saskatchewan Certificate of Art and Design. He was a columnist for Prairie Messenger Catholic Journal through its last nineteen years of publication. He lives in Saskatoon.

About the Publisher

Shadowpaw Press, founded in Regina, Saskatchewan, by award-winning author Edward Willett in 2018, publishes new work by established and emerging authors through its Premiere imprint and new editions of notable, previously published work through its Reprise imprint. For more information, contact publisher@shadowpawpress.com or visit www.shadowpawpress.com.

 Lloyd Ratzlaff is available for interviews, media appearances, speaking engagements, and/or book review requests. Please contact mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com by email or by phone at 403.464.6925

Sheriff of Starr County, Book Five in the Westward Sagas, by David A. Bowles

 

Sheriff of Starr County

Book Five in the Westward Sagas

 The true elements of Texas continue with critically acclaimed author and fifth generation pioneer,

David A. Bowles

 The book is published by Plum Creek Press and is available worldwide across all platforms

When Texas becomes a newly-minted state, good men and women work hard toward progress and peace. Texas Ranger Will Smith travels to the borderlands of the Nueces Strip to become the first Sheriff of Starr County. He’ll do what he must to bring justice to the frontier, including wrangling outlaws, navigating political intrigues, fighting Indians, and keeping the tenuous peace between the Tejano and Anglo residents. He encounters influential statesmen and entrepreneurs of early Texas, assists the US Army, and falls for two very different women.

This is exciting and authentic fiction based on the author’s own ancestors. It’s a compelling story in readible format for anyone who appreciates Texas history.

Sheriff of Starr County (Westward Sagas Book 5) - Kindle edition by Bowles, David A. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. 

Sheriff of Starr County (Westward Sagas Book 5) eBook : Bowles, David A: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store

Other Books In the Series:

                          

                       

Editorial:

"The hundred-year odyssey of the Westward Sagas is not about war, but how it affected the Mitchell family. Children of the Revolution: Book 3 in the Westward Sagas Series takes up where Adam's Daughters: Book 2 left off-in Tennessee shortly after statehood. The series continues with the next generation of the Mitchell Family. Peggy, the protagonist in Adam's Daughters, takes on a stronger role as she matures into a confident woman courted by British nobility. Children of the Revolution uncovers the untold reason North Carolina never ratified the U.S. Constitution. Adventure, intrigue, romance and tragedy are woven into the story of the first generation of Americans."

 

 

About David

David A. Bowles is the fifth generation of his family to be born in Austin Texas. Both parents were from pioneer settlers. His great grandmother, Elnora Van Cleve was the first child born in Austin on April 14, 1841. His award-winning series, the Westward Sagas is based on her family and their one-hundred-year journey from Pennsylvania to Texas. David and his dog Becka, enjoy Texas from October-May. When the last bluebonnet has lost its bloom, they pack up the RV and head for cooler weather telling and writing stories.

To request additional review copies or an interview with David, please contact Mickey Mikkelson at Creative Edge Publicity: mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com / 403.464.6925.    We look forward to the coverage!

Dollybird, WILLA Award-winning historical novel by Anne Lazurko is back in print from Shadowpaw Press

 

Dollybird, WILLA Award-winning historical novel by Glengarry Book Prize finalist
Anne Lazurko (What is Written on the Tongue) back in print from  Shadowpaw Press

 

Dollybird, the WILLA Literary Award-winning first historical novel by Anne Lazurko, whose latest book, What is Written on the Tongue (ECW Press), was a finalist for the 2022 Glengarry Book Prize, now has a new home with Shadowpaw Press Reprise, which publishes new editions of notable, previously published work. 

“I am so grateful to have Dollybird given a new life by Shadowpaw Press,” says Lazurko. “To have these characters and this story available to new readers is simply a gift; to me as an author and, hopefully, to those readers who can now find it in the format of their choice.” 

“I’m thrilled to be able to make Dollybird available to new readers,” says Edward Willett, editor and publisher of Shadowpaw Press. “This book’s complex, enthralling characters and sharply observed setting in the early homesteading years of Saskatchewan linger with you long after you’ve finished reading.” 

Dollybird is available for order through most bookstores, online or off. It can also be purchased directly from Shadowpaw Press at shadowpawpress.com/product/dollybird. 

More about the book 

Winner: 2014 WILLA Literary Award for historical fiction

Shortlisted: 2014 Fiction Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards 

Twenty-year-old Moira, the daughter of a Newfoundland doctor, dreams of becoming a doctor herself; but when she becomes pregnant out of wedlock, she is banished to the bleak landscape of southern Saskatchewan in 1906. There, she must come to terms with her predicament, her pioneer environment, and her employment as a “dollybird,” a term applied to women who might be housekeepers, whores—or both. A saga of birth, death, and the violent potential of both men and the elements, Dollybird explores the small mercies that mean more than they should under a vast prairie sky that waits, not so quietly, for people to fail. 

Critical praise 

“An absolutely stunning novel . . . I’ve reviewed some 4,000 books for the Sun-Times in the past 20 years; only a few times did something new glue me like this one. Dollybird. Very nice.” - Andrew Armitage, Book Editor for The Sun-Times

 

“Dollybird is a page-turner. Every character is fully realized, crippled by pains specific and universal. The writing is shot through with poetry, even the landscape is rendered harsh and graceful in the same moment . . . Such a cast of characters- everyone steps off the page, even those we only catch a glimpse of . . . Dollybird covered me in dust and mud; the pages are intoned with every kind of love: the absent, the lost, the yearning, the found. Read Dollybird.” - Katherine Lawrence, award winning writer and poet (author of Stay)

 

“Dollybird explores human relationships: parents and children, men and women, siblings and female friends, and how these connections are further complicated in the face of an indifferent, unpredictable natural environment . . . Lazurko’s straightforward prose transports the reader to early 20th-century Canada . . . Her characters are well-developed, flawed and frightened” - Laurie Glenn Norris for the Telegraph-Journal

 

“The novel’s strength lies in its glimpses into not only the hardship but also the tight sense of community that marked pioneering men and women . . . Lazurko’s title speaks to the confining roles women were permitted to have as the West was ‘'settled’ and to the difficulties women faced when they, like Moira, tried to resist them.” –The Coastal Spectator

About the Author

Anne Lazurko’s second novel, What is Written on the Tongue, was released in the spring of 2022 by ECW Press, and was shortlisted for the 2022 Glengarry Book Award. A graduate of the Humber Creative Writing Program, Anne has had short fiction and poetry published in literary magazines and anthologies and is active in the prairie writing community as mentor, editor, and teacher. She writes from her farm near Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Her website is annelazurko.com.

About the Publisher

Shadowpaw Press, founded in Regina, Saskatchewan, by award-winning author Edward Willett in 2018, publishes new work by established and emerging authors through its Premiere imprint and new editions of notable, previously published work through its Reprise imprint. For more information, contact publisher@shadowpawpress.com or visit www.shadowpawpress.com. 

Anne Lazurko is available for interviews, media appearances, speaking engagements, and/or book review requests. Please contact mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com by email or by phone at 403.464.6925

I Love Me! Colourful and Creative: An Empowering Coloring Book Series for Boys and Girls by Takiyah Smith

 

I Love Me!

Colourful and Creative: An Empowering Coloring Book Series for Boys and Girls 

A coloring book designed to cultivate imagination, inspire, build confidence and foster a positive-self image by Takiyah Smith 

The books are available worldwide in print!

             

This carefully crafted coloring book series was designed to cultivate imagination, inspire, build confidence and foster a positive-self image.

This revolutionary book teaches children to love the skin they're in. I Love ME! Colorful and Creative. A boy or girl can be a leader, quirky, brainy, brilliant, sporty, inventive, entrepreneurial, musical, artsy, strong, or all of the above. Being a child is limitless and knows no bounds. Children color outside of the lines, should they see fit. This book reinforces the notion, that children can be and do whatever they choose.

Words are Powerful.

Every coloring page includes an "I am", affirmation statement or words of empowerment. There are no drawings on the back so that children can have a space to create and dream. The back sides of each coloring page feature words of influence and elevation, such as, "Well-read and well-versed. A winning combination. Now that's Powerful. or A boy or girl is happy and confident.

Imagery is Influential.

Every single image was crafted with care and intention. This book highlights hundreds of well-thought-out images with a focused theme for each page such as: entrepreneurship, traveler, music, science, art, math, sports, travel, prince, etc. Some of the beautifully crafted imagery includes: camping scenes, space ship, doctor, astronaut, scientist, microscope, beakers, math problems, musical instruments, art supplies, King, gymnast, rock climber, golfer, skateboarder, soccer player, basketball, runner, nature, rainbow, super hero's, dogs, cats, lizard, snake, turtle, bunny, deer, birds, candy, flowers, pyramids, books, cars, hearts, music notes, stars, crowns, and so much more. 

I Love ME! Colorful and Creative coloring book, is strength and talent at its finest.

Positive. Educational. Fun.

An amazing gift any boy, girl, AND parent are sure to love. 

I Love Me! Colorful and Creative, Boys.: An Empowering Coloring Book for Boys.: Takiyah: 9780578962337: Amazon.com: Books

 

I Love Me! Colorful and Creative.: An Empowering Coloring Book for Girls. Doodle. Dream. Discover.: Niyah La'don, Takiyah: 9780578811697: Amazon.com: Books

 

 

About Takiyah:

Takiyah Smith is a native San Franciscan. She studied business and merchandise product development at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (commonly known as FIDM). Girl power and women empowerment has long since been a passion for Takiyah.

There are approximately 10 million moms parenting alone, according to the Census Bureau. Today 1 in 4 children under the age of 18 are being raised without a father.

Parenting information is available in a ton of different locations from books, blogs, websites, articles, YouTube videos, workshops, and conferences to name a few. But, what single mom really has time for that? It’s on the job training time! Takiyah felt it would be so much easier if women could find information, community and inspiration all in one trusted location. That’s when Takiyah founded, Single Mom and the City, an exclusive resource for single moms.

Takiyah is grateful for the knowledge that has been imparted through thousands of hours of research and reading, family and friends, colleagues and strangers alike, that have been ever so gracious to share their parenting secrets, life experiences and wisdom. Takiyah wants to share this information with the world.

To request additional review copies or an interview with Takiyah Smith, please contact Mickey Mikkelson at Creative Edge Publicity: mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com / 403.464.6925.    We look forward to the coverage!

Welcome to author Liam Leddy, author of the Lassiter Glasgow crime novels!

 

Welcome to author Liam Leddy, author of the Lassiter Glasgow crime novels!

I am a born and bred Glaswegian. I write my crime fiction novels and short story collections from personal experience of the Glasgow of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Glasgow was an extremely dangerous place then with career criminals merging with huge territorial street gangs. Career criminals until then had generally avoided harming innocent citizens because it drew unwelcome police attention. The street gangs however were different and would attack anyone for no valid reason whatsoever. That then is the background to my writing.

My website is www.liamleddy.com and I appear on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google of course. My principal outlet for my books is Amazon and Amazon Kindle. However, they also sell through Smashwords, Payhip, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and appear virtually everywhere on the net. For purchase of all my books, the easiest quickest way is direct from my Amazon author page.

Do your characters come before or after your plot?

My characters introduce the main and varied sub-plots through authentic Glasgow street dialogue.

How do you choose a villain and how do you make them human?

My villains-and there are quite a few – come from personal experience of living in the era I write about. I have met people like these. I observe life very well and that is where all my characters come from. Many compliments for really authentic characters. Such as “I felt as though I knew these people.” “I felt like a fly on the wall” etc.

Do your reading choices reflect your writing choices?

Yes. Strangely enough, my favorite writers tend to be American. James Lee Burke, Stephen King, and of course Robert B Parker and C.J. Box. An endless list really.

Which type of characters are your favorite to write?

Soft-hearted villains. Killers, yes, but only of villains worse than they are and definitely not as deadly.

What are you working on now?

At present, I am working on my 5^th Lassiter Glasgow crime fiction novel.

What sort of research do you do for your work?

For my novels, long term memory mostly. As previously stated I lived through the era I write about. Additional research Google itself is amazing and public libraries I just love public libraries.

     

D.E.M.O.N. Tales Book 7 by MJ Moores and Nanci Pattenden Coming Soon!!

 

I’m so excited to share this fantastic series by a duo of talented authors, Nanci Pattenden and MJ Moores. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know both through the WCYR (Writers Community of York Region) and have watched their list of published novels grow over the years. 

Book 7 in the D.E.M.O.N. Tales series comes out in April 2023! 

Prequel: D.E.M.ON. Tales

Rabid Rabbits on the Loose…

Before the proverbial crap hit the fan, and the secret government agents of the Department of Extraordinary Monsters was catapulted back into the game, a little fuzzy omen ruined everyone's day.

Discover what happened to Dodge's first partner in this crazy prequel to the D.E.M.ON. Tales series.

Men in Black meets Supernatural

A novelette only available for FREE when you sign up to MJ Moores’ newsletter.

 

Book 1: Assassin Eco-Corpses

Corpses Gone Rogue…

The D.E.M.ON Agency grew complacent with only minor monsters and cryptids poking around for over the last year. Charged with the merciless task of protecting Ontario from the things that go bump in the night, these agents spent the last hundred years ridding their region of the most bad-ass demons and monsters alive … or was that dead? At least, that was their M.O. until a year ago. Now their Duct Cleaning front morphed into more of a full-time gig.

But, when the silent alarm blinks to life in the middle of another lazy morning all hell breaks loose.

Men in Black meets Supernatural

 

Book 2: Bobcat Got Your Tongue

Newbie Nightmares…

Dodge, the illusive missing agent, returns to the D.E.M.ON. headquarters and brings with him a new partner. With Yoli’s abrupt arrival and shady past, no one at the agency is fond of her, not even Junior. 

Day one goes downhill fast as Dodge and Yoli jump on a cold case linked to the local Bobcat burglar … and end up in hot water. 

Men in Black meets Supernatural

Dive into book 2 in this tongue-in-cheek urban fantasy where Men in Black meets Supernatural.

 

Book 3: A Craptacular Understatement

Doctored Intentions… 

A well-meaning doctor summons a beautiful mythological bird to aid the sick. Unfortunately, it’s attracted the attention of the local doves with unexpected side effects when these peaceful birds turn fowl. With a sudden rise in ancient illnesses inflicted by dive-bombing avian, only Hex, D.E.M.ON.’s Monster Guru, stands a chance at finding a cure. But when a key member of the agency gets infected, the search for a cure becomes a race to cheat death.

Dive into the third installment of D.E.M.ON. Tales, where Men in Black meets Supernatural in a tongue-in-cheek blend of action and humour.

 

Book 4: Double-Dog Dare Ya

Grounded in Time…

When an entire town is locked in Déjà vu, the D.E.M.ON. agents are relieved to manage a simple case for a change. That is until they link the disappearance of two young boys to the time-altering supernatural clouds invading Keswick – and discover the creature at fault.

It’s up to Junior to make a connection with the hormonal, teen hatchling to save the kids. But not everyone wants the boys found or the beast banished …

Dive into the fourth installment of D.E.M.ON. Tales, where Men in Black meets Supernatural in a tongue-in-cheek blend of action and humour.

 

Book 5: Even Equines Don’t Like Liver

 

Hook, Line, and Liver…

Kids are disappearing at the Stouffville Reservoir while something is setting off the agency’s supernatural mojo-metre. Tasked with uncovering the source of the serial vanishings, the team not only battles time and bizarre clues, but social media has turned death into a game of truth or dare – challenging everyone to stay alive.

Can the agents of D.EM.ON. solve these unnatural crimes before all that's left are their livers?

Dive into the fifth installment of D.E.M.ON. Tales, where Men in Black meets Supernatural in a tongue-in-cheek blend of action and humour.

 

Book 6: Frozen Foes & Dominoes 

Frost Bitten…

The wonder twins Dodge and Yoli are, unfortunately, the D.E.M.ON. agency’s only hope for discovering the source of a Yeti-iceman’s rampages at a ski resort north of the city. They can’t keep him in permanent puddle-stasis or something else just might blow up in their faces. With the best of the best grappling with portal rifts and a mounting death toll, the young partners need to set their differences aside to handle inter-species and inter-agency diplomacy… neither of which is all it’s cracked up to be. When cold clues heat up on this frigid mission, rules might not be the only things broken when Yoli falls prey to the iceman’s “pet.”

Can the “B” team discover the source of blizzard-man’s terror before Blue Mountain avalanches into a deep freeze?

Dive into the sixth installment of D.E.M.ON. Tales, where Men in Black meets Supernatural in a tongue-in-cheek blend of action and humour.

SPECIAL #1: Christmas

Revenge... A Dish Best Left to the Dogs

Drunk and disorderly seniors manage to inadvertently drag Krampus out of hibernation when they ignore their supernatural dachshund on Oktoberfest... Abnormal storms plague Europe for months until things drastically change course.

This holiday season, with only two agents available to headquarters (and both recovering from on-the-job disasters) it's up to a spliced D.E.M.ON. team to figure out what a cranky Krampus wants before more than just Christmas is ruined.

Dive into the first D.E.M.ON. Tales holiday special, where Men in Black meets Supernatural in a tongue-in-cheek blend of action and humour.

 

Nanci M. Pattenden is a professional genealogist, and an author of historical crime fiction and light urban fantasy. Her interest in genealogy, local history and love of Victorian murder mysteries have merged to create a new Canadian Victorian murder mystery writer. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime The Writers Community of York Region (WCYR), and the Ontario Genealogical Society.

She has completed the Creative Writing program at the University of Calgary and the University of Toronto, as well as two programs with The Institute of Genealogical Studies (Canadian and English studies).

Nanci currently resides in Newmarket, Ontario with her fluffy cat Snowball.

nanci@nancipattenden.com

www.murderdoespayink.ca

www.nancipattenden.com

@npattenden

 

Growing up in Ontario, Canada, MJ Moores was the only child of a single mom. MJ’s passion for the arts ignited at a young age as she wrote adventure stories and read them aloud to close family and friends. The dramatic arts became a focus in high school as an aid to understanding character motivation in her writing. Majoring in Theatre Production at York University, with a minor in English, she went on to teach in both the elementary and high school divisions.

MJ currently lives with her husband and son in Ontario, Canada. She keeps busy these days working at the library, coaching Indie Authors, attending book fairs and conferences, as well as holding writing workshops and volunteering with the WCYR – Writers’ Community of York Region.

mjmoores.com 

facebook.com/AuthorMJMoores

twitter.com/AuthorMJMoores