A COVER FOR WHO AM I? — AT LAST!

After soliciting feedback on a selection of covers from a large and varied audience of adults and children, we feel confident that we have made the right cover choice. This sci-fi thriller for middle grades deals with cloning, and we think this cover—with its cloned heads and stylized DNA helix—indicates that in a compelling way.

Do you agree?

Who Am I? is scheduled for a fall 2016 launch. I'll be sure to keep you "posted" on developments, including pre-launch discounts for blog readers.

Tucson Jo Featured by Jewish Book Council

Delighted that Tucson Jo, Carol Matas's award-winning historical for middle grades, has made into the Jewish Book Council's Weekly Reviews mailing this week. Yeah!

Carol Matas's Upcoming Sci-Fi for Middle Grades

One of six test covers

We've been working hard on different cover approaches for Carol Matas's new sci-fi for middle grades, Who Am I? Over the last few months, we've tested various covers at different schools in different cities.

Click here for a recap of our last test.

Feel free to weigh in with your opinion in the Comments section.

We've scheduled Who Am I? for a fall launch. Stay tuned!

Per Brask on Canadian shortlist for 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize for poetry translation

2016 Griffin Poetry
Award Finalist, Per Brask

Congratulations to Per Brask & Patrick Friesen for making the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize Canadian shortlist for their translation of Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments by Danish poet Ulrikka S. Gernes!

Per Brask is a remarkable poet in his own right and Fictive Press is proud to have published two of his poetry collections: A Spectator (Ekphrastic Poetry) and Above Palm Canyon and Other Places in the Mind.

RALPH HANCOX'S NEW NOVEL

Fictive Press is pleased to announce the launch of Ralph Hancox's 3rd novel in two years.

Click to order your PRINT edition today. 

Or, click to order The Ape & The Peacock in your favourite eBOOK format.

It’s 1957 in the fictional Canadian Province of Superior. In the span of just a few days in November, the lives of several high-level government officials and a colourful cast of “destitutes” are about to change forever. In this penetrating social commentary, wrongdoings lead to shockingly unequal consequences for the privileged and the dispossessed.

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RALPH HANCOX'S FIRST TWO NOVELS ARE 50% OFF IN YOUR FAVOURITE EBOOK FORMAT

Get Ralph Hancox's first two novels (The Fabufestan Exposés) at HALF PRICE . Click on the book links below and insert their discount coupon code in the appropriate field.  

Copy this code for Con Job: KR28U

Click here to get Con Job at 50% OFF with discount code: KR28U

Copy this discount code for Scandalous: ZS64Y

Click here to get Scandalous at 50% OFF with discount code: ZS64Y

Ralph Hancox, Author

A fascinating and personal interview with Ralph Hancox, author of The Fabufestan Exposés: Con Job and Scandalous. 

Why Ralph Hancox wrote Con Job and Scandalous.

Author/playwright Charlotte Cameron featured in BC BookLook

Author Charlotte Cameron at the lodge where author Malcolm

Lowry and his wife once stayed on Gabriola Island, BC.

(Photo: Tom Cameron)

BC BookLook has featured author Charlotte Cameron's fascination with Malcom Lowry, best known for his novel, Under the Volcano. Her interest led her to write a play about the Lowry's entitled October Ferries to Gabriola and is putting Lowry on the literary map of BC (a BC Bookworld initiative).

Charlotte Cameron is the author of Running: The Alex Decoteau Story, published by Fictive Press in 2014.

THE PASSOVER SURPRISE "FILLED WITH WONDER AND HOPE"

A new review of The Passover Surprise by Janet Ruth Heller, in Children's Bookwatch, October 2015 (Midwest Book Review):

"The Passover Surprise is a middle grade chapter story that deals sensitively with complex issues like fairness, sexist thinking, working hard to sort out complex problems and issues within a family setting, relying on strong religious and cultural values within the framework of Judaism. 

"Lisa is the heroine who is hurt by her father's decision to award a coveted stamp book to her younger brother Jon, perhaps because he is the younger son while she is the older daughter. Some wonderful pages describe first how Lisa felt, and then how she evaluates her options and strategies to attempt to explain her reaction to her father, whom she loves. 

The Passover Surprise tackles many difficult issues of prejudice, racism, misogyny, and fairness, even including bullying. All development is influenced by the strong Jewish faith and values of Lisa and her family. The story takes place in the 60's, and has a definite period flavor to it, which is underlined by the quietly charming black and white illustrations.The Passover Surprise is filled with wonder and hope, even in times of dreadful hardship and disappointment."

AN IMPORTANT WORK ON JUDAISM

Judaism deconstructed! This seminal work by Danish philosopher Andreas Simonsen, beautifully translated by Per K. Brask.

Why Ralph Hancox Wrote The Fabufestan Exposés

A Social Conscience
by Ralph Hancox

In a few small group sessions of old dodderers like me, a couple or more years ago, we concluded that the illicit drug trade, people trafficking, and the abuse of a worldwide aging population were three of the major social horrors confronting humanity in this coming century .

I was asked, as former journalist, if I could write articles exploring these societal phenomena, dealing with the magnitude of savagery they entailed. I told them my days of writing such commentaries had long since passed and, furthermore, any such articles written by an amateur like me would be ignored .

I did some research into the subjects, accessing the authoritative international data and statistics freely available on the Web. This research confirmed the kind of concerns we had discussed among the group, but I was convinced that any critical analysis by me would have little impact.

Even so, I had the guilty feeling that I was evading a personal responsibility to do something about it all, given the information I had gathered . These misgivings have haunted my thoughtful moments ever since.

How could it all be put across to an indifferent audience by the experts themselves? My conclusion was that it could be done through a fictional setting of one kind or another.

Hence the first two books–Con Job and Scandalous–that covered, using the literary device of a documentary crew, the essential authoritative basic research on the first two issues. I have virtually completed research for the third book, on elder abuse.

  

A Q&A WITH JANET RUTH HELLER, AUTHOR OF THE PASSOVER SURPRISE

Jewish Book for Kids interviews Janet Ruth Heller about the source of her inspiration for The Passover Surprise, recently published by Fictive Press.