writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
Reading this tense supernatural thriller set in NYC’s 1980s crack epidemic is like falling down a rabbit hole and hoping, praying that there’s some way out. Michele W. Miller creates an authentic cast of characters who will break your heart and make you sit up and cheer. Raven will stay with me for a very long time.
What could be more Canadian than a wendigo killer and an Indigenous hockey player hero? Wry, amusing, and so entertaining — this isn’t the usual description for a larger-than-life-horror-thriller but it fits Drew Hayden Taylor’s Cold perfectly. I loved the tight writing and the tension of this page-turning thriller. I also appreciated the homage to so many great Indigenous Canadian writers. This refreshing and entertaining novel will amuse every reader who is willing to suspend their disbelief for just a few hundred pages.
My very first virtual visit was with Riverside ES in Gwinnett County, Georgia last Thursday and it was great to be back there, as I’ve visited a few times in the past. Ms Bartholomew always has her students prepped and it’s such a pleasure to answer their considered questions. Internet gremlins foiled us though. We got through the first session with just minor hiccups, and the second session was pretty much a wash. So this morning I did the second session again. It was nice to see the same students, sitting with smiling anticipation. I started where I left off last week and there was plenty of time for questions. And Zoom liked us this time! Here are some pics from last week’s session.
I’ve written two WWII trilogies. The first trilogy is Making Bombs for Hitler, Stolen Girl and The War Below.
What’s their order? You can read either Making Bombs or Stolen Girl first, but read The War Below last.
Here’s what the books looked like when they were originally published by Scholastic Canada:
The second trilogy should be read in this order: Don’t Tell the Nazis, Trapped in Hitler’s Web, and Traitors Among Us. While there is enough context in each of the novels so that they can be read as standalones, to get a true picture of Krystia and Maria’s experiences in WWII, reading them in the order that I wrote them is best.
Don’t Tell the Nazis was originally published in Canada in 2018 as Don’t Tell the Enemy. After that, Scholastic Books and Scholastic Canada published my books simultaneously, and with the same title.
Winterkill takes place before World War II, at a time in the 1930s when the dictator from Moscow implemented a plan to starve Ukrainians to death so he could replace them with people of Russian and Belarusian heritage. Millions of Ukrainians were killed. This genocide is called the Holodomor (holod = hunger; mor=death). This novel chillingly reflects what is happening in Ukraine now, with Putin trying to repeat history.
I can think of no author more qualified to write a book of this nature. Richard Scrimger brings his innate talent and humor to this practical guide that breaks down the elements of writing a good story. As informative as it is laugh out loud funny, anyone who wants to write stories will find his suggestions to be useful. Highly recommended
Good to see this info page posted on the Georgetown Ontario site about the Georgetown Boys, who were Armenian orphans rescued by Canadians after the Armenian Genocide. When I wrote Aram’s Choice and Call Me Aram, it took quite a bit of sleuthing to gather the information. Now a lot of it is available online. Nicely done! The Georgetown boys were brought to Canada on July 1, 1923 and they represent Canada’s first international humanitarian effort. An all too timely piece of history, alas.
This highly readable self-help book delves into our addictive behaviors — what they are, how they originated and how to understand and ultimately overcome them. I like the way that each chapter is a vignette with Michael Easter going to people and their experiences that personify the issue. For example, with overeating, visiting a remote tribe where no cardiovascular problems exist, or when discussing gambling, visiting the scientists involved in transforming mechanical slot machines into video-gamified ones, and how this video-gamified model has been applied to so many other areas of our lives. Readable, refreshing and helpful. Thank you, Netgalley and Rodale books, for the ARC.
This is a quick book surveying Russians who abandoned their country once Putin began his “special military operation” against Ukraine. Granted, many of those who fled were thinking more of their personal comfort, but it was uplifting to read about those who where more principled. Even more uplifting was reading about some of the exiled Russians who are working behind the scenes to help Ukraine win the war, like the physicist who helped develop defensive equipment and was honored by Ukraine for doing so, and about those who have enlisted in the Ukrainian army and are risking their lives for Ukraine’s freedom. There are others working behind the scenes in Russia, assisting with sabotage. Those Russians willing to defy Putin are a small percentage of the whole. But even so, this book gives me hope that one day there might be a Russia that isn’t premised on killing one’s neighbors and isn’t premised on treating ones own citizens as medieval slaves.