Stacey May Fowles

As part of Canada Also Reads, I was asked to contribute some rules for writing fiction. You can check them out here. And you can see a bonus rule I didn’t include here.

The Canada Also Reads essays will be posted starting Monday, March 1 on the National Post Afterword Blog, including one from Fear of Fighting’s more than fabulous defender, Zoe Whittall.

Grab yourself a free ebook copy of Fear of Fighting here. Buy an old school print copy here.
Photo courtesy of the fabulous Dani Couture of Animal Effigy (and a lot of other) fame.

To celebrate the book’s National Post Canada Also Reads nod, Fear of Fighting is being offered as a free e-book until April.

From Invisible Publishing:

“You should read Fear of Fighting; the National Post’s Afterword said so. And out of relief and ecstasy for someone (specifically defender Zoe Whittall who also just had her book Bottle Rocket Hearts optioned for a movie!) finally having the courage to admit that everyone should read Fear of Fighting, we’ve decided to give it away until April.

Seriously, Stacey May and Marlena are cool with it.

DRM-Free PDF, EPub, and poorly-converted MOBI (we’re working on it) in one handy zip file.”

Julie Forrest (”Book lover, blogger and social media geek who works in book publishing. Founder of the T-dot Blogger Book Club”) has this to say about Fear of Fighting:

“So far the Canada Also Reads shortlist is proving to be terrific selection of books that didn’t get the fanfare they deserve. Stacey May Fowles’ Fear of Fighting definitely falls into this category. With beguiling illustrations by Marlena Zuber, it’s a delicious little package (I read a library copy, but this is a book I would like for my shelves)… I ripped through this book in two sittings, because I really wanted to find out if Marnie would be OK (you’ll have to read it to find out). She’s kind of an everywoman—I think many of us could find a bit of ourselves in this character.”

From the National Post:

“The panelists will each present a short essay defending their selected book: making the case for why you need to read it. We’ll post two a day through the week starting March 1. And on March 8 we’ll host a live chat with the panelists and the authors and enjoy a rousing discussion of the titles.

For us, this isn’t really a contest, but a way, hopefully, to get people talking about these books. That said, while we won’t be voting anyone off, one book will be named the winner, based on a public poll.

We encourage you to pick up these titles, and read them, and join our chat. This is, after all, all about starting a conversation.”

Fear of Fighting will be defended by the lovely and talented Zoe Whittall (Bottle Rocket Hearts, Holding Still for as Long as Possible,) which Invisible Publishing described as “having Bruce Springsteen back you in a New Jersey contest.”

You can purchase Fear of Fighting here.

Featuring the best line ever in a review about my work:
“In both of Fowles’s novels, the young people do a lot of vomiting–too much, maybe, but not enough to provoke a similar reaction on the part of the reader. Rather, Be Good and Fear of Fighting are cause for celebration; they mark the arrival upon the CanLit scene of a refreshing new voice, a fine young talent.”

Read the complete review here.

Be Good and Fear of Fighting have both made the National Post Canada Also Reads (very) longlist. Check out the complete list for a great sampling of (mostly less mainstream) books published in Canada over the last few years.

If you’re interested in being a panelist, just send an email to theafterword@nationalpost.com with the name of the book you’d like to defend.
 

“My teen years were vivid, with seemingly ordinary moments transformed by Technicolor depths of pain, longing, confusion, and joy. The authors in She’s Shameless let me know I am not alone in my clarity of memory. If we’d had this book, the creative women with whom I came of age would have read this anthology aloud to one another, shocked by how well these strangers could know our minds and hearts.”

Read the full review here.

“On Thursday, December 3rd, el Mocambo’s Legends of the Stage trilogy finally comes full circle when Taddle Creek launches its Christmas, 2009, issue. The evening will begin with a dramatic reading of letters to the editor (starring Paul Bellini as the voice of Taddle Creek) then slowly build momentum with a slideshow by Terry Murray and readings of poetry and fiction by Lindsay Zier-Vogel and Stacey May Fowles, finally coming to a bloody conclusion as the magazine presents the Main Event: a literary smackdown featuring Toronto’s favourite son—ladies and gentlemen, no longer defending his title as Taddle Creek’s most-rejected author, the one, the only, Nathaniel. G. Moooooooore!

The address is 464 Spadina Avenue, just south of College (second floor), and the doors open at 8 P.M. Admission is free. There will be door prizes of recent books by Taddle Creek contributors. Entry to win is one canned-good donation to the el Mo’s Serving Charity (one can equals one chance to win; please give generously to thank the el Mo for graciously providing party space).

The one and only item on sale for the evening will be the above-mentioned Christmas issue, at the usual non-literary-magazine price of only $5. It’s a pretty colourful issue and different in a lot of unexpected ways (but still retains that classic Taddle Creek feel). If you buy only one more issue of the magazine in 2009, this is the one Taddle Creek would recommend.”

Featuring Walrus magazine contributor and award-winning writer Hal Niedzviecki reading from The Peep Diaries, an examination of our emerging “peep culture,” and engaging in a Q & A session with novelist and Walrus contributor Stacey May Fowles. 8:00 pm, 1090 Don Mills Road, Toronto.

Hal Niedzviecki’s writings on culture have appeared in newspapers and magazines across North America. He is the founder of Broken Pencil, a magazine covering zine culture and the indie arts. In addition to three novels and a story collection, Niedzviecki is the author of Hello, I’m Special and We Want Some Too: Underground Desire and the Reinvention of Mass Culture.

Read The Porn Identity, Stacey May Fowles in conversation with Hal Niedzviecki on privacy and internet pornography.