Walking on Water, the second book of short stories by local author Jancis M. Andrews, has had its publication by Cormorant Books pushed back to Spring of 2009. Contact Cormorant Books directly to pre-order.

Walking on Water, the latest short story collection from award-winning author Jancis M. Andrews, searches for the intimate moments of life that reveal the fantastic amongst the mundane. In these nine stories, Andrews explores the jutting coasts and heaving mountains of British Columbia, crawls through the communities of poor Vancouverites, and brings to life characters fully imagined with tender care and aplomb. In each story, characters face a turning point in which they are forced to succumb to the suffocating crush, or rise above and walk away. The opening tale, “Big Girl,” is the story of Betsy, a pubescent teen growing up in the socially stifling 1950s. Barraged by conflicting ideals and virtues from her stringent mother and her voluptuous Marilyn Monroe look-a-like aunt, Betsy comes to understand the price a sexually mature woman sometimes has to pay. In “Balancing,” a destitute mother of two and abused wife must deal with her inner demons to find a constructive release for the fear and frustration she faces daily at home. And in the chilling, autobiographical “Country of Evil,”Andrews leads the reader through a chaotic night during the London Blitz to question the origin of evil and if it can be contained within any set borders.

When: 7-9pm, Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

Where: The Shebeen, behind the Irish Heather, 217 Carrall

How: reserve @ lorraine.murphy at gmail.com

How Much: $15 includes dinner and a drink

What: The Moon Project with Virginia Gillespie

Who: For more info contact: lorraine.murphy at gmail.com

The Shebeen Club is pleased to present The Moon Project with White Rock poet, author, songstress, and maverick Virginia Gillespie. The author of Taoist Inner Tube Rider will be launching her innovative new Moon Project, a year-long, cooperative artistic challenge in which she invites all artists to participate.

This will be a very free-wheeling, possibly musical event which will cross the barriers between artistic disciplines and encourage audience participation.

Bio: Taoist Inner Tube Rider began as a metaphor to describe the Author’s style of writing that has evolved into a book and CD. It is created to bring the words alive and to inspire people to engage with poetry.

Through word, sound and image revelations  are presented as a lyrical journey through time and  as a cyclical ride through nature.

The writing spans four decades. The geographies are desert, forest, waterways, and  sky represented in wind, weather and sound waves.

A woman rides through them all - flowing through vistas and deep feelings to find meaning and purpose.

Meet and Mingle 7-7:30
Presentation 7:30-8
Summer of Love reminiscences 8-whenever

FYI:

Hey all, our June 17th meeing is set. We will be hosting White Rock editrix, writer, literary coach, communications consultant, blues-groover, cultural creative, and BC Federation of Writers President Sylvia Taylor, who will be presenting on the subject of memoir.

With everyone from Dave Eggers to James Frey to Socks the Cat jumping on the memoir bandwagon, it’s more important than ever to understand what makes a good story stand out. And of course, there’s always the thorny issue of literal versus subjective truth; when is it a novel and when is it autobiography?

Sylvia Taylor is an award-winning freelance writer, editor, instructor and literary coach in Metro Vancouver, with a passionate commitment to communication and the arts.

Through her business, Sylvia Taylor Communications, she writes articles and commissioned works, coaches authors of all levels and ilkes, consults with business and not-for-profits, and edits in all genres.

She is President of the Fed of BC Writers, and when not teaching in conferences and writing programs, she’s dancin’ up a storm somewhere.

Shhhh, it’s a surprise!

What: The Shebeen Club Presents: Amy Tan’s Birthday Party

When: 7:30pm-9:00pm, Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

Where: Upstairs at The Shebeen, behind The Irish Heather, 217 Carrall Street in Gastown

Why: to celebrate Amy Tan’s Birthday, duh!

Who: Contact lorraine.murphy AT gmail.com for more information

How(much)? $15 includes presentation, dinner of bangers and mash or vegetarian pasta, one celebratory beverage, and mingling.

Resurrecting the Old Skool Shebeen Club tradition of celebrating authors who are not actually present, we move up from our former practice of toasting dead celebrities and begin to celebrate the living! Amy Tan is deservedly one of the best-beloved authors on the contemporary fiction scene. February 19th is her birthday, so we have arranged a short presentation on her life and works and her (I’m sorry) don’t-quit-your-day-job rock band, the Rock Bottom Remainders. If anyone has a CD, you’re welcome to bring it!

7-7:30: meet and mingle
7:30-8: listen and learn
8-whenever: The Joy Luck Club Literary Lottery: good luck!

Passed along from Seal Press, an Avalon imprint, via TheShadeWriter:

Here’s your chance. Seal Press is launching a new series and we’re looking for writers who are experts on the following topics:

• Car repair
• Camping
• Home repair
• BBQing

We’re looking for women writers who are passionate about these topics. Whether it be your passion, your hobby, or your profession, the main qualifier is that you really know your stuff. We want writers who can translate these subjects in an intelligent, fun, and accessible style. We’ll tell you the details of the series upon seeing your qualifications.

Requirements:

1. One-page cover letter detailing why you’re the person to write on this topic
2. Resume or CV
3. Previous publishing experience
4. Anything that you think sets you apart from other applicants (keep this within reason, please)

Send materials in a word document attachment, in the order listed above, to Brooke Warner at: brooke.warner at avalonpub dot com.

Please allow three weeks for a response.

Here it is: our very first podcast! Recorded live at our November 20th meeting and edited to death since, this is the book launch party we threw for Colleen O’Connor’s new book Cry of the Phoenix, brought out by her brand-new publishing company, Cat’s Eye!

powered by ODEO

Recording and editing by Dale McGladdery

Can you ever get enough trivia about your favorite authors? One rather thinks not, one does. Behold a selection from the famous Dr. Boli’s Encyclopedia of Misinformation, without which no desktop should be.

Hawthorne, Julian. Julian Hawthorne inherited all his father Nathaniel’s prodigious literary talent, but straitened circumstances forced him to pawn it.

Hemingway, Ernest. Psychiatrists have determined that Hemingway’s trademark literary style was the result of a severe case of attention deficit disorder.

Joyce, James. When he was sober, James Joyce was completely unable to interpret his own Finnegans Wake.

Makes a helluva lotta sense, eh?

What: The Shebeen Club: Cry of the Phoenix Book Launch/Cat’s Eye
Publishing House Launch
When: 7-9pm, Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
Where: The Shebeen, behind the Irish Heather, 217 Carrall Street in Gastown
Why: to celebrate Shebeener Colleen O’Connor’s Cry of the Phoenix
Who: Contact lorraine.murphy AT gmail.com for more information
How(much)? $15 includes drink and appetizers

Reactions to Cry of the Phoenix:

“Colleen takes us from personal tragedy to triumph – she provides
astute observations of the human condition. A flowing, touching,
compelling read.” John L. Daly

“Emotional, gut-wrenching reading!” Richard Jackson, President, Ace
Arctic Circle Entertainment

Come join us for a party to mark the publication of first-time author
Colleen O’Connor’s memoir Cry of the Phoenix. A longtime Shebeen Club
member, Colleen has done a successful end run around mainstream
publishing, starting her own publishing house, Cat’s Eye. Cat’s Eye
launches tonight along with Colleen’s own moving memoir of struggle
and triumph, Cry of the Phoenix. Cry is soon to be a major motion
picture, and is available in independent bookstores throughout Canada.
Tonight only it will also be available for signing by the author.

We at the Shebeen Club couldn’t be prouder of Colleen, a truly
home-grown success story, and we are honoured and delighted to be able
to kick off the holiday season with a party to celebrate the birth of
an author, a novel, a movie, and a publishing house. Also in
attendance are special guests who played key roles in bringing this
project to fruition, and for the price of a drink and some delicious
appies you can hear how it all came together right here in Vancouver.

Bio: Colleen O’Connor is a Vancouver author, publisher, and business
consultant. She was a Criminal Court Justice of the Peace for the
Province of British Columbia for eighteen years, and is currently
working on her second book. Her blog is at
http://cryofthephoenix.blogspot.com and she can be reached at
cryofthephoenix AT shaw DOT ca or Cat’s Eye Enterprises LTD., 2-2314
West Broadway Ave, Vancouver, BC, V6K 2E5