---

---

I got word yesterday, while travelling around Merseyside with family, that my first book, Debris (Biblioasis), was shortlisted for the Second Annual Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. It was chosen in the literary fiction category by Kobo’s bookseller team, along with books by Andrew Battershill, Irina Kovalyova, Sabrina Ramnanan, Tracey Lindberg, and Wendi Stewart. The eventual winner will be determined by acclaimed author Gail Anderson-Dargatz. If not, I hear it will be decided Highlander style…

Here’s some info about the prize, straight from Kobo:

“The award was created with the goal of kick-starting the careers of debut authors, with a $10,000 CAD cash prize awarded to a book in each of three categories: Non-Fiction, Literary Fiction, and Genre Fiction (Romance). In addition, each winning author will receive promotional, marketing, and communications support through 2016.

“The shortlist, selected by Kobo’s team of booksellers among traditionally and self-published titles—with book completion rates, customer ratings and reviews considered—comprises six books from each genre. The shortlist will now move on to the final selection process, led by top Canadian authors: Camilla Gibb for Non-Fiction, Gail Anderson-Dargatz for Literary Fiction, and Lynsay Sands for Genre Fiction (Romance), with winners announced on June 21.”

---

Thanks to all of the folks involved at Kobo for including this book, and to Gail Anderson-Dargatz for judging the finals. Also, congratulations to the other writers that got shortlisted, in every category. There are some real interesting and inventive books on the list, and not all of them might make a regular CanLit prize list (probably to their credit), so I am proud to have Debris on there.

Also, thanks to Biblioasis for publishing this thing, especially to my editor, John Metcalf, who I owe a bunch of phone calls after I get back, as well as another manuscript.

Click this line for the official release from Kobo, with all the information on the prize and on all of the other shortlists.

---

The last bit of news I have, that a bunch of people have probably gathered already, is that I was hired on as Assistant Editor for Open Book: Toronto. You might remember my stint as Writer-in-Residence there in November. Well, I got in as a columnist after that, until the editor position came up. Now I’ll be editing and posting those columns by some great local authors, and fouling up the social media for Open Book. Hardcastle style. Thanks to the other members of the small but mighty Open Book Team, Grace O’Connell and Holly Kent.

---

That’s all I got. I’m back to Canada in about a week, and will be at Authors for Indies on April 29th, appearing at Book City, Bloor West Village, from 4pm to 5pm. I’ll also be at Rowers Reading Series on May 2nd. Until then, take care and cheers to everyone who spread word about this Kobo news yesterday and other writing things. You are #1.

---

---

There are a few things that will likely not suck that are happening in about a month or so. Even though I am involved in them. The first is that I’ve been asked to participate in Authors for Indies Day, taking place all over the country on April 30th. I will be hunkered down at the Book City in Bloor West Village, Toronto. That is also a place where I some days work and tell people to read my book and the books of my friends and of Cormac McCarthy and Daniel Woodrell and nobody else. So that is nice.

Check the Authors for Indies site to see what bookstores you can visit and where and why. There are many excellent writers and reasonable human beings who will be part of this day, so get out there and talk to them. Do not let them sit in a chair weeping while you all try and find Yann Martel between his crossfit classes.

---

---

A couple days later, on May 2nd, I’ll be at Rowers Reading Series. I’m not sure who the other guest authors are that night, but it’ll be up soon enough and I’ll invite people using the internet. The readings take place at The Central, on Markham and Bloor St. in Toronto. They tend to start early, before 7pm, but I’ll post the exact details when the event page is complete. I don’t have any other readings lined up that I know of, so this might be the last one until fall. Go to it. Thanks.

---

---

The last thing that I never posted on here was a playlist I did for Largehearted Boy, the excellent music and literature site out of NYC, run by David Gutowski. As part of the Book Notes series that many other big deal and emerging writers have participated in over the years. The list goes along with my short story collection, Debris, as it was just released to massive fanfare in the United States. Anyway, check out my playlist by clicking the link in the above text, or the Spotify playlist below. At the actual site you can read my write-ups on all the Drive-By Truckers, Springsteen, RATM, and Sinead O’Connor I chose and learn the whys of them all. Thanks to Mr. Gutowksi for asking me to do this one, and to Grant Munroe at Biblioasis for setting it all up.

---

---

That’ll do it for today. I have more news that I’ll talk about separate, probably in a post to be posted over the weekend. Until then, cheers and keep the dream alive…

KH

---

---

A couple days ago I got back home after a little west coast tour, put on by brave publishing house, Biblioasis. They sent me and stately, non-plump Kris Bertin out to Vancouver, Victoria, and Calgary on the heels of the release of Bertin’s first book, Bad Things Happen. I lent moral, spiritual, and literary support in reading from and drinking around my first book, Debris (September 2015).

Jess Taylor of BookThug and Pauls notoriety also joined us for the Vancouver and Victoria readings, and she brought her fightface and also the panel-talk revelation that she is generally happy with a first book, whereas me and Bertin have hollows in us that are not yet filled nor may they ever be. 😥

---

---

Massive thanks in Vancouver to Hal Wake and Clea Young and the Vancouver Writers Fest, as well as the Vancouver Public Library. We read at the central branch for the Incite Reading Series, and to many more people than first book writers usually read to. Bertin opened up with the Kris Bertin comedy hour and livened up the room, then Jess read, and I closed that thing with a nice little segment of the story Montana Border, full with dislocated elbowbones and incisors stuck in fists. People were very moved.

---

---

The next day we ferried over to Victoria, and were hosted at Russell Books by Vanessa Herman, legend of the fall. A number of writers and friends that we’ve known mostly through the internet, and sparely in person (such as Julie Paul, Dave Brock, Erin Frances Fisher, Jenny Manzer, and Will Johnson), came by to watch us lip each other between sets and eventually read some stuff. And they came to drink all the beer in town afterward. Thanks to all you weirdos for showing up. Also, thanks to Will for taking the reading photos you see here, as I’ve stolen them from a blog post he wrote about the tour.

---

---

If you ever go through a security checkpoint for a domestic flight, it may surprise you that they will not let you through with cans of beer, knives, and bottles of rare liquor in your carry-on. Me and Kris learned this is a very FUBAR-like way, and to great hilarity for the YYJ staff. But don’t worry, because we drank them beers the next night in Cowtown and I believe Bertin smuggled his liquors back to Halifax a day later.

---

---

Calgary was our last stop, and we did a reading there at Shelf Life Books, hosted by owners JoAnn McCaig and Will Lawrence. They generously laid out wines and cheeses for their guests, and entertained a lively Q & A after the readings. We had a great little crowd there, including cousins of mine, and local writers Kim McCullough and Rea Tarvydas, who have long supported us and stepped it up a notch when Kim drove us to the beer store.

Me and Kris did not make the complimentary breakfast at our hotel. Never did we ever make one in the days before. Believe in your dreams…

---

All in all, it was a great bonus round of mini-tour for me (and Taylor), and a damn good start for Kris. He gets all Hannibal Buress in the opening remarks, but then reads like a pro, even on days when he misses the daily growth and weight status updates of his dog. Jess always reads good and does other stuff good too, like standing on a ferry with disgruntled-face men while she shows genuine enthusiasm.

---

---

So, that is what I had to report. I’ll update this post with more things over the next day or so, and will share more news and happenings as they occur. Until then, thanks to all the people who showed up for us out west, who hosted us, and who shared our crap on the internets and by other communications mediums. You are all my heroes…

Hardcastle

---

---

I’ve got a few readings coming up. One of them pretty soon, here in Toronto, before a little west coast and prairie tour with fellow Biblioasis author Kris Bertin, who can write like a sumbitch and has a new book out toward the end of February. Most of the readings are locked up, but we’re still finalizing details. For now though, I’m gonna post the ones I know about for sure, along with the details and links.*

---

---

On February 25th, I’ll be reading at Ben McNally books in Toronto, as part of the launch for Patrick Warner’s new novel, One Hit Wonders. I was asked to read by the excellent Megan Gail Coles, who writes the hell out of things herself, and works for Warner’s publisher, Breakwater Books. Kate Cayley, who won the Trillium Book Award for her novel How You Were Born, will also be reading. This’ll be a good one, so come on by. It’ll all start up at 6:30pm on the day.

If you click this line, you’ll get to the official event post from Ben McNally Books, with full details.

If you give this one a click, you’ll get to the Facebook page for the event. I invited all the people I could think of, but feel free to ask other folks to attend. It’d be much appreciated.

---

---

The first readings out west are in Vancouver and Victoria, on March 2nd and March 3rd. In both towns, me and Bertin are joined by Jess Taylor, who I read with on a little Ontario tour, supporting her collection of stories, Pauls.

In Vancouver on Wednesday, March 2nd, we’ll all be reading as part of the Incite series, which takes place at the Vancouver Public Library under the umbrella of the Vancouver Writers Fest. If you click on this, you can find all the details for that event. It will be free and also amazing…

In Victoria, the very next day, we’ll be reading downtown at Russell Books. That’ll all start at 7:30pm (as will the Incite reading), and if you click this line you’ll go direct to the Facebook event, where you can embiggen our self-esteem by saying you’ll go and telling all the other people you know in Victoria.

---

---

As far as the prairies go, we’ve got the one event locked up for Calgary on March 4th, at Shelf Life Books. Starting at 7pm. If you check out this link you’ll find the details for that one. There’ll likely be Facebook event pages up at some point too, and I’ll share them if they show up.

The good people at Biblioasis are working on Audrey’s Books in Edmonton on the Saturday or Sunday, and that should be sorted very shortly. More to come…

*Unfortunately, we were unable to find a venue to suit the schedule in Edmonton, and our adventure will end in Calgary on the 4th. Hopefully I can get back out there someday. But it’ll probably be after the novel comes out. Apologies to all the good folks in Edmonton who did what they could to help us out in trying to plan a reading there. 😥

---

And, finally, for friends in Toronto, I’ll be reading later in the spring at Rowers Reading Series, on May 2nd. It’s a ways off, and I’m not sure who else is on the card, but that is a consistently great series if you are around town.

So, please spread the word and join us at whatever events you can. There are some good books getting read from and you can buy some of them and get them scrawled on as well, if it floats your boat.

I’ve got another post coming this week about a few things. Until then, thanks and take care.

Hardcastle

---

---

Dear Americans. Today is the official release date for my collection of short stories, Debris. Published here in Canada this past September, by Biblioasis. I know that some of you have circumvented international literary boundaries and got it direct before today. But, now everyone else will be able to achieve a copy as well, even possibly from physically walking into a store of books and picking it up off a shelf. Or, more likely, telling the clerk to order one while they judge you…

There isn’t much in the way of US press or anything on this one. And by not much, I mean pretty much none whatsoever. But at least it exists worldwide now (I believe), and will be available in bookstores and libraries so that people can see what it might look like if Daniel Woodrell or Cormac McCarthy were a few decades younger and knew of snowmobile crime families and gravel pit fights out near Port McNicoll.

I did manage to get a playlist done for Largehearted Boy, the excellent music/literary site run by David Gutowski out of New York. He does one hell of a job putting up content from emerging and established authors, like Sarah Gerard, Nancy Jo Cullen, Audrey Niffenegger, Bret Easton Ellis, and Aimee Bender. I’ve mentioned that I write to music always, and I tried to get all the Drive-By Truckers I could in there. Of course, it got way out of hand. But that’ll be up on February 15th.

If anything else happens, or if I ever have plans to get down to the US, I’ll let everyone know. Until then, thanks for the support on both sides of the 49th parallel.

Hardcastle

 

---

---

A week or two ago, I got an email for an editor at WordPress to let me know that this very high-level writing blog was on their Bloggers With Books list in their 2015 Year In Review. I’m not quite sure how that happened, but I can tell you from working part-time in an actual bookstore that my book’s sales in comparison to those of the other authors on the list is probably about the same ratio as visitors to our blogs. Nonetheless, I am honoured and bewildered to some extent, and would like to thank WordPress for letting me post my gibberish for free on here, and providing the forum to do so. I’d also like to thank anyone who has ever got lost and clicked a link and read about all my goings on over the past few years.

Take a gander at the full WordPress Year In Review by clicking this line.

---

---

I managed to find a review of Debris in Booklist, the journal for the American Library Association. I stumbled across it at work while looking at my own book on a place we use to order from the States (as I imagine all normal people do), and managed to track it down online. Booklist requires a subscription to use properly, but I did a trial membership to read it in full. Not too shabby. I know that the good folks at Biblioasis, namely publicist Grant Munroe, took Debris down there to BookExpo America last year, and a few librarians in attendance picked up a copy of the book and seemed to be interested in it.

The book actually gets a US release on February 9th, in about two weeks. And I’ve made no secret of that fact that I am very much after trying to make some inroads into the American market. I know stories don’t do much down there, or anywhere, but it is nice to see even a few people give one or two shits.

The last little bit of news is that I also found a review from back in November, that we missed somehow, published by the Winnipeg Free Press and written up by Rory Runnells, the artistic director of the Manitoba Association of Playwrights. In any case, it is also a pretty good one. So it turns out that even the worst of them weren’t bad. I know you can’t put too much stock in all of that, but I’m glad to see a first book received well, and reviewed the same way you’d review a veteran author, not a newb. I’d rather take my lumps in that kind of review, than hear that bullshit about “they’ll be pretty good one day, nice start, kid.”

Anyways, here is that review in the Winnipeg Free Press. Get to it by clicking this line. 

---

That is all I got for now. I’ll post more soon as things develop, and as my west coast tour schedule and other plans for this book and the next shape up.

Cheers.

Hardcastle

---

---

As the year winds down, and with all of my duties done for now, I’m going to make this final post for 2015 with the last few things related to this book I wrote and writing in general. I’ve got no more interviews or reviews or anything that I have any hand in, and no more scheduled readings until at least March 2016. So, I’ll close it up with these…

1. I did an interview for The Puritan, the great online literary journal out of Toronto that originally published my story, Bandits. It was done by Jason Freure, who has endured my writing for a long while, as well as about a year-long process of getting this interview figured out. 
   Read the interview, Simcoe County Noir, by clicking this line right here.
   Read the story, Bandits, by clicking on this one.

   ---

2. A profile I wrote on John Irving, for the National Post and outgoing, excellent-human books editor Emily Keeler, got published in November. On the heels of Irving’s new book, Avenue of Mysteries. In this piece I talk about the book, and his writing process, and his wrestling, and I tried to come at it a little different from the other write-ups out there (given that I got to know Irving magically last year, and he was gracious enough to talk to me at length about a lot of things). I since saw John, and he supposed it was not terrible. In fact, he liked it. So that is alright.
   

   ---

3. Debris ended up on some year-end best-of lists, including Quill & Quire, along with a number of other books from Biblioasis, as a best book of the year. And, very importantly, as one of the best covers. I did not create this (Kate Hargreaves did and she is a hero), so I can say it is flat-out the best cover of the year if you have eyes. I was very lucky there…

   It also got on the 49th Shelf best books of the year, and into the All Lit Up Super Secret Literary Festival list of best story collections. Over at The Walrus, one of the most popular stories from Debris (Montana Border), was on their Year In Review.

   And, just recently, the publisher of Freight Books (out of Scotland), Adrian Searle, put it up as one of his picks for 2015. Any of these objective, foreign market mentions are nice, as I whiffed on many of the other large Canadian prizes and lists, and will probably need to explore new territories if I want to make an actual career out of this. By and large, they have never really liked people who write like me where I’m from. But I knew that going in.

   As always, I was fortunate to have other writers go to bat for me, and support my work, as they have since I first started getting stories out there. Without them, who knows what would’ve happened to this book. I’d at least have a lot of holes in my drywall by now. I know that much…

   ---

4. I talked too much for a whole month at Open Book Toronto, and you can find the complete list of those posts by clicking this line. It was a fair bit of work, and got a little heavy in that this was a very hard year for my family, and I talked about that some. But I tried to be honest and tell readers what I really thought, and about what you go through to get your writing out there. Thanks to everyone for reading those, and to the folks at Open Book and the OBPO for giving me a shot as Writer In Residence for November.

   I also just spoke to a lot of secondary school students at David Suzuki Secondary School in Brampton, as part of an initiative by The Fold (Festival of Literary Diversity), called the Human Lit Library. I’ve done a talk for The Writers’ Trust of Canada this year, to students in Toronto, and have been on a panel at the Wild Writers Festival in Waterloo (run by Pamela Mulloy and The New Quarterly), and all of these things have got me to openly try to articulate how and why I write. In the process, it has helped me articulate it better to myself. Much of this has been new to me, but I think the talks and panels have gone alright and I probably didn’t ruin too many lives in the process. Sincere thanks to everyone who let me participate and risked their reputations by it. I hope that I can do more of that kind of thing in the future.

---

---

I will be taking Debris on the road again in the spring. To Vancouver on March 2nd, as part of the Incite Reading Series, and hopefully I’ll get a ferry to Victoria for some other shenanigans. Then I’ll be heading inland to Edmonton and Calgary, and maybe elsewhere if we can muster it. I will get all the information out there as soon as I have it. But it is very good to have a publisher that will travel a cellar-dwelling poor person around the land for a book, that is for sure.

The US launch date of Debris is February 9th, 2016, and I am not sure what that will entail. I know what short stories do in the US, especially from Canadian writers, but I do have some friends and allies down there, and will try to make some inroads south of the 49th parallel in the new year. It’ll be a better go when the novel is published, but I will still travel and read where I can, if the opportunity is there. And I will tell everyone if I am going anywhere.

---

---

Until then, I’m working on that novel, In the Cage, to be published in fall 2016. My editor, John Metcalf, is happy with the way it’s going. So am I, but there is work to do. There’s a very good book in there if I can build it right. I keep hearing this sentiment about people waiting for your novel, as if the story collections are a warm-up. Well, I know how that all works (at least in business terms), but, this novel is more of the same shit that was in my stories, so I hope those same people aren’t expecting coming-of-age, escaping-small-town, self reflective CanLit. As I’ve said before, the story Montana Border was mined from the novel, and, if you liked that story, this book might ring your bell more than a little…

That all the 2015 this Hardcastle can answer for. I will see you in the new year. To all my readers and friends and fellow writers, sincere thanks for everything. There’s much more to come in 2016 and thereafter.

So long for now.

Hardcastle

 

---

---

Hey now.

I’ve been slow to report a few things on this site, mainly as I’ve been at people everyday on the social media and they may want to punch me. Either way, here are a few things of note…

An issue after my book got a starred review in Quill and Quire, by Robert J. Wiersema, there is another surprise bit of magic in this current “Best of the year” issue of Quill and Quire. The cover of the book, created by Kate Hargreaves, was called one of the best of the year by fellow book designer Michel Vrana. Since the first time I saw the mockups, I knew that was the best thing that I could’ve ever hoped for as far as covers go. All thanks possible to Kate for that one, and congratulations on being recognized for the Debris cover, and for her work on Arms by A.J. Somerset, and Arvida by Samuel Archibald, both listed as two of the best covers of the year by CBC books.

The writing that is between those covers was said to be some of the best of the year also, along with other Biblioasis authors that I’ve been lucky enough to share a list with. That was the work of Steven W. Beattie, who previously gave a very good review of Debris in The Globe and Mail. In talking about this Best Of Quartet for the Quill, Beattie says:

“Toronto writer Hardcastle’s debut was not shortlisted for any awards…”

That is very accurate (other than perhaps the entire Toronto part). But there is also some non-prize good things he said and you can find them out by getting the latest Quill and Quire. I appreciate…

---

---

Elsewise, I was invited to be on a panel at the Wild Writers Festival (easily the most significant WWF), by Pamela Mulloy and the incredible humans at The New Quarterly. Three of the stories in my book were originally published in TNQ, and they will always be champions to me. In any case, the panel was about Pushing Boundaries, and I certainly pushed the boundaries as to whether I should be allowed on a panel.

---

---

That is a face I made up there while answering a question (though I think the answer was just). Taken by the writer Sarah Henstra, as was the picture above that. No matter. It was a good time all weekend and heartening to see so many rooms full and books sold out and meals of just meat and bread prepared for a weirdo from Midland. It was my first go at any kind of real festival or panel, and, when I got over the nerves, it was fine. Thanks to everyone who organized and participated in and sat in the audience at the Wild Writers Festival. I hope to come back someday and make an even more hilarious face to a whole other set of people…

---

That’s the best I got at the moment. But I do have more for you, and it will show up later. Until then, goodnight. See you around. KH

---

---

If you take a look at Echolocation‘s site this month, you’ll see an interview between me and everything-award winning poet Michael Prior, who made the hilarious error of buying me beer and hitting record while I ranted at him and answered very few of his questions right (fixed in post).

It’s titled: On Calling Your Shot, and in it we talk about many, many things, including: my real life writing influences and background, what is interesting about the lesser known towns between the city and nowheresville, horror fiction and films that inspire me, writing tricks that I don’t give a shit about, my awesome book I wrote when I was 10 (CAMP FEAR), and my reading some of it with Caitlin from Degrassi. And so on…

Echolocation is the literary journal run by graduate students in the University of Toronto English Department, many of whom are part of the MA in Creative Writing, and many of whom are pretty goddamn good at it. As a U of T graduate (undergrad, as I would not have been smart enough for the MA), I am happy to get this in there, and see how things have been going since I fled the country for more book learnin’.

Read the whole thing by clicking this line, and listen to nothing that is said about my “huggability” or the opportunity for a “hug.” You will be straightarmed just like Prior.

---

---

I have also been posting more stuff as Writer-In-Residence for Open Book Toronto, so you can check out my profile and take a gander if you like. The direct links to the most recent of them are listed below:

– Taking Your Medicine in the Editing Room

– Navigating the Literary Landscape – Part One/Part Two

– At the end of the Debris tour – Notes on my first rodeo

– On Writing Violence

– Hello Open Book readers… (first official post, about all kinds) 

– The Lucky Seven Interview – with Grace O’Connell (introductory post before my term as WIR)

---

More to come soon. Talk to you later.

Cheers,
Hardcastle

---

---

(UPDATED: with Quill and Quire Review, now online)

Hi. How are you?

I’ve got a few things to talk about in this post, some of it is catch-up from what has been happening over the last month or so with my new book, Debris. The first is that this thing finally started getting some reviews, and, most of those reviews have been pretty strong. Below you can find the links to all of those…

(NEW) Quill and Quire – Debris Review – By Robert J. Wiersema

The Globe and Mail – New Fiction Review – Debris – By Steven W. Beattie

National Post – Jacked up myths for working stiffs – Review by Alix Hawley

The Winnipeg Review – Debris Review – By Andrew Woodrow-Butcher

PRISM international – Debris Review – Adrick Brock

There is also a great review in the November issue of Quill & Quire for anybody who subscribes or has picked up that issue. It isn’t online yet, but I’ll post the link when it is. Debris was reviewed in those pages by Robert J. Weirsema. (Now exists online, as mentioned above)

Thanks to everybody who had a hand in these: the reviewers, senior/books editors, and the publicists and staff at Biblioasis who told people about this book, and did their damnedest to make sure it didn’t get buried in the middle of “prize season.”

---

The next bit of news is that I’m the Writer-in-Residence for Open Book Toronto, for the month of November. This is all thanks to Grace O’Connell and Holly Kent, and they are champions. I’ll be posting about a number of things on there. Please check it out.

I’ve got two posts up already. The one is an introductory interview from Grace, and that went up about a week ago. The Lucky Seven Interview. Click anywhere here to read that.

The other one is my first actual post as WIR, where I go on about a number of things regarding how I got to where I am, and what still matters to me in writing, why I think good writers need to keep driving forward. Click this bit for that first post.

---

That’ll do it for now. If anything cool happens in life I’ll let you know. Oh yeah, and for those of you who might be interesting in attending the Wild Writers Festival in Waterloo (November 6th to 8th), I will be there as part of a panel called Fiction: Pushing Boundaries. With Rhonda Douglas, Russell Smith, and Kathleen Winter, and moderated by K.D. Miller. That one takes place on the Saturday at 1:30pm. Please come by and watch me yammer on. Should be good times.

Cheers. Hardcastle