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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.

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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. 

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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

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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.

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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.
   

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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…

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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.

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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.

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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

 

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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…

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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.

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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…

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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

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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.

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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)

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More to come soon. Talk to you later.

Cheers,
Hardcastle

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(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.”

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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.

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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

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As of this morning, I’ve officially tapped out of the Debris, Pauls, and Pillow Tour, where I read in a bunch of towns around Ontario with Jess Taylor (Pauls – BookThug), and Andrew Battershill (Pillow – Coach House Books). I started it off with Jess on the 15th of September, in Guelph, and then read with Jess and Andrew in Hamilton, London, Kingston, and Ottawa.

Big thanks to the following bookstores/venues that had us over, and the people who helped out at each stop…

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September 15th – The Bookshelf – Guelph (especially Andrew Hood)

September 20th – Epic Books – Hamilton (owner, Jaime Krakowski, and staff)

September 22nd – London Public Library, Landon Branch – London (librarian, Carolyn Doyle)

September 28th – Novel Idea – Kingston (manager, Oscar Malan, and their staff)

September 29th – Octopus Books – Ottawa

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Without those folks we’d have been reading on the corner for nickels. Or just at home, alone, in our respective hobbit holes.

We also would not have been able to do any of this without great enthusiasm and support, and a lot of work, from all of our publishers. Huge thanks to my publisher, Biblioasis, for helping a guy with the credit of a small child stay in hotels and get on trains, that includes Meghan Desjardins, Andrew Kovacevic, Grant Munroe, and head honcho Dan Wells. I also want to thank the folks at Coach House, including Alana Wilcox and Veronica Simmonds, and, especially Hazel Millar at BookThug, who really put in a lot of work to coordinate everything. I sort of just jumped into this tour and did my part, but all of those people did the planning and booking, and I appreciate that very much.

I’ve got one last event this fall. I’ll be at the Wild Writers Literary Festival in Waterloo next weekend (November 6th to 8th) as part of a panel called Fiction: Pushing Boundaries. With Rhonda Douglas, Kevin Hardcastle, Russell Smith, and Kathleen Winter, and moderated by K.D. Miller. That one takes place on the Saturday at 1:30pm. Come by and watch me be weird amongst a bunch of way more established and experienced authors. Probably it’ll change your life. I don’t know…

Thanks, finally, to Jess Taylor and Andrew Battershill, who put up with me during these past few weeks, and who are off to Montreal to read today. While I go back to Toronto to watch Halloween movies and transcribe things. Good luck to you my friends. You do not suck at writing, nor are you terrible human beings. Godspeed.

Hardcastle

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Starting today, in Guelph, I’ll be going on a little mini-tour with Jess Taylor (author of Pauls, BookThug) and Andrew Battershill (author of Pillow, with Coach House Books). Me and Jess are going to be reading tonight, and then the three of us will be at all of the other towns together. Here is what they all are, and you can click on whichever line for event information:

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• The Bookshelf presents an evening with Kevin Hardcastle, author of Debris (Biblioasis) & Jess Taylor, author of Pauls (BookThug) – Guelph, Ontario – October 15th
• Reading at Epic Books – Hamilton, Ontario – October 20th
• Reading at the London Public Library – Landon Branch – London, Ontario – October 22nd
• Reading at Novel Idea – Kingston, Ontario – October 28th
• Reading at Octopus Books  – Ottawa, Ontario – October 29th

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If any of that interests anybody, or if you know anybody in those towns who like readings and books about hillbilly violence and mayhem, Pauls, Pillows, and some feelings, please spread the word if you could. It would be much appreciated by all us writers and our publishers.

I’ll also be doing a reading in Toronto, at the Pivot Reading Series, on October 21st, with George Murray & Meira Cook. That should be a good one, and I hope to see the regular weirdos and hopefully some irregular weirdos there as well.

Any other reading/events that I’m at will get posted soon as I can. Otherwise, as always, thanks for listening to my ravings and reading my work.

Cheers.

Hardcastle

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As of September 29th, 2015, my short story collection Debris, published by Biblioasis, is officially on wide release in Canada.

We launched the hell out of the book a few weeks ago, thanks to all the fine people who came out to the Biblioasis fall list launches in Montreal, Windsor, and especially Toronto. It has also been in stores a little while, and I know some folks have been buying it up in various places. That does me a lot of good to hear.

If you’d like to buy a copy of Debris directly from Biblioasis, you can go ahead and click this whole line and you will get to where you need to go. I know that some US friends have been asking, and, while February 9th is the proper US release date, they can order it early if they go direct.

Otherwise, the book has been spotted in stores all over Canada, and I appreciate everyone who posted on the internet about it as they bought the book or just looked at it or did those things and also stuck it in with Twilight…

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I’m going on a little mini-tour, starting mid-October, with stops in Guelph, Hamilton, London, Kingston, and Ottawa. That can all be found in my events page on this site, along with upcoming Toronto readings and whatnot. Go to any or all of these if you like. There will almost always be other writers reading at them if you don’t like the cut of my jib.

Thanks again for all the support over the past while. I will report anything new as it shows up. More to come…

Cheers,

Hardcastle

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Hi. I did a list of books recently for 49th Shelf, thanks to excellent person Kerry Clare. I was asked to try and identify a theme, or elements that these great Canadian books might share to some extent with my debut short story collection, Debris, out now from Biblioasis. I chose to talk about books that are concerned with endurance, and survival, and the things we carry.

They aren’t necessarily all up the same alley, but I’ve listed collections and novels that I got something out of, that seemed true to me, and that have taught me something in the reading. As I’ve already heard from some people, many of these books have done the same to a number of readers.

So yes, click here and see what I’ve done. I think it turned out alright, and I hope that you read all of these books and continue going back to 49th Shelf for such things, and that you buy my book and read it until the pages disintegrate. Please?

Thank you.

Hardcastle

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On Monday, September 21st I will be a guest at the Common Reading Series, at The Bell Jar on 2072 Dundas West in Toronto. I’ll be reading something from my new collection, Debris, and will have a few there for stragglers who have yet to buy it. Given that they have not been told already that it is awful and never read it.

Also reading and guesting will be Heidi Reimer and Ann Shin. It should be a good time. Go to this. It all starts at 8pm ET.

See some of you tomorrow. I’ll try to have the eye of the tiger each and every minute of the night.

Cheers,

Hardcastle