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This week I joined forces with fellow Biblioasis writers Anakana Schofield (Malarky, Giller Prize Nom – Martin John), Samuel Archibald (Giller Prize Nom – Arvida), Larry Tremblay (The Orange Grove, etc), and, in Windsor, A.J. Somerset (Combat Camera, Arms), to promote our new books on the fall list. We began in Montreal on Monday night, had the expected crazy showing in Toronto the following night, and wrapped it up on Wednesday in Windsor, Biblioasis’ home base.

Though the main touring posse was to be me and the first three writers I mention, Archibald had to stay in Montreal and let us keep on without him, and Mr. Somerset graciously jumped in for the last stop. So, me, Anakana, and Larry, spent a lot of hours on trains and in hotels and in taxis, much of it together, and I was very grateful to discuss and argue and ramble on with them about all kinds of things I’m learning about having an actual book done. As Debris is my first published work, I was pretty green compared to all of these experienced and goddamn excellent writers, but I did my best to read well and learn something and drink a bunch of whiskey and swear a lot.

I think I at least had success in three of those things. It was one hell of an experience.

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The Toronto launch was the big one for me, and I’ve been harassing people for weeks and months to get them out for all the writers and for Biblioasis. We did what we could to make sure we didn’t double up with any of the other press launches, for incredible and very popular houses like Coach House Books and BookThug and Wolsak & Wynn. People like Alana Wilcox and Paul Vermeersch and Hazel & Jay Millar were very kind in speaking with us and working it out so that we could each get the chance to support all of these fall launches, and see our friends and favourite authors throwdown. The community in Toronto is pretty tight, and almost bafflingly supportive at times, and I felt that through this whole deal.

It was also an important night for me in that so many of my friends that I’ve known for as far back as twenty years, from Midland and University of Toronto and from the writing community, came down from all over and hollered when they got a chance. And bought up all the copies of my book, as well as many copies of the other books on sale. I know that all of that enthusiasm left an impression on the folks at Biblioasis and on Anakana and Larry, and we were all very grateful for the crowd. Of course, many fancy people in the Toronto scene that I don’t know came for the more established authors on the list, and I’m sure some were real confused by why Debris got so much attention. But, I knew that it would be my one event where it would get a little rowdy for me, and I didn’t think anyone would give much of a damn about mine at the others. Turns out it was received, and the reading was received, welcomely in Montreal and especially Windsor. I was not really prepared for that, but I am thankful for it and for everyone who put up with me there.

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People also got to meet my brother and my mum and my uncle, who came from a few hours away to celebrate with me. I was most nervous about reading in Toronto, mostly just because I very much wanted to deliver for them and to give them a reason to be proud of this. Of course, they’ve always had a hand in my stories, as far as I’m concerned, and I’d not be a writer or a proper human being without the work they’ve done. Those closest to me also know that my father passed away about two months ago, after a long fight with depression, and it weighed on us all heavy that he didn’t make it through to see this book published. All of the stories in there were influenced by my father and mother, and often my brother. Some of the most difficult passages in the work are not truly fiction at all, and my folks and family have never tried to stop me writing them down or really digging deep into our lives to write stories that matter. If there is any heart in my writing, this is where it comes from. Doing a decent job of this, and seeing my family in that room, speaking to other friends and those I’ve talked with over and over about my family, that did us all good. Especially after this hard summer and these past few years and what we’ve endured together. My mum and brother got to hear that they’d done a good job keeping me in line, and my uncle bought John Irving a beer. That’s not too bad for a Tuesday night…

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With all that said and done, I had the one last event in Windsor where I got to see the Bibliomanse, where the sausage is made, and met the staff who I have been emailing all day everyday for months. They were good people and we had some whiskeys after and I left all of my shit all over the place. I may or may not have drank all the rye at a post-launch bar visit and may or may not have drank down a bottle back at Biblioasis HQ after while yelling nonsense to my publisher, Dan Wells, and generally making sweeping statements about my writing and writing in general and the operations of the universe as I saw them. Probably a lot of that was crazy talk and the whiskey helped, but that is also when I got the chance to get to know some Biblioasis fans and colleagues and especially my other cohorts on the Tour, Larry and Anakana, and Somerset. By the end all things were drank and I wandered the streets in Windsor awhile until about two hours before I had to get on a train. Seems like that was the only way it would ever end up. I regret nothing. Good times all around…

So, thanks again to everyone at Biblioasis who put this together, and especially Dan Wells and John Metcalf (my brave editor) and Grant Munroe. Thanks to my new friends and colleagues Anakana Schofield and Larry Tremblay and Samuel Archibald and A.J. Somerset, for learning me things about writing and books and life in general. The level of talent there is frankly terrifying, and I know that all of these writers have much success to come. If I can carve out anything alike to what they have, I will be a happy man.

I got a reading on the 21st at the Common Reading Series in Toronto, and some more Ontario tour dates and readings coming up in mid-late October, and the Wild Writers Festival in Waterloo in November. Until then, I thought I’d decompress and catch up on work and little things I’ve been doing to promote Debris. I’ll keep everyone posted. But, I wanted to write something here about the past few days, while it was fresh, and to thank you all for reading my work over the years and supporting this book. I appreciate you all, and I hope you enjoy Debris, as well as new stories and the novel that I have on the way later on.

For those who missed these, I’ll be around Toronto, and you can also buy the book from Biblioasis here. It is in all bookstores for the most part, all over the country from those who’ve reported their findings to me, even though the official wide release is the 29th of September. With a little luck, you’ll be hearing more about it after that and in the weeks to come…

All best to everyone. You are heroes.

Hardcastle

(PS – All photo credits to Katrina Afonso. Champion.)

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While the official launch date is September 15th, Biblioasis had not penguinhouse-embargoed my collection o’ stories, and I know from people who’ve achieved it that you can order the book online, directly from them, right now.

You can also go to various bookstores and buy it. In Toronto, it has already shown up at Book City, and I imagine it will be available at Type Books and various Indigos around town. People out in Vancouver and Edmonton and the like will surely start seeing it arrive soon. Let me know if you find it around.

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A bunch of people have told me that they prefer to buy books at the launch, where I can sign profanities to them, and that is entirely possible at the Montreal, Toronto, and Windsor launch events for Biblioasis‘ fall list. Those are on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of September, and you can check out event details and RSVP by clicking this line and going to the facebook posting. As always, jerks who lie about their attendance will be retrieved from home by a bunch of Midland hosers and will eventually ride to this wearing their pajamas in the back of a pickup truck…

I’ll have more information on October readings in Hamilton, Kingston, Waterloo, London, etc. And they will all be updated on my events/readings link, right here. I’ll add all of that in as soon as it’s confirmed.

Until then, buy all of the copies of this book and tell people to buy it. I need peanut butter and bread money and I would also like people all over the land to read stories where snowmobile crime is a life option.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the book already. I also have some interviews and media coming down the pipe, and will post them as they show up.

Cheers,

Hardcastle

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There are dates set for the launch of Debris, my collection of short stories. The book will be part of all three main Biblioasis fall events. The official publication date is September 29th, but you will start seeing the book in stores, and will be able to order it online, as of right now.

The Toronto launch will be on September 15th, 2015 at The Garrison, on Dundas West. It will not just be me and a bunch of beer either. I’m happy to announce that other Biblioasis authors will be launched as well, including Anakana Schofield (Martin John), Samuel Archibald (Arvida – English Translation), and Larry Tremblay (The Orange Grove – English Translation).

This event is pretty much right at the start of the season, and I think we managed to avoid stealing any thunder from other launching presses and writers. As a result, interested people can focus on just Biblioasis and Hardcastle thunder that night.

The same writers will be in Montreal as part of that leg of the Biblioasis fall launch (Sept 14th), and then Windsor two days later (Sept 16th) for our fine publisher’s hometown event. I will be at all of these.

I said I’d update this when all these events were up, and I’ve also confirmed that you can find Debris in some stores this week, and can buy it direct from Biblioasis right here by clicking this line. Also, the book will be at the launch, and you can buy all of the copies that you can carry in your bicycle basket.

More to come soon. Thanks everybody.

Hardcastle

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Over the last few weeks I’ve had a couple things show up online that might be of interest, or might not and you can just shake your head at them. Either way, I’ll post them below and you can take a gander if you choose.

I did a little seven question interview thing with Alix Hawley, author of All True Not a Lie In It, which recently won the Amazon First Novel Award. She sent me some questions about my story Most of the houses had lost their lights, published right at this second by The New Quarterly and soon to be on shelves or in the hands of subscribers. I answer Alix’s questions about the writing process, and see whether I should ever try to write a female protagonist ever again. The segment is called Storybrain and can all be read here on her blog by clicking this line.

Next, I was asked to participate in The Recommend at 49th Shelf, and, as I’ve done before, I recommend The Lost Salt Gift of Blood by Alistair MacLeod. It’s no secret that MacLeod is my favourite writer that we ever had in this country, and that I particularly admire his short stories. Click here and check that out, as well as recommendations by fellow writers Chelsea Rooney, Daniel Allen Cox, Chadwick Ginther, and Teri Vlassopoulos, 

The last little things are both series that The New Quarterly runs with the contributors of upcoming issues of the journal. I show where I write when I’m indoors and underground in my basement palace (pictured above this post in part), for the Writing Spaces feature. Finally, for the Who’s Reading What feature, I tell people that I’m reading books by Andrew Forbes and Sarah Gerard. So you can read that and then buy those books and read and cherish them…

Oh yeah, I also got some good news that the last straggler story of mine from Debris, called The Rope, will be published in the September issue of This Magazine. I owe their fiction and poetry editor (and general hero) Dani Couture for reading that and finding room for it, especially so close to the book’s pub date.

That is all of it. I’ll post again when the TNQ story is officially out in the world for everyone to attain. Cheers.

Hardcastle

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If you are a subscriber to The Fiddlehead, or a sometimes buyer of it in stores, you will find a long-gestating story of mine in the Summer Fiction Issue, which has just been published. If you are neither of the things I said, maybe you should start anew, and let this particular issue of a journal into your life.

There are stories in here from Kathy Page, Cynthia Flood, and, one of my three favourite writers on earth, Daniel Woodrell. Not sure how that all shook out, but Mark Jarman did some outstanding wizardry to fill the pages of this issue.

As far as my story goes, Thought you were fast is an older one, written way back in late 2012, and submitted to a few places back then, before I had a run of stories in various journals and just let this one lie. After a long while, Jarman emailed to see if it was still up for grabs, and I did a few revised versions for him and just kept on with other things while waiting to see if he could find the right spot for it. Then, the other day, I saw a tweet by The Fiddlehead about this issue, and saw that it had been stuck in there with these other heavyweights. I’ve not had a story hang around for this long and find a home before, so that surprised me some and was also relatively hilarious. Thanks to Mr. Jarman for making room for it when the time came.

I have another story out this month, Most of the houses had lost their lights, in The New Quarterly, along with an “In Conversation” type deal between me and John Metcalf. That story is also Metcalf’s favourite one in my forthcoming collection, Debris. That is something I knew was happening this month for sure, and should be out in a few days, and possibly is already in the hands of some TNQ subscribers. Either way, I’ll post more about that when I’ve seen it officially switch over to their summer issue.

Thanks for reading everybody. I appreciate you all.

Hardcastle

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As you might have noticed, there is a tab on this site regarding manuscript assessments, a service that I have been providing to other writers on and off for a the past couple of years. As of late, I have been occupied by work on my upcoming collection of stories, as well as some forthcoming projects, and have not been accepting many new clients for a little while.

In any case, with the galleys for Debris done, and other obligations well in hand, I’ve opened up a few spots for possible manuscript assessment clients. While my primary area of expertise is literary fiction, I have experience with speculative fiction, and other genre work, and I am happy to field queries from any interested writer to see if I might be of help to your current project.

I have an excellent track record of success with clients, both independently and through the Humber School of Writers Agency (this service soon to be under the new Humber School of Writers Publishing Services Program), and my writing credentials are posted on this site for you to peruse. If you would like to contact me, feel free to email directly to hardcastleassessments@gmail.com, or use the contact form in the manuscript assessment section.

More information about this service can be found under that tab, as well as the general range of standard industry rates. For an actual estimate, we can discuss your work in greater detail and determine any specific rates from there.

I am excited to be providing this service with greater frequency, now that I have the time, and look forward to hearing about your current manuscript, and how I might help you develop it further.

All best,

Kevin Hardcastle

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As many of you know, part of this long process of getting a book done is reaching out to other writers to see if they’ll be willing to tolerate reading all your hillbilly murder stories (with feelings), and perhaps lend some support in the way of a line or two of blurb, or in actual other support by telling people you are not crap. Sometimes you get excellent people who do both.

Over the past few years I’ve had some kind words put up by the likes of A.F. Moritz, Lindsay Clarke, and Tamas Dobozy. Those were mostly during the early days when I had only a few publications and an agent trying to utilize them. Now I have many more of the former, and entirely none of the latter, but this kind of support is a little more crucial with the book on the way. In some cases, it could mean the difference between whether or we might get certain eyeballs on the work that would’ve not given it a chance otherwise. In the US, perhaps, for this Canadian collection of short fiction, it will help our US distributors/sales staff decide how far they can push the book in that much larger pond.

So, I just thought I’d take a moment to thank three writers who have taken the time to read Debris this far ahead of publication, while they are all busy with their own writing and life obligations. All of whom sacrificed time to read the book, and thought it non-terrible enough to let me hand over their blurbs to my publisher, Biblioasis.

Craig Davidson was a jury member for the Journey Prize last year when I had a story in the anthology, and actually offered his support, and, given that he’d read a number of the stories before, was able to rush out a few lines for the Biblioasis catalogue that they took overseas. This guy put something together on just a few days notice, and his words helped get the attention of some publishers in the UK and Europe, who might take a good look at the collection.

Tamas Dobozy was another writer I met through the Journey Prize, when we were finalists for the JP and Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, respectively. We were paired up for an interview in the National post, and Tamas was the eventual winner of the WT Fiction Prize for his collection Siege 13. Tamas has supported my work since, and has really helped me out more than once. His latest words are specifically for the collection and replace an earlier blurb. He is a hero.

Finally, and not at all fictionally, I met John Irving through a series of interesting events that I’ll not spell out here, but he did like my one story, Montana Border, recently published in The Walrus, and agreed to receive an ARC of Debris, even though he is up to his neck in his own new book, Avenue of Mysteries, also to be published this fall. I left it with Mr. Irving just to see if he had the time, and, somehow, he managed to get a read in and gave me the quote you see on my section about what people say about the work. I have not always had the best of luck over the years, but this series of events that led to even getting the book to John was very, very lucky. That is not lost on me at all.

In the end, it is pretty heartening to know that these writers, who have done considerable work in their careers, and who know far more than me, do not think I should quit this and spend the last of my knee-cartilage doing crime. I am very grateful to all of them, and to everyone who keeps publishing the work and asking me questions about it.

Anyway, the early opinions on the book are all up there in the part about “what people say about the writing.” You can go to that tab or click this whole line to have a look at them, and see who has sullied their good name in support of this pile of stories.

More to come soon. Cheers.

Hardcastle

That excellent photo was taken by Grant Munroe, at Biblioasis, and it is the first time a book I wrote ever became an actual object you can pick up, tear it half, or throw at another human that is texting during a movie.

I am in there with some very good writers (Anakana Schofield, Samuel Archibald, and Kathy Page) who are all part of the fall list from Biblioasis. They are known to make beautiful books at our fine publishing house, and I can tell you straight up that nobody in this row was disappointed. The covers are the work of Kate Hargreaves, and I owe her a beer and a high five. All these ARCs were all printed up to travel to Book Expo America, which took place last week.

Over the past few days there were some excellent responses online from people who visited the Biblioasis folks in the Consortium Books alley (as they are the US distributor), and that is pretty damn cool. It has long been my dream to get my writing down to the US and try to build a readership there. It makes a good deal of sense considering the vast majority of my influences are American writers from the south, or from other rural areas of the States. I know we are telling people that Debris is akin to the work or Daniel Woodrell or Donald Ray Pollock, but I am very interested is seeing how it will be received if it actually gets into the hands of their types of readers. There is a lot more work to do if this is ever to get that far. But Biblioasis is doing their damnedest to give this book the best chance it can get on both sides of the 49th parallel, and I’ve been hustling a fair bit as well to try to make sure it sticks when it is officially published.

All of this feels a little bit strange, moreso as we near the actual pub date for Debris, but I am going to keep on grinding it out until September 15th. There are some other interesting developments going on behind the scenes that will hopefully pan out, and get this book into other non-Canadian hands as well, but I’ve got to wait on that some and see what happens.

Finally, you might have noticed that my story Montana Border has been unlocked online from The Walrus, and you can read it here if you haven’t already. Massive thanks to Nick Mount and all the other Walruses that have been tweeting and sharing news of the story, and telling people it does not suck. I appreciate you very much for that. Same goes for everyone else who has been taking the time to read and tell people about this story.

There’s gonna be just the one last story from the collection published soon (unless the other lonely unpublished sucker gets hustled out last second), and it will be in the summer issue of The New Quarterly. The title of this story, the closer for my book, is Most of the houses had lost their lights. There is also a lengthy interview in that very same issue, where John Metcalf (my editor at Biblioasis) asks me various things about my work, how I go about my writing, and things he wanted to punch me for in the edits. I hope that is of some interest to readers. It is a long one and covers a hell of a lot, and I don’t think there are too many pieces out there quite like it. More on that later…

Until then, thanks for your support and your eyeballs. You are legends of the fall.

Hardcastle

If you subscribe to The Walrus, or saunter into a shop to buy it May 14th, you’ll notice that they’ve got a story in there this month called Montana Border. Turns out I wrote that story.

It is the penultimate story in my short fiction collection Debris, out this September with Biblioasis (and early new year 2016 in the States). The excellent fiction editor of The Walrus, Nick Mount, read a few stories of mine over the last while, and this was the one that really got his goat. At the time I was fairly surprised by that. But, as months go by and I’ve gone through various readings and edits of it, I do think it is one of the best stories I’ve written overall.

This story came about after I sent John Metcalf (Biblioasis’ fiction editor and champion) the latest draft of my second unpublished novel, now called In the Cage. He took it on to edit and publish later, but, in the meantime, he suggested that I mine some territory covered in the novel a little more as he found it quite interesting. The stuff of that novel, with its cagefighting and crime and chaos, always struck me as something that might not interest many readers as much as it interests me. But John thought it was worth exploring, and apparently Mr. Mount found it worthwhile enough to put it on shelves at your grocery store.

I am incredibly grateful to Nick Mount for his work on this story, as well as the other editors in-house, for bearing with me as I denied all commas and proper use of the English language during editing. I feel like I’ve already broke these sentences exactly the right amount and there’s really no going back. Nonetheless, I enjoyed going through the factchecking process and learning that Walrus staff sat there at their office computers watching regulated and unregulated MMA fights for research. If nothing else, at least this story accomplished that much…

All of this is something I’m very proud to be a part of, as I know what it takes to get into the pages of The Walrus. Luck not the least of these things. I’m looking forward to hearing back from readers about this story, and maybe seeing someone just standing there shaking their head at the news stand while I buy meat and coke zero. If you manage to get your hands on this one, I’d be interested to hear all the ways you either like or are baffled by Montana Border, and it being published in such a fancy place.

More story news to come soon. Keep your hats on.

Hardcastle