A Trip to Banyen Books and Sound, Vancouver British Columbia

Nina alerted me the other day that a quaint little book store in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver has decided to carry “Water is…. “. I was meeting my friend Jackie visiting from Luxembourg that evening for dinner and she was staying in the area so I decided that I would have to check out the book store, Banyan Books and Sound, as I had heard great things about it.

We had hoped to grab some fish and chips at East Spanish Banks and walk along the water but that hope was dashed when we discovered that they had closed four days early as they had run out of supplies. I suspect it was the run of warm sunny fall weather and increased demand that caused the supplies to run out earlier than they expected. We still strolled along the beach and enjoyed the setting sun.

We were on the hunt for dinner but headed to Banyen Books and Sound first. It truly was a wonderful place to be able to look at a book, relax and spend time to really know that a book will be just what you expect. Of course I was on the hunt for “Water” and there it was on the shelf, a chair right there to sit and enjoy a chapter. Jackie also enjoyed perusing the book; unfortunately limited by space in her travel bags it was left on the shelf for now. 

 
Our stomachs were rumbling as it was almost 7:30. Instead of fish and chips we settled for Greek and a wonderful pie for desert. Nina had told me to try the pies from Aphrodite’s Organic Pie Shop and the pecan pie was a wonderful way to finish off the evening and my visit with Jackie. This shop is across the street from Banyen Books so when your stomach rumbles while checking out the books, relief is moments away.

Fire and Water: Pixl Press Collides with Words and Worlds…

Fire and Water: Pixl Press Collides with Words and Worlds…

Smoky Sun through the Rockies

Several weeks ago, Pixl Press author Nina Munteanu travelled with me through the smoky Rockies to the 8^th annual ‘When Words Collide’ writers festival in Calgary, Alberta.

The 8^th annual ‘When Words Collide,’ held August 10-12, 2018, brought together just under a thousand readers and writers in multi-genres to attend presentations and panels on writing & publishing. The three-day writers’ festival ran a 10-track program that included informative panels, Blue Pencil Café, Editors Speed Mingle, pitch sessions with agents and publishers, and challenging workshops.  

Pixl Press books were on sale in the Merchant’s room and there was a lot of interest in The Fiction Writer—particularly after Nina’s talk on world building and character. The ‘world building’ and ‘setting/place’ aspects of Nina’s course at George Brown College on how to write science fiction have been steadily growing into major workshops and presentations. It will make up a new writer’s guidebook (see below).

By the third day, Myth Hawker Travelling Bookstore sold all available copies of Water Is…

Pixl Press associates participated in panels and several presentations and workshops:

• You Oughta Be in Audio: a discussion between author Nina Munteanu and audiobook narrator and producer Dawn Harvey on the making of the audiobooks for The Splintered Universe—now available in three formats, print, ebook, and audiobook. While paper sales dwindle, audiobooks continue to be the fastest growing segment of the publishing world with sales increasing by 30% year over year for the past decade.

• World-Building: Your World Is a Character: a presentation by Nina Munteanu on creating a world with meaning. In most science fiction and fantasy, the world that we create is often very different from our own; in speculative fiction it’s often very similar; in contemporary fiction it is virtually the same. In all cases the world you build should embed in your story with layered metaphoric meaning. Nina Munteanu will discuss how to build a world that interacts with character to inform greater meaning in story.

Nina also networked her writing community for world examples to use in her next Alien Guidebook on world building: “The Ecology of Story: World as Character.” Pixl Press anticipates release of this third guidebook in the Alien Guidebook series in summer of 2019. Cover art and design has already been selected. In keeping with the branding of the series, artist Anne Moody is providing the illustration for the cover of The Ecology of Story and Toronto artist Costi Gurgu will design the cover. Covers for the previous two books were also illustrated by Anne Moody and designed by Costi Gurgu.

Earlier in the summer, Nina and I had travelled north to Anne’s ranch in Vanderhoof to requisition a cover from her for Nina’s book. After days of discussion, “show and tell”, exceptional eating and drinking, and after several pieces of art were tentatively selected, Anne pulled out a piece that stopped our search dead. ‘Everyday Hero’ depicts a lonely firefighter, trudging in the burning forest, tired gaze aimed up to the burning crown of a tree. Considering the subject matter and our world today, I thought this was perfect for Nina’s book. Depicted in shades of blue, charcoal and brilliant red, the cover will contrast and harmonize well with the typology and cover band design by graphic artist Costi Gurgu. It also provides an ideal platform for the material inside, which will present ecological settings and metaphoric links to story.

I think I’m as excited as Nina to see the final book out. Now she needs to get down and research it and write it. So, Nina?...What are you doing?