Friday, May 15, 2009

James Reaney on Terry Griggs's London Launch

Several book launches to report upon, with photographs, once I get my act together. For now, here's James Reaney's take on Terry's London launch on Wednesday.

from the London Free Press:

Terry Griggs - former Londoner, now of Stratford - read at the Landon library last night from her brilliant & hilarious new novel, Thought You Were Dead.

In the admittedly sparse (where were you?) audience, there were many writers - Bonnie Burnard, Penn Kemp, Joan Barfoot, Jean McKay (who introduced Terry), Christine Walde & some I probably missed. Solidarity & good writers in a room . . . always good to see.

Anyway, I laughed aloud many a time as Terry read the opening chapter about her wimpoid anti-hero Chellis Beith who was pining over lost love, Elaine Champion. After the reading, Terry said she found the name Chellis in a magazine .

She also read a little from a new story added to the reissued collection Quickening . . . a dog named Lucifer figured in it . . . Lucifer was one of two witnesses to a supposed crime & of course speaks dog.

After some "misadventures" getting Thought You Were Dead to the right publisher, she found a good match in Daniel Wells and his Emeryville (near Windsor) biblioasis imprint.

In addition to helping Canadian literature with Thought You Were Dead (launched last night) and its republishing of Quickening (Porcupine's Quill, 1990), biblioasis has a neat contest. Fire up & off 250 words or so on a (fictional) literary critic who has just supplied the chalk outline by demising in some bad way & a bunch of good prizes, including the biblioasis catalogue, might be yours.

Visit revengelit.blogspot.com for details.

Visit & read Terry Griggs' Thought You Were Dead for laughs & awe . . . . which I hope to . . . after finishing Don Gutteridge's Vital Secrets, a completely different type of whodunit? from a fine London writer.

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