The cover of our Fall Books Issue was hand-drawn and -painted by Jon Klassen, the Canadian writer and illustrator of a Caldecott Award–winning picture book trilogy about hats: I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, and We Found a Hat. As a mother, I find his work reliably weird and beautiful, finding […]
Original source: https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2022/09/10/soft-shapes-jon-klassen/
Confederacy of Fenians follows multiple characters through an alternative historical telling of the Civil War. I think this original idea is intriguing. How did you come up with this idea and develop it into a story?
I’ve always thought it was interesting to explore historical events from multiple points of view. I remember wondering long ago what the Galls thought of Julius Ceasar. It’s especially interesting during the American Civil War since culturally and linguistically northerners and southerners were so similar, yet they went to war and over 600,000 people died. The idea for this book came from combining my lifelong interests in the Civil War and Irish history, and my penchant for asking “what if?”.
With each chapter having a different point of view, were there any characters that you especially enjoyed writing for?
I love all my children equally. That said, I enjoyed writing from the perspective of John Lane since he was my real-life ancestor. I knew the bare outlines of his life so I found it rewarding to fill in the blanks. I also very much enjoyed writing the repartee between women and men – Viola and John Lane; Varina and Jefferson Davis; and Nelly and George McClellan. Those were some of the most satisfying parts to write.
How much research did you undertake for this book and how much time did it take to put it all together?
I’ve been reading about the Civil War since the early 1960s and about Irish history since the early 1970s, so it’s fair to say that 60 years of research went into the book. That said, I did almost no research specifically related to the story.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I have a sequel to “Confederacy of Fenians” sketched out in my head, but I’m currently working on a collection of (hopefully humorous) essays and an unrelated screenplay, so the sequel will have to wait in line. But if the public demand is strong enough…!
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/09/10/yet-they-went-to-war/
I Am Woman is your memoir sharing with the world the challenges you faced living with an alcoholic husband and all you endured to keep your marriage and family together. Why was this an important book for you to write?
It was important for me to write this book to heal and come to terms with all that I endured with Tony. I had hesitated a few times, I cannot deny, but was finally able to relive some very painful moments. I felt it necessary to share my experiences with the world. Tony was a wonderful man until drink overwhelmed him.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
It was definitely hard to write about the time that he fell seriously ill and declined. I had to leave the computer many a time, wondering if I could even see my memoir through. If not for the encouragement from my daughter (my best friend), and my granddaughter (my personal cheerleader), you might never have read this book.
What is a common misconception you feel people have about marriage?
Marriage is definitely far from a fairy tale, but, it helps you to evolve spiritually if handled with love and tenderness. – and tons of patience.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
If you really love someone, give it your all.
Author Links: Partridge Publishing | Website
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/09/10/if-you-really-love-someone/
Following Your North Star gives readers practical guidance for their mind, body, and spirit to help them achieve their dreams. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Following Your North Star was an important book for me to write because when I was going through a very dark time in my life there was nothing like it available to me. I remember hearing that award-winning novelist Toni Morrison once said, ‘If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” During a time when I was very unhappy, I heard people tell me that I should want what was not giving me joy when I knew deep inside that my soul craved something more. All of the books that I read were either too religious or too woo-woo and I was left feeling more confused than ever. My intent when writing Following Your North Star was to give practical, everyday wisdom that was grounded in faith.
What advice would you give to someone who is struggling to make a positive change in their life?
I think the best advice I could give to someone struggling to make a positive change in their life is to get still and clear about what it is that they want and to pay close attention to what is not giving them pleasure. Often we keep repeating the same things that we don’t like because they’re familiar, we don’t want to move beyond our comfort zones, and we put zero thought into what we actually do want. I believe by pulling away from the noise and turning within—meditation, walks in nature, journaling—we can get clear about what’s working and what’s not working in order to move forward.
What were some key ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The key idea that was important for me to share in this book is that we can’t hear that still, small voice if we are so busy running from this task to the next (something that I’ve been guilty of) or if our bodies are overtaxed and stressed. When we find equilibrium—balance—we’re able to get the guidance we need to move towards the best version of ourselves.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your book?
I hope readers walk away knowing that it’s okay to listen to that still, small voice within them that’s directing them to their truest, most authentic self!
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Facebook | Twitter
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/09/10/pulling-away-from-the-noise/
The Ties That Bind (Book One in the Family Ties series) by Jansen Schmidt is a thrilling romance novel that follows a woman on a journey that leads her to discover family, love, and self-acceptance. Shiloh Ferguson has a notorious reputation for getting into trouble with the law. She returns to her hometown of Twisted Fork, Arizona after leaving ten years ago. With a thief on the loose, and very few people willing to give her a chance at building a new name for herself, she finds herself having multiple encounters with a cop, Luke Wainwright, who used to bail her out of trouble a decade ago. Following the funeral of her estranged father, and the emotional tug-of-war with her sisters, Shiloh is reminded yet again why coming back home was not a good idea. After getting an inheritance she didn’t know about, Shiloh is torn between saving the livelihoods of the people of Twisted Fork whom she believed hated her, or escaping the decade-long traumatic events the town kept reminding her of. But, a love she felt inadequate to receive found her, further conflicting her.
Author Jansen Schmidt has taken the everyday lives of regular people and gave them a unique allure that is bound to keep readers glued to the pages of this exhilarating love story. She skillfully balances seductive romance with action-packed scenes. This is the main reason why I kept coming back to this book time and time again. The sweet emotionality of some scenes juxtaposed with the suspenseful action made for a unique read.
The Ties That Bind takes readers through the emotional spectrum – anger, fear, frustration, joy, understanding, and excitement. It circles around some heavy subject matter such as abandonment and loss, but it’s all handled with an authenticity that feels genuine and thoughtful. The development of well-rounded characters, beyond the hero and heroine, with their own motives jolts you back to reality and casts out the typical utopian universe that is characteristic of most romance novels. Also, the perceptive and positive manner in which Schmidt handled the subject of mental illness and tending to people with special needs is also quite insightful, even instructive.
Letting go of certain trauma is never as easy. By artfully telling the story of Luke Wainwright and Shiloh Ferguson, Schmidt entertains while offering a way to find love and acceptance of self and others, even healing from your trauma like the heroine.
Pages: 390 | ASIN: B0B761X8K7
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/09/10/the-ties-that-bind/
Heart of the Forest: Book 1 of the Cousin Friendship Series follows two cousins who, after being forced to spend time together, end up on an adventure in an enchanted world. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
Every friend of mine knows about Heart of the Forest because it was my first endeavor at writing. I was ten when I started the first manuscript, then titled “Cousin Relationship”. However, I bagged the story after two months because ten-year-old me couldn’t stand my writing. (I still have that manuscript now, it’s very cringeworthy!) It was only two thousand words then, hardly a novel. But seven years later, after completing nine novels, I finally had the courage to face my first rotten attempt at writing. I retitled the book “Heart of the Forest”, made the plot much more interesting than what it had been, and dedicated it to my ten-year-old self. I think she would have liked that!
I don’t have any siblings. Only two cousins. That’s why the story is about two cousins and not siblings. In the book, Ilyria breaks the fourth wall by saying, “The rivalry between cousins might make more sense than siblings. We live under the same roof as our blood brothers and sisters, but not always with our cousins. That makes it more likely to develop misunderstandings about them.” This is the second reason I chose to write about two cousins. And by the way, breaking the fourth wall is one of my favorite literary techniques!
What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
Since this is a middle-grade novel, both Ilyria and Jerry demonstrate moral attributes such as courage, kindness, and wisdom, while learning to discover the positive character traits the other possesses. Yet at the same time, both of them must overcome a significant flaw. For Ilyria, it is envy. She envies Jerry, whose glamorous life as a straight-A student incites her jealousy and hatred. For Jerry, he must overcome his pride, which prevents him from befriending Ilyria in the first place. Interestingly, Jerry is painted as a villain in the first chapter, but then readers will grow to realize that he is “the lesser of two evils”, and in fact, Ilyria is more flawed as a character. It’s also worth mentioning that I once waged a war against my pride and envy, and that’s why I made my characters battle them, too.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Heart of the Forest deals with many themes—parent-children relationships, childhood innocence, sibling rivalry, and criticism regarding the educational system. I’ll share a couple of my favorite sentences from the book:
．Hurrying. Adults were always hurrying in their lives, fast-forwarding their clocks and running from place to place in a rush to get their tasks done, their duties fulfilled. Seldom did they stop to appreciate the little charms and marvels in life.
．Magic did not discriminate with age; as long as one believed, as long as one kept their heart open and welcomed miracles with wide arms, they’d find the world a much better place than they did in the first place.
．”Stories are like bridges that connect people with each other. C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Lewis Carroll, they’ve been dead for decades. But when I pick up their books and read their stories, it’s like they’re talking to me. It’s like I’m getting a glimpse into their brilliant minds and communicating with them in a spiritual way. And I’m not talking about fictional stories, either. Real stories have that same power. If two strangers share an experience and they tell each other about it, bingo—a connection formed.”
．”Not everything has to be important or unimportant. It all lies in the people who define and determine them. And who’s to judge? That’s a question with no answer. It varies, you see.”
．Only by setting our prejudices aside and focusing on what we have in common can we reach and achieve true harmony, for too often do we judge instead of understand, criticize instead of feel for another person.
．”I just like to think everything’s possible. It’s nice to believe the world has magic before growing up and getting accustomed to plainness.”
What is the next book in the series that you are working on, and when will it be available?
The Cousin Friendship Series consists of four books—Heart of the Forest, Magic of the Clearing, Rhythm of the River, and Soul of the Wind. I haven’t started writing Magic of the Clearing yet. Maybe it’ll be available next year. I’m kind of skipping around with various novel projects at this moment. Last week, I just finished a YA fantasy romance called The Lost Siren. And now, I might start a novel about a mortal boarding school with teachers who are in fact wizards and witches. It will be my first attempt at the paranormal genre.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/09/10/a-war-against-my-pride-and-envy/
Our picks for the best literature and fiction of September
Original source: https://www.amazon.com/amazonbookreview/editorspicks.html?ref_=abr_widget_nav&theme=light
Our picks for the best romances of September
Original source: https://www.amazon.com/amazonbookreview/editorspicks.html?ref_=abr_widget_nav&theme=light
Our picks for the best nonfiction of September
Original source: https://www.amazon.com/amazonbookreview/editorspicks.html?ref_=abr_widget_nav&theme=light
Our picks for the best biographies and memoirs of September
Original source: https://www.amazon.com/amazonbookreview/editorspicks.html?ref_=abr_widget_nav&theme=light