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The Muse of Fire

The Muse of Fire completes the themed trilogy about women in the arts by Carol M. Cram. The first two novels in the series–The Towers of Tuscany and A Woman of Note are both published by Lake Union Publishing and are available online and in bookstores. The e-book edition of The Muse of Fire is published by Kindle Press and the paperback edition by New Arcadia Publishing.

Buy the ebook and paperback edition online from Amazon or the paperback edition from this website.

Here is the description of The Muse of Fire:

Abandoned at birth, the grandly christened Edward Plantagenet rises from London’s Foundling Hospital to take charge back stage at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, only to be blind-sided when he rescues Grace—a young woman escaping an abusive father.

Grace finds an outlet for her passions as a Shakespearean actress, becoming ensnared by intrigues and setbacks that mar the pathway to stardom she craves.

Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Old Price Riots of 1809, Grace and Ned find common purpose in a quest that threatens to tear both their worlds apart.

Praise for The Muse of Fire

Meticulously researched and with an atmosphere so rich that one can almost smell the face powder, The Muse of Fire is another triumph for Carol M. Cram. The irresistible story at its heart is impeccably woven into the tapestry of British theatrical history with such precision that Grace and Ned might have stepped from the pages of the Georgian gossip sheets and straight into fiction. The Muse of Fire will linger long after reading. It’s not to be missed! – Catherine Curzon, author of Queens of Georgian Britain, Life in the Georgian Court, and Kings of Georgian Britain

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Nine Birds Singing

Edythe Anstey Hanen

Nine Birds Singing is the debut novel of Edythe Anstey Hanen, an award-winning short story writer and long-time journalist. Edythe’s stories and poetry have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies across Canada in addition to articles in the Globe & Mail, National Post and the Hamilton Bay Observer. She is also a regular contributor to Mexconnect, an online travel magazine. Edythe lives on Bowen Island in British Columbia, Canada, where for many years she was the editor of the Bowen Island Undercurrent.

Buy the ebook and paperback edition online from Amazon or the paperback edition from this page.

Here is the description of Nine Birds Singing:

Maddie is a writer of local history but wants to use her words to unlock the hidden truths that lay just below the surface of her life. But it’s magnetic words on a refrigerator door – Have dreams. Must travel – that push Maddie into the journey she must take: the search for what she has yearned for all her life: independence and freedom from the abusive fanaticism of her parents’ religious beliefs. From Vancouver in the sixties to present day Mexico and a small island on the Canadian west coast, Nine Birds Singing is a love affair with words. It weaves through past glories and youthful hubris in a search for understanding and acceptance. Profound friendship, skewed love and loss all play a role in Maddie’s search for redemption.

Praise for Nine Birds Singing

In Nine Birds Singing, Edythe Anstey Hanen’s appealing narrator Maddie recalls and examines her own search for independence from her parents’ restrictive values. The writer and Maddie, together,  gather the reader in to share an intimate, wise, and moving tale. Jack Hodgins, Author of Spit Delaney’s Island

Nine Birds Singing is a finely written book, lovingly crafted, poignant and perceptive. A tale of gradual self-understanding, awakening and ultimate release. Nick Bantock, Author of the The Griffin and Sabine Trilogy

If, like me, you despair for the collapse of the English language take comfort. In Nine Birds Singing you will discover a veritable Aladdin’s Cave of delights. Edythe Anstey Hanen not only uses the basic blocks of language, words, to propel her characters and her story, each word has been selected with meticulous care with attention to its meaning and its ability to resonate. The work is a symphony for the logophile. Don’t miss it.  Patrick Taylor. USA Today, New York Times and Globe and Mail best-selling author of the Irish Country Doctor series   

Readers will enjoy the unique views and poetic pacing of Nine Birds Singing by Edythe Anstey Hanen.  She savours and survives landscapes and relationships in teasing but tasty quick episodes. Her novel takes readers via circular time travelling through decades of Maddie’s life in Canada and Mexico. Enjoy this new voice!  Bernice Lever, Small Acts,  Black Moss Press, 2016

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Classic Mode: A Reverie

Classic Mode: A Reverie is an evocative collection of black and white photographs of Arcadian landscapes by west coast artist Gregg Simpson. View a selection of the photos and purchase a copy.

In his essay on Classic Mode, BC writer and poet Jamie Reid writes: The two processes of selection and arrangement have served to create and invent a happy surrealist conjunction of accident and design. The overall effect of the work is to induce a dreamlike state of classical calm disturbed by profound psychological undercurrents, including unresolved presentiments of terror, awe and power related to politics and human emotional and sexual relationships.