Blurred Line

Finally! A book worth recommending. Since finishing school, I read a string of books (about five) where I either couldn't be bothered to finish or, once I did finish, only shrugged and moved on to the next book on the shelf. Then I picked up Ann-Marie MacDonald's The Way the Crow Flies. MacDonald's first book, Fall On Your Knees, picked up all sorts of awards, was picked for Oprah's Book Club and, not surprisingly, became a bestseller. It's also one of my favourite books of all time. So, to say that I had some high expectations for MacDonald's second novel would be an understatement.

The story centers around Madeleine McCarthy, the eight-year-old daughter of an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, newly transplanted with her family into an army base in a small Ontario town. It's the early 1960s and the McCarthy family has it all - great kids, a perfect marriage, and a great life. Then, a shocking murder takes place and the dream begins to unravel. The bulk of the novel takes place in this setting and the reader slides between the viewpoints of Madeleine, her father and her mother. Then, for the last quarter of the novel, we fast forward to 1986, where Madeleine and her family are still coping with the events of that summer in 1963.

This book is not brilliant, as MacDonald's first book was, but it's still a hell of a read. She evokes the family dynamic very well and, just as in her first novel, writes extremely well from the viewpoint of a child. Although her secondary characters aren't that well-fleshed out, they fit into the scenery of the novel so well that it's difficult to notice - her principal characters, though, are unbelievably well done. And, if the characters don't manage to engage you (they will, but just for argument's sake) the whodunit regarding the murder keeps you turning the pages and might just catch you off-guard. This one's definitely a great read, and it's one of those nice big novels that you can really settle into. Highly recommended.

Apparently, I've just surpassed 60,000 hits on this blog, which is a pretty significant number for a small fry such as myself (these days, I get roughly 1000 hits a month). Of course, only a fraction of those people are here to actually read the blog.

Far more come in from Google Images looking for pictures of Jessica Alba. I think I've posted one or two in the past (like here...and waaay back here, in an earlier incarnation of this blog, almost two years ago today). It'd be downright rude of me not to show a little respect to all those who have ratcheted up my visitor counter over the years, don't you think? Then again, why would you ever need an excuse to post a picture of Jessica Alba?

Furthermore - man, is it ever weird to go back and look at what you were doing two years ago. The depressingly similar number of words on Mass Romantic doesn't make me happy. Oh well, at least I got everything on my wishlist, though I haven't even read Empire of the Senseless yet.

It's been absolutely sweltering here the last two days (don't let anyone tell you that Canadian summers are short and mild), so I guess it's officially summer. Which, of course, means that you need some feel-good tunes to blast out of your car stereo while driving (well, that's what I need anyway, and hey, if it's important to me, then it's gotta be important to you).

Anyhow, one CD I've been playing a lot lately is A.J. Croce's Transit. Croce's music runs the gamut - while it's mostly roots rock and piano-based pop, there are also blues, jazz and soul influences kicking around. This particular song is an upbeat roots rock song with a terrific piano solo plunked down in the middle. Oh, and in case you were wondering, there is a relation to Jim Croce - A.J. is his son. Check out the album at Amazon.

As always, press ZAP in the player to start the music.

Looks like there's been a bunch of news flying around lately about an adaptation of William Gibson's Neuromancer finally coming to theatres near you. So it says at First Showing (and Bookslut, among others). I got all excited until I found out who the director was - the guy who wrote the article pretty much summed up my views.

Anyhow, Gibson himself says "I'll believe it when I see it", so who knows if it'll actually happen. One really unfortunate piece of news he divulges, though, is that Peter Weir's adaptation of Pattern Recognition definitely isn't happening. Dammit. I was looking forward to that.

The May issue of Atomjack magazine is now up, so be sure to head over and check it out.

A little taste of what it's like to be living on Elgin Street, two hours after the Ottawa Senators qualified for the Stanley Cup Finals.

Elgin Street, which I'm removed from by less than half a block, is referred to around the city these days as the Red Mile, since it's where basically everyone in the city goes to watch the games.

Obviously, the mood here right now is pretty upbeat (actually, as I'm typing this, there's some guy right outside my window screaming "Four more wins").

Life is good. I got a story published, graduated from university, and now the Sens are going to the finals. Could this week get any better?

That's right. I'm officially a university graduate. Look out, world.

After 371 days* in the black hole of submission land, I finally got an acceptance letter for "Learning Magic From Mint". Should everything go according to plan, it'll be in the next issue of Atomjack. Here's the story's long journey:

May 4, 2006 - June 1, 2006: 28 day form rejection from Strange Horizons
June 5, 2006 - June 26, 2006: 21 day personal rejection from Futurismic
June 26, 2006 - July 16, 2006: 20 day form rejection from Son and Foe
July 16, 2006 - August 16, 2006: 31 day form rejection from Forgotten Worlds
August 17, 2006 - December 8, 2006: 113 day form rejection from Heliotrope (this is where the asterisk comes in, since I withdrew the story at the end of November, but they evidently didn't get the note and ended up rejecting it a few days later).
November 26, 2006 - November 28, 2006: 2 day form rejection from All Possible Worlds
November 28, 2006 - February 5, 2007: 69 day personal rejection from Reality Complex
February 7, 2007 - March 16, 2007: 37 day personal rejection from Dark Energy SF
March 25, 2007 - May 14, 2007: 50 day acceptance from Atomjack

And so ends the odyssey. I'll post a note when it goes up.

Because after being disconnected from the internet for two weeks, that's how many blog posts I have to catch up on. Or so my feeds tell me. Guess I've got the rest of my day planned. Since it'd take too damn long to write out all the events of the last fourteen days, here's a brief bullet point summary:

Roommates moved out: One
Roommates moved in: One
Days spent on vacation with extended family: Three
Statues assaulted during said vacation: One
Litres of rye consumed during said vacation: One
Grand Prizes won: One
Pub meals eaten: Several
Wedding Invitations Received: One
Haircuts Received: Two
Named Signed By Yours Truly in Fancy Guest Book: Shiloh P. Waggainscoat
Calls Placed to ISP Tech Support Line: Five
DVD Playing Devices Hooked Up in Living Room: Three
Ottawa Senators Playoff Games Watched: Six
Number of Strangers Passed in the Street Who Have Greeted Me By Saying "Go Sens!": Countless

I think that about sums it up. Questions?

No internet at my house for probably about a week, which isn't so bad, since I'm going to be away on vacation from Friday to Tuesday. Anyhow, since sitting in the computer lab at school is just, well, annoying, don't expect much in the way of posting until I get back.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Tuesday, May 29, 2007 - The Way the Crow Flies Finally! A book worth recommending. Since finishing school, I read a string of books (about five) where I either couldn't be bothered to finish or, once I did finish, only shrugged and moved on to the next book on the shelf. Then I picked up Ann-Marie MacDonald's The Way the Crow Flies. MacDonald's first book, Fall On Your Knees, picked up all sorts of awards, was picked for Oprah's Book Club and, not surprisingly, became a bestseller. It's also one of my favourite books of all time. So, to say that I had some high expectations for MacDonald's second novel would be an understatement. The story centers around Madeleine McCarthy, the eight-year-old daughter of an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, newly transplanted with her family into an army base in a small Ontario town. It's the early 1960s and the McCarthy family has it all - great kids, a perfect marriage, and a great life. Then, a shocking murder takes place and the dream begins to unravel. The bulk of the novel takes place in this setting and the reader slides between the viewpoints of Madeleine, her father and her mother. Then, for the last quarter of the novel, we fast forward to 1986, where Madeleine and her family are still coping with the events of that summer in 1963. This book is not brilliant, as MacDonald's first book was, but it's still a hell of a read. She evokes the family dynamic very well and, just as in her first novel, writes extremely well from the viewpoint of a child. Although her secondary characters aren't that well-fleshed out, they fit into the scenery of the novel so well that it's difficult to notice - her principal characters, though, are unbelievably well done. And, if the characters don't manage to engage you (they will, but just for argument's sake) the whodunit regarding the murder keeps you turning the pages and might just catch you off-guard. This one's definitely a great read, and it's one of those nice big novels that you can really settle into. Highly recommended. Cavan blogged at 9:52 PM \| 0 comments Saturday, May 26, 2007 - Statistic of the Day Apparently, I've just surpassed 60,000 hits on this blog, which is a pretty significant number for a small fry such as myself (these days, I get roughly 1000 hits a month). Of course, only a fraction of those people are here to actually read the blog. Far more come in from Google Images looking for pictures of Jessica Alba. I think I've posted one or two in the past (like here...and waaay back here, in an earlier incarnation of this blog, almost two years ago today). It'd be downright rude of me not to show a little respect to all those who have ratcheted up my visitor counter over the years, don't you think? Then again, why would you ever need an excuse to post a picture of Jessica Alba? Furthermore - man, is it ever weird to go back and look at what you were doing two years ago. The depressingly similar number of words on Mass Romantic doesn't make me happy. Oh well, at least I got everything on my wishlist, though I haven't even read Empire of the Senseless yet. Cavan blogged at 5:38 PM \| 2 comments Friday, May 25, 2007 - A.J. Croce - "Find Out Now" It's been absolutely sweltering here the last two days (don't let anyone tell you that Canadian summers are short and mild), so I guess it's officially summer. Which, of course, means that you need some feel-good tunes to blast out of your car stereo while driving (well, that's what I need anyway, and hey, if it's important to me, then it's gotta be important to you). Anyhow, one CD I've been playing a lot lately is A.J. Croce's Transit. Croce's music runs the gamut - while it's mostly roots rock and piano-based pop, there are also blues, jazz and soul influences kicking around. This particular song is an upbeat roots rock song with a terrific piano solo plunked down in the middle. Oh, and in case you were wondering, there is a relation to Jim Croce - A.J. is his son. Check out the album at Amazon. As always, press ZAP in the player to start the music. Cavan blogged at 5:41 PM \| 0 comments Thursday, May 24, 2007 - Neuromancer Flick? Looks like there's been a bunch of news flying around lately about an adaptation of William Gibson's Neuromancer finally coming to theatres near you. So it says at First Showing (and Bookslut, among others). I got all excited until I found out who the director was - the guy who wrote the article pretty much summed up my views. Anyhow, Gibson himself says "I'll believe it when I see it", so who knows if it'll actually happen. One really unfortunate piece of news he divulges, though, is that Peter Weir's adaptation of Pattern Recognition definitely isn't happening. Dammit. I was looking forward to that. Cavan blogged at 8:13 PM \| 0 comments Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - "Learning Magic From Mint" The May issue of Atomjack magazine is now up, so be sure to head over and check it out. Cavan blogged at 1:41 PM \| 2 comments Saturday, May 19, 2007 - Living Here Rocks A little taste of what it's like to be living on Elgin Street, two hours after the Ottawa Senators qualified for the Stanley Cup Finals. Elgin Street, which I'm removed from by less than half a block, is referred to around the city these days as the Red Mile, since it's where basically everyone in the city goes to watch the games. Obviously, the mood here right now is pretty upbeat (actually, as I'm typing this, there's some guy right outside my window screaming "Four more wins"). Life is good. I got a story published, graduated from university, and now the Sens are going to the finals. Could this week get any better? Cavan blogged at 7:02 PM \| 1 comments Friday, May 18, 2007 - No More Pencils, No More Books... That's right. I'm officially a university graduate. Look out, world. Cavan blogged at 4:43 PM \| 3 comments Monday, May 14, 2007 - Acceptance...Finally After 371 days* in the black hole of submission land, I finally got an acceptance letter for "Learning Magic From Mint". Should everything go according to plan, it'll be in the next issue of Atomjack. Here's the story's long journey: May 4, 2006 - June 1, 2006: 28 day form rejection from Strange Horizons June 5, 2006 - June 26, 2006: 21 day personal rejection from Futurismic June 26, 2006 - July 16, 2006: 20 day form rejection from Son and Foe July 16, 2006 - August 16, 2006: 31 day form rejection from Forgotten Worlds August 17, 2006 - December 8, 2006: 113 day form rejection from Heliotrope (this is where the asterisk comes in, since I withdrew the story at the end of November, but they evidently didn't get the note and ended up rejecting it a few days later). November 26, 2006 - November 28, 2006: 2 day form rejection from All Possible Worlds November 28, 2006 - February 5, 2007: 69 day personal rejection from Reality Complex February 7, 2007 - March 16, 2007: 37 day personal rejection from Dark Energy SF March 25, 2007 - May 14, 2007: 50 day acceptance from Atomjack And so ends the odyssey. I'll post a note when it goes up. Cavan blogged at 11:22 PM \| 4 comments - 506 Things To Do Because after being disconnected from the internet for two weeks, that's how many blog posts I have to catch up on. Or so my feeds tell me. Guess I've got the rest of my day planned. Since it'd take too damn long to write out all the events of the last fourteen days, here's a brief bullet point summary: Roommates moved out: One Roommates moved in: One Days spent on vacation with extended family: Three Statues assaulted during said vacation: One Litres of rye consumed during said vacation: One Grand Prizes won: One Pub meals eaten: Several Wedding Invitations Received: One Haircuts Received: Two Named Signed By Yours Truly in Fancy Guest Book: Shiloh P. Waggainscoat Calls Placed to ISP Tech Support Line: Five DVD Playing Devices Hooked Up in Living Room: Three Ottawa Senators Playoff Games Watched: Six Number of Strangers Passed in the Street Who Have Greeted Me By Saying "Go Sens!": Countless I think that about sums it up. Questions? Cavan blogged at 1:46 PM \| 0 comments Wednesday, May 02, 2007 - Disconnected No internet at my house for probably about a week, which isn't so bad, since I'm going to be away on vacation from Friday to Tuesday. Anyhow, since sitting in the computer lab at school is just, well, annoying, don't expect much in the way of posting until I get back. Cavan blogged at 5:32 PM \| 0 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart