It's wonderful to be able to announce that there is a new cover for the book based on my master's essay. Woolgathering: Awareness of the Foreign in Published Works About Cowichan Woodworking is a slim monograph with references, but still of interest for knitters and fibre artists who are not academics. Both the ebook and paperback editions are now available from Doublejoy Books with the new cover art, shown below. Click on this link to learn more about this book and where to find it.
Paula Johanson Books
the author's website with links to her books
Thursday 28 March 2024
Thursday 17 December 2020
2020 Giftmas Blog Tour
On the 2020 Giftmas Blog Tour, this website is one of several
websites supporting a fundraiser collecting donations for the Edmonton
Food Bank. You can click here to find out more
about the 2020 Giftmas fundraiser, and make a donation. It's really a
good idea to click so you can read what organizer Rhonda Parrish has
written about how food banks and food hampers can make a difference for
families and individuals. Because of the Edmonton Food Bank's purchasing
power, each dollar donated here is enough to provide three meals.
The 2020 Giftmas Blog Tour is happening during the coronavirus pandemic, so "emergency" has pretty much become "ordinary" over the course of this year. Here in this fundraiser is one way to cope with one part of the ongoing emergency: contribute at this link to a program supporting those of us who are vulnerable.
As
someone who lived near Edmonton for 15 years, who has family and
friends there, I can confirm that when vulnerable in Edmonton, any help
and support are needed and appreciated. Rhonda Parrish has set up a
fundraiser with achievable goals, that supports a needed service. You
can read more about Rhonda at her website at this link.
In the history of the Giftmas fundraisers, there's been a steady climb in the amounts raised by donations for the Edmonton Food Bank.
2016 -- $521 raised out of a $500 goal
2017 -- $1,094 raised out of a $522 goal
2018 -- $1,127 raised out of a $750 goal
2019 -- $1,355 raised out of a $1000 goal
2020 -- with two days to go, we've already passed the $1000 goal. That's 3,000 meals!
Thursday 13 August 2020
Group Book Launch at When Words Collide
On Friday, August 14 at 2:00pm MDT, Paula Johanson's newest title from Doublejoy
Books will be launched at When Words Collide literary festival. Look
there for info on Island Views, a short novel with elements of romance
and mystery.
During the coronavirus pandemic, everyone is
re-inventing social events like book launches and writers conventions.
This August, When Words Collide literary festival is a free and virtual
event with all-online activities at no charge. One of these activities
is a Group Book Launch, taking place not in a hotel conference hall but
as a Zoom meeting with nine different authors and their new books. You
can learn about the When Words Collide festival at their website http:whenwordscollide.org
On the page's Menu the link What's Happening takes you to the festival
program, where the Group Book Launch is listed on Friday August 14 at
2pm Mountain Daylight time.
Among the books being launched at this Group Book Launch is Island Views, the newest title to be released from Doublejoy Books! It's available now as an ebook from many online vendors. Check it out now, and on Friday August 14 we'll see you at the launch.
Group Book Launch during When Words Collide, http://whenwordscollide.org
on Friday August 14 at 2pm MDT
Twitter #GroupBookLaunchWWC
Twitter moment https://twitter.com/i/moments/1292900948319248384
Susan Forest
Flights of Marigold, second in the series Addicted to Heaven, is launching Saturday at 2pm.
Jane Glatt
Sailors & Spies book 3 of the Intelligencers series
Dagrun and Calder are leading the desperate mission to replenish the food stores of Tarklee before winter sets in. On the journey, they run into Calder’s father, a man with many secrets and knowledge of the plots against the Fair Seas Treaty Alliance.
Meanwhile, Nadez assumes leadership of the remaining Intelligencers. Schemes against the Alliance are still in motion, and her small trusted cadre of Intelligencers are running ragged trying to protect the new Grand Freeholder.
But the forces united against the Alliance are deeply entrenched and have considerable power. To counter the threat, the Intelligencers must forge alliances of their own: with the countries of the Sapphire Seas, with their own citizens, and with each other.
https://tychebooks.com/jane-glatt https://tychebooks.com/sailors-spies
Sandra A. Hunter
Daughter of Earth and Fire, The Fledgling book one of the Dragon's Heir series
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1999102924?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
Paula Johanson
New this month from Doublejoy Books is a short novel, Plum Tree, a ranobe with time travel. http://books2read.com/b/plumtree
Doublejoy Books is also launching at WWC a short novel of romantic intrigue, Island Views http://books2read.com/b/islandviews This mystery is made lighter with a little sweet romance and a real-life setting on Saltspring Island!
Rounding out the season is Small Rain, a story collection of ecogothic fiction that “Reads like a spec fic Raymond Carver,” according to Ira Nayman. http://books2read.com/b/smallrain
Susan Mayse
winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for True Crime and the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction
re-release of her acclaimed 1990 book, Ginger: The Life and Death of Albert Goodwin
https://harbourpublishing.com/products/9781550178913
Awen (hardcover EWU Press 1997; re-released as an ebook by Holdfast Books, 2020)
https://www.amazon.ca/Awen-Susan-Mayse-ebook/dp/B08DH81W2D/
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/awen-2
Luke R.J. Meynard
The Season of the Plough, Travalaith Saga Book 1
Coming of age as the supposed Chosen One was hard enough for Aewyn when she believed the prophecy checked out. The sleepy frontier town of Widowvale was founded to be a safe haven far from the civil war and the ancient Horrors lurking in the dreamlike woods. It was a wonderfully dull place, and a hard town to grow up in as a fairy-blooded foundling of mysterious birth.
But when her ancient mentor stands accused of treason and his dubious reading of the prophecy begins to fall through, the formerly supposed Chosen One faces a choice of her own: will she flee to fulfill the destiny she's been given, or sacrifice it all for one chance to save her village and her friends?
The Season of the Cerulyn, Travalaith Saga Book 2
The women of the Mages' Uprising were never known to take civil war lying down. But Catrine and her fellow war-widows are determined to do just that, avenging their lost husbands, lives, and innocence by engaging in a sustained campaign of seduction and espionage against the Travalaithi Empire that could change the course of the war.
But when Catrine falls in love with her hapless mark, and both of them are thrown into a deadly conflict involving Aewyn and her roguish band of outriders, the lovestruck spy must choose once and for all where her true allegiance lies—and decide whether her heart belongs to the living or the dead.
Ursula Pflug
Seeds and Other Stories
In these stories seers and vagabonds, addicts and gardeners succeed and sometimes fail at creating new kinds of community against apocalyptic backdrops. They build gardens in the ruins, transport seeds and songs from one world to another and from dreams to waking life. Where do you plant a seed someone gave you in a dream? How do you build a world more free of trauma when it’s all you’ve ever known? Sometimes the seed you wake up holding in your hand is the seed of a new world
http://www.inanna.ca/product/seeds-and-other-stories
Marie Powell
the YA Fantasy series Last of the Gifted. Spirit Sight and Water Sight will be released this summer and fall, thanks to funding from Creative Saskatchewan.
https://mariepowell.ca/young-adult-2/last-of-the-gifted/
L.A. Smith
Bound, second title in The Traveller's Path trilogy
The story begun in Wilding: Book One of The Traveller's Path continues!
Seventh century Northumbria is a long way from home for 20-year-old Thomas McCadden. Having travelled through time and discovered that he is a Fey Traveller with wild and untamed powers, Thomas must now deal with an even more unexpected surprise: his father has returned to his life.
http://lasmithwriter.com/books/bound
Suzy Vadori
Wall of Wishes
Save the fountain or risk being erased. Hidden deep in the woods is a fountain that has granted St. Augustus students' wishes for nearly a century, including the wish responsible for Ava's very existence. When she learns that the woods will soon be destroyed to make way for a new road, Ava must do whatever it takes to save the fountain, or risk her own life being erased. New girl Courtney knows more about the school's magic than she's letting on and has something to gain from the fountain's destruction. Joining forces with Courtney seems the only way to stop the road, but Ava and Coutney share a thorny past. Trusting her is impossible, but if she doesn't, Ava could disappear forever.
http://books2read.com/wallofwishes
Saturday 11 July 2020
Interview in Sooke News Mirror
Sooke author launches science fiction novel
Paula Johanson draws inspiration through ordinary life, science and technology
- Dawn Gibson
- Jun. 19, 2020 10:00 p.m.
- Community
Science fiction admirers are in for a literary delight.
Sooke author Paula Johanson is releasing a book, Small Rain and Other Nightmares, at the end of June. The science fiction book is comprised of a collection of short stories, with a running “eco-gothic, fantasy” theme throughout.
“The stories are all a bit darker than much of my other fiction, but they all fit well together because they were inspired from nightmares,” Johanson said. “I woke up and had to write it.”
Johanson will publish two other books this summer as well, one is titled Island Views, a novel with elements of mystery and romance.
The third book, Plum Tree, is more of a subtle science fiction novel. Johanson described it as a coming of age story about a depressed teenager, who while on a drive to her aunt’s house, goes through an internal change.
“It’s all about being in transition instead of having arrived,” said Johanson, noting the girl in the story experiences a form of time travel.
Johanson has published about 42 books, both fiction and non-fiction, and has worked as a professional writer for 35 years. She teaches writing workshops, has freelanced and worked for newspapers, as well as worked on various personal projects, such as a small magazine she made with her spouse and friends.
Ordinary life is where Johanson draws her inspiration from, whether it be out walking her dog, or in line at the grocery store, ideas for stories are all around. The author said she loves to learn about science and technology, and to see the way knowledge is put to action in the world by people.
“I don’t work as a professional biologist, or rocket engineer, but when I learn a little interesting fact about nature or science, I blend that together with what people get up in the morning to do,” said Johanson.
“Science is fascinating, technology is interesting, but what people do with it, is what inspires me.”
The three books will be published as e-books, and she expects the first book to be printed in hard copy by October, depending on the distributor. The e-books can be found on Books2read.com/b/4Xnok7.
Johanson said her goal is to have 10 books published in the next three years, and is on track to achieve it. She isn’t particularly concerned with selling an outrageous number of copies, rather than feeling good about her products, and finding success in reaching her target audience.
“I think the world would be a better place if anyone who thinks they would like to write a book, gives it a try,” said Johanson. “Don’t get too negative if you are not Margaret Atwood, and allow yourself to be the best darn person at writing the book that is yours.”
Friday 26 June 2020
Online Book Launch June 30
Wednesday 6 May 2020
New Book Plans
It's always exciting to make new plans about books. In the past, I've been able to make plans for new book assignments from publishers, or for books in genres new to me. Now, I have entirely new projects from a brand-new publisher releasing my books.
During the coronavirus pandemic, many book projects have been postponed. Tours, book signings, and visits to schools or libraries -- these kinds of book events have been cancelled or changed to online equivalents. Though nothing is exactly like holding a book in one's hands or meeting an author in person, there are terrific things being done with e-books, podcasts and online events, and correspondence. I'm particularly glad to hear of bookstores continuing to order books for pickup at their doors.
There are many book projects going ahead, with optimism. I'm proud to be part of one of them. Look for my new books coming out in 2020 through Doublejoy Books. This publisher of eclectic books will be releasing in June my collection of speculative fiction stories, Small Rain and Other Nightmares. There will be other projects from Doublejoy Books later in the year, and in future.
Wednesday 21 March 2018
Death of Larry Kwong
This fine gentleman is well eulogised by the CBC article at this link.
It was a great experience as a writer, writing his biography for Five Rivers Publishing. Plus, getting to meet one of my dad's hockey heroes was a blast! He will be remembered.