Category Archives: Uncategorized

Annie’s List of Timeless Stories at Shepherd.com

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Looking for a great read? Check out Shepherd.com.

A recent request for a reading recommendation list came from Shepherd.com whose philosophy states that  “Discovering a new book should be a magical experience where the search is part of the fun…. We give readers fun ways to find amazing books.” Shepherd asks authors like myself to “pick their 5 favorite books around a topic, theme, or mood they are passionate about, a topic, theme, or mood in the same area as their own book.”

I examined this site and liked what I saw so I decided to give it a try.  Initially, I wondered what I had gotten myself into. So much work, first creating a topic that related to my Kerrigan Chronicles trilogy, and then screening books that met the same criteria. Since my chronicles are set  in Newfoundland through the Great Depression and World War II, I came up with a list of timeless stories whose settings (time and place) hold and shape the plot. I pulled twelve well-thumbed books from my library and slowly whittled down my selection to five. By the time I had finished this project, I had reaffirmed my passion for reading and writing and had strengthened my commitment to write what I write and the way I write it. This was the most authentic “marketing” experience I have ever had. An added bonus is that I’ve discovered a new place to search for great reads. I am very grateful to Shepherd.com.

To see my recommended list at Shepherd.com please click here: Annie’s List

Happy reading!

All the best, always,

Annie Signature Light Blue

 

Research: U-Boat Sinks S S Caribou off Coast of Newfoundland, 1942

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by Annie Daylon

Photo attribution: Jochim, Mark. SS Caribou. Flickr

Research for my historical trilogy The Kerrigan Chronicles (set mainly on the island of Newfoundland) has led me to the story of the S S Caribou, a passenger ferry that operated between North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland from the late 1920’s to 1942.

Recently, in a 1929 magazine, I came across a travel ad for that very same SS Caribou, “the splendid new steamer” which had recently started its crossings of the Cabot Strait. This ad was published in The Premier, Newfoundland’s Only Monthly  Magazine.  This “monthly” magazine, despite the Subscription Form included in its first issue (see below), was published once, only once, in March of 1929 and it never surfaced again. I have a copy of it, a gift from my father, one that he came across at a garage sale in Newfoundland.

 

Despite the high hopes expressed in the travel ad, the S S Caribou met an untimely and tragic fate, its service ending abruptly in 1942. On October 14 of that year, a U-Boat torpedoed the S S Caribou. It sank, killing two hundred thirty-eight passengers. There were one hundred one survivors.

Some of the victims on the Caribou were military who on their way to the naval base at Argentia. In fact, I first learned about the explosion from my father, Andrew Lannon (1922-2019) who worked in Argentia for thirty-five years. One of the passengers who died in that attack was a friend of Dad’s, a military friend who had gone home to the U.S. on leave for his own father’s funeral. He was on his way back to Argentia when the attack occurred.

 (Approximate site of sinking of Caribou marked by Red X in Cabot Strait on west of map below.)

Information about the sinking of the Caribou may come as a surprise to many who think of WWII as something that happened far away. However, the North American coastline was constantly under threat by enemy submarines, to the extent that U-Boats were watching people as they strolled along  shore.

Whether or not I refer to it in my historical fiction, the history of the Caribou is evidence of the sacrifice of the Greatest Generation. And I thank them all for their service.

Goodreads Giveaway for The Kerrigan Chronicles, Book II: Of Sea and Sand ends on Thursday, May 27th, 2021. To enter, click HERE.

 

 

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Goodreads Giveaway: OF SEA AND SAND

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Goodreads Paperback Giveaway Now Ended.

Many thanks to all who entered!

Congratulations to Winners!

 

The Kerrigan Chronicles, Book II: OF SEA AND SAND

Ghostly matriarch Kathleen Kerrigan resumes the compelling saga of her family, whose lives are  hurled into chaos when war uproots their Newfoundland community in 1940.

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My best to you,

Annie Signature Light Blue

Memoirs: Happening Upon, Learning to Love

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I love to read!

My current reading obsession, one which I slid into during research for the Kerrigan Chronicles Trilogy, is the memoir.

At first, immersed in the history of World War II, I read facts, facts and more facts from books written mostly by conquerors, books rife with detail of military strategy. All valuable, but I wanted more. I wanted books that told me about life in the front lines and life in war torn towns and life for those who were waiting at home. 

One day, while browsing the history section at The Book Man in Chilliwack, I came across a memoir titled Underground in Berlin. 

Marie Jalowicz Simon’s story is told in Underground in Berlin. 1942-1945.

Marie was one of many who survived the Nazi takeover in Berlin by becoming one of the approximately 1700 “U-Boats,” the name given to the people who moved from one place to another underground, helped by German resistance fighters, hungry, scared, watching friends and relatives make mistakes, be found out and sent to the death camps. Survival was not for the faint-hearted: Marie Jalowicz Simon lived in constant fear of being discovered and endured marriage of convenience, repeated sexual abuse, and starvation.

Later, can’t recall how, but I came across a second memoir called A Woman in Berlin, Eight Weeks in the Conquered City.

A German Journalist’s Story is told in A Woman in Berlin, Eight Weeks in the Conquered City

Anonymous, the initial signer of this book, was later revealed to be a German woman, a journalist. She lived as one of the conquered, trembling in waiting as the rumble of distant fighting rose to a roar and subsided to silence. Even after the silence, the war for survival continued, people reduced to cave-dwelling circumstances with starvation and sexual abuse a way of life. 

Both of these books, penned by historical enemies, are detailed, riveting, and shockingly similar accounts of the results of war and hatred on a civilian population. Spurred by the gut-wrenching reality of these writings and determined to learn more about the era, I delved into memoirs of sailors and gunners and Spitfire pilots and submariners. I found books about code breakers and spies both male and female. From there, I fell into the world of the memoir in general…entertainment, fashion, sports, politics.  

Along the route somewhere, I discovered an unexpected benefit to the reading the memoir. I read mostly at night and, when I’m reading fiction, the fiction writer in me analyzes every word and phrase… in essence, I’m gearing up into work mode, not slowing down into sleep.  However, while reading memoirs, the critic in me shuts down. I’m more interested in the experience of the writer than I am in their (or their ghostwriter’s) turn of phrase. 

I seek memoirs first now. Some favorites:

  • The Unexpected Spy by Tracy Walder

  • Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography

  • Between the Stops by Sandi Toksvig

  • Walking with Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne

  • What Falls Away by Mia Farrow

  • Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem: A Memoir by Daniel R. Day

  • Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

  • The Boy at the Gate: A Memoir by Danny Ellis

  • Mao’s last Dancer by Li Cunxin

  • My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall

  • Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service by Gary Sinise

  • The Choice: Embrace the Possible by Dr. Edith Eva Eger

There are just too many to list… and I’m looking for more! If you have any suggestions for memoir reads, please send them this way! 

My best to  you,

Annie Signature Light Blue

 

 

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What’s your Reading Choice… eBook or Real Book?

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Readers and Reading…eBook or Real Book?

Many posts ask readers which they like better… eBooks or real books. For me, it’s not about like or dislike; it’s about need.  After years of typing, crocheting, playing piano, and marking papers, my fingers are calling the shots. And they let me know that it’s easier to touch a screen than to turn a page. I read for two or three hours daily and the right tool for the job and joy of reading is eBook. In fact, there are 334 books on my Kindle right now.

Still, the sight of stacks of hardcovers and paperbacks both new and old is treasure to me, the scent is perfume.  When my Of Sea and Sand character Kevin Kerrigan yearns to learn to read, he has a visceral reaction to holding a book. “Kevin locked his eyes on the book. He took it in his hand. He liked the feel of it firm, solid, and smooth.” I can relate  to Kevin’s feeling for, when I first get my hands on my new paperback, there is no containing the happiness.

It is actually the arrival of the real book that takes the writing and publishing process into the real world. 

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What’s your reading choice? ebook or real book?

 

NOW AVAILABLE IN KINDLE AND PAPERBACK: OF SEA AND SAND, THE KERRIGAN CHRONICLES, BOOK II

Ghostly matriarch Kathleen Kerrigan resumes the compelling saga of her family, whose lives are mired in secrets, steeped in betrayal, and then hurled into chaos when war uproots their Newfoundland community in 1940.


My best to you,

Annie Signature Light Blue

 

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Now Available on Amazon Kindle: OF SEA AND SAND

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Ghostly matriarch Kathleen Kerrigan resumes the compelling saga of her family, whose lives are mired in secrets, steeped in betrayal, and then hurled into chaos when war uproots their Newfoundland community in 1940.

Amazon Kindle Button

It’s been a while since my last blog post “When in Doubt, Ask the Universe.” Well, I asked and the universe answered. I am thrilled to announce the arrival of Of Sea and Sand, the second book in The Kerrigan Chronicles Series. At this point it is available on Kindle, not yet in paperback due to pandemic slowdown.

The trilogy’s umbrella character is the above-mentioned Kathleen. The first book focuses on the life of Kathleen’s daughter, Clara. Book II focuses on Kathleen’s son, Kevin who avows that the job of a man is to take care of his own.

For those who wish to catch up, the first book in the Kerrigan Chronicles trilogy, Of Sea and Seed, is now on sale on Kindle for $0.99 USD. Amazon Kindle Button

Stay tuned for arrival of paperback copy of Of Sea and Sand!

All the best, always,

Annie Signature Light Blue

 

 

When in Doubt, Ask the Universe…

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by @AnnieDaylon

This year (2018) I debated whether or not to continue with writing. What was weighing on me was a commitment I’d made: a trilogy. Could I finish it?

After I published Book I of The Kerrigan Chronicles, rather than writing Book II of this historical suspense trilogy set in Newfoundland, I wrote a modern-day mystery set in Vancouver. I enjoyed writing the mystery and was happy with the outcome but, once it was done, I had no gas left in the tank. I had been trying to do too much… media and marketing and blogging, oh my!  Out of necessity, I stepped back.

After a while, with the phrases “write first” and “just show up” embedded in my philosophy, I slid back in. Not to social media. Just to writing. Slowly, as in fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, one hour a day, the work took shape on the page. Still I agonized over it. 

A few months ago, I woke up with a lump at the base of my throat, literally. It was the size of a Grade A large egg.  (I won’t leave you in suspense. It was diagnosed as a cyst which subsided without medical intervention.) Of course, I didn’t know that then.

That morning, I drank my coffee, did my crossword puzzle, and had a shower before I woke up my husband. “We’ve got trouble,” I told him.

At Emergency, we waited four hours. The doctor I saw told me it could be cancer. “Do you smoke?”

“I quit sixteen years ago.”

“It still could be cancer. We will try to get you in for an ultrasound.”

I went home and, while waiting for my ultrasound  which was scheduled the next day, I started wondering. I’m not young, I had lost a friend to cancer recently, and found myself asking what it was I wanted to do with my life. Two things came up:
1) Would I outlive my dog? (A silly question to some, but dog lovers get this.) I had recently met a lady with an elderly chocolate lab, a dog whose male owner had died and the dog went up to every man it saw, sniffing, searching. I wouldn’t want our precious CoCo to know loss like that.
2) Was I wasting my time with all this writing? Was I meant to finish this Newfoundland story?
All night I wondered and finally just threw the questions to the universe.

The next day, at the Imaging Department of the Chilliwack Hospital, I was pointed toward chairs in the hallway outside the ultrasound rooms. I walked down the hall, sat down, and looked up.  I smiled.

I live in British Columbia which, via the TransCanada Highway is about 7000 kilometres (4350 miles)  from  St. John’s, Newfoundland and yet, on the wall opposite me were posters of three iconic images from Newfoundland, each poster trademarked with the logo of the Department of Tourism, Newfoundland and Labrador.

I didn’t take photos of them at the time, but I wished I had because, when I went back to do that, they were gone, replaced by other images. (What you see above are Shutterstock pics, l-r Iceberg off Cape Bonavista, Cape Spear Light House, Jelly Bean Row Houses in St. John’s.)


Obviously, I’m back, writing, first and foremost, and balancing hush with hustle. Book II, Of Sea and Sand, is falling into place and now I will let it rest in place until the new year sets in.
The take-away?  When in doubt, take a break.
Ask the universe….

All the best, always,

Annie Signature Light Blue

 

 

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P. S. Of Sea and Sand, launched in 2021. Am currently (and happily) working on the final book of The Kerrigan Chronicles trilogy, Of Sea and Soul.

Happy Thanksgiving and a Goodreads Giveaway!

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by @AnnieDaylon

On this Thanksgiving Day, in the world of writing, I have much to be grateful for. First, thank you to all far and wide for your response to my recent Kindle offer of my novel, OF SEA AND SEED. Your numerous downloads improved this novel’s rankings on Amazon>>>>

Also, OF SEA AND SEED is a finalist for the Whistler Independent Book Award. This coming weekend I will attend the Whistler Writers’ Festival where I will give  a presentation about this novel,  sell books, and attend writing workshops!

October 12-15, 2017 Whistler Writers Festival

Thursday, October 12:   I will attend the Whistler Public Library Reading Event for fiction and nonfiction finalists in the Whistler Independent Book Awards. Host: Lynn Duncan.
-Looking forward to meeting other authors and to talking about OF SEA AND SEED, The Kerrigan Chronicles, Book I.

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada! Here is a Goodreads Giveaway, an opportunity for you to win a signed print copy of OF SEA AND SEED>>>>

This GOODREADS BOOK GIVEAWAY OFFER has now ended. Many thanks to those who entered!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Of Sea and Seed by Annie Daylon

Of Sea and Seed

by Annie Daylon

Giveaway ends October 15, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

 

My best to you,

Annie Signature Light Blue

Big News! Shortlisted for the Whistler Independent Book Awards

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by @AnnieDaylon


I am thrilled to announce that
Of Sea and Seed,
The Kerrigan Chronicles, Book I
has been nominated for the
2017 Whistler Independent Book Award.

 


I entered this contest because I love writing contests. In fact, I started with contests—story, poetry, and novel. I believe contests provide a viable route into the writing world and are therefore something that all authors among you should consider. Many times contests offer a word count limit and a time limit, both of which force you to hone your craft. Many times contests give a prompt, a creative spark, which forces you to think outside of the box. Both of my Vancouver suspense novels—Castles in the Sand and At the Heart of the Missing— have their beginnings in short stories that won contests. Castles in the Sand went on to win the 2012 Houston Writers Guild contest in mainstream fiction.

Of Sea and Seed is the recipient of the Book Readers Appreciation Group (B.R.A.G.) Medallion, bestowed for excellence in independent writing. And now, it has received this nod of recognition from the Whistler Independent Book Awards. My heart is in this book, readers. It is a literary and lyrical and suspense-filled sea saga, kindled when my father told me that a little girl had survived a tsunami in Newfoundland. 

 A ghostly family matriarch chronicles the lives of three generations of the Kerrigan family as they struggle to survive devastating tsunami, toxic secrets, and shocking betrayal in 1920s Newfoundland.

 

About the Whistler Awards…

The Whistler Independent Book Awards are relatively new, having been “established in 2016 to recognize excellence in Canadian independent publishing.” They are the “only juried Canadian award for self-published authors” and offer prizes in both fiction and nonfiction. This year, the three finalists for each of these categories will be announced on July 17th, and the winners’ presentation will be held at the annual Whistler Writers Festival, October 12th to 15th.

The Whistler Independent Book Awards, which are jointly administered by the British Columbia Whistler Writing Society and Vivalogue Publishing, are a boon for self-published authors who struggle to have their work recognized. The fact that these awards are juried and the winners chosen by distinguished authors can ease the burden for librarians, one of whom informed me that librarians wish to support independent writing but they do not have staff available to vet the tons of titles that cross their desks each year.

I am grateful that my work has been nominated for the 2017 Whistler Independent Book Award for fiction and am thrilled to be in illustrious company.

For more information, check out the

Whistler Independent Book Awards site.

 

 

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My best to you,

Annie Signature Light Blue

The End of the Harvest

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by @AnnieDaylon

What follows is a seasonal story, flash fiction, originally written for a 24-hour writing contest for Writers Weekly and currently published in Passages A Collection of Short Stories. It is definitely one of my favorites…

The End of the Harvest

© Annie Daylon

            The little boy stands at the log cabin’s rear window, peering out at us. The corn stalks rustle in the brisk breeze, waving at him. Laughing, he returns their greeting. I want to wave at him too, but my limbs are shrivelled now, useless appendages. I sigh. I observe the boy.

He seems happy. Does he know? Has he heard the news about the baby brother that his mom promised him? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe he is too young to be told.

But I know.

His mom, my caregiver, whispered many secrets as she planted the fields. When my seed sprouted and breached the surface of the rich soil, she stooped and told me about the life that was developing inside her own body. She promised that she would create siblings for me just as she was doing for her little boy. I beamed with pleasure for I did not want to live a solitary life.

In a short time, her truth became evident: I was surrounded by an abundance of relatives—long and green, round and yellow, plump and orange. So strong was my appreciation of my caregiver, so great was my loyalty to her that I tolerated without question the summer heat and the frequent watering and the incessant buzzing of the hordes that swarmed around, flitting from flower to flower. Without complaint, I obliged when she redirected the growth of my rapidly spreading arms. ‘Not here, but there’, was her mantra, as she donned kid gloves and shifted my limbs around. So much attention. So much care. I noticed that the bodies of both my caregiver and me were becoming spherical, and that hers seemed to achieve the desired shape more easily than mine. Obviously aware of that, she added regular rotation to my fitness regime. I responded by becoming corpulent and carroty.

The summer lazed away and autumn slid in to replace it. The rains came. And the mud. And the children, bus loads of children, laughing and trampling and squelching through the muck. Choosing and plucking and stumbling away with their heavy bundles. One by one, my brothers and sisters and cousins disappeared. I wondered how it was that so many school children whirled around me, brushed against me, slid past me, and yet, none chose me. My caregiver explained that she had great plans for me, that I was the chosen one, the one who would light her doorway on that important night—All Hallows’ Eve. I would be the first to welcome the newborn child she would carry to the door that very day. I would witness the smile on her little boy’s face when he first saw his new brother. All this she promised me.

But sometimes promises are broken.

 When I had grown to the size of a soccer ball, I looked to compare my shape with hers and realized that her spherical form had vanished. Her body had flattened, returned to its former size. Her spirit, too, had vacated, leaving only sadness, which bled through her pores. Empty in both body and spirit, she had no words, no whisperings. On most days, she just stayed away.

So now I lie here—alone. Leading a solitary life after all, the very life I did not want. But what of the boy? Is he still waiting for his new brother?

The dusk deepens on this, All Hallows’ Eve. The wind picks up and the front gate swings and creaks. Puffs of blue smoke rise from the kitchen chimney. The house is well-lit now, but here, in my resting place, it is dark and lonely. As night falls, my body sinks and just sits, marinating in mud.

Suddenly, the cabin door opens and she emerges. She dons her heavy boots and, with her head low, trudges through the mud toward me. Nearer and nearer. As she stoops, I long to console her, to slide my arms up her back and embrace her. But my arms are just flaccid vines and it is she who comforts me, talks to me, apologizes for leaving me alone for so long. I want to tell her that I understand. She reaches into her pocket, retrieves a knife and frees me from my vines. Then, she hefts me into her arms and straightens her back.

On the way to the cabin, my caregiver explains that there is a new plan—that she wants me to smile for her young son. This evening, she will carve a grin on my face and, while she is doing that, she will tell her son that he will always be a solitary child. We reach the porch and hover there, waiting for her body to stop trembling and her tears to abate.

Despite her distress, I am pleased with this new plan. I want her to carve me a ridiculous grin, tooth-filled or toothless, whatever it takes to ease a lonely boy’s acceptance of unwelcome news. I know of the difficulty of the solitary life. Unlike the boy, I have experienced the joy of siblings; however, many died before maturity and all the others were taken away. Like the boy, I represent the end of the harvest. I am the very last pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. Together, the boy and I—and our mutual caregiver—will face the night.

*****

Passages Book Cover
My best to you,

Annie Signature Light Blue