Archive for the ‘Meniscus: Crossing the Churn’ Category
reflections on a book launch
The Event: my book launch!
When? a week ago Thursday evening (May 18, 2017) at 7 PM.
~
reading with a Dock-winder (one of the aliens in my book) … he doesn’t seem happy to be the bad guy in the book!
~
What? 90 minutes of introductions, readings, prize give-aways and explanations. Some by Zachary Hapeman and his very funny poems about the weird and the wacky; some by me, Alexandra (a.k.a. Jane) Tims, about the planet Meniscus and the skills of my very capable female protagonist Odymn.
We gave out three prizes during the evening:
- a small painting ‘alien moons’ (painted by me)
- a framed example of Zach’s illustrations from his book ‘A Crack in the Door’ click here for Zach’s book
- a board game from my son’s gaming store in Fredericton, Meta GameZ http://www.metagamez.com/about
~
Zach shows one of the prizes given out during the evening … a framed copy of some of his illustrations!
~
Where? At Westminster Books on King Street in Fredericton, New Brunswick ( have a look at their site here, a great local bookstore). What better place to read than surrounded by books? And helped through the evening by those who love books (Janet North and staff). The day was the hottest of the spring (33 degrees) and I was absolutely dripping by the end of the evening. Some of that is due to my age and lack of stamina. The space is quite comfortable, transformed by chairs into theatre seating for a dozen or more. We had Gel-head punch to drink with lots of ice cubes (green apple, lime juice and gingerale), and three kinds of cookies from the Goody Shop in Fredericton.
~
~
Who? There were twenty-six there to listen, plus Zach and I. Most were friends from my work and church. There were also members of the writing groups where I am a member (‘Fictional Friends’ and ‘Wolf Tree Writers’). Also, one young lady I didn’t know and a woman who was visiting Fredericton and browsing at the bookshop. I suppose we would count my two stand-up life-sized cardboard aliens, a Dock-winder and a Gel-head. And a stand-up life sized ginger-bread man from Zach! It is always wonderful to see my friends and to meet new people. Some of my friends are having a hard time believing I have taken a side-wind into science-fiction.
~
the Gel-head stand-up figure … surrounded by all these books, I hope he can read! I think he ate the gingerbread man stand-up figure
~
Why? This was the launch of the first book in my Meniscus series — ‘Meniscus: Crossing The Churn’. I wanted to introduce my friends to the world I have built. And get them interested in where the story is going. I hoped to provide some entertainment and to assure them I am doing well in this retirement world. And, of course, I want to sell some books.
~
The evening will stick with me for some time. There were many memorable moments. Among others:
- Zack gave out a little squishy animal to an audience member and told how he often sends these little fellows flying into the audience when he is reading.
- A member of one of my writing groups, asked to draw for one of the prizes, wondered what would happen if he drew his own name and won the prize … and proceeded to actually win!!!!
- The out-of-town visitor, browsing the shelves, found my first book ‘within easy reach’ … she was surprised to find the author present and eager to sign her book … my brain had a time switching from Alexandra Tims to Jane Spavold Tims (author of ‘within easy reach’) and signing correctly. And remembering I usually embellish ‘within easy reach’ with a line from one of the poems.
- As we left the store at the end of the evening, a group of five young men asked to pose for a photo with the two aliens. They left with a copy of my book so they would know the names of the cardboard stand-ups!
~
I show another of the prizes given … a game of ‘Forbidden Desert’ from my son’s store Meta GameZ
~
I have a couple of upcoming readings, one at the New Brunswick Writers Federation WordSpring event in a few day’s time. And two at the Alexandria and Goderich libraries in Ontario in September. Meanwhile I can turn my attention to the next book in the series ‘Meniscus: South from Sintha’.
~
~
Copyright 2017 Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra) Tims
Reading at Westminster Books, Fredericton
Looking for something interesting to do on Thursday evening this week? Bring your imaginations and curiosity to enjoy an hour of readings and refreshments at Westminster Books.
~
I will be reading from my new book “Meniscus: Crossing The Churn”, a science-fiction adventure. And Zach Hapeman will read his quirky, sometimes sinister, poems for the young at heart. Zach is the author of the poetry collection “A Crack in the Door”.
~
At the reading we will have:
Gel-head punch – green like the transparent aliens on the planet Meniscus!
Life-sized stand-ups of a Gel-head and a Dock-winder, another alien on Meniscus.
A bit of ‘beelwort’ to ‘slip into your pocket’ (don’t worry, it’s only cardboard!!!) – these will be used for three prize draws during the evening.
Prizes include a small but charming painting called “alien moons” and an adventure game called “Forbidden Desert”.
~
Hoping to see you there!
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims (a.k.a. Alexandra) 2017
making stand-ups for my book launch
On Thursday evening at 7PM, I will be reading at Westminster Books in Fredericton, with Zach Hapeman, poet-for-the-young-at-heart and author of ‘A Crack in the Door’ (Amazon books).
~
I’ll read from my new book ‘Meniscus: Crossing The Churn’. I have a few surprises for my audience, including life-sized stand-up cardboard aliens. I also did a set of smaller aliens to include in the Westminster Books display window.
~
First step: Obtain the cardboard. My very helpful husband brought home two big cardboard boxes from Leons Furniture in Fredericton. A big thank you to Leons! The boxes, originally used to protect table tops were the perfect size (6′ by 4′)!
~
~
Second step: Select a couple of drawings of the Gel-head and Dock-winder aliens from my book. Gel-heads are named since their skin is a transparent green gel – muscles, skeleton bits and even some organs can be seen through their skin! The Dock-winders have very long necks, tattooed to keep track of their exploits. They are called Dock-winders because when they invaded earth, they attacked from the sea and their necks resembled the dock piers sailors use to tie up their boats!
~
~
Third step: Transfer the drawing outlines to the cardboard. To do this I created a grid on the drawing and a scaled grid on the cardboard. Then I just drew a scaled outline using the grid-lines.
~
~
Fourth step: Paint the cardboard figures. Manipulating the cardboard during painting was the hard part. I just used my exercise ball to elevate and steady the figure. I was afraid the cardboard would bend, but no mishaps occurred!
~
~
had to add pants to my Gel-head alien … even on planet Meniscus, you need clothing!
~
Fifth step: Cut out the figure. I used a skill knife and carved away small segments at a time. Then I touched up the edges with black paint.
~
Sixth step: Reinforce the back of the figure, especially bendy parts like arms legs and necks, with wooden skewers and glue.
~
The Results: Here is a photo of the smaller stand-ups in the window of our local bookstore Westminster Books, Fredericton. Janet North (owner) and staff have been so good to me. The store is hosting the launch of my book on Thursday May 18, 2017 at 7 PM. If you live in the Fredericton area, Zach Hapeman and I would love to see you there!!!! My aliens would love to see you too!!!!
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims (a.k.a. Alexandra Tims) 2017
book launch – Westminster Books, Fredericton
I am so grateful to Westminster Books in Fredericton for hosting the launch of my new book ‘Meniscus: Crossing The Churn’. The launch will be at the bookstore on May 18, 2017, Thursday evening, at 7 PM. As I drove by today, I saw my book on display in the bookstore window!
~
~
I am having a lot of fun setting up the launch.
~
The evening will feature readings from my book as well as a reading from another Fredericton writer Zach Hapeman. Zach will read from his book ‘A Crack in the Door’, a collection of delightful and sometimes sinister poetry. Zach also illustrates his books and, although we aim for different audiences, we think the two readings will make a great combination.
~
~
The evening will also feature two life-sized cardboard stand-ups of my two alien characters – a Gel-head and a Dock-winder. I am mid-way through creating these and I think these fellows will be reading with me at many events to come!
~
During the evening, I will hand out cardboard tokens of ‘beelwort’ to the audience members and ask them to ‘slip the token in a pocket’. At some point in the evening we will award a prize to the person with the correct ‘beelwort’ token. You may recall that ‘beelwort’ is the mysterious plant that is put into the pockets of patrons of the Gel-head bar.
~
The prizes for this part of the evening will include a small painting I have done of the two moons in my book. The painting is small, but I think it is quite charming.
~
‘alien moons’, acrylic, unframed, gallery edges, 5″ by 7″, by Jane Tims
~
For refreshments we will have Gel-head punch (green of course)!
~
The evening will be a lot of fun. If you live in the Fredericton area, I hope you will be able to come!
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Meniscus: Crossing The Churn – alien insects
It won’t be long and we will be plagued by mosquitos and blackflies here in New Brunswick.
~
On the planet Meniscus, the setting for my sci-fi series, there are no mosquitos and no blackflies. Life there is hard enough!
~
However, I have populated the Meniscus woodlands with elginards. These are small wingless insects that drift on the breezes. As the book says, they are “… purposeless, ephemeral …”.
The inspiration for these creatures is the wooly aphid. In the late autumn days in New Brunswick, wooly aphids float like flakes of snow on the air.
~
~
~
Elginards also remind me of dandelion fluff. The elginard in my book is a symbol for a purposeless life, lived at the whim of circumstance.
~
~
To read more about elginards, have a look at my book ‘Meniscus: Crossing The Churn’ … available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats …
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XPPNCGF/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
~
Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
Winner … what is ‘beelwort’?
I am happy to announce the winner of my contest ‘What is beelwort?’ Beelwort is a mysterious item mentioned in the first book of my Meniscus sci-fi series — Meniscus: Crossing The Churn. My books give only small hints about the nature of beelwort: it get slipped into pockets as a joke and, although edible, is not very palatable.
~
~
The winner of the contest is Allan Hudson. Allan is the editor of the South Branch Scribbler, an on-line blog exploring the arts. Every week Allan posts an article, guest blog or question and answer session about an author, musician or artist. Have a look at http://allanhudson.blogspot.ca/ The blog includes some interesting insights into the process of writing and the methods of some well-known authors.
~
Allan’s answer to the contest defined beelwort as ‘… an edible, hallucinogenic fungus only found on Meniscus …’ To this, I will only add ‘rather squishy’. Beelwort will finally be defined, using Allan’s definition, in Book Five of the Meniscus series — Meniscus: Karst Topography. Also, Allan will receive a postage-paid copy of my first poetry book within easy reach, poems about eating wild edible plants (available at http://www.chapelstreeteditions.com or on Amazon).
~
available from www.chapelstreeteditions.com
~
Meniscus: Karst Topography (I took geology as a minor in university) is in draft form at present. However, the first book in the series — Meniscus: Crossing The Churn — is now available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XPPNCGF/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Meniscus: Crossing The Churn is a science-fiction adventure/romance describing the meeting of Odymn and the Slain. Written as a long poem, it is a book about loss, freedom and relationship. The remaining books in the series will bring new characters into the mix and tell a story about building companionship, family and community on a dystrophic planet where even casual contact between humans is discouraged. Don’t let the poetry format put you off! The tale is told in short lines, written as concisely as is possible to tell a story!
~
Thank you to Allan for entering the contest! Your book within easy reach is in the mail!
~
~
Belnar, one of the characters from Book Two is into the honey mead, but he could be eating beelwort!
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Writing a Series – continuity
With the publication of the first in the Meniscus series — Meniscus: Crossing The Churn (CreateSpace, 2017), I am now working to publish the second – Meniscus: South from Sintha.
~
A poor photo of the painting I did for the cover of Book Two – Meniscus: South from Sintha
~
I have completed the text and all of the drawings. I have even finished the painting for the book cover! The book is now with my editor (Lee Thompson Editing +) who will give me advice on story arc, characters, poetic line and word choice.
~
Back to those final edits!!!!
~
The story for South from Sintha continues the tale begun in Book One — in this book, Odymn wants the Slain to fix some of the wrongs he has done in the past. South from Sintha is the story of a journey to return some of the Slain’s former captives to their homes. But can you really ‘go back’?
~
The cover painting for Meniscus: South from Sintha is based on one of the drawings I created for the story … the drawing is called ‘release of the feather’ … after returning each captive to his or her home, the Slain and Odymn release a token to celebrate the ‘return’
~
As I prepare the second in the series, I have to make a couple of continuity decisions. One had to do with maps. I have taken the advice of my nephew and altered the map to reflect the landscape changes revealed in Book Two, as well as the path followed by the major characters.
~
The West Half of the map in the story South from Sintha … drawing the map in GIMP makes additions/changes so easy!
~
Another continuity decision concerns the common language on the planet Meniscus: Gel-speak. As I write, new words are added to the Gel-speak vocabulary. I have included a Glossary with a Gel-speak Dictionary at the back of each book. But, do I keep the Book One words in the Book Two Dictionary, even though some words are not used in Book Two? Or do I include the vocabulary from both Book One and Book Two? Perhaps you would help me make a decision by responding to the poll.
~
~
If you want to read Book One in the series, Meniscus: Crossing The Churn is now available at Amazon, in both Paperback and Kindle versions. Be sure to look under my first name Alexandra Tims. Of course I want you to buy the book and read the story of how the Slain and Odymn meet! Meeting the furry, purry Argenop in the story is worth the read!!!!
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Meniscus: Crossing The Churn … on Kindle soon!
I have had a frustrating week. However, I have accomplished what I set out to do. I have pressed the publish button on the Kindle edition of my book. It should be available in a couple of days.
~
Say hello to Odymn and the Slain. My big problem was to get them from postage-stamp size to fill-the-page size.
~
What an effort! My main challenge was putting my 25 drawings into the various types of e-book at a proper size.
~
I googled for help for almost two weeks and tried every suggestion without luck. And at last I found the answer. I purchased a book by Aaron Shepard ( Pictures on Kindle – Self-Publishing Your Kindle Book with Photos, Art, or Graphics, or Tips on Formatting Your Ebook’s Images to Make Them Look Great (Shepard Publications, Friday Harbor, Washington, 2013-2016) available as an e-book from Amazon for $4.03 … the key was to switch on and off all the right boxes in Word ! You have no idea how deep the Word rabbit-hole goes!
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
A contest ! What is ‘beelwort’?
In writing my science-fiction book Meniscus: Crossing The Churn, I had a lot of fun inventing plant and animal species to populate the planet Meniscus. I also enjoyed thinking of the various common items a traveller on the planet might encounter. I include a Glossary at the end of the book, to help the reader. However, one item is not identified, on purpose. I thought it might be fun to keep readers guessing about the identity of this item … “beelwort” …
~
What is ‘beelwort’ ???
~
When we first meet Odymn, the book’s protagonist, she is a slave in the city of Prell. She puts in her days at a bar, waiting tables. Being a waitress in Prell is no fun. As the book says, every day has its challenges: boiling coffee thrown, the brutal behavior of the Gel-head customers, and, worst of all —
Slices of beelwort slipped into a pocket …
The “wort” in “beelwort” suggests a plant or plant product. The only other thing I know about “beelwort” is now part of my draft of Book Four — Meniscus: The Town at Themble Hill. Odymn talks about her cooking:
‘When we return to Garth,” she says,
“I refuse to take another turn at cooking.
No one likes what I make.”
“I like what you make,” says the Slain.
“You’d eat beelwort on a stick,”
says Odymn.
~
So what is “beelwort”?
~
For example, a slice of “beelwort” in a pocket might be like having a slice of orange put into your pocket …
~
I am running a contest. The winner of the contest will recieve a copy of my poetry book within easy reach, a book about edible wild plants … not a beelwort among them!
~
To enter the contest, let me know what you think “beelwort” is — the answer can go in my Blog or Facebook comments. Describe it in one sentence (nothing obscene is allowed and I reserve the right to edit or not allow the comment). I will run the answers by the members of my writing group and have them select one winner. I’ll announce the winner by March 31, 2017 and arrange to send him or her a copy of within easy reach, postage paid.
~
available from http://www.chapelstreeteditions.com
~
Put on your thinking caps! What is “beelwort”?
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Meniscus: Crossing The Churn …. published!
I am so proud to announce that my new science-fiction book Meniscus: Crossing The Churn is now available in paperback through Amazon. The book is written in the form of a long poem and includes my pencil drawings.
~
To quote the book cover:
On the alien planet Meniscus, Humans are slaves. Every twilight, Odymn runs through the forests of Meniscus, practicing the art of parkour. Her runs give her strength, flexibility and endurance, and a way to survive a life of servitude under the oppressive Dock-winders. When the silent Slain rescues her from a brutal encounter with a gang of Gel-heads, Odymn believes she has reached the end of her search for freedom. In their travels through the Prell’nan District of Meniscus, she and the Slain encounter dangerous woodlands, dramatic water-climbs and an impassable water churn. Odymn and the Slain work together to evade the Gel-heads and overcome the dangers of the landscape. But is Odymn really free or is she caught in a cycle of trying to escape the inevitable?
In the first of the Meniscus series, Crossing the Churn tells the story of the meeting of a young woman and a genetically-engineered Slain whose kindness may not be consistent with his purpose.
~
~
This is the first book in a series of five, all in various stages of completion. I aim to publish a new book in the series every couple of months during 2017.
~
I have published this book under my first name Alexandra so be sure to look for it under Alexandra Tims. Hope you will come with me for a run through the landscapes of the planet Meniscus.
~
or for Canadian customers:
~
If you buy my book, please leave a short review on Amazon!!!
~
True to my botany training, part of the story reveals how to stay fed on an alien planet with no grocery store nearby! If you want to stay fed on this planet, have a look at the poems in my other book within easy reach (Chapel Street Editions, 2016), also available on Amazon.
~
Odymn and the Slain
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
nichepoetryandprose 