Online rights and Canada’s fur trade

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my writing career, it’s that rights are very, very important. In the past I’ve done work for hire, where I hand over all ownership of my writing to the publisher. While not the best arrangement for creatives, it can be acceptable as long as you’re okay with receiving a larger lump sum up front and then saying goodbye to having any say about what the publisher does with your writing.

Cover Art by Remi Geoffroi
The best arrangement for any writer is to grant a licence to publisher for the right to print your writing. More and more, publishers are looking to get online rights as well as print rights. Normally, these shouldn’t just be handed away for nothing, but sometimes special deals can be arranged.

This is the situation with my short story, The Blue Fisted Paddle, originally published in Kayak magazine. I really like the story and apparently, so did the Canadian History Society, who publish Kayak. They have just put together furtradestories.ca an entire website devoted to telling, well, the stories of the Canadian fur trade, obviously. And my short story is part of that collection.

I’m usually wary of licencing my stories to 3rd party websites, but this site interested me. It’s basically a storehouse of information about a particular part of Canadian history. It’s clearly designed as a research tool for for students and teachers. That’s a good thing for students and for me as a writer. Having your work used as curriculum material is always an honour.

So, head on over to furtradestories.ca and check out the Blue Fisted Paddle. Here’s a sampler to get you going:

The large hand pulled me from my hiding spot.

“Listening to our conversation, farm boy?” Sebastian gripped my neck and pushed his pockmarked face close to mine.

For weeks, this man had tormented me, and now he had caught me sneaking around like a misbehaving child. His companions, Henri and Josef, were eager to witness another display of Sebastian’s legendary foul temper.

“Your ears are too big, Luc. Tell me what you heard.”

“Nothing,” I lied. To tell these men the truth would mean death. To tell them that I heard their plan to murder Nicolas Perrot, our expedition leader, would end my short time as a coureurs de bois, a runner of the woods.

Read the rest of The Blue Fisted Paddle at furstories.ca.

tagged: [history] [writing] [Canada]

Word Up (finally . . .)

I know I’m two weeks late, but here at last are some photos from a great day at the Words in Whitby Author’s Festival.

It was a beautiful April day, with the sun shining down and the chill in the air nowhere to be felt. Melanie and I arrived to the Centennial Building in downtown Whitby to find the tables overloaded with my Pet Tales picture books, stuffed toys and all.

Many young visitors had difficult choices to make. What would it be? Adorable puppies, irresistable kittens or playful ponies?

After a bit of wrangling, the program for the afternoon was set and myself and Sharon Jennings got underway (Sharon wisely chose to read first, ensuring I had a tough act to follow.)

As the kids streamed into the theatre, we decided that having them join us on stage would work best. Both Sharon and I had picture books to read from and those overstuffed chairs looked too comfortable to resist. So, the audience clomped up the wooden steps onto the stage and we all settled down for storytime.

It was great to look out to the kids around me and see several of them clutching their own little stuffed versions of Baxter or Duncan as I read from each pet’s story (I also feel the black curtains really gave it that Charlie Rose feel I always try to capture with my readings.)

The audience was definitely a bright bunch, full of suggestions on what Baxter and his pals should do throughout the stories.

After the readings, it was time to sign some books.

I was thrilled to see so many young readers buying books and very happy to meet them all one by one.

As you can see from my smile, I was really having fun.

I was happy to see a few Max Finder fans in the crowd too.

And that is Words in Whitby in photos. Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers who made it such a great day. And thanks to the kids for coming out. It was an honour to be part of the fun.

tagged: [writing] [whitby] [appearances]

Out and About for Spring

Spring’s flowers are pushing through the soil and that means it’s time for this author to hit the road and get some fresh air! I’m very fortunate to have two great author events happening in the coming days.

Words in Whitby, Sunday April 9th, 1 – 3 pm.
I’ll be reading from my Pet Tales picture books at the Centennial Building in Whitby as part of the festival’s Children’s Program. The event is hosted by Neil Crone, who promises an in-depth and revealing Q&A session after the reading. I’m excited, terrified and hopeful Neil won’t bring up the infamous cheese sandwich incident from ’83. We’ll just have to see . . .

John M. James Public School, Bowmanville, ON. Tuesday April 11th.
As part of their Author’s Night, I’ll be talking to students of John M James PS about comics, writing and lots of other fun stuff. There’ll be hot dogs on the BBQ and many other fine authors in attendance, so I’m very excited to meet, greet and eat!

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tagged: [writing] [appearances] [spring]