Month of May Blasts Off!

The Month of May started off with a bang: three new book reviews of my latest novel, TRILLIUM, and two new print inclusions in on-line news-and-views sources. Plus, two on-line art exhibits.

BOOK REVIEWS: It is so gratifying when another author writing #historicalfiction acknowledges, reviews and promotes your title on their website. It’s a vote of confidence. Malve Von Hassell is no slouch.  Her bio follows: – 

Malve von Hassell was born in Italy and spent part of her childhood in Belgium and Germany before moving to the United States. She is a freelance writer, researcher, and translator. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the New School for Social Research. Working as an independent scholar, she published The Struggle for Eden: Community Gardens in New York City (Bergin & Garvey 2002) and Homesteading in New York City 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida (Bergin & Garvey 1996). She has also edited her grandfather Ulrich von Hassell's memoirs written in prison in 1944, Der Kreis schließt sich - Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft 1944 (Propylaen Verlag 1994). She has taught at Queens College, Baruch College, Pace University, and Suffolk County Community College, while continuing her work as a translator and writer. She has self-published a children’s picture book, Letters from the Tooth Fairy (Mill City Press, 2012) and her translation and annotation of a German children’s classic by Tamara Ramsay, Rennefarre: Dott’s Wonderful Travels and Adventures (Two Harbors Press, 2012). The Falconer’s Apprentice (namelos, 2015) was her first historical fiction novel for young adults. Her most recent releases are Alina: A Song for the Telling (BHC Press, 2020), set in Jerusalem in the time of the crusades, and The Amber Crane (Odyssey Books, 2020), set in Germany in 1645 and 1945.

An up-and-coming book-blogger and author from the U.K, Melissa Hawkes, gave a shout-out to TRILLIUM, my 3rd novel, in her ‘May Book Recommendations’ post. Her first novel is coming out next year. She's gong-ho and jumping in!

ENVIE, a new on-line literary journal that engages directly with the Twitter #writingcommunity, also included TRILLIUM in their useful & informative May edition. -- No review, but a serious four-colour ‘plug’. - I’ll take it! 

 WRITING:

--- In the writing department, I have been invited to write a column on how the art world is faring during the #COVID19 pandemic. A rather broad topic, but I took a swing at it. It’s coming out shortly in the local news blog, The Burlington Gazette. The publisher and I have a long and somewhat cantankerous relationship, but we struggle on together to inform and delight local readers. 

Sample of graphic & poetic design ...

Finally, an older poem of mine, Pond Life, was recently included in an on-line Eco-Arts zine entitled, ‘The Materialist – In Honour of the 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day’. It was compiled and designed by Lauren Frick, an undergraduate at Indiana University Northwest pursuing a BA in both English and Spanish. She is also a 2020 Sierra Club Climate Justice League student fellow and a contributor with EcoLit Books. -- It is always so much fun to see how other readers ‘get’ what I’ve written. In this instance, Lauren ‘played’ with the syntax to create a unique graphic visual that amplifies the words. It's an interesting choice that focuses the mind.

VISUAL WORK: 

In the visual department, my art work is in two on-line exhibits with the Women’s Art Association of Hamilton. The first is dedicated to SPRING 2020, (shown here) and the second is related to #COVID19 and Social Distancing' ...

  

'Spring Thaw' by MLHolton - NFS/SOLD  - NB: Naive-Surreal-FOLK-abstracts ...

 ... In sum, I’d say Spring has officially begun …

May the Fourth Be With You!

... Now back to work. - mlh :)

 

Rites of Spring, 2020

Lake Ontario, Spring, by MLHolton

For many, early April marks sacred ceremonies that honour ancient rites of renewal & rebirth.

2020 is no different. I have been watching from my window as buds emerge on trees, daffodils pop up and rhubarb patches emerge from the damp soil.

I've ventured out a few times, in solitude, at dusk, when there are no other humans about, to just marvel in the continued resurgence and re-emergence of OTHER Life on this, our amazing home planet. Spring smells are so aromatic, especially down by the lake ...

Over the past few weeks, as we've all been confined to our homes for our own and others health and safety, I have, like you, seen numerous videos of how the near terminal ceasing of human activity has impacted the Earth.  Dolphins are swimming in the canals of Venice for the first time in decades. Los Angelos is smog free, as are many of the major industrial cities throughout China. Cumulatively, it's a vivid reminder, not only of our impact, but of our responsibility to the fundamental health and well-being of this place, our collective home.

Who cannot see the OBVIOUS benefits of fresh air, access to clean water, and the varied fruits of cultivated lands for our own health? 

This connection to the planet, more specifically, to the rich land beneath our feet, is very much a substrate of TRILLIUM,  my third novel. I was delighted when it was recently listed in Hamilton's largest newspaper as a recommended #SPRINGREAD. Damn right: The Time Is Now!

When I started TRILLIUM in the spring of 2018, I had a palpable sense of urgency to 'get the message out' as soon as possible so others could prepare. ... No guff.

Spring Rhubarb, by MLHolton

TRILLIUM is, aside from the surface story of three entangled and entertaining families, a blueprint about the necessity for #localfood harvest and networks. It outlines, through fiction, how generations of neighbours help each other in the planting, gathering and harvesting of needed crops. Agriculture and animal husbandry is an activity as old as humankind itself. TRILLIUM demonstrates how these grassroot alliances establish human bonds thicker than the loftiness of any grander 'national identity'.

Our immediate civil society is built on these links. Families grow when families cross-pollinate and germinate. These deep generational roots are what bind us together in our communal humanity. It is times like this that we truly come to understand and appreciate the recurring and rejuvenating aspect of what makes a #goodneighbour. 

SPRING! - TRILLIUM by MLHolton

To be clear, globalization does not offer this sense of community. In contrast, globalism is an airy scheme that profits jet-setters, bankers, billionaires and rootless tax-avoiding corporations. It does not bind us, the commoners, within the locality of #families.  Globalism does not know your voice or your face. That kind of intimacy only comes from day-to-day interactions at the grassroots level where 'I know you & you know me'.

As we do emerge from the devastation and impact of this horrific and horrifying pandemic, please let us remember our #goodneighbours. Remember what really makes our unique local civil communities work in times of crisis.

If you need a friendly reminder, please do pick up TRILLIUM.  Share it with your #family - your grand-parents, your spouse, your children and your grand-children. Re-establish a deeper understanding of #families, and the tangible blood network of kinfolk.

Work harder at sharing your isolated and alienated Self in real ways with those who stand near you in real life. - Live in the Real World with all your Senses Wide Awake and Active.  The Time is Now! 

Spring Blessings to you All. 
Margaret Lindsay Holton / Canadian Artist & Author

---

Extract from The Spec article ....

5. 'TRILLIUM

By Margaret Lindsay Holton

TRILLIUM, no modest undertaking, is a novel whose action stretches over 250 years of #Niagara peninsula history, as it follows the branching out of three diverse families - the Hartfords, O'Sullivans and Di Angelos. Short-listed for the 2019 Hamilton Literary Awards, the book is divided into nine parts with titles like seed, roots, harvest, second harvest. It covers much changing ground, from the agricultural to the industrial to the computer age in the sweeping way that Holton is known for.' Get it now > TRILLIUM.

The Writer's AIM - by M.L.Holton

'Protect Your Spirit', by MLHolton, 1991

There is a certain inevitability that a writer will have a reading critic who hates your work.

I encountered this last year when I learned that an assigned book reviewer for a local newspaper was intending to publish a disappointing '3-STAR' review of my latest novel.

It would have been the first '3-STAR' review after numerous '4 to 5 STAR' reviews from destinations as far flung as the UK, Germany and California.

Naturally, it was upsetting. It hurt.

I could not understand why the author would bother writing a review if she didn't like the book. So, naturally, I asked her why she did.

She responded quickly saying that it was no reflection on me as the author, but rather, a response to the work. (---huh?) When I queried further, she got defensive and said that she writes reviews for her audience not mine. (---huh?)  That was an odd thing to say. What became apparent was a telling lack of the 'meeting-of-the-minds'. We were not going to 'click', then or ever.

But my writer's mind could not let it go ... I wanted to understand WHY there was no bend in her opinion. Yes, I understand her opinion is her prerogative. But equally, there seemed no desire on her part to understand how and why I had written this work. There seemed no basic interest to empathize  - and this lack of empathy raised more questions than it answered ...

The bigger issue soon became, for me, about a writer's insatiable desire to be liked. Writers want our words to resonate with our readers. We want them to 'get it': to affirm our perspective, to applaud our insights and efforts. At a very primal human level, we want them to 'like', not only our work, but us.  

Well, clearly, Life just doesn't work that way. Critics critique: good or bad.
What's more, I know I have my own prejudices and blind spots too.

I do not, as example, care for 'horror'. - (There's quite enough of that in 'real life' : why would anyone want to amplify that in books or film?) - Because of this dislike, I know I could never write a unbiased review of a work of horror. I know my antipathy would reflect back badly in any review. So, I just wouldn't bother. I also know I am in the minority about the love of this genre. There are far more horror fans than there are historical fiction fans out there now. This fact invariably leads to the notion of 'popularity' and that quickly leads to the question of Why a Writer Writes ...

Am I writing to be popular? No. That's not my aim.
Am I writing to be understood? This is the most likely.

Novel writing, in particular, allows long-form exposition. It allows authors a chance to draw a large picture for readers of a constructed reality where characters act out their vices and virtues within fixed perimeters. The twists and turns of plot make sense within that invented world. As writers, we are offering a 'whole package' to readers of our personal vision, unique to our own experience and times. Our finished works represent our singular voice.

Writers generally aim for a kind of universality as chroniclers of the human condition. - As example, most writers compose with 'a sense of knowing' of familial relationships. They write with first-hand knowledge of the dynamics between mothers, fathers, daughters, brothers, siblings, sons and grand-parents. We expect readers to resonate with these depictions - not only because they are commonplace - (everyone has a mother and father) - but because #families represent the common human framework from which all human life has emerged ... until very recently.

Emotional Empathy Shift - Example

Have you noticed this SHIFT too? 

There seems a growing propensity amongst a certain crowd to identify with fake 'super-humans' and #scifi #dystopian plots filled with #alien and #horrific characters.

They're not as interested in the earth-bound interactions of our common human family as they are in the antics of their own disenfranchised peers. The reasons for this jarring and fanciful Emotional Empathy SHIFT are manifold and not really the point of this post.

Even so, this observation does explain, to some degree, the 'off-reading' between the above noted book reviewer and myself. We will not, and perhaps fundamentally, cannot, see 'eye-to-eye'. We may be from the same typographical region of Southern Ontario in Canada. I know that we drink the same tap water from the Great Lake and breathe the same air - but we, as humans, are not 'like-minded'.

At core, the element that seems to distinguish our preferred 'likes' and 'dislikes' seems to be our age. We are separated by decades of generational 'screen' influence and life perspective. Her current lived 'reality' is not my 'reality', anymore than my current lived 'reality' is hers. Call it #AGEISM if you will.

And yet, this is the point where I start to realize and recognize that perhaps my writing ambition has, indeed, failed. If I have been able to conjure a believable fictional world filled with engaging characters that she could empathize with, then my writing craft would be as universal as I had aimed and hoped.

Or, perhaps it's just a lot simpler than that. - I hate horror and nonsensical alienating tropes and she doesn't like my way of writing. We are who we are - at this time and in this place - and that's that.

On a lighter note, I did just receive another 5-star review for TRILLIUM .... this time from the southeastern shore of Ireland by delightful, family-loving, Irish novelist, Mary Crowley.

So, all's good. Life really does go on - as we like it, or not.

---

Apropos the above, some #writers and #readers may find this link useful ... > https://selfpublishingadvice.org/finding-the-right-readers-for-your-book/

Canada Book Award! - for TRILLIUM by M.L.Holton

TRILLIUM by MLHolton

TRILLIUM by MLHolton

TRILLIUM by MLHolton

Wonderful! TRILLIUM selected for another

 Canada Book Award!

Pick up 'TRILLIUM' - now on AMAZON!

UPDATE:  It's so gratifying when various readers and reviewers compare TRILLIUM to the works of such accomplished authors as Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Edward Rutherford, and Diana Gabaldon. It helps me a great deal to know how my structured phrasings are impacting others. Thank you all for your on-going interest and support, and YES, as promised, the audio version is 'in-the-works' ... More coming on that soon ... mlholton, author. - Feb 4th, 2020

Blast from the Past! The Gilded Beaver by Anonymous, Reviewed by V.Cline Barton

To date, I have written three novels: ECONOMIC SEX in 1985,  The Gilded Beaver by Anonymous in 1999 - and my most recent effort, TRILLIUM, released in 2019.

For a quiet Canadian writer working in the boonies, it is a delightful and slightly unnerving experience when a more prolific and socially active American author reviews - and then extols - one's lesser known work.

When that reviewing author then gives that lesser known work  another FIVE star review  - it is hard not to sigh in relief and immense gratitude.

Could any writer ask for more?!?

The reviewing author of my last two novels, Veronica Cline Barton, is a fertile writer of a charming cozy murder series that has her main protagonist, Gemma, bounce back and forth from the States to the United Kingdom. Integral to Gemma's evolving story is Veronica's on-going interest with FAMILY and FORTUNE - but on a royal scale! We intersect on those two points. As #writers, we are both fascinated by the vicisstitudes of FAMILY and FORTUNE in fiction - and real life ... 

Book Review Header on Veronica's Blog

Since the very beginning of human history, family tribes have plotted to not only secure but expand their territories. Growth, let alone survival, has been achieved through numbers. Adding new members to any family invariably increases that family's material wealth and influence. 

The most common method to enhance status and FORTUNE is to 'marry' into a FAMILY of greater means or status than one's own. If family bonds are very thick, the 'ritual' of marriage becomes a strategic move to enhance both wedding parties material wealth and power.

It is only in relatively recent times that LOVE - as a basis for marriage - has gained ground against the plotting traditions of Powerful Families. (Just ask the British Monarchy.)

In Veronica's recent review of my second novel, The Gilded Beaver, she deftly highlights the slow evolution of the willful and creative protagonist, Iris Burdock, as she attempts to navigate the commercial world of FORTUNE. 

Iris, like so many of her hard-working female contemporaries, operates in the world of commerce without the traditional support of an ambitious or protective FAMILY.

As an independent woman, Iris must evaluate and assess a bachelor who has entered her working realm. 

It is not as straight-forward a business transaction as she initially thinks.

During her on-going assessment of his tastes and his way of life  - and without the wise or interfering counsel of family - Iris must chart her own course. She is eventually forced to ask herself what she really wants: is it FORTUNE? - Or is it really LOVE?

Read Veronica's stellar 5 star review of The Gilded Beaver  > 

https://myamericanalmostroyalcousinseries.com/2020/01/15/veronicas-writersdiary-when-reality-enters-the-fiction-zone/

The Gilded Beaver by Anonymous won the Hamilton Arts Council 'Best Fiction' Award in 1999.
TRILLIUM , my latest novel, was a Finalist for the same award in 2019 ...

Top Novel Pick of 2019 -TRILLIUM by M.L.Holton

Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR!  -- A whole new decade is upon us - The 2020s! Without a doubt, it's going to be an interesting time and year ... Before we get too far underway though, I did just want to THANK a most gracious weekly book reviewer & #cozymurder authoress from California, USA - Veronica Cline Barton - for her sterling Christmas and year-end 'shout-out'.  I am both honoured and humbled that she has picked TRILLIUM as one of her Top 3 Novels for 2019! - Wow! 

Here's the link to read her very kind Christmas post >
https://myamericanalmostroyalcousinseries.com/2019/12/25/veronicas-writersdiary-celebrating-writers-my-top-3-book-picks-of-2019/

I have excerpted the portion about my Canadian #histfic, TRILLIUM,  below: 

Veronica’s Review: The surroundings detailed in Trillium pull you in to witness the beauty and splendor of the land, grand homes, and the drama as it unfolds. I couldn’t put this book down–I was enchanted and mesmerized by the story lines of the families, the characters, and settings from beginning to end. The scope and depth of this story is fantastically told, taking you through generations of family love, hope and drama—slowly revealing the secrets that will bind these families together forever. A fantastic read, highly recommended!

Author M.L. Holton, in her words: Set on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, three very distinct families slowly intertwine over 250 years in pursuit of land, lust and loot.

What inspired me for the story?
It’s a multi-faceted response.
1) I was not resonating with local Canadian literature that complimented what I knew about growing up ‘rural’ in Southern Ontario. There seemed a gap to fill.
2) My first two novels were predominantly focused on urban lifestyles. I wanted to write something more rooted, in a genuine way, to the land.
3) I had written a detailed outline of this then-unnamed-novel over a decade ago, but did not, at that time, have the sense of urgency to complete it as I did in 2018. ~ Why that urgency? ~ There are a lot of naive ideas about basic biology floating around these days. As an historical work, TRILLIUM follows the evolution of several generations of families working the land. It is hoped that TRILLIUM will re-connect readers to certain fundamental and unalterable Laws of Nature, while, at the same time, crediting the impact of Nurture. Nature sets the unalterable parameters of growth, while Nurture often dictates the outcome.

Favorite moments: I love the passage after Canadian-born Greg Di Angelo and his Italian-born father, Domi, are insulted at the hardware store during the war. Greg breaks down in the truck on their way home. A tender exchange follows between father and son that ends with a heartfelt father-son talk at the lake shore. It makes me tear up in the re-reading every time.. … Another fav moment is when Faith’s horse, Geronimo, bolts through the vineyard. … Finally, Tom Hartford’s early bush years in the late 1750s: he and Maakadegaagwan, the native fur trader, had some fun …

My favorite characters: I liked all of the flawed characters for a variety of different reasons. Anna is simple, but solid. Eric is reckless, but, in the main, well-meaning. Paddy is an over-bearing oaf, but admirable too, in a fundamental way, for his astute business acumen. June is a bit prim & proper, yet better understood when she manifests an inherited mental illness. Greg’s youthful arrogance is soon squashed by the realism of war. … Etc. ~ A fun bunch!

Who am I? A keen observer of the Life and Times around me. I’m rather a quiet person, more a spectator than a participant. That said, in the name of art, living and Life, I’ll generally try anything once in order to better understand human parameters. As example, I would never kill anyone. It’s absolutely 100% morally reprehensible. But I know, with absolute certainty, that I could. I know this after training for a firearms acquisition certificate. Handling and firing a gun provides INSTANT agency. Being aware of that capacity within myself keeps me very alert to this very ancient desire for ultimate power in, and over, others. It remains a cornerstone for much of basic human motivation …

Thanks again V! - And to all the other fabulous reviewers, critics and interviewers of TRILLIUM over the past year, your interest and kind words do make me try harder to please, entertain and inform you all. -- May 2020 be All it Can Be! - May your Spring be Warm and Wonderful! All Best! - 

Here's to a fabulous decade! - author of TRILLIUM - Margaret Lindsay Holton  

TRILLIUM is available as an Ebook, Paperback or Audiobook on Amazon dot CA and dot COM. 

(p.s A very special audio book is coming in 2020! More about that soon!) 

Double Whammy! Author Interview & Another Solid Book Review of TRILLIUM

... Always fun when the stars align and two bright comets fire over my hemisphere at the same time ...

I have been very fortunate to have two solid writers engage with my latest novel, TRILLIUM, over the past few days. Marian Thorpe, a writer of riveting historical fiction, expressed interest to do a follow-up on her prior 4-STAR book review with an author's interview ... She supplied the questions and I answered with some never-before-revealed details about the writing of TRILLIUM ...

Write YOUR review on Amazon!

You can read it here:
 https://marianlthorpe.com/2019/11/02/trillium-an-author-interview-with-m-l-holton/  

Marian Thorpe Website - filled with novel excerpts, short fiction and poetry 

Likewise, an internationally well-known wine blogger and wine aficionado from beautiful British Colombia, Karl Kliparchuk, (Twitter handle @mywinepal ), left his known sphere of oenology and entered the MLH orbit of fiction ...

Overall, he very much enjoyed TRILLIUM - as a story. He did take me to task, in private, on a few of the finer points of the evolutionary history of icewine ... No fault there. I gently reminded him that this was, first and foremost, a work of #fiction.  

Read his generous 'gift-giving' review directed at the wine-loving book-reading community here:  http://mywinepal.com/2019/11/04/book-review-trillium-by-m-l-holton/

Follow @mywinepal for insight in all things WINE ... 

Plus, MLH UPDATE: I have almost finished the FIRST YEAR OF PROMOTION for TRILLIUM and will soon be heading off into new territory to experience and explore. There are two more reviews coming in this year, then that's it!

31 reviews, interviews & media shout-outs since Jan, 2019! 

Not too shabby for a little #canlit #indie #title - #eh? 

Writers must Write what they want to Read ...

Thrilled by this up-coming review of my third novel, TRILLIUM, from author & book blogger, Lina Hansen of #Germany. 

Excerpt follows:

“Original and unique ... an epic saga of three families spanning generations … that grows as organically as the peach trees in Tom’s orchard. … I certainly enjoyed being transported back into a world where the horseshoe falls were not besieged by tourism but were still a thundering miracle in a wondrous wilderness. I enjoyed reading about the struggles of the first Europeans and their interactions with the original dwellers of this land. … Holton … gives us a narrative that is as unrushed and serene as a slow-flowing river. ... Steeped in … a keen love for nature and lovingly viewed with the eye of an artist … paints settings with words and shows us a place long lost in time. … I trusted the author to bring it all to a satisfactory conclusion … she did not disappoint … could well have been the Canadian version of “Outlander” … magic in the words.- Goodreads: 4 star – Lina Hansen, August 15^th, 2019 

Link to her site coming soon! (She also very kindly sent a personal note: 

- " .... readers should find this novel, it deserves to be read."

Thank You Lina! 
UPDATE: Lina's blog LINK

Enjoy a #IndieAugust late #SummerRead set in #Niagara #winecountry 

- TRILLIUM by M.L.Holton