Rather than sing ‘Me and My Shadow,’  I’m singing ‘Me and my Slide Show’ these days.  I’ve created 2 news ones on MySpace.  One is of birds in flight, which I’ve always found inspires the poet in me. No suprise LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU opens on a bird count up north and, later, Brannagh is often gazing up at the sky trying to identify a bird from its wing markings or span. 

The second slide show is simply a collage of SHADOWS which, given the title of my debut novel, is  self-explanatory.  I have to ask Santa for a new digital camera for Christmas!

Kathy-Diane’s MYSPACE SLIDE SHOWS

Congratulations to Ramona Gault who won an autographed copy of the hardcover edition of LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU in the GoodReads contest.  You can win an autographed copy of the new paperback edition.  The contest runs until November 23, 2009 and is open to GoodRead members in Canada, the United States and the UK.  If you love sharing the books you read with others, GoodReads is the place to be.  

ENTER CONTEST

I’m a guest on THE AUTHORS SHOW today with Don McCauley.  It was fun being interviewed once I got past being nervous .

Thanks so much Don!

THE AUTHORS SHOW

ANSWERING THE CALL writers’ retreat is back.  So many people asked me about this retreat during my book signings, I realized we had to get it up and going again.  I’m an avid follower of Julia Cameron and Natalie Goldberg and think everyone needs a special place set aside from the hectic busyness of everyday life to create.   Some years ago I started a retreat at the Villa Madonna in Renforth, New Brunswick.  Run by the Sisters of Charity, it offers a peaceful surrounding that’s ideal to dig into a body of work, commune with the Great Creator and noodle inspiration into concrete form.   Even writers with many books under their belts, who have disciplined themselves to write everyday despite ‘life’s busyness’ can blossom from a change of scene and a place to just ‘play’.  If you want to keep posted, just check out the ANSWERING THE CALL blog.  I’m hoping when the retreat is over, there will be some volunteers who agree to post their work there too.  I’ve always found it a fascinating process in the past.  I’ve headed off with all kinds of plans, but almost always ended up being jolted with a bolt of  lightening surprise I didn’t expect.   Who knows what will happen this time…

Poison Pen’s first virtual mystery convention is quickly approaching.  If  you haven’t registered yet, here’s what it’s all about:

HIGHLIGHTS:
PPWebCon – the world’s first interactive virtual mystery convention on October 24th – brings the benefits of no hotel bills, no air fares, and the chance for crime and mystery authors and readers around the world to meet, mingle and chat live online.  (http://www.ppwebcon.com)

Guest of Honor, Dana Stabenow and International Guest of Honor Lee Child will participate in live interviews along with 62 other writers from Hawaii to New Jersey in the USA, and from all across the world including Canada, Iceland, Ireland, the UK, France, South Africa, and Australia.

For a registration fee of just 25 US dollars, attendees will receive:

• Privileged access to live events – 64 authors are participating in more than 50 panels and presentations, on live and recorded video and audio, as well as in text.  See the line-up here: (http://www.ppwebcon.com/panels.html )
• The chance to meet and chat to authors in the online Coffee Shop chat room.
• Goody Bag - more than thirty authors have contributed over fifty items to the goody bag! The gifts range from entire novels, through brand new short stories, to fun items like entertaining articles and even recipes!
• Book Voucher - A 20 US dollar book voucher for The Poisoned Pen Bookstore

And right now visitors to the website can be entertained by Barbara Peters’ TV show “The Criminal Calendar“.  More than 90 one-hour interviews with the world’s top crime writers. ( http://www.ppwebcon.com/authorinterviews.html )

See ya there!

Romance Junkies is holding a Halloween Contest and you could win an autographed copy of the trade paperback edition of LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU being released this month….and Ganong chocolates.  These are made in St. Stephen, New Brunswick and I will swear on my children, the best chocolates you have ever eaten.

To enter just scroll down RJ’s CONTEST PAGE to NEW HALLOWEEN CONTEST and click the link to find the haunted castle.  You’ll find me and all the details on how to enter inside.  Hint: I think cats are magical.  Good luck! 

Thank you to Gordon Hauptfleisch for the lovely review posted today on Blog Critics:

“Name one thing. One thing that you are truly fearful of,” the central character of Kathy-Diane Leveille’s haunting and intricate psychological thriller Let the Shadows Fall Behind You is asked.

Her surprising answer: “’Sliding.’ Into people, beneath their skins, she clarified silently. Needing them, loving them, sliding into the hole, the darkness left behind when they’re gone. … ‘Sliding backwards. Not moving forwards. Stagnating. That’s it.’”

That prideful sense of aloofness and elusiveness and a feeling that going back home means growing stagnant may be what’s holding up Brannagh Maloney in  picking up the pieces of a once-promising career and relationship and returning to her hometown, but there’s much more to the story than escape and hitting the roads of Canada once again. In Brannagh’s confrontation with a turmoil of emotions and a troubled past, secrets abound and uncertainty dogs every move when she leaves her stint as a cataloguer for prominent environmentalist Nikolai Mirsky – with whom she had lived and loved — after he suddenly disappears.

This of course is a matter of momentous heartbreak and confusion, though a guarded and complex Brannagh would offer a seemingly cynical, protests-too-much contention to others that “all we shared was birds and orgasms.” Perhaps closer to the mark is the vulnerability she admits to herself in more reflective times:

Maybe love is supposed to be confusing. Maybe there is no tacking it down. Maybe it is as ambiguous as the bumbling humans who are dense enough to leave its barbed hook snarled in their contracting hearts.”

 

READ FULL REVIEW

Congratulations to Ruth Chesick who won a $50.00 gift certificate from Amazon in Night Own Romance’s Summer Splash Giveaway.  I asked, “In LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU where did Brannagh and Nikki go on a date to eat moose burgers?”  Ruth followed the link to the excerpt on this blog and answered correctly:  the Evergreen Motel.  Watch for their fall contest and a new trivia question for LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU.

You can also win a copy of LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU on GoodReads.  If you aren’t a member yet, do join up. It’s a wonderful place to share books.  My good friend, author Shawn Jennings, invited me some time ago and we’ve been posting all our reads ever since.

I’ll be signing books this Friday night at 6:30 at Coles at McCallister Mall in Saint John, New Brunswick.  Drop by to say hello and enter a draw to win a book buying spree. Do you get the impression that I’m trying to encourage people to read? Then, you’d be right.   It’s my favorite pass time; second only to, yep, writing.

Kathy-Diane Leveille

Author of LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU

This book is kind of a “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” for grownups. Four friends who bond together in childhood, each coming from a troubled past, they create a group for themselves–only does one of the women go above and beyond to take care of the others–even murder? …this book kept me coming back for more. -Night Owl Romance

I had the opportunity to chat with Arwen Taylor on the THE PLOT CAFE earlier this year about my favorite topic :  creativity.   In really enjoyed it and was happy to see the interview featured this week in E-zine Magazine. 

“Recently, I had the pleasure of talking to Kathy-Diane Leveille, author of the suspense novel Let the Shadows Fall Behind You. Kathy is a former CBC broadcast journalist who gave it all up to follow her dreams to be a writer. With one book under her belt, a collection of short stories titled Roads Unravelling, Kathy is gearing up to introduce another to the world this month. Pull up a chair and listen in as Kathy talks about what inspires her, facing that blank page and her new book.”

READ E-ZINE MAGAZINE

Thanks Arwen!  I really enjoyed the interview.

Kathy-Diane Leveille

Author of LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU

“A taut psychological thriller with more than enough mystery and rich characterization to keep us mesmerized….”  -Reader’s Respite

“This book is kind of a “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” for grownups. Four friends who bond together in childhood, each coming from a troubled past, they create a group for themselves–only does one of the women go above and beyond to take care of the others–even murder? …this book kept me coming back for more.” -Night Owl Romance

“LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU may by Kathy-Diane Leveille’s first novel, but if this book is any indication of her gifts both as a weaver of fascinating stories and a poet of natural expression then it will most assuredly not be her last! ….a fine debut.”  -Grady Harp, Top 10 Amazon Reviewer

If you’re by Coles in Brunswick Square today, drop by to chat. I’ll be there signing books.  You can enter my draw to win a $100.00 book buying spree.  Also tell me if you like my cover.   My trade paperback is coming out in time for Christmas. Should I keep the same cover?  Try something new?  I love this one….but new is good too.  This store is in Saint John, New Brunswick.  Too far away for you?  Drop me a line on my web site and sign up for my quarterly newsletter.  Everyone who subcribes is automatically entered in the contests.

See you from 12:00 to 2:00 today.

Kathy-Diane