Two Virgins; Cowtown / Punktown; Dead Bird Through the Cat Door

That's the Virgin Mary and the Virgin Lori at the grand opening of Shelf Life Books last Saturday, shot by my pal and official photographer Jan Markley. The event was truly a blast -- the readings were great, lots of people turned out and Shelf Life is owned and operated by some great book lovers. And lunch before and drinks after at Boxwood were both very nice. A very good Saturday, all in all.

Speaking of The Virgins, this Saturday Dan Hayes of The Golden Calgarians and myself will be talking about all things old-school Calgary punk in our program Cowtown / Punktown, one of the many interesting programs comprising the One Book, One Calgary event inspired by Aritha van Herk's Mavericks. We'll be in the John Dutton Theatre on the second floor of the Central Library (616 Macleod Tr. SE) from 4:15 - 5:00. Looking forward to looking backward!

Also looking forward to the launch of the aforementioned Jan Markley's new novel, Dead Bird Through the Cat Door, at Owl's Nest Books, 815A-49th Ave. SW (Britannia Shopping Plaza) at 2PM, Saturday Nov. 27th. Jan's last launch was a juggernaut and I expect this one will be no different. Nothing like a good book launch!

Shelf Life grand opening this Saturday; Cow Town / Punk Town Sat. Nov. 6th

The launch of Rona Altrows' new book, Key in Lock, was a great time and a huge success. Glad I could be there to help Rona celebrate!

This Saturday the fun continues as Rona and I read at the grand opening celebration for Shelf Life Books at 1302 - 4 St. SW. There will be refreshments, prizes and hourly author readings Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday. Rona and I will be on between 3 and 4PM Saturday if you want to come and cheer us on. Should be a blast.

Here's a public service announcement I wrote for Cow Town / Punk Town:

COWTOWN / PUNKTOWN: Calgary’s Punk Rock History

Sat. Nov. 6, 4:15 - 5:00 PM 2nd floor John Dutton Theatre

Calgary’s live music scene in the late ‘70s / early 80s would have been made up of country rock, top 40 bar bands and disco -- right? Would you be surprised to learn that conservative Calgary was actually home to a thriving underground music scene in those days? That a host of punk bands played shows every weekend at community halls and venues like The Calgarian Hotel, The National Hotel, The Long Bar and Ten Foot Henry’s? Join author Lori Hahnel of The Virgins and musician Dan Hayes of The Golden Calgarians as they reminisce about Calgary’s nearly forgotten early alternative music scene.

If you're interested in registering for this informative local history program (ahem!), go to http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/programs.aspx (Enter “Heritage Weekend” for the entire list ) or phone 403-260-2620. 

Cursed! and Key in Lock launches; Shelf Life Books; Cow Town / Punk Town

Unfortunately had to miss the launch of Maureen Bush's new YA novel Cursed! on Saturday, as I was at my Uncle Rick's funeral. Sigh -- sad indeed. My mother's family is being hit hard right now. But I understand the launch was a blast, even without me. Congratulations again, Maureen -- looking forward to getting my own signed copy soon.

Can't wait for the launch of my good friend Rona Altrows' new book, Key in Lock, at Memorial Park Library, 1221-2 St SW, next Saturday, Oct. 23rd at 2 PM. Congratulations to Rona and her publisher, Calgary's own Recliner Books.

I've been invited to read at the grand opening celebration for Shelf Life Books at 1302- 4 St SW. They'll be featuring readings by local authors Thursday, October 28 - Saturday, October 30. I will be reading sometime on the Saturday; details to follow. In the meantime, come on down and check out Calgary's newest independent bookstore! Not only is the staff friendly and knowledgeable, they also reminded me that as well as being the former home of Interfaith Thrift Stores, the very spot in which I worked many years ago, the store was once the site of the infamous Parkside Contintental. Ah, yes, I'd forgotten about the Parkside. We used to go on Sunday nights sometimes to catch the drag queen shows and to drink. This was in the days before you could go to a bar on Sundays in Alberta -- imagine. Seems kind of quaint and old-fashioned now.

Anyway. Speaking of long-ago things, as is my wont, a reminder about Cow Town / Punk Town, the program that Dan Hayes of the Golden Calgarians and myself are doing as part of Calgary Public Library's One Book, One Calgary event on November 6th. I will read from Love Minus Zero and Dan has set up a rockin' multimedia show. Punk out!

Speaking of Love Minus Zero, I'm doing a book club meeting Tuesday night for a lovely woman I know, wife of a colleague of my husband's, and a very cool librarian. Looking forward to it!

Finally, tomorrow's civic election day in Alberta. I look forward to exercising my right to vote, and hope we get a good voter turnout this time around.

NoveList; Tofurkey time once again; writing and research

Like many writers, I get a charge out of seeing where references to my books crop up. That's the kind of thing we get excited about. Lately I came across Love Minus Zero's listing in NoveList, a library reference tool that I used to use a lot in my days at Calgary Public Library. Someone can come up and say, "I want to read a first novel about a conflicted female old school punk rocker" and, voila, there will be my book. Nice stuff.

So here we are first week of October and the weather is absolutely gorgeous. Typical -- freezing, dark summer followed by warm, sunny fall. Oh, well. I'm thankful it's nice now. Thankful for a lot of things actually, and of course, Thanksgiving weekend approaches. Tofurky is already in the freezer.

Working away on the novel. Sometimes. It hasn't always been easy these days, with my mom's ALS and all, to stay focused. On the other hand, sometimes writing is kind of a refuge. Then again, there's always 'research' which I've been doing a fair bit of these last couple of weeks. This has entailed reading books, listening to CDs and watching movies. Work, work, work. But hey -- it's got to be done, right?

Launches; WitWorks 4 in the works

It wouldn't be fall without book launches, and I'm looking forward to the launch of Lee Kvern's new novel, The Matter of Sylvie, at Shelf Life Books, corner of 13th Ave and 4 St. SW at 7 PM this Thursday. I'm also interested to see what Shelf Life is like -- not only is it Calgary's newest bookstore, it's also located in the very spot where the Interfaith Thrift Store I used to work in many years ago was. Other upcoming launches include Maureen Bush's new YA novel Cursed! on October 16th at Monkeyshines Books, and Rona Altrows' new collection of short fiction, Key in Lock, at Memorial Park Library on Oct. 23rd. Nothing more fun than a good launch. Assuming I stay well enough to go to any of them. It also wouldn't be fall without colds and flu, and Dan is home today with some kind of nasty cold, which I've been staving off with Cold FX.

Speaking of Memorial Park Library, Writing in the Works 4 is set to take place there on Saturday, May 14th, 2011 at 1:30 PM. This year's lineup is comprised of Naomi K. Lewis, Leslie Gavel, Susan Calder, Inge Trueman and myself. Always a great show!

Well, speaking of writing, that's what I ought to be doing right now.

Another W-i-R; Punk History; WitWorks 4 looms

Enjoyed a reading last Saturday by Gail Bowen at the launch of her new book The Nesting Dolls and the kickoff of her term as this year's Writer-in-Residence for Calgary Public Library. She will be giving manuscript consultations and giving a variety of programs until the end of November. If you have a manuscript you want some feedback on, I'd encourage you to get it in early as the spaces do fill up.

Speaking of Calgary Public Library, as I mentioned earlier Dan Hayes of The Golden Calgarians and myself are putting on a program entitled Cow Town / Punk Town on November 6th, as part of CPL's inaugural One Book, One Calgary project. Aritha van Herk's Mavericks is the book this year, and it's inspired the library to put together a whole slew of really interesting programs. Looking forward to reminiscing...or trying to. I'll be reading and Dan and his lovely assistant Christine are putting together a really rockin' multimedia thing. Should be a blast.

In mundane daily news, chugging away on this novel revision, which I'm hoping to have wrapped up once and for all by next spring. I was a little bit afraid that I'd been away from it for too long and that the whole thing would have gone cold for me. But actually, I think I have abundant objectivity now and am able to make some big changes -- improvements, one hopes.

My mom is hanging in there, but her ALS continues to progress and almost weekly she loses more and more physical capabilities. It's meant lots of challenges, no question. I have to hand it to her, though -- she is coming through this with grace and dignity intact, as well as her sense of humour. Food for thought indeed. All of this has had me thinking about the nature of compassion quite a bit, and I happened to come across The Charter for Compassion a little while ago. That food for thought is everywhere, I tell you.

Finally, looking forward to a beer tomorrow eve with my friends on the Writing in the Works organizing committee. Watch for our fourth annual fabulous showcase of local writing coming out sometime in the spring. Seems far away right now, but you know how that goes.

CAA w-i-r; Key in Lock; Bottled Poets, etc.

So here's the contact for Rona Altrows if anyone is interested in sending her a manuscript through the Canadian Authors Association Writer-in-Residence program:

cwir@canauthorsalberta.ca

She can give you details on manuscript length, appointment times and so on. Rona's got a busy fall coming up this year, kind of like me last year, in that as well as doing this residency, she's also bringing out her second book of short fiction, Key in Lock, being published by Calgary's own Recliner Books. Yeah! Looking forward to the launch: 2 PM, Saturday Oct. 23 at Memorial Park Library, 1221- 2 St. SW.

As usual, school's back in session, and the weather turns from August-miserable to September-gorgeous. And here I am with my nose to the grindstone. The proverbial grindstone. Not that I'm complaining. I'm trying to be mindful lately, to stay in the moment; my mother's illness has certainly made me realize of late the importance of staying in the moment. Yes, I could have been looking at life this way for the previous forty-seven years. But. At least I'm starting to figure it out a little -- is that to my credit? Anyway, happy to look at the blue sky from my office window, indeed.

Aritha van Herk's talk for AWCS last Saturday was great; very refreshing and down-to-earth. And here's an awesome picture, unphotoshopped, of the old Inglewood Bottle Depot a little ways down the street from the Alexandra Centre, courtesy of my pal Jan Markley over at Three Dead Moths in my Mailbox. Enjoy: