The Story Behind the Story with A-M Mawhiney, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

 

Photo Credit: Laura Stradiotto.

This week you will meet Anne-Marie, a devoted author, as well as other author's best friend with all her sharing and caring.

She was kind enough to accept my invitation to be our guest.

Please read on my friends. 

 

 

A-M: First let me thank you, Allan, for your kind invitation to chat here about my latest book.

 

I grew up in northern Ontario, mostly in small mining communities, with time in Montreal and Toronto for my university years. In 1980 I came back to Sudbury where I worked at the local university for almost 40 years. My debut novel Spindrifts was shortlisted for the 8^th annual Rakuten Kobo emerging Writer Prize and for the Whistler Independent Book Awards. It was also a finalist in the Canadian Book Club Awards, all in 2022. My second novel Spelldrifts was published August 2023.

 

 

Title: Spelldrifts

 

 

Synopsis: Spelldrifts:  Life has changed at and of Hope in the decades since Earth tipped back to a flourishing biome. People work together, connected through a telepathic network, to keep their planet healthy. Each person develops additional magical powers in their teen years that help them find their place in the community. Saki, Fania’s seventeen-year-old, is adrift – they don’t know yet what their unique abilities are nor how they will contribute to the world. 

Everything changes when Saki discovers a long-buried secret. Faced with strangers intent with destroying everything that is precious, a darkness creeps over the land. The stakes are high, for those who prevail will determine whether Earth survives.

 

 

The story behind the story: I had no plans to write a sequel to Spindrifts. But our grandchildren urged me to continue the story. The older one asked that I include a dragon, and the younger requested a wolf. This seemed a daunting task given the world of the Land of Hope in my first book. But over a few months, dreams, thoughts, and ideas intruded, eventually overriding my common sense. I began to write Spelldrifts. One or two enthusiastic suggestions by the grandchildren, used with their permission, have found their way into the story but mostly this book is a creation of my imagination. However, many of the themes remain rooted in our own realities: inclusion, environmental rehabilitation, social issues, respect, and hope.

 

 

Website:  www.ammawhiney.ca 

 

 

A couple questions before you go Anne-Marie:

 

Scribbler: Can you tell us about the perfect setting you have, or desire, for your writing? Music or quiet? Coffee or tequila?  Neat or notes everywhere?

 

A-M: Writing setting: Although I do have a painting and writing studio it became cluttered with copies of my first book, so I wrote Spelldrifts at a drop-leaf table owned by my paternal grandparents when they first were married in 1926. I am a pantser so many of my scenes were created on walks with my dog Charlie (who, sadly, passed away in July) and in the middle of the night.

Scribbler: What’s next?

 

A-M: Besides marketing and promoting my books, I have just started a new writing project that is unrelated to the Drifts two-part series. It starts with a high school students on a debate team who don’t get along. When they start to discover what they have in common this overrides their differences and they form a tight bond. After they graduate, they head off in different directions but keep in touch. Then one day a world-wide disaster occurs. The story follows the four main characters on their quest, against all odds, to reunite and help their community survive.

  

 

 

Thank you for being our guest this week, Anne-Marie. Thanks for all you do for your author friends. Wishing you continued success with your writing.

 

 

 

And a HUGE thank you to all our visitors and readers.