Winter, it seems, has returned to Maine. For the past few days, the wind has been blowing hard, and the temperature, with the wind-chill factor, has been below zero. And that’s Fahrenheit, not centigrade.

When it is this cold, our wood furnace doesn’t really go through the night, and the house is pretty darned chilly when we get up in the morning—below 60°.

Another word we Mainers use to describe the cold is brisk, as in, it’s wicked brisk outside today.

And indeed it was brisk, brisk, brisk today, this Monday morning, when I made my tea and toast and headed to my office.

But something immediately warmed me up, and that was a review of Maya and the Book of Everything written by my blog friend Melissa, of The Aran Artisan. She is formerly a resident of Maine and now lives with her family on “Inis Mor, one of the Aran Islands in County Galway, located off the west coast of mainland Ireland.”

Melissa writes, “I was really looking forward to reading Maya and The Book of Everything by Laurie Graves in a way I hadn’t looked forward to reading a fiction book in a long time. Even though it’s a young adult fantasy novel and a gift to my 13-year-old daughter, something about the plot caught my attention. The cover art charmed me also and I ended up reading it before she did.

“The story begins in modern times America (coincidentally the same area where I grew up) and it centres around the young heroine Maya and the magical secret Book of Everything. In fulfilling her destiny to protect the book from an evil syndicate that would like to control and alter its purpose, she travels through time and space encountering dangerous situations and tough decisions at every turn. Many other compelling characters are superbly developed and contribute much to the plot which twists and weaves into such an intriguing storyline, I found it hard to put down. Talking books, a royal toad, a magic forest and Shakespearean references are just a few of the books creative highlights for me. The story grips you right out of the gate and continues straight through to the last page. In fact, the ending caught me by surprise as much as it did Maya and gave me the thought ‘this could easily be a movie’.”

Merci beaucoup, Melissa! What a great way to start the week.

My presentation—Threads of Realism in Fantasy—is done. Tomorrow Clif and I head bright and early to the University of Maine at Orono, where I will be giving it for the first time to Susan Pinette’s class on Franco-American Places.

The presentation is centered on my Franco-American heritage and how I wove into my novel real places such as Waterville’s South End. While the presentation is ideally suited for this class, it is also appropriate for a general audience, and I’m planning to present it to other libraries.

I must admit, I am a bit nervous. Public speaking is not my strong point, but I’ve worked hard on the presentation to make it visually interesting, and I’ve rehearsed it many times. In fact, I’ll be rehearsing it again today.

Something that counterbalances the nervousness is the discovery that I like talking about Maya and the Book of Everything, much the same way I enjoy talking about my children. In a way, I suppose the novel is a bit like a child. I certainly labored long and hard over it for many years.

Here is the opening slide for the presentation:

Wish me luck!

I’ll report back on Friday.

Yesterday, I delivered two copies of my fantasy novel Maya and the Book of Everything to the Vassalboro Public Library. One was for the library.

And one was for the director, Donna Lambert.

The Vassalboro Library is special to me for a couple of reasons. I grew up in North Vassalboro, and this library, along with the Waterville Public Library, was one of my first libraries.

However, when I was going to the Vassalboro Library, it wasn’t in this particular building. Instead, it was in a converted lake cottage that unfortunately burned down. Out of the ashes came this new library, and although it is significantly bigger than the old one, it somehow still has the cozy, welcoming feel of the converted cottage. That spirit lives on.

The other reason this library is special to me is that it is central to the story in Maya and the Book of Everything. In the novel, Maya is staying with her grandparents for the summer in East Vassalboro, and their house is within walking distance of the Vassalboro Library. It is through this library that Maya learns about the extraordinary Book of Everything, which has recently come into her possession. Maya also learns about the League of Librarians, whose job it is to protect the Book of Everything from a shadowy organization—the Association for the Preservation of Order—that is after the book.

At the Vassalboro library, I chatted for a bit with Donna, who clearly loves this library and her job. “I always look forward to coming to work,” she told me, and it shows in her bright face that Donna is happy to be right where she is.

Then I walked around the library and looked at books. For a  small library, it has a wonderful collection, and while I was there, a steady flow of patrons came and went. A busy library is a happy library, and it did my heart good to see so many people coming on a Monday afternoon.

Yet again I gave thanks to the New England tradition of public libraries. Maine might be a poor rural state, but it is the rare town that doesn’t have a library. (Unfortunately, many small-town libraries struggle to receive adequate funding, but that is a topic for another post.)

I’ve written this before and no doubt I’ll write it again. In Maine, libraries are open to all, regardless of race, gender, income, and ethnicity. It doesn’t matter who your family is. With a library card, the world of ideas and story is open to even the poorest person, who might not be able to travel far but who can nonetheless, with the right book,  go across the universe.

I’m sure it’s obvious that my love of libraries runs deep, and I hope to take Maya and the Book of Everything across the state to libraries great and small. Because of my history with the Vassalboro Public Library, it’s oh so appropriate that this is the first library and librarian featured with Maya and the Book of Everything.

But Bailey Public Library and Waterville Public Library, I’ve got my eye on you.

Over the holidays, I had modest goals for my YA fantasy novel, Maya and the Book of Everything, and by gum I exceeded them. I had a table at two venues—the Winthrop Christmas Craft Fair and at D.R. Struck’s Landscape Nursery. The books sold well at both venues—I think the beautiful cover draws people in—and I found that I really enjoy the process of chatting about Maya and signing books.

Reviews have started coming in, and I’d like to share one that my friend Beth Clark wrote. She made points that I hadn’t thought of,  and it is always fun to discover different aspects of one’s own work.

Here is her review:

“As I began to read this book, I was surprised at how quickly and well I came to know a variety of characters. Laurie Graves has the ability to create interesting and distinct personalities among her characters. Her descriptions provide vivid, visual images of person and place. I was pleased with the sense of gender equality among the characters; boys and girls, and men and women share prominent places in the action as well as their successes and mistakes. The differences between generations become blurred as the characters work together and learn from each other. Graves also has a knack for writing dialog that is interesting, authentic, and flows well from person to person. The plot of Maya focuses on the struggle between good and evil, with room for examining the gray areas in between. There is plenty of action in the book as the characters move between different dimensions of time and place. Graves maintains a nice pace and flow, drawing the reader in without the action becoming frantic or disjointed. The power of a book, in either written and verbal form, to influence people and their actions provides an interesting framework for the plot. Graves brings the story to a satisfying conclusion while leaving some suspense as a segue into book 2. I can’t wait to read more about the adventures of Maya and The Book of Everything in combating the forces of evil.”

Friends and acquaintances have begun recommending  Maya to librarians and store owners, and I am ever so grateful for this support. As an Indie author, I don’t have the backing of an established publisher, which means word of mouth is crucial for the book’s success. So many, many thanks to those who have read Maya and have taken the time to write reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.

You can bet that I will pay this forward by writing reviews of some of the books I’m reading, especially those that are written by Indie authors or those that are produced by small publishers.

Onward and upward!

The other day, I was reading Lisa’s blog, Arlingwords and her post  “The Constant Reader, Remodel or Not.”   Much to my surprise and delight, I discovered that Lisa had read Maya and the Book of Everything. Here is what she wrote in that post:

“I turned to the blogosphere’s own Laurie Graves of Notes from the Hinterland. She has written Maya and the Book of Everything and it’s a wild ride. This one does not move at a stately pace, but whirls you along through time (and, dare I say, space) with magic books of knowledge. This is a young adult novel and it takes on issues of knowledge, truth, facts, and the responsibility to use them wisely for the good of the world. There is a hint that it may be the first in a series. I’m beginning to understand all those adults who were reading the Harry Potter books. Write on, Laurie!“

Thanks so very much, Lisa!

The funny thing is that for years and years, I had a problem with plotting. I could come up with characters, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.

Well, I guess I’ve figured out how to plot a YA novel.

As Eliza Waters might put it, onward, ho to Library Lost.

I’m going to take a break from promoting my book to sing the praises, as the saying goes, of another book—An Honest House: A Memoir, Continued by Cynthia Reyes.  As the title suggests, An Honest House is the sequel to A Good Home, and while you will definitely want to read both books, An Honest house stands by itself.

In An Honest House, Cynthia Reyes recounts the struggles of living life with chronic injuries she suffered during a car crash some years ago. She writes “Time passed. The injuries didn’t. It took me nearly two years to face it: instead of recovering, I was getting worse. Alone in the house one day, I admitted to a series of stark truths. Easy mobility? Gone. Independence? Gone. Eloquent speech, quick wit, easy confidence? Gone, gone, gone.”

And what do you do if you’re a successful journalist who has worked at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, when pain keeps you in bed much of the time, and your beautiful new house starts to feel like a prison? Many people would have given up, spending the rest of their days as a brooding invalid.

But not Cynthia Reyes. Her perseverance—a trait that no doubt made her an excellent journalist—propelled her forward. While she did spend time in bed, she also read, did household chores, took short walks, started a blog, and eventually wrote a book, the aforementioned A Good Home.

Along with her perseverance, Reyes was sustained by her faith, her friends, and her family, especially her husband, Hamlin. No one with such injuries could make it alone, or without proper medical care, which Reyes, a Canadian, certainly received.

Now, a book about dealing with chronic injuries could be become a dreary chronicle of misery and complaint. However, nothing could be further from the truth with An Honest House. While Reyes writes frankly about her struggles, the book is not a litany of woes. Instead it is a joyful, inspiring book. Despite the pain, despite the discouragement, a love of life thrums through the memoir, and it’s my guess that this love was as essential as her perseverance.

In addition, her stories about her Jamaican family leaven the book. As a Mainer and a homebody, I am not very familiar with Jamaican culture, and I loved those stories. I especially liked the one that described the naughty ways of Reyes and her sister, of how they stole fruit from a neighbor’s tree and then hid in the basement as they plotted to run away to escape punishment. Readers, the story has a happy ending, but I’m not going to reveal it. Read it for yourselves.

I do most of my reading at night, before I go to sleep, and some books keep me up long past the time when I should have clicked off my reading light. An Honest House is such a book. “One more chapter,” I would tell myself as I read the book. Then I would glance at the clock, noting how late it was. “Just one more.”

Finally, when it was very late at night or early in the morning, depending on how you look at it, I would reluctantly set An Honest House aside and shut off my reading light.

And that, readers, is the sign of a very good book.

Today is a very big day at the little house in the big woods. My YA fantasy novel, Maya and the Book of Everything, is ready to be ordered as a Kindle ebook from Amazon and as a quality paperback from the publisher, Hinterlands Press.

In a few days, the paperback will also be available through Amazon, and this will include Amazon in Canada as well as in other countries. I will let readers know when it is available through Amazon, but I do want to mention that I will receive larger royalties if the book is ordered directly from Hinterlands Press. However, in the end, it’s all good, no matter where Maya is ordered, and we hope you enjoy the book.

For anyone who would like a signed copy, use the contact form, and I’ll get back to you.

For new readers of this blog, here is Clif’s nifty little description of my novel:Maya and the Book of Everything is a contemporary fantasy/science fiction novel set in various locations, including Waterville, Maine. The main character, Maya, is a fifteen-year-old girl who is drawn into an adventure involving a shadowy organization, the enigmatic Book of Everything, and the League of Librarians. Maya travels back in time, to distant planets, and to the mysterious Great Library, home of the Book of Everything.

Anyway, what a wonderful way to start the Monday after Thanksgiving. Truly, I am so grateful for all the help I’ve received and to have this book published.