HNT - Here Again

I received my copy of Canadian Bookseller magazine yesterday -- the one that includes an author profile that I did on Sean Costello.

The "header" for the article, entitled A Test of Character has the following text:

Amid the many pressures of publishing, author Sean Costello keeps his priorities and creative integrity intact.

My article attempts to outline the interesting publishing career that this talented Northern Ontario writer has had since the late 1980's, beginning with his string of horror novels released from Pocket Books to his latest supernatural thriller, coming this fall from a smaller Sudbury based publisher, Your Scrivener Press.

The fact that Costello chose to publish with a small local publisher (ie, a "crafty brewery" rather than a "mega-sized international brewer") speaks volumes about this author's integrity and is summed up rather nicely in one of the bolded pieces of text for the article:

When a large publishing imprint in the US offered him an advance of $22,000 for Here After, a thriller about child abduction, they did it with a caveat: Lose the dead kid.

I had the distinct pleasure of being able to read an advanced copy of this forthcoming novel (Here After is due out in October 2008), and have to say that the book also perfectly illustrates that Costello isn't just an author with integrity, but he's also one of substance.

Costello creates solid and believable characters, puts them through unimaginably terrifying situations and keeps the reader turning pages at a lightning fast speed.

I'm delighted I was able to share a bit about this author and his latest novel with booksellers across Canada. Canadian Bookseller magazine is distributed to the many hundreds of members of the Canadian Booksellers Association across the country, and I am hopeful that a good number of them who read the article will be inspired to bring the book into their stores this fall and help offer their customers a very worthwhile read from a Canadian author who definitely deserves to be in the spotlight.

And for those readers out there looking for a fantastic book, you can pre-order the book at Chapters/Indigo/Coles as well as at Amazon. But you'd much rather ask for it at your local independent bookstore, wouldn't you? Gee, supporting a Canadian author, a small Canadian publisher AND a local independent bookstore -- three good deeds done in a single act -- now there's integrity for you . . .


So, here I am again, "half-nekkidly" posing in front of something I've had published -- this time the latest issue of Canadian Bookseller magazine as well as my article.

Gotta love the book-themed HNT posts, though, don't you?

Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday!