Book Reviewing

I've always liked reviewing books, or writing articles about them. It's interesting to see how similar themes can be handled by different writers, or how one writer can show both consistency and variety from one book to another. Right now writing a few book reviews is helping me settle into my new place with some quick new writing projects.

As a reader, I'm looking for many similar things in everything I read. Maybe most of us don't judge fiction by the same standards as non-fiction... but I think facts and real life don't get in the way of a good story. They certainly don't in the science fiction and fantasy books I'm reviewing right now. Any novel is improved by the careful use of real facts. The book sitting on my desk is a new edition of a “trip to Mars” novel first released in 1972. A few edits had to be made based on scientific discoveries by the Viking lander on Mars, but surprisingly few changes were necessary to the setting – and none to the narrative. A strong story can work even in a profoundly changed setting,

Books on Noteworthy Lives

The page here on my blog labelled "Biographies" has four of my books profiled. The most recent one is from Five Rivers Publishing -- King Kwong, a biography of Canadian hockey player Larry Kwong. If you're a hockey fan, you'll find plenty of hockey history in this book to catch your interest!
Also included on the Biographies page are two books for a series from Greenwood Publishing. All of the titles in this series are telling about the lives of celebrities and famous people. The two I've written are on Lady Gaga and Lance Armstrong. One book on each of 'em, I mean. I don't think there's even a rumour linking these two famous people, and it would be hard to write TWO books about a rumour.
The fourth book is for a series from Rosen Publishing, and it profiles author Will Hobbs. If you're looking for YA fiction, this is a name to find in your bookstore or public library. His heroes are virtuous, and in his adventures there is plenty of excitement with very little violence.
It's interesting to be writing biographies. Recently I finished one on Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and I'm working on another about Charles Tupper, both for a series on Canadian Prime Ministers. It's not only famous lives that are noteworthy, though. When I teach writing workshops there are so many people working on a story or a book about the lives of their parents, or grandparents, or other relatives or themselves. Ordinary lives are worth living, and they're certainly worth reading about.

King Kwong reviewed in Vancouver Sun

Good news! My biography of Larry Kwong, King Kwong, was reviewed in the Vancouver Sun today by Stephen Hume! As he says in his August 5 column:

B.C. writer and self-described lifelong hockey fan Paula Johanson reminds us of the ephemeral nature of sports history in King Kwong, her marvellous little biography of the whirlwind on skates who blew out of the dusty interior 75 years ago.

Hume gives a little context for Larry Kwong's sports career, and adds:

...Just as many Canadian kids before and since, Larry discovered the pleasures of playing shinny with a frozen horse apple. One of the most charming hockey photos of the many Johanson unearthed for her book is one of Larry, his sister Betty and a couple of neighbour kids playing shinny outside the Vernon family store.
Like many another hockey kid, he wheedled skates out of his mom with a promise that when he was a real hockey player, he’d buy her a house.

It's important to note that most of the photos which Stephen Hume calls charming were "unearthed" by Chad Soon, many of which came from the private photo albums of Larry Kwong. That particular charming hockey photo was contributed by Larry Kwong's grown daughter from her own family album.

Hume goes on to say:

On March 13, 1948, he was called up by the Rangers for a game against Montreal Canadiens. They only played him for one shift — less than a minute — but the China Clipper had ended the era of whites-only hockey in the NHL.
Johanson’s book with Five Rivers Publishing is aimed at young adults but I doubt there’s a hockey fan who will be put off any more than Larry Kwong was by his nickname as he dashed up the ice to score the winning goal for the Smoke Eaters in that long-forgotten B.C. Championship of 1946.

You can read Stephen Hume's entire column here at this link.There's a bio note and a listing of some of his books on a page of Harbour Publishing's website.

Healthy books

I've been adding to this website some listings for my books on Health. It's always a pleasure to be assigned one of these books to write. While writing, I try to hold in my mind the needs of the readers, so it might be a book that someone would be interested to read.
Click here to go to my blog's page on my books on topics of Health.

Books on Science

I've just been updating my blog's page for my books on science. Most of these books are for a series from Rosen Publishing, called Understanding the Elements of the Periodic Table. I really liked the approach to the topic of chemistry for this series. We authors were encouraged to find interesting facts to place in each book, often as sidebars set aside from the main text. Some of these facts are about the element itself, others are about the history of chemistry and the uses people have for various elements.
These sidebar facts are great ways to introduce my science books. Who knew that Copper had many uses among the First Nations of North America, including shields? Why was a 16th-century scientist burned as a witch for studying Cobalt ore? What does a Peruvian lake full of Lithium salts have to do with nuclear weapons? How could a Jewish refugee flee Nazi Germany with a piece of platinum stashed in his little homemade crate? It was fun to think of hard science facts in terms of the actions and choices that people were making through history.
The origins of the modern science of chemistry include the studies of the alchemists looking for the Philosopher's Stone. I like the idea that people can be trying very carefully and methodically to understand the world around us, and change their focus from a goal of perfection or worldly gain to centre instead on the methodical study itself.
Look here for my books on science!

Books on Sustainability

I've updated this blog's page on Sustainability, to show all of my books on this topic. It's been a pleasure to write for the series Green Matters, In The News, Green Careers, Make Money Now, and The Truth About The Food Supply. The publisher of these books, Rosen Publishing, has several books in each of these series as well as my own titles. Look here for my books on green careers and sustainable issues.

Essay on Writing Horror

It's a good day to share info on an essay I wrote for an anthology of essays on writing about horror. The entire collection is a cracking good read for people who are learning to write dark fiction. It would make a good textbook to use during a writing course.
"What Scares You?" is my essay in

Telling Tales of Terror: Essays on Writing Horror & Dark Fiction
by multiple authors
Damnation Books
eBook ISBN: 9781615727209
Print ISBN: 9781615727216
Includes an introduction by Bram Stoker Award nominated, James Dorr. Essays on writing horror and dark fiction by authors Kim Richards, Paula Johanson, Bob Nailor, Ivy Reisner, Mitchel Whitington, Carol Hightshoe, Cinsearae Santiago, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Kathryn Meyer Griffith, Lisa Morton, Sephera Giron, and Jason Gehlert. Includes advice from current publishers.
 - click here for a link to the publisher - 
 - click here for the publisher's link to Amazon, where this book can be ordered

In the first essay, relating her own experience on a horror panel, Paula Johanson asks us "What Scares You?" How can we find out the things we fear most and transmit that fear to the people who read us?

In this book thirteen authors (well, the last chapter is actually by a collective of eight of the publishers who buy our stories) attempt to find out what makes horror work—and how you, as a writer, might take up the torch and pass on the legends, the true stories with them.