Category: Uncategorized

 

StarkLight Press is pleased to announce The Alaska Highway: The Definitive Guide will be at multiple events across the Peace-Liard region, northern Alberta, the Yukon and Alaska in 2017!

Kiosks featuring our beautiful coffee table book will be featured at this year’s Canada Day festivals in communities along the Alaska Highway as well as in Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Lloydminster… and throughout southern British Columbia. At national Aboriginal Day and Multicultural Day, StarkLight Press will be hosting informative presentations at events in these communities, where elements from The Definitive Guide that feature the contributions of these important members of Canadian society will be presented.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, our shiny, evocative coffee table book has been integrated into school districts in the Peace Region, as well as in Grande Prairie! Copies will be used in learning modules for the 2017 anniversary year, and will be kept as part of the curriculum in coming years as well.

Copies of The Definitive Guide go on sale April 2017, and will be available at Tourism Dawson Creek locally, and in bookstores across Canada and five international locations as well.

If you would like to reserve your first printing copy of The Alaska Highway: The Definitive Guide– which is a limited run!- email us at starklightdesk@gmail.com today. We are roughly one-quarter reserved for first run copies, so contact us today for more information on how to get your first, numbered, signed copy of this remarkable book!

 

StarkLight Press is proud to internationally promote the stunning achievement of the Alaska Highway, and the singular beauty of the Peace region.

 

 

As everyone settles in for the winter season, we at StarkLight Press thought we would remind our prospective authors of our many short story contests now running!

Submissions are coming in, but, as always, StarkLight Press welcomes new authors, first time authors and authors with imaginative worlds to submit to our short story anthologies.

StarkLight Anthology Volume 5 Anthology

This anthology features speculative, science fiction, historical fiction, horror and fantasy stories. Submission guidelines and deadlines can be found at the following link:

Official Short Story Contest Rules

 

Steam in the Gears: StarkLight Steampunk Anthology Volume 2

This sequel to our incredibly popular Holly & Ivy: A StarkLight Steampunk Anthology Christmas anthology opens up submissions to a more general, less seasonal steampunk genre. If you’ve been dying to share your tale of Victorian adventurers, mechanical marvels and marvelous vistas, now’s your chance! (Short story guidelines and deadlines are the same for this contest as for the one above).

A Vampire Christmas Anthology (seriously!)

This special, seasonal StarkLight offering features stories juxtaposing original vampire tales with the holiday season worldwide. Let your imagination combine the two… and send in your submission today! We are looking for original works in a horror, humor, sci-fi or speculative genre, but an original piece in any style will be welcomed!

The deadline for this anthology is Nov. 27, so get your submissions in soon to starklightdesk@gmail.com

 

Voices Heard: Surviving the Unsurviveable

This special anthology gives submittors three pages of photos, poetry and writing to discuss violent crimes committed against them, and how each submittor has survived and continued. We are looking for a brief bio and description of the scope of what submittors would present.  Submissions can be made anonymously, although StarkLight Press requires an email contact address.

Proceeds from this anthology go to Endingviolence.org, an important organization that provides resources and aid to victims of violent crime.

Please send your query and bio to starklightdesk@gmail.com

Keeping those who walk on urban streets safe is an important issue for those of us at StarkLight Press.

Following our editor-in-chief’s pedestrian vs. taxicab throwdown last July, we have taken a local step in Dawson Creek, B.C. to try to make sure that sort of traffic accident doesn’t happen to anyone else.

We have donated sticky reflective tape strips (and safety pins, if one doesn’t favor attaching it with adhesive to their clothing) to local businesses that are open late and all night. As much as we’d like to StarkLight Press cannot hold the drivers who cause mayhem on city streets accountable… but we can try to keep pedestrians safer through visibility.

While we thoroughly recommend that everyone carry a high-visibility safety vest to use when they walk, or at least wrist and ankle cuffs, we realize that is not practical in every situation. Life happens, and sometimes one finds oneself on foot.  We can therefore try to raise awareness of the need for pedestrians to be visible, and to try to minimize further accidents.

This awareness cuts both ways, however. Virginia Carraway Stark, in addition to being in a lit crosswalk, was wearing high visibility elements on her clothing, and still was struck. No high-vis sticker or vest will protect anyone, if drivers fail to use their vehicles with respect and consideration for those around them. StarkLight Press can only hope that, in addition to making pedestrian visibility a bit brighter, the displays will also make drivers think and act with more responsibility.

If you see a dangerous driver, or have a close call yourself, please report their license number and vehicle to the RCMP. We can only hope that enforcement of such infractions can increase, and that pedestrians- and drivers- will be safe this winter season.

StarkLight Press encourages everyone to copy and paste this reflective tape initiative in their own communities. Tape is available at Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart, as well as on Amazon.ca at links like these:

Pedestrian safety is an issue across the globe, not just in our little neck of the woods in Northern B.C. If you live in an area of high, dangerous traffic and pedestrian danger, please feel free to make a display of your own in this style! If it can save one life, make one driver more cautious, it’s worth it.

– Tony Stark,

Publisher and CEO,

StarkLight Press.

 

Tonight at 7 pm at Faking Sanity Bookstore in Dawson Creek you can hear poems from StarkLight Anthologies sung by their authors! Excellent musicians and poets are gathering for the Poetry and Music Cafe, where locals come to enjoy coffee, fresh baking and haunting songs and poems.

 

StarkLight Press is pleased to announce the official call for writers for its second full-color coffee table book- Alaska Highway: The Definitive Guide.

This 275 page compendium of history, adventure, travelogue and achievement features never-before published photos from the era of construction, the golden age of driving and beautiful vistas of heart-rendingly majestic countryside. These pictures are accompanied by a riveting, in-depth narrative of the Highway’s history, as well as inserts featuring little known stories, characters and side adventures that make the Alaska Highway one of the most remarkable stretches of road anywhere in the world.

StarkLight Press is currently seeking writers with a connection to the Peace River and Dawson Creek area to write sections of the copy of our Guide.

If you or your family have a photo or other memorabilia that you would like to see included in the volume, please email us at starklightdesk@gmail.com.

Interested parties can email starklightdesk@gmail.com and provide a brief bio featuring their connection to the region and their interest in participation in the coffee table book.

Copy submissions for our existing writers are due on Dec 10, 2016- photo submissions are due Dec. 18.

 

Jason Pere is a born-and-raised New Englander. He always had a passion for the arts and creative storytelling. At the age of thirteen, Jason took up the craft of acting for film and theater. He pursued that interest for over a decade until refocusing his medium of expression into writing.

Jason has several self-published titles under his belt as well as a plethora of author credits with a handful of small publishing companies. He has contributed to a number of collaborative novels before The Irregulars, and is noted for his additions of sudden twists and turns to his sections of the stories.

Thanks for joining us today to talk about your writing for the Irregulars, Jason.

Who was your character in The Irregulars. Tell us a bit about them.

I got the pleasure to write for Jeremy Colton. He is a feisty and angst ridden thirteen year old boy with chronic asthma and an over protective big sister. Jeremy has a bit of a chip on his shoulder due to the oppressive affection of his elder sibling. The kid doesn’t like the fact that he was often relegated to keeping out of the way and letting the older members of the Irregulars family handle any crisis that might occur. Jeremy wants to participate in the group and get involved in problem solving because he believes that his “gift” is a tool of great use to the family. Jeremy’s special ability is the power to slow time. Sadly when Jeremy manifests that power it seems to bring on violent asthma attacks.

Wouldn’t you know it, but I found Jeremy rather easy to write for. I just had to remember to make sure that he coughed enough. I think he was a good match for me because I used to be an angry thirteen year old boy myself. I think that the biggest challenge I faced was not creating Jeremy so much as it was writing him into the family. I had to walk a fine line between keeping his frustration at being marginalized relevant but stopping him from totally isolating himself from the rest of the group. In the end I think the other authors on the team really helped to keep Jeremy from breaking away from the rest of the cast.

How did you most relate to your character?

Well like I guess I kind of answered that already. Jeremy is an angry teenager and I used to be and angry teenager. I think that past the anger itself we both shared a similar origin for our rage. I think that like me at the time, the bulk of Jeremy’s anger is breed from his inability to effectively communicate the thoughts in his head. We both spent a lot of time having the words come out all wrong so to speak. It is one of the most aggression inducing things to have a well thought out concept in your brain but fail at the articulation of the concept to others.

What is your experience as a writer?

I have a love hate relationship with writing. In school I dreaded writing assignments but as I got into my later years of high school I started to manifest a lot of creativity. The most readily accessible outlet I had to get my ideas into the world was writing. Sadly, like many other things in my life, the moment it got hard I quit. I ended up with a lot of started projects and nothing but some scribbled in notebooks. I dabbled in writing over the years, mostly journaling and a little fan fiction or a character backstory for one of my creations in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign or some other roleplaying system. It was when I was coming up on my ten year reunion for my high school that I looked at myself and felt wholly under accomplished with my life. I knew I had the ability to do something exceptional and I felt the need to reach for the stars, so to speak. I took stock of my skills and personal assets and settled on writing a book. I set some small goals that I knew I could meet and, low and behold in the autumn of 2012 I published my first book. I took a break for a while and tried my hand at other things, none of them really worked out the way I hoped so I returned to writing. It was the first thing that really offered me any success and it does not feel like a horrid amount of work so it is a pursuit that I feel well fitted for.

What if any experience do you have as a writer working with other authors in a collaborations?

One of the things that I love most about writing is the fact that I do not have to depend upon anyone else to make a project happen. This is not the case with collaborative writing but I have to say that I greatly enjoy the genre. Despite my independence I am a pretty solid team player and it is nice to have other artists on a project to help lighten the creative load. I happened upon the Collaborative Writing Challenge ( http://www.collaborativewritingchallenge.com/ ) in late 2014 and got involved with several of their collaborative novels and anthologies. I enjoyed the experience of creating a novel with a team of other authors that I started to peruse collaborative stories on my own. The Irregulars was the product of some discussion that occurred between several members of the Collaborative Writing Challenge.

Tell us about your take of the world of The Irregulars. What is happening? What would interest readers about it most?

It’s like Young X-Men meet 101 Dalmatians. That is a story that I want to know more about. Special people being hunted because they are special is, admittedly not an original concept but I feel that readers will appreciate our teams twist on it. I think that having the principle cast be children is enough of an original incentive to draw readers in. In that respect it is kind of like Oliver Twist and Lord of the Flies but with fireballs, lightning bolts, time travel and a wide array of other fantastic supernatural feats.

How long do you take to write a book independantly of a collaborative? How long would this compare to writing with other authors?

On my own I write a book in about six to seven months, if I am writing at a comfortable pace and keeping to my schedule. If I turn it up I can put out a book in about three to four months but that is writing at a pace that my day job really doesn’t allow for. When I am due to write as part of a collaboration I tend to go faster than my solo novel rate. I think that is mostly due to the fact that I do not want to hold up the rest of the group. I do not need to be the star player on a team but I abhor being the weak link.

How do you incorporate the noise around you into the story you are writing at the moment?

I actually prefer it to be quiet when I write. I need to focus my attention of getting the story in my head onto the page. I can have some white noise or some instrumental music playing but I struggle anytime I write and there are words being spoken in my ear.

Do you prefer being intoxicated to write? Or would you rather write sober? Do you do anything to alter your mental state when you write?

I do not drink, at all. I really do not do anything to alter my mental state, when writing or otherwise. It’s hard enough for me to keep a clear head as it is. I want to avoid anything that might make me cloudy.

What is that dream goal you want to achieve before you die?

That is best echoed in part of a dedication that I include in several of my books. It is “A life without burden”.

Do you think translating books into languages other than their origin forces the intended essence away?

I think it can. There are some words that just do not translate into other languages. I could also say that a book in and of itself is an artistic product that is deviant from its intended essence. Even using all the words in an author’s native language, I do not think it is possible for words on the page to carry the full weight of their creator’s imagination. I think in the end this come back to the fact that people have yet to realize the act of perfect communication.

Do you blog? If so, what do you blog about and where can other people find it?

Why yes I do blog. Amung other things I am a huge dork. I love card games, board games and pretty much any fashion of game. I love one game so much, Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, that I write a weekly pice of fanfiction for the product. The series is called flASH fiction and you can find it every Saturday on Team Covenant, https://teamcovenant.com/category/ashes-rise-of-the-phoenixborn, Strange Copy, http://www.strangecopy.com/index.php/category/flash-fiction/, and my author page, https://www.facebook.com/jbp.author/

How active are you on social media? And how do you think it affects the way you write? Please share the platforms you’re active on and how people can find you there.

I am on Facebook daily and very actively. On that note I think that social media is my largest distraction when it comes to writing. I am part of a number of wring groups and it is very easy to get sucked into threads about all things writerly. If people want to find me the best way to get in touch is via my Author Page on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/jbp.author/

Do you enjoy theatre? Would you ever like one of your stories to be turned into a play? Would you prefer to see The Irregulars as a movie, a play, neither or both?

I do love theater. I used to go to the local performing arts center to see many touring musical theater companies as a child. I also spent the vast majority of my adolescence training in film and theater as well as performing in several community shows. I certainly wouldn’t mind getting some Royalty checks form an “Irregulars feature film” but I would be warry of an adaptation of the story into a big Hollywood blockbuster. I can see this story as being something that would be incredibly easy to poorly execute on film.

If you had to pick one other author to write your biography, who would it be?And who is that one author you would love to write the biography of your life?

I think that the most genuine sort of biography is an autobiography. At least I would like to believe that. I hope that I am a genuine enough person that if I were to write my own story that it would paint an accurate picture of the truth.

Thanks for the interview, Jason, and for your work on The Irregulars, coming later this year from StarkLight Press!

In our next Irregulars author interview, Jenn Spaulding talks about taking up the character of Maddy, the young girl with a voice that can change moods, minds and opinions. She also tells us a little more about her experience with life, and with writing.

1. What is your experience as a writer?

My experience as a writer began when I was a child and penned my first poem. I have always been fond of words and the power they have. Actually I guess one can say I am infatuated with words. My poetry led me down a path into a poetry vortex where I met the most amazing people that altered my life’s course.

2. What if any experience do you have as a writer working with other authors in a collaborations?

Over the past year I have worked with a plethora of talented authors on many different occasions. As far as a collaboration of this nature is considered this the third novel I have had the honor to take part in.

3. Who was your character in The Irregulars. Tell us a bit about them.

My character is eight-year-old Maddy who is a blind orphan with auburn ringlets and piercing blue eyes. She has the voice of an angel that soothes and calms some into a cationic state. She can see the colors that swirl around people or what is known as a person’s aura.

4. What was the most challenging part about writing your character?

The most challenging part about writing as Maddy was eliminating the sense of sight. I was never aware of how much we rely upon the sense of sight over the other four senses.

5. How did you most relate to your character?

I mostly related to my character in the aspect that not only is she a little broken, but she was abandoned and orphaned at a young age and left to fend for herself. I also have a nine-year-old daughter so I asked her a few questions to gather some insight into the mind of an eight-year-old girl.

6. Tell us about your take of the world of The Irregulars. What is happening? What would interest readers about it most?

The world of the Irregulars is a crumbling city of abandoned buildings dominated by the pharmaceutical company. In which we find our band of Irregular children. The children are soon hunted by the evil, insane Dr. Glenn Portsmouth and her posse of mutant villains. I think that the readers will be most interested in the children’s special gifts which they use to survive and defeat their enemies.

7. How long do you take to write a book independently of a collaborative? How long would this compare to writing with other authors?

I have yet to have the pleasure of writing my first full length novel.

8. How do you incorporate the noise around you into the story you are writing at the moment?

I have learned to tune out the outside noise around me while I am writing. Or else I would not be able to get anything written, ever.

9. Do you prefer being intoxicated to write? Or would you rather write sober? Do you do anything to alter your mental state when you write?

I rarely drink and usually when I do it is in celebration. Thus I prefer to have a clear mind when I write that way it is not clouded by drugs or alcohol.

10. What is that dream goal you want to achieve before you die?

My end goal is to be recognized as a bestselling author one day I want to be a household name, like Stephen King.

11. Do you think translating books into languages other than their origin forces the intended essence away?

I do not think that translating books from their origin forces the intended essence away. This is because if the author translates the text word for word there is no way anything can get lost in translation.

12. Do you blog? If so, what do you blog about and where can other people find it?

I have yet to start my own blog, but once I am not so busy with school I intend to start one.

13. How active are you on social media? And how do you think it affects the way you write? Please share the platforms you’re active on and how people can find you there.

I usually spend a lot of time, but I have been extremely busy with school work and caring for my family. I have found if I spend too much time on social media then I get no writing done. Those that wish to learn more about me can find me on Facebook as Jenn Spaulding and on Twitter @sweetjeni74.

14. Do you enjoy theatre? Would you ever like one of your stories to be turned into a play? Would you prefer to see The Irregulars as a movie, a play, neither or both?

I adore theater and wish I could attend a play or even star in one. I would love to see one of my stories turn into life as a play. I would love to see the Irregulars as a movie and a play.

15. If you had to pick one other author to write your biography, who would it be?And who is that one author you would love to write the biography of your life?

The one author I would pick to write my biography would be Virginia Carraway Stark and I would also love if she wrote my life biography.

Jenn Spaulding lives in the land of Oz. She was last seen on the yellow brick road hunting flying monkeys that stole her magic quill and parchment. Her latest works can be found among the plethora of anthologies published by Starklight Press. Look for her in her role as the GAF’s Private Puff Errington in Space Stranded and The Arkellan Treaty– two of the latest Galactic Armed Forces novels.

As part of the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Alaska Highway, StarkLight Press is compiling a full color coffee table keepsake book featuring pictures and stories about the highway and the effect its construction had on local families.

We are currently looking for two or three more locally based (Peace River area) writers to pen a few short pieces for remaining areas in our layout. We would like to see the book have as many local voices as possible!

Please contact StarkLight Press at starklightdesk@gmail.com if you would like to be included in this milestone project.

Thanks again to Lynn Washington and the South Peace Community Arts Council for their kind support of this magnificient book.