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Author touring new novel ‘Mountain Blues’
Join author Sean Arthur Joyce for a reading from his new novel, Mountain Blues, at Fernie Distillers Saturday, June 2, 3–5 p.m.
Joyce will tour the novel, which has been compared to Stephen Leacock’s classic Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, in the East and West Kootenay, with a featured launch in Calgary May 31. Joyce will also be one of the authors at this year’s Elephant Mountain Literary Festival in Nelson, July 12–15.
Mountain Blues is the story of a small village in the Valhalla Mountains that must struggle to save its emergency ward from government cutbacks. When reporter Roy Breen arrives in little Eldorado after 15 years working at a big city newspaper, burnt out and ready for a slower pace of life, he is soon pitched into the town’s crisis. He must decide whether to blur the lines between objective observer and activist, knowing that closure of the village’s ER could mean the end of the community. Along the way he meets the many eccentric yet loveable characters that inhabit Eldorado and its surrounding communities. It’s that rare creature—an activist story that’s fun!
Joyce drew on nearly 30 years’ experience as a freelance journalist and a lifetime Kootenay resident to craft the story.
His experience as a poet also figures strongly in the prose. Renowned Canadian poet and author Gary Geddes writes: “Joyce brings a unique toolbox of writing skills to bear in Mountain Blues that makes for crisp, lyrical prose, an engaging narrative, memorable characters, including an emotionally articulate cat, and a lightness of touch that is as surprising as it is delightful.”
Nelson author Brian D’Eon gave Mountain Blues a strongly favourable review. “Joyce cannot hide the love he has for his characters. He loves not just their strengths but their flaws, their best intentions, their sweet humanity.”
NeWest Press has launched the careers of many prominent Western Canadian authors, including Rudy Wiebe, Angie Abdou, and many others. Founded in 1977, NeWest Press is one of Canada’s first independent literary publishing houses. NeWest publishes literary fiction, literary non-fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as a line of mystery novels, with a particular interest in books by Western Canadian authors.
Joyce will host book launches at the following locations: Monday, June 4, 7 p.m.: Creston Public Library; Tuesday, June 5: Centre 64, Kimberley, 7 p.m.; Wednesday, June 6, 7 p.m.: Invermere Public Library; Thursday, June 7, 6:30 p.m.: Golden Public Library.
The official release date is May 2018.
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