Nancy Canyon is a fellow New Libri author who is an artist and writer. Her ebook of short stories, Dark Forest, was published last year. Each story is under 1000 words and evokes 60’s nostalgia. Here’s what a couple of her reviewers had to say about the collection.
“This collection of stories captures memories of a childhood punctuated with air raids, scorching summer nights, and a dark secret.”
“A dark spectre haunts each narrative and prevents you from succumbing to the lure of innocence, BLT’s and bubblegum.”
“This collection was especially effective and enjoyable due to Canyon’s adroit talent with the short story form.”
Nancy wrote a short piece on making setting come alive in your writing.
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It’s Alive!
People ask me how I make “place” come alive in my stories. My answer: I imagine the landscape as if I’m there. In my mind, I’m walking a ridge in the mountains, sitting by a lake in Eastern Washington, or out paddling a kayak in Bellingham Bay. I find nature so intense, the smells, sounds, surfaces, heat and cold. And the colors: turquoise water, dark tree silhouettes against an orange sky, light reflecting off the sea. If I were to paint everything I see I’d have to move, as the volume of canvases stacked against the walls would take over. Writing about place is more practical in this way, getting down the beauty of nature in a neat paragraph at the beginning of a scene, carrying the scenery throughout the story, bringing along the reader through repetition, grounding the reader in place.
If I can’t recall details that bring the image to life, I spend time in the landscape I’m writing about, jotting down the “Here & Now.” I spent two months on the Spokane River while writing my first book, WHISPERING, IDAHO. I’d missed much by relying only on my memory of the river: Mayfly hatches, Osprey fishing in the current, Common Mergansers swimming upstream, their feet paddling like cartoon characters, and the smell of the water, fish and mud.
AUTHOR BIO
Nancy Canyon lives and creates in Historic Fairhaven, a small community situated along Bellingham Bay. She is part of an artist co-op, working in her art/writing studio in the Morgan Block Building on Harris Avenue. She and her tuxedo cat, Sid Canyon, live in a tiny condo across the street from her studio. Nancy is the author of DARK FOREST, published by New Libri Press, a book of short stories based on her childhood growing up in Spokane, Washington and available at Amazon.com . The cover of her book is her painting, “Reflection on Padden Creek”. Read more about Nancy Canyon at http://nancyloucanyon.blogspot.com/
Debra R. Borys 