Jamieson Wolf
Number-one bestselling author
VOTE FOR ME!
Voting is now live!
Make sure to vote for me and my book for the 2022 Ottawa Awards!
Go here: https://facesmag.ca/awards/#/gallery?group=402752
I’m under Author of the Year: Jamieson Wolf
and Book of the Year: Beyond the Stone
Voting runs from January 6th until January 31st, 2022 and winners are announced on January 31st!
I’d really appreciate your vote!
I’ve Been Nominated! – Ottawa Awards 2022
How awesome is this?
I’m a nominee for the Faces Ottawa 2022 Awards! I know, right?
Every year, Faces Magazine runs an awards ceremony to celebrate the biggest and brightest in Ottawa!
I’ve been nominated for Best Book of the Year (Beyond the Stone) and Best Author of the Year. Voting begins on January 6th
You can find out more here: https://facesmag.ca/awards/#//
This is an awesome way to start the week! More news as it comes, but get ready to vote on January 6th 2022!
Best Books of 2021!
Books saved me in 2021. I don’t think I’m the only one who would say this. While it took me longer to read books this year, the books I did read were my salvation during a tumultuous time. The books that I read were a lifeline that offered me comfort, adventure and escape and I didn’t have to leave the comfort of my home.
The year was full of so many good reads, too many for me to get to, but these are the ones that stood out for me in 2021. They run the gambit from romantic to adventure, fantasy to horror. Each one of them left me moved in some way and quite often when I finished them, I just sat there trying to hold on to the words I had just read, and I felt enriched by them.
Just like every year that I’ve done this, the books on my Best Books list have to have been published in 2021. These are the books that stood out for me out of the forty-five books or so that I’ve read. I hope you enjoy discovering them as much as I enjoyed reading them.
Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell
All I can say about this book is WOW. As the third in the Simon Snow trilogy, Any Way the Wind Blows was everything I could have hoped for in every way. It was compulsively readable and the story just pulled me along for an incredible ride. I love how everything in all three of the books led up to the ending of Any Way the Wind Blows and that everything I went through with Simon was part of this incredible journey. This was my favourite book of the year and so worth the wait.
Clare at Sixteen by Don Roff
Everything about this book was such a delightful surprise. A sixteen-year-old girl who is a serial killer? Sounds kind of gimmicky but this novel surprised me with its depth, its fantastic characters and a killer (ha!) plot that doesn’t go anywhere where I thought it would. I thought that a novel about a serial killer kid would be a fun read and that was it. I didn’t expect to be moved by it and to be left waiting for the next one with glee. Clare is one of my favourite characters ever created and I would hate to piss her off. This novel left me enraptured!
A Postcard from Paris by Alex Brown and A Cozy Christmas at Bridget’s Bicycle Café by Alex Brown
I couldn’t possibly choose between the two books that Alex Brown gave us in 2021. I love her work so much as it goes beyond what chick lit is normally considered to be. What I love about her books is that she pulls you in with her fabulous characters and by the end I find myself rooting for them to find their joy and find where they belong. In one story, a journey to a new country leads a woman to discover what she really wants in life. In the other, a woman’s journey to a place she used to know helps her find herself. In both stories, we’re given characters that feel like real people, so much so that they feel like friends in the end.
Juniper Wiles by Charles de Lint
It was so good to be back in Newford. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it and the characters that this city held. Jilly Coppercorn led me on a journey that filled me with so much joy and I felt like I was reclaiming a part of myself that I had left behind years ago when I read the last Newford book. There is magic in this novel of course but there is so much heart and characters that are friends from long ago and new ones that also become friends. I love the fact that this novel could have been just any story set in Newford and I would have been happy, but it’s a story that added to the mystery and the fabric of the city. I was thrilled to be back in Newford and this time I was ready to say goodbye.
Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar
I had no idea what to expect when I opened this book, but it felt like so much more than a book. It was a story that I lived as I read it. It’s part autobiography, part mystery, part true, part not so true and I was left wondering where the truth ended and where thee real began. I’ve never read anything like this book and it thrilled me in so many ways. I finished it off in three days and it’s already back on my to be read pile so that I can give it another go. It’s horror at its finest and was an absolute joy to read. I was pulled into this mystery and left wanting to keep the lights on as I read into the night. With characters that leap off the page and feel so real, this was a story that I didn’t just read; I lived this book.
Hell Bound by Marie Bilodeau and Princess of Light by Marie Bilodeau
Once again, it was impossible to choose between these two novels. They are both so different but they are both incredible. In one, we are given the third book in a series featuring Tira Misu, badass and wielder of darkness. In the other, the first in a trilogy and we are given the Princess Cassara, unwilling to just merely accept the life she is supposed to lead. In love the journey of growth that both of these characters will go on. They are both so drastically different books, but both are filled with a light and a heart that beats on the pages of the story. Both of these stories moved me and I found myself cheering both Tira and Cassara on as they found themselves and where they belonged.
The Oracle Creator by Steven Bright
What a brilliant book! I’ve been wanting to make my own oracle/tarot deck for years and this book is full of so much knowledge. Steven Bright brings you through the whole process and the whole book acts like a workbook of sorts so that you can take the idea that you have for your deck and give it focus. Even better, Bright gives you the tools you need to make your dream a reality. I’ve been through the book once already and am now on my second read through and I’m making notes. 2022 will hopefully see my dream become a reality. Thanks Steven, I couldn’t be happier with The Oracle Creator!
Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson
As a child of the eighties, I fell in love with Elvira. After reading this book, I fell in love with her a little bit more. I loved the journey that Peterson takes us on and it goes so much deeper than a mistress of the macabre. We’re given the journey of her life and it’s a wonderful one. Peterson is so much more than a big pair of boobs, she is a woman who has lived a life that few of us can even dream about and I loved following along with her journey towards ultimately finding herself. As I read about her life in Hollywood and the wins and losses she had to endure, it is told with the candor and honesty that you’d expect from Peterson and Elvira herself. I loved reading about the journey that the character and the actress went on and it just made me want to delve right back into everything Elvira. A fabulous, glitzy, wonderful read.
White Lightning by Melissa Yi
I love Melissa Yi’s books. They always go beyond a typical mystery plot. When she goes off on what she hopes will be a romantic getaway, Hope Sze finds herself embroiled in a plot involving prohibition, a convention and bones that once belonged to a human being, this is one incredible mystery. I love how nothing is as it seems and every time, I think I have it all figured out, Yi tips the story on its side and takes it to places I never dreamed possible but by the end, I am wondering why I didn’t think of that in the first place. Yi gives us a mystery that forced me to confront a villain that is so meticulous that it gave me chills. Yi has given a mystery that made me laugh out loud and left me actually frightened for Hope and the other characters in this incredible book. I love the Hope Sze mysteries by Melissa Yi, they always go beyond what I think is possible and leave me wanting more.
These were my favourite reads of 2021! I can’t wait to see what 2022 will bring and can’t wait to get reading!
I Let You Go – A Poem
I met him in the dark.
He still looked the same,
caught in time,
forever thirty-five years old.
He looked up at me,
a half smile on his face.
“You came,” he said.
“You remembered me. You didn’t forget.”
I looked down at him.
“This year, it was hard not to remember you,” I told him.
Indeed, this year had tested me
and I had to remind myself
where I had started,
when this all began,
so that I could find a way forwards.
“Why?” he asked.
“Why was it easy to remember this year?”
I thought of how to respond to myself,
that part of me that was still trapped inside myself,
a spirit within that had no way out.
“That doesn’t matter now,” I told him.
“I just had to see you.”
I held his hand,
remembering how weak I had been,
how I hadn’t been able to do anything
but sleep, the constant sleep
that was anything but restful.
Looking upwards,
I could see the stories and the words
that had been floating above my head,
unable to find a way out of me.
Looking down at myself
from all those years ago,
I knew that I had to let that part of me go
as I didn’t want to hang on
to that part of me anymore
or the fear that I had felt back then.
There was so much fear in our lives.
I didn’t need to hold on to more.
“I came to let you go,” I told him, myself.
There was fear in his eyes.
“Where will I go?” He asked.
“What will become of me?”
I took his hand, my hand,
and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“You’ve already gone on to do so much,” I said.
“You’ve lived a whole lifetime in eight years.” I told him.
Gently, I said “I can’t hold on to you anymore.”
I didn’t know how to tell him
about the self love that began to grow within us,
blooming inside of us like a seed of light.
Knowing myself as I did,
I knew that he wouldn’t believe me.
Hopefully he understood
that letting him go
was its own act of love.
He looked up at me,
a true smile on his face.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you so much.”
There were tears falling from his, from my, eyes.
“I’ve been in the dark for so long. It’ll be good to see the light.”
I merely nodded,
not trusting myself to speak.
I watched as he slowly began to fade away,
a memory preserved in my flesh for eight years too long.
Before he disappeared,
there was a sigh as if he too were letting go.
Looking at the space where he, where I, had lain,
I stood and walked back out of the darkness
and into the light again.
Dear 2021
It hasn’t been an easy year. That’s an understatement for sure.
The world has been full of so much fear and hate. The unknown has reared its ugly head and to combat that, I’ve tried to sparkle through it all. It hasn’t always been easy or even possible, but it’s been a year that I’ve truly tried to live, despite limitations or boundaries. I’ve had to look for joy under every rock that has remined still, knowing that the dark holds the stars.
I think the thing that has really defined what 2021 has meant to me is my health. In October of this year, I began a new medical treatment after new lesions were found in my brain after my last MRI. The medication is called Mavenclad. It’s a chemo drug normally used to treat leukemia. The idea is that it will shut down my immune system so that when it regrows itself, it will do so without the lesions that are caused by the multiple sclerosis I live with. I did two rounds of Mavenclad and I had no idea what to expect, thanks to the lack of information from the medical professionals in my life. It was a learning process and one where I had to embrace rest and let myself heal.
I’ve learned a few things this year, but the big one is that I don’t rest very well. I’m always creating something, whether it be writing or painting. I’ve always got a creative project on the go and I’ve really had to learn what rest is and how to embrace and enjoy it rather than turn away and shun the concept. There were a few weeks where I couldn’t write, where the well of words within me had run dry. Normally, my mind is full of stories and characters and words that need to be written and instead there was only a soft breeze with nothing upon it.
That made me stop and take a look at my constant need to be creative. In talking to my therapist, I realized that in some way, I’ve been trying to outrun the multiple sclerosis in some way since my diagnosis eight years ago. When it first hit, it took everything from me and when I learned to write again, I have been on a continual creative streak, always afraid of having my words taken away from me again. I know that I can’t live that way anymore and I have to learn to balance myself. I’ve realized that whether I write or not, the words or the urge will always be there, or it will be waiting for me when I’m ready. In the past two years, I’ve written three large novels and two novellas. It’s okay for me to take time to rest.
I also had to deal with fear a lot. What with everything that has been going on in life, that’s no surprise. I’ve had to deal with my health and my husbands health issues. Currently, I’m in isolation due to the fact that my immune system it’s at it’s lowest right now. However, given the rise of the omicron variant of covid, that’s not such a bad thing, is it? It’s given me a lot of time to think about everything and I realized a few weeks ago that I’ve been living with depression again. The dark forest that I thought I was done with all those years ago has been alive and well this year. I had been so focused on remaining positive that I ignored the obvious.
I’ve always lived with depression. In my youth, I was diagnosed with a double depression, a clinical on top of a critical. The critical depression was dealt with, but the clinical depression is always there. I had been so focused on sparkling on all the time, despite the state of the world around me, that I hadn’t given myself time to properly grieve. I had to grieve what I had known and embrace what was now, much like my journey with multiple sclerosis. Along with trying to balance myself and my health, I had to learn balance with emotions and positivity. It’s not possible to stay positive all the time and I had to learn to be okay with being depressed and finding ways to deal with that as I had in the past. Thankfully, I had my family and friends that rallied around me, supported and loved me so that I knew that I didn’t have to go through any of it alone. I’m so fortunate in that way.
That’s not to say that it’s all been bad this year. I was fortunate to be able to republish my first novel The Ghost Mirror. It had gone out of print years before and I had always wanted to have it out there in the world again. It tells the tale of a misunderstood girl named Mave who is the last witch. I had planned to make it a trilogy and I’ve got the second book started. Here’s hoping I finish it in the coming year.
I self published two other books this year, Hope Falls and The Other Side of Oz. They were both trunk novels that I had always wanted to do something with. The Other Side of Oz was the first book that I had tried writing after I learned to type again after the initial lapse from my multiple sclerosis. It’s always held power for me. Hope Falls had been a fan favourite when it was first published, and I had been meaning to put it out again. The other three books in the series are soon to follow.
I also had my work appear in two anthologies. I had one of my poems appear in Love and Catastrophe Poetre and it’s an anthology of poems that deal with the difficult things in life, the tragedies that shape us, and it was an honour to have my poem Covidly included. One of my short stories was also included in Artificial Divide, an anthology of stories written by blind or visually impaired authors. It was a joy and a privilege to have my short story The Blood Trees included in the anthology.
One novel I’m immensely proud of is Beyond the Stone. It was published this September and was almost instantly a best seller, which is pretty darn cool. I’ve been trying to write what I know and in this book, the main character Bane is disabled but also a supernatural trying to protect the mortals in the world around him. Bane is the character that is most like me; he’s got a foul mouth and a temper but also a kind heart. I tried to incorporate a lot of what I went through with my multiple sclerosis in this book and I’m thrilled to see the response. It’s also really cool that you can find Beyond the Stone in most bookstores. That makes me so incredibly happy!
To end off each year, I like to publish a holiday themed story. This year, that story was Captain Maven and the Shadow Man. It was inspired by a conversation I’d had with my mother when I was beginning my chemo treatment. I was struck with the idea of the medications that I take as superheroes, tackling the multiple sclerosis. I published it on my blog, but I hope to have a paperback and an ebook come out next year. Again, it was writing what I know and trying to tell my story in a different way.
While it’s been a heavy year full of a lot of emotions, it’s also been a good year. I’ve grown closer to my family and friends; I’ve been able to do (a lot!) of what I love and I’ve kept myself safe from the unseen threat of Covid and all that it brings. No, 2021 certainly didn’t go like I thought it would, but isn’t that what life is like? I gave up trying to endlessly control everything that I could just to give myself some structure and just let life be the way it wanted to. I know that I have choice, and this year I chose to live in whatever way possible. It’s been a year filled with emotions, but thankfully those emotions have included joy, hilarity, happiness and contentedness in amongst all the strife, worry and upset.
My only hope for 2022 is that I continue living my life and taking things one day at a time. It’s all we can do amongst all the craziness. Despite what may come, I will hold true to one belief of mine: we can only learn to sparkle when we’re in the dark, for only at night can we see the stars.
Whatever 2022 brings for you, I hope it’s beautiful.
Jamieson Wolf
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Jamieson Wolf has written a compelling story about navigating multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. His story will touch your heart, make you cry, then laugh, and inspire you. A touching memoir with a bit of magic…and tarot! ~ Theresa Reed, author of The Tarot Coloring Book
Jamieson Wolf 