Proud to offer a link to Embark Literary Journal and the 1st chapter of my novel. It's 1 of 4 published as short stories in various journals! Novelists & memoir writers definitely need to be persistent to get published! Regard this particular chapter as a true story.
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![2025-03-19 2:33 pm
Dear [blocked] -
I've been sitting with a certain degree of shock and horror after the recent Zoom meeting held with the jurors for the category of books I read. I still cannot believe that [blocked] spoke so openly about her 'moral' indignation, which she directed at [blocked]'s book. For one thing, it is a well-researched academic book that condenses what First Nations have been saying for centuries and places emphasis on the need to establish kinder interactions with the planet we all share. However, when she continued and claimed that the book was filled with 'lies' and 'mistruths' that really shook me hard.
[blocked] brought a level of judgement to that book that I believe displays her personal position in opposition to anything said by First Nations. I am speaking about censoring, a position no Juror of a book contest should ever bring to the table when discussing the books they are judging. Yes, I feel it lies in the same arena as book banning. I really feel very strongly about this. So strongly, in fact, that though I've tossed and turned over what I should do about it, I’m compelled to take this course of action.
To complain about a fellow Juror is not something I'd ever seen myself doing before that Zoom meeting. I’m still shaking with horror that I feel compelled to do this. However, as I said at the time, 'I'd like to see her take that attitude into a [blocked]'. I was being sarcastic, of course, meaning exactly the opposite. I believe [blocked] should be barred from being asked to fulfill the position of 'Juror' ever again. During that Zoom meeting, she tried to dominate the conversation with a loud voice. When she didn't succeed, she immediately pulled down her image for a few minutes. Coming back on she argued for cutting the meeting short or rescheduling, claiming she had medical issues to address that were at no time evident before she lost her argument.
My argument that [blocked] should be barred from acting as a J…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:upmrm54spxjq2gtopnnxdx4l/bafkreiekoj4xbrdj24uaukkher4zpyzvjn7bvbiggholxsn3bx4cy76dfq)
![Photos of Sharon Berg on the left and Alice Zorn on the right. The cover of Alice's book is in the middle. Underneath is a quote from the interview Sharon did with Alice about her book. "[T]here is no novel in English about a middle-aged person who has Down Syndrome. There are novels about parenting a child with Down Syndrome, but they're about the parents. Occasionally I've come across a cameo appearance of a character with Down Syndrome, but it's brief. I wanted Mina's presence in the novel to be front stage centre, even if the novel wasn't going to be all about her. I also wanted to write about an older adult where the question of continued autonomy arises."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:upmrm54spxjq2gtopnnxdx4l/bafkreialwbt7ukbe2jbmqb43vchb2mquzrahx44f3pg4h6jyxtezleqawu)
