… Kate Story’s debut novel.
Blasted is the story of Ruby Jones: irreverent, exuberant, and troubled. Lurching between love affairs and cities, she is haunted by mysteries that surround her father and generations before. Steeped in Newfoundland folklore, Blasted mines a rich vein of experience, layering the mundane and the magical, evoking the forces that inhabit the land. The narrative shifts between generations and geographies, between contemporary life and stories as old as the Hill that looms over Ruby’s birthplace. Vivid
characters surround Ruby: her irascible grandfather, elegant Cree artist Blue, her whiskey-slugging Aunt Queenie, and others, sinister and unexplained. When Ruby unravels at last, she must face the demons that pursue her.
“Kate Story’s debut novel is an unlikely marriage of Newfoundland’s oldest traditional lore with the contemporary urban world of St. John’s and Toronto. The result is raw and strange and hilarious and affecting. Ruby Jones – itinerant waitress, sometime nude model, budding alcoholic – admits early on that tenderness and rage are her ‘heart language.’ Blasted offers both in spades.”
— Michael Crummey, author of River Thieves and The Wreckage
“The swirl of emotion and memory and anticipation tumbles forth with acrobatic skill, a blend of
galloping first-person voice, present and remembered dialogue, and expansive visuals… touching,
grimly funny… Kate Story plucks the heartstrings.”
— Jim Bartley, Globe and Mail’s first-fiction reviewer
“…a strange, shining, souring thing brimming with beauty and terror, pain and love, insight and
redemption.”
— Ursula Pflug, Internet Review of Science Fiction
“I am as delighted as other readers will be with this young Newfoundland writer. With talent and
patience Kate Story has unearthed another of the many mysteries hidden within the Southside Hills.”
— Bernice Morgan, author of Random Passage and Cloud of Bone
“Altogether the narrative tide of Blasted lifts its themes and characters and carries them forward in an
irresistible flow. Throughout, Story writes with energy, vivacity, a lack of self-pity, a clear eye for
detail, and a great sense of comic timing. This is a wonderful novel.”
— The Newfoundland Quarterly, December 2008
“A stunning first novel.”
— Susan Dyment, The Peterborough Examiner
” … the best novel I’ve read in a very long time.”
— Em Glasspool, Artistic Director, Mysterious Entity Theatre
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS:
Blasted has been longlisted for the 2009 ReLit Awards: “The country’s pre-eminent literary prize recognizing independent presses.” – The Globe & Mail. See therelitawards.blogspot.com/ for details.
Kate’s novel Blasted has received an Honourable Mention in the Adult Category of the 2009 Sunburst Awards. The Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is a juried award based on excellence of writing in two categories: adult and young adult. The awards are presented annually to Canadian writers with a speculative fiction novel or book-length collection of speculative fiction published any time during the previous calendar year.
WHERE TO PURCHASE:
Online Blasted is available for purchase at:
amazon.ca, chapters.indigo.ca, amazon.com and directly through the publisher at creativebookpublishing.ca
Blasted is also available as an eBook on both Kindle and Kobo.
MEDIA / PRESS: (click for larger images)
Peterborough Examiner – August 6, 2008
Peterborough This Week – August 22, 2008
Peterborough Examiner – August 29, 2008
The Link, Montreal – September 8, 2008
The Labradorian – September 29, 2008
Peterborough Examiner – October 25, 2008
The Globe and Mail – November 22, 2008
Broken Pencil, Issue #41 – The Comedy Issue
The Northeast Avalon Times, St. John’s NL – December 2008
Owen Sound Times – February 6, 2009
Downhome Magazine, St. John’s NL – November 2008
Peterborough Examiner – November 28, 2009
Click HERE for a review, plus radio interview, with Derek Newman-Stille – May 2014
Read Ursula Pflug’s book review from The Internet Review of Science Fiction – December 2008
Read book review from The Newfoundland Quarterly – December 2008
Read Jim Bartley’s book review from The Globe and Mail – November 22, 2008
Read from Melanie K’s Blog: Review of Blasted – September 28 and Interview with Kate – September 29, 2008
Read Sharon Hunt’s book review from CURRENT Magazine – September 18, 2008
From an interview with Andy Jones By Michael Posner Globe & Mail, October 8, 2008:
Posner: “What’s the last great book you’ve read?” Jones: “I’ve been reading a lot of work by British novelist William Boyd. I really like his stuff. And I’ve just started to read Blasted, by Kate Story, who’s from St. John’s, and I’m really enjoying that.”
Listen to the radio program “Author’s Hour” with host Mike Minor. Broadcast on Oct. 27, 2009 on both MUN Radio CHMR 93.5FM, St. John’s NL and Trent Radio CFFF 92.7FM, Peterborough, ON. The hour features an in-depth interview with Kate, clips from recordings of her Blasted Book Tour with musicians Curtis Driedger & Derek Bell, a song by host Mike Minor, and the poetry of Mic Mac poet Rita Joe. (File may take a few minutes to load – please be patient.)
Check out the… TEAM Blasted BOOK TOUR (Photo Gallery & Travelogue)
See where our travels led!
Kate Story | A writer who insists on performing 