Tania Stephanson is an author and the owner of Sable BooKnight, a publishing company that she recently opened in our area. While a new publishing company in the area is exciting enough, she is also announcing the launch of a book with authors from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the US who have teamed up, each contributing their own stories, to create a book for readers to enjoy. Portals is the first anthology in what Stephanson hopes to be a long line of Sable Booknight anthologies.
Portals is a new anothology book with contributions by local authors and published by local publisher Sable BooKnight
“Sable BooKnight is an independent publishing company located in Selkirk. It offers author services like beta reading, line editing and book formatting. I started to put together anthologies, and submissions are open basically worldwide. I have published under my own author name and a couple of pen names under the Sable BooKnight name, but now I’m looking to help other writers reach more readers, find an audience and network,” said Stephanson.
She explained that she felt that this service was needed in our region because a previous non-profit group, the Lake Winnipeg Writers Group, unfortunately made the decision to close up shop after many years of serving the local writing community. That group previously published a twice-yearly publication, Voices, which allowed local authors to publish their work and without that resource, Stephanson hoped to provide an option for local writers.
Stephanson is open to working with authors writing work in many different genres who would like to publish their books, and writers can contact her for more information about the details.
As for this first anthology, Portals, it includes the work of 11 authors and 14 to 15 stories, depending on how you count multi-part works.
The authors are: Denise Fenez, Eric McKinnon, Greg Shedden, Lasalina Tess, Rebecca Hunnie, Scarlett Kol, Sianyn Leigh, T. M. Heinrichs, Tania Stephanson, Trynda Adair, and Whitney R. Holp, and many of them are local authors.
Portals, as the name suggests, has readers diving into the different worlds of the authors. From alternate dimensions, to magical worlds, the Portals anthology will take the reader on exciting journeys with unique characters and new places to explore.
Stephanson hopes that by bringing authors together to create anthologies in this way, she can help them feel the amazing feeling of having their work published.
“When you finally hit publish, and you hold that book in your hand, it’s such an amazing feeling. I want to be able to help other writers get that feeling and to help them jump start their publishing career. I fell in love with the actual publishing process, the book formatting, hitting publish, and that anticipation of waiting for somebody to read your story and get their feedback. I think it’s really important for a writer to get that experience,” said Stephanson.
As for the stories themselves, Stephanson doesn’t want to spoil too much, but she has given us some hints as to what you might find in Portals.
“One of them is Oath Bound, where a woman’s favourite book is destroyed, and she wants to buy another one. And, I guess, because this book is destroyed, it opens up a portal to bring the storybook characters into her reality. Then in another one, The Multiverse Theory, shares different realities with the same characters, and how one of those characters gets the sensation that these conversations have happened before, and how it impacts her,” she said.
The official release date for Portals is April 11, and residents can join in the fun as the book launch is taking place at the Gaynor Family Regional Library at 3 p.m. Many of the authors will be there.
If you’d like to purchase Portals, there will be copies for sale at the launch, and it’s an excellent opportunity to get your copy signed, but if you can’t make it that day, the books are also available both online and locally.
“Portals will be available for purchase on all major online retail platforms like Amazon, Apple Books, and Kobo. You can get print copies through Amazon, also, it will be sold at The Cozy Fox in Selkirk,” said Stephanson.
She hopes that the bibliophiles in our community will come out to support this group of authors.
“Come out and support local writers and help them kickstart their publishing career and meet these writers in person,” she said.
If you would like to contact Stephanson or learn more you can visit her website at sablebooknight.ca/tania-stephanson.
