U of T law alumni magazine features Abigail

The Abigail Project, the McAdam Railway Station and Hotel and author Mark Walma were all featured in this month's edition of Nexus, the alumni magazine for the University of Toronto Law School, Walma's alma mater.

The brief article was written by magazine editor Lucianna Ciccocioppo and accompanied by some a gorgeous photograph of Abigail author with the Station looming in the distance. This photo was taken by New Brunswick photographer Ahmed Dassouki.

We hope both Nexus and Mr. Dassouki are okay with us copying this photograph on our page as a way of drawing your attention to the article. Like the photo, Ms. Ciccocioppo's written piece does a wonderful job of capturing the essence of the McAdam Station story and bringing it to readers across the country.

New Brunswick Christmas novel supports McAdam Railway Station restoration

A Press Release


When he sat down to begin writing his latest work of fiction, Fredericton author Mark Walma knew he wanted to create a Christmas story “about New Brunswick, for New Brunswickers”.

The 49-year-old transplanted Ontarian is responsible for the successful Abigail Massey at McAdam Station children’s stories which, over the past two years, have sold more than 2,000 copies in support of the restoration of the historic McAdam Railway Station and Hotel in southwestern New Brunswick.

When it came to penning the next instalment in the Abigail Massey series, however, Walma decided he wanted to write a broader tale that not only would feature the characters he brought to life in the original three story books but would also bring together New Brunswick’s three major cultural groups – French, English and First Nations – in a Christmas story.

“This province has a rich literary tradition, with many wonderful poets, playwrights and authors, both past and present,” Walma explained. “I’m hopeful that my new Abigail Christmas novel will be considered worthy of taking its place with some of the wonderful New Brunswick Christmas stories that have been written in the past.”

Mark spent much of the latter part of 2013 researching and planning his new novel, culminating in A McAdam Station Christmas, a thrilling but heart-warming tale set against the background of a blizzard that paralyzes the province the day before Christmas.

The new book is, like the earlier Abigail Massey books, beautifully designed and illustrated by the author’s sister, Lynn Walma. Net proceeds, after printing costs have been paid, go to the McAdam Historical Restoration Commission.

“It’s an adventure story, first and foremost,” Walma said. “As a result of the massive storm, a varied group of people from different backgrounds is thrown together and forced to work together to attempt a daring rescue.”

Like all of the Abigail stories, the new novel takes place in 1941, with Canada at war and the McAdam Station serving as the gateway to the east for Canada’s war effort. It is written for young people (ages 8 and up) but, Walma hopes, adults will enjoy it too.

“I like to think it has something for everyone,” he said with a smile. “And the proceeds are still going to help restore one of New Brunswick’s historic and architectural treasures – the McAdam Station – so everybody wins.”

The novel is priced at $15, GST included, and is available at Artful Persuasion (York Street) and Covey Basics (Prospect Street) in Fredericton, at Simply Local, Eh (Water Street) in Saint John, in Woodstock at the Farm and Craft Market and Covey Basics, at W.W.E. Smith Store in Harvey Station and at several locations in McAdam (the Village Office, the Scotiabank and the Station itself).

There will be a pre-launch event, held in cooperation with Artful Persuasion and NB Liquor’s Saturday Sips wine-tasting event, on Saturday, November 1 from 11 to 3 at The Station on York Street in Fredericton.

The official launch of A McAdam Station Christmas will take place the following week, on Sunday, November 9 at 2 p.m. at the McAdam Railway Station and Hotel.

The author will also be making book-signing appearances on specific dates in November and December at the Boyce Farmers’ Market in Fredericton and at the special Sunday Christmas Markets, also at the Boyce Market. Check out www.abigailmassey.ca for details.

Big events loom for the Abigail project

The new Christmas novel (left) with its elder siblings

The next three months look to be busy ones for the Abigail project. With the launch of the new Abigail Christmas novel, A McAdam Station Christmas, set for November 9 in a special event at the McAdam Railway Station, author Mark Walma says he's gearing up for an exciting time.

"We've gotten the proof copy of the new novel back from the printer and it looks great," Walma said. "Now it's just a matter of convincing the public to be as excited about this book as we are."

Walma admits that the part he enjoys most about the whole creative project is the writing itself but, he adds, "there is certainly a thrill to meeting people who have purchased and enjoyed the books as well."

The process of promoting and selling a book is an intense one for the author. "A good friend of mine, Ross Pennie, is the author of a successful series of medical mysteries and he gave me some of the best advice I've ever received as a writer," Walma said. "He told me that I can send out all the press releases, hang up all the posters I want, but people want to buy a book from someone they feel they know. So it's up to me to get out there and meet people and sell myself as much as I'm selling the books and the McAdam Railway Station."

To that end, Walma has planned a series of public appearances for the next three months, leading up to Christmas.

The first such event is scheduled for Saturday, November 1 and will take place at the Station in downtown Fredericton from 11 to 4. "It's a joint event with our artist and craftspeople friends from Artful Persuasion and with the Saturday Sips wine-tasting event put on by NB Liquor," Walma explained. "It's a sort of pre-launch celebration to thank all of the people here in Fredericton who have supported the Abigail project and Artful Persuasion itself."

Then, on Sunday, November 2 at 2 p.m., the McAdam Railway Station and Hotel will host the Launch event for the Christmas novel itself. "That's always a fun event," Walma said. "We usually get more than 100 people to come to celebrate with us, honouring not just the Abigail books but also all of the wonderful work that has gone on throughout the year to support the Station."

Following that, Walma will be at the Boyce Farmers Market in Fredericton for several Saturdays in late November and December and also the special Sunday Christmas Markets as well.

"It will be a busy time for me but a fun time too," Walma said. "If we can spark some media interest, maybe it will be even busier!"

Video trailer is now online

The new Abigail Massey promotional video (or "novel trailer") is complete. Author Mark Walma announced that the video was posted this afternoon to Youtube. It can be found here.

"It's a tongue-in-cheek parody of the current political ads that are getting so much play here in New Brunswick," Mark said. "I'm quite hopeful that it will help to raise the profile of the Abigail books in general and the upcoming Christmas novella in particular."

So far, Mark has been working on promoting the video through Facebook, Twitter and the various blogs and websites to which he is related.

"Things have gone pretty well," he said. "In just four hours, the Facebook announcement of the posting of the video has been seen by more than 300 people and we've already had more than 15 views of the video itself."

Busy times as book launch looms...

Two months until launch!

It’s amazing to think that suddenly we are just two months from the launch of A McAdam Station Christmas, the new Abigail Massey Christmas novella. The official launch event is scheduled for Sunday, November 9 at the McAdam Railway Station and Hotel and that means the project team is currently busy, busy, busy.

“To be honest, now that we’ve already launched three Abigail books, the launch itself is not that difficult to plan,” author Mark Walma said recently. “Sure, we want to keep things fresh and include new wrinkles each time out but the basic planning is already done.”

It’s the other aspects of the fall program that have people hopping.

First, there is the final preparation of the book itself: finalizing the layout, checking (and checking again) for typos, formatting errors and other small problems with the galleys, and arranging for a sample book to be printed so that it can be checked once more in its final form.

“Things got more complicated when we found out that significant changes at our original publisher mean we might need to find a new place to have the books printed,” Mark explained.

With illustrator/designer Lynn Walma taking care of the printing details, including scoping out new printing companies to compare price, quality and service, Mark has been focusing on promotions for the new book.

“I’ve been reading about a new concept in book marketing – video trailers – where you basically make the equivalent of a film trailer for your novel,” Mark said. “It’s an interesting idea that, I think, could really help to bring the book to life online and perhaps attract more people to it.”

As a result, Mark has been busily working on a short promotional video for A McAdam Station Christmas, which he hopes to have posted to the web soon. Then it’s a matter of making sure it gets seen by as many people as possible.

“In other words,” Mark laughed, “you have to find ways to promote the video that you’ve created to promote your book.”

And finally, since interest in the Abigail books is so high in New Brunswick’s capital city of Fredericton, the idea was put forward for the Abigail team to work with its principal sales partner, Artful Persuasion (an arts co-operative store located in the city’s downtown), to hold a joint event: a Christmas sale of the beautiful art and crafts produced by Artful’s many members and a second launch event for the Abigail book.

“We’ve been very lucky to have found so many wonderful partners among the local artists and crafts people who are members of Artful Persuasion in Fredericton, Simply Local Eh in Saint John and the Woodstock Farm and Craft Market,” Mark said. “People like Sarah Robichaud Smith-Stewart, Veronica Perrin and Carrie Allen-Golding have been staunch allies from the start, carrying our books in their various sales venues and including us in their promotional events. A joint event is a great way to join forces with them to bring our often different customer groups together.”

The details of the Fredericton event are still being worked out. Watch this space for more news and information as it becomes available.

Author to appear at McAdam Railway Station this Sunday

With the new Christmas novella well into production and the audio-book version of Volume 1 now available, things seem to be humming along in the Abigail project.

Author Mark Walma is now preparing for an appearance at the McAdam Railway Station and Hotel this coming Sunday, July 27 from 1 to 3 p.m.

"The McAdam Historical Restoration Commission has planned a series of appearances by local artists to complement its already very popular Railway Pie Sunday events," Mark explained, "and I'm quite honoured to have been invited to take part."

Mark said his role is to set up his table and then chat with the people who drop into the Station for pie.

"Many of the people who come out are likely from McAdam and the surrounding area so they likely already have purchased the original three Abigail books," Mark said. "My appearance there is not really about the sales of the books but more about thanking people for their support for our project and the Station, adding even more interest to their visit and getting them excited about the upcoming book."

Artist and designer Lynn Walma is currently working very hard on the drawings and layout of the new Christmas novella, "A McAdam Station Christmas", which is due out in November.

"We're very excited about this new book and looking forward to the launch late this fall," Mark said. "We are thinking of having two different launches -- one at the Station and a second in Fredericton -- so watch out for that!"

An awesome Canada Day for Abigail

Canada Day in McAdam turned out to be an awesome experience, Abigail author Mark Walma said.

"What a great day we had," he said recently, his face still showing the slightest hint of sun from the day spent outside the McAdam Railway Station. "Lots of people, lots on interesting conversations, lots of kind words about the Abigail books and even a few sales."

Mark spent six solid hours staffing a table at the Canada Day event, taking the project's new point-of-sale book display and audio book out for a test drive and catching up with a lot of friends out in McAdam.

"They've got a great bunch of people out there," Mark said. "The group who make up the McAdam Historical Restoration Commission, people like Gail Swan, Elsie Carroll, Elaina Goss, Kim Dunphy and Dave McInroy, are just wonderful, hard-working, supportive people. And they get great support from the Village mayor, Frank Carroll."

Despite the fact that it was one of the hottest days of the year, Mark said he thoroughly enjoyed the day.

"I was lucky," he said. "My table was in the shadow created by the eaves of the Station and got a nice breeze off the pond. It was quite comfortable."

He said he was especially delighted with the many compliments he received from people from all over (some from as far away as Toronto, Edmonton and even California) about the first three volumes of Abigail stories and the excitement that greeted the news that a fourth book, A McAdam Station Christmas, will be coming out in November.

"One woman actually did a little dance when she saw the poster," Mark said, laughing. "She told me she'd enjoyed the first three volumes but had been worried that there wouldn't be any more coming out. She was absolutely thrilled."

And then there was the little boy from Toronto who complained that he just couldn't wait until November to read the next book. "He was eventually convinced to settle for a photo with the author that his mom could post on Twitter for him," Mark explained.

Next appearance for Mark will likely be at the First Anniversary/Moving Party for Artful Persuasion, the fabulous Fredericton artists' co-operative store that was one of the first sales partners for the Abigail books.

The Artful Persuasion party was planned for this Saturday, July 5 but has already been postponed due to the fact that Arthur (be he a Hurricane or a Tropical Storm by then) is expected to roll into town and dump up to 100 mm of rain on the city throughout the day on Saturday. The new date will be announced soon.