poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and essay submissions invited

The Ampersand Review, based in the Toronto area, is a paying publication currently accepting "submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and essays" until July 31, 2025. NB: "In keeping with our mandate to foster literary culture in communities within Canada, we only accept submissions from writers who reside in Canada." Thanks to Erika Dreifus of The Practicing Writer for this info. Details at: https://theampersandreview.ca/submit?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The IAG (Interior Authors Group), based in Kamloops, British Columbia, is on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064754766977 . Its blog is https://interiorauthorsgroup.wordpress.com/ .

Happy Fathers Day

Simon is a good father, but his mother doesn't always think so. Here's a three-generation scene from my novel SONG FOR SUSIE EPP.

 

I sat at the kitchen table paying bills while Simon's mother, Adeline, made oatmeal cookies and Simon unpacked the portable organ he'd ordered.

 

"Daddy," five-year-old Emily asked, "is this organ for playing real music?" It was a snazzy-looking instrument, chrome with red trim.

 

Three-year-old Norine grinned at her reflection in its shiny surface. "Is it for me and Emily?"

 

"It's for all of us," Simon said. "Shall we try it?" He took Norine's right hand and set her index finger on the white key in the centre of the organ's keyboard. "This is middle C."

 

Norine regarded him with solemn Simon-like eyes.

 

He placed Emily's thumb and middle finger on the E and G above middle C. "I'm going to say one, two, three, go. When I say go, both of you hit your keys."

 

The first try didn't work because Norine's finger slipped off. However, the second attempt produced a passable chord.

 

"Good," Simon said. "Stay right there." He scooted around to the lower end of the keyboard. "I'm going to play a song down here. Whenever I nod my head like this, you hit your keys."

 

He played Yankee Doodle Dandy, signaling the timing for the girls.

 

When the song had galloped to a finish, I applauded, though Adeline's face was stiff with disapproval.

 

"Can we play it again?" Emily asked.

 

"Okay," Simon said, "but this time—"

 

Adeline banged a cookie sheet down on the counter. "Why can't you teach the girls a Christian song once? What's Yankee Doodle? Just foolishness."

 

"It's fun, Mother," Simon said through clenched teeth. He grabbed the organ's cover and threw it over the instrument.

 

Emily glanced from her father to her grandmother. "Could you leave it open, Daddy? Please?"

 

"We'll play the organ later," Simon said. "After Mrs. Killjoy goes home."

 

Adeline scowled. "That's no way to talk about your poor old mutta."

 

"I'm sorry, I guess. I just wish you weren't such a spoilsport."

 

"I'm trying to learn your kids to be good Christians."

 

Simon grabbed his sunglasses off the top of the refrigerator. "Some Christians actually enjoy life. It doesn't need to be all doom and duty." He turned and stomped out of the house.

 

The girls glanced at each other, then scampered after their father.

 

If you'd like to read more about Susie, Simon, and family, ask for my novel SONG FOR SUSIE EPP in a bookstore or library. Or order it from an online seller such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Chapters Indigo. https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/search?q=Elma+Schemenauer&search-button=&lang=en_CA

 

 

 

 

 

 

SONG FOR SUSIE EPP reviewed by Sheri Hathaway in FOLKLORE magazine

Thanks to Sheri Hathaway for this thoughtful review and to editor Patrick Lee for publishing it in FOLKLORE: SASKATCHEWAN'S YESTERDAYS PERSONIFIED, Spring 2025.

Springtime in 1970s Saskatchewan

Elbow, Saskatchewan (fictionalized as Dayspring) is the setting for about half of my novel SONG FOR SUSIE EPP. Here's a peek into Susie's life there in April 1976.

April brought rapid changes to the Saskatchewan prairie. The kids waded through puddles on the south side of the house while

snowbanks lay like dead sheep on the north side. Mallard ducks swam on reedy sloughs. Farmers tuned up their tractors. A meadowlark perched on a barbed-wire fence, pouring out its lilting song.

An earthy lightness filled the air. For the first time in months, I opened the windows of my sewing room.

I was embroidering a seagull for my marina quilt when Simon burst into the room, his cheeks glowing. I was relieved to see it was a healthy glow, not the bloated flush of drunkenness.

"I got a summer job," he announced.

If you'd like to read more about Dayspring, Susie, Simon, and family, ask for my novel SONG FOR SUSIE EPP in a bookstore or library. Or order it from an online seller such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Chapters Indigo. https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/search?q=Elma+Schemenauer&search-button=&lang=en_CA

BETWEEN US, a memoir by Finnish Canadian author Pirkko Rytkonon reviewed by Elma (Martens) Schemenauer

Author Pirkko Rytkonon has a Finnish heritage. She grew up attending Finnish Free Churches and Finnish Pentecostal Churches. I have a Mennonite background, and grew up attending Mennonite and Alliance Churches. Comparing our backgrounds drew me to her memoir BETWEEN US: A TRUE STORY OF LONGING FOR LOVE AND LETTERS. Set in the early 1970s, it features the long-distance courtship between her as a student in Canada and her future husband, a seminarian in Finland.

 

The Mennonites I grew up with and the Finlanders Pirkko describes both have distinctive food traditions. My parents were Dutch-German Mennonites immigrants from Russia to Saskatchewan. I grew up eating cabbage borscht, pluma moos (plum soup), sausages, and vereniki (like pierogies). As a teenager, Pirkko worked in a Thunder Bay, Ontario restaurant that served beef stew, kalakeitto (lake-trout stew), and Finnish pancakes. She ate rye bread at her grandmother's house in Finland, and pulla (sweet bread) in many Finnish and Finnish Canadian households.

 

Pirkko and I both grew up in faith communities that valued Bible study, prayer, God's guidance, missionary work, and high standards of Christian conduct. Many Mennonites I grew up with frowned on dancing, smoking, drinking, and going to movies. Pirkko's experiences in her Finnish community were similar in this regard.

 

Her connection with seminarian Antti began when a church friend asked her to write to him because he wanted to improve his English by corresponding with someone in that language. Through their correspondence, they gradually become what she calls "soulmate friends." Was there a romantic connection between them? Her doubts regarding the potential future of their relationship precipitated much of the conflict in their story. For example, he wanted to become a missionary in Ecuador. She wanted to stay in Canada. That wouldn't matter much if they weren't a couple. If they were, it would matter a lot.

 

Antti dreamed of a "partner called by God"—a wife who would help him in his pastoral and missionary work. Could Pirkko become that partner? She didn't feel worthy or gifted in the appropriate ways yet she longed to be more than a friend to him.

 

When Antti came to Thunder Bay to serve as a temporary pastor, she borrowed her brother's car to give him a tour of the area and take him home to meet her family. Yet the nature of their relationship remained "up in the air." Even after they declared their love for each other, she still wasn't sure God was leading them to marry.

 

Pirkko tended to be unsure and impulsive. Sometimes these traits worked in her favour; sometimes they didn't. Antti was a more confident and phlegmatic person.

 

How did these two find a road to the altar? What challenges did they face along the way? If you read the book, you'll find out. It's 243 pages, available from Amazon as a paperback and e-book.

 

There are similarities between Pirkko and Antti's story, and the story of Susie and Simon in my 1970s Mennonite novel SONG FOR SUSIE EPP. Susie lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. Simon lives in Sage City (Kamloops fictionalized). When they become pen pals, Susie is plagued with doubts about their relationship. What is it and what does it become? The novel explores the answers. It's available from online sellers including Amazon and Chapters Indigo.