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Volume 3, Issue 09
September, 2026
Welcome to the September Newsletter
Your gateway to stories, events, and creative community!
New & Noteworthy
We have updated the Subscribers' and FANS distribution lists. If this is your first newsletter, previous issues are available on our website.
Monthly Friendly Authors Networking Socials (F.A.N.S.)
Our next meeting will be Saturday, October 10, 2026, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Serious Coffee, Country Grocer Plaza
Upstairs seating on Esquimalt Road in Esquimalt.
(https://www.facebook.com/groups/295883593397579)
Just the Deets…
F.A.N.S. meetings resumed this month following our summer break. Nine members gathered around a long table in the upstairs café at Quality Foods, which is currently undergoing renovations. A new Coffee & Chocolate Lounge is scheduled to open on October 1, featuring on-site chocolate making in a publicly viewable production area.
While the expanded seating is a welcome addition, losing the boardroom means we will explore alternative venues for future meetings. Please watch the Facebook group, this newsletter, and your email for updates.
Much of the September discussion centred on members' current writing projects and using various apps and platforms to help authors reach new readers. Monique showcased the newly revised editions of her novels and shared that she will be participating in the Fall Book Fair at Tillicum Centre on October 24.
Zoe reported that approximately six author tables remain available for both the Fall Book Fair and the Holiday Book Fair at Tillicum Centre on November 28. She also has room for two additional authors to join the Filidh Publishing booth on Friday, November 6, at the Creative Craft Fair at Pearkes Recreation Centre. The Writers' Retreat, taking place October 6 to 8, still has four seats available.
The Monstrously Misguided anthology project has now accepted 102 stories for publication in a five-volume series. Publishing agreements for contributors to the first two volumes are currently being distributed for signature, and copy editing is underway. Zoe expressed her appreciation for the volunteer editorial team, with Allan Reid being the only team member present, for their outstanding efforts in managing the unexpectedly large workload.
Members also discussed hosting a more affordable book fair than can currently be offered at Tillicum Centre. One suggestion was a seasonal event on December 12 in a community centre or church hall, which could help keep table fees low for participating authors.
Randi-Anne noted that the Little Fernwood Book Sale is scheduled for November 8 and is offering vendor tables for $30 each. See littlefernwood.ca
Writing at the Turning of the Year
October 6 to 8, 2026
Last Call to Return to Your Writing
What You’ll Experience
- Guided writing sessions shaped around place, memory, and voice
- Spacious time to write without interruption
- Small-group conversation and gentle exchange
- Optional readings in a relaxed, supportive setting
- Time outdoors to walk, think, and gather inspiration
This Retreat is for You if:
- You’ve been wanting to return to your writing
- You have a story or idea that needs space to develop
- You’re drawn to quiet, reflective environments
- You prefer a thoughtful connection over a formal critique
All genres and experience levels are welcome
Location
Painter’s Lodge, Campbell River, BC
A coastal setting where forest meets ocean.
Driveable from most of Vancouver Island, with Nanaimo ferry routes providing the most direct access for those travelling from the Lower Mainland For more information please see our website at: https://filidhbooks.com/pages/writers-retreat
In the Spotlight –
Author of the Month: Jaci Washington
Jaci Washington was born in Hamilton, Ontario, but soon after, in 1965, she relocated to St. Catharines. From there, in late 1969, she moved to Thunder Bay.
Jaci worked in special education and early childhood care and education for 28 years, which provided her with the creative motivation to produce a never-ending stream of storytelling, songwriting, and music-making. Jaci wrote volumes of poetry, short stories and songs throughout her own elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schooling.
She recorded songs in studio for local compilation releases, was a judge for the Juno Awards in 1995, participated in Kim Erickson’s documentary “Many People of Song”, and joined the pop music group The Ravens. All of this inspired her to design, produce, and publish her debut CD, Jaci Washington Harmony, released in 1997.
Jaci relocated to British Columbia the following year, and self-produced three more musical and storytelling CDs, one of which was created for children. In 2002, she began documenting a plethora of extraordinary and vivid dreams. These eventually coalesced together as the trilogy, Willow: Miskwaabiimizh.
Excerpt of the Month
(from Willow: Miskwaabiimizh, Book one by Jaci Washington)
Foreword
This book began as a dream that I had after making a three-dimensional dream catcher. I found a full set of crow feathers under a huge circle of trees in Beacon Hill. I assumed that the crow was eaten by a raptor the night before in that same tree. I gathered the feathers and created a work of art that would last me more than sixteen years, and provide me with a series of amazing dreams that have become this book, the first of which is reflected in the contents of the prologue.
Jaci Washington
TRIGGER WARNING: Unexpected triggers can bring up memories of trauma, particularly for those with PTSD. Please note that this book contains scenes that may be disturbing for some individuals. This includes racism, violence, misogyny, sexual assault, and child abuse.
Prologue:
The Visions Dreams are passages in your mind. Backward through each day, and forward in time. Mind your dreams, and you will know, where you have been, and where to go.
September, 1916. She bolted as though pushed by some ominous force, legs trembling, lungs screaming for air, not understanding her body’s actions or where her feet were taking her. Wrenched from a tormented sleep, she fled the teetering shelter wearing only her night dress, weak and still bleeding from the trauma of childbirth. She was oblivious to the stones and roots tearing at her feet, aware only of what was going on in her mind — panicked, desperate flashes racing ahead of her body. Her legs carried her out the door, down a dirt path and into the small patch of woods that separated the servants’ quarters from the garden. She clawed through the gnarled branches of the willow tree in blackness, feet still running, until she reached the small mound of earth beneath the tree and dropped to her knees. Barely aware of her groping hands in cold soil — ripping, clawing, digging, and clutching at the rocks and dirt that seemed to stand between her soul and life itself. Her lacerated fingers clasped the edge of a wooden box. At the moment she pulled it loose from the soil, all life seemed to stop. She didn’t notice the sullen figures trudging slowly back toward the servant’s quarters, dragging picks and spades behind them. No thought, no breath, not even a heartbeat as she pried open the box and gazed at the tiny face. Silence. Then, as though the last half hour had not occurred, the infant inside the box sighed, trembled, and stirred ever so slightly in her slumber.
CHAPTER 1
A JOURNEY INTO THE PAST
History is not written by the winners. It is brandished by the guilty and wielded by the depraved before the eyes of their victims. But the truth remains a solid rock embedded in the landscape of our existence. Melissa Coats was born in the old slaves’ quarters in 1904, and raised at Coats Manor until her 12th year. She was one of the few female servants to be kept on at the plantation.
Because the Coats family had little use for female hands, many girls were traded or sold away in childhood. Others simply disappeared. Most of the women who had worked at Coats Manor had faced the heart-wrenching horror of giving up their female children to friends and family of their Masters, or to other plantation owners.
Even after the liberation, all of the Coats’ slaves remained on the estate as hired hands, even though they still lived as slaves, and did so in fear for their lives. The old ways prevailed in the Deep South for many generations after the emancipation. The new law, which was supposed to have given The People their freedom, did not in any way provide support or protection for them. In far too many cases, the freed slaves from the Deep South were given two choices — a slave could ignore the laws and remain in slavery, or they could be killed by their former owners. Many chose instead the life of a runaway. This meant going into hiding for the rest of their lives. If they were caught by the slave hunters, they were often tortured and returned to slavery, or just tortured to death.
Melissa was the daughter of James Adam Coats, slave owner, and Mandy Coats, known to the servants as the Beast-Keeper. Mandy was recognized by slaves throughout the county for her extraordinary and uncanny understanding of animals. Her people knew that she was the daughter of William Blind Bear, a 16-year-old Cheyenne boy whose family had been taken in by one of the swamp tribes, and Etta Coats, one of Master Coats’ regular bed-warmers.
Coats had first bedded Etta when she was 11 years old. Etta gave birth to her first son just before she turned 13. Less than a year later, when she had the twins, Mandy and Malcolm, Coats sold her to his cousin Clayton, who was trying to increase his slave count before selling his estate. James Coats favoured Etta as his preferred bed-warmer, but he had heard that the girl was planning to run away and join one of the tribes of the First People. Although he initially enjoyed the girl’s peculiar willingness to partake in his frequent molestations, he soon found it difficult to become aroused because he no longer needed to force her to participate.
Coats used Etta’s prolific reproductive capacity as an excuse to get rid of her. He claimed that he didn’t need a breeder cluttering up his slave quarters. He had bedded many slave girls, but most of the others didn’t reproduce until they were at least 14 years old. Once he knew they were pregnant, Coats would either work them too hard, or abuse them so that they would miscarry their babies. If that failed, he’d trade them for livestock or equipment that he needed on the plantation.
With that in mind, James believed in bedding his servants before they were old enough to conceive children. Impregnating slave girls was once a lucrative business before the emancipation, providing more slaves to sell. He remembered hearing his daddy boasting about it.
“Son,” he would brag, “most-a- them black bastards were sired by yer grandpa and me.”
Now, however, particularly for farm owners like James Coats who had spawned at least 25 children before he was middle-aged, it had become an unwelcome expense.
“This one’s a breeder fer sure,” he told his cousin Clayton when he traded Etta for a piebald colt. “She already pushed out three foals in two years, an’ she ain’t even 14 yet!”
Contrary to the servants’ murmurings, James Coats held that Etta’s twins, Mandy and Malcolm, were his own offspring because of their light skin.
(Read more? Contact author via info@filidbbooks.com or meet Jaci at a Book Fair near you.
Explore These Literary Events
Fall Book Fair - October 24, Tillicum Centre, Victoria, 10 am -5:30 pm
Creative Craft Fair, November 6,7,8, Pearkes Rec Centre, Victoria
Little Fernwood Book Fair, November 8, 12 pm – 4 pm, 1923 Fernwood Rd, Victoria
Holiday Book Fair – November 28, Tillicum Centre, Victoria, 10 am – 5:30 pm
I. Vancouver Writers Fest - https://writersfest.bc.ca
II. Gibsons Art and Words Festival 2025 - https://gibsonspublicmarket.com/event/art-words-festival-2024-august-22-25/
III. Surrey International Writers Conference - https://www.siwc.ca
IV. Victoria Festival of Authors - https://victoriafestivalofauthors.ca
V. Federation of BC Writers - https://www.bcwriters.ca
VI. Canadian Authors Association - https://canadianauthors.org
VII. Victoria Writers’ Society – http://victoriawriters.ca
VIII. Pride In The Word - https://victoriapridesociety.org/pride-2024/literary/
IX. Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival - https://denmanislandwritersfestival.com/festival-2025/
X. Elephant Mountain Lit Fest – Nelson, BC - https://www.emlfestival.com
XI. Word Vancouver - https://www.wordvancouver.ca
XII. Fraser Valley Book Festival - https://www.fvwritersfestival.com
XIII. Weaving Words Indigenous Writers Festival, Prince George - https://www.weavingwords.ca
XIV. Comox Valley Writers Society - https://cvwriterssociety.ca/conference/2025-north-island-writers-conference/
XV. Whistler Writers Festival - https://whistlerwritersfest.com/
XVI. Wine Country Writers’ Festival - https://wcwfestival.com/
XVII. Word on the Lake - https://wordonthelakewritersfestival.com/
XVIII. Word on the Water - https://www.wordsonthewater.ca/
XIX. Word Vancouver - https://www.wordvancouver.ca/
XX. Vancouver Island Children’s Book Festival Nanaimo - https://www.vibookfest.ca/
XXI. When Words Collide, Calgary, AB - https://www.whenwordscollide.org
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