Mission accomplished

Feeling for the Air2.jpg

On June 4 I posted a review of the novel Feeling for the Air by Karen E. Black at my blog and also at both the American and Canadian Amazon websites. I did not enjoy reading this book because the errors that plagued it overshadowed the story. It was a frustrating read as I encountered errors on almost every page. I did not hold back in my scathing review, as such an unedited work should never have been printed in the first place. Black claimed on her own website that she had her novel edited–by a star Canadian writer no less–yet I didn’t buy any of it. My original review proceeded to list every single error I encountered. I did so with a purpose. I wrote:

“It is my hope that the editorial content below will be used to correct the manuscript in future printings.”

I did not write that in a state of hopeful delusion. I am proud to say that after I pilloried former soap star Brenda Dickson’s memoir My True Hidden Hollywood Story on Amazon, the actress, after sending me several E-mails threatening litigation if I didn’t remove my review, eventually reprinted her entire book. My negative review provoked action. I could only hope that Black, upon seeing the lengthy list of errors I was thoughtful enough to provide page numbers for, would do something about the manuscript. If she didn’t, she’d always have a sadly tainted book with her name attached to it.

After I wrote my review I often checked the catalogue at the library system where I work to see if either of Black’s novels were signed out. Several weeks ago I wondered why all three copies of Feeling for the Air were suddenly withdrawn, then reinstated as part of our local history collection. Why would my library keep three copies of this book for in-house use only? That didn’t sound right. Earlier this week I noticed that all three titles had been transferred to their former locations. I had some suspicions about what was going on so I placed a hold on the book and it arrived yesterday. When I opened it I could tell immediately that the pages had been reset. In fact, the novel now had fewer pages: 348 versus 366. The thought suddenly occurred to me: did Black take my advice and edit her novel? I went on-line to my blog and brought up the review. I looked for some specific pages where there were errors, but it was difficult to find them at first since the pagination was no longer the same. Eventually I got the hang of it and realized that the further along the review I went the more pages I had to flip back to match up to my original page notation.

I smiled. Black had edited her book! I checked page after page, and an overwhelming majority of the errors I wrote about were corrected. There is no doubt in my mind that she used my free services as a line editor. My review was posted on June 4, yet Feeling for the Air was reprinted on and dated June 24. Black must have read my review and in between flushes of facial rubicundity spent a good portion over three weeks reviewing my notes and making her corrections. She’d have to check the novel herself, decide if my editorial advice was merited, then make the changes in her manuscript. Black must have been a very busy woman. I can imagine my editorial notes kept her busy for many a night. Then she’d have to request another reprint. All within three weeks! Talk about fast action.

In my original review I said that I was supportive of local authors. I read their work and always give an honest opinion. I remain an admirer of Black’s work in genealogy and I am genuinely interested in the final book in Black’s trilogy, Take to the Sky. Her website no longer says that it will be published in late 2016, yet I eagerly await it. I want to read it and I want to enjoy it. I want to rave about a fantastic book by a local author. I sense a feeling in the air that her new novel will be properly edited and it will then be a joy to read.

I hereby repeat my original review of Feeling for the Air, and I will show the corrections Black made, followed by the new pagination, in red. Some of the pagination, especially at the beginning of the book, remains the same. Errors which were left in (and in one case an error was, sadly, created) remain in black while the new pagination is in red.

Karen E. Black, thank-you for fixing your book.

Emphasis in the quoted passages is mine, except where noted:

“Everything was going to be alright…” (p. 1). A frequent error; in this context all right should be two words. The same mistake was made on p. 8: “…Run Dace, just run! I’m alright.” (entire passage in italics); on p. 25: “Well, as long as you don’t break anything, I guess it’s alright.”; on p. 94: “…where was he, was he alright?”; on p. 142: “If you’d like a threesome, it’s alright with me.”; on p. 147: “But you can–you’ll be alright.”; on p. 167: “Dear Uncle Norm had such a deep faith that his son was alright.”; on p. 172: “Everything was going to be alright.”; on p. 259: “I’ll be alright, he thought…” (first part of the citation is in italics); on p. 264: “I mean it’s alright for the guy, isn’t it?”; on p. 291: “Everything’s going to be alright.”; on p. 293: “Everything was going to be alright.”; on p. 314: “Everything’s going to be alright.”; on p. 337: “…everything was going to be alright.”; on p. 353: “…and their children turned out alright…”; on p. 340: “Not that everybody thinks I’m alright…”; and on p. 348: “It’s alright. I’ve come to see Liza.”

–I checked five of the citations in various places and none of them were changed; all remained as alright.

“He had to keep on keep on trucking or he’d freeze.” (p. 4)

–unchanged

“‘Just watch,’ his old nemesis Savage would crow to his cronies he rubbed his hands in glee…” (p. 5)

–now “‘Just watch,’ his old nemesis Savage would crow to his cronies while he rubbed his hands in glee…'”

References twice on pp. 11 and 12 to “Canada Geese“; erroneous capitalization of geese.

–unchanged

“She called them soul mates, but it wasn’t the same thing.” (p. 12). From the context it is evident that the reflexive pronoun themselves is required.

–unchanged

“He looked about ten or so, old and enough and big enough to climb over the tailgate…” (p. 15)

–now “He looked about ten or so, old enough and big enough to climb over the tailgate…”

“We’re looking for an escaped convict called Darcy Devereux…” (p. 21). His first name is spelled D’Arcy.

–I am glad Black got the first name of one of her lead characters right.

“Well, he’s Liza Devereux’ cousin and she’s here, right?” (p. 21). The possessive form of any noun ending in X, regardless of the way the terminating X is pronounced, is always ‘S. Black carries this error over from her previous novel. The same -X’ error is found on pages 26324151 and 123. Again, I have to ask: how would she indicate possession in nouns that ended in S but didn’t end in an S sound, such as Versailles? How would you indicate possession in nouns that ended in an S sound but didn’t end in a typical English sibilant letter? For example, how would you form the possessive of the country name Kiribati? Or…Dace? There is no consistency with any of Black’s forms of the possessive involving sibilants followed by an apostrophe. However, I am happy to say that on p. 126, Black wrote “Dr. Greg Phillips’s office” and “Phillips’s office” (which is correct) and repeats the form of Phillips’s twice on p. 130. She also wrote “…to compile the class’s final marks.” (p. 173) which also is correct.

–All possessive forms were changed to Devereux’s.

“Lois Dempsey looked was looking genuinely puzzled.” (p. 26)

–now “Lois Dempsey looked genuinely puzzled.”

Unidentified man freezes to death on Ivy League Parkway…” (entire passage in italics; p. 32). On the first line of page one, we learn that the road’s name is the Ivy Lea Parkway. I think this is an unfortunate occurrence of relying too much on AutoCorrect.

–now “Unidentified man freezes to death on Ivy Lea Parkway…

A reference to Mallory Town Landing on p. 32. The correct name is Mallorytown Landing.

–now corrected to Mallorytown Landing.

“He’d pulled the fur-edged hood so closely around his face that he almost no peripheral vision…” (p. 33)

–now “He’d pulled the fur-edged hood so closely around his face that he had almost no peripheral vision…”

“…would they shoot him or just hand cuff him or what?” (p. 34). Handcuff is one word.

–now rendered as handcuff.

“He’d shown him what’s was what, yes, sirree.” (p. 37)

–now “He’d shown him what’s what, yes, sirree.”

A referral to the song “I Shot the Sheriff” on December 28, 1972 (p. 37), when it wasn’t released–by Bob Marley–until October 1973. Since the context in the novel stated “a recent pop song”, I take it Black was referring to Eric Clapton’s pop cover, which wasn’t released until July 1974.

–I didn’t think this would, or could, be changed, so mark it up to creative anachronism.

Yes, sirree spelled as such twice on p. 37 yet spelled as Yes, siree on p. 38.

–now Yes, sirree in all instances.

“…as if he half-expected to find a busty blond there.” (p. 38). This is a rare example in English where we have gender agreement in the feminine context. Blonde requires the -E. Blond should be blonde on pages 117, 124, 140, 211, 242, 291. Yet it isn’t until pages 217 and 218 that she finally renders it blonde: “…the little blonde’s eyes…” and “…his little blonde friend…”

–now all references are to blonde.

“…and was making twenty one bucks an hour…” (p. 38). A hyphen is required between the two numbers. Black did spell both forty-two and fifty-eight correctly, a mere two and four lines, respectively, after the initial error. The same error is found on p. 93: “…he’d just turned twenty one“.

–now twenty-one in both instances.

“…or one of those little shopping carts to hang to…” (p. 38)

–now “…or one of those little shopping carts to hang onto.”

“But he might change his tune if he bought back Dace Devereux dead or alive.” (p. 41). Should be brought.

–now corrected to brought.

References to Motel Eight (twice) and Motel 8 (once) on an already very short page, as it is the first page of chapter five (p. 44).

–now Motel 8, twice, but an error was created with the third reference as Motel 8t.

“…that a twenty year old girl who looked like brainy little Liza…” (p. 46). Hyphens are required in this adjective phrase. The same error is found on p. 77 with “…a nine year old at the Children’s Sanatorium in Toronto.” Black’s other instances where she wrote age indicators did employ proper hyphenation.

–now twenty-year-old and nine-year-old.

Because addition to everything else…” (p. 46)

–now “Because in addition to everything else…”

“…he must have drank too much tonight” (p. 47). The standard past participle of drink is drunk. Black knows this, for on p. 48 she writes “If only he hadn’t drunk so much.” and on p. 295 “…they’d drunk a little water…”

–now “…he must have drunk too much tonight.”

“Our man D’Arcy Devereux’s been gone a few days, though.” (p. 48). I don’t believe it. Granted, this is a contraction of Devereux has and is not a form of possession, but they are both still rendered by an apostrophe S. Black gets the possessive form right on p. 118: “Mr. Devereux’s only son…” (entire passage in italics) and on p. 120: “…so no doubt D’Arcy Devereux’s escape from…”

“There was a pause and when the cop at other end finally took the phone…” (p. 51)

–now “There was a pause and when the cop at the other end finally took the phone…”

As long nobody was yelling at him.” (p. 51). What is it with Black’s phraseology in that she repeatedly leaves out the second required as in expressions such as this? From the Chrysalis was full of secondary as absences, and so is Feeling for the Air. Black knows better, as on p. 25 she correctly wrote “Well, as long as you don’t break anything…”

–now “As long as nobody was yelling at him.”

References to the res and Res, both on p. 52.

–unchanged

“…where Savage or one his henchmen…” (p. 55)

–now “…where Savage or one of his henchmen…”

“She’d never driven in Toronto at all, though she practically grown up there.” (p. 73)

–now “She’d never driven in Toronto at all, though she had practically grown up there.”

“…helped him write a couple of articles refuting Francis’s theories…” (p. 77). Well I’ll be. A correct formation of the possessive. Yes, S-apostrophe-S. So why not X-apostrophe-S when the X is silent?

“…he suggested as if thought had just occurred to him.” (p. 76)

–now “…he suggested as if the thought had just occurred to him.”

“Why did she her mother, a privileged North American, behave like that…” (p. 77). Some sort of separation is needed between she and her, preferably dashes around her mother but even an appositional comma would do. Just don’t string them together.

–unchanged

“They’d tried everything, gotten hold of a copy the Kama Sutra…” (p. 77)

–now “They’d tried everything, gotten hold of a copy of the Kama Sutra…”

“Kathleen had talked about butterfly paths and her career path for a good half-hour last night, while he’d just lay there with his hands behind his head and stared.” (p. 81)

–now with the correct past participle, lain.

“He’s done tons of ground breaking research.” (p. 83). In this context, groundbreaking is one word, unless of course Black is referring to research that involves tunnel engineering.

–now rendered as groundbreaking.

What was with some girls?” (p. 83). Black meant to write “What was it with some girls?”

–unchanged. I can accept this as is, however.

“…he would have floored the gas pedal and ran.” (p. 85). The auxiliary verb carries over to the second main verb which is also a past participle, thus “he would have floored the gas pedal and run.” Think of an analogous sentence using the verb to go: One would never say “he would have went“; rather “he would have gone“.

–now “…he would have floored the gas pedal and run.”

“I’ve dipped into myself a couple of times.” (p. 92). Black meant to write “I’ve dipped into it myself a couple of times.”

–now “I’ve dipped into it myself a couple of times.”

“How could a girl make such mistake…” (p. 94)

–now “How could a girl make such a mistake…”

“…with no more hope than Heathcliff trying to scream Kathy from the grave.” (p. 100). For all of Black’s citations from the literary classics, especially Wuthering Heights, I found it particularly egregious that she misspelled the name of Catherine (Cathy) Earnshaw.

–now spelled as Cathy.

Never under estimate the powerless…” (entire passage in italics; p. 101). Underestimate is one word.

–now rendered as underestimate.

“…it was almost Millie’s bed time now.” (p. 102). Bedtime is one word.

–now rephrased as “…it was almost Millie’s bedtime.”

“You’d know where he was if was in jail!” (p. 104)

–now “You’d know where he was if he was in jail!”

He known a couple of people…” (p. 110)

–now rephrased as “He’d known some people.”

“Too poor and in her short life time…” (p. 110). Lifetime is one word.

–now rendered as lifetime.

References to dick-headegg head and egg heads (all on p. 112). Erroneous hyphenation and unnecessary spacing; they are all spelled as one word.

–now rendered as dickheadegghead and eggheads.

“She’d take him anyway she could.” (p. 115). Anyway is an adverb and is not being used in that context here; it must be spelled as two words. Insert in after him and it becomes more clear that any way must be two words. This exact same quotation also occurs on p. 330.

–unchanged

“The groom had gotten a new blue suit to compliment the bride’s short tulle dress…” (p. 115). The preferred verb form is complement.

–now rendered as complement.

“…he’d never been any place…” (p. 117) and “…if she had any place else to go.” (p. 119). Anyplace should be one word.

–now rendered as anyplace in both instances.

“Kathleen raised her nail bitten fist…” (p. 122). A hyphen is necessary between these two words.

–unchanged

“…with its annual influx of fresh-faced eighteen and nineteen-year-olds…” (p. 124). It should be eighteen-.

–unchanged

“There were ash trays and Coke cans…” (p. 129). Ashtrays is one word.

–now rendered as ashtrays.

“His spirits soared on every hill top…” (p. 131). Hilltop is one word.

–now rendered as hilltop.

“In roadside bars, the juke boxes played…” (p. 134). Jukeboxes is one word.

–now rendered as jukeboxes.

References to (the) Feds and feds on p. 140, sometimes capitalized, sometimes not.

–unchanged

“Mexican beer wasn’t as light at the American stuff.” (p. 142).

–now “Mexican beer wasn’t as light as the American stuff.”

References to mountain-side on pages 143283291 and 294Mountainside is one word.

–now rendered as mountainside in all instances.

“…he’d wished he’d bought a burro too.” (p. 146). Should be brought.

–now “he’d wished he’d brought a burro too.”

“He had been fourteen-years-old, so his life…” (p. 154). Hyphens are not necessary.

–now “He had been fourteen years old, so his life…”

“…rounded mauve mountain-tops…” (p. 154) and “…we can be up on the mountain-top by noon.” (p. 274). Mountaintop(s) is one word.

–now rendered as mountaintop(s) in both instances.

I question the use of the Spanish on p. 157, where four Mexican boys are feigning ignorance of English. They say “No hablan Inglés, no hablan Inglés” (where the first letter of inglés should really be in lowercase). This translates to “They don’t speak English, they don’t speak English”. Context would better suit “Nostros no hablamos inglés”, which means “We don’t speak English”. I can’t imagine all four boys referring to themselves in the third person plural.

–now reworded to say “No hablo inglés, no hablo inglés” which translates as “I don’t speak English, I don’t speak English”, which also works within the context.

“Most of the guys he’d knew…” (p. 161).

–now “Most of the guys he knew…”

“…she kept telling himself, she just wanted him home.” (p. 165). The reflexive pronoun is wrong; use him.

–or, get the pronoun right the first time which now totally changes the meaning of the sentence. It now reads “…she kept telling herself, she just wanted him home.”

“On April 18 [1973], Liza left the house and made her way down the long laneway to the mailbox. It was just past Easter.” (p. 166). In 1973 Easter Sunday was on April 22.

–now changed so that the sentence begins “On April 22…” yet that date was Easter, so it can’t also be “just past Easter”.

“…Norm had mentioned him when he said Grace.” (p. 167). Erroneous capitalization. When I read this, I honestly thought that a woman named Grace had entered the room.

–unchanged

“…a brown jack-rabbit cut across the front lawn…” (p. 167). Jackrabbit is one word.

–now rendered as jackrabbit.

“…the brave bright daffodils lay under snow.” (p. 172) and “…while he lay back on his bed…” (p. 231). Hallelujah!

“…she had on a knee length skirt…” (p. 169). Knee-length should be hyphenated.

–now rendered as knee-length.

Inconsistencies in spelling: references to paycheck on p. 39 yet cheque on p. 169.

–unchanged

“What had she done with other letter?” (p. 169).

–now “What had she done with the other letter?”

“She tossed her dish-cloth…” (p. 175). Dishcloth is one word.

–now rendered as dishcloth.

“Why do you think he’s spends so much time…” (p. 175)

–now “Why do you think he spends so much time…”

“…a cloudy, star-less night…” (p. 178). Starless is one word.

–now rendered as starless.

As Liza is going into labour, references are made about her dilation. Black goes back and forth with centimetres and centimeters.

–now all references are to centimeters.

Further along in the story of Liza’s labour, Black writes about how the baby “…slipped under her public bone and slid into the midwife’s waiting hands.” (p. 184). It’s the pubic bone.

–now corrected to pubic.

“…Mary picked up the baby and held out him out to Liza.” (p. 185)

–unchanged

“She had lost most of pregnancy weight…” (p. 188). Insert either her or the after of.

–unchanged

“Damn, this wasn’t getting her any place.” (p. 190). Anyplace should be one word.

–now reworded as “Damn, this wasn’t getting her anywhere.”

“She didn’t still know where she began…” (p. 192). While technically not an error, in English we tend to put the adverb before the verb in sentences like this.

–unchanged

Multiple references to a Diocese on pp. 196200 and 227; capitalized for no apparent reason.

–unchanged

“…the windows of a yellow brick farm farmhouse…” (p. 199)

–now “…the windows of a yellow brick farmhouse…”

“…she’d found in her home-town library…” (p. 202). Hometown is one word.

–now rendered as hometown.

“It was well-worth the look on her mother’s face…” (p. 215). No need for hyphenation.

–now “It was well worth the look on her mother’s face…”

References to actor Jon Voight on p. 226 (which is correct) yet to Jon Voigt in the error-ridden sentence “He looked like a bit like Jon Voigt, but not as cute.” on p. 222.

–now “He looked a bit like Jon Voight, but not as cute.”

“My family used to visit his when we children…” (p. 223).

–unchanged

“The sound of his heart beat slowed…” (p. 226). Heartbeat is one word.

–unchanged

“Five hundred dollars was a lot of money, especially in American cash.” (p. 231). This statement was made in February 1974, at a time when one Canadian dollar traded at $1.0138 US, so our dollar was in fact stronger than the American at this time.

–I didn’t think this mistake could be corrected.

“…Micah lunged for one of the green backs too…” (p. 231). Greenbacks is one word.

–now rendered as greenbacks.

A reference to stepmother on p. 240 when earlier in the text Black had written step-father. I let the hyphenated form pass and thus did not record its page number. I only recalled it when the unhyphenated form later appeared and I do not feel like flipping through pages just to find the earlier reference.

–I do not know if Black changed the latter to stepfather.

“…everything else she and Dace and had done…” (p. 236)

–now “…everything else she and Dace had done…”

“…his stressed out life and all…” (p. 237). Please insert a hyphen here.

–unchanged

“…little Miss Florence Nightingale would have bought in all sorts of…” (p. 240). Should be brought.

–now “…little Miss Florence Nightingale would have brought in all sorts of…”

“She hitched a ride with some big wig Jew’s daughter…” (p. 244). Bigwig is one word. To write it as two is offensive to orthodox Jewish women.

–now rendered as bigwig.

“Can I be the one to go Florida, can I?” (p. 246)

–now “Can I be the one to go to Florida, can I?”

“…the wheezy in-take of a smoker…” (p. 248). Intake is one word.

–now rendered as intake.

“At the first golden-arched Mcdonald’s…” (p. 253). Surely Black has seen one of these restaurants. The first D is capitalized. The sentence continues “…Esther stopped to get a coffee at the drive-in window.” I would recommend drive-through window or even drive-thru window.

–unchanged

…we’ll never get any place.” (entire passage in italics; p. 255). Anyplace should be one word.

–now rendered as anyplace.

“‘Well, what about that investigative reporter who works for the Telegram? Or maybe he’s moved up to the Globe and Mail.” (p. 257). This quotation was made in February 1974, while the Toronto Telegram ceased publication in October 1971. Another reference to a Toronto Telegram article occurs on p. 320.

–Creative anachronism at play.

The first page of chapter 37 on p. 260 had two errors before I even read one word within the chapter. The title of the chapter is Air-borne. It should be Airborne. Black dated most of her chapters with the month and year. At the start of chapter 37, the date was listed as February 1974., with a period after the year. The single period stuck out; it was noticed because it was inconsistent with the formatting of the dates in all the prior chapters. If you think the job of an editor is only to look for misspelled words and the misuse of lie/lay, you don’t know anything about editing. I have graciously left out all comments about the sloppy page layout, formatting, spacing within the text and where sentences are broken up and continue on separate lines. This one little period can be a distraction.

–now corrected to Airborne and February 1974.

“…drifting back to Maitland at Christmas-time…” (p. 262). Christmastime is one word.

–now rendered as Christmastime.

I had no problem with Black’s use of Canadian and American spellings throughout the text, provided they were for different words. I noticed her preferred spelling of license. Fine, yet when I encountered the word as licence on p. 273, then on the first line of p. 274 as license again, I had to note the inconsistency.

–now rendered as license in both instances, on pp. 264 and 265.

A truly awkward senseless sentence near the start of chapter 38 on p. 267: “She had come alive down here in Mexico, or maybe it was the just that the old anxious, information-hunting student part of was hibernating.” What?

–now reworded as “She had come alive down here in Mexico, or maybe it was just that the old anxious, information hunting student part of her was hibernating.” A hyphen is still needed between information and hunting.

“‘Liza,’ he’d begged off, swirling her away from him with one hand…” (p. 270). Since Dace is speaking, the pronoun must be reflexive, himself.

–now reworded as “‘Liza,’ he’d begged off, swirling her away with one hand…”

What is undoubtedly the biggest spelling error (so far) is the typo in the name of chapter 39: Mariposa Monanca (p. 273). The Spanish name for monarch butterfly is mariposa monarca, This term is used throughout Feeling for the Air. That it is in such a huge typeface makes this error mortally embarrassing. And no editor caught this?

–now corrected to the chapter title Mariposa Monarca, thank goodness.

“…what looked like thousands of monarchs butterflies…” (p. 281)

–now reworded as “…what looked like thousands of butterflies…”

“…hoped to see any sort of wild life…” (p. 291). Wildlife is one word.

–unchanged

“The Murphy guy with her, started babbling about the monarchs.” (p. 292). Comma is unnecessary.

–now “The Murphy guy with her started babbling about the monarchs.”

“…I’m not sure we can just push that old guy of the way.” (p. 292)

–now “…I’m not sure we can just push that old guy out of the way.”

“So the fact that my cousin and myself found a monarch colony…” (p. 293). Why the reflexive pronoun? Just use I.

–unchanged

References to edge-wise on pages 293 and 300Edgewise is one word.

–now rendered as edgewise in both instances.

“…to carry the rest the way down the mountain…” (p. 297)

–now “…to carry the rest of the way down the mountain…”

“And if he was really honest, it had pleased to think that…” (p. 299)

–now “And if he was really honest, it had pleased him to think that…” An extra space was left after him during the editing process.

“It was a hell of lot more…” (p. 300)

–now “It was a hell of a lot more…”

“Even if you didn’t have a shitload of stuff do up north.” (p. 301)

–now “Even if you didn’t have a shitload of stuff to do up north.”

“I don’t give a fuck about a school anymore!” (p. 301)

–now “I don’t give a fuck about school anymore!” With the superfluous indefinite article, the anger intended comes off as laughable.

“…it was who Dace heard it this time.” (p. 304). These two words were transposed. How did that happen?

–now “…it was Dace who heard it this time.”

“…which enlightened people had begun to suspect, was primarily a disease of refugees…” (p. 305). Comma is unnecessary.

–now “…which enlightened people had begun to suspect was primarily a disease of refugees…”

“…when she was nine-years-old…” (p. 306). Hyphens are not necessary.

–unchanged

“Nobody is going to look down on you if your don’t finish your PhD…” (p. 306).

–now “Nobody is going to look down on you if you don’t finish your PhD…”

“…her mother who once had artistic pretentions…” (p. 306). Misspelling; should be pretensions.

–now corrected to pretensions.

God, I’m a such fool.” (entire passage in italics; p. 316)

–unchanged

“…just hours before the Toronto Telegram released an article accusing of abusing his power…” (p. 320)

–now “…just hours before the Toronto Telegram released an article accusing him of abusing his power…”

“The old pervert had gotten his just desserts.” (p. 321). Should be just deserts.

–now corrected to just deserts.

A reference to St. Catherines, Ontario (p. 327). It’s St. Catharines.

–now corrected to St. Catharines.

“…her back pack and the baby carrier…” (p. 329). Backpack is one word. Black spells it as one word on two occasions on pp. 331 and 332.

–now “…her backpack and the baby carrier…”

“Her backpack kept getting caught in the door jam…” (p. 331). The word is doorjamb.

–now reworded as “Her backpack kept getting caught in the door…”

“His ass had been squeezed into a pilot seat’s for days.” (p. 333). Why the possessive form? Why not just pilot seat?

–now “His ass had been squeezed into a pilot seat for days.”

“…he hadn’t heard a peep out the guy for a while.” (p. 334)

–now “…he hadn’t heard a peep out of the guy for a while.”

“…would just make everybody feel a hell of lot worse.” (p. 337)

–now “…would just make everybody feel a hell of a lot worse.”

The title of chapter 47 is Home-coming (p. 338). Why is it hyphenated?

–now corrected to Homecoming.

Black does refer to genuine Toronto streets in Feeling for the Air, yet Lakeshore (p. 338) is actually spelled as two words.

–unchanged

And think of Micah and all the things you still want do.” (entire passage in italics; p. 343)

–now reworded as And think about Micah and all of the things you still want to do.

Oh, God, please don’t let Dr. Diamond show up instead Dace…” (entire passage in italics; p. 344).

–unchanged

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