take my book, please

PLEASE NOTE: The free download offer in this old posting is no longer happening.

As announced in an essay in the Globe and Mail Book section, and Straight Goods online magazine, I am hereby offering my novel The Uninvited Guest (published by Nightwood Editions) as a free downloadable PDF file. The book, short-listed for Canada's prestigious First Novel Award, is about totalitarianism, freedom and the many games in between.


Please just click on the cover image or link below to begin the download (free downloads thanks to freepdfhosting.com).





The Uninvited Guest (double page spread)


The Uninvited Guest (single page layout)


This download is FREE -- but it cost me time and money to write the novel, and the same goes for all my books, past and future. If you appreciate The Uninvited Guest, and would like to support my writing, become an arts patron by sending a donation in the amount of your choosing. To donate online, simply click the secure button below, or in the right hand menu on my homepage, and PayPal will guide you through the process.

You can also be supportive by going to your local excellent bookstore (in Canada) and buying the physical book, or any other Nightwood Editions book. There are also traditional links to my books in online stores in the homepage menu.


The Uninvited Guest -- shortlisted for the 2007 Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award


"Satisfying and resonant... John Degen has written a very fine book -- rarely is an uninvited guest so enjoyable."
- Steven Galloway, author of The Cellist of Sarajevo, in The Globe and Mail


"Degen finds us when we are mortal, when we are brave, when we are victorious..."
- Claudia Dey, author of Stunt


"I enjoyed this book because I've lived the inside story. The Uninvited Guest offers a fictional and philosophical lens on a wide range of subjects from the lives of professional hockey players to the keepers of the Cup to Eastern European history to storytelling, and blurs the whole spectrum together in a finale full of love, community and companionship."
- Igor Larionov, three-time winner of the Stanley Cup


I want to thank Silas White, my publisher, and the team over at Nightwood Editions for agreeing to this download, and for producing a very attractive PDF. And thanks to all the wonderful booksellers across Canada who are still stocking the physical book.

And, please note, the text in this PDF file is:

Copyright John Degen 2006. You are permitted to read this book on-line and download a copy for your personal use and enjoyment. If you think this is a book you would like to share with friends, please send them the link to this blog. Their eyeballs help my career. If you would like to use it for another purpose, even a non-commercial purpose, please get a licence. You can get a licence by contacting Access Copyright at http://www.accesscopyright.ca/. You may also contact me directly at the link in the right hand menu.

Thanks to Flickr for hosting the cover image.


Copyright 2008, John Degen. To reproduce or distribute, visit: johndegen.icopyright.com