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His short fiction has won close to ten awards, and has been published in journals, anthologies, and textbooks. By May of 2013, he’ll have completed a debut collection, Four Letter Words, about people longing for things they’ll never have. Publication date to follow.

Chad has facilitated a creative writing course at Memorial University, is President of the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland & Labrador, runs Salty Ink.com, writes for advertizing companies, has an opinion column in Atlantic Books Today, and has written for a variety of publications, such as Quill & Quire, The Telegram, The National Post, the Telegraph-Journal. He also sells photography and writes half a dozen songs a month. As a result, he rarely sees more of the world than his computer, and his hottest one-night stands happen in his own bed with works of Canadian fiction.

Email: chadpelley@hotmail.com

In Every Little Thing, Cohen Davies’ life is shaped by the butterfly effect of a bad decision gone desperately wrong. After a shocking family tragedy, Cohen is wracked with guilt and sorrow, and feeling numb to everything but the allure of his enigmatic new neighbor, Allie Crosbie. He sees in her the perfect place to bury his troubles. But when Allie’s father asks an unfathomable favour, Cohen’s decision to help him sets off a chain reaction of irrevocable events that starts with one man’s untimely death, and ends in Cohen’s incarceration. His guilt or innocence is left up to the reader to judge. In the aftermath of his actions, Allie will reveal a secret of her own.

With his award-winning debut, Away From Everywhere, Chad Pelley showed us his verve as a novelist. In Every Little Thing, he once again explores the flipside of love, by cutting no corners in exposing how a secret kept to protect love can just as easily destroy a life.

Pre-release Media:

- Every Little Thing has made the Quill & Quire’s Spring Preview, and 49th Shelf’s “Books We’re Waiting For in Spring 2013.”

- Check out a series of guests posts about this novel on The National Post’s Book Blog:
“How Michael Winter Ruined My Life by Making it Better”
“Seven Thing You Didn’t Need to Know about Every Little Thing”
“Why I’m So Terribly Depressing and Hard on Love”
“Some Things I’ve Learned from Writing Two Novels”

Praise for Every Little Thing:

“Cohen Davies is as psychologically rich and prismatic a character as any reader could hope for – here is complicated love, human failing, tenacity and true feeling. Chad Pelley takes on addling jealousy, heartache, loss, and the need to be forgiven. Stylistically fresh, taut with emotional torques and charges, Pelley’s Every Little Thing is cant-put-it-down compelling.”  - Booker Prize Finalist, Lisa Moore

“From the cold clutch of a prison cell to the serenity of a lover’s arms and back again, this is the tale of a man whose pugnacious heart is both literally and figuratively broken. In Every Little Thing Chad Pelley delivers a transfixing chronicle of what happens when devotion and jealousy ride alongside a clumsy desire for a just world. Compulsively readable from start to finish.” - Giller Prize Finalist, Billie Livingston

“A compelling ride that shows that even the unexpected leaves clear footprints. With finely-drawn characters that live and breathe and clearly feel, it’s a marriage of wistful and wonderful, spiced with a sharp dash of the realities that we all face in life. It’s bare honesty, played hard.” - Giller Prize Finalist, Russell Wangersky.

“Propulsive, character-driven, and makes for gripping reading. Pelley can use words in a way that is almost shockingly good. A very strong follow up to a solid premiere.” - Joan Sullivan, The Telegram

“Pelley’s ability to express raw emotion for each character, despite the difference in gender, age, and history was phenomenal. No matter how you judge Cohen, Pelley is definitely guilty of one thing – writing a book you need to read.” - Blogger Sarah Butland

“Chad Pelley’s goal is to drag you in. Make you feel. Make you react to his writing as much as you are reading it.The book doesn’t give its readers a rest from beginning to end, scenes full of heartbreak and sorrow and loss, and not a single word wasted.” - Tara Bradbury, The Telegram

“Pelley has an enthralling way with words. He captures his reader’s attention within the first chapter, and keeps them engrossed until the very last page” – Samm Joy, Canadian University Press

Brothers Owen and Alex Collins are brought together when mental illness claims their father and sets off a chain reaction of heart-breaking events. Both tender and bold in its delivery, Away from Everywhere cuts no corners in telling the story of their crushing childhood, the reasons the brothers become different men, and the unthinkable act of love that tears them apart.

Nearing thirty-five, Owen is plagued by childhood demons, the ghosts of failed relationships, and a persistent feeling that his life lacks meaning. When Alex arranges for Owen to stay with his wife and family, what feels like a new beginning becomes one last wrong turn. Part warped love story, part family tragedy, Away from Everywhere is a heart-stomping pageturner.

Selected Accolades

Film Adaptation underway!

Winner of the NLAC’s CBC Emerging Artist of the Year award.

Shortlisted for the Canadian Authors’ Association Emerging Writer of the Year award.

Shortlisted for the 2010 ReLit Award

A Coles bestseller

Listed as a “Best Book of 2009″ in places like The Scope and Current Magazine.

Praise for Away from Everywhere

“Gripping from page one, Away from Everywhere is a finely crafted novel from one of the most talented young writers to come out of Newfoundland in recent years.” - Kenneth J. Harvey, Internationally bestselling author of Inside and Blackstrap Hawco

“This emotionally wrenching story made me cry. It also made me lament not having written it. His writing is both articulate and lyrical. A fascinating and tender portrait of a soul in torment.” - M.T. Dohaney, award-winning author of The Corrigan Women

“A book that will continue to call you back to it. A book you could read many times over. A book that requires a lot of pauses. Pauses to think, reflect, discuss, and most importantly, breathe. Pelley’s great talent lies with his descriptions.” - Kathleen Spencer, Ryerson Free Press

“What shines from this novel is Pelley’s ability to convey his lead character’s pain and inner turmoil; his misery lifts real from the page. We should look forward to the honing and unfolding of this writer’s evolving voice.” - Bruce Johnson, Atlantic Books Today

“Complex themes woven tightly together … There is a streamlined dynamic to the structure and the prose, as riveting and inevitible as a car flying off the wet highway. And the structure is tightly built as a racecar chasis. [A] very good book.” - Joan Sullivan, The Telegram

“It opens up in the aftermath of a car crash, and does not let up from that brutal, mid-crisis opening.” - Ashley Fitzpatrick, The Telegram

“Chad Pelley’s new novel is a beautiful bruising experience. There is humor in these pages as well as tragedy and deep humanity, all tied together with great storytelling. Read it.” – Award-winning author Samuel Martin, Dark Art Cafe

“Award-winning short story scribe Chad Pelley has gone all-out in his first full-length novel Away From Everywhere … [a] stunning and somber portrait of the family ties that can both bind us and tear us apart.” - Stephen Clare, The Chronicle Herald

“Cuts deep … a searing story … Pelley’s work is finely-tuned and picks up on the many subtleties that characterize family relationships and romatic love … this is one absorbing read that will have you hooked from the opening lines and have you haging on.” – Darrell Squires, The Western Star

“You know you’re on the right career path when you have the likes of Kenneth J. Harvey calling you ‘one of the most talented writers to come out of Newfoundland in many years.’ … a powerful and poignant look at the ups and downs of love.” - From the feature article, The Next Wave, in Atlantic Books Today

“One of those books that wound and stab us … a riveting first novel … this book is a hard and honest view of relationships; of love and what we lose to it … Be forewarned — forget the tissues, you’ll need band-aids after reading this one!” – A Season to Read.com

“Pelley’s writing style is attention grabbing. From page one he sucks you in and gives you a world of hardship and struggle that is excitingly gritty and keeps your attention throughout. Certainly a new fictioneer to keep your eyes on. A recommended read for sure.” - Stephen Rowe, Award-winning poet and book blogger.

“Pelley is a gifted writer who, no doubt, we will hear a lot from in the future.” - Sue Carter Flinn, The Coast

“A good eye for description, with an almost poetic air to the physicality of his characters. Pelley achieves some affecting moments of true transcendence; his is a talent to watch for.” – Corey Redekop, The Shelf Monkey

“Artful and gripping writing. I can turn to any page and instantly feel despair and longing within any one sentence. This book is for the passionate.” – Caitlyn McCann, The Brock Press 

“Newfoundland writer Chad Pelley has written the most powerful novel I have read in some time. The characters are full of both the wonder and anguish of life and the writing is crisp and doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of life in 2010.” - Staff review (Kerri) at Bryan Prince Bookseller

Selected Radio Interviews

Interview with CBC’s Angela Antle here:

Clip from interview with CHMR’s Mike Minor Here:

Book Trailer:

Away from Everywhere:
an Unofficial Soundtrack to the Novel:

These songs fit on an 80-minute CD, and can all be purchased at iTunes. Makes for great music to read and fall asleep to. All bands on this CD were mentioned by name in this novel, in one draft or another (though may not be in the final novel). See page numbers below.

100 physical copies were made and distributed to media.

01.) The Weakerthans – Left & Leaving

- In a deleted scene, Owen used lyrics from this song for the epigraph of his short story collection.

02.) Joel Plaskett – Heartless, Heartless, Heartless

- When I first wrote the scene where Hannah and Owen come to St. John’s, they went to a Joel Plaskett show at the Ship, and were spotted being a little too friendly by an old friend of Alex’s.

03.) Pilot to Bombardier (Bryan Power) – Lifetime Behind

- This song captures some elements of the book well. It’s brooding and reflective in an atypically warm, disarming way. Like a few parts of the book.

04.) The Album Leaf – Always for You

- Thematically encapsulates much of the book’s premise.

05.) Damien Jurado – Sheets

- See page 58, where Hannah mentions he is Owen’s favourite musician and they lay on her couch listening to and discussing him. (And lyrically, this song really suits the book.)

06.) Blair Harvey ft. Joel Hynes – Dozen Beer

- See page 176. ” … get a drink downtown. Get out of the house. Blair Harvey and Mark Bragg were playing at The Ship.”

07.) Brian Borcherdt – Motel

- See page 276. Emily was listening to Brian the night Andrew stumbled into her studio and …

08.) Mark Kozelek – Up to My Neck

- See page 284, when the power goes out. “We could go out in my truck and chat. Maybe take a few CDs out with us and flick the dome light on. I’ve got some Mark Kozelek, I think you’ll like him. And The Great Lake Swimmers.”

09.) Mark Bragg – Amanada Lies

- See page 176. ” … get a drink downtown. Get out of the house. Blair Harvey and Mark Bragg were playing at The Ship.”

10.) Eric Bachmann – Lonesome Warrior

- See page 282. What Owen and Emily are listening to when the power goes out.

11.) Hayden – Home by Saturday

See page 256, where Hannah talks about her crush on Hayden / the night Alex took her to a Hayden concert.

12.) Great Lake Swimmers – Changing Colours

- See page 284, when the power goes out. “We could go out in my truck and chat. Maybe take a few CDs out with us and flick the dome light on. I’ve got some Mark Kozelek, I think you’ll like him. And The Great Lake Swimmers.”

13.) Damien Jurado – Everything Trying

- See page 58, where Hannah mentions he is Owen’s favourite musician and they lay on her couch listening to and discussing him. (And lyrically, this song really suits the book.)

14.) Wintersleep – Listen (listen listen)

- Not mentioned in the novel, but lyrically, and mood-wise, it was the perfect song to use in my trailer for the novel. But, then, didn’t.

15.) Songs: Ohia – Being in Love

- See page 120. The Jason Molina lyrics Owen quotes are from this song. Songs:Ohia are also mentioned by Hannah on page 20.

16.) The Frames – True

- Mentioned in a rough draft, this song just really captures a few different elements of this novel.

17.) Hayden – Between Us to Hold

- See page 256, where Hannah talks about her crush on Hayden / the night Alex took her to a Hayden concert.

Chad’s first book of short fiction, Four Letter Words, is written and forthcoming,
though it’ll be 2014/15 before it hits shelves. It’ll feature a dozen stories of people
longing for something they’ll never have. Some are funny, some are sad, some are both, and all are painfully human.

Buyable Short Stories:

“Before I Was Me”
In January of 2013, Fierce Ink Press solicited Chad for a short story in support of charity.
The resulting story, “Before I Was Me,” was a composite of three events that happened
around Pelley in High School, written in support of Canadian Suicide Prevention.
You can read more and buy it here: http://bit.ly/10OMrSO

When someone close dies, especially if it’s sudden, there’s often a strong desire to talk to that person one last time. Written as a letter to an ex who committed suicide before she could become who she could have become, Before I Was Me places readers in his shoes as he reflects on high school incidents that continue to resonate with him years afterward. Drawn from the memory of several events, he writes about suicide with direct yet breathtaking prose. Not simply a tale of a boy and the girl he still misses sixteen years later, Before I Was Me is also a touching story about loss, grief, and coming to terms with the past.

“Trigger Finger Blues”

In March of 2013, Pelley intentionally stepped out of his comfort zone to write an offkilter but stark story
for the innovative Found Press magazine. You can buy it for a buck, here: http://bit.ly/12hj2Sq

Marcel, a sensitive male sniper, knew his life was missing something. But he didn’t know what until he set his crosshairs on it: Violet Caine. A ginger-headed lover of Thai food, wanted dead simply because her brother messed with the wrong bike gang. It’s a story of redemption coming too late, and the ways happenstance can turn a warm man cold. Then warm again. Whether fate wrote his troubled life, or he wrote it himself, he wants Violet Caine to be the end of it. Be it figuratively or literally.

Selected Recent Accolades for Chad’s Short Fiction:

“A Second Look at Nothing”
Winner of the Telegraph-Journal‘s Salon Fiction Prize, judged by Alexander MacLeod, Sue Goyette and Thomas Hodd.
Winner of The Newfoundland & Labrador Arts & Letters Award for Short Fiction.

“Red”
Published in The Antigonish Review
Winner of The Newfoundland & Labrador Arts & Letters Award for Short Fiction.

“Holes to China”
Winner of the 2009 Cuffer Prize for Short Fiction
Published in Prairie Fire
English Language finalist for LTAC’s Words on the Move  Competition (Newfoundland chapter)

“What the Difference Is” and “Subtle Differences”
Second and third place winners in the 2011 and 2008 Cuffer Prize for Short Fiction, respectively.
Also, “All That he Saw” was shortlisted for the Cuffer in 2010, as was “Walls” in 2011.

“One of the best blogs around. He offers up interesting reviews and interviews, giving one of the richest literary regions some much deserved love.” – CBC Books.

“An authoritative voice on all things bookish. Salty Ink covers [literature] with humour and heart.” – Torontoist

Salty Ink is a book blog I launched in 2009 in response to feeling like traditional print media does a fairly poor, or at least narrow-scoped coverage of books. I.e, mainly poorly written reviews or dry book overviews that almost seem sponsored, and their coverage tends to be on the same ten Big Buzzed Books of the year. But buzz seldom translates into good. Salty Ink aims to do less opinionated reviews, and more interactive features — samples, author interviews, fun features and competitions  etc. Its mandate is to promote Fresh New Canadian Fiction & Poetry. Only the good stuff, not just the hyped stuff. It started out as a spotlight on Atlantic Canadian Literature, which it still favours, as the Atlantic really is the country’s literary goldmine.

Salty Ink’s activities and competitions have been featured by the arts sectors of various organizations, including CBC, The Globe & Mail, The National Post, Quill & Quire, The Telegram, The Chronicle Herald, The Torontonian, the federal government’s Language Portal of Canada, and many of Canada’s finest literary blogs, such as Bookninja, That Shakespearean Rag, Open Book Toronto, The Afterword, Book Madam & Associates, and Pickle Me This.

Visit the blog here: http://saltyink.com

Chad’s photography has appeared on everything from calenders to mugs to decks of cards and postcards.

All Photos below are for sale as:

5×7 Photo in a bright white 8×10 Mat – $16 each.

For digital use in ads, magazines, websites – $99 each.

For use on products, email: chadpelley@hotmail.com

They are copyrighted, and I can see any ISP addresses illegally downloading them.

Cape Spear Series

Gros Morne Series 1

Gros Morne Sunset Series

Icebergs

Misc. Newfoundland Series 1

Misc. Newfoundland Series 2

Misc. Newfoundland Series 3

Signal Hill Series

St. John’s Series

More to follow?

 Non-Newfoundland Photography:

Coming Soon?

For now: Everything Ends, Nothing Lasts

Chad grew up playing music in bars. His mother had to sign permission slips
so he could play underage to drunk people who were twice his age and moshing to his music.
“It was beautiful; my heyday — I’d go back to the 90s in a heartbeat.”
Music has always been his first love, but, people grow old, people get married, have kids, bands get impractical.
So now he’s recording stuff on his own. Trouble is, he was never the singer, or drummer, or album recording engineer.
But he’s making the best of it alone now, and recording a few albums a year.
Click here for a kind review of his grand return in February of 2012.

You can stream or download all his albums, for free, here: http://chadpelley.bandcamp.com/

Written as part of the international RPM Challenge,
these 11 songs of complicated love and self-reflection were written and  recorded in 28 days.
Of the 146 RPM Albums recorded in Newfoundland in February of 2013, Pelley’s Things Changed
was singled out in this article in 2013 RPM Highlights.

11 fully-realized acoustic tracks with rich lyrics and dreamy vocals all peppered with inventive instrumentation.” – Erin Power, The Scope

Download Things Changed here. Or stream it below:

Written and recorded in the spring and summer of 2012,
I’m All Yours and You’re Half Mine is a concept album:
a man falls for woman who already has a man.
The ensuing songs landed Chad a dream job, when he was asked
to write lyrics for other musicians.

Here is an interview in the Scope about I’m All Yours and You’re Half Mine.

You can stream it below, or download the album here: http://bit.ly/Vgz7Ig