Tide of Times

In an earlier column I wrote about what I do in deconstructing legends and I have another example that I’d like to tell you about. This one was the original puzzle that first led to my increasing fascination with finding the truth underlying such tales, and it was brought to my attention decades ago while […]

I met a very wide-eyed Grade Eleven student at a public reading I did several months ago, who approached me timidly and asked me to autograph a book for her favourite teacher, who is apparently a fan of my stories. “Miss X says you’re the best writer she’s ever found for deconstructing legends,” she said, […]

According to a recent report I saw, there’s an escalating number of people everywhere abandoning Cable TV in favour of alternative viewing methods. It’s a rising groundswell that is quickly becoming a tsunami, now that Netflix is available here in Canada, and the trend is escalating so hugely that the Nielsen people have created a […]

One question comes more often, I believe, than any other whenever the talk drifts around to what I actually do. Especially on the golf course. Most of the fellows who play regularly at my club in the Men’s Day event on Wednesdays know I’m an author, but a large number of them are considerably younger […]

I am continually astonished at how many people, when they see me sitting somewhere reading a book, assume naturally that the book is one my own novels. And I confess I enjoy the slightly glazed look that often comes into their eyes when I tell them I don’t need to read my own books, because […]

I have two reasons for remembering being in Mobile, Alabama, in the early autumn of 1999, attending the annual SEBA convention as the guest of my American publisher. The first reason is that the event itself gave me my first intimidating insight into how huge the American marketplace is, compared to anything we have in […]

In the storage area next to my work room there’s a set of shelves that nobody ever touches, principally because it’s tucked in a corner and laden with musty old piles of dust-shrouded paper, four or five inches thick, that no sane person would want to risk disturbing. Some of the piles are boxed, some […]

Listening to an old recording of a Q&A session at a Writers Festival recently, I realized again that very few people really understand the role of an editor in the traditional preparation and publication of a book, and practically no one who’s not in the business is aware that there are a number of different […]

A few weeks ago, sitting alone in my basement looking through one of those old cartons of assorted junk that might be valuable some day—doesn’t everyone have one tucked away, somewhere?—I came across a small container holding three undeveloped rolls of film. There was a note around one of the rolls, held in place by a […]

I’ve lost several good, longtime friends in recent months and the experience has left me philosophically aware of the dwindling number  who are still alive, prompting me to think about how precious they are, and how fortunate I am to have enjoyed the privilege of their friendship. But everybody dies, though few of us want […]