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All Gone the Books

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The next five childhood pictures selected randomly from the box included two of toddler me with a book. I expect my parents thought it was cute to photograph me ‘reading’ before I could actually read.

All gone the book

I’m sure I didn’t have the numbers and variety of picture books that children today enjoy. In fact, for bedtime stories I only remember one – a book of poems my sister and I recited with my father. It seems to me we read this one book over and over. The poems were classics that included: “The Owl and the Pussycat,” “Turtle Soup” from Alice in Wonderland — Beautiful soup so rich and green — “Who Killed Cock Robin?” and “The Keeper.” That latter we sang in two voices:
“Jackie boy?”
“Master?”
“Sing you well?”
“Very well.”
At some point in my childhood, one of us five siblings coined the phrase “All gone the book” when we got to the end of a story. This became one of our family catch-phrases when a book was finished.

But, of course, a book is never over. The story or poem stays with us forever.
“Hey down.”
“Hoe down.”
“Derry derry down.”
“Among the leaves so green-o.”

Childhood photos

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My brother inherited our family photo albums. He has set himself the huge project of scanning and distributing the pictures in case his house burns down. He’s now finished the oldest album’s 187 photos and sent me the original hard copies of ones featuring me, which is most them since I was the first and most photographed child in our family.

Rather than store the photos in a box placed out of sight until I’m ready to downsize, I plan to display them in my writing den in batches of five to look at for a period of time. The photos will be my blogging project through the summer — and a trip down memory lane.

The first five photos, randomy plucked from the box, are ones of me at around age two-three, when our family rented a bungalow on Pine Beach Boulvard in the Montreal suburb of Dorval.

Two of the photos show me with my first friend, Denise, who lived next door. I don’t really remember Denise, although I have a vague memory of her tied to a tree in her front yard. This was because Denise had habit of running onto the street, and Pine Beach had a lot of traffic.  Her being tied up likely struck me as interesting because I was a more cautious child who wouldn’t have run onto the street. I remember the first time I left our property on my own I cut through back yards to get to my destination rather than take the busy road.

Denise and I at my third birthday party

Well, that might not have been my first venture out. My parents used to talk about Denise’s other habit of taking her clothes off. To stop her doing this, her parents put her clothes on inside out. One day Denise managed to strip and got me to do the same. The two of us ran up naked to the store on Pine Beach corner, where her father worked.

Denise moved away when I was around four years old. I wonder what she’s up to these days.

My sister Moira, Denise and I

Pam’s book launch

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On Saturday, I had the honour and joy of introducing my friend, Pamela McDowell, at the launch of her first fiction book, Ospreys in Danger, a picture book for children in grades 2-3. The story, based on a real event, features two plucky girls who save ospreys in Waterton National Park. Pam’s launch, approppriately, was held at Calgary’s Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.

Pam signing my books at her launch

Equally appropriate was her choice of launch bookseller –  Owl’s Nest Bookstore.

Creative Non-Fiction conference

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Here are a couple more photos taken at last weekend’s Creative Non-fiction Conference. I attended the pre- and post-conference events that were open to the public.

Susan & author Denise Chong at Shelf Life Books reading

Below, I am fiddling with my camera while author and educator Aretha Van Herk speaks at the statues of the Famous Five.

Literary Walk of Old Calgary

Calgary Crime Writers Meeting

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Join us at the following event:

Crime & Coffee with Crime Writers of Canada

Thursday, May 15, 2014    7-9 PM

Good Earth at Glenmore Landing

90th Ave and 14th St. SW

Everyone welcome. If the weather’s good, look for us on the patio.

Literary Walk

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A little drizzle didn’t diminish my enjoyment of Sunday’s Literary Walk of old Calgary hosted by the Creative Nonfiction Collective Society to wrap up their 10th anniversary conference weekend. Here’s writer Shaun Hunter talking about Calgary’s near-forgotten painter and author, William S. Bates, and his connection to the Grain Exchange Building (1909), now the home of Freehand Books.

After the walk, we warmed up in the James Joyce pub.

Arthur Ellis Short-List Announcement

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Lots of fun, companionship and laughs at our Arthur Ellis Short-list announcement event at Owl’s Nest Bookstore on April 24th.

Reader Darlene Quaife and I share a laugh

A bonus was having one of our readers – Axel Howerton – make the short list for Best First Novel.

Axel reading
Our Crime Writers mascot

Arthur Ellis Awards

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FROM CRIME WRITERS OF CANADA
arthurbanner

Announcing the 2014 Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlists and Winner of the CWC Grand Master Award for Crime Writing in Canada

(Toronto, April 24, 2014) Crime Writers of Canada is pleased to announce the 2014 Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlists, and the winner of the CWC Grand Master Award for Crime Writing in Canada.

This is the inaugural year of the CWC Grand Master Award, intended to recognize Canadian crime writers who have a substantial body of work that has garnered national and international recognition.

This year’s winner of the CWC Grand Master Award is Howard Engel, the author of the award winning Benny Cooperman detective series.  A mainstay of the Canadian crime writing scene for many years, Mr. Engel helped put Canadian crime writing on the map at a time when few mysteries were set in this country.

The 2014 Arthur Ellis Shortlists for Excellence in Crime Writing

Best Novel
John Brooke, Walls of a Mind, Signature Editions
Seán Haldane, The Devil’s Making, Stone Flower Press
Lee Lamothe, Presto Variations, Dundurn
Howard Shrier, Miss Montreal, Vintage Canada
Simone St. James, An Inquiry into Love and Death, Penguin Books

Best First Novel
E.R. Brown, Almost Criminal, Dundurn
A.S.A. Harrison, The Silent Wife, Penguin Books Canada
Axel Howerton, Hot Sinatra, Evolved Publishing
J. Kent Messum, Bait, Penguin Canada
S.G. Wong, Die on Your Feet, Carina Press

Best Novella
Melodie Campbell, The Goddaughter’s Revenge, Orca Books
Brenda Chapman, My Sister’s Keeper, Grassroots Press
James Heneghan, A Woman Scorned, Orca Books

Best Short Story
Donna Carrick, Watermelon Weekend, Thirteen, Carrick Publishing
Jas. R. Petrin, Under Cap Ste. Claire, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, October 2013, Dell Magazines
Twist Phelan, Footprints in Water, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 2013, Dell Magazines
Sylvia Maultash Warsh, The Emerald Skull, Thirteen, Carrick Publishing
Sam Wiebe, The Third Echo, Girl Trouble: Malfeasance Occasional, MacMillan/St Martin’s Press

Best Book in French
Chrystine Brouillet, Saccages, La courte échelle
Jacques Côté, Et à l’heure de votre mort, éditions Alire
Maureen Martineau, L’enfant promis, La courte échelle
Jacques Savoie, Le fils emprunté,  Éditions Libre Expression

Best Juvenile/YA
Karen Autio, Sabotage, Sono Nis Press
Gail Gallant, Apparition, Doubleday Canada
Elizabeth MacLeod, Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History’s Mysteries, Annick Press
Ted Staunton, Who I’m Not, Orca Books

Unhanged Arthur
L.J. Gordon, Death at the Iron House Lodge
Rachel Greenaway, Cold Girl
Charlotte Morganti, The Snow Job
Kristina Stanley, Descent
Kevin Thornton, Coiled

Crime Writers of Canada was founded in 1982 as a professional organization designed to raise the profile of Canadian crime writers from coast to coast. Our members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors.

Past winners of the Arthur have included such major names in Canadian crime writing as Howard Engel, Eric Wright, Peter Robinson, James W. Nichol, William Deverell, Gail Bowen, Louise Penny, Stevie Cameron, Julian Sher, Norbert Spehner, Mario Bolduc, Giles Blunt, Barbara Fradkin and Howard Shrier.

We would like to thank Dundurn Press for sponsoring the Unhanged Arthur Award.

For more info about the Arthur Ellis Awards and the shortlists or for contact information about the finalists, contact Arthur Ellis Awards Administrator Alison Bruce, at arthur_ellis@crimewriterscanada.com.

Finalist

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Good News. My long short story “Pandemic” was a finalist in the December 2013 Glimmer Train Fiction Open Contest. “Pandemic” was inspired by my trip to Italy five years ago. I wrote the story mentally for several years before committing it to computer screen, seeking feedback, revising and sending it out. Many thanks to the following people, who read all or part of the manuscript: Brian Brennan, Barb Howard, Shaun Hunter, Lee Kvern, Marilyn Letts and Deborah Willis.

'Last Judgement