I recently got a mention in the Victoria Times Colonist about my two novels, The Raven''s Pool and White Raven. I am mentioned at the end, but after you read this article you will see why. This article gave me a bit of a chuckle...
SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS WRITTEN OR SET LOCALLY -- by Liz Pogue, book editor
Self-published books from local authors are piling up. Who knew so many people on these little islands could write so many books?
Dave Conrad of Sidney hails from Nova Scotia and has settled here since retiring from the coast guard. His historical novel, The Last Heretic (Booksurge; $14.99) takes us back to Kleinheubach, Germany, and the events surrounding the last days of a woman called Anna Maria. It might have comforted her a little, when she was burned at the stake for heresy, to know that she would be the last person in her town to meet with such a horrible fate.
Conrad says he based his story on a real-life character caught up in the battle between the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformation movement.
From the pen of Dave Preston of Metchosin comes All is Bright: A Yorkshire Lad's Christmas. (White Rose Content; $14.99). The Christmas theme won't prevent the reader from enjoying this collection of tales at any time of year, but 'appen t'use of a bit o' broad Yorkshire dialect might.
For Victoria baby boomers who started life somewhere north of the Mersey, especially in less-than-affluent circumstances, these stories will bring back a lot of memories -- memories of buying or selling damson jam or apple chutney at parish hall sales, of concerns about the half ton of coal lasting until spring and waking up in bedrooms so frosty you can see your breath.
For younger readers, or for readers whose ethnic roots don't stretch back to Britain, these stories will seem a bit weird.
Preston has other books to his credit, including Rails and Rooms (Whitecap) about Canadian railway trains and hotels.
David Havard now lives in Smithers, but his book is titled Growing up in Victoria: Been There, Done That, and a free trip to Europe, too ... (spiral bound; $14). The author lived here between 1928, when he moved with his parents and sisters to the Victoria City Old Mens' Home on Cadboro Bay Road, which his father managed, and 1942 when he headed off to war. Havard remembers a lot of small details -- chocolate bars that cost five cents and some old teamsters at the home who had driven not trucks but teams of animals.
Another Victoria resident, David Cargo, has written Stopping the Insanity (spiral bound; no price listed) to share his long and difficult battle with substance abuse. He finally conquered his addictions, and had the focus and determination to write a 290-page book on the topic. Copies can be obtained from the author by e-mailing thecargos.shaw.ca.
And finally an author who isn't called Dave. Deborah Cannon is another Ontario resident who has set her story in this area, in the Queen Charlotte Islands.
White Raven (Trafford; $21.59) is the sequel to Cannon's earlier book, The Raven's Pool, and weaves myth and archeological fact with a battle between environmentalists and logging interest.
- by Liz Pogue
- from the Times Colonist (Victoria BC) Sunday February 25
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