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Riverview, New Brunswick

Mas as well start with the big news. We've moving to the Maritimes! Riverview, New Brunswick, to be specific (just across the Petitcodiac river from Moncton). We've sold our place in Whitby and bought a new one in Riverview. We plan to move down Aug 27th. It's the end of the Ontario adventure for me, after having moved up here from Summerside, PEI, 37 years ago.

Why? We'll both be among family in the maritimes, which will be terrific. And I'd be lying if I said house prices didn't have anything to do with it.

And no, I'm not retiring from my day job at the CBC. At least, not yet. I'll be able to do exactly the same job down there as I do up here.

A Time and a Place: the Podcast

I've now uploaded eleven chapters of my novel A Time and a Place as a podcast. I've been doing so one chapter at a time, once a week at no cost to those who download and listen. It's completely for free. Chapter Twelve: An Important Date, drops Thursday June 30th: Wildebear and Humphrey find themselves back on Earth, near Summerside, two years in the past. Wildebear realizes that he can prevent his sister Katerina's tragic motorcycle accident. Or can he?

The podcast of A Time and a Place is available just about everywhere you can find your favourite podcasts, including Spotify, iHeartRadio, and several other sources.

Re:creative Podcast

In related news, I plan to launch another podcast called Re: creative with my friend and fellow writer Mark A. Rayner soon. We now have four episodes in the can with plans to record a full ten episodes before we start uploading them. Progress on this took a bit of a hit the last few weeks as my wife and I got our house ready for sale (decluttering takes time!) But the house is now sold so I hope to get back at Re: creative soon.

What's Re: creative about? We talk to special guests about a piece of art (books, paintings, music, anything at all) that's important to them for whatever reason, and the conversation grows from there. Guests so far have included writers Douglas Smith and Sherry D. Ramsay; Mark and I look forward to speaking with many more.

ADVENTURES IN THE RADIO TRADE

My memoir about working at the CBC, Radio Adventures in the Radio Trade, is still very much a going concern. It's completely written and edited. It's 47 chapters long, 329 pages, and includes a glossary, a 14 page index, and rare behind-the-scenes photos. It's at the book design stage with the hope of getting it out before Christmas.

Just one tiny hitch: I'm still working with the CBC on the final edit. We want a final product that everybody's comfortable with. It's not my intention to embarrass anybody. I think we're close. As soon as we nail it down, it's off to the book designer and then in stores and on bookshelves. I can hardly wait!

Film Review:

Manry at Sea: In the Wake of a Dream

(Directed by Steve Wystrach)

I was a kid when I stumbled upon Robert Manry's book Tinkerbelle detailing his incredible journey crossing the Atlantic ocean alone in his tiny sailboat. I've reread it many times since and I never get bored of the story. When I learned that a documentary had recently been made of the story, I was astounded and excited, and couldn't wait to see it.

I had no idea what to expect. How much video, photos, audio and other info could possibly exist about an event that happened in 1965? An event that, although well known at the time, is relatively obscure today. Happily, it turns out there's quite a bit of material.

The doc is actually two stories. One, that of Manry's own exploits alone in his sailboat crossing the ocean, and two, the tale of two news organizations competing for the scoop. Complicating matters, Manry himself worked for one of the competing newspapers. The documentary makers expertly weave these two narratives together making full use of the archival materials at their disposal, including interviews with those present at the time and even Manry's own voice and that of his immediate family members. The doc is superbly paced and the choice of accompanying music (some of it original) is not only tasteful and appropriate but elevates the proceedings enormously.

This is a terrific documentary, not just for fans of Manry and his incredible journey and for those infatuated with sailing and the sea, but for all lovers of well-crafted documentary filmmaking.

(This review also posted on IMDB)

BOOK REVIEW

Grace Upon Grace is the aptly named memoir of Grace Fraser Henry’s experience with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a progressive immune disorder that wreaks havoc with one’s immune system. Like other sufferers, Grace has experienced diminished physical and cognitive functionality.

In just over 62 pages, Grace lets us see her life before and after MS. We glimpse her as a healthy child, climbing trees and running faster than anyone else. We see her as a young adult touring with a popular Jamaican Gospel group, getting married, and starting a life in Canada. And then, once MS strikes, we witness it derail her successful teaching career, but fail utterly to derail anything else about Grace. Her spirit and faith and courage live on despite her prognosis.

Grace frequently draws parallels between memorable events in her life that resonate with her challenges with MS. The result is a concise, lucid, and charming memoir, full of hope and light, just like, I suspect, Grace herself.

(This review also posted on Amazon.ca)

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WORTH CHECKING OUT

I'd like to start introducing fellow writers with whom I'm acquainted worth your time. Let's start with:

Melissa Yi

I'll let Melissa introduce herself (well, in the third person!) This is from her website:

Melissa Yi is an emergency physician and award-winning writer. In her newest crime novel, SCORPION SCHEME, Dr. Hope Sze lands in Cairo and discovers a man with a nail through his skull who might hold the key to millions in buried gold. Previous Hope Sze thrillers were recommended by The Globe and Mail, CBC Books, and The Next Chapter as one of the best Canadian suspense novels. Yi was shortlisted for the Derringer Award for the world’s best short mystery fiction. Under the name Melissa Yuan-Innes, she also writes medical humour and has won speculative fiction awards.

You can find all about her here:

https://melissayuaninnes.com/

Scroll down to the bottom and subscribe to her newsletter as well!

What's Out There by Yours Truly & Co.

Fiction:

A Time and a Place

Other Times and Places

Nonfiction:

Adventures in the Radio Trade (coming soon!)

Editor:

The Deer Yard and Other Stories (by Tom Mahoney)

Thanks for reading, and feel free to pass this newsletter along to anyone you think might find it of interest.

Have a great summer!

Joe Mahoney

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June Update