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Yahoo! Yahoooo!

Good Morning America has issued it's summer reading list for 2010 and has picked the Sherri Travis Series in the top 6 Mystery series for the year!

See the list and videos at Good Morning America Book List for 2010.


Harriet Klausner, Amazon.com's #1 reviewer has just posted her review for A Brewski for the Old man. See the "Books and Reviews" tab.

News Letter


Sunday, August 29, 2010
It started with a dinner

Sometimes ripples go out from events that we can never anticipate. When I got to the 2007 Ellis awards dinner I learned that my husband and I were seated at a table with two other nominees for the "Unhanged Arthur" award. Kevin Thornton and Jennifer Hemstock were both from Fort McMurray but they had never met. Jennifer’s husband, Blair Hemstock, was also there. Needless to say it was an anxious time, waiting there for the announcement of the winner, and not the best circumstance for any of us to meet. One day I’ll get Kevin to tell you what happened to the fork he was holding when my name was announced as the winner. But strangely, good things have come out of this unlikely beginning.

The three of us kept in touch, an e-mail or two a year. Jennifer, Blair, and Kevin did more than that, they became friends and founded a new literary journal of Canada's north called North Word. Their summer issue for 2010 is number 3. The theme of this issue is “Twist.” My warped entry is called "Pink".

The cover, by Keyano College student Carli Gaudet, is brilliant, or as Kevin says, “…stunning and, dare I say it, twisted.”

How likely was any of this to happen? Never mind all of us meeting in Toronto but how likely was it that those three people from Fort McMurray would become friends and start a literary magazine. Oh, yes, there is one more twist. This year, at the awards dinner, I got to announce the nominees for the "Unhanged Arthur" award in Toronto. One of the nominees, the one from the original awards dinner who hadn’t been nominated, Blair Hemstock, was nominated in 2010.

It’s not just about winning; sometimes it’s the good things that come after that really count.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Today I am guest Blogger on Linda Wilkens Blog site about Canadian mystery writers.

Check it out at Mystery Maven Canada Blog

All That Jazz

It was a busy week. Thursday we got up at 6:00 to catch the 7:50 ferry. Plenty of time, unless you both sit down at your computers to fix a problem and forget to watch the clock. I checked the time. It was 7:12.
I was still in my pjs. A funny thing happens when I get hyper...my voice raises to a decibel level that only dogs can hear and I start running in ever decreasing circles.

It's a twenty minute drive to the ferry on a good day and there aren't many of them in the summer with everyone coming and going. I raced to my closet and pulled on jeans and the first top to come to hand. It was orange and sparkly. I had a meeting at a television station at 10:00 and this top wouldn't have been my first choice for an ensemble. I couldn't find my purse. It wasn't fun. Normally I would have planned ahead but then normally I wouldn't be worried about the font on a brochure for a meeting that afternoon in Victoria.

Unlike me, Lee likes to do that calm Zen thing. I really hate it. He says stupid things like, "We'll either make it or we won't, don't get so excited." It's that kind of crazy attitude that makes people in front of you insist on driving the speed limit when there is no place to pass them.

The ferry was moving into the dock when we arrived. No breakfast, hairy teeth and eyes twirling in their sockets, we made it on time, and the lovely woman I met at CHEK News pretended I looked just fine, pretended she sees people who look like that all the time. She probably does...in traffic accidents. But sometimes things do work out, no thanks to that stupid Zen thing.

It was after 8:00 when we dragged ourselves in that night so we decided to go golfing Friday morning, you know, balance things out. Great idea. At the golf course Lee went off to the first tee while I checked out the ladies washroom. It's on the outside of the building...at the end...away from everything, where no one can hear you when you scream because you can't get the door unlocked.

Knocking on a door with your fists is a really dumb idea. Better to kick it like I did. What was really freaking me out wasn't that Lee might play on without me but that the only window, high up on the wall, didn't open. I was trapped in there. This is a golf course that leaves a sign on the door that says, "Go ahead and play. You can pay us when we get back." Nice.

Panic and claustrophobia build excellent attention getting skills. Finally another golfer came along and got Ann from the pro shop to get a key and unlock the door. Embarrassing.

Lee wanted to know why I took so long and then he said, "You know, I thought I heard something. I thought it was a woodpecker." Guess what I told him. But I played the best game of my life. Seems adrenalin is good for the swing.

This weekend there is a Jazz Festival on Salt Spring. We are also supposed to have record temperatures...Jazz and hot steamy weather...how good can it get?

Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010-08-05

There was rain last night, the first in over a month. It started with thunder and lightning, which was scary given the dry conditions. The last thing we needed was another forest fire. It rained for almost an hour, just what we needed. The climate on Salt Spring Island is classed as dry Mediterranean. There is almost no rain in the summer months and the meadows and hills turn golden brown. No camp fires, in fact no open fires, of any kind are allowed. Dust covers everything. Many of the roads are gravel, as are many of the parking lots, so all of the island cars are covered in dust. That's how we tell the tourists among us...clean cars are a dead give away.

Weds. Aug.4 2010

We are on the ferry headed for Vancouver Island. There is a haze hanging over everything. Is it the weather or smoke from all the forest fires burning in B.C.? Today is supposed to be the warmest day of the summer, in the 80's but it is always cool on the water, which stays at a constant 53 degrees. The talk on the dock before we sailed was all about the "Hard landing," that a B.C. ferry had on Mayne Island on Monday. A "hard landing" is how it's described in the transportation industry, like when the airplane hits so hard the fuselage disintegrates or when the ferry fails to slow down as it comes into the dock... an " OOPS" in layman's terms. Fortunately, while there were a few people injured, no one was killed. There was a female B.C. ferry employee on the dock, waiting to assist with the landing, who realized the ferry was not slowing down. By all accounts she broke several world records for sprinting. I bet her heart is still pounding.

The words, "hard landing" reminds me of an old Charlie Farqeson joke I heard on CBC radio back in the eighties and never forgot, mainly because I didn't think you could tell that kind of joke on the radio, especially not on the CBC. It seems Charlie and his wife were going to a costume party dressed as moose. She had a pink bow in her hair to show she was a girl moose. They had a flat tire. Charlie got out to change the tire and she got out to watch. Unfortunately, they forgot that it was mating season for moose. They heard this terrible racket and looked up to see a huge male moose pawing the ground. His wife said,

"Oh, Charlie, what are we going to do?"

Charlie answered,

"Well, dear, I'm going to put my head down and pretend to eat grass. I suggest you brace yourself for a hard landing!"

Okay, I changed the ending but you get the picture.

On the shore I can see an eagle sitting in a dead tree, a dead tree that looks like a giant hydro pole. Isn't that the iconic B.C. picture?


Thoughts on Long Weekends

I've always had conflicted thoughts about long weekends. If I had nothing planned, I felt like a loser. If I was invited somewhere it often was somewhere I didn't want to be and getting there and back or preparing for it seemed to swallow up the whole weekend. Like the three hour drive to a cottage that turns into a six hour drive, spending a couple of hours and turning around and coming home. What fun!

I just never got long weekends right, always felt that everyone else was having more fun or living a more interesting life than I was. Most of the time long weekends turned into the time to catch up on chores and big jobs around our ten acre place.

Fortunately I grew old and I no longer care what I'm supposed to do or feel or take part in. I don't feel I have to join in the national pastime of being somewhere I'm not, doing something exciting. I don't have to celebrate.

The Gulf islands are cottage country for Vancouver and much of B.C. By ten o'clock yesterday morning, three sailings of the ferries from the mainland were already filled and another was ninety percent filled, leaving lots of impatient people waiting in the terminal for hours. What fun. But some of them do manage to enjoy it. They play cards or Frisbee, some nap or read…all manner of things. I'm just not built that way. Too impatient. I'd be saying, "Let's go home now." And then they'll have the same amount of fun getting back to the mainland.

The Sat. market in Ganges, which is a cross between a craft fair and an organic food sale with entertainment, and with all the feeling of a medieval fair…with stilt walkers and fortune tellers but no fire eaters… will be crazy this morning. You won't be able to move or park a car. And the beautiful park next to the market, along the edge of the harbour, will be covered with people stretched out on the ground resting, talking or eating, and playing with children. Those are the truly social people among us. As for me, I no longer feel bad that I'm not that social. I don't like sitting on the grass - I'm always looking for dog doo or something else disgusting - with dozens of people around me when I can be home in a perfectly comfortable chair with a whole room to myself. And I've got a good book. I may take part in the holiday spirit enough to walk up to the bakery and buy a treat, something really fattening because you're supposed to eat and drink too much on holidays. Now that's something I can get into.

I hope you have something fattening to eat, and something you really enjoy doing - like reading a really good book. Happy long weekend.

Hard Knock Life - Sunday, July 25/ 10

It's a hard knock life. This morning I had to decide if I was going to get down to work and stagger through the bars of Sarasota with Sherri or go golfing. I've found with temptation it's always better to give in gracefully, otherwise you waste a lot of time, so off I went to play nine holes of golf with Jack and Lee at Blackburn on a beautiful Salt Spring morning. You couldn't ask for a more perfect day or more perfect playing partners. Late this afternoon, Gord and Ann are coming in for drinks. I've poached a little salmon to have on toast with cream cheese and capers. See what I mean? Life is hard.

My week is shaping up to be just as difficult as today. Tomorrow we are going off island to look at a new computer for me. Actually, Lee is looking at computers; I'm looking at the sales. I'm only interested in computer shopping if they come in patterns and colors…make mine silver with a nice pounded metal strip and a thin line of red. Yeah, that would do it. Tuesday a man who is about to be published is taking the ferry over from Sidney to Salt Spring in the hopes that I can tell him something about marketing books. I didn't tell him that I know nothing about book marketing. I'd never meet anyone new if I was that honest, if I told him my marketing plan consists of begging my friends to buy lots of books. I didn't tell him that on the phone because it might discourage him. Or he might want me to urge my friends to buy lots of his books. Wednesday, I'm meeting the people who bought the naming opportunity in Champagne For Buzzards. They're from Seattle. Here we are on Salt Spring talking about a book set in Florida. Lovely! I hope I don't have to tell them that they end up as bones that a dog digs up…but really, where else can I put them in the book?

See how I struggle? I hope, wherever you are, that your life is no harder than mine.
Cheers!

July 21, 2010 Christopher Robin came to Salt Spring

A little boy, very like Christopher Robin in looks and thoughts, came for a visit so we've had two weeks of dropping Pooh sticks off bridges, beaching at St. Mary's Lake and turning over rocks to catch crabs by the ocean - back to childhood for a brief time. Sat. the two of us were kicking a ball around in the back yard when a bald eagle swooped by our heads to settle in a tall fir tree. I pointed it to CR before I realized that the eagle had a small gosling in its talons. The eagle was in no hurry to dine but just waiting until the gosling stopped struggling before it started to pull it apart. A shocking reminder of how brief life and innocence are. I decided it was time to go inside for treats. Sometimes it's good to put off reality.

I've started a new book. It's very very hard and scary this time. I don't know why I'm having trouble, maybe it's because this time people are watching. Before, when I started a new book, I wasn't sure if anyone would ever read it besides Lee and Jim. Now I know that it will probably be published I'm frozen. I feel like I'm going out on a high wire without a net and everyone's watching. Can I get to the other side without falling? At this point I don't think I can so I'm frozen here in mid air, afraid to go forward and unable to go back. Even though I have as much of a plot as I've ever had when I've started a book, this time I can't see how it will work. I think the only thing to do is to sit down on my chair every day in front of my computer and stay there until noon. Write or not, I'm going to be there. Something is bound to happen. It may not be pretty.

Happy July 4th weekend!

Hurricane season is here and this is what we just received from our insurance company. I love how they say "move to higher ground." You have to go to South Carolina to find higher ground in Florida. The point is, you're much likelier to die from drowning in a hurricane than you are from the wind. I also love the advice to take duct tape. Red Green would be so proud! Stay safe wherever you are and have a glorious weekend.


Most people don't think about their cars during hurricane season, but your car may just be your key to safety. If a hurricane is severe enough, you may need to use your car to get to a safer place. Make sure your car is ready for a hurricane or a possible evacuation and that you understand how to drive in severe storm conditions.

Hurricane safety tips

Make sure you have a full tank of gas before a storm arrives.

Store a crate in your trunk with emergency supplies:
" a first aid kit
" duct tape
" jumper cables for a dead battery
" one or two blankets
" a flashlight
" bottled water
" some sealed, shelf-stable food (like energy bars)
" some basic tools like a screwdriver and pliers
" a couple of brightly colored cloths to tie on your rear-view mirror to signal for help if you need it

Make sure you have a good spare tire.

If you're evacuating, bring your (fully charged) cell phone.

If you're evacuating or returning home after a hurricane, avoid driving through water. The average car can be swept off the road by as little as 12" of moving water. According to the National Hurricane Center, more than half of all hurricane deaths in the last 30 years have resulted from inland flooding. Of those deaths, one in four was someone who drowned in her car. Find an alternate route.
If your vehicle stalls in deep water, you may need to restart the engine to make it to safety. Please know, however, that restarting may cause severe damage to your engine. If you can't restart your vehicle and you become trapped in rising water, IMMEDIATELY ABANDON IT FOR HIGHER GROUND. If you're unable to get out of the vehicle safely, call 911 or get help from a passerby or someone standing on higher ground.

After you and your vehicle are out of deep water and in a safe area, depress your brakes slowly several times to help dry them out. And remember, if you're evacuating an area and leaving your car behind, be sure it's not left in a low-lying area prone to flooding. Rising water can seep in and damage your vehicle.

If you need to file a claim:

We personally handle your claim from beginning to end to provide fast, caring service and get you back on the road. In the event you're affected by a hurricane, report your claim online.

We hope these tips help you this hurricane season.
Be safe


July 1
Happy Canada Day!

Working in my office, I could hear Valdi singing down in the park. I opened the door so I could listen to the music but when I saw my breath in the air I quickly closed it again. Then it started to rain. Is global warming over? Did I miss it?
We walked up the hill to the Country Grocery Store, to get the stuff for peanut clusters, and everyone had red maple leaves on their cheeks. The weather didn't seem to bother anyone else. When we got home, Valdi was back on stage, a true trouper. I wonder if he's got on his shorts and red socks and red shoes that he always wears on Canada Day?
I've only got 42 pages to go on the rewrite. See you next year, Valdi.

We’ve just updated the “Settings” page on my web site. There are some new pictures and excerpts from the Sherri Travis series, bits of the next two books.


June 27, 2010 Salt Spring Island

I've just finished reading Blood Safari by Deon Meyer. Deon Meyer was a guest of honour at Bloody Words 2010. Blood Safari is a story of eco-terrorism, greed and assassination. The writer's view of consumerism and self-indulgence came through loud and clear.

Set in South Africa, this book was translated from Afrikaans. The translation presented some problems. e.g. "Quite a way. Just over three hundred kilos." What? It's true, 300 kilos is quite a long drive. Did any English speaking editor ever read this book?

Blood Safari got brilliant reviews but I'm not sure I liked it. First, there was the macho hero of the piece who walked into a strange bar on New Years Eve, grunted twice, and the female bartender gave him the keys to her house and welcomed him into her bed. I'm willing to admit that I've lived a sheltered life by I have doubts that that would ever happen outside of a book. And there you have the biggest problem for me. The characters in the story didn't come across as real people, although Margaret Cannon called them "complex, original characters."

So why did I read all 372 pages of it? The sense of place was very strong, you could feel the heat of Africa, and the problems of life there were written into every page. And most of all, something happened on every page. Not big things, but something. Questions were raised that I wanted to have answered.

Would I have read this book without the sticker on it saying, "A Globe and Mail Best Book." Probably not. Just shows how important reviews are, how much advertising influences us, and how much I always want to know about the hot new writer. I'm a sucker for all of the above. Will I read another? Yes, if I can get it from the library but I certainly wouldn't buy it.

There you have me in a nut shell, easily influenced, curious and cheap.

Fallout from a dinner

Sometimes ripples go out from events that we can never anticipate. When I got to the 2007 Ellis awards dinner I learned that my husband and I were seated at a table with two other nominees for the Unhanged Arthur. Kevin Thornton and Jennifer Hemstock were both from Fort McMurray but they had never met. Jennifer's husband, Blair Hemstock, was also there. Needless to say it was an anxious time, waiting there for the announcement of the winner, and not the best circumstance for any of us to meet. One day I'll get Kevin to tell you what happened to the fork he was holding when my name was announced as the winner. But strangely, good things have come out of this unlikely beginning.

The three of us kept in touch, an e-mail or two a year. Jennifer, Blair, and Kevin did more than that, they became friends and founded a new literary journal of Canada' north called North Word. Their summer issue for 2010 is number 3. The theme of this issue is "Twist." My warped entry is called Pink.

The cover, by Keyano College student Carli Gaudet, is brilliant, or as Kevin says, "…stunning and, dare I say it, twisted."

How likely was any of this to happen? Never mind all of us meeting in Toronto but how likely was it that those three people from Fort McMurray would become friends and start a literary magazine. Oh, yes, there is one more twist. This year I got to announce the nominees for the Unhanged Arthur in Toronto. One of the nominees, the one from the original awards dinner who hadn't been nominated, Blair Hemstock, was nominated in 2010. Next month, when Blair and Jennifer come south to check on their future home on Pender Island, B.C., they'll come to see us on Salt Spring Island.

It's not just about winning; sometimes it's the good things that come after that really count.

June 19, Salt Spring Island

The temperature is in the high sixties, perfect for golf. We played a very fast nine, didn't see another golfer, and went back north of Ganges to the gun club. It was open house and my chance to fire a handgun to use as background for my book. The indoor firing range on Salt Spring is nothing like you see on television. Here, shoulder high piles of telephone books separate each shooter on the range. All that stands between you and death is the yellow pages.

What I fired was a pistol. I learned a revolver is the one that looks like it comes out of the old west while the one we see on television, the one used on The Closer, my favorite show of the moment, is a pistol. First I had to load the bullets into the magazine. Not easy. You have to shove one bullet down while putting in the next. You're working against a spring so it takes some strength. Then you have to put the magazine into the butt of the pistol handle. This is why you see people slamming the butt of their guns with the heel of their hands. They're banging the magazine into place. This isn't easy either. To load a bullet into the chamber you have to pull back the slide. You often see shooter's doing this on TV before they fire. Make sure it comes back all the way or you'll have a bullet jammed in the chamber. Actually you should pull so hard your hand slides off the end. Now it's ready to fire.

I shot six rounds and only hit the target, about the size of a person's head, once. Even if I had a gun, someone breaking into my home would be perfectly safe, unless I shot them by accident.

I don't think guns are for me. There're loud even with ear protection. And they smell. Maybe I should learn something about poison or how to stab someone. Any volunteers?

June 14, 2010

A warm sunny day on Salt Spring and I'm trying to revise a book which I hate.

Oh, it has some good parts in it. The opening works and the ending sings but in between is this horrible great bloated beast that just lies there.

I wrote Unwanted back in 2007 when we first came to Salt Spring and I was still staggered by the number of homeless people I was seeing. I think the weather in lower B.C. is more to blame for this social crisis rather than any systemic problem, but you certainly can't miss the homeless when you get here. I started to wonder how and why a person ends up on the streets. I'm sure there was never a point in their lives that they said, "When I grow up, I want to live on the streets and beg for change."

One day, walking down to Ganges, I had a brief encounter with a woman living in her van. She asked for the time. Simple enough. Our exchange was short, but it hit me that this woman was different from other homeless people I'd met; drugs, alcohol and mental illness were always part of their stories. This woman had an aura of pride and self confidence about her. She seemed to be right where she wanted to be, doing right what she wanted. The how and why of it drove me crazy.

It probably takes about twenty minutes to walk downtown. By the time I got there, did my errands and walked back up the hill, I had a back story for her, a reason for her to be on the island. This woman was a hunter, not a victim, and I by the time I got home I knew the man she was hunting for… and why.

Now when I read this novel all of that excitement and sureness has leaked away. What I saw there two years ago, the motives and emotions, has died on the page and I'm left with the reality of the thing, left poking the beast with a stick to see if I can awaken it.

I wonder how often we get it wrong, read things into words that aren't there, feel emotions that were never meant - words and emotions that change everything. And what would I make of that woman if I met her today? What would my reaction be to her? I'm a little more blasé, a little more accepting. I'd probably walk by without noticing her.

June 4, 2010

Salt Spring Island is in the high sixties, clear and cool.
Ontario in June is incredibly beautiful but I'm grateful to be back on Salt Spring and the quiet life. Books signings, speeches and meetings all went well but the best part was seeing old friends and relatives and catching up on the news. After a day of bills and laundry I'm looking forward to getting back to polishing CHAMPAGNE FOR BUZZARDS before I deliver it next week. Maybe I'll even get in a game of golf this week and I brought back a backpack full of books. Then there is a rewrite for a novel called UNWANTED waiting for me and the gardens are over run with weeds. I haven't planted any flowers yet but with all the roses climbing over the house and clematis everywhere, annuals aren't missed. I had a brain storm today that we should put on a sunroom. Lee's reply was unprintable. Maybe I haven't quite got this quiet life down pat yet.
Englewood Florida is 90 degrees and raining. Unless you've been in that kind of a Florida day you can't imagine the weight of the heat. It always feels physically heavy to me, pulling me down to exhaustion. But there are worse things than heat and humidity to worry about. Everyday we watch the news to see if the oil has made it to our beaches yet. In the Panhandle, where I keep sending Clay to get rich, people are out picking up gobs of oil off the sand. What do they do with them? Is the congealed oil put in landfills? That doesn't seem right…just moving the problem from one place to the next. The oil spill is so huge, so depressing, it's almost impossible to get your mind around. It's hard to watch the news. From the financial news, to the oil spill…it goes on and on. Like heat and humidity it pulls me down into exhaustion, grief and fear. Surely better days will come.

June 2, 2010

Just got the new review of A Brewski for the Old Man from Connie Gregory. Check it out on my "Books and Reviews" page.

May 25, 2010

Check out the review article for A Brewski for the old Man by Rosemary McCracken in the CBC Cutting Edge on my "Books and Reviews" page.

To see Blogs from previous dates Click Here to go to Blog Archives