How did you do it? Writing and Creating "The Excalibur Parchment" and "The Lucifer Scroll"

Interview with Barrie Doyle

Perspectives on writing

Q. What was the inspiration for your first novel, “The Excalibur Parchment”?

A. I have always been intrigued by the legend of King Arthur, Merlin, Excalibur and Camelot. Historians—who once poo-poohed the idea of Arthur as a “myth’—are now acknowledging that a mighty warrior king galvanized the Celtic peoples of the post-Roman era in Britain and led them in battle against Saxon invaders. So I began to question who, what, where and why (my journalistic training) these people were. I devoured all the stories and novels. As the story of Excalibur Parchment began to take shape I added new elements. I postulated that Merlin was an arch Druid which was extremely likely given the nature of Druidic faith as well as the power and role of Druids in Celtic culture. The reality is that the “new” Christian faith was infiltrating Britain at the time and the old faiths, whether Druidic gods or Roman gods, were falling by the wayside. I was also intrigued by the current mood in societies around the world to break away from known national identities and rework themselves into more compact almost tribal entities. You see it happening in Canada in Quebec for example, as well as in Turkey with the Khurdish peoples, and many other groups in many other nations. So the concept of a rebuilt, rejuvenated, aggressive group determined to reassert themselves became a premise to develop. The result was modern Druids trying to re-establish their faith by destroying the one religion that defeated them back in the Dark Ages. Fold in some modern-day terrorism and link it to the existing stories of King Arthur and his iconic sword Excalibur and, voila! The Excalibur Parchment.

Q. So what then, was the inspiration for “The Lucifer Scroll”?

A. With the end of “The Excalibur Parchment” there were still some loose threads. What would become of Stone and Mandy? Was the Druid movement finished? Did Huw recover from his wounds? I love history. I am fascinated by the past and how the tendrils of history waft around our modern day, impacting our culture and politics and worldviews in ways we don’t even realize. As I studied the Nazi era I was intrigued by the undertones of evil and the occult that permeated the Nazi system. The satanic rites and ethos of the SS, the determined searches for ancient icons such as the Ark of the Covenant and the Spear of Destiny—Die Heilige Lanze—and other religious artifacts that the Nazis believed would make them indestructible. The fascination with the occult driving Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and other Nazi leaders, underscored a rising, almost unstoppable evil. There are stories that the “spears” found in the Vatican and a museum in Vienna are fakes and this too underscored the allure of the Spear of Destiny. Fold in the stories of Nazi leaders escaping in U-Boats with art treasures and artifacts at the end of the war. At the same time, history also led me to Istanbul, the city that straddles two continents and two cultures and that for hundreds of years was the centre of the world. It was time to put everything together—the characters from The Excalibur Parchment, the intriguing history of the Nazis and the occult, and the rich history of Istanbul. The Lucifer Scroll brings them together in a unique way, I believe, and tackles the subjects of terrorism, the occult, and that hostility towards Christianity.

Q. Did you outline the books before you started writing?

A. No. I never outline. It is, for me, too structured and constraining. I have heard other writers say the same thing, but I have now experienced this phenomenon myself: the characters drove the book and told their own story. I was often as surprised by a plot twist or development as any reader would be. I remember coming to a point in Lucifer where Stone Wallace and his American intelligence agent friend Chad Lawson were under attack. (Spoiler Alert): We were in Wales at the time and had plans for a little sightseeing that afternoon. I remember leaving the story wondering how on earth they were going to get out of the incredibly tight trap they were in. I had no idea. When I got back to them the next morning they very gently led me along and showed me how they did indeed escape. Similarly, in Excalibur, I had Brother Thomas and Owain lost on the Welsh moors in cold wet weather, or wading hip deep in frigid rivers, or hiding in caves. None of that was outlined. My characters told their stories and led me down paths I would never have dreamed of if I had outlined the book first. Outlining works for some novelists I suppose, but not for me.

Q. What made you set both stories largely in Wales?

A. Wales is certainly an important location, but by no means the only or primary one. Wales is a beautiful, intriguing, musical, history-filled, castle-filled, legend-filled nation that sits quietly beside England and its raucous neighbours Scotland and Ireland. The Welsh are just as feisty, just as proud and just as vocal as their Celtic cousins. But Wales is also a largely ignored in the pantheon of literature, particularly South Wales and its valleys. So, as a Welsh-born writer, I had a virtual blank canvas to work with. The beauty of the land is astonishing. From the rocky cliffs of Glamorgan and Pembroke to the upland moors and narrow valleys, the countryside is breathtakingly beautiful. Add in the generous warm spirits and lilting accents of the Welsh and I can truly answer the question of why Wales is so prominent in the books with a question of my own: why not?

Q. What locations, other than Wales, are prominent then?

A. I lived for a number of years in Washington D.C. which is a city loaded with intrigue, history and excitement. London, England is my favourite city in the world. I love to walk its streets and soak in the history and the culture. Venice and Istanbul are locations I chose particularly because of their historic nature and also because of their scenic uniqueness. Only twice in my life can I say that my breath was truly taken away by a sight: once was my first view of the Grand Canyon. The other was walking out of the railway station in Venice onto what seemed to me to be a medieval stage set. Istanbul, or Constantinople, is also one of those cities whose influence and historic nature transcend the centuries and the ebb and flow of various cultures. It is a city I believe everyone should visit—modern terror activities notwithstanding—in order to comprehend who we are as a people and as a culture.

Q. Those are all major cities. Anywhere else?

A. Absolutely. In Excalibur there are a number of locations—some identified by their real names and others by fictional names such as Llanfyron—across South Wales. Careg Cennan in particular is a lonely, brooding castle ruins in the Brecon Beacons near Carmarthen. Then we travel to upstate New York on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, the New Forest in Hampshire, England and the Broceliande Forest and Paimpont in Brittany, France.  As I wrote Lucifer I included a number of other locations that enabled the story to be spread over a wider scope even than Excalibur. So we wind up exploring the English Lake District, the Austrian Tyrol in the area around Zell am See, north Wales and in particular, the island of Anglesey. In North America I was enchanted with the small New Mexico town of Truth or Consequences. It is a small unprepossessing place in the desert and was named after a long-gone television game show. But its name elicits all kinds of delicious irony as the location of an isolated prison. In Canada, the real beauty of the Georgian Bay area with its blue waters, thousands of islands and picturesque towns had to appear. So the books really reflect my own travels as well as the places I’ve lived and enjoyed. I hope readers will vicariously enjoy these many different and captivating locations and, perhaps, set out on their own journeys of discovery as a result.

Q. How accurate are your locations in both books?

A. Hopefully very accurate. I love to travel and have visited all these places. I have walked the streets of London and Istanbul that are described in the books. I have visited many of the sites identified in them such as Haghia Sofia in Istanbul, the Lido in Venice, and The Houses of Parliament in London. I have taken trains from Euston station, ridden boats in Georgian Bay, driven through the New Mexico deserts, walked the Tyrolian Alps and sailed around Lake Zell in Zell am See. I was speaking with one reader who cornered me in Wales and said “I know the spot where Brother Thomas sat and prayed.” She pointed at a particular spot on the side of the valley and I had to confess that yes that was indeed the place I had in mind when I wrote that scene. Hopefully those who’ve gone to Venice had the same breathtaking experience I had when they saw the Grand Canal for the first time. The same for readers who walk inside Haghia Sofia and take in its immenseness and grandeur even 1,500 years after its construction. And hopefully they will agree that I have indeed captured the scene well.

Q. What motivates your characters?

A. The antagonists of the stories, the vengeful and zealous Druids, are motivated by greed and lust for power but as well by a determination to revert to an ancient pagan faith. To them, modern day religions such as Christianity have too long influenced society, culture, politics and governance. They see a world that is failing. They see society breaking down. They see “religion”, especially Christianity, as something to be despised and disposed of. For them, a return to the pagan gods of the earth, fire, war, and the underworld is the motivation. They believe if Christianity is destroyed along with the other one-god religions of Islam and Judaism, the door will be open for them. As pagan worshippers they will step into the gap they created and bring the world back under the domination and power of their ancestors. As believers in the gods of war and the underworld, they are immune to concepts like mercy and pity. So compromise and accommodation is unacceptable. It is total war for them with a goal of annihilation of the Church. Nothing more and nothing less. And that leads to various terrorist attacks and plots, all of which are allowed, even though it means mass deaths of innocents.

Q. Sounds like something out of today’s headlines.

A. Absolutely. It is this type of philosophy that motivates ISIS and other terrorist groups. They extrapolate real or imagined insults or actions into motivation for mass murder. Murder is condoned, even promoted as in jihad, because the greater good in their eyes outweighs the pain and suffering of some. It is a total rejection of any sense of humanity, replaced by an evil lust for power and domination. Concepts of peace, justice, love, harmony and friendship are anathema. Instead, anarchy is encouraged as a weapon to destroy whoever is in your way so that in the end the strongest—you—will survive. A friend of mine read Excalibur and blurted out that to him it seemed the story was ripped from the headlines. He was quite surprised when I told him that the bulk of the story was written long before a group known as ISIS was created. And I believe that ISIS is a deadlier, even more evil incarnation of Al Qaeda with its tendrils snaking through our communities and recruiting vulnerable people. Just as the Druids do in my books.

Q. Okay, that takes care of the bad guys but what about your heroes?

A. In Excalibur there are two protagonists in the story that’s set in the 1300’s and there are two main heroes in the Twenty-first Century story. Brother Thomas, the monk who saves Excalibur, is a particular favourite of mine. He’s a man who wants to do the right thing but is constantly insecure about his abilities and unsure of his own strength to carry out what he’s called to do. He falters and fails. He questions God and the direction he has to protect Excalibur from the Druids. He leans heavily on and admires his companion Brother Owain’s calm assurance and strength. The motivations of both are complex and yet simple. Owain loves a girl and wants to leave the abbey and return to a secular life. He’s what we would call today a “streetwise” individual, smart in the ways of the forest and willing to loyally support his friend Thomas even if he doesn’t have all the information he needs to make a rational decision. But at the same time his motivation is simple. Even at the end, his motivation is much more prosaic. He wants to be with his love. Thomas is simple in that he just wants to be left alone, content with where he is, wanting to experience life but actually unwilling to put forward the effort. His goal is an unremarkable life serving God in his abbey. The complexity of his motives become apparent as he wrestles with the desire to serve God and tries to learn how to trust God at a time when every solid thing in his life is stripped away. He struggles to understand God’s call upon him, to learn how to pray and how to yield to him which, in turn, leads to great growth. He becomes the man he wants to be: faithful, courageous and even strategic. I think that anyone who seeks to be a practicing Christian struggles with exactly the same things. How do you know what God wants? Can you truly trust God? Indeed, is there really a God at all?

Q. That’s okay for the monks of the 1300’s, but what about your modern day protagonists?

A. Stone Wallace goes through the same kind of questioning except that he never even starts with the premise that there is a God or that he even wants to believe in him. Rather, Stone has been deeply wounded by life and loss and so seeks to wrap himself in his career as a journalist. The workaholic mindset has left him alone with no family and few friends. As he gets involved in the search for Excalibur he too undergoes a metamorphosis. He wants to do the right thing but doesn’t know how. He looks to the one person who, in some senses, has been a father figure. Huw Griffiths is a man Stone admires. He’s mentor as well as friend. Most of all Stone admires Huw’s solid faith despite the losses in life Huw has sustained. From the sidelines Stone is slowly drawn in to the point where he has to let go all the concepts and ideas he’s held about religion and faith and look at the impact Huw’s beliefs have. Stone will struggle and slip and slide as he works his way through these issues and is soon motivated by a simpler aspect of humanity, the glimmering of love as he works with Huw’s daughter Mandy. For Huw it is much simpler. He is motivated on one level by his professional curiosity as a historian, archaeologist and theologian. He is driven to know, to dig deep until the mystery is solved. At the same time, Huw has the more complex motivation of guiding his younger colleague out of his self-imposed armour and learn to allow himself to be hurt, to be vulnerable as he grows into a deeper more rounded person.

Q. Both Stone and Huw appear in “The Lucifer Scroll” as well. Are they still struggling or are they content with the answers they got in “The Excalibur Parchment”?

A.  Certainly Stone is still struggling. He finally comes to terms with his father’s untimely death and visits the grave for the first time since he was thirteen. His mind is still swirling, struggling with what’s he’s learned in theory about God and about prayer but still unable to fully trust and still unable to practice what he now seems to want. It is then that bullets fly by his head and the whole nightmare starts again. Huw is just as blustery and determined as ever, seeking to get to the bottom of every mystery put before him. For all that he is a professor though, Huw finds it much easier to “tell” both Stone and Mandy how to deal with life, love and faith than he does to model it. So he too, especially I think in Lucifer, is more vulnerable and therefore more human. He doesn’t have all the answers but plugs on regardless. And I happen to think that that is a huge strength of anyone, fictional or otherwise. To me, success in life is the ability to plug on regardless, not having all the answers and not always being successful, but doing it anyway.

Q. Excalibur and Lucifer are part of a trilogy, “The Oak Grove Conspiracies”. What’s next and how did you come up with that title?

A. The centerpiece of most Druid ceremonies—their temple, if you will—was the Oak Grove. So that explains the trilogy title I hope. What’s next is something tentatively called “The Madoc Treaty” which explores the story that a Welsh prince, Madoc, sailed to North America in 1170, landing in what is now known as Mobile Bay. In fact the Alabama chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution raised a plaque to that effect and had it placed on the outer banks of that bay. Add to that, one of the underlying tasks President Thomas Jefferson gave the Lewis and Clarke expedition was to seek out the truth of a Welsh-speaking Indian tribe. These facts alone were enough to put the story into motion. But, as I said earlier, where the story goes is in fact up to the characters to decide. It’s their story. And I will be interested to see where it leads. Won’t you?

Who needs a holiday?

I like holidays. I like celebrations. Bring on Christmas, Thanksgiving and yes, even my birthday. Any excuse for a party.

So I came across a list of holidays for August.

When I was a reporter we used to constantly make jokes about the dog days of August where nothing newsworthy happened and the editors had us covering the most ridiculous and yet mundane nonsense so the pages of the newspaper could be filled. I remember one summer week tracking the exploits of a duck on Grenadier Pond. The duck had picked up a pop can’s ring tab and his beak was sealed. Would Ringo—yes, that’s what the papers named him—survive? Would park authorities capture him and remove the tab? Would the crowds coming to see Ringo be larger tomorrow? Film at 11! So I tramped down to the banks of the pond along with other ink-stained wretches plus the pretty boys of television and radio capturing every second of this human drama (except it was a duck) and racing back to file stories that would be front page the next day. A similar exploit happened earlier this summer when a peacock escaped the zoo and there were breathless minute-by-minute reports on which homes and streets the peacock was visiting. That was in June. And it all ended peacefully when the peacock flew back voluntarily to his enclosure. Ringo the Duck was visible amongst the thousands of other identical ducks until one morning he wasn’t there. Did he die? Or did he escape the clutches of the evil ring tab? We’ll never know because if he did escape the tab….well one duck looks pretty much like the thousand others around him doesn’t he?

All of this to say let’s have some dog day news fun with these so-called holidays.

For example, August 1 in National Mustard Day so bring on the hot dogs. Nothing like starting a holiday month with a party, which ties in nicely with the next two holidays because parties are nothing without special people around. You see August 2 is both Friendship Day and International Forgiveness Day. Isn’t that nice? Desert must wait, however, because National Watermelon Day comes up August 3.

After all that hard partying we need August 6, Wiggle Your Toes Day

My favourite holidays in August are August 9, Book Lovers Day, which ties in nicely with the next day, August 10, which is both National Lazy Day. and National S’mores Day! Sounds good to me!

On August 16 we can celebrate a special holiday: Knock, Knock. Who’s there? National Tell a Joke Day which is followed by, groan, Bad Poetry Day on August 18.

I must say that I like August 25. That’s National Kiss and Make Up Day.

I am troubled, however, by August 5. According to the list, that’s National Work Like A Dog Day. And here all along I thought that was every work day.

Silly me!

To 'e' or not to 'e'; why is that the question?

My novel “The Excalibur Parchment” was published in print last November. In late January it became available as an Ebook on Kindle, Kobo, Nook and other digital platforms.

It has been interesting to see the reaction. Some have told me that they held back buying the book until it was available digitally.

Others swear that they will never go the ebook route. Print books, they say, will never die on you from low batteries or from coffee dropped on them. And you can store them on shelves ready to read any time you want. Plus there’s something special about the ability to handle (fondle?) hard copies of books, underline in them and treasure them. Lastly, you actually own and can resell your book if you want whereas ebooks are really only technical licenses to read. You don’t own that copy you bought on Kindle, you only lease it for (usually) a five year period.

Conversely, the ebook argument says that you can store your books just as easily and a whole lot more conveniently. You don’t need miles and miles of shelving (which I confess, I do) to store your books. You can carry a whole library of books on a plane to take on vacation with you and it only takes a miniscule amount of your precious luggage space. And there’s a privacy about what you are reading (you can read that trashy romance novel in your lunchtime and nobody is the wiser).

There are lots of arguments pro and con.  And believers in both argue strenuously that their way is the only way to do it; that their particular choice of reading format is the one that is paramount and thus applies to everyone.

I wonder why? If someone prefers ebooks, why must I march in lockstep with that mentality? Must I now divest myself of all my books for a digital future? And if I do, will that format be superseded in five or ten years by a new as yet unknown technology.

Conversely, if a keep to print only, am I a Luddite dropping farther and farther back into irrelevance and out of touch with the march of progress and technology?

The choice—to E or not to E—seems to be there for my decision.

Why?

Certainly the digital format has advantages. An ebook reader, as I noted previously, is a lot easier to tote around than ten or twenty books. They are also (generally) cheaper than their print counterpart.  

A friend once boasted to me that digital books are actually an ecological salvation. Think of the hundred of trees you are saving by not needing paper, he argued. Really? And what about the rare (and sometimes toxic) materials and petroleum needed to manufacture the ebook reader? And the energy needed to constantly recharge the batteries, not to mention the toxicity and danger of the batteries themselves. I have read unsubstantiated stories of people who fell asleep with their mobile devices turned on only to discover that the heat from the device had melted and burned the sheets and pillows overnight.

If I fall asleep reading my paperback, it is still there in the morning alive and well and ready for reading.

But digital devices are convenient, I give you that.

The trouble is, I don’t understand the ‘either one or the other’ arguments coming from both parties. Why is it essential that I embrace the digital format entirely and forsake print from this point forward? Or, why must I be in fact, a luddite huddled in my library, surrounded by acres and acres of books eschewing technology and deriding those who disagree.

It seems to be a common element in today’s society not matter what the area of disagreement. It is all or nothing. You either agree with one side or the other; no middle ground. It applies to politics,

I have run into and debated with young pastors who have embraced the digital world to the exclusion of all else. In fact they sneer at anyone who still uses such mundane tools as pens, paper, books and library research. It’s online or nothing for them. I have also run into older curmudgeons who refuse to go online, sneer at the internet and brag that they never bother with email. I shake my head in frustration at both attitudes.

I confess that I am a died-in-the-wool centrist. I see, understand and accept all arguments on both sides of the ebook disagreement. I have a digital device. I read books on that device and appreciate all its fine points. I have thousands of print books (literally) in my library and I love them. I research for my books online and I also turn to libraries, bookstores and Amazon.

I was really chuffed, to use that hardy British expression, when my book first arrived at my house in print format. I picked it up, flipped through its pages, felt its heft, smoothed my fingers over the cover and generally loved it. (I may even have hugged it). But at the same time, I ensured that it also became available in as many digital formats as possible.  

Let’s face it, my protagonist from the 14^th Century may have preferred print. But my 21^st Century characters used the power of modern technology for both good and evil.

So I am happy in both worlds, digital and paper.

I just don’t understand why the question to 'e' or not to e' even exists.

In response, I’m going to post this blog online and promote it via Facebook and Twitter et al. I will also print out a hard copy for my files.

So there!

The Curse of Broadcasting--Evan Sokomon, Leslie Roberts and ethics

The field of broadcasting took another hit recently. 

Evan Solomon host of CBC’s Power and Politics and CBC Radio’s The House has fallen from grace, fired by the Mother Corporation for a monumental lapse in journalistic ethics. He follows NBC’s Brian Williams, Global TV’s Lesley Roberts and CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi. You can add to that the names of former CTV news personalities Mike Duffy and Pam Wallin who are embroiled in their own little boondoggle on Parliament Hill. Evan Solomon’s fall from grace was massive in particular, since he was touted as a replacement for CBC Anchor Peter Mansbridge if and when Mansbridge retires. (And Mansbridge has skirted the ethics line as well).

As a former reporter for several major newspapers and magazines in Canada and the United States I grieve. Not because I cared for any of them. I didn’t even know them. No, I grieve for the damage that has been done to journalists in general because these celebrity journalists/broadcasters crapped all over ethics. (Interestingly, so far as I know none of them attended journalism school and Williams was a college dropout. Too bad. They obviously missed Ethics 101.)

Public disapproval of journalism is growing. People today want to be told what they want to hear. They don’t want journalists or broadcasters who shine lights where darkness abides. They don’t want to know about the misdoings of politicians (unless they are of the other party, of course). Joe Public has no idea what good journalists really do and how vital they are in the ongoing struggle of free and democratic living in society. Hundreds of journalists have been killed or imprisoned over the last decade—mostly for simply doing their job of asking penetrating and sometimes embarrassing questions or pointing a camera at some illegal or hush-hush activity.

Journalism is one of the least admired professions in North America. To my mind, the uphill struggle that decent journalists and broadcasters fight daily is undermined kicked about by the activities of Solomon et al. 

I put some of it down to the curse of broadcasting and the cult of celebrity. (Some of them--Ghomeshi for example--are just plain evil, twisted people).These men (and woman) all were endowed with massive egos. They were the “stars” in their respective universes. People kowtowed to them. Their bosses looked the other way when they slung their weight around and abused staff below them. Their aura of entitlement, fanned into an inferno by sycophantic bosses, knew no bounds. Their position was, for most of them, a means to an end. And the end was the lining and relining of their bottomless pockets and exploiting their position and celebrity status for personal greed and gain. (Williams at least eschewed that: he merely opted for plain lies about his exploits).

The public points fingers and gloats that their views about journalists are justified. And all the while, good journalists—many of whom work for a barely liveable wage—continue doing their job honestly and with integrity.

The broadcasters of ego are still alive and kicking in spite of the pubic disgrace suffered by their colleagues. Too many broadcasters are more interested in covering Bruce Jenner who changes gender or the latest exploits of the Khardasians (Side note: can anyone explain to me why these people are ‘famous’?) than they are of covering matters of import that affect the health, economic well-being, security and freedom of citizens.

The ink-stained wretches of the print world (of whom I was one) are no stranger to misdeeds. Pulitzer prizes have been removed and reporters fired for ethics breaches in the past and will, no doubt, in the future as well. However, most of those misdeeds were done in a smaller world and the damaging impact certainly was and is not as great even for such major newspapers as the Globe and Mail, New York Times, Washington Post and Rupert Murdoch’s corrupt newspaper empire in the UK.

But the curse of broadcasting is a heavier burden to bear. These finagling broadcasters are personalities; you bring them into your house every evening. You see their faces, hear their voices and realize that they project an aura of friendliness, sincerity, truthfulness and authority. When they fall, they fall big! And when they fall big they cause massive waves in the ocean of journalism.

These people were celebrities. They were pandered to and convinced that they were superior because they brought in huge ratings and therefore dollars to their employers. The rules of the game did not apply to them; they were above it all. Ghomeshi, Roberts and Solomon all had contracts with their employers which included standards of conduct and ethics! But the “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” prevailing attitude allowed them to ignore those troubling clauses.

The curse of broadcasting is an era of instant news and blanket coverage of events highlights the push for speed over accuracy and fairness. The curse of broadcasting favours a cult of celebrity and ‘pretty faces’ over professionalism. The curse of broadcasting is the aura of entitlement that applies only so some in the newsroom—the “stars”—and not the hardworking ethical reporters in their newsrooms or studios.

I grieve for journalism. I was taught and mentored by some of the finest editors and broadcasters around in Canada and the United States. I have enormous respect for such CBC personalities as Bruce Rogers who I claim as a friend and colleague. I learned a lot about honest practical ethical behaviour and professionalism from him and my late friend, CTV Anchor Harvey Kirck. There are others to whom I am indebted; some I know personally and some I merely watched and studied from afar.

All of us are damaged and our professionalism diminished by the curse brought crushingly down on our heads by Solomon, Ghomeshi, Roberts, Duffy, Wallin and Williams and their ilk.

Oh for the days of Walter Cronkite and Lloyd Robertson, "And that's the way it is!"

Vive les bookstores!

Where would you live, if you could live anywhere?

The options are numerous: beachfront living beside the sea, cabin in the mountains, ore a condo in the heart of a thriving metropolis with theatres and nightlife.

If I had my choice, however, it would be any of those as long as a well-rounded bookshop was available nearby. I love bookstores. I love the excitement of the hunt when I have no particular book in mind, and I wander the aisles looking at the huge variety available to me. Do I want a rollicking good story to take me on adventures in far-away places of universes? Or would I prefer a good non-fiction to explain history, science, politics or humans to me? Or perhaps a self-help book to aid me as I overcome my addiction to books. I can find them all in a bookstore.

Come to think of it, my favourite town in the world has to be Hay-on-Wye, a little Welsh village close to the border with England. Hay is known as the town of bookshops. Everywhere you go throughout the village you run into bookstores. They range from high-priced antiquarian shops where you can see and (if you have enough money) buy fabulous old books, ancient but loaded with both meaning and purpose. The smell of old leather and pages permeates your senses as you lovingly stand there. Across the way and stretching down the roads in all directions are more bookstores with reasonably priced new and used books.  The interesting thing is that there is nary a gift idea display in sight. Nothing but books. Shelves and shelves of books. Wonderful! Even the town castle is a bookstore that demands hours of exploring. Even the castle walls house more shelves of books, this time available to buy on the honour system.

Here at home we have no town that compares. But there are still excellent bookstores available to browse and explore. Sure, the massive book/gift stores are around. But look carefully around your community and region and you will no doubt find an independent bookstore owned by a well read individual who knows his or her stock intimately and who loves to talk about books and reading.

My wife knows that our various shopping expeditions, whether at a mall or in a small town, usually means she’s off on her own looking around while I aim directly for the closest bookstore.

I get that many today are enamoured with books on tablets. Sure it may be convenient. And yes, you can “pack” hundreds of books for a trip in one tablet while I, restricted by the airlines, struggle to carry five or six with me. But my books don’t have batteries that fail. I don’t need to recharge my book every few hours. Plus I have the enjoyment of finding new books, holding them, and then taking them with me. I don’t have to download them anywhere and get that horrible “error 401” message. Nope, I can walk into a bookstore and spend a happy hour or three finding new treasures to read and then walk out with them in my hand.

But the biggest joy of a bookstore is simply being around other book lovers. I have a wonderful local independent bookstore, The Reading Room, in Penetanguishine. What fun to talk books with the owner, Debbie Levy. Or when I am in Toronto, to haunt the shelves of The Sleuth on Baker Street and get the latest info on mysteries and suspense from the knowledgeable staff. And there are other browsers, young and old, to talk to and exchange verbal reviews and recommendations.

I despise the Walmarts and supermarkets for whom books are just another product, right up there with lettuce, tomatoes and soup. No heart. No feeling. No appreciation.

I tip my hat to companies like Chapters and Indigo in Canada, Barnes and Noble in the US and Waterstones and W.H. Smith in the UK. The big chains offer the masses exposure to the latest best sellers. They are, hopefully, developing new readers even if great chunks of their floor space is given over to cutesy pillows, bric a brac and other non-book paraphernalia. At least they care about books.

But I take my hat off to the small, independent and sometimes boutique bookstores around the world. I found one in Llantwit Major in South Wales. I found another in Winchester, England and in Hampstead in London, along with many others. I have found them in Alexandria and Williamsburg, Virginia, the sun coast of Florida and the Jersey shore among others. independents are a shrinking breed, but they are hardy. They will survive. They are hidden treasure houses waiting to be discovered, hiding in your backyard.

So I share this paean of praise to bookstores. Seek them out. Spend time in them. Go in with no set agendas and no specific book purchases in mind. Just find them and enjoy. You won’t regret it.

 

 

Twitter: The 21st Century's Inquisition

The “Dark Side” of social media

For a long time I fought against the idea of opening a Twitter account and joining the masses who are obsessed with this phenomenon. I reluctantly gave in when my book, The Excalibur Parchment was launched. It would, Twitter supporters said, give me a platform for promotion and awareness as well as connect me with other authors, suspense/thriller readers and people generally interested in the writing game.

For the most part, I accept those positive views of Twitter.

 But I also see a dark side to Twitter (and other social media platforms).

 Twitter brings out the nasty, vindictive hatefulness of people. Disagreement with society’s generally accepted concepts by one individual leads to vicious, destructive comments and demands that the “offending” Twitterer be hunted down, hung drawn and quartered, and generally made a pariah in society.

To me, Twitter is rapidly becoming the modern day equivalent of the Inquisition.

 

People are condemned without trial. Recently hockey broadcaster Don Cherry made some comments about people who eat seal meat. A firestorm of cruel and malicious response in the Twitter universe resulted. One prominent First Nations leader demanded that Cherry be fired for his “racist remarks”. Political leaders—always eager to follow where votes might lie—responded with equally damning attacks. Outrage and hatred flowed and the media compounded the issue by reporting on the Twitter attacks. Granted, Cherry is a media personality and as such is more open to such coverage; especially given his penchant for outrageous comments. (Which is another aspect of the Cherry comments that his attackers seem to ignore; he specializes in outrageous comments for the sake of outrageousness and attention.)

Was Cherry right? What was the context of his remarks? (It was a comment to his good friend and fellow broadcaster Ron MacLean). Was he serious? Kidding? Teasing a good friend? To the Twitter gestapo it mattered not. They launched into a full-fledged attack without waiting for explanations or context.

This is not about Cherry and his never ending search for attention. Rather, it is about the impact of Twitter on the social niceties of today’s communication trends.

The Twitter revolution seems to have evolved into a mind-numbing collection of either malicious agenda-driver conspiracies or an equally mind-numbing collection of the ignorant led by the unknowing.

And it all swamps much of the good that Twitter can do to keep people informed.

During the Inquisition, people were condemned for opinions contrary to the socially accepted norms. They were considered ‘heretics’ and were burned at the stake. Trials were a sham—if they were held at all. People could inform on their neighbours, family or people they didn’t like without any requirement for proof. The mob mentality disposed of any need for facts or proof.

Too much of the Twitter-sphere operates with the same disregard for truth and evidence. You are condemned because someone says so. And the crowd jumps in to compound the pain and suffering the victim has to endure.

There are too many examples of people who’ve resigned, been fired, seen careers destroyed, relationships blasted, or made pariahs simply by virtue of the ferocity of the Twitter-sphere. It may be that some—even many—of those making comments deserve to be called to account for their comments.

But what bothers me most is the tone that the Twitter opposition utilizes.

A famous American, Patrick Henry, reportedly once said that while he disagreed with an opponent’s viewpoint, he defended their right to say it. Today, Henry would be condemned on Twitter for making such as statement. He would be hunted down and forced to resign from Congress, make humble public apologies (shades of Mao Tse Tung) and then resign himself to isolation and exile.

The era of rational human discourse and debate has forever been shattered by Twitter. Disagreement with a person or position is immediately interpreted in Twitter land to mean dislike and therefore labeled hatred. This kind of attitude is compounded when it comes to discourse on political issues, religion, or even what celebrity/athlete/movie/sport is preferred. Lives can be destroyed and nobody cares, because the victim has broken the cardinal ethos—what the masses say is truth. Any deviation will not be stomached.

I fear that mass condemnation by masses of people who have opinions but no background or information on an issue is rapidly and unfortunately now becoming the accepted standard in place of debate.

And it is not just Twitter at fault. Why, for example, do the masses buy into false information spread by uninformed people with no expertise in an area? Especially when it imperils the lives of thousands of kids. Yes, Jenny McCarthy, an actor with limited skills--none of them in the medical area--I’m talking about you and your rants against vaccination. And yes, I am also talking about the thousands of people who refuse to think for yourselves and do their own research before buying in on McCarthy’s beliefs.

I really fear that Twitter and other forms of social media like Facebook are becoming a voice for the irrational, uninformed and unreasonable. And it saddens me. The era of civilized debate and disagreement is being buried. Difference of opinion with the masses or the accepted norm will not be tolerated.

Resistance, as the Daleks say, is futile.

Twitter is the new Inquisition. And the peril to society will be the same.

 

 

 

 

 

Self Discovery

Earlier this year, I was invited to write a guest blog for my publisher Word Alive. It was an interesting exercise--my mandate was to talk about my experiences in communication as they applied to my writing a novel.

Here's what I produced for them:

I have made a sobering self-discovery. I am the worst author/PR client I have ever had to deal with! Let me explain

As an author, I realise that there are harsh realities I must come to terms with if I my book is to succeed

First, the publishing milieu has changed. Some of it can be put down to technological changes such as the rise of eBooks, and some to contraction of the industry. But some, unfortunately, has to be put down to corporate greed—publishers who refuse to take chances on new material or authors because they are not guaranteed an instant financial recoup that can be passed on to shareholders.  Fortunately, there are publishers like Word Alive who have not fallen into that bottomless maw.

Second, the heavy lifting in terms of publicity and building readership largely falls into the author’s lap. And that applies no matter the size or prestige of the publisher (unless you are already a ‘star’ writer).  This is a major conundrum for authors. First, we are writers not marketers. Second, the more time we spend on marketing and promotion, the less we have for our passion, writing.

I had the advantage of coming into the authorship role with a media background. As a journalist and public relations specialist I had the tools, tricks and techniques that would serve me well.

Then I met the worst, most cantankerous, obstinate and contrarian client I have ever had. Me

No matter what angle I took or what strategy I aimed at, I argued with it.  But slowly, I (the miserable client) began to realize that I (the professional communications expert) really did know what I was doing.

The media climate has changed. Where before, a new book might attract a news editor’s attention, today they dismiss it. At the very least, you could expect that local media would be interested in an area resident-authored book. Not today. Local angles are given short shrift. Space and time constraints allow for coverage of only the biggest stories. Plus, the media works on a 24 hour news cycle—sometimes even a 12 hour cycle. If it doesn’t grab immediate attention it is ignored. And yesterday’s (or last hours’) news is forgotten.

For those who, like me, who are promoting fiction (in my case a suspense thriller with an underlying Christian mindset), this means the mainstream media are out. The client ‘me’ argued with the professional ‘me’ that we should forge ahead. The pro ’me’ disagreed and pointed out the problems.

Unless your book has a startling revolutionary impact upon society in general and is immediate, the chances of your scoring on radio, TV or in the local newspaper are slim and none—and Slim is leaving town!

The Christian media are no different. Although their mandate may differ from mainstream media, their modus operandi doesn’t. This is particularly true in Canada where we have a small, struggling Christian media.  The major TV programmes are interested in instructional and inspirational stories. If you have a book that meets those criteria, by all means try them. But by and large, their interest in books and interviewing authors is diminishing.

In Christian radio, the focus is primarily on music or paid preaching programmes. Few have general interest shows that feature interviews. One huge exception is Kitchener Ontario’s Faith FM which broadcasts a weekly “Arts Connection” show.

And, apart from denominational publications there are very few general Christian print outlets. Some, regrettably, operate on a quid pro quo basis—buy an ad, get a story—which leaves many authors out.

In the United States, the picture is a bit more positive but many of the same concerns and restrictions apply. There may be more media outlets, but their limitations and changing requirements still mean fewer opportunities for authors.

This leaves us with the old word-of-mouth method. And wow has that changed with the advance of social media.

Through blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, My Space, personal websites and others, we have an unlimited opportunity to spread the word.

While I had some limited success with the mainstream approach, I’ve focused the bulk of my promotional efforts on social media. None of this is new, but the fresh paradigms demand elasticity in our thinking and openness to new approaches. 

So I launched a Twitter account,(something I resisted for a long time because of much of Twitter's inanity) started a blog and created a website for my book, The Excalibur Parchment. 

All of this is fundamental. But I have been challenged to go beyond.

Bookstores—especially independents—are also facing challenges. They’re often unwilling or unable to put the time and effort into book signings, so I sought other venues. Coffee shops and small cafes have provided an interesting locale where I can not only sell books but sit and discuss books with other customers. Speaking engagements allow similar opportunities.

But you have to really know your book and your audience. What are the commonalities? What aspect of your work would connect with a different and unique audience?

My book is unusual in that it is partially set in Wales. Not many books are. So I am promoting the book in Welsh societies across North America and in Wales itself. Will it be successful? I don’t know, and it will probably take a while to see results, but it is a new and different platform well worth exploring.

And that, my professional ‘me’ kept telling the crabby client ‘me’, is the whole point.

Changing mass media and publishing climates plus the promotional demands means that authors must develop real flexibility of thinking. It demands a willingness to venture into new paradigms that even publishers may be loath to go.

I realize now that this is a good thing.

After all, most of us wrote our books to push the envelope by opening up new lines of thought or action, creating new challenging worlds and throwing new ideas into the loop. Why then would we pedantically stick to the “old ways” of promoting books?

It’s been said that the seven deadliest words are “we’ve never done it that way before”!  Authors today have an amazing opportunity to be just as creative in promotion as in our writing.

Books—whether electronic, print or a platform not yet imagined —will always have a place in our society. They are our learning tools, our imagination tools, our soothing tools, our joyful tools, our inspirational tools. Books will never go out of style though their format may change

And now we have new ways of directly engaging our readers that draw them in to the very heart of what we do—communicate truths, tell stories, challenge, inform and educate.

What a great time to be an author!