the cleansing power of economic depression

Los Angeles Times book editor David L. Ulin has written an opinion piece speculating on how the recent American economic, um, slowdown might actually be good for writing and publishing as we know it.

Some quotes of note:

"...publishers will scale back some of their higher-end advances, especially in regard to certain risky properties: books blown out of magazine stories, over-hyped first novels, multi-platform "synergies." At least, I hope that's what happens, because one of the worst trends in publishing -- in culture in general -- over the last decade or so has been its air of desperate frenzy, which far more than falling numbers tells you that an industry is in decline."

"...both publishers and writers have long since given themselves over to a blockbuster mentality, even in regard to books that wouldn't normally fit that mold. In recent years, this has meant an increased focus on "author platforms" (whatever they are), as well as a frantic embrace of all things new -- blogs, author websites, social networking -- as if this, rather than its contents, is what sets a book apart.

Don't get me wrong: I'm all in favor of new technology, new delivery systems, new venues where the conversation about literature might take place. But the unrelenting insistence on newness has led down any number of blind alleys..."

I'm not exactly sure how old this piece is because the Times seems not to date individual articles, but like cheese and a good cedar deck these thoughts are perhaps improved with aging.

Thanks to the professor for the link to this article.

historical fiction and the real people in it

Vancouver writer Steven Galloway recently managed the Canadian version of "hitting it big" when foreign sales for his novel The Cellist of Sarajevo made him way more money in advances than the Canadian market alone could ever provide. As well, being chosen as one of Heather's picks for Indigo shoppers certainly didn't harm the book's appeal to Canadian readers. He's done very well, our Galloway. And good for him. I read the book recently, and it deserves all the continued attention it will get. Galloway handles gruesome subject matter and impossible human choices with emotional precision.

(Disclosure moment: Galloway and I know each other, and have shared a few laughs. He reviewed my novel for the Globe & Mail and once showed up to a reading I did in Vancouver. I wish we could have beers together often, but there's that whole country thing between us.)

I'm sure only those who survived the siege of Sarajevo can fully comprehend its many-layered absurdities, but Galloway's characters convince me they are there. Not that such convincing even matters. Galloway could have set his book in a completely fictional city siege, and it would have been just as effective. The borrowing of actual recent European history is, I think, incidental to how deeply Galloway enters into real human fear and courage. On the other hand, publishers do love their historical fiction, because readers love it as well. They love it with their wallets.

But history has returned to give Galloway a sharp kick in the shins. As has now been widely reported, the actual cellist referred to in Galloway's title, Vedran Smailovic, has given notice he's unhappy about a number of things, most notably that a now bestselling novel is about him. From the CBC.ca report on the controversy:

"It's not fair, it's not on. It's unbelievable," said the musician, who still composes and records music from a small village south of Belfast, in Northern Ireland.

"How can somebody steal your work, my, my sadness, my, my tragedy?"

Smailovic said that if people are making money off tales from his past, he is entitled to a share of it.

"They put my picture, my face, on the front, on the cover with no permission. They don't ask me — they use my name advertising their product. I don't care about fiction, I care about reality."

I haven't talked to Galloway about this controversy at all but I'm guessing, right now, whatever public posture he needs to assume for all sorts of good legal reasons, he probably feels pretty crappy about what Smailovic has said, especially the part about stealing tragedy.

I feel nothing but encouragement and profound happiness at the thought that my fellow Canadian novelist has actually made a bunch of money from something he wrote. Such an occurrence is ridiculously rare. The man has written two other very good, well-reviewed novels that probably made him enough to get some camping gear at Canadian Tire. Anyone who enters into a career as a writer of literary fiction in Canada with a serious plan to make huge money will have his delusion revealed to him on book number one. If he writes book number two, you can bet the money dream has died and the work continues for art's sake. To make a connection between Galloway's use of a well-known historical event and crass commerce may not be entirely inaccurate because of the wonderful accident of the book's success, but I doubt very much profit was the author's motive.

The historical story of Smailovic playing his cello in a mortar crater in Sarajevo is beyond beautiful. The man performed his public grief with a serenity and style every artist aspires to, and he did so within sight and range of deadly snipers and the same folks who made the surrounding rubble in the first place. He is a hero, and is treated as such in the book. Galloway builds his own fictional cellist character into a complex and fragile metaphor for battered redemption.

Should the world reward Smailovic for what he did? Absolutely. Should that reward be monetary? Why not?

Does Steven Galloway owe him money? I don't think so.

Many reports about this controversy have noted that the fictional cellist character is unnamed in the novel, and really only shows up in the first five pages. The rest of the book concentrates on the lives and actions of other Sarajevans with varying degrees of historical precedent. These are accurate points, but I'm not sure they're relevant. Galloway wrote a book of fiction, inspired by real events in our shared history. His product is a literary text, not more history. In other words, he has not claimed any ownership over what happened in Sarajevo. He has simply made art from it, in much the same way Smailovic made art from what was happening around him. And here I think Galloway himself would make a wry comment about Smailovic being the braver of the two artists.

I'm currently finishing up a Henning Mankell murder mystery that takes place partly in South Africa just after Nelson Mandela was released from prison. The novel's characters include then South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk and Foreign Minister Pik Botha, as well as Mandela himself. Mankell's books sell like crazy all over the world. Does he owe money to those who ended Apartheid?

I don't actually know if all the proper rights were cleared for use of the book's cover photo (which features the cellist in the rubble) but of course, if they weren't cleared and paid for, they should have been. As to the text, I believe Galloway's artistic responsibility was completed in his acknowledgments, and I expect he will go further than that and try to privately address any hurt feelings that remain.

Side Note:

I fully anticipate this blog's usual copyleft trollers to make some excited connection between this story and issues of artistic appropriation, or even fan fiction. Have at. But please, before you do, consider the difference between actual people and fictional characters, between actual events and created texts. These differences are kind of crucial to the whole discussion.

why I fear Ondaatje

My latest Books column for THIS Magazine is up on their website (as well as in the beautiful print magazine on newsstands across Canada). In it, I discuss Michael Ondaatje's fetish for pain and suffering. Read it at the link below (or I'll send Mike for a visit):

Kill Your Babies Beautifully


(image courtesy THIS Magazine)

IV ce soir

(image by Steve Venright courtesy alexboyd.com)

Tonight at Toronto's IV Lounge reading series:

Stan Dragland (The Drowned Lands, novel)
Heather Wood (Barbies, Breasts & Bathing suits, fiction)
Jaclyn Piudik (The Tao of Loathliness, poems)

Your host for the evening, as usual, is the charming Alex Boyd, writer-guy.

I will be shuffling on over to the Lounge to hear Mr. Dragland, for sure, as I missed his book launch earlier this month. Also this evening, Taddle Creek magazine is doing a series of poetry recordings at the Lounge for some mysterious, as yet unannounced release. My buddy Chris Chambers -- gaze into his sultry eyes here -- will be recording one of his new pieces, and I have been asked to step in for an AWOL poet and record a piece not of my making. Fun.

gratitude

With this, my 100th posting to johndegen.com, I want to say thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts, which has granted me financial support in order to complete my next novel, tentatively titled Weehawken. Last year, the Canada Council invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada.



Weehawken will be the story of several unmoored characters living beside the Hudson River, in New Jersey. A disillusioned expatriate Canadian, Douglas McCallum retreats across the river from Manhattan's relentless grasping and disappointments, and sinks deep into the resentments of a second-class community riven by shifting economics. Confronted by his own ignorance, McCallum witnesses fabulous treachery and great violence, and is brought to a much-needed sobriety by the appearance of a legendary animal.

stunted

Next week marks the launch of Stunt, the first novel by Toronto playwright, poet and advice-lady Claudia Dey. My free copy of the book has strangely not yet arrived in the mail, so I can't pass judgement on what will surely be some crazy-ass fantastic writing.

For a tiny preview, check out this short interview with Claudia Dey at Toronto's formidable online literary magazine, The Danforth Review. Here's an excerpt from the interview:

"If the city of Toronto was a brain, the island would be its wildest thought. I lived on Toronto Island for various periods throughout the writing of the book. I found the island culture to be its own peculiar, dream-like construction. We do not wake up in the city to a horse or a parade of children on stilts walking by. I needed a setting that was fit for daring (and some apocalyptic underwater sex.)"

And since it's public knowledge that I have spent some time on Toronto Island with Claudia Dey, let me get right out in front of the tabloid rumours and say the only thing in that quote I remember about our time together was the horse.

death of the author

Why are copyright terms for individual authors based not on the publication date of their work, but on the death of the author? Maybe the framers of the law had Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton in mind:

He died from a love of poetry

This Guardian article by Marc Abrahams shows how poets tend to die sooner than other writers.

"The numbers tell the story. A poet's life, on average, is about a year shorter than that of a playwright, four years shorter than a novelist's life, and five-and-six-tenths years less than that of a non-fiction specialist."

Thanks to George at Bookninja for this.

Richer and poorer

My latest books column with THIS Magazine is online today (and also in one of those old-fashioned paper copies of the magazine found at your local, excellent magazine newsstand). You might want to read it, so I provide you here with a link to go and do that. Free, absolutely free -- no digital locks involved. Have fun -- and of course I trust you to respect the copyright. I know you will because you're good people.

It's sadly ironic, of course, that just as I get around to arguing Canada's publishing industry can make a book with the best of the world, Raincoast Books -- surely one of the more cash-rich book producers in Canada, thanks to a bespectacled boy wizard -- has decided to stop making Canadian books. This has made many folks upset, including the good people of The Writers Union of Canada and that fearsome ninja, George Murray.

I'm attempting to channel my disturbance over this Raincoast development into a more positive thought -- who needs them? There are many brave and dedicated publishers of Canadian books in our industry who have not had an international smash hit fluffing their pillows for a decade or so. They continue and, despite a strong Canadian dollar playing havoc with their already miniscule margins, the quality of their production just gets better and better. Bravo to you all.

Bye, bye Raincoast. I will miss your brilliant Jonathan Bennett, and know he will land somewhere better soon.

Royal Commission on Why We're All Yelling at Each Other

Reflecting on all the copyright craziness that has happened in the last week or so, I despaired over the weekend that this ongoing, neverending issue looks as though it will be resolved not according to what is good and right for all parties, but according to which argument gets the best press and therefore threatens the current government the most.

We've got corporate rights-holders on one side -- too often and too regrettably represented by the extreme maximalist argument. Also known as the "stodgy old folks with impaired vision" and "folks who have invested heavily in Canadian culture." They're working their networks, sending their message to Ottawa.

We've got the user rights and consumer advocates on the other side -- too often and too regrettably represented by the extreme minimalist argument. Also known as "the people," and "kids these days." They're recruiting nervous rock stars and following a red-sashed, swashbuckling Michael Geist to the barricades.

In the middle we have traditional creators wondering why everyone can't just get along. We tend to say "it's a bit more complicated than that," far too often, and with our heads swiveling from side to side. We get called greedy a lot, from both sides, but we're used to that from the also ongoing and never-ending arts-funding debates.

Well, a voice of reason has arisen. Chris Moore over at the Creators Copyright Coalition blog thinks it might be time for the ultimate in Canadian solutions -- a royal commission.

I officially endorse this idea.

Enough shouting. No more flash mobs invading parties, no more half-formed accusations of influence peddling. Let's get some sandwiches and muffins, and sit down in public until we work this damn thing out.

Cory's kindle concerns

Copyfighter novelist Cory Doctorow wonders aloud why Amazon.com doesn't apply the same trusting business practices to its digital wares it does to physical objects. Full article in The Guardian Unlimited here -- and an excerpt:

Amazon can change your ebooks without notifying you or getting your permission; and if you violate any of the "agreement", it can delete your ebooks, even if you've paid for them, and you get no appeal.

It's not just the Kindle, either. Amazon Unbox, the semi-abortive video download service, shipped with terms of service that included your granting permission for Amazon to install any software on your computer, to spy on you, to delete your videos, to delete any other file on your hard drive, to deny you access to your movies if you lose them in a crash. This comes from the company that will cheerfully ship you a replacement DVD if you email them and tell them that the one you just bought never turned up in the post.

Critics of my call for strong copyright may be surprised to hear that I share Doctorow's wistful bafflement over Amazon's digital business model. It certainly does seem they've gone a little slap-happy with the technological locking devices, and I anticipate a future in which Amazon sells fewer than hoped for Kindles and e-books under these terms and with these technological conditions.

Unlike Doctorow, though, I am not at all confused as to why Amazon would try to run its digital show like this. They do it, I imagine, because they're not quite sure what else to do. Accepting that a single physical copy of a book can be lent or resold, as Amazon and every other publishing related professional should do, does nothing to threaten the traditional writing and publishing business model. In fact, all audience-building devices such as limited lending and sharing can only be good for the book world in the long run. What would not be good for the business model of the book world is unlimited lending and sharing without a compensatory mechanism of any kind attached. Amazon locks up its e-books, for now, because it fears this unlimited lending and sharing.

Should they fear it? No, I don't think so. I think the mass of consumers can be trusted to respect copyright and the need for compensation that encourages continued creativity in a market-based economy, eventually.

Key words:

Trust -- Amazon needs to learn to trust its customers to do the right thing.

Respect -- Amazon's customers must respect copyright.

One won't work without the other -- and this is kind of a chicken and egg scenario. Not one of these key words comes first -- they both must happen at once.

Should we pass laws that remove Amazon's ability to make the kind of mistake it's making by alienating its own customers. Why would we do that? Strong copyright, including the right to lock your stuff away from your customers, is about giving the limited rights holders the freedom to choose their business model, even if it's one that won't work. At the moment, Doctorow and I agree, Amazon is probably choosing the wrong one. I have faith the market will send them an appropriate message.

yet more ©opy talk -- flash mob style

You may or may not have seen the dramatic video of protestors surrounding Industry Minister Jim Prentice at his riding association holiday open house last Saturday. It's on YouTube, so check it out:



A few things come to mind as I watch this:

1. These folks seem absolutely certain they know what's in a bill no-one outside government has yet seen.

2. They believe that physically surrounding and intimidating an MP is some form of democracy.

3. No answer Jim Prentice could give about reasonable process and consultation is going to make the crowd happy.

I do not defend Prentice or any government's handling of the copyright file, and I am reasonably sure I won't like everything I see in any reform bill myself, but holy festivus could we maybe see the bill before we grab our pitchforks?

Please note: No actual pitchforks appear in this video -- because the pitchfork is an analog tool of the old economy. Boing Boing and FaceBook are working on a virtual pitchfork application as I write this.

©opy talk

Well, the old Internet tubes are jammed with copyright talk these days, as Canada prepares to have our say, legislatively speaking. Not too much optimism out there, and for all sorts of different reasons.

Here's Wayne MacPhail over at rabble.ca taking the "it's really all about consumers" line.

Of course, it's NOT all about consumers. It's some about consumers, some about tensions between traditional and emerging businesses, and a whole lot about the creators whose livelihood depends on copyright. It's sad then that once again in a fear-filled and sensational article about the coming Americanization of our copyright law -- they sue grandmothers, don't they? -- MacPhail writes not a single word about how necessary copyright is for professional creativity.

Well, I'll keep at it then:

Another letter to the Hill Times

And to clarify, I also think suing your fans is an untenable business model, and that unlocked technology is preferable to the locked kind. On these topics, the musician Leslie Feist and I agree. I just happen to think that one of the ways we avoid those things is by having clear, strong and widely-respected copyright. For more on that -- see the discussion from this earlier post.

To find out other points of agreement between me and Feist, Leslie Feist should contact me and we'll have lunch. That would be fun.

copyright = oxygen

A friend of mine, copyfighter Russell McOrmond, is fond of the analogy that copyright law is like water -- too little of it and we die of thirst; too much of it and we drown. As analogies go, this one is very tidy, but I prefer to think of my copyright as oxygen. For the professional practice of a working writer, copyright is not a too much/too little proposition. It's an either/or. Provided with my oxygen, I get to keep breathing and keep writing. Deprived of it, well...

Russell's commitment to what he sees as fair copyright is profound, and I respect him even as I often disagree with the particulars of his position. I think our disagreements stem mostly from the fact that we work in very different areas and very different ways. Russell is a software developer and consultant deeply integrated into the open source ethos of that particular field. I write very traditional texts -- poems, novels, essays and articles. It is possible that we need very different things from a copyright law, and I would hope that Canada's legislators are subtle and smart enough to provide for both of us. You heard me.

Anyway, it looks like the feds are getting ready to make long-awaited and crucial changes to the Canadian Copyright Act. While the online Copyright Act says it is current to this very month, the bulk of it addresses a pre-digital reality, and for professional writers the pre- and post-digital worlds are drastically different in terms of respect and payment for work. An example:

In my day-job as Executive Director of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC), I deal with a lot of professional writers who have found their work reproduced on commercial websites or in commercial databases, without either permission from or payment to the writer. In many cases, not even the original publisher of the work is aware that the work has been appropriated for use elsewhere. Ignorant or unscrupulous re-publishers simply copy and paste entire texts from one site to another and then offer up the work as their own content. This is not quoting, or linking or referencing – all of which I support as necessary freedoms – but wholesale copying of complete texts. I am frequently astounded by the response of these absconders to any complaint or query about their business practices.

“But the article was freely available on the Internet.” Yes, for reading, not re-using.

“But the information in the article is crucial to the public interest – how dare you try to lock up this information!” No-one is trying to lock up information; we are instead asking you to respect the copyright of a text. There’s a real difference. A text is created through the work of a writer. It is original and of both commercial and moral value to the writer.

And my personal favorite… “We were providing that article for educational purposes only, and we gave the writer full credit.”

This one needs a bit of unfolding. First of all, full credit without permission or any suggestion of payment is cold comfort. For an idea of how writers see such deals, watch this YouTube video (warning: profanity):


(American writer, Harlan Ellison explains the joys of working for "credit.")

Secondly, no website with any commercial intent (one that sells advertising space, for instance, or attempts to present itself as the authority on a specific topic while aligned to a related commercial interest) provides anything for educational purposes only. This is a gigantic cop out, and one with terrifying implications for any potential new legislation. The idea that educational use of texts should be given an exception under the law is a disastrous loophole in the making.

Any exception to copyright weakens the entire concept and makes the prospect of professional creative practice very tricky indeed. Copyright ownership and control do not necessarily mean lack of access, but exceptions to ownership and control might very well mean the end of “professional” writing. Besides, exceptions are completely unnecessary. Any number of perfectly reasonable mechanisms can be used to make sure genuine educational uses of copyright protect material can be both easily and inexpensively accessed by both students and teachers, AND see to it that the copyright holders are fairly compensated for that use. As a society, we’re smart that way.

All sorts of new business models are being tested in the new digital reality, including models that provide digital access to original copyright protected material free of charge with the aim of battling obscurity (the writer’s greatest foe). You can see Canada’s own Sheila Heti doing just that over at her site, where visitors can read the entire text of her beautiful The Middle Stories. Please note, though, that it is Sheila Heti, the owner of the copyright on The Middle Stories, and not someone else who has decided to test this business model for her, for educational purposes only and with full credit, blah, blah, blah.. That’s how copyright needs to work – the owner makes the decisions and, hopefully, everyone benefits.

The prospect of new law has brought out all the usual suspects to advocate for their own positions as a bill approaches. I am one of the usual suspects. PWAC and The Writers’ Union combined on this recent letter in the Hill Times:

Letter to the Hill Times

Meanwhile, over at PWAC, we are trying to bring a little humour and consumerism to the effort by selling pro-writer, strong copyright gear, such as the bumper sticker shown above. We also offer Pay the Writer and Strong Copyright coffee mugs and t-shirts.


I wrote all the taglines for the PWAC gear, and provided it (free of charge) to PWAC. In my new business model for writing, PWAC will now continue to pay my salary. You know, hopefully.

Thanks to the excellent blog bookninja.com for tipping me off to what Sheila Heti is up to these days. And now, no doubt, Russell McOrmond will write a long comment. En garde!

Novel Night in Canada, part 2

(image courtesy the MCP Talent website)

So, apparently, just with the vibrations in the air from the Campaign to Get Ron MacLean to Talk About Degen's Hockey Novel on the Air, the idea of books and hockey coming together has taken purchase over at Hockey Night in Canada. Before the Toronto Maple Leafs shut out the Ottawa Senators 3-0 last Saturday, Ron MacLean spontaneously started talking about the Giller-winning Late Nights on Air.

Clearly, the time for a books panel on the Hotstove portion of HNIC is now!

The Campaign has been asked to send the following letter to HNIC:
_________________________________________________________
Sherali Najak, Senior Producer
Hockey Night in Canada
250 Front Street West
P.O. Box 500, Station A
Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6

November 19, 2007

Dear Sherali Najak,

I was very pleased to hear Ron MacLean talking about Elizabeth Hay’s book on Saturday night.

Here’s a thought – how about a Hotstove discussion about hockey literature? Sure, the country loves to hear all the latest trade and injury rumours, but there is more to talk about in hockey, and Canadian books on the subject abound. One segment of one show devoted to books is good for the whole country. If nothing else, HNIC will be showing it cares about getting our kids to read more.

What would we talk about, you ask. Well, are you aware that one of the short-listed novels in this year’s Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award has the Stanley Cup as a central character? Did you know the same book fictionalizes NHL history, so that Toronto wins the 1951 Stanley Cup only because of timekeeping error? That book is The Uninvited Guest, by Toronto novelist John Degen. This is good, Canadian stuff. So good, in fact, that three-time Stanley Cup champion Igor Larionov wrote one of the back-cover blurbs.

And this is not the only bit of hockey-lit Canadian writers have to offer. Dave Bidini writes great books about hockey (The Five Hole Stories). Brick Books will be bringing out a book of poems concerning Terry Sawchuk in the new year (Night Work: the Sawchuk Poems by Randall Maggs). As well, Vancouver novelist Stephen Galloway wrote a fine hockey novel a few years back -- Finnie Walsh.

I am writing to you as part of a large online campaign being run through Facebook. It is the Campaign to Get Ron MacLean to Talk About Degen's Hockey Novel on the Air, and while it may seem funny, we’re all pretty serious about it. We love the hockey, but we also love books. Bring our two loves together for one Hotstove discussion sometime this season – please. Maybe even get the authors on as your satellite panelists.

In conclusion -- Go Leafs Go!

Contact John Degen here: jkdegen@yahoo.com

More on The Uninvited Guest here:

http://tinyurl.com/yqxlqr

See the Facebook group here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6747597563&ref=mf

_______________________________________________________

If you feel so inclined, please copy and paste the letter and send it off yourself. E-mail for the proper e-coordinates if you only want to work digitally.

small mooga

Stuart Ross is one of the best lunch dates in town. The Toronto small press publisher, poet, readings host, editor, short story writer, blogger and raconteur loves eggplant and the tiny, independent publishing scene, in that order.

Way over on his very good blog -- bloggamooga -- he's wondering about the Toronto Small Press Book Fair, where it's going and how it might go there, or somewhere better. Stu helped found the TSPBF twenty years ago, and by doing so he donated an incredibly important venue for audience-finding and literature-testing to a generation or two of Toronto writers and publishers. Half the folks I like in Toronto I met at the Fair, and I'll bet there's a lot of Toronto writers who can say the same. So, when Stu speaks about the Fair, we should listen.

In the last few years, kids, work and life in general have taken me far from the Fair, which is a shame for me. That the numbers of the browsing public have dropped by about 90% is a shame for everyone.

Stu's put out a general call to revive the Fair. Visit him over at bloggamooga. Ask him to lunch, and tell him you want to help.

Novel Night in Canada

(image courtesy the MCP Talent website)

Today, I created a Facebook Group called:

Campaign to Get Ron MacLean to Talk About Degen's Hockey Novel on the Air

Is there anything Ron MacLean can't do?

Taddle Creek

(thanks to Taddle Creek magazine for the use of this image)

It's getting to that time of year again when Torontonians in the know start wondering when the next Taddle Creek happening will be. I am also wondering, and cannot find any info about it on the Taddle Creek Information Superhighway Location on the Internetwork. And so I post this musing, knowing that TC publisher Conan Tobias will be alerted to my question by Google's robots and will answer, at which time I will update this blog with the info and the circle of web life will continue to spin.

Taddle Creek is nothing less than Canada's greatest literary magazine. It appears only twice a year, is always beautiful to look at, and mixes fiction, poetry, essays and interviews in just the right proportions. I am biased, but that hardly matters, since I'm also correct.

For a sample of Taddle Creek you must visit their beautifully text-heavy website -- and what better place to start than this page, which contains an excerpt from my novel.

To give you an idea of how TC manages to be the best, consistently, year after year, you need only look as far as the facts that are presented in my entirely fictional contribution to the magazine. Before it was published, Tobias and I spent many a back and forth e-mail wrangling over the Swedish geography presented in the excerpt. As well, I believe Tobias did intensive research on the American tobacco industry to make sure that, indeed, Kent cigarettes were offered in Swedish cigarette machines in the 1970s. Simply put, the man's obsessive attention to detail always improves the quality of the literary work he accepts for his magazine. If that isn't enough, he launches each and every issue with a party at which there is often free beer.

So fly, Google monkeys, fly -- and tell Mr. Tobias we are wondering when the next great party will be.

climbing in the amazon

I note that today The Uninvited Guest has reached unprecedented heights in the Amazon.ca sales rankings. I am #602 as I write this, just a few shy of Madeleine Thien's Uncertainty, which actually won the First Novel Award. However, I also note that Heather O'Neill's runner-up book is way up there in the 200s.

I have no idea what this all means, but since I've never seen my book any higher in the rankings than the 5000s, I'll take it. Whoever you are out there buying the book, enjoy!

Classic Canadiana in LA Times

(photo by Robert Gauthier, courtesy the Los Angeles Times)

The LA Times has put together an excellent package on the tradition of NHL players taking the Stanley Cup home with them -- wherever home happens to be. In a story by Kurt Streeter and an exceptional photo and audio composition, the Times shows the cup going to Cranbrook, BC with the Niedermayer boys, various places in Saskatchewan with various prairie boys, and even Sweden and Finland. Strangely, it does not go to Romania.

See all the fun here.

Photos and audio here.

So, why am I writing about this? Oh, yeah, that novel thing.

Certainty

... and the award goes to, Certainty, by Madeleine Thien.

Had a great time at the First Novel Award dinner last evening. Funny trip up to Sunnybrook through rush hour traffic in a rented van with all the other short-listed authors. My brother phoned me about halfway through the ride to wish me luck and remind me not to get too big-headed about it all. Ended up, briefly, in the wrong place, but a short walk through a nice park in the weird evening mist brought us to the stately manor. There was plenty of red wine on hand and many friends and acquaintances from the publishing industry.

Thanks to Olga and Adrian Stein of Books in Canada for a splashy dinner, and thanks to Amazon.ca for the short-list prizes, which will make Christmas shopping that much easier this year. What I know about my fellow authors:

Peter Behrens is not fond of socks, Annette Lapointe may need new socks after a terribly inconvenient ankle injury, I can't tell anything about Heather O'Neill's socks because her boots are so intimidating, Adam Lewis Schroeder reads like an old woman -- but only when he's reading the part about the old woman -- and Madeleine Thien writes award-winning fiction.

A highlight of the evening for me was talking with Val Ross at the end of the presentations. Ms. Ross was one of the judges, and she had very insightful and generous things to say about the entire short list.

Also, the coffee with dessert was first rate.

So, maybe my next First Novel will win.