All of sudden, The High Road seems more real. The good folks at McClelland & Stewart have been busy. Both Chapters/Indigo and Amazon now feature preliminary listings for The High Road. It’s also listed on the M&S site. As soon as cover design and cover copy are completed, These listings will be filled out with graphics and more information. We’re getting there…
TBLP doesn’t generate a ton of reader reviews on Chapters-Indigo or Amazon but it’s sure nice to get them, particularly if they’re positive. I don’t know about you, but I always scan the reader reviews before I buy a book. they’re often more meaningul to me than the Globe and Mail or New York Times book reviews. I read as a reader, not as a reviewer.
Authors write to have their work read. So hearing nice things from actual readers is just so gratifying. I happened to check last night and the seventh TBLP reader review has just appeared on Amazon.ca.
“The Best Laid Plans has to be one of the best books this year. The author has an insiders knowledge of the Canadian political system. Without boring us with the day to day minutae he is able to give us a clear picture of what is wrong with the system and lets us form our own opinions on how it might be changed. Mr. Fallis has a delightful sense of humour and has no difficulty letting us in on the joke. How wonderful life would be if only we really did have a few politicians such as are described in this book. I shall be seeking more books by this author.”
I’d never actually noticed that you can check sales rankings on Amazon.ca based on the category in which the book has been placed. TBLP is categorized as Literature and Fiction/Genre Fiction/Political. When I realized this, I had a quick look at the Political genre Bestseller list and much to my amazement found TBLP at number seven, just ahead of Dan Brown’s Digital Fortress at number eight. Who knows how Amazon determines the rankings, but it’s still neat to be anywhere near such a list. Amazon.ca updates their bestseller lists hourly, so I took a quick screen shot in case I never crack the top ten again.
If you’ve read TBLP, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of Alexander Graham Bell. In the novel, Angus reveres Bell and honours him by naming his hovercraft Baddeck 1. Bell summered in Baddeck in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It was the site of many of his triumphs as an inventor. Whether building his record-breaking hydrofoil or testing various kite designs, a whole lot of ingenuity and innovation unfolded on the shores of Bras d’Or Lake. On February 23rd, 1909, the Silver Dart, a rickety plane of bamboo, string, wire and silk, lifted off the ice at Baddeck making the very first controlled, powered flight in Canada. The Silver Dart was designed and built by the Aerial Experiment Association, a group founded by Alexander Graham Bell in 1907. One hundred years later, almost to the day, a replica of the Silver Dart flew again, taking off from the very same ice. Aided by my interest in, and respect for, Bell, I found the re-creation of this historic first flight to be quite moving. It was a fitting and worthy tribute to Bell and his team of intrepid adventurers.
Welcome to terryfallis.com where award-winning novelist Terry Fallis blogs about his writing life and podcasts his first novel, The Best Laid Plans, winner of the 2008 Stephen Leacock Award for Humour.
