I’m very fortunate. First, the great and hilarious writer Ian Fergusonblurbed The High Road. Now, my ball hockey teammate, the amazing, Juno-winning, Blue Rodeo-founding, singer/songwriter Jim Cuddy, offers a wonderful THR blurb of his own. As I said, I’m one lucky writer. Both Ian’s and Jim’s contributions will appear somewhere on, or in, The High Road when it’s published in early September, 2010.
Here’s what Jim kindly wrote:
“It is a giant talent that can elicit so much fun from the dour world of backroom Canadian politics. Battling egos, smear campaigns, vigilante seniors and a dipsomaniac First Lady make for quite a romp up and down the Hill. MP Professor Angus McLintock, the never bending, free-thinking Scot, is the perfect foil for all that is inflated in the world of policy and polling. Doing battle with the prigs and prats that rule the halls of power has never been more enjoyable since…well, since The Best Laid Plans. Thought provoking and funny, here’s hoping there are more installments to come.”
Jim Cuddy, Blue Rodeo
And just to pre-empt any doubters that I play ball hockey, let alone with Jim Cuddy backing me up on the blue line, here’s our team photo.
That’s Jim in the back row in the middle. I’m on one knee, probably still gasping for air, to the right of the goalie. The other guy on the left of the goalie, who looks a little like me, okay, a lot like me, is my twin brother Tim.
When it came time to invite prominent Canadians to read the manuscript of The High Road and provide what they call in the publishing biz, “blurbs,” I thought of approaching Ian. He could not have been more gracious and readily agreed.
I was a little nervous when I knew the manuscript was in his hands. But he knocked me for a loop earlier this week when his official “blurb” arrived. Here’s what he wrote:
“In a perfect world, the federal government would establish a Ministry of Humour and put Terry Fallis in charge of that department. THE HIGH ROAD is brilliantly written and hysterically funny. You are cautioned not to attempt to read it in a public setting, since you will laugh – audibly - to a disturbing degree and many people will find this annoying. Trust me on this. And if you, like myself, enjoy reading in bed, be prepared for spousal banishment. Apparently loud bursts of laughter make it difficult for your bed partner to fall asleep. Who knew, eh? Worth it, though. Terry Fallis manages to top his first novel THE BEST LAID PLANS with this relentlessly enjoyable follow-up. No small feat, since the original won the Stephen Leacock Medal . Do yourself a favour and pick up this book, find a quiet place to read it, and enjoy…you will laugh out loud on almost every single page.”
Ian Ferguson author of VILLAGE OF THE SMALL HOUSES
How cool is that? Douglas Gibson and the team at McClelland & Stewart will likely use a portion of it to appear on the back cover of The High Road. The early suggestion is:
“In a perfect world, the federal government would establish a Ministry of Humour and put Terry Fallis in charge of that department. THE HIGH ROAD is brilliantly written and hysterically funny. You will laugh out loud on almost every single page.”
Ian Ferguson author of VILLAGE OF THE SMALL HOUSES
I had to sit down after reading Ian’s kind words. I’m humbled and honoured that he would be so supportive. Here’s a shot of Ian and me at last year’s Leacock Luncheon in Orillia.
I’m really looking forward to speaking at the Waterloo Public Library (McCormick Branch) tonight. The branch’s book club has been reading TBLP. As I’ve noted before on this blog, I’m happy to speak about TBLP pretty well anywhere, and to anyone, but it’s particularly enjoyable to be amidst a group of book lovers who have read the novel. The discussion is usually deeper and more interesting. Plus, I had such a wonderful time in Waterloo last fall when I attended the Words Worth Booksbook club, that I’m very pleased to be going back this evening. Here’s hoping the snow holds off until I get there!
It may be because it usually takes me about an hour to tell the tale of what I often call my unorthodox journey to the published land, but I’ve fielded many requests for a brief and visual overview of the odyssey. “Put something on YouTube!” is a regular refrain at readings. So, in a spasm of self-indulgence, there now is such an offering. This is really just an animated PowerPoint presentation we pulled together against the backdrop of Jon Schmidt’s great piece of music, Winter Serenade (which, incidentally, opens and closes each episode of the podcast version of TBLP).
My thanks to Mike Edgell who helped turn it into a video.
I blogged a couple of weeks ago about a mysterious leap in TBLP podcast downloads as 2009 drew to a close. I still have no explanation for the sudden uptick in listeners (not that I’m complaining). Well, it seems the surge continued in January, topping out at just shy of 2800 downloads. You can see from the chart that it’s about four times higher than the pre-October download numbers. (The line falls off precipitously in February because we’re only five days into the month.) I’m pleased that so many more people are discovering the podcast version of TBLP. I just can’t explain the sudden growth. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for an announcement about podcasting plans for The High Road.
It’s hard to believe that January is over. Seems like the New Year’s Eve countdown was just a few nights ago. After a quiet January on the talks/readings front, there are two gigs planned in February. (I’d love to see you there if you’re in the neighbourhood.) Then events pick up again in May and June. You can see my schedule, such as it is, on the Appearances page.
Well, I guess it’s really official now. I was checking BookManager a few minutes ago. This is a site used primarily to track book sales to and through independent book sellers. I check it periodically to see whether TBLP is still in demand. Tonight when I looked, lo and behold, The High Road has magically appeared in my listing, slated for publication on September 7, 2010. This is the first time I’ve seen a firm publication date. Here’s what it looks like:
When the cover design is completed and approved, it will appear as well. The High Road somehow seems more real now than it ever has.
Last year, I did a reading at a public library in Toronto’s Beach community. When it was over, a young woman approached to have her book signed and to ask some writing-related questions. Our conversation carried on out onto the street after the event, and I got to know Evadne Macedo, aspiring novelist and all-round lovely person. Evadne is a lawyer, and works by day at the Ontario Human Rights Commission. But she’s also a writer. I read sections of an early draft of her first novel shortly after we met, and saw real promise in those pages. I loved the voice, matter-a-fact tone, and the quirky sense of humour. Well, in the intervening months, Evadne has been hard at work on her manuscript, while starting other writing projects as well, including a second novel, and a writing blog. I’m just now returning to her first novel manuscript, The 29th Day, now that she’s happier with it (or as happy as writers can ever truly be with the state of their manuscript!). I’m looking forward to reading it and offering whatever help I can as she ventures into the publishing waters.
Next month, I’ll be heading down the 401 for an hour to the lovely community of Waterloo, home of the wonderful Words Worth Books, where I spoke last fall. I’ll be speaking and reading at the McCormick Branch Book Club that was kind enough to select TBLP as their pick for February. Should be fun…
There’s an old adage that “those who can’t do, teach.” Thankfully, I’ve never really subscribed to that notion. In fact, I’m going to try teaching a night course next November as part of the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies’ Creative Writing program. I’m not sure what the official name of the course will be, but here’s the description that will appear in the school’s next academic calendar:
My idea is to take what I’ve learned from promoting TBLP (such as it is), and share it with other writers who are looking for an audience. In my day job in public relations, I’ve really enjoyed the hundreds of hours of media training and presentation skills training sessions I’ve led for clients over the last 15 years. I hope this course will have a similar informal and interactive vibe to it. It’ll be only four sessions in November, so I’ve plenty of time to get my act together (famous last words).
This all came about last fall at the suggestion of Kim Echlin, the Giller short-listed novelist. We were chatting about her love of teaching and she encouraged me to give it a try. She suggested I contact the novelist Lee Gowan, who heads the Creative Writing program at U of T’s School of Continuing Studies. I read his first two books (Make Believe Love, and The Last Cowboy) when they came out a few years ago, and I really enjoyed them both. So Lee and I met last November and came up with this idea for a new course on shameless self-promotion and audience-building. At our meeting, I brought him a copy of TBLP, and he kindly reciprocated with a copy of this third and most recent novel, Confession (love the cover, below). I want to thank Lee for letting me try my hand at teaching. Very brave of him. If you’re interested in the course, there should be a new academic calendar available sometime in the coming months and it will have all the information you need to register. Stay tuned…
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.
