About a month ago, the good folks at CEO TV shot a segment about TBLP and my day job as a PR professional. They also sent a camera crew up to Orillia for the Leacock Award weekend to help round out the segment. Well, it aired nationally on Global a week or so ago and in case you need a laugh, you can watch it here…
I’ve just returned from the family cottage on Georgian Bay where I’ve just spend two weeks offline with my family. It was wonderful despite an unusually high mosquito count. I read several books, swam, slept, ate, and watched movies at night with my two sons. It was strange being completely discounted for two weeks (although my BlackBerry worked sporadically if I stood at the highest point on our property and stuck my BB in the air like the Statue of Liberty’s torch) but I managed. My in-laws arrived from Nova Scotia and we had a great visit. We saw some wildlife when we dropped off our recycling one day and my mother-in-law took this great shot.
We also took them on a day trip to Orillia to visit the Stephen Leacock Museum. Here are a couple of shots showing me sitting in Leacock’s library and the display in the Leacock Medal Room showcasing books and artifacts from the 61 year history of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
I’ll be back to Orillia on July 25th to do a public reading at the Summer Leacock Festival. I have to read for 30 minutes so I’ll need to decide which sections to present. My heart rate is slightly elevated already.
By the way, here’s the great Hamilton Spectator article by Mark Leslie Lefebvre that I mentioned in an earlier post. Thanks Mark!
Stay tuned for more information about all the events I’ll be doing in the fall to coincide with the release of the McClelland & Stewart edition of TBLP.
It’s nice to be back…
Here’s the new cover from Douglas Gibson and the great creative team at McClelland & Stewart. I love it. I really like the way the Globe and Mail quotation free forms its way around the cover. I also think the wordplay on “Plans” with the “s” scrunched in at the end because of bad planning, is great. I think it will be difficult for bookstore patrons to walk by this cover, and that’s the whole point. It says satire and humour more effectively than the original cover. Plus, the prominently placed Leacock Medal doesn’t hurt either. Full steam ahead…
I was browsing on Indigo today when I noticed an “Online Bestseller” banner across the top of TBLP. I have no idea exactly what it indicates, beyond I suppose that sales lately have been strong. I’m curious to know what it really means and have e-mailed Indigo in the hopes of finding out. In the interim, I’ve certainly no complaints about being tagged as an “online bestseller.” I guess the Leacock Medal honeymoon continues…
Back in February 2007, Steve Paikin, the outstanding host of The Agenda, TV Ontario’s great nightly public affairs program, was kind enough to interview me about the then unpublished TBLP. Here’s the blog post Steve wrote in the wake of the Leacock Medal announcement:
The Funniest Book In Canada
Back in February of 2007, I interviewed a political wise guy named Terry Fallis. Terry has been around the block in the political world. He now plies his trade at an eponymously named consulting firm.
But once upon a time, he was one of those back room boys who worked for politicians and tried to get them elected.
He’s a smart guy and figured there must be a funny book somewhere inside him, given all of what he’d seen in politics.
So he wrote a book, set on Parliament Hill, and followed the travails of a once naïve, now a bit too cynical back room boy who’s seen too much of politics’ seamy underbelly.
His book is called The Best Laid Plans and Terry rolled it out in unusual fashion.
Once a week, he downloaded a chapter of his work into podcast form on his website. He narrates the action himself. He did it this way because no Canadian publisher would print his work. Not a one.
So rather than wait for that, Fallis got the book into the readers’ hands with the newfangled technology so many of us are using these days. And what do you know: he ends up winning the Stephen Leacock prize for humour.
While the credit is all Terry’s, I take a certain amount of pride in saying we were the first program to interview the author, when, quite frankly, no one was beating his doors down to give him any attention.
So, to see and hear my conversation with Terry Fallis from last February, about his own political history, and his successful political novel, watch this web-exclusive video and enjoy.
Thanks Steve. You were there at the beginning and I’m grateful.
As my wife Nancy and I were driving home yesterday from Orillia where the Leacock Medal luncheon was held, James Adams of the Globe and Mail called my cell phone. We did a quick interview as I tried to drive down highway 400 while still floating off the ground. Anyway, here’s the result:
Stay tuned. I’ve been informed that the official Globe and Mail review of TBLP will run this Saturday (gulp).
I’m sure my 15 minutes must soon be up. Because of the Leacock Medal shortlist, the Toronto Star ran a nice piece in the Sunday Star this past weekend. They even teased the story on the front page of the Entertainment section. I’d done the interview and photography last week. I’m amazed at how many people have e-mailed me in the wake of the article, including some who have said that they’ve ordered the book. Every little bit helps!
The Leacock Medal is a pretty big deal in Canada having been awarded to many of my literary heroes including Roberston Davies, Mordecai Richler, and Paul Quarrington. Earlier today, I found out by reading a Google News Alert that The Best Laid Plans has been named a finalist, along with four other books, for the 2008 Leacock Medal. I am stunned and immeasurably grateful for this completely unexpected recognition. (I didn’t even dare contemplate the possibility.) The winner will be announced at a luncheon on April 30th in the Leacock home. I’ll be there, likely still walking around in a haze of incredulity.
Here’s the photo from the Orillia Packet & Times. This is how I discovered the news… by noticing my photo on the board.
I hope to be able to construct coherent sentences and touch back down to earth in a few days. But until then, I just can’t believe it…
I just discovered when reviewing my monthly sales summary from my publisher that the Ottawa Public Library system has ordered 15 copies of TBLP to distribute among its 33 branches. As far as I know, this is the first library order I’ve received.
For what it’s worth, here’s a partial screen shot of the New Titles On Order list from the Ottawa Public Library website. Very, very cool.
Pages is one of Canada’s premier independent bookstores offering an extraordinary range of literary fiction, nonfiction and art books. It’s located on trendy Queen Street East in Toronto and TBLP is now available there.
Welcome to the podcast of The Best Laid Plans, a satirical novel of Canadian politics written by Terry Fallis.
Learn a bit about the author and podcast narrator, Terry Fallis »
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