CBC asked all of the Canada Reads finalists to answer a kind of holiday gift guide questionnaire. Today was my turn. (Excuse the crazed photo. It’s not CBC’s fault. It’s tough to get a good shot of me. Tell me I don’t always look like this…)
Archive for the ‘Jim Cuddy’ Category
My Canada Reads Gift Guide
Friday, December 24th, 2010Jim Cuddy and Ali Velshi plug THR on CBC’s P&P
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010What a thrill it was to watch Jim Cuddy and Ali Velshi square off against NDP MP Pat Martin on Evan Solomon’s show Power & Politics on CBC News Network. You can watch it here (fast forward to start at 1:19:09 into the show). The sometimes heated discussion revolved around my second novel, The High Road. Jim and Ali were very supportive while Pat Martin wasn’t such a big fan. The debate went on for a good 15 minutes or so and actually included a reading from THR by the very Scottish National Post columnist, John Ivison. In the end, I think fair-minded viewers would feel encouraged to pick up the book on the basis of Jim and Ali’s positive reviews. I confess it was a little surreal to watch my second novel being discussed on television by such high fliers who had obviously read the book. Yes, it was quite a thrill…
My CBC Book Club Podcast episode
Friday, October 1st, 2010A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from one of the literary producers at CBC Radio about coming in to record a segment of their great CBC Book Club Podcast (longtime listener, first time… guest!). So in I went to the CBC Broadcast Centre, slapped on the headphones, and answered a series of questions I’d been sent earlier in the week. It was kind of fun. Anyway, it was produced and posted today. Check it out if you like…
Back cover design for The High Road
Friday, May 7th, 2010Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy blurbs The High Road
Friday, March 12th, 2010I’m very fortunate. First, the great and hilarious writer Ian Ferguson blurbed 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
McClelland & Stewart to publish The High Road
Sunday, December 13th, 2009It’s official. The paperwork is done, and I’m thrilled to announce that next September, McClelland & Stewart will publish the sequel to TBLP, entitled The High Road. Even better, Douglas Gibson will again be my editor and publisher, under his own M&S imprint. There’s none better than he (he’s edited Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, W. O. Mitchell, and the long list goes on and on). I could not be happier.
I had always hoped that it would unfold in this way after M&S published TBLP, but in this uncertain climate, it’s never really done until the contract is signed. Well, the ink is now dry. I want to thank my wonderful literary agent, Beverley Slopen, who worked with Doug and M&S to make this happen.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be doing some final tweaking to the manuscript based on Doug Gibson’s close editorial review. I’m pleased that there’s not much left to do on it and it’ll be done by early January. Then Doug and M&S take over. There’s cover design to do, layout, and cover copy, among other steps along the way. We’re also trying to gather some big names to provide endorsements of sorts that might appear somewhere on the front or back covers. So far, Jim Cuddy, the amazing singer/songwriter from Blue Rodeo, has agreed to “blurb” the novel. He said he really enjoyed TBLP, and who am I to argue? (If you’re wondering how I was able to connect with Jim, we actually play on the same ball hockey team. He’s a great guy and a stalwart defenceman too.) As well, former Leacock Medal winner Ian Ferguson (another great guy — hilarious too — I’ve come to know since meeting him at last year’s Leacock Luncheon) has also promised to provide a quotation. Of course, neither of these great Canadians has yet read The High Road manuscript, but here’s hoping they like it when they do early in 2010. Fingers crossed.
This news simply continues what has been for me, an extraordinary journey since I “went public” with the first episode of the TBLP podcast nearly three years ago, nine months before it was yet a self-published book. What a ride it’s been…