Sunday, January 03, 2010

First Proofs

It’s a strange term, because first proofs are the final chance I have to review the manuscript for the Darkening Archipelago before it goes to the printer on January 25th.

I’ve been holed up in Banff, Alberta this week, staying at a friend’s condo while she is away over the New Year. Jenn and I have been skiing every day, and I’ve been rising early to work on a new book called The End of the Line, and to review the D.A. It’s a little nerve wracking; of course I’m finding mistakes, and there are sections of the book that I might change a few words in if I had the opportunity to write them over, but otherwise, I’m reasonably happy with the manuscript as it stands.

It’s hard to believe that the story that I laid out on a 20 foot long roll of butcher paper in the tiny library at Hollyhock almost four years ago is finally going to see the light of day in less than two months.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Book Signing in Canmore, New Year's Eve

I'll be at Cafe Book's on Canmore's Main Street from 3-5pm on December 31st. I'm there to support my favorite local bookseller, connect with old friends and maybe sell a few books to folks who didn't get everything they wanted for Christmas this year. If you're in the Bow Valley for New Year's come by and share some holiday cheer and say hello.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Have a Killer Christmas

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift for the activist on your list? Know somebody who cares about wildlands and wildlife but doesn't want to be hit over the head with an environmental message every time they pick up a book? Or maybe, like me, you are a closet crime fiction junkie and want a mystery with a message!

Consider giving The Cardinal Divide: A Cole Blackwater Mystery this Christmas. In The Cardinal Divide Cole Blackwater reluctantly finds himself solving the mystery that surrounds the murder of the manager of a coal mine on the boundary of Jasper National Park, Alberta. Cole must exonerate his friend who has been charged with the killing, and find the real killer, to save the the Cardinal Divide and the wildlands and wildlife that the mine will destroy.

"You are good! This book deserves a large audience," says Robert Bateman, wildlife artist and educator.

Order The Cardinal Divide by emailing me right now and I'll sign a copy to who-ever you are giving the gift to (give me the correct spelling of their name, please) and send it to you in the next week. Total cost to you will be $25 including postage. I'll donate $5 of that to the Sierra Club BC to boot!

Christmas doesn't get much better than that.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Times Colonist "Eco-Activism Goes Undercover"

My thanks to Steve Carey, the environment reporter at the Victoria Times Colonist" for this great story on The Cardinal Divide, and employing fiction to tell an environmental tale. Steve's story takes a look at the mystery genre and how other writers are using it to convey important messages about making the world a better place.



Monday, October 26, 2009

Shortlisted: Banff Mountain Book Awards

The Cardinal Divide: A Cole Blackwater Mystery has been shortlisted for The Canadian Rockies Award in the 2009 Banff Mountain Book Festival. The award is presented annually to the best book about the Canadian Rockies entered in the Mountain Book Festival. The Mountain Book Festival is held at the Banff Centre for Mountain Culture November 5th and 6th.

To be nominated for this award, at the Banff Mountain Book Festival means a lot to me.

I went to the very first Mountain Book Festival, when it was still the poor cousin of the Banff Mountain Film Festival. That was 16 years ago: I was living in Lake Louise at the time, penning columns on mountain life and the mountain environment for the local newspapers, and dreaming that someday I might have a book to display at the nominations table.

I met Chic Scott at that Book Festival that first year, and we began what was a short-lived tradition of a cup of tea or coffee together to talk about climbing, skiing and writing. It’s been ten years since I sat down with Chic to talk shop; he’s nominated for the same award this year – as are friends John Marriott and Graeme Pole – so I hope maybe we can all meet to share stories about writing, photography and the mountains we love.

The landscape is the protagonist in The Cardinal Divide. The craggy ridge of the Divide itself is always there, as the soon to be deceased mine manager notes in the prologue of the book: “He craned his neck and looked south into the darkness, beyond the existing mine, toward the Cardinal Divide’s jagged back. In his minds’ eye he saw the reef of stone rising abruptly from the rolling foothills that broke against the implacable wall of the Rocky Mountains. Though the Divide was beyond his life of sight, Mike Barnes knew it was there. Could not forget it was there. So much angst over a hill.”

(A very real place: The Cardinal Divide)

And while the book is a murder mystery, it’s about very real issues and a very real place; issues that for more than a decade as an activist in Alberta I struggled with, and that for 30 years have been vexing many people across North America: How do we protect a place that we love from the overwhelming forces of single-minded progress? How do we bridge such a cardinal divide within our communities, when one group of people look back to short term exploitation to prosper while others look forward to sustainable solutions, back lack the means to implement them?

The Cardinal Divide doesn’t answer these questions, but set among the murder mystery is the story of a community’s connection to a powerful place. In asking the question we’re one step closer to an answer.

It’s a great honor to be nominated for this award.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Final Cover

First, a hearty thank-you to all of those who voted for a cover for the forthcoming Cole Blackwater mystery The Darkening Archipelago. It was clear that the first option resonated with reviewers, so we opted to use this image of troubled waters and misty, foreboding islets. I also received a lot of feedback that the vertical orientation of the text simply didn’t work. Too hard to look at on the shelf, you said. I appreciated this advice, and passed it on to the talented team at NeWest Press, and they redesigned the cover with your comments in mind.

My thanks also to Alexandra Morton, friend and wild salmon advocate, who provided a few dozen amazing images of the setting for this book, the troubled Broughton Archipelago along British Columbia’s wild and convoluted coast.

The Darkening Archipelago is a murder mystery with a serious theme: the story is a race to keep both human souls and wild ecosystems from falling into unending darkness. I believe that the cover represents this well.

So here is the cover of The Darkening Archipelago. I’m very pleased with it, and I’m excited that in the next couple of days I’ll take a final look at the books edited text before returning it to NeWest for design, layout and printing. The book will be available early in the New Year! Of course, feedback is always welcome.

Stay tuned for more updates. You can read a synopsis of this the second book in the Cole Blackwater environmental mystery series by clicking here.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Pick a cover for the Darkening Archipelago

Two weeks ago I submitted the final draft of the Darkening Archipelago’s manuscript to NeWest Press for publication. The Darkening Archipelago is the second book in the Cole Blackwater Mystery series and is set in BC’s rugged Broughton Archipelago. Cole Blackwater and Nancy Webber are back, and are attempting to unravel the mystery of a first nation’s activist gone missing while investigating a virulent strain of sea lice that threatens to devastate wild salmon stocks in BC. A full synopsis can be read here.

NeWest has provided me with some possible cover options. The design for The Darkening Archipelago is similar to that of The Cardinal Divide (see below); but instead of a stylized image we’re going to use one of a few beautiful photographs provided by my friend and colleague Alex Morton. I’d like your feedback on the cover, and to know which cover option you think best suits the book.

Recall that the general tone of this second book is very dark, both for the protagonist Cole Blackwater, and for the entire ecosystem along BC’s coast, where salmon are the life blood and are threatened by salmon farming with a precipitous demise. Please use the poll on the right hand side of the page to mark your preference, and the comments section at the bottom of the page to elaborate or make further suggestions on the cover of the book.

The Darkening Archipelago is scheduled for release in early 2010.

(Cover One)

(Cover Two)

(Cover Three)


(The Cardinal Divide cover, for comparative sake)