Check out some of the pictures below, which capture the fun and mayhem of Richard’s ghostly exhibition!

Richard Palmisano posing with... a deceased lady?

The entrance into the Ghosts of the CNE pavilion.

The interior of the Ghost exhibit at the CNE.

For more creepy stories about the CNE, check out Richard’s book Ghosts of the Canadian National Exhibition, available now.

Turner will take part in the Niagara Literary Arts Festival 2011 lecture series on Friday, June 24, at 2:00 pm in Niagara Falls, where – among other things – he will discuss and promote The Astonishing General. If you’re a historian or Canadian history buff, then you won’t want to miss this event, not to mention the book when it comes out this July.

Read on for a synopsis from the author that is sure to appeal to all kinds of readers.

Tell us about your book. 

It is about a man’s life and legacy. His life was not long, but his legacy began immediately upon his death and has continued ever since. It is an amazing legacy, probably unequalled in Canada because it’s the commemoration of a British general in an almost forgotten war long ago in a place called Upper Canada, which has since had several different names. The legacy is also amazing because it has taken so many forms, e.g. newspaper articles, books, poems, songs, stamps, plaques, monuments, a town’s name, and even a university. Aside from royalty, Brock’s name may be the most commemorated one in Ontario. It’s hardly surprising that I wondered why.

How did you come up with the idea for this work?

I was asked to write a biography of Isaac Brock in time for the 2012 commemoration of the War of 1812. I’ve written about Brock and the War of 1812, so I was familiar with the story, sources, and the literature. There has not been a scholarly or well-researched biography of Isaac Brock since the publication of volume 5 of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography in 1983. That’s a generation ago and, I agreed, it was time to take another look at this heroic figure. 

How did you come up with the title?

(See answer to Question 1.) Upon receiving the request to write the biography, I reviewed the existing literature on Isaac Brock and asked myself was there anything new or different that could be written that has not already been covered by others. It’s not an exaggeration to say that there’s been very little criticism of Brock or questioning of his abilities as either a military commander or leader of civil government. Criticism or qualifications appear briefly in scholarly writings, and they have not affected the general impression that Brock was a brilliant general and the savior of Upper Canada—therefore, of Canada. I realized that I felt a sense of astonishment, and that gave me the idea for the title. The publisher accepted it without question.

Did you have a specific readership in mind when you wrote your book?

It is aimed at an adult readership but written so that literate young people (high school age) would have no difficulty with the language or concepts. I’ve tried to write in a lively style and I’ve included as much personal information about Brock (e.g. was there a woman in his life, his treatment of rank and file soldiers, his love of parties, his friends, his food) as I could find. I hope it will reach a general public beyond those who are specifically interested in reading history. The work contains the scholarly apparatus of references and bibliography because it’s intended to become a lasting work about Isaac Brock. While written as a story, the information it presents must be accurate and firmly based on research. That doesn’t mean it contains all the answers but, rather, it raises what I think are still the most important questions.

What is your next project?

In broad terms I’ve been researching civilian experiences of the War of 1812, and that’s become my chief next project. Specifically, I want to look into residents’ experiences during the American occupation of the Niagara area from May to December 1813. Very little has been written about what civilians went through during those months. Able-bodied men were absent either on service or as prisoners of the Americans. How did the women, children, and old men cope with occupying troops and the frequent fighting skirmishes virtually in and around the town? The outcome may be a book or a series of short written pieces depending on the information I gather, what people are interested in receiving, and my time.

Look for the novel to hit shelves this June – and you won’t want to miss the book signing with Jill Downie at 1:00 pm on Thursday, June 9, at The Avid Reader Bookstore on Division Street in Cobourg. In the meantime, read on for some insight into the author and her work.

Tell us about your book.

Daggers and Men’s Smiles is a mystery set on the Channel Island of Guernsey just off the French coast. The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles occupied during the Second World War, and the murders that Detective Inspector Ed Moretti and his partner, Detective Constable Liz Falla, must investigate have much to do with the long shadows cast by that war, both on Guernsey and in Italy. 

How did you come up with the title?

The title comes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “There’s daggers in men’s smiles.” The murderer always uses some kind of dagger. And it’s fair to say that, in most mysteries, there are human beings who can smile and smile, and be villains!

How did you research your book?

Researching the book was a pleasure – a strange and unlikely thing to say about a mystery that involves murder most foul and a terrible war. But it required revisiting Guernsey, where I lived for about ten years and where I was at school before going to university. The island has changed a great deal since I was growing up there because of the arrival of the offshore money business, which has replaced the tomatoes and the freesias and the greenhouses. But the beauty of the island, with its spectacular coastline, is unchanged, and the relics of the occupation have now become a tourist attraction. In La Valette Underground Museum, set in a huge U-boat refuelling bunker, you can see the stilettos, the whips, and the rubber truncheons used against the slave labour who built not only the bunker but the underground military hospital for the many wounded young Germans expected in the final push at the end of the war. It was never used, and it is difficult to imagine any wounded man doing well in such damp, dreary, and terrible surroundings. 

But the pleasure for me lay in revisiting this magical island where I had been happy in an unsettled childhood, seeing again the people and places I remembered. The ugly facts of the Nazi occupation were there back then but suppressed and submerged, like the museum and the hospital, until many of the generation who had suffered were gone, and their enterprising descendants saw that it was a story that should be told.

Who did you read as a young adult?

Books contain worlds and lives into which one can escape, and so it was for me. As an older teenager and a young woman I read the great story-tellers – the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, and Dickens, who took me into the past to live among a wealth of characters in a multitude of settings and circumstances. I devoured the Canadian Mazo De La Roche – only later would I discover that her novels were more a reflection of England than the Ontario I would soon be living in. And I read every book by every author of that great Golden Age of the classic mystery I could get my hands on – as I write this, in my mind’s eye I can see the distinctive cover design of the Penguin paperbacks of the era, who published many of them. Edmund Crispin, John Dickson Carr (one of his noms de plume), Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers, and, of course, Agatha Christie. My personal favourite was Sayers, and her aristocrat-detective, Lord Peter Wimsey – not quite as wonderful as Jane Austen’s Darcy, but running a close second. 

And with them, in my book, the greatest of them all, Georges Simenon.

What are you reading right now?

Right now I am reading The Man in the Wooden Hat, by Jane Gardam, a prequel to Old Filth. I am a huge admirer of her books. I have just finished time-travelling back to first-century B.C. Alexandria in Stacey Schiff’s Cleopatra – what an experience! I am about to start The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal. And I shall be looking out for the latest P.D James, and the latest C.J. Sansom, and the latest Lindsey Davis, and the latest Louise Penny, and the latest Don Easton, and…

Tell us about your book.

All of us have had the experience of looking at ourselves in a mirror. When we do this we can see our reflection clearly enough, but in the background we can also see the rest of the world. This book works the same way. It appears to be a book about a guitar, but just as the cover of the book suggests, in the background are stories about a vast array of artistic, scientific, and historical artifacts that comprise the body of the instrument. The stories may appear to be local in nature because the parts used in the building of the guitar all came from the Guelph area. But not so! All towns and certainly all universities recruit their people from and conduct their work all around the world. The stories in the book involve 2.5 billion years of earth history, materials from 6 continents, successes and failures of 35 businesses, and the lives of 68 people. In a way, the book is the autobiography of the instrument itself.

How did you come up with the idea for this work?

The idea grew from my experience teaching ecology at the University of Guelph. It had always seemed that students learned more from stories than from lectures based solely on content. And case studies represented the best stories. The idea of building the guitar to carry a myriad of stories came first. Once the guitar was built and the concerts featuring it became popular, it seemed a natural extension to write down the stories that were featured at the shows. 

How did you come up with the title?

We struggled with the title for an eternity. But in the end, the name of the guitar – suggested by author Tom King – was Storyteller. So naming the book “Storyteller Guitar” was an obvious choice. 

Tell us a little about the overarching theme of your work, and why you felt compelled to explore it.

The overarching theme of the book borrows ideas from Jacob Bronowski, who taught that humans can’t really understand any object or idea unless they recruit all of art and all of science as tools of exploration. So the unification of art, science, and history was the underlying theme of the book. The guitar is the vehicle, but art, science, and history are the passengers. 

Did you have a specific readership in mind when you wrote your book?

The book should be of interest to a very wide audience: I have been giving shows at elementary schools, high schools, universities, public interest groups, bars, and concert halls. Everyone seems to love the instrument and the stories embedded in it. Musicians, biologists, hobbyists, woodworkers, teachers, and historians should find the book interesting.

How did you research your book?

I collected the pieces that went into the construction of the guitar, and I explored deeply the history of each object as it arrived in my hands. I also conducted face to face interviews with lots of donors. 

What was the creative process like for you?

Thrilling! And so has been the reaction to the project from audiences. 

Describe your ideal writing environment.

A blank computer screen and CBC Radio 1 in the background.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Leaving material OUT was the hardest part of writing the book. But occasionally I realized that leaving a trail of unfinished stories would invite the reader to explore some of the topics themselves. 

What was your first publication?

My first publication was a scientific paper published in 1973. My first book was published in 2000. 

What inspired you to write your first book?

A huge gap in the literature inspired me to write my first book. It still represents the classic volume in the field and will probably retain that position for decades.

In your own work, which character are you most attached to, and why?

The guitar is me. But the guitar is also all of us…

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received as a writer?

Just write for yourself.

Describe the most memorable response you’ve received from a reader.

“I never thought of that before…” 

Has a review or profile ever changed your perspective on your work?

People like me with low self-esteem find it difficult to accept compliments. The work has received compliments so far, and the other publications have as well. I know that I must defer to these opinions. 

Who did you read as a young adult?

National Geographic. 

What are you reading right now?

Trashy spy fiction and thrillers. 

What is your next project?

I am writing a screenplay for a film about Nikolai Vavilov, the most famous scientist no one has ever heard of.  Stalin killed him in 1943 and then erased the memory of his existence. A wonderful story once the tragedy is dealt with, ecause Vavilov actually won…

Teenage boys especially will find this novel both thrilling and relatable while other readers might appreciate the supernatural aspect or the research that the author put into her work. In any case, readers should find something interesting in Cohen’s answers to our questions – like how the concept of Mind Gap came to her.

Tell us about your book.

Mind Gap is a supernatural thriller aimed especially, but not exclusively, at boys. 14 year-old Jake MacRae’s life is spinning out of control. He’s making all the wrong decisions—gambling, getting involved in gangs. He’s even been asked by a gang member to make a “delivery” for him. Jake knows his choices might destroy his life, but what he doesn’t realize is that his choices might also destroy the lives of those close to him. The night he must decide whether or not to make the delivery, he receives a mysterious text inviting him to a flash party on a midnight subway train. As his feet leave the platform, he has no idea he has just entered his worst nightmare. And what’s more—he can’t get off.

How did you come up with the idea for this work?

I often say I wrote this novel in six months, but that’s not true. Though I typed the words in six months, the story took shape over approximately 20 years. It started like this: I was working for Austrian Airlines in Düsseldorf, Germany. Back then, there were no stores or shops or businesses open on Sundays. I had to leave my place for work at the airport at about 5 a.m. There was nobody—not a soul—on the streets at that hour. I remember walking to the bus stop one foggy morning all alone. I headed into the main train station where I’d catch a subway-type train from my town, Neuss, into the main train station in Düsseldorf where I’d connect to another subway-type train that would take me to the airport. That morning in the tiny Neuss train station, my subway didn’t arrive. What did was really weird. Out of the fog, as I stood alone on the damp, dark tracks, came a train—not my subway train however, but an old, practically steam engine-style train! Remember, this was years before the Hogwarts Express! It had to be a hundred years old! I stood there all alone as the doors opened and, with my overactive imagination, I wondered if it was some sort of Twilight Zone train that would whisk me away and I’d never be seen again. Of course, what must have happened is that my train broke down and rather than be late (the German transit system is famous for their efficiency and punctuality!) they stuck an old train in its place. The incident was so eerie; I wrote a short story about it called “The Train.” A Few years later I re-wrote it as a one-act play in French for a university course. I called it “Le train.” The story just wouldn’t rest, though, and years later it transformed into the novel Mind Gap.

How did you come up with the title?

The title Mind Gap is a play on the warning sign in the subway station that reads “Mind the Gap.” It was perfect as the story deals with the three-inch gap between the platform and the tracks as well as some freaky mind games.

How did you research your book?

I have a friend who mentors troubled youth who are involved in gangs. He was a great source of information on how kids get pulled into gangs, where gang members hang out, etc. With regards to the old Gloucester subway—I researched it mainly on the internet, but I do have some memories of riding those cars when I was young in the 70s.

What are you reading right now?

Right now I’m reading Need by Carrie Jones. It’s an awesome novel! Very well crafted. I’ve also purchased the two other books in the trilogy, Captivate and Entice.

Tell us about your book.

Every old car has a story to tell. My book contains 88 of these stories from 1925 to 1965 and from all across Canada.

How did you come up with the idea for this book?

I have a weekly “Old Car Detective” column in 30 Canadian newspapers with over half a million readers. Different stories are sent to different regions. I have picked the 88 favourite stories of mine for this book, which is a natural extension of my weekly newspaper column.

Did you have a specific readership in mind when you wrote your book?

Mostly Canadian men age 50 and up, although many women also enjoy my column and some have sent in their own stories.

Describe the most memorable response you’ve received from a reader.

“Keep those great stories coming!” This response occurs frequently.

What is your next project?

“Old Car Detective Favourite Stories 1925 to 1970.” Volume Two covers five years more than the first book. Could be a multi-volume series.

 Tell us about your book.

Triumph at Kapyong is about the first battle fought by Canada’s first troops in the Korean War. They were by and large strictly amateurs – volunteers recruited from the streets and detested by the Army brass back in Ottawa, who saw them as mercenaries and adventurers. But they were probably the most effective Canadian soldiers in the Korean War, although that will doubtless enrage those who came later. In April 1951 (60 years ago), they were flung into the line to plug a hole to stop a sudden breakthrough by Chinese troops who were heading straight for the South Korean capital. Surrounded and cut off, 700 members of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry were up against 5,000 seasoned Chinese professionals. In a harrowing battle in the dark, the beleaguered Canadians not only held off the enemy but they forced them to abandon their assault. The line was held and Seoul was saved. For their valour, the Patricias were awarded a Presidential Citation from the United States, an honour they still wear on their uniforms. It’s the stuff of legends and a terrific story.

Tell us a little about the overarching theme of your work, and why you felt compelled to explore it.

It’s a great Canadian story, chock full of real-life Canadian heroes. And yet few Canadians know anything about it. It’s not about jingoism, or slogans, or dramatic speeches, or loud patriotism, or bravado. It’s about a surrounded group of vastly outnumbered soldiers who could easily have been annihilated but instead survived and were victorious. They were confident but not brash. They were quietly brave and not loudmouthed gasbags. They simply felt they were the best men on the hill that night and they were right. Their remarkable commander, Jim Stone, said later: “They were just a wonderful group of men. I believed in them, they believed in me, and more importantly they believed in each other.” And in a typically Canadian fashion, when it was all over, the Patricias of Kapyong didn’t think they’d done anything remarkable. But personally I disagree with these remarkable Canadians. Along with their commander, I think they were wonderful. And I think Canadians should know their story, even if it’s 60 years late.

Did you have a specific readership in mind when you wrote your book?

I definitely do NOT have in mind the readers who normally would pick up a military book. I was writing for people who normally would have no interest in yet another war story. I was after people who don’t know the difference between a platoon and a pontoon, and don’t want to know. And they don’t have to know, either. I tried to avoid emphasis on differences between regiments and divisions, for example, or explaining the difference between Lieutenant Colonels and Brigadiers, or knowing the difference between the ROK and the DMZ. Who cares? None of this matters in understanding this battle. I concentrate on a small number of players. Follow what they do, you can follow the battle. You don’t have to be Rommel to figure this all out. On the other hand, I also would like military buffs to find my story interesting, so there’s information there I hope may be news even to seasoned students of the war.

In your own work, which character are you most attached to, and why?

A captivating young soldier and a natural leader called Mike Levy. He was born in Shanghai and along with his family was interned by the Japanese when war broke out in the Pacific. He escaped and, linking up with Chinese guerrillas, made his way 3,200 kilometers across China, where he convinced American Air Force pilots to fly him to India, where he then joined a special British commando group and was parachuted back behind the lines to blow things up. He was only 18, and his story wais just beginning. He moved to Vancouver after the war and joined a Special Force being raised to go to Korea. At Kapyong he commanded a platoon dug in on an isolated and exposed position. In a harrowing series of night battles, Levy and his men were about to be completely overrun by the Chinese. If Levy’s platoon had been swamped, the entire battalion would have fallen with it. In a desperate move, Levy radioed for his artillery to shell his own position. The Chinese were driven off, and Levy’s men survived both the attack and their own artillery. It’s a story out of Hollywood. But for reasons no one understands, Levy received no decoration or official recognition. In my book, I offer at least one unsavory explanation. Everyone who knew him and fought with him agrees he was a remarkable personality. In 2004, the then Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, to her great credit, in an attempt to right a great wrong, honoured Levy with his own coat of arms for his valour at Kapyong. He died three years later in 2007. Sadly, we never met. I was too late. Of all the wonderful heroes at Kapyong, I wish I’d known Mike Levy.

 Who did you read as a young adult?

I hope I don’t sound ridiculous … but before I was in my teens, I had read Homer’s Iliad. Not in the original Greek, of course. It’s history’s first great war commentary. The Iliad is about the siege of Troy. I’ve actually been there. It’s on the North West coast of Turkey. If you think ancient history is dull, then you’re reading the wrong history. The Iliad is so graphic and grisly that Homer, or whoever wrote it, must have personally witnessed such fighting or interviewed those who did. The Iliad is about battle and hand-to-hand combat, and the slashing and stabbing by the nearly hysterical infantrymen when combat was up close and personal, to put it mildly. If you want to understand anything about modern post traumatic stress syndrome or shell shock, read this thriller from 3,000 years ago. Homer knew all about it.

What are you reading right now?

A biography of Anne Boleyn, The Lady in the Tower, by Alison Weir. I’m fascinated by Tudor history. Anything to do with Henry VIII is very much like the history of Stalin’s inner circle. It’s full of all-or-nothing stakes: Big Brother, the party line, treason, judicial murders, frame-ups, conspiracies, spies, secret codes, betrayals, torture, assassinations, religious fanatics, and foreign plots. I could go on. Toss Anne Boleyn into the mix, you also have sex, adultery, and incest. It’s all very modern and contemporary.

Tell us about your book. 

The book introduces the reader to the lands of the Arctic within a circumpolar framework. “The Arctic today is the hot spot of tomorrow,” – the book also dwells on the manifold contemporary issues that beset us, particularly global warming and the insatiable thirst for fossil fuel. The focus, however, is on the opening of the Arctic – on its exploration and development. 

Tell us a little about the overarching theme of your work, and why you felt compelled to explore it.

What call was it that drew the explorers and entrepreneurs to those singular parts of the globe? The mettle of these individuals: to pursue so courageously and doggedly their quests within those remote regions, perhaps the world’s most inhospitable and dangerous areas. Their stories are varied but universally they offer the reader examples of firmness of character, of self-reliance and directness of purpose.

Did you have a specific readership in mind when you wrote your book?

I wished the book framed in an authentic historical context but not in an academic mode – rather more in line with storytelling. I aimed to engage the eclectic reader who follows the issues of the day and who would enjoy and find inspiration in the stories of the Arctic’s heroes. Additionally, I wished to transcend national boundaries by offering international perspectives to the region’s development and issues.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

The most difficult aspect of the whole was to deal with the material in the final two chapters. Although I am comfortable in writing history, to deal authenticity with the myriad of contemporary issues related to today’s Arctic was another matter. I am not a climatologist, geologist, naturalist, environmentalist, or political scientist. Researching and writing on these matters was arduous. The final two chapters were completed first in order to have time to pass them on for criticism by some who are more familiar with the issues at hand.

In your own work, which character are you most attached to, and why?

An impossible question… they are all compelling. Perhaps the two I admire most are George Kennan and Fridtjof Nansen. In the case of the former, the writing in his Tent Life in Siberia is captivating. How this young man with virtually no formal education was able to offer us such lyrical and descriptive passages is wondrous. But above all, it’s his gutsy endurance and positive outlook on life that attracts me most. As for Nansen, here was a truly Renaissance man, an explorer of amazing accomplishment, but above all a humanitarian and internationalist whose impact was strong-felt by hundreds of thousands in many parts of the globe. A worthy Nobel laureate he was.

Tell us about your book.

Crescent Star is set in Israel, in the spring/summer of 2006, and follows the lives of two 15 year-old boys: an Israeli (Avi) and a Palestinian (Moussa). They live within a kilometre of each other, in West and East Jerusalem (respectively), but navigate completely different realms. Avi commemorates Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Day) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day), celebrates his sister’s wedding, and overall, goes about his daily business on the Jewish side of the line. Similarly, Moussa commemorates Nakba Day (Loss of Independence Day, so to speak), celebrates his sister`s wedding, and overall, pursues his business which is the reverse side of Avi’s ‘Jewish’ coin. Both boys understand that they are on the threshold of adulthood; more to the point, they understand that their participation in the region’s troubles will become more pointed, and each doubts his abilities to “do what men do”. Even as each struggles to accept the new role that awaits him, war breaks out both in Gaza and Lebanon. Whether they like it or not, they come to realize, they will have to enter the dispute.

How did you come up with the idea?

I have spent quite a bit of time in Israel. In fact, I was in Israel in 2006 to celebrate my son’s bar mitzvah when the tensions with Lebanon erupted. Like a lot of writers, I filter personal experience, as well as big events/ideas by writing about them; I therefore thought a novel about Israel was long overdue. The idea itself (of having both a Jewish and Palestinian protagonist) was obvious, I’m sorry to say. If I was going to write about Israel, the book was going to have a strong political dimension – never mind that I normally don’t like to write novels with an intensely political overtone. And if I was going to write about the political tensions, I would have to present both perspectives, hence my two protagonists. I think my approach to these two characters is original, but the overall scenario suggested itself as soon as I decided to write about the Jewish state.

What was the hardest part of writing the book?

The most obvious difficulty I encountered when writing Crescent Star was the matter of doing justice to the region’s torturous history and politics; i.e. I didn’t want to condemn any one side outright but rather hoped to achieve some degree of objectivity and balance. This posed a problem in that I’m Jewish: on the one hand I didn’t want to ‘sanitize’ the Jewish version of events, but I also didn’t want to give the Palestinians a free moral ride. And even though I wanted to achieve a degree of objectivity, I didn’t want to descend into meaningless platitudes (the ‘people are nice’) sort of pablum that doesn’t insult either party but then doesn’t get to the heart of the matter either. I also wanted to avoid any appearance of moral relativism. In my view, some actions, such as suicide bombings, are out and out barbaric and must not be ‘contextualized’. When readers finish Crescent Star I want them to understand the motivations of both sides and near irreconcilable differences at work. I don’t want them to judge as much as I wish them to understand.

To get an idea of what I’m talking about, consider The Shepherd’s Granddaughter. This is a book that generated controversy last year because it was (in the eyes of some critics) nakedly pro-Palestinian and therefore nakedly anti-Zionist. While I wasn’t in favour of banning the book from public libraries, I do think the author, Ann Carter, took the easy way out. Instead of truly seeing events from both perspectives, she overtly championed the Palestinians over the Israelis and, to tell you the truth, her narrative strikes me as very simplistic, even dishonest (although the latter wasn’t necessarily deliberate). The Palestinians have suffered (as have the Jews) but that doesn’t mean we can wish the interfering complexity away; rather we should try to understand it. It could be that my narrative will fail this test of objectivity, but I can say in good faith it wasn’t for want of a serious effort on my part. I just hope that future commentators are willing to go to the same efforts. 

Did you have a specific readership in mind?

My intended readership for Crescent Star is teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16, roughly speaking. When I say teenagers, I am not referring to Israelis or Palestinians (although they can read the book if they wish to). They do not need to have their societies and motivation explained to them; instead, I consider myself something of a tourist guide to the Israeli/Arab dispute and this means my primary ‘clientele’ is one that lives outside the affected region.

But why do I think such a work would be of interest to this population? I suppose my answer to that is twofold. First, they should be interested.  The media are obsessed with tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and never miss an opportunity to highlight even trivial events in the region. Think of the many times scenes from Israel have appeared in our newspapers and on our TV screens (to the exclusion of intense suffering and very major abuses in other parts of the globe). Clearly our journalists expect us to form an opinion on events in the Middle East – why else would we be bombarded with this material?  Crescent Star is designed, in part, to serve as a commentary or guide to this raw information. If that sounds arrogant, I don’t intend it to: my guide is just one of many and, despite its claim of objectivity, is no doubt very idiosyncratic.

The second half of my answer is that, in attempting to argue both sides of a dispute with equal passion, Crescent Star can possibly help its readers to view complex events from opposing sides. While it tells a pretty good story, it also models a method for dealing with subjects of great controversy (or so I would like to believe).  

What is your next project?

In actual fact, I have a large number of projects to choose from. I have started work on one book (entitled Transmigration) that is centered on the possibility of astral projection and soul transference. I have also written a detailed synopsis for a sequel to Laughing Wolf (an adventure involving time travel from the future to Roman times). I am also making progress on a YA adventure involving a group of students travelling in Europe and their pursuit of a very important objective (which I won’t describe because it would ruin the surprise). I also have four detailed synopses for adult novels I am itching to write (involving motels, the distant future, assassination plots and a very peculiar tour guide to Toronto).  And there you have it.

With his latest book, Stories of Newmarket: an Old Ontario Town, Carter provides a colourful and often humourous account of early Newmarket through a series of fascinating but relatively unknown stories, full of historical detail. In doing so, he fills a literary gap that has been growing ever since the publication of his previous book, Newmarket: the Heart of York Region, since very little else has been written on the subject. He has moreover taken into account Newmarket’s growing population and local interest, which makes Stories of Newmarket the perfect gift for residents and visitors alike.

Whether you’re a fan of Newmarket, Robert Terence Carter, or both, read on for an interesting look into how this book came to be and more, and be sure to attend the launch at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, May 18, at Starlight Books (16700 Bayview Avenue, Newmarket, Ontario).

Tell us about your book.

I walked down Main Street every day past the corner of Botsford and Main Streets, but I had no idea what part that corner had played in Canadian history. It wasn’t until I came across a reference to Newmarket in Guillet’s The Life and times of the Patriots that my interest in the Rebellion of 1837 was peaked and I began digging. It was 1970, I was the editor of the town’s weekly newspaper, and I soon discovered two things: there was very little written history on the rebellion and, indeed, Newmarket had played a very large role in it.

On August 3, 1837, William Lyon Mackenzie and a group of supporters held the first public meeting of the series he organized across the colony to foment the rebellion. That meeting was in Newmarket and was held in front of an old stagecoach hotel, which once occupied the corner of Main and Botsford Streets.

I kept digging into who was at the meeting and what happened to them, and each time I turned up an interesting story, I wrote it. One man was hanged for high treason, a number fled into exile, some were imprisoned, one died in a prisoner in far-off Van Dieman’s Land.

Newmarket, founded in 1801, has many other interesting stories in its past and my interest soon spread to the founding Quakers, the days of the fur trading posts, the Fair, the Fenians, the barge canal, the first railroad in the colony that chose Newmarket as a station, the barge canal, and lots of other stuff. I particularly like to find colourful characters in our past with interesting tales to tell. Each produced a story, and in the early winter of 2009 when I began sorting and cataloguing, I discovered I had over 500 and notes for many more.

So that’s how my book, Stories of Newmarket, An Old Ontario Town, came into existence. I put a hundred or so of the best stories together, along with about 70 old photos I had gathered through the years, and shipped off the manuscript to Dundurn Press, which had published my earlier effort on Newmarket, Newmarket Heart of York Region.

The rest, as they say, is history. The book hits the shelves early in May, 2011.

Did you have a specific readership in mind when you wrote the book?

Newmarket’s a funny town. When I was a boy in the 1940s, the population hadn’t yet topped 4,000 and by 1970, when I moved back to be the editor of the newspaper, it was still hanging around 16,000. Today it’s well over 80,000 and growing. I find the market for local history is split – there are those folks who have lived here for years or grew up here, and there are those many families who are new. The long-time residents want to read about the times and people they remember, the landmarks they know, the streets they have walked. It’s a trip down memory lane. Folks who used to live here fall into this category as well. The families who moved here recently ask, “Why?” Why was that street named Cawthra? Why is there a Beswick Park? Why do we have the remnants of a canal that never seems to have been used?

In short, if you live in or ever have lived in Newmarket, you’ll love my book.

How did you research your book?

That’s the most fun. Once you get on a trail of a good story, it’s like eating peanuts — you don’t want to quit. And the chase often leads you to some fascinating people. For me the most memorable person was one of the first back in 1970.  Edward ‘Ned’ Roe was a rather delicate elderly man who had retired back to Newmarket from a high-profile New York City job with William Randolph Hearst. He grew up here in the 1890s and early 1900s and he remembered a lot about Newmarket. He called one day and said he wanted to talk history. “I’m the grandson of the town’s founder, you know.”

It turned out his grandfather, a fur trader-turned-merchant who arrived here on the heels of the War of 1812, had a second family in his late 50s with a new wife, and Ned’s father was the youngest son of the second brood, so the math worked out. Ned was related to all the old families in town. An afternoon with Ned and a glass of good Scotch inevitably produced stories. It wasn’t long before he pointed me to “cousins” with good stories to tell as well.

Back issues of my newspaper were stacked in bound volumes behind the printing presses, and they went back over 80 years. The paper had been publishing since 1852 and the earlier editions were in the Ontario Archives. Those bound volumes were a treasure trove, for my 19^th century predecessor had a real sense of history.

Ethel Trewhella wrote a history of the town compiled in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, but it was still a work in progress when she died. An unedited manuscript was eventually printed in book form and it is chock full of raw material, mostly from the newspaper back issues, which provided many of my leads.

There were lots of other sources, of course, in those pre-internet days, and I would save up a list of topics for the day when I could get into Toronto and the Ontario Archives.

Describe your ideal writing environment.

I’m used to newsrooms – noisy and full of interruptions – so I can work almost anywhere. But my ideal is a quiet room with lots of reference material handy, including maps. Since I retired my wife and I have downsized to a bungalow, so I have carved out a corner of the basement family room where I have a wall of books, a desk, computer, scanner, printer, radio, and telephone.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received as a writer?

Write tight. Don’t use ten words if two will do.