Good morning Willow,
Something you may well be aware of as a UofA grad...the Indigenous Studies
program has a very good online course focusing on settler-indiginous
history from the indigenous perspective...and it's free. As a 'fractured
history' student [we old timers might remember this from the Rocky and
Bullwinkle days] this may be of interest.
Carpe diem
Frank
On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 8:41 PM Willow Arune <walittleboots9@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Both Sonia and I were incorrigible bookaholics. When a new book arrived
it was a race to see who would get to read it first. Our rule was the
prize would go to the one who finished their present book first. Years ago
now, I sold one author collection to Texas A & M. Not too long ago,
collections went to Northwestern U In Chicago, another to the University of
Illinois. U Vic also has some of my collection.
Most of my books have come from the UK. Prices are lower (2cd hand) and
shipping Is much much lower than books from the US or Canada. And faster!
That is changing as the US rates are astronomical and some UK dealers are
raising shipping as well in sympathy as marketers say.
Writers are often solitary souls. Sending a book for signing is far too
expensive so I send custom bookplates. Telephone rates are also lower than
before so often I can enjoy a nice conversation with some of my
favourites. I’ve visited a few, sometimes being invited to spend the
night. Over the years only a few calls or posts have gone unanswered. I
found one writer after he had been “lost” since the 1960s. Little clues
lead the way.
It has been a hobby of mine since high school. And not just fiction. I
an an historian and cast that net widely. In junior high, I got fascinated
by the American Civil War. No idea why. Then naval history, Eastern
Europe - the list goes on and on. Right now I am heavily into alternative
history, or counterfactual history in academic circles. When I was trying
for a Masters at UNBC, I proposed a summer course on counterfactual history
for to write good alternative history, one must know a lot about the real
history - the customs, religion, clothing, and so much more. For those of
my vintage, there is a wonderful AH on the Cuban Crisis.
If I have not bored you yet, I would in a few more paragraphs, so,Seasons
Greetings to all...
Willow
On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 7:46 PM Frank Lewis <livingincranbrook@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
True...but I do adore good mystery writers and appreciate their
names...so many books---so little time, n'est pas mon frère.
Carpe diem
On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 7:37 PM Willow Arune <walittleboots9@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
But not Canadian, Frank!
Willow
On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 4:08 PM Frank Lewis <livingincranbrook@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Thank you Willow and Bryan...add Tana French and Karen Slaughter to the
list of good solid mystery writers. Both authors focus on Police Detectives
in Irish/Dublin and Atlanta respectively.
Carpe Diem
On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 3:44 PM R Bryan Waller <
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A great list of mysteries Willow.I would add William Deverell whose
many books including those featuring Old but slippery Arthur Beauchamp are
a delight to read.I would also add a new author Isaac Hayes whose book
Pilgrim is one of the best mysteries I have read.Merry Christmas ,Bryan
Sent from my iPad
On Dec 11, 2021, at 11:56 AM, Willow Arune <walittleboots9@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Aside from Louise Penny there are some other Canadian mystery
writers worthy of a read.
Ian Hamilton has written the Ava Lee series. Ava is not a detective
but a forensic accountant. While based in Toronto, most of the action
takes place in other parts of the globe. Ava works with Uncle, a former
Triad leader. The two chase after money taken by fraud from wealthy
clients. In the first book, Ava is in Bangkok. Having lived there for
two
years, I was delighted to read of places that
I knew and knew well. Hamilton had everything right. It would have
been nice if Ava had taken a nighttime water taxi from downtown Bangkok to
the other parts of the city. In pitch black, a speedboat (mine had a
picture of Che Guivera on the bow) dashes to your destination. No
navigation lights and other similar vessels going in the other direction
pass with barely a two foot clearance. It is like being in a dark tunnel
as two or three story homes line the canals on both sides). Light
reading,
to be sure, but delightful.
You may have seen “Cardinal” on your tv. The tv is produced and
directed by Giles Blunt. The photograph is wonderful as Cardinal works
for
a small town on the shores of the Great Lakes. Blunt has written six or
seven Cardinal books from which the series is based. A dour quiet man,
Cardinal has a female French partner. Snow and ice abound. Before
writing
the Cardinal series, Blunt did a stint writing for the American TV series,
“Law &Order”. He is a most enjoyable conversationalist.
Several writers have published smaller series. Rhett Rotnberg is
another lawyer turned writer, his first book is “Old City Hall”. Inger
Ash Wolfe (apseudonim for a Canadian poet) has done four Hazel Medcallif
tales, on of which was made into a movie. Now Hazel not only has rot
solve
the crime but also survive a series of strange living arraignments a
former
editor of the Georgia Straight in Vancouver, Paul Mann now lives in the
US. His series of an Indian policeman in Bombay. Once again, the
location
descriptions are great and Sansi gets into some interesting places. Three
commercially published books and one private.
A particular favourite of mine is Vicki Delany. Molly Smith is a
constable in the Trafager (think of Nelson, BC) P.D. Light but injected
with a rye wit, Delany had one series set in the Klondike followed by the
Molly Smith books. I enjoyed reading and rereading them over the years.
John Farrow, another pseudonym, bases Cinq-Mars in Montreal. “City of
Ice” was the first, and now there are five.
Back at U. Of A., I took a course in Canadian Literature. That turned
out to be one of life’s little turning points. There are many more police
procedurals a mystery writers scattered across the country, from
Newfoundland (before Confederation) to the now famous early Torontonian
detective Murdock, a couple in Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. There
simply must be one or two in Manitoba - an Icelandic-Ukrainian detective
would be interesting. As to Alberta, I did find one mystery writer in
Edmonton but did not find her books, centred on our old campus, too
interesting. So if any of you know of an Alberta mystery writer, please
let me know.
Assuming at least some of you find my prose interesting, please let me
know. My next essay- review will look at Scandinavia, then Vienna,
Germany, Scotland, and even SE Asia. A couple in Africa as well. You can
tour the word with mysteries these days and go back in time as far as the
Egyptians. The Tudor era has been especially favoured. Dickens and
Collins have been brought out of mothballs. There are even excellent
mystery writers in the US that have not been give the full star treatment
-
James Sallis (who has the most beautiful handwriting ever!), Chester
Hines,
a little bit of the late, great Nick Tousches, James Church, John Dunning,
Olen Steinhauer, Mark Gimenez, Ira Genberg, and... well, lots more that
truly deserve recognition but ones you will never find in a Canadian
bookstore - Andy not many American bookstores either.
