Yes, I am an avid and vocal Mac user. Yes, we have five Macs in our home (including an ancient Mac Classic and an almost-as-ancient MacBook with a tiny screen). Yes, I have just obtained a new dual-core iMac for work, complete with a TB hard drive, 8 MB of RAM and a 24-inch screen. Yes, Yes, Yes.

So please don't throw me out of the club when I admit that, yesterday, I went out and bought myself a new Hewlitt Packard Netbook (see photo), which operates on a Windows XP platform (the horror! the horror!). I feel guilty about it, I really do. But the thing was on sale and I am sick and tired of lugging around a very heavy iBook just to have some portability. I'm also tired of having no idea where the latest passage I've written for my Phillip Gold novel is stored.

So I bought the cool new tool. For those of you who have not looked into netbooks, they're basically stripped down versions of laptops, with small hard drives, no disc drives and miniature bodies. The one I bought has a 1.6 GhZ processor, 2 MB RAM and a 160 GB hard drive. Its screen is only 10 inches across but it also only weighs 2.6 pounds! Amazing.

For the limited uses to which I wish to put it (taking on trips and to meetings, writing first drafts of stories and novels, picking up e-mail and staying connected on the web), it's perfect and wonderfully portable. And the price is right: about half the cost of some of the cheaper laptops.

I have already taken it to one meeting at work and wowed my colleagues. Lots of questions, lots of interest. For me, I hope to develop the habit of taking it with me just about every where I go so that I can write (and keep my writing all in the same place) and keep up with e-mail where possible. I don't even plan to add a real word-processing software: Microsoft's Text Edit, which comes with Windows XP, is fine for the raw stuff. I'll do the finer formatting later, on a standard-sized computer.

Tags: Netbook, Phillip Gold

One of life's great joys for a writer is to get the chance to chat with other writers about the craft. Writing is something of a solitary business so it's nice once in a while to kick back and talk with someone who cares as much about point of view, building tension, writing dialogue as you do.

I had that chance a couple of nights ago when my friend Ross Pennie and I got together (via telephone wires) to talk about the novels we are each working on. I had finished reading the draft of his new Zol Szabo mystery while he is about halfway through my latest Phillip Gold offering. Ross and I have a great relationship as writers (nurtured through our writers' group with John Hewson) and respect each other enough to be able to offer and receive constructive criticism in a positive way. This makes these conversations all the more enjoyable.

We spent much of our time together discussing the issue of building dramatic tension in a novel: how to get the reader caught up in the plot and characters and how to ensure your novel is a "page turner" that readers can't put down. We also talked about the importance of having an objective reader review your draft, someone who can see the problems and weaknesses that you, as the writer, are too close to notice.

It's such a great feeling to have a talented writer hear what you have to say about his work and immediately jump on board with your suggestions. It's also great to receive similar comments about your own work and to feel genuinely invigorated by the feedback so that you want to go back to your draft and start the rewrites.

I am fighting that urge, however, since I want to get feedback from all my readers before I dive back in. Still, Ross has helped me to see some things I need to work on with The Silent Goodbye and he's also confirmed for me that the book is worth the work.

I can see now how much I miss my old writers' group and its regular meetings. I wonder if there's anybody out here in Nota Bene who might be interested.

Tags: Ross Pennie, Phillip Gold, Tainted

The past week has been incredibly busy here in Nota Bene. After a week of sunshine and warm temps, we found ourselves back into the rain, sleet and, yes, snow just in time for our long-anticipated visit from my sister Janice and brother-in-law Harry earlier this week.

It was a great visit, though much too brief and much too busy. I know we wore ourselves out with the whirlwind tour and I think I dropped two pretty exhausted people off at the Freddie airport on Tuesday afternoon. It was still, however, a great deal of fun and so nice to see them again.

On the Reading and Writing fronts, there's a great deal to report. The Silent Goodbye has been sent to some of my readers (Patti, Ross, John and now Janice and Harry) and I'm starting to receive some very positive responses to it. Ross has sent his comments on the first 80 pages of the book while Patti has given me verbal responses on the first half. I'm happy to report that both readers seem to like it and both have made suggestions and offered criticisms that are remarkably consistent. That's good news when you're a writer: when multiple readers find the same things strong and the same things needing work, it's much easier to do the revisions.

In the meantime, I have begun a full rewrite of my first Phillip Gold novel, A Fleck of Gold, to match the narrative style of TSG. Since I wrote the original version of Fleck more than a decade ago, I've decided to try to write it again from scratch. I know the plot and characters very well so I'm avoiding rereading the original draft; I'm writing it again fresh. It's a weird feeling, to be sure, but I think the approach will help. I'm a better writer today than I was back then and, were I to try simply to revise the original version, I don't think I would be aggressive enough in my revisions.

I have also come up with a better working title for the next completely new Phillip Gold novel: instead of Luke, as I had at first proposed, I'm now working with the title, The Shadow of the Father. Not as snappy but I think it captures well the central theme of the book.

On the reading side of things, I finished Stieg Larsson's epic first novel, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, last week. It was great. An impressive book with a complex, challenging plot and several truly fascinating characters. I thought the denouement went on a little long (the climax takes place a full 120 pages before the book finally skids to a stop) but it was still a pretty fantastic read.

I dove right into Larsson's second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, but, after reading the four-page prologue that is told entirely from the point of view of a thirteen-year-old girl who has been imprisoned by a sexual predator and chained to a bed, I had to put it aside for a while. The first book was pretty intense; I think I'm going to need a little bit of psychological rest before I tackle this second one.

Instead, I'm back to Dick Francis for a while. Less stressful. I'll return to Larsson in a couple of weeks, I think.

On the music front, my brother-in-law Gavin helped me figure out how I can turn my old cassette tapes into MP3 files. Unfortunately, most of my store-bought tapes from the '80s (Kate Bush, Thompson Twins, Pat Benatar, et al) have proven themselves to be completely degraded and virtually unusable; fortunately, the tapes I really wanted to preserve are still in good shape.

My main goal was to save a series of tapes I have that feature a Hamilton band I hung out with while in University in the late 1980s: the Dik Van Dykes. I have seen some discussion of the Dykes on the internet and even a couple of cover versions of their iconic tune, "The Birthday Song", on Youtube. I was surprised to read people lamenting the fact that so many of the early Dykes recordings are not readily available on the net.

So I've spent some time converting four tapes I have of the Dik Van Dykes into MP3 files. Once I figure out how to do it, I'll share some of them with the public (unless of course Mike, Renee, Stu, Sarah, Steve or Paul contact me to ask me not to post them online), either through this website or Youtube. In case you're wondering, I've converted the Dyke's second major album, Waste Mor Tape, into digital format as well as three live tapes I've got: New Years Eve 1988 at the Gown and Gavel (a simulcast on CFMU radio hosted by yours truly); a live show at Chuggies bar in Hamilton from 1989 (I think) as well as an earlier live show from the Gown, date unknown.

We'll see how it goes. Meanwhile, I'll keep reading and writing.

Tags: Phillip Gold, Ross Pennie, Stieg Larsson, Dick Francis, Dik Van Dykes

I have finished my initial review of The Silent Goodbye, first draft. I worked much of this evening on the task and am pleased to say not only that I have completed the review but also that I very much enjoyed the novel, now that I am able to get a little distance from it.

I won't spend much time on the self-praise but I was pleased with how well it flowed, how much action it contained and how much depth there was to the characters. I have since e-mailed the revised draft to my writing-group colleagues, Ross Pennie and John Hewson, to get their feedback on it as well. Patti continues to read it carefully for me and we've already had several very helpful conversations about her thoughts on the book.

It's a very exciting part of the writing process: receiving your first feedback from readers. I just love it. And Patti is a fab reader who notices things most others wouldn't, who is not afraid to question things that others might let slide, and who is willing to say good things too when they are merited. I'm looking forward to hearing more from her and also from John and Ross as well.

In the meantime, I've been enjoying reading the draft of Ross' second novel. I'm deep into the story now and find myself firmly caught up in the mystery. Ross plunges his reader into the detection process and I just love that. We're right there with the investigators as they work their way methodically through the evidence; we learn as they learn, make connections as they make connections. It's a very exciting way to tell a story.

I have also been reading Stieg Larsson's first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The first fifty pages or so were interesting but perhaps a little slow; now that Larsson's actually introduced the "Girl", however, it's really taking off. What a fascinating character she is and what an interesting relationship Larsson has created between the "Girl" and her boss. I'm still in the early stages of the book but it's got me well hooked.

It seems like a very busy time for me right now, what with the three writing/reading projects on top of a demanding full-time job and a family as well. But it feels really good too. I feel like I'm accomplishing things, both as a writer and as a reader. Who knows, maybe that excitement will help me get back to writing my next Phillip Gold novel, Luke.

Tags: Phillip Gold, Ross Pennie, Stieg Larsson

Oh my goodness! With my birthday now over (but very happily celebrated) I find myself with a fistful of reading and writing priorities staring me in the face.

I finished Dick Francis' Blood Sport, a novel I very much enjoyed for the pure detective work in it. Set mostly in the US, this one involves a trio of missing horses and the cold trails leading to them. Francis' hero, Gene Hawkins, struggles with severe depression as he works to piece together what happened to a prize stallion that went missing on its trip from New York to Kentucky, the third such disappearance in the past ten years. Although the depression stuff is a little heavy-handed, the mystery is a good one and the personal stories are also finely developed.

But now I've had to put my journey through Francis aside for a short while to focus on other pressing tasks. First, my sister and brother-in-law have sent me Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, an international best seller that will soon come out in movie form here in North America. Larsson's sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire, has just appeared in paperback form and my sister assures me it's on its way to Fredericton as well. Having finished Blood Sport last night, I'm only 42 pages into the first Larsson book but so far it's pretty good. I like the main character and the prologue promises an intriguing story.

At the same time, I've received my friend Ross Pennie's draft second novel in electronic form with a request that I give it the writers' group treatment. So I'm trying to spend some time with that book as well, mostly on my lunch hour at work. I've gotten well into it already and am really enjoying it but, since it's still in draft form, I won't go into much more detail than that.

My third major project is the review and revision of my own Phillip Gold novel, The Silent Goodbye. I finished writing the first draft in December and promised myself I'd set it aside for a while, asking only Patti to review it. Well, Ross indicates that he's looking something to occupy his time while people review the draft of his own novel so I figure I better do at least a quick review and then send it along to him. John Hewson has also indicated a willingness to read it for me; I value both of their input and plan to strike while the iron is hot.

Once I've got those projects finished, I'll turn my attention to another gift I received for my recent birthday: Voltaire's Candide, in the original French. My understanding of French (written and spoken) is passable but I'm interested to see if I'm up to the task of reading this classic. We'll see, I guess.

So it's a busy time out here in NB. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Tags: Dick Francis, Voltaire, Phillip Gold, Stieg Larsson, Candide, Dragon Tattoo, Ross Pennie

My recent conversations with writing buddies back in Ontario have re-lit the fire, so to speak. I look at the black binder containing the first draft of The Silent Goodbye, sitting there on our coffee table between Patti's reading sessions, and I have to hold myself back from taking it up and starting the revision process.

I am interested to read Patti's comments, however, and don't want to start revising until I've received her input. She's a careful and interested reader with a good eye both for the macro issues (character, plotting, thematic development, narrative consistency) and the micro stuff, like grammar, spelling, consistency in names and hair colour and stuff like that. I know I'll regret it if I don't wait for her to finish and provide her feedback.

The copy she's reading has been printed in eight-point type to save paper so it's a bit of a challenge but she's gamely marching on. She tells me she had nightmares last night related to the novel: I'm taking that as a sign that it's fairly effective so far.

Meanwhile, I've moved on to Dick Francis' fifth novel, Flying Finish. It's not quite as successful as the first four, to my mind. This is the first novel that focuses on the English class system as one of the sources of conflict, perhaps explaining why I, as a lowly Canadian, don't find it so effective as a novel. Henry Grey, the hero, is a fastidious young man who stands to inherit his ailing father's Earldom; to combat both that paralysing eventuality and his own insecurities about being accepted on his own account, he follows a career in horse transportation, working first as a clerk for a bloodstock agency and then as head travelling lad for an air cargo firm. In his spare time, of course, Grey rides as an amateur jockey in steeplechase races while supporting an addiction to piloting small planes.

I find this book too heavy-handed and slow moving. The suspense doesn't really start until at least half way through and I simply don't find Grey and the characters by whom he is surrounded that interesting. The love story is weak and the class war between Grey and Billy, an angry young man who accompanies Grey and the horses on some of their flights, simply isn't powerful enough to keep my interest.

On the up side, Flying Finish represents the first time that Francis introduces and explores a profession other than jockey. The level of his research/experience is impressive and, in a surprisingly clear way that does not interfere with the story, he gives his readers a detailed introduction to the ins and outs of flying aeroplanes. Francis would follow this pattern in many of his later novels, introducing us to such professions as wine expert, chef, architect, banker, gemologist and many others in equal detail.

I think it's one of the real strengths of the series.

Tags: Phillip Gold, Dick Francis

I finished Odds Against yesterday and came away amazed, yet again, at Dick Francis' skill as a writer. This is a great book and the climactic scene between hero Sid Halley and the four villains is absolutely, painfully, devastatingly effective.

It occurred to me, after I had read the final pages of the novel, that in all my years of being a Francis fan I have never actually heard the man's voice nor seen video of him. So I went to Google and checked him out. First, I found his own webpage (not surprisingly, www.dickfrancis.com) which is clean, clear and filled with interesting stuff, neatly presented. There are a couple of videotaped interviews on there but, unfortunately, nothing I saw in my brief perusal involved Francis in his prime: most were recent chats involving both Dick and his son Felix.

In one interview, however, Dick refers back to his worst riding moment, aboard a horse called Devon Loch in the Grand National steeplechase race at Aintree Racecourse in 1956. So I went to Youtube and found this:


It's a brief tribute to Francis shown on British television after his death and it shows the end of that race, which is the biggest steeplechase race of season (the Daytona 500 of British steeplechase racing, so to speak). Francis, a champion jockey at the time, is riding one of the co-favourites in the race, Devon Loch, which is owned by the Queen Mother. Francis and Devon Loch come off the last jump and the final turn with a five-length lead before devastation happens. It's amazing and painful to watch.

I watched that video several times with a pain in my stomach and I realised I had gained a little bit of an insight into how Francis, a man who otherwise led a charmed life, could make the pain his heroes feel (and they all have their own private torment) so real to the reader.

Then I looked further on Youtube and found a much less clear video of the entire race from 1956, my first viewing of an actual steeplechase race. It's just amazing to watch. Thirty or so horses start out and the pace is incredibly fast. Perhaps even more incredible, the race lasts almost seven minutes! I'm so used to watching horse races that last a minute or two but apparently steeplechases are much longer.

The experience has made me appreciate both Francis' achievements as a jockey and the action he describes in his books even more. I wish I had done this kind of research long ago.

Tags: Dick Francis

I'm not sure if you can plan a better Sunday evening: a great home-cooked dinner, a strong rye-and-ginger, Chantal Kreviazuk on the CD player and the Oscars on deck in about an hour. Life can be really good, even as I approach the frightening age of 45.

Chantal is belting out the tunes on her break-out disc, Under These Rocks and Stones, with it lyrical repetitions of "green apples" and "cotton candy" throughout the album. Her two early hits, "Wayne" and "Surrounded", are stirring happy memories of our recent encounter with Kreviazuk at the Fredericton Playhouse in a spectacular concert.

I can't say I've seen many (if any) of the movies that are up for Academy Awards tonight but I still love the show. A couple of years ago, Patti and I caught the broadcast with about 300 other people at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto, probably my favourite mode of Oscar watching! Tonight I'm looking forward to Steve Martin as host. Should be fun.

Meanwhile, I've moved on to Dick Francis' fourth novel, 1965's Odds Against. For Kicks was as good as advertised, featuring DF's first really cruel villain, but was a little heavy on the self-justification by protagonist Daniel Roke. Odds Against is significant because it first introduces Sid Halley, arguably Francis' most successful, most complex and most interesting hero. It also features one of the most memorable, horrifying scenes he wrote but I'll tell you more about that when I get to it. I'm still only about 70 pages in so there's lots more to come.

Halley is an ex-jockey, a champion, who had to give it up when he lost the use of one hand in a messy steeplechase accident. Scarred, both inside and out, Halley slowly works himself out of a deep depression to discover he's actually pretty good at the detection business. Maybe, just maybe, life is worth living after all, even if the life of a champion jockey is forever lost to him.

In Odds Against, Francis flexes his creative muscles while keeping the action galloping along. Halley proved so popular, meanwhile, that Francis brought him back in at least one later novel (Whip Hand), something he resisted doing with almost every other hero he created (for some reason, I think one other hero made a second appearance but I can't remember which: we'll figure it all out as I keep reading).

Tags: Dick Francis, Chantal Kreviazuk, Academy Awards, Oscars, Bloor Cinema

Over the past couple of weeks, I have had the chance to get back into contact with some old writing friends: Rickie Pattenden, Ross Pennie and John Hewson. I met all three of these talented people through writers' groups in the Hamilton area and am fortunate enough to have been able to keep in touch with them, even after I left Ontario. I miss the meetings, the support and the camaraderie of those groups so it's nice to be able to catch up with my old friends from time to time.

Rickie is a wonderful writer, whose short stories are excellent and whose major project has been writing her mother's life story. Rickie is still in Burlington and has been writing poetry of late, a great way to take advantage of the lyrical quality of her writing.

Ross, meanwhile, is busy completing the first draft of his second novel, which is expected to be published by ECW Press later this year. His first novel, Tainted, came out early in 2009 and is still selling very well. Ross tells me he's putting in two separate sessions of writing each day to try to meet his deadline for the draft. I'm looking forward to reading a new Zol Szabo mystery from start to finish, since John and I workshopped Tainted as it was being written, several years ago.

As for John, he continues to work on his wonderful novel, Corbett's Daughter. One of John's writing mentors has suggested some major revisions to this book and John has leapt right in to making those changes; I'm interested to read the revised draft since I thought the original version was pretty spectacular.

I'm trying not to let the industriousness of my friends make me feel guilty for my ever-lengthening hiatus from writing. Ideas continue to pop into my head but I'm not yet able to get myself in front of the computer for a serious stint. Luke, my next Phillip Gold novel, is on hold while plans for Abigail Massey, another young adult novel and The Way Forward, the Rowling-world sequel, are all in the offing. Distantly in the offing.

There's a play-writing contest here in Fredericton that I'm considering trying to enter but, beyond some ideas on interesting character for a play, I'm getting nowhere on a plot. I've got four more weeks before the deadline so I'll keep trying but, to be frank, I seem to be stuck right now.

I'm not complaining. Sometimes fallow times are as important as periods of great creative production.

Yeah, Mark. Keep telling yourself that.

Tags: Ross Pennie, Phillip Gold

It's now been a month since British thriller writer Dick Francis passed away at age 89. In honour of his death, I have decided to re-read his entire collection of novels (more than 40 in total) from first to last. Though I've read every one of them before, often several times, I am trying this time to read them more slowly and more thoroughly, to appreciate the writing rather than simply getting caught up in the action.

I'm now on the third novel, For Kicks, and I have to admit: I haven't been very successful on the whole slowing down bit.

Dead Cert, Francis' first novel published in 1962, blew me away. The first ten pages are practically perfect —Francis launches the book in the middle of an intense steeple chase, adds a mysterious and deadly fall, introduces evidence of nefarious deeds, then manages to leave our mild-mannered hero all on his own to sort things out — and the rest of the book gallops along unrelentingly from there.

I can't imagine a more perfect opening salvo for a thriller writer and am in awe that this was Francis' first attempt at writing a novel. Amazing. Effortless. Perfect.

His second novel, Nerve, is almost as good. With a more complicated plot, it suffers only from the fact that the main character solves the mystery early and much of the second half of the book focuses on his campaign to bring the villain to justice. Here, Francis introduces his life-long interest in the psychology of evil while continuing to set first-rate thrillers against the background of the British horse racing industry.

I read and re-read the first part of Dead Cert, just to get clear in my mind what impressed me about it, but then got caught up in the plot and raced through the rest of the book. It took me longer to get into Nerve, mainly because I had a strong recollection of the intense suffering the hero endures and simply couldn't face it, but, once I was hooked, the pages flew past.

I have now stepped into the third novel, For Kicks, and am, once again, trying to force myself to go slow. In this book, Francis introduces his first protagonist who is not actually a jockey. Daniel Roke, an Australian horse breeder, agrees to take on an investigation on behalf of the English racing authorities simply for a change of scenery, going undercover as a stable lad to look into a new kind of doping.

With For Kicks, Francis delivers his third straight "cracker" of a novel. I wonder when I'll come across a weak link in his chain of mysteries.

Tags: Dick Francis