Tag Archives: between the shelves

‘Never Uncovers the Ultimate Truth of All Things’

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Recently, the myriad authors of the ‘Edmonton Writer’s Group’ (Link) published our second anthology, ‘Between the Shelves’ (Link) . This book was sold in support of the Edmonton Public Library System (Link), and to that end has gone on to raise over $700 in donations!

We here at Brad OH Inc. want to thank everyone for their support. Today, we add our contribution, ‘Neve Uncovers the Ultimate Truth of All Things’ (Link), to our list of ‘Single Serving Stories’ (Link), meaning you can download it now for free over at Smashwords (Link).

Neve Uncovers the Ultimate Truth of All Things- Cover‘Never Uncovers the Ultimate Truth of All Things’- Smashwords

We certainly hope you enjoy this new format for ‘Neve Uncovers the Ultimate Truth of All Things’! But don’t forget, if you haven’t already bought your copy of ‘Between the Shelves’ (Link), you can do so now right here (Link)!

BetweenTheShelvesCover‘Between the Shelves’- Amazon

Remember, there are 10 other stories by local Edmonton authors in the anthology, so click here (Link) to grab your copy now. After all, every dollar earned goes towards the worthy cause of supporting the Edmonton Public Library System (Link)!

-Brad OH Inc.

‘Between the Shelves’ at ‘Words in the Park’ and Interview with Author/ Editor Hal J. Friesen

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cropped-cropped-blogbanner13.jpgToday, we’re happy to formally announce that the sales of ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’ have led to the donation of over $700.00 to the Edmonton Public Library System We at Brad OH Inc. think that’s awesome—and we couldn’t have done it without all of you!

Many of the Authors (and both Editors) will also be set up at ‘Words in the Park’ this Saturday, September 26th from 10:00am-4:00pm in the Sherwood Park Community Centre. We’ll be selling and autographing copies of ‘Between the Shelves’!

In celebration of these accomplishments, we have an interview with Editor and Author Hal J. Friesen, who appears in ‘Between the Shelves’, which you can now purchase here in either Kindle ($2.99) or Paperback ($12.50) copies. All proceeds are to be donated to the Edmonton Public Library System.

BetweenTheShelvesCoverThis interview was conducted by a variety of Authors featured in ‘Between the Shelves’ in anticipation of the anthology’s release:

  1. Brian Clark: What is the biggest thing you have learned from this self-publishing experience?

HF: I learned how achievable it is to put out a product of professional quality using readily-available tools. There were some frustrating moments getting the book formatted properly and tweaking cover blurbs, but on the whole it felt great to see a self-published book that could easily have come from a professional publishing house.

I also need to mention how pleasantly surprised I was at the scope and variety of stories submitted to the anthology. I thought I had a pretty good idea what I was going to get from the EWG group members, but they surprised me in a very good way.

  1. Vivian Zenari: What is your educational background, and how has that influenced your writing?

HF: I got my Bachelor’s Degree in Science from UNBC with a Joint Major in Chemistry and Physics, and a Minor in Mathematics. Basically for my undergraduate degree I was trying to refuse specialization, which in hindsight might not have been a good approach in terms of employability. I had knowledge in many fields but was missing snippets from each to prevent me from being completely proficient. My Master’s Degree in Science, focusing on Plasmas and Photonics, helped me tune my abilities and knowledge toward more practical applications – as ridiculous as that might sound after working on laser fusion experiments.

The breadth of theoretical and experimental science experience I’ve gleaned through the years helps me to appreciate how certain science fiction ideas might be implemented, the realities both pleasant and unpleasant of logistics that really help make a fantastical proposition seem real. When I wrote in high school I was thinking of sci-fi notions in a more detached and academic way. After academia, ironically, I think about them more in terms of what’s happening on the ground, what’s happening to the little guy who has to pull the levers, which helps make science fiction more meaningful to readers.

  1. Brad OH Inc.: Hal, your story is about a man (Albert Einstein), gaining great knowledge from libraries, but also experiencing stunning existential terror. Do you consider libraries to be places of hidden danger, or is learning in general a threat to our sense of being?

HF: I used to read these time machine choose-your-own-adventure books, and they were like puzzles where you got stuck in time loops until you figured out the correct sequence of events to escape a grisly fate. There was one particular instance where I was trying to avoid being guillotined, but kept getting sent back over and over again, being chased, being caught, having the blade fall – to the extent that I fell asleep and had nightmares about it. Libraries taught me to be utterly terrified of the Spanish Inquisition.

I think in our age of ubiquitous fear-mongering, it’s important to recognize libraries and their potential role in contributing to the general fright that fits so well in a terror-state. In this story I wanted to show that even a brilliant Einstein can’t escape the spine-tingling horror of a nameless source of danger. His existential cataclysm in a place of learning draws close parallels to the dread during the discovery of a newly-christened terrorist cell, or the announcement of the construction of yet another totally-necessary prison. I felt that the role of books and libraries in general has been undervalued in terms of their capacity to inspire totally irrational fear, and wanted to emphasize how deeply they can touch our being versus other forms of media.

  1. Brad OH Inc.: Why did you choose Einstein as your character? Do you have some arcane knowledge of his life the rest of us aren’t privy to? Is there any biographical truth to this tale?

HF: I have a copy of Einstein’s original manuscript on Special Relativity, and if you go to the trouble of reading it you find very strange references in the margins, almost as if he was placating some unseen observer. With extensive and advanced calligraphic decoding I was able to parse some of the scribbles he had tried to hide after the fact, after whatever it was had stopped peering over him threateningly. It was clear he had communion with a library spirit, or as he named it, Wilfred, though exactly which library was unclear – I used artistic liberty in that aspect.

It’s amazing how much you can discover when you read the source material rather than just taking secondary sources at face value.

  1. Brad OH Inc.: Your passion for libraries is clear in this story. Share with us some of your most formative memories of being in the library. Is there any encounter in particular that stands out as a moment where knowledge was so startlingly thrust upon you?

HF:  Guillotines were startlingly thrust upon my unsuspecting neck in that traumatizing time machine book…

When I was a child, there were summer reading challenges where you got to move your pawn along footsteps lining the library walls, taking a step for every book you read. The path took a circuitous route around the two-story Prince George Public Library, and I would take out piles of books in order to get to the end. And I did.

My prize? PTSD from an impossible and horrific Spanish Inquisition time machine loop. And a ribbon.

The library used to have person-shaped chairs in bright colors, and I would sit near the large windows and browse through Goosebumps books, Tintin comics, and fantasy books. I would sway back and forth in the S-shaped chairs, knocking them flat onto the back, or upright again with a satisfying thunk. The trips to the library were a fairly regular occasion – my mother would tiptoe off to the romance section, and my brothers and I would spin the carousels housing adventure and horror novels.

Getting my first library card was actually one of my happiest childhood experiences, because I felt like I had graduated from this semi-weekly family ritual and had become an adult. It was a lot better than any actual graduation, that’s for sure.

  1. Brad OH Inc.: Your writing has historically been focused on some pretty heavy scientific concepts. What do you consider to be one of the most interesting unanswered questions in modern science? Do you have any possible ‘dream scenario’ solution to this quandary that strikes you as the most appealing?

HF: Not to avoid the question, but I guess the more interesting questions are ones we haven’t thought of yet. The untapped potential and dark corners of our understanding are very exciting places, which is why I enjoy good hard science fiction so much. One recent discovery was that the brain might have a lymphatic system, which opens the door to all sorts of medical progress and better development of humanity.

The unanswered question of life beyond Earth is a continually fascinating one for me, and my dream scenario is that I live long enough to see contact happen. That would be a great privilege.

The unification of gravity and the other fundamental forces is another issue that fascinates me. I remember the exact place where I first read Maxwell’s derivation of electromagnetism and the intimate relationship between them. I literally got up and wanted to run around (but couldn’t in my cramped dorm-room) because I was so excited by the beauty of something so connected and intertwined. Connectedness, for lack of a better term, is something I explore a lot in my writing, and it interests me equally in the natural world.

Similarly, the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity – the small with the very large – is also quite an interesting unanswered question. I’ve read a proposal that suggests the answer might be in our interpretation of time itself, which sent my head spinning in beautiful pirouettes.

I think some of the deeper philosophical-physics questions might go unanswered for a long time, but can make you experience some of the same existential schism Einstein does in the story. Questions like: what exactly is charge? What exactly is mass? We have equations that describe what they do but that’s different from knowing what something is. There’s a joke that if you want to drive a physicist crazy, ask him what charge is. Try it sometime.

  1. Brad OH Inc.: As a follow-up to the former question, of the myriad scientific discoveries throughout history, which would you most like to have been a part of, and why?

HF: I’ve developed an unlikely fondness for light and optics, so I think I would have loved to have been a part of Maxwell’s discoveries unifying electricity and magnetism. Any of the so-called Maxwell’s equations. Ampere, Gauss – to have been around any of those guys would have been gnarly and radical, and I’m sure my language wouldn’t drive them crazy. Gauss was a genius.

I would say quantum mechanics, but the results aren’t as easy to put your hands on or see with the eye. The laser would have been pretty amazing to discover. I got the chance to hear Charles Townes, one of the co-inventors of the laser, speak, and it was surreal to see him use a laser pointer to point at a slide of his original laser conception. He made lasers originally for astronomical purposes, and at the time of his talk (age over 90) he was still doing that. There’s a raw enthusiasm and electricity some scientists exude and I think to have been around any of those remarkable individuals would have been illuminating and inspiring outside of the discoveries themselves.

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Remember to catch the authors of ‘Between the Shelves’ at ‘Words in the Park’ this Saturday, September 26th from 10:00am-4:00pm in the Sherwood Park Community Centre!

Finally, be sure to visit Hal J. Friesen at his blog right here, and check out his story “Reading After Hours” in ‘Between the Shelves’. You can purchase it now on Amazon.

-Brad OH Inc.

Between the Shelves Book Signing and Interview with Author Trudie Aberdeen

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The following is an interview with Trudie Aberdeen, who appears in the Brad OH Inc. and Hal J. Friesen edited Anthology ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’, which you can now purchase here in either Kindle ($2.99) or Paperback ($12.50) copies. All proceeds are to be donated to the Edmonton Public Library System.

BetweenTheShelvesCoverThis interview was conducted by Hal J. Friesen in anticipation of the anthology’s release:

Trudie Aberdeen is a long-time language educator and social justice advocate. She is currently working on completing her PhD on the topic of heritage language acquisition. In addition, she teaches English to adult newcomers to Canada. Her academic interests include refugee education, multilingual literacy instructional practices, language conservation, action research, and language instruction for heritage language learners. Her research can be found in the following journals: The Manitoba TEAL, Multilingual Discourses, and the 9th Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition (LESLLA) Symposium. She also serves as the book review editor to the Canadian Journal of Action Research.

  1. The passion for your work is clear in every aspect of your writing. How long has heritage language acquisition been a part of your life? What started it all?

TA: I was raised in a middle-class, English-speaking family in Alberta. My childhood was fairly normal. And when I was a little bit older, similarly to most rebellious teenagers, I took my teenage angst and raged against my parents. While others were sexing, drugging, rock-n-rolling and doing other “naughty things”, I inflicted on my father what I thought might have been one of the most painful childhood revolts I could think of: I went to Campus St. Jean and took university in French! On my personal journey to bilingualism, I learned about the power of language along the way.

Contrary to current popular belief, I’m not really a natural when it comes to language learning. I’m someone who learns with moderate aptitude and great effort. I was always fairly successful in school, so learning that language learning was hard was a shock for me. So despite by best enthusiasm, I wasn’t successful my first year and was put on academic probation. Because I struggled with the language I was in a place very few white, middle class, English-speaking women with average intelligence ever get to be: I wasn’t part of the mainstream. For me, this is when I realized how language (or lack thereof) can limit one’s chances of success. I finished my degree successfully, although it took me more than four years and I had to spend a year in language classes in Quebec, but I eventually triumphed.

I taught in Japan for several years in an international school. I was the English as a second language teacher to elementary school aged children whose parents moved temporarily to Japan for business or diplomatic missions. I saw how quickly many of my students learned English and how quickly many of them forgot their mother tongue. I saw the parents who were “trapped” because if they moved home they could no longer put their children in school because the children couldn’t read or write their “mother tongue”. I also worried a lot for my students who appeared to have learning disabilities. Parents, colleagues and I often asked, “What is this child’s issue? Is it a language learning inability or something bigger?” Often it is difficult to know.

When I started my doctoral studies, I began to take interest in adult literacy learners. In my field of English as a second language teaching and learning, literacy learners are adults who grew up never learning to read their mother tongue, mostly due to limited opportunities because of gender, poverty, or war. Their lack of first language education impacts on their opportunity to learn English. They often struggle with things that most of us take for granted: following instructions for over-the-counter medication, signing their children’s homework log, figuring out a map, and reading street signs. Despite all of their challenges, all of those I have worked with have an undeniable spirit, determined outlook, and an often overlooked sense of intelligence.

My dissertation, however, looks at heritage language learners. These are usually the children of immigrants who have to navigate cultures and languages, not being conventionally “Canadian” and first-language English speakers, but not being of the same language and culture as their parents, either. Most of these children struggle to keep the language of their parents and cannot without the help of a larger language community and school. My work is looking at how schools and communities can support these students.

Heritage language learners and adult literacy learners do not initially seem connected, but they share many commonalities. Both groups often are trying to learn language in an environment that is limited in exposure to language. Both are often trying to learn language without literacy. In many instances, these two groups can be within the same family. Some immigrant parents (especially those with limited literacy) can struggle to learn English and their children can struggle to maintain their first language. In my line of work I have met many people who are unable to have a basic conversation with their parents because they do not know enough of each other’s language to exchange more than limited small talk.

  1. There seems to be a message or end goal with your writing / research. What is it you hope to achieve at the end of your dissertation? 

 TA: I hope to show the world exactly how much expertise exists in the field of heritage language education in Alberta. I wish politicians, educators, and scholars to know about the challenges and limitations that programs face so that they can receive better support in doing what they do best.

  1. Who has inspired you as either a writer or researcher? 

 TA: My four favorite researchers are Dr. Olenka Bilash, Dr. Kenneth Schaeffer, Dr. Nick Ellis, and Dr. Elaine Tarone. All four are gifted scholars and educators. However, what I admire most about them is their compassion and vision for making the world better for others.

  1. Would you be willing to share one or two stories from your experience as a language educator? 

TA: In 2004, I had a beautiful kindergarten student from Sweden called Hedda. She was a dream child: polite, kind, energetic, brilliant, and friendly. She started school in September and by Christmas she was speaking English well. Her reading level was near the top of her class. At the parent-teacher interviews, I gave her parents “the talk.” I warned them about language loss and the importance of first language maintenance. I told them that they had better start planning for her Swedish or else it would be gone. I recommended that they find her a tutor and begin reading lessons as soon as possible.

While Hedda’s mother seemed convinced by my message, her father was less so. He responded firmly, but politely, that Hedda was a little girl. She had just made a huge adjustment, according to her father, by leaving her extended family behind in Sweden and moving to Japan, and furthermore, she needed to worry about enjoying herself, not planning for her future education. I responded that while I respected his point of view, he should at least consider my suggestion. He told me that he would think about it after his family returned from their holiday in Thailand.

Sadly, all four members of Hedda’s family were lost in the 2004 tsunami that killed more than 250,000 people on Boxing Day. I often think of her and her beautiful family. I often think of the advice I gave to her parents, and consider what her father responded to me. For language learning, we need to have long-term planning, and to prepare for what is coming ahead. At the same time, we need to remember that this moment might be all that we have.

  1. Why do you personally think language is important?

 TA: If you ask a brain researcher or a psychologist, they will tell you about all of the cognitive benefits of bilingualism. Of course, I believe all of these things are true such as bilingualism increasing intelligence and delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Still for me, the most important aspects of language learning are social in nature. Language connects people to opportunities and it connects us to one another.

Check out Trudie Aberdeen’s story “Newcomers to Canada and Edmonton Public Libraries” in ‘Between the Shelves’, which you can purchase now on Amazon.

BetweenTheShelves_poster-YMCA-WEB

Finally, be sure to visit us for a ‘Between the Shelves’ signing this Saturday, May 30th at William S. Lutsky YMCA (1975-111 St NW) from 10am-2pm!

-Brad OH Inc.

Between the Shelves Book Signing and Interview with Author T.K. Boomer

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cropped-cropped-blogbanner13.jpgThe following is an interview with T.K. Boomer, who appears in the Brad OH Inc. and Hal J. Friesen edited Anthology ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’, which you can now purchase here in either Kindle ($2.99) or Paperback ($12.50) copies. All proceeds are to be donated to the Edmonton Public Library System.

BetweenTheShelvesCoverThis interview was conducted by Hal J. Friesen in anticipation of the anthology’s release:

T.K. Boomer lives in Sherwood Park, Alberta, with his wife. In 2012 he began the awkward and painful transition between being a mainstream fiction writer and becoming a science fiction geek. Remnants of his literary past can been read in his novel, “ A Walk in the Thai Sun” written under the name G.J.C. McKitrick. The future will be revealed in the publication of “Planet Song”, first book in the Fahr Trilogy, probably in late 2015. Other aspects of the transition, like video game obsession and playing “Mr. Dressup” at SF conventions are proving to be more difficult.

1. What made you transition from mainstream into science fiction? 

T.K.: When I originally wrote and tried to place “A Walk in the Thai Sun” I ran into the problem of having written a book that was hard to market. It didn’t fit easily into any of the established genres and was rejected for that reason.   I wasn’t really writing for a mainstream audience but the nature of the book put it in that very broad category.  I’m not a good enough writer to compete with the likes of Margaret Atwood or Barbara Kingsolver so that was the other reason the book was initially rejected.    I resolved, at the time, to not write another book unless it would fit easily within an accepted genre.   When I got the original idea for “Planet Song” it was science fiction.  I did the research and decided that I could write in that genre.   However it’s quite different from writing mainstream fiction and there was a lot to learn.

2. In your story you hint that the Internet has been replaced by something else in the far future. What are your thoughts on what that might be, and what form it might take?

T.K.: My biggest fear is that we won’t move forward but rather retreat. I think the Internet is far too dependant on very complicated and vulnerable infrastructures. One bad solar storm could make a huge mess of it so my guess will be some kind of less vulnerable infrastructure. I think we have more interconnectivity now than we will have in the future. I also think that governments are going to move towards more control and less freedom.

3. Do you read paper or e-books, and which do you prefer? What about Siberius? 

T.K.: I read both but I think that within ten years most reading will be on e-readers. It’s simply a matter of economics and convenience. However if I’m right about the internet it could cause a resurgence in paper books down the road. As for Siberius, he’s a throw back. Notice how he was looking for physical books in the library?

4. Do you think libraries will become sentient in the future, and is that a good or bad thing? 

T.K.: They will but I don’t think sentient in the human sense of the word. The trick will be not to build in a survival instinct into our machines. We should not be trying to create a human-like mind in our machines for that reason. If we do then we’re asking to be out completed by them.

5. Who has inspired you as a writer? 

T.K.: Inspiration is a funny thing. I guess I gravitate to writers who use language in unique ways. It’s part of the reason that I still read a lot of mainstream fiction, because I’m more interested in writing technique than I am in tropes. Margaret Atwood is a favourite as is Anne Tyler and Iain M Banks and William Gibson.

Check out T.K. Boomer’s story “Five Hundred Years” in ‘Between the Shelves’, which you can purchase now on Amazon.

BetweenTheShelves_poster-YMCA-WEBFinally, be sure to visit us for a ‘Between the Shelves’ signing on May 30th at William S. Lutsky YMCA (1975-111 St NW) from 10am-2pm!

-Brad OH Inc.

Between the Shelves Interview with Author Timothy Fowler

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cropped-blogbanner1.jpgThe following is an interview with Timothy Fowler, who appears in the Brad OH Inc. and Hal J. Friesen edited Anthology ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’, which you can now purchase here in either Kindle ($2.99) or Paperback ($12.50) copies. All proceeds are to be donated to the Edmonton Public Library System.

BetweenTheShelvesCoverThis interview was conducted by Hal J. Friesen in anticipation of the anthology’s release:

When not writing for Scribbles and Snaps, Tim works with a Global Fortune 100, leading a team of incredibly talented people to deliver the nearly impossible to their customers doing important work. He travels nearly full time as a result of this engagement, and part time for leisure. He scribbles pictures and snaps stories for his own pleasure and hopefully yours. He lives in St. Albert with his lovely wife, Saskatchewan-born farm girl, Kathy, and Gordon Setter, Rigby. He is Scribbler, Snapper, Navigator, Outdoorsman, Fellow Traveller. He is from Granite Rockies, and Prairie Dust, from Boreal Forest and Wanderlust. Tweet @TimothyDFowler or read his blog here.

  1. In “The Library”, you talk about the hours spent in your Aunt and Uncle’s library. Do you try to model your own home library after theirs, or after another library?

TF: My library mirrors my Aunt and Uncle’s with the soft light, big chair, and favourite books on dark wood floor-to-ceiling shelves.  Thick carpet under sock feet helps make it very quiet like theirs was. Sometimes guest’s children get rocked to sleep there. And the kids books are on the lowest shelf so they can choose which books they want to read, or have read to them.  I have my own childhood books on the lowest shelf.
Like their house, from the library you can smell dinner underway. I started my career in culinary as as apprentice then journeyman chef, now manager. Roughly a quarter of my books are related to food, collected over decades of kitchen work. Many meals are first conjured in the library. My uncle had a collection of food related books on the shelf, and I think of him often in his hotel kitchen.
My library feels like an extravagance, and I suppose it is.
Now I keep a special shelf for writing books, and borrowed books. I now apprentice as writer.

  1. You’ve been writing on your Scribbles and Snaps blog for a year and a bit now. How has that project evolved from when you started, and where would you like to see it go?

TF: For many years I have been quietly writing, but mostly keeping outputs to myself. “Platform,” Michael Hyatt’s book helped me decide to launch my Blog, and write in a public way. I write to entertain, and encourage readers to think about life experience in a new way. I hope the blog posts do this.
My goals for 2015 include submitting 52 pieces for consideration to be published. “The Library” is one that will be published in 2015.
Participating in the Edmonton Writers Group gives me candid feed back, caring coaching, and firm encouragement from fellow writers. Joining the group is one of the best things I did to accelerate my writing apprenticeship

  1. Did you start with writing or photography first? How does photography play a role in your writing?

TF: Since sharpening my fat red pencil and spelling my name with letters in the right order I have been marking up pages with stories. Recently I bought a LAMY fountain pen, and find writing longhand with a real pen and real ink on real paper, a sensuous pleasure. I am saving my money for a Sailor fountain pen with a gold nib.
Now I write by hand in a notebook every day.
After my sixteenth birthday I bought a Pentax 1000 35mm SLR. Before turning twenty I travelled the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand making hundreds of photographs. I read Freeman Patterson’s great book “Photography and the Art of Seeing” and work hard to see.
We writers spend a lot of time wrestling words, showing over telling, but before any of that happens we need to “see.” So for me making pictures and writing are very much tangled up. I experience them together. I picture what I write, and I hear stories looking through my viewfinder. Metaphors are literary viewfinder for readers.
This is how I landed on ScribblesandSnaps.ca
I explore the question of “Why?” for both writing and photography on my blog.  I find them both rewarding, but recently have been focused precisely on writing.
Why write:
http://scribblesandsnaps.ca/why-i-write/
Why photograph:
http://scribblesandsnaps.ca/biography/why-i-make-pictures-3/

  1. Who has inspired you as a writer?

TF: Mark Twain’s “A Dog’s Tale” and “A Horse’s Tale” had a profound effect on me, teaching me about voice and story point of view. He tells gut-wrenching stories within stories. The story is not the story at all. And it is.

I know Stephen King is cliché-popular but his storytelling ability influences me today. He just jumps off the first word and tells the story. Recently Alberta’s own Fred Stenson’s “Feigned or Imagined” has been great fun and his writing started me on several stories of my own.
The truth is we are influenced by whatever we read, and now more than ever, I read constantly. Precise language and particular personalized description is such a pleasure to read, and a tremendous challenge to write.
Challenge accepted.

  1. What do your children think of your writing aspirations? Are any of them following in your footsteps?

TF: Both my boys are great storytellers, but neither has put pen to paper in a serious way. Both have a keen interest in photography. And both, if I may say, competently maneuver in the kitchen.
My whole family encourages me to write—at least to my face.

Timothy Fowler’s story “The Library” is featured in ‘Between the Shelves’, which you can purchase now on Amazon.

-Brad OH Inc.

Between the Shelves Interview with Author Mohamed Abdi

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cropped-cropped-blogbanner13.jpgThe following is an interview with Author Mohamed Abdi, who appears in the Brad OH Inc. and Hal J. Friesen edited Anthology ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’, which you can now purchase here in either Kindle ($2.99) or Paperback ($12.50) copies. All proceeds are to be donated to the Edmonton Public Library System.

BetweenTheShelvesCoverThis interview was conducted by Hal J. Friesen in anticipation of the anthology’s release:

Mohamed Abdi is a Somali-Canadian Writer with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies. He loves to read mystery and historical fiction novels and has written articles for both online and print magazines. Mohamed lives in Edmonton with his wife and children.

  1. Did the EPL play a significant role in your own immersion into Canadian culture?

MA: Absolutely. Edmonton Public Library has played a significant role in my broad understanding of Canadian culture and enabled me to immerse myself into the culture. This comes in the form of reading different books written by diversified authors, and I have realized that much of Canadian culture is built on readership and connection with libraries. In fact, I have been partly acculturated as I like to read and borrow books from the Edmonton public library. And readership culture is created and promoted by individual societies.

  1. When did you make the decision to start writing in English, and why is it so important to you?

MA: My university studies exposed me to writing opportunity, through essays, etc. As a result, I have developed a passion for reading and writing in English. I wrote my first English book in 2004. This was a non-fiction book, which touched on Somalis’ plight and their displacement after the civil war of 1991. I published my second English book in 2012. This was a collection of fictitious, short stories about Somalis’ predicament and their complicated conditions in various places of the world. I think it is so important to me to write in English, for English has become a universal language whose written materials and literature can be comparatively accessed by many people. So by writing in English, I can reach out to a wider audience.

  1. What advice would you give to other Non-Native English speakers trying to make their voices heard in English?

MA: My advice to Non-Native English speakers is to read as many books as possible, and to start putting your ink on paper and write things you have passion for, or concerned about, in other words. And you must know that your writing skill will not come overnight, but it has to start somewhere and grow gradually. So let you start somewhere and develop your writing skills onward.

  1. Who has inspired you as a writer?

MA: Somalia’s civil war has inspired me to become a writer. In fact, the insanity of that sinister civil war has set my mind into motion and compelled me to find responses as to why people wreck each other and take their countries apart. Why blood is spilled? Why children are orphaned? Why women are widowed? Are there alternate means of reconciling and resolving conflicts before resorting to the barrel of the gun?

  1. What is your next writing project? Can you tell us a little about it?

MA: I am now working on a novel (historical fiction) about Somalia, but don’t know how it will turn out or where this journey will take me, but I am determined to unleash my imagination and hone my skills for this project.

BetweenTheShelves_poster-FOR-WEBCheck out Mohamed Abdi’s story “Learning From Your Library” in ‘Between the Shelves’, which you can purchase now on Amazon. And be sure to join us tonight, May 6, from 7:00-9:00PM for the official launch party in the Centennial room of the Stanley Milner Library!

-Brad OH Inc.

Between the Shelves Interview with Author M. Lea Kulmatycki

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cropped-cropped-blogbanner13.jpgThe following is an interview with M. Lea Kulmatycki, who appears in the Brad OH Inc. and Hal J. Friesen edited Anthology ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’, which you can now purchase here in either Kindle ($2.99) or Paperback ($12.50) copies. All proceeds are to be donated to the Edmonton Public Library System.

BetweenTheShelvesCoverThis interview was conducted by Hal J. Friesen in anticipation of the anthology’s release:

M. Lea Kulmatycki is a teacher and writer. Her work spans academic writing to a senior’s advice column in a local newspaper. She has even written poetry for some charitable events. After many years of writing and publishing teaching materials, she decided to focus on her first love, fiction. She is also on the board of directors of the Young Alberta Book Society.

  1. This short story seems to scratch the surface of a much broader world. Is “Library Lost” going to be continued or expanded elsewhere? 

MLK: Yes, I’m hoping to expand the story into the first book of a trilogy.

  1. How has your academic and column writing influenced your fiction writing? 

MLK: Research is crucial to academic and column writing. It’s also important when writing a fictional text. I want my readers to connect to my stories and it won’t happen if something is unbelievable or inaccurate. I research to make sure my description of real-life objects, places, etc. is accurate. I also research when creating a new object or process for a story. It won’t be believable if it’s not based on something that works in the real world. For one story, I thought an obsidian sword would be a fitting weapon for the evil antagonist. Unfortunately, there was no way to get around the fragile nature of the material.

  1. How has your poetry experience influenced your writing?

MLK: Writing poetry has taught me the importance of using precise language as well as words that flow together and sentences that either complement or contrast one another. I re-read my work aloud so I can work on the sentence fluency.

  1. As a teacher, is your target audience the youth whom you taught, or are the end goals of your teaching and writing completely separate? 

MLK: I love to write, so I take advantage of opportunities regardless of audience and genre. However, I do prefer writing for children ages seven to ten.

  1. I noticed you didn’t give the grandfather a name in the story. Was this intentional on your part to flip the traditional patriarchal forms? 

MLK: Yes. In my view of a dystopic society, there is always an imbalance of power. When we think of a grandfather, we usually think of someone kind and caring. The insidious nature of power is emphasized by the true nature of “Grandfather” as he hides behind this mask. While the character emphasizes the plight of the Sisterhood, he ultimately reveals its strength. These women will not submit to their oppressors and have chosen to fight for all who are oppressed. As a global society, we have not yet escaped this power struggle. It exists in many forms – gender, race, wealth, etc. I’m an optimist. I believe world peace is achievable, but I believe we have a lot of work to do to change the imbalances in our global society so we can live in peace.

  1. Who has inspired you as a writer? 

MLK: Martyn Godfrey. I met him early in my writing career. He was a wonderful person and phenomenal writer. Kids connect to his stories and I hope that kids will connect to my writing in the same way. A few years ago, I was given a book written by Dan Abnett. I love his Eisenhorn and Ravenor series. He is a superb storyteller and I admire his use of the English language to engage the reader.

BetweenTheShelves_poster-FOR-WEBM. L. Kulmatycki’s story “Library Lost” is featured in ‘Between the Shelves’, which you can purchase now on Amazon. And be sure to join us May 6 from 7-9PM for the official launch party in the Centennial room of the Stanley Milner Library.

-Brad OH Inc.

Between the Shelves Interview with Author Vivian Zenari

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cropped-cropped-blogbanner13.jpgThe following is an interview with Author Vivian Zenari, who appears in the Brad OH Inc. and Hal J. Friesen edited Anthology ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’, which you can now purchase here in either Kindle ($2.99) or Paperback ($12.50) copies. All proceeds are to be donated to the Edmonton Public Library System.

BetweenTheShelvesCoverThis interview was conducted by Hal J. Friesen in anticipation of the anthology’s release:

Vivian Zenari lives, works and writes in Edmonton.

  1. What is your educational background, and how has that influenced your writing?

VZ: I have a PhD in English literature with a specialization in 19th century American literature. I am sure my training has influenced my writing, though I am not sure how. Many of the writers I admire are from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; perhaps it’s more like I have tried to work in fields that reflect my interest in reading and writing.

  1. Who has inspired you as a writer? Why are avant-garde authors so important to you?

VZ: These days I like Henry James (always), Flannery O’Connor, Rawi Hage, George Eliot, and the usual modernist suspects (Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Edith Wharton). I just finished reading Sean Michaels’s Us Conductors and loved/admired that. I like the absurdists like Franz Kafka and Nikolai Gogol and postmodernists like Don DeLillo and Paul Auster. I admire writers who take chances, I suppose. I like the idea of transcending tradition in form as well as content.  As well, as a reader and writer I am a bit jaded, perhaps, so it takes a lot to stimulate me.

  1. Did you have a personal interest in Dewey before you began this short story? Why did you decide to feature him in your story?

VZ: I have training as a librarian as well, and so I have been familiar with him as a figure in library studies history. I have always found him to be a hilariously awful person. Once I read more about him, my appreciation/contempt for him grew. He also typifies the mentality of the late 19th-century American (an area of history I know something about). His ambitions and upbringing put him in the right place at the right time. That aspect of American society interests me too–he is a self-made man, but he demonstrates the dark side of the self-made man syndrome: monomaniacal, overly rational, greedy.

  1. What, in your opinion, are the key distinctions between literary fiction and genre fiction? In which category would you classify yourself?

VZ: I tend to think of genre fiction as formula-dependent and literary fiction as aspiring to be outside formula. I suppose I aspire to be outside formula, though I realize all writers model themselves on something, and formulas are a kind of model. Literary versus genre seems to be a useful distinction for publishers, but the term is likewise important to writers and readers, who have to work with what publishers want to give them, for better or worse (okay, for worse). It’s true, though, that some people only read detective fiction and romance fiction, some people never read anything by women writers or written before 2000. I don’t think this is good, but considering all the people writing, reading, and publishing (past and present), I see why categorization is practical.

  1. What is your next writing project? Can you tell us a little about it?

VZ: I’m sending a short-story manuscript around to publishers, and I’m slowly working on a novel. I’m starting to rev myself up for writing nonfiction too: we’ll see how that goes.

Check out Vivian’s story “Melvi Dui Conquers All” in ‘Between the Shelves’, which you can purchase now on Amazon,

Finally, don’t forget to come by and visit the authors of ‘Between the Shelves‘ from 7-9pm on May 6th, in the Centennial room of the Stanly Milner Library in Edmonton!

-Brad OH Inc.

Between the Shelves Release Party and Interview with Author Mark Parsons

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Today, we’re happy to announce the upcoming release party for the Brad OH Inc. and Hal J. Friesen edited anthology ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’. The event will be held from 7-9pm on May 6th, in the Centennial room of the Stanly Milner Library in Edmonton. So come on down, meet the author’s, pick up a copy of ‘Between the Shelves’, and maybe even get it signed!

BetweenTheShelvesCoverTo celebrate this upcoming event, we have an interview with Mark Parsons, whose story ‘Bakster’s Proposition’ appears in the ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’, which you can now purchase here in either Kindle ($2.99) or Paperback ($12.50) copies. All proceeds are to be donated to the Edmonton Public Library System.

This interview was conducted by Hal J. Friesen in anticipation of the anthology’s release:

Mark Parsons has been curled up in coffee shop corners, scratching furiously in his notebook since 2004. He has several projects on the go, including Fire & Flesh (Fantasy), The Silent Dark Pentalogy (Science Fiction), and Brothers (Non-Fiction). “Bakster’s Proposition” is his first short story.

  1. This is your first short story. Compared to the epics you’ve been working on, how did you find working in a shorter medium?

MP: I actually found working in a shorter medium to be a lot harder than my larger work. I wanted to tell much more ‘story’ before and after the bookends of the finished project. I’m used to being able to waste whole chapters to immerse the reader the events leading up to more critical events in the story. I found with the shorter medium, I had to cut a lot of content in order to make the story flow properly.

  1. Is Bakster’s proposition based on something you dream of doing one day?

MP: Partly. John and Kelly are both based on a blend of myself and my partner Nicola. We dream of moving to a small town some day and we’ve both wanted to start a business for a long time. If we had the money, we would certain be running a small café right now.

  1. The resistance to literature in your story seems like it may have come from a personal experience. Can you describe one or two instances where you experienced such resistance, and how they affected you?

MP: The townsfolk are a caricature of stereotypical ‘Albertan’ culture. What I represent in the story as a resistance to literature, is more broadly a resistance to Liberal Culture. We live in a society that would rather pay for a jail than a school. Ideas and creativity are the future, and yet we collectively vote for a government that would see children, at the peak of their creative curiosity, educationally shoe-horned into “real work”. They are told that they can be whatever they want when they grow up – but it better be practical.

I know grown men who do not read. If it’s not a blueprint, they won’t even pick it up. How is a society made of followers supposed to adapt and diversify during economic turmoil?

  1. Who has inspired you as a writer?

MP: I HATED writing as a child. 100 words? I would rather give myself a haircut with a sand-blaster! I didn’t know it at the time, but my very first influence was Sigmund Brower. I met him in the early 1990’s, and even though I held my ground on non-writing, he said something to me that day that I still remember: “I was just like you.”

Those words stewed inside me until 2004 when a scene popped into my head while I was on a walk. I ran home to write it down, and the predominate character was the start of Of Fire & Flesh, my longest running work-in-progress.

Shortly after meeting my partner Nicola, she bought me “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. Working through this book, as well as the amazing support of my partner have allowed my ideas to flow a little more freely. I’m very thankful and lucky.

  1. When do you expect your next project to be finished? Can you tell us a little about it?

MP: Bill Watterson famously said, “Most of us discover where we are heading when we arrive.” I add a little bit to one story, then move to another, then create an entry for a writing contest, then an article for local publications, then back to my stories. I’d like to say “maybe 2016” but I don’t want to be called a liar.

Of Fire & Flesh is a Fantasy story that centers around a coupe gone wrong that leads to a power struggle with a mysterious evil. The Silent Dark Pentalogy is a secret Sci Fi project. Brothers is based on a true story of a Fraternity President and his struggle to turn the place around.

Mark Parson’s story “Bakster’s Proposition” is featured in ‘Between the Shelves’, which you can purchase now on Amazon.

Finally, don’t forget to come by and visit the authors of ‘Between the Shelves‘ from 7-9pm on May 6th, in the Centennial room of the Stanly Milner Library in Edmonton!

-Brad OH Inc.

Between the Shelves Interview with Author Linda Webber

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cropped-cropped-blogbanner13.jpgThe following is an interview with Author Linda Webber, who appears in the Brad OH Inc. and Hal J. Friesen edited Anthology ‘Between the Shelves: A Tribute to Libraries by Edmonton Writers’, which you can now purchase here in either Kindle ($2.99) or Paperback ($12.50) copies. All proceeds are to be donated to the Edmonton Public Library System.

BetweenTheShelvesCoverThis interview was conducted by Hal J. Friesen in anticipation of the anthology’s release:
After the short story ‘I Will Not Let You Fall’, creating this bio has been the greatest challenge to Linda’s creative writing skills. This is her first publication, even though she has written a great deal of fiction (five short stories). Although one story did receive praise from her writing group (not ‘I Will Not Let You Fall’), another story did not receive as much. Linda’s writing career spans nine months; therefore, she is hoping to publish something else any day now.

  1. You joke that you’ve written a great deal of five short stories in your bio. Was this story any different or more challenging than your previous works? 

LW: I had always wanted to write a story from the perspective of a biological mother whose child has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. I wanted to write the story in first person to communicate what the experience is of these mothers. I wanted the story to be sympathetic to her and explain her thoughts and experiences, her personal pasts and her present struggles to raise her child to the best of her abilities given limited resources and lack of empathy from just about everyone including society in general.
It was difficult to capture all these various aspects, particularly the struggles of the child and that it was her doing but also make the reader empathetic to her. This is the first story I have written in first person. I chose this perspective because I wanted the reader to understand the mother and her life. However, it was difficult to show and not tell. It was much more challenging than limited omniscient, which I prefer. I will never write in first person again.

  1. Where did you draw the inspiration for this story?

LW: I work on a clinic that diagnoses children who have FASD. Many people ask me how I can work with the mothers. They are blamed and demonized. I have found them to be amazingly strong and caring people who have horrendous pasts and are trying their best, with little help, to raise their children.

  1. This piece is one of many in the anthology where the library’s role is not what you’d expect. Was that intentional on your part when you were creating the story? 

LW: I had always wanted to tell this story. I was also trying to think of a library-related story for the anthology. They clicked. This story also reminded me of the times I took my son to the library.

  1. Who has inspired you as a writer?

LW: I love writers who are descriptive with setting and character such as John Steinbeck and Annie Proulx. I love vivid writing that makes the reader feel the story. I am concerned that my writing may be melodramatic.
In this story I tried to communicate the emotional ordeal that these poor mothers go through. They seem to suspect something is not quite right, hence the search for information, but they are also in denial. Through the diagnostic process they come to a realization that, yes, indeed, their suspicions are true. The emotional burden they carry is tremendous.

  1. What is your next writing project? Can you tell us a little about it? 

LW: Currently, I am writing a short coming-of-age story about a girl who accidentally discovers a mystery about her mother’s past. Her mother has had two other daughters with the same name as the girl. The girl gradually discovers a series of unsettling things that lead of a final horrific tell-all. Yes, the story is also alcohol-related.
Many of my stories are based on my work as an occupational therapist. Over the years, I have seen strange and amazing and horrendous things. Some of the themes in my writing are the difficulty that people have with change and the damage that alcohol does to people and their relationships.

 Linda Webber’s story “I Will Not Let You Fall” is featured in ‘Between the Shelves’, which you can purchase now on Amazon.

-Brad OH Inc.