Diary of a Book Launch
Wed., Aug. 11 - We fly from Toronto to Kelowna to begin a British Columbia book tour for my Young Adult bio of “Last Spiker” Edward Mallandaine – The Boy in the Picture.
Aug. 12 - An enjoyable stay at the English Rose Garden B&B where host Mina Muench greets us with a glass of homemade wine (good, too!). The car Budget rents us is such a lemon we take it back and opt for a Ford Mustang convertible. A week of glorious B.C. sunshine ahead of us!
Aug. 13-14. We drive to Revelstoke via the pretty lake town of Salmon Arm, stopping first to visit Barb Britton of the Monahan agency in Vernon, who run the big Bookland store there. In Sicamous, on the shore of Shuswap Lake, we look for the site where the steamer Rainbow would have brought Edward ashore. At the Chamber of Commerce we’re told that’s in Old Town but we can’t go there — it’s now a gated condo community. So much for history!
Aug. 15 – After attending the Last Spike dinner of the Railway Days festival, an enthusiastic crowd gathers at the Museum for the book launch. Lots of questions and keen interest. Guide George Hopkins tells us every tour he conducts produces questions about “the boy in the picture.” Curator Jennifer Dickerson leads a q&a and lots of books are sold.
Aug. 16 - We get our first daily newspaper review, in the Victoria Times-Colonist, and it’s a good one: Dave Obee writes:
“It’s aimed at younger readers, but don’t let that sway you. It is highly readable, and it will help to shed new light on the construction of the railway 125 years ago.”
Aug. 17 - We head for Creston, my home town and the town that Edward Mallandaine helped found. Tammy Hardwick is waiting for us at the Creston Museum where we’re given a beautiful setting in the garden for a signing session. This is one of the finest small town museums in Canada. Two of my classmates from Grade 1, Phyllis Vigne and Russell Tompkins, put in a surprise appearance. How wonderful to see them! The museum sells out!
Aug. 18 – On to Nelson, buddy Chris Moore’s home town. He blogs:
“I know a writer named Ray Argyle. When Ray Argyle was a kid in Creston, BC, he knew an old gent named Edward Mallendaine. When Edward Mallendaine was a kid, he squeezed himself in behind an old gent named Donald Smith for what has been called the most famous photo in Canadian history…”
Aug. 20 - We arrive in Vancouver and are put up by Genni Guinn and Frank Hooke at their wonderful South Granville St. home. Her new novel, Solitaria will be out next month. There’s an evening boccie party with lots of interesting guests, including Vancouver Writers’ Festival artistic director Hal Wake.
Aug. 21 - It’s a bonus when I drive out to Abbotsford to meet April Bell, who I’ve been emailing for the past year. April is a fount of knowledge on a major miscarriage of justice when the wrong man was hanged for the murder of her great great aunt back in Ontario. It’s the topic of an article I have coming up in the December issue of Canada’s History.
Aug. 22-24. We get two days off from interviews and signings for a weekend in Whistler where partner Deborah Windsor’s son Damien is with Fairmont Whistler Resort. They go skydiving – jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet! I’m grounded, mercifully.
Aug. 26 - Back home, ready for the Toronto launch of The Boy in the Picture at Roundhouse Park Sunday at 4 p.m. Details on the web site of the Railway Historical Association, here. Hope to see you!
