MY WESTPORT HERITAGE

This past Saturday I signed books at the Westport Heritage Festival in Westport, Ontario. We had great weather, and while the turnout to Lockwood Park was a little lighter, perhaps, than in past years when the festival was held on Bedford Street downtown, I still had a great time talking to people and selling books.

Westport is a community of about 600 people on the Rideau Waterway, an extensive canal system that connects Ottawa, our nation's capital, with Kingston, on the shore of Lake Ontario. Its population more or less triples in summer because it is an enormously popular spot for tourists and boaters, particularly Americans who travel the canal or own cottages in the area.

Westport is always very kind to me when I go there, in part because the community is extremely supportive of the arts. My secret weapon, however, is my name. When people walk by my table and see McCANN on my banners and book covers, their feet slow, they edge over, and after a moment or two make eye contact and say, "Are you related to the McCanns who were up on the mountain?"

In my spare time (!) I'm an amateur genealogist of sorts. Over the years I've researched my family history and the histories of other related families, and it's something I love to talk about. My great-great-great grandparents Arthur McCann and Ann Quinn emigrated from Forkhill Parish, County Armagh, Ireland and settled in North Crosby township, which included the village of Westport. They first appear in local records in 1842. My great-great grandfather, Michael J. McCann, was a successful shoemaker and merchant in the village from the 1850s until his death in 1910. My father was born in Westport and lived there until he was 12, when the family moved to Kingston looking for work.

So while I'm not directly related to the "Foley Mountain" McCanns, who were from a different townland in Forkhill Parish, I answer the above question by launching into the above thumbnail sketch of my ancestry, and away we go. The conversation can go on for quite a while as we trade names, ponder possible relationships, and laugh about the fact that at one time you couldn't swing a dead rat in Westport without hitting a McCann!

While I've never lived there myself, my heritage makes me an accepted son of the community, and I couldn't be happier.

Selling books, on a day like this, is an added bonus!

Rural Policing in Ontario

Photo (c) Michael J. McCann

How does a large-scale police bureaucracy deliver effective service in a thinly-populated rural area?

BURN COUNTRY, the second March and Walker crime novel, continues to follow detectives of the Ontario Provincial Police featured in SORROW LAKE as they investigate homicides occurring in rural/small town settings.

Ontario is the most populated province in Canada, and it includes this nation's largest city, Toronto, and fourth largest city, Ottawa--our nation's capital.  This province is also the fourth largest in terms of area in square kilometres. While the larger municipalities in Ontario have their own police service, of course, the OPP's jurisdiction outside these metropolitan areas covers over one million square kilometres and well over two million people. As a result, the OPP is one of the largest police services in North America, with more than 6,200 uniformed officers.

As Kevin Walker reflects as he rushes out to the crime scene at the beginning of BURN COUNTRY,  the OPP Leeds County Crime Unit is responsible for investigating criminal offenses in "a rural jurisdiction covering 2,100 square kilometres with only 35,000 inhabitants scattered along county roads and back lanes that hooked and bent around countless lakes, swamps, and rivers. "

One of the questions explored in this series, then, is how such a large police bureaucracy with such an extensive mandate can still deliver effective service to a thinly-populated rural area like Leeds County.

Detective Inspector Ellie March, born and raised in Toronto, is a resource assigned out of OPP General Headquarters to lead the investigation of major cases in East Region, including homicides. Detective Constable Kevin Walker, on the other hand, was born and raised in Leeds County and comes to the crime unit from a defunct local village police service. Together, they represent the meeting point between a large, bureaucratic force and its individual boots-on-the-ground.

Readers who enjoyed Henning Mankell's portrayal of rural policing in Sweden in Faceless Killers, for example, his first Kurt Wallander novel, will want to see how it's done in Canada. BURN COUNTRY will be available for review in two weeks.

#Vinylphilia!

Spring is slow to arrive in our neck of the woods these days, so it was with a mixture of pleasure and relief that I took a couple of hours yesterday to attend the semi-annual vinyl record show and sale at St. Anthony's Hall in Ottawa.

Now, I've blogged before about being an avid collector of vinyl records, an addiction that goes back to my teens, when we haunted Moondance Records in Peterborough scoping out the latest arrivals. I must stress, too, that I don't collect these things for their value, although I'm aware that vinyl has caught on again and prices have shot through the roof. I collect them because I love them, and I love the music.

As I was walking into the hall, I passed some guy on a cellphone explaining that the record he was thinking of investing in was an original pressing, and the dealer was asking only $99 for it. Well, once I was inside I discovered the prices on most of the stock matched what this guy had found. For me, that would have blown my entire budget. And besides, I've always been something of a bottom feeder, not only for budgetary reasons but also for the challenge. I love finding hidden gems for bargain prices. Who doesn't?

Some of the discoveries not currently in my collection that I pounced on for under $5 included Last of the Red Hot Burritos by The Flying Burrito Brothers, Bare Wires by John Mayall and the Blues Breakers, vibraphonist Fred Raulston's Open Stream, and The Best of Buzzy Linhart, one of those two-record sets issued by Kama Sutra Records in the mid-Seventies. Somehow Buzzy's records  never made it to Peterborough that I ever noticed, but that's what this is all about--filling the holes and catching up with the past!

Oh yes, and my favourite grab of the day--Garden of Joy by the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, pictured above. The cover was a little worn, so the guy ignored the $2 sticker and threw it in for free.

How great is that???

Illuminé, an exhibit of encaustic works by Linda Girard

Last evening I had the pleasure of attending the vernissage for Linda Girard's new exhibit of encaustic works. It was held at Ben Franklin Place in Ottawa, ON, in the Centrepoint Theatre Gallery, where the works will be on display until August 22.

It was my first chance to look at encaustic art in the flesh, as it were, and I was very pleased. I've been aware that a growing number of visual artists have been exploring this medium, but I've never had a chance until now to examine it up close.

The encaustic technique involves heating beeswax, adding pigment, and then applying it to the surface of the work while experimenting with layering, texturing, and marking. I would have thought, not knowing any better, that this would be a rather transient, impermanent medium, but I've learned that there are early Christian iconic encaustic works still extant that date back to the sixth century, and much older examples produced by the Egyptians that may be seen in the British Museum. Obviously, a visual artist choosing encaustic as a medium can produce works for the ages, as opposed to the moment.

Illuminé is the result of almost two years' work by Ms. Girard and consists of thirty-seven works in total. Her overriding theme is an exploration of place, and I must admit my personal favourites were her earliest encaustics in the show, the "South Branch River Series," which were inspired by the Oxford Mills area, not far from where I live. These four paintings were framed in natural, unfinished wood, and seemed to jump off the wall at me, especially "Barnes Creek, South Branch River," for which she has received an Honourable Mention from the Marianne Silfhout Gallery.

Also remarkable are the "Old Florida Series," inspired by her time spent in the Sarasota area, one of which is reproduced in the exhibit poster, above.

As I was leaving, though, I was stopped dead in my tracks outside the library by her tribute to Gwendolyn MacEwan, which I had missed on the way into the building. It was displayed by itself, around the corner from the gallery proper, and I might have walked right past it again, but I felt a sudden pull from a magnetic pair of eyes, looked at the glass display case, and stopped short. I've always felt drawn to the late Ms. MacEwan's poetry, an excellent example of which is "Dark Pines Under Water," from The Shadow-Maker (Toronto: Macmillan, 1972), which begins:
                                    This land like a mirror turns you inward
                                    And you become a forest in a furtive lake;
                                    The dark pines of your mind reach downward,
                                    You dream in the green of your time,
                                    Your memory is a row of sinking pines.
I took my time studying Ms. Girard's tribute to this under-appreciated Canadian poet. She had, in her own words, focused on MacEwan's "haunting Egyptian like kohl eyes and tiny pursed lips [and] frankly intelligent gaze." I've seen a copy of this piece online before but to see it in person was something else again.

If you live in the Ottawa area, I urge you to visit the Centrepoint Theatre Gallery this month and experience this exhibit for yourself. It's definitely worth your while.

All other lovers of fine art can visit Linda Girard's blog at http://girardportfolio.blogspot.ca/, where she has posted most of the works included in the show. Take the time to explore her blog, which will give you an excellent feel for her work and her vision. And for goodness sakes, don't miss the post featuring the MacEwan encaustic, as I almost did! 

Saturday Ottawa Small Press Book Fair

Just a reminder to everyone in eastern Ontario that I will be appearing at the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair this Saturday, November 5 from noon to 5:00 pm in Rm. 203 of the Jack Purcell Community Centre, just off Elgin Street.

We will be flying the colours of The Plaid Raccoon Press and I will be signing copies of Blood Passage, the first Donaghue and Stainer Crime Novel, but I will also be signing copies of my first novel The Ghost Man, which is supernatural fiction.

Hope to see you there!

Ottawa Poster Collar Campaign: Phase Two

Phase Two of the Ottawa poster collar campaign took place today as I drove downtown, jack sack loaded, and tackled Ottawa's telephone poles with a fresh set of posters.

This time I forgot to take my camera with me, so the best I can do is include thumbs of the two posters I papered the town with today. One, as you can see, was aimed at promotion of the upcoming book signing at the Chapters - Pinecrest book store, while the other stayed with the cryptic teaser approach to promote The Plaid Raccoon Press. Puzzle them, and they will come.


I've always believed it's very important to be a lifetime learner. I've always said there's stuff you can learn from every situation you encounter in life, and this particular endeavor was no exception. During my previous poster plastering trip, I happened to come along just after the powers that be had cleared most of the poster collars of the old material that had been hanging around for god knows how long. So there was some bare space on the collars here and there where I could mount my poster. I carefully positioned each one so I wasn't obscuring anyone else's poster. After all, there must be some kind of poster ethics, right? Don't cover the other guy's ad? Help him out with a little bit of extra tape if his poster's corner has worked free, next to yours?

I'm so naive.

I visited each of the poles I'd visited last week because the plan was to follow up the first cryptic teaser poster with the book signing promo poster. Just put the new one right on top of the old one. Passersby would be used to looking at the cryptic one, and now there'd be the very specific one. "Aha!! That's what the 'fresh new voice in crime fiction' stuff was all about!!" I've seen bus ad campaigns like that which worked well.

I'm so naive.

I was dismayed to find that on every pole my first poster was completely buried beneath several layers of paper. In particular those @#&$^es slapping up big honking posters for concerts just papered the entire collar, completely disregarding everyone else's efforts, in clear violation of the city regulations, which I happened to have read beforehand, not only with respect to size of poster but also the limit of one poster per collar.

Is there no decency in poster plastering? Are there no ethics anymore?

It didn't take me long to adapt. By the third or fourth pole I was taping my l'il ole 8.5 x 11 on top of whatever the hell I felt like putting it on top of. Tough cheese, fella. Eat tape.

But it was a beautiful day today in downtown Ottawa and I really enjoyed it. It was busy in the Byward Market and I took my time at each pole. I chatted with another guy who was putting up a poster on the other side of the pole from me next to the Beaver Tails vendor on George Street just down from the television station. I watched a busker entertain a big crowd, and put up a poster on the pole right next to them.

Now the plan is for tonight's crowd going down to the Market for dinner and drinks will see the posters before they get plastered over by the next round of concert promos in a day or two. One learns to adjust one's expectations, doesn't one?

And the best part? I discovered that parking in Ottawa is free on Saturdays, so this time I didn't get a ticket!

Ottawa Poster Collar Campaign Begins

Today marks the first day of the Ottawa poster collar marketing campaign for Blood Passage. I spent the afternoon walking around downtown Ottawa taping posters on designated telephone poles like the one pictured on the left in the Market.

This poster will stay up for a week, then people in Ottawa can watch for a new one to replace it, all leading up to the book signing scheduled in Chapters Pinecrest in Ottawa on September 17.

This was an interesting experience, to say the least. I parked my car close to Bank Street and worked my way north on Bank to Sparks Street, then headed through the mall, on over to the Market, then up Elgin to Lisgar and back to my car. It took me about two hours to walk this route, papering telephone pole collars as I went. At first I felt quite self-conscious about defacing public property, despite having studied the regulations carefully beforehand. I felt as though someone would demand to know what the heck I was doing, but after a few collars were under my belt I slipped into a routine. Actually, no one paid me the slightest attention. In fact, I tried to give out a few free book marks and was firmly rebuffed. People didn't want anything to do with me, whatsoever! Perhaps they thought I was a half-cracked conspiracy theorist trying to cramp their day....

Hopefully a few of you folks in Ottawa will see the posters and check out the website. If it ends up selling a few books that would be great, because when I finally got back to my car I discovered I'd been hit by a $60 parking ticket. Ouch. And only seven minutes too late! Better sell a bunch of books if I'm going to break even on this one!

Book Signing Scheduled for September 17, 2011

Just a heads up for folks in eastern Ontario that Blood Passage is now on the shelves in the Chapters Pinecrest store in Ottawa at 2735 Iris, the Pinecrest Shopping Centre. I'll be appearing there on Saturday, September 17 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm to sign copies and yak with everyone.

Watch for Blood Passage to appear in other Ottawa bookstores in the near future, and those of you in Ottawa should keep your eyes peeled for the downtown poster collar campaign that will gear up in about a week.