June 26, 2009

Dear Friends,

It was an amazing evening on Tuesday, June 23, at the Moose Factory. Thanks for all your support and well wishes.

Glad Day Books did some booming business to get the book launched in style and with impressive numbers.

As well, the Writers' Trust raised a small fortune for the Dayne Ogilvie Memorial Award.

Thanks to everyone for your generosity!

Jeff

June 11, 2009

So far, the month has held a cornucopia of riches, including a very successful fourth evening in the Proust & Company series, which featured authors Storm Grant, John Miller and me. This was followed a few days ago with a private meeting with one of Canada's great mystery writers, Gail Bowen, Writer In Residence at the Toronto Reference Library. Gail had seen a preview selection from Lake On The Mountain, my "serious" mystery about a gay missing persons investigator and father. Not ony did she give me some terrific insights into parenting, she was also downright fun to sit and yack with and share writing trade gossip--a constructive and memorable morning.

This morning, I was thrilled to be in the studio with my friend, the dynamite soprano Lilac Cana, for a recording session of three songs of mine. Two of the songs were new works from a song cycle I'm writing for Lilac, with lyrics by other writers, including Robert Frost, Allen Ginsberg and Shakespeare.

June 7, 2009

Another fun evening for Proust and Company last night. Josh Bentley-Swan hosted the event, taking over for me. Fave jazz duo Omel Masalunga and Jeri Aniceto put on another great set with an expanded repertoire, including classics like "Big Spender" and "More (Theme from Mondo Cane)". Newbie author Storm Grant gave a compelling first reading from "Gym Dandy", her "frothy gay romance" set in Toronto's gaybourhood, while Toronto favourite John Miller read from his expert, award-winning "A Sharp Intake of Breath", and I followed with the opening chapter of "Death In Key West."

Thanks to all who attended. Your support makes it all worthwhile. Please join us Sept 12, 8-10 p.m., for the launch of the Caro Soles-edited, "Don Juan and Men", a scintillating collection of fiction reworking the Don Juan legend, featuring Paul Bellini, Michael Rowe, and others.

June 2, 2009

Having a new anthology show up in my mailbox is a reminder I have one less publication ahead of me that my work will appear in. Sad, but it's how I think. On the bright side, I'm always thrilled when the anthologies are smart looking, like the two volumes I was accepted in recently. Boy Crazy, edited by prolific Canadian Richard Labonté, is the first. And it's undoubtedly smart looking. I'm happy to be included with established masters like Michael Rowe and James Magruder, as well as talented newcomers like Rob Wolfsham and Natty Soltesz. The book's subtitle, "Coming Out Erotica," might seem a bit misleading. For the most part, these stories aren't about sex, but about self-discovery that comes through sexual awakening. Most are just downright good writing, first and last. All are filled with the unabashed ardour and joy of first time sexual intimacy. Dale Chase's Army Brat has a charming insouciance, while FA Pollard's Game Boyz wins big for hottest and most natural sex scene, and Wolfsham's nerd-boy voice in The Viking is irresistible. Others, like Rowe's August, Magruder's Treasure Map, Soltesz's Paperboys and Thomas Fuch's Larry and His Father, will take you places you won't expect to go and won't forget either—the trick of accomplished writing.

May 18, 2009

And then there were none. The 2009 Saints and Sinners Festival, one of the best little book festivals in the world, is now officially over. I participated in a panel discussion on mystery writing on Saturday, read from Death In Key West on Sunday, then attended the knighting of Michael Thomas Ford as he was inducted into the S&S Hall of Fame. (After publishing 55 books, Mike received a "mid-career" award. There's optimism for you.)

The closing ceremonies were wet inside and out. The alcohol was freely flowing and I've never seen New Orleans so cool and rainy. It felt as if I'd never left Toronto. It was great to catch up with old friends like Jeff Mann, Jill Braden (aka Kathleen Bradeen), Lynn Krauss and Mike Ford, as well as new friends like fellow panelist Gary Zebrun.

As usual, I picked up some great story ideas. Two days ago I woke in the early morning hours to a noxious smell of burning chemicals and later learned a pier was on fire under suspicious circumstances in Bywater (a nearby neighbourhood to the Faubourg Marigny, where I always stay at the wonderful and welcoming Lions Inn on Chartres, if you want a solid gold recommendation for a New Orleans guesthouse.) The burning of the pier will probably become the opening scene of Bradford's fourth adventure, which takes place in NOLA. I don't have a title for it yet, but I'm toying with calling it Bon Ton Roulay, Cajun for "Let the good times roll."

Two days left before I head home.

May 15, 2009

Saints and Sinners is now offically in full swing. Today I took in four (4!) masterclasses with some experts in the field: Writers' Guild lawyer Michael Gross on writers' contracts, Michael Thomas Ford on the impossibility of being a full-time writer (and how he has being doing the impossible for 20 years), New York Times writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis with some highly personal insights on writing creative non-fiction, and Greg Herren on exploring sexuality in a fictional context. All entertaining, all rewarding sessions. And that's just day one.

May 14, 2009

Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, New Orleans

Although the event hasn't started yet, I'm dipping into New Orleans culture and hospitality. A bike ride (16 miles!) around the city reveals how much of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina still remains, but how different the city looks from two years ago when I was last here. Then, it was a disaster area, and the expressions on people's faces said they were running out of hope their city might ever recover. Today, nearly four years after Katrina, it's looking like a vibrant community again.

This morning, Shane and I went out for a celebratory beignet (if you don't know what that is, think the best deep fried doughnuts in the world, covered in icing sugar and served smokin'), courtesy of BC writer Geneva St James, aka Lynn Krauss, whose wonderful "Made For You" was recently nominated as one of the top five comic lesbian novels of 2008.

On the way to meet Lynn I saw Montreal writer Peter Dube sitting in a cafe and, later, at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel where the festival takes place, I spotted multi-award winning author Ellen Hart stepping out of a cab.

I've got a panel coming up Saturday and on Sunday I'll be reading from the new Bradford Fairfax adventure, "Death In Key West", (which I haven't seen in print yet!) In between, I'm going to try to hear as many writers and attend as many Master Classes as I can.

Say hello if you're here!