I have many interests but four passions: my family, friends, honourable public service (especially among politicians), and my writing. (well, books too). On a positive note, SATURDAY IS INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY. So today I stocked up Audreys Books Ltd. with both A Métis Man's Dream and Blue Sky, Red Canoe! I hope you support your local independent book stores.

Also,

Well, I am pretty excited about my new manuscript, Nobody Waved Goodbye; A Shipwreck Summer in Canada's North.   

I am out looking for a publisher.

Here is some information about the story:

About the Book 
In the hectic summer shipping season of 1956, fierce, unpredictable storms took two northern tugboats to the bottom, one on Lake Athabasca and the other on Great Slave Lake.

Never before, in seventy-five years of commercial Mackenzie River shipping had a northern vessel taken its crew to the bottom. Yet, in 1956, not one but two ships were lost in the depths of vast northern inland seas.

It was a time of sudden death, close-call rescues, and unanswered questions. Even now, seventy years later, mysteries  remain; what happened to the MV  Clearwater?   What became of her crew?  Where lay the remains of the MV Sandy Jane? Why have they never been located?

Huge lakes hidden in the wilderness of northern Canada reveal their secrets only haltingly.

That summer, teenage boys and young men ventured north, taking a crack at real life on the tugs. Some never returned. Others instinctively took to northern waters for extended careers, serving one of the largest, most important and least known maritime transport systems in the country.

Seven decades of memories and newly uncovered evidence tell the stories of the summer when northern and nautical history was made, the summer Nobody Waved Goodbye.

Neil has completed the manuscript for his new book, Nobody Waved Goodbye; A Shipwreck Summer in Canada's North.

In the spring of 1956, young men of different places and circumstances went north. They came to work the tugboats and barges of Canada’s longest river. They gathered in the largest north-bound drainage in North America. Most of them crossed the deepest lake on the continent in little, shallow-draft workboats, hundreds of miles from anyone who might look up to note their passing.

In a land where the waters brings mystery, they had more than their share. For the north was, in 1956, (and in many ways is still) a place where the people are dependent on small ships for supplies and equipment which sustain them through long, cold, dark winters. 

It is a land where the  legendary wind blows down cold from the hinterland, where in the summer of 1956, for the first and last time, two tugboats sank in large northern lakes, the summer Nobody Waved Goodbye...

We are looking for a publisher.

Keep your eye on this space for news!

Both Totem Outfitters on 99 St and Track N' Trail on 82 Ave have been restocked with copies of Blue Sky, Red Canoe. Get your copy of this easy reading tale of paddling the Red Deer River and exploring Alberta to get yourself ready for summer!

​NOBODY WAVED GOODBYE

THE BOYS OF THE SUMMER SEASON/SHIPWRECK SUMMER

​Summary:

"On the Mackenzie River watershed, the summer freighting season of
1956 opened with high hopes and great expectations. The Cold War was
driving tensions and worries about World War III. Freight traffic was
up significantly in the north, chasing significant developments in
uranium mining, and defense contracting. The Americans were
constructing Distant Early Warning (DEW Line) sites across the top of
the continent and watching the Russians across the polar sea.

At northern ports, three new ships were launched that spring, another
was re-built and re-floated, and yet another's fabrication was almost
complete. Tugs and barge transport hurried along the rivers of
Canada's northland, delivering unprecedented volumes of building
supplies, groceries, mining and defense equipment, vehicles, and tools
to destinations in Canada's northwest, especially north from Fort
McMurray,

On the dark night of August 26th, 1956, Northern Transportation
Company's 30-ton tug the MV Clearwater faced a deadly, unexpected Lake
Athabasca storm. The small vessel was on its way to deliver lumber and
supplies to the new uranium mines on the north shore of the one of the
largest lakes in Canada.

During the voyage, gale-force winds pushed treacherous, crashing waves
westward, smashing the small vessel to a standstill while its crew of
eight, some just teenagers, held their breath, prayed and waited to
learn their fate.

Less than two months later, Yellowknife Transportation Company’s tug,
the MV Sandy Jane faced a terrible storm on Great Slave Lake, as it
struggled through blowing snow and freezing rain to deliver one last
load of winter fuel to Yellowknife. For those on board who had not
faced the storms of war, it was the most terrifying night of their
lives, looking into the darkness as they settled lower and lower into
the deepest lake in North America.

Meanwhile, for the first time in their young lives, two other
teenagers boarded tugboats in the wilderness of northern Canada and
took to northern waters. They too would learn what vast northern lakes
and long rivers to the Arctic had in store for them.

All the young men became men of the north. They each sailed to their
destiny in the summer of '56."

In October, I had the pleasure of attending a fundraising gala for the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario. It is a wonderful place and in early October, a stunning vision of fall colours and the sparkling waters of the Trent-Severn Canal. I was impressed with the preservation and presentation of local and national history there. I am proud to say their bookstore carries Blue Sky, Red Canoe.

​I am very pleased that Blue Sky, Red Canoe is now available right downtown in Edmonton, at the Edmonton Arts Council Shop on Sir Winston Churchill Square. 9930 - 102 Ave NW.

I am pleased that "Blue Sky, Red Canoe" is still selling. The book continues to resonate with people, which is so gratifying, especially in a project like Blue Sky which is very personal, and close to my heart. 

Here are two recent reviews:
"I am so moved by your writing Neil! I picked this up about an hour ago and am really enjoying it. Thankyou for being so candid and vulnerable. This book’s a keeper!
- Sandra s.

"I have just closed Blue Sky, Red Canoe having read it, cover to cover.

What a gift to share with readers, what a window into your soul.  I hope that whatever regrets you reference are far outweighed by the wonder and adventure, the love of life that glimmers through these pages.  There are soft references to times past, to loneliness and love lost.  Your journey is not over, there are still more paddles to come and much to look forward to.

Thank you for sharing this memoir with me."
-D.T.

A reminder that the first printing of A Métis Man's Dream; From Traplines to Tugboats in Canada's North has just about sold out. A few copies remain in selected book stores, particularly Audreys downtown. Check your local book stores. I have 2 or 3 on hand too.

This review is just in from a beta reader of my new book, tentatively named Tales From the Wheelhouse: "Neil, this is absolutely terrific! Love the way you write. It is as though you were right there witnessing it all as it passed by. This history is so important to preserve. Something I have always admired in the Americans. And we have remarkable adventurers in our past too but no one has seemed to have the initiative to take it up".