Featuring Andy Tolson, Donna Kane, and Sharon Frayne
Why do your favourite Canadian authors write the books they write? Let’s find out in this exclusive feature here at The Miramichi Reader.
Andy Tolson, author of How to Kidnap a Mermaid (Nimbus Publishing, August 2024)
It always starts with an image. To be honest, I don’t know where the image comes from, this cinematic snippet that appears out of nothing. But there it was, plain as day: an abandoned amusement park. Growing up in the 1970s, every Saturday morning we faithfully watched the animated shenanigans of Scooby-Doo and the gang. Abandoned and haunted amusement parks were prime cartoon real estate to explore if you were looking for trouble. Maybe that had some influence.
But the abandoned amusement park I imagined had been the epicentre of a battle fought many years before: the rides were reduced to mangled metal, the buildings burned out, the smoke from the destruction long since dissipated.
My imagination kicked into gear and the image expanded: the amusement park was called Mythic World, and the rides were powered by the magic from mythical creatures: gnomes, trolls, mermaids, pixies, unicorns, and giants. Mythic World rivalled Disneyland as a top tourist destination for humans to visit.
Then the magic disappeared under suspicious circumstances. With no magic to power the rides, tourists stopped coming. Jobs were lost and bitterness prevailed. Mythics were blamed. Then shunned. Soon a battle erupted. Mythic World, being the symbol of broken dreams, was destroyed.
But this was only part of the story I wanted to tell. It was the aftermath of that destruction that was more interesting. I wondered how you could bring back something thought to be lost forever: magic.
The best stories persist like an itch that needs to be scratched. This story wanted to be told, so I followed it, creating characters, mapping out a plot, and building a fantasy world around a young giant, desperate to prove himself, but still waiting for his growth spurt. Several months after that first image appeared in my head, I had the first draft of a novel, sending my characters on a dangerous quest to find their lost magic. It was funny and thrilling, but most of all, I hoped young readers would relate to the character’s friendships, their struggles and rivalry, as they discovered what it meant to be a hero.
And what I discovered is that those images that appear in your head, the stories that persist, they work like magic too.
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Andy Tolson has been a boy magician, drummer, propmaker, photojournalist, and filmmaker. He lives in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, in a big old house with his family and two cats; named Olive and Ottoline. His debut middle-grade fantasy, How to Kidnap a Mermaid will be published August 2024. The sequel, How to Rescue a Unicorn, will be out in fall 2025. Visit his website: www.andytolson.com
Donna Kane, author of Asterisms (Harbour Publishing, April 2024)
I have a childhood memory that has remained as vivid as the day of the event. In this memory, I was wandering far into the treed areas around my home, as I always did, and came upon a pond teeming with a remarkable variety of life. I stayed at that pond for what seemed like hours, watching insects that looked like twigs, water striders, ebony beetles with red spots, tadpoles, dragonflies, and many other beings I had never seen before. It felt like a magical discovery and as if I were seeing the heart of life. I could never find that pond again, though I’ve often looked. Recently, I read a book by a naturalist who described the very same memory—and how he had never found the pond again. So now I’m not sure if what I remember was real.
But what is certain is that I grew up and have continued to live in northeast BC on Treaty 8 Territory, where I have always been surrounded by other-than-human life. I would say that this is why I wrote Asterisms: to continue my love for and wonder of the natural world. In the past, creatures like swallowtail butterflies and magpies were clear inspirations for me. However, I now sense these influences more intensely with the rise in ecological disasters, habitat loss, and extinctions due to climate change. While I once wrote about other-than-human life because it was what was around me, now I feel I am writing about them as homage to what is being lost. I will admit I grew up taking much of my surroundings for granted (which, sadly, seems to be a human condition in thinking of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi,” written over 50 years ago). Asterisms also reflects my growing interest in the night sky and astronomy. Feeling claustrophobic in the first summer of the pandemic, I began to sleep outside on my deck (something that has now become a practice). During those first few nights, I realized that while the sky was still dark, it wasn’t as dark as when I was a child (scientists say that today, only one in five North Americans can still see the Milky Way). Realizing we are also losing our night sky to light pollution has made me more attentive to that part of my world, which is reflected in many of the poems in Asterisms. Experiencing nocturnal life in a more immediate way and seeing stars and planets unimpacted by humans (well, except for Mars, and the moon may soon be changed by us, as mentioned in one of my poems) calms me. In sum, I would say I wrote Asterisms because experiencing the natural world and the universe beyond is what saves me, as writing about them does, too.
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Donna Kane is the recipient of the Aurora Award of Distinction: Arts and Culture, and the British Columbia Medal of Good Citizenship. Her poems, short fiction, reviews and essays have been published widely. She is the author of the non-fiction book Summer of the Horse (2018), and of three books of poetry—most recently Orrery, a finalist for the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award. She divides her time between Rolla, BC, and Halifax, NS.
Sharon Frayne, author of The Sound of a Rainbow (Latitude 46 Publishing, April 2023)
The first draft of The Sound of a Rainbow won the 72 hour Muskoka Novel Marathon, which is an annual fundraiser for the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka adult literacy program. When I entered this grueling competition, I had a burning compulsion to tell a story that I believe is important, with realistic teenaged characters dealing with today’s problems.
The twenty-first century is tough for teens. I’m a former high school Visual Art and English teacher and administrator who saw first-hand how bullying someone who is perceived as different, and/or negative social media, can destroy a life.
How many hours a day does the average person spend online? How many hours are spent on social media? How many hurtful and negative messages are sent daily? Far too many. Can a person who has been publicly humiliated ever heal from their trauma?
What if we turned off the internet and watched the clouds float by? Or listened to a bird sing? What if we gave ourselves lots of time to sing, or dance, or paint? What if differences were perceived as strengths? Do rainbows make a sound?
I’ve spent many summers in Northern Ontario swimming, boating, hiking and having fun. I’ve worked at Summer Arts Camps, and have taken groups of students to Tim Horton’s Camp. I know that spending time outdoors enables powerful healing. An immersive Arts experience stimulates powerful healing. Acceptance, appreciation and time with positive friends is powerful healing.
In The Sound of a Rainbow, after a disastrous performance in a singing contest, Raven Tantie—a sixteen-year-old who’s a talented singer—is publicly destroyed by toxic social media. Raven’s desperate parents send her to Camp Rainbow Wings, an inclusive performing arts camp in Northern Ontario, with no internet. It’s on an island, in a beautiful, natural setting where campers learn outdoor skills and prepare for a musical performance. At first, Raven is depressed and anxious about the remote setting and other campers who are neurodivergent or physically challenged. She makes poor choices and decides to run away. Gradually, through the support and kindness of camp leaders, she learns empathy and self-confidence, and to make good decisions. She discovers the sound of a rainbow.
Camp Rainbow Wings is a safe place for all. Dark troubles in our lives are like bad weather situations. They happen to everyone, and can sometimes feel overwhelming. It was brutally hard for me to write a novel in 72 hours, but I refused to give up. Winning the Muskoka Novel Marathon, and being accepted for publication by Latitude 46 changed my life. I wrote The Sound of a Rainbow to inspire readers to look for the rainbow that occurs after a storm, and remember to listen for the sound. And never give up.
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Sharon Frayne is an artist and writer who believes kindness and respect for all is critically important. Her short stories and poetry are showcased in literary festivals, contests and anthologies. She lives in historic Niagara-on-the-Lake and is often found hiking the Muskoka woods, looking for inspiration.
