Independent Book Reviews for Independent Readers.
Looking back on all the books I reviewed in 2018, there were plenty of good ones that came out of New Brunswick.
Before I get to highlighting just a few of them, I would like to mention how unhappy I was at the hearing of the passing of Raymond Fraser in 2018. He will leave a definite void in the East Coast writing scene, but he leaves behind a legacy of enjoyable reading and poetry as well.… Continue reading
It was with great sadness that I learned of Raymond Fraser’s passing the other day. Sharon, his ex-wife had posted on his Facebook feed that Ray was ill and in hospital in Fredericton. He wasn’t suffering, she said and he soon died peacefully. He was 77 years old. While I had met Ray several times when he came back to Miramichi to launch one of his books, and we were “friends” on Facebook, we never exchanged more than a few words either in person or online.… Continue reading
Sadly, Through Sunlight and Shadows would prove to be Raymond Fraser’s swan song, as he passed away just a few short months after its publication. It is his fourteenth book of fiction and is an all-new volume of “memoirs” of his fictional/semi-autobiographical character, Walt Macbride. While regular readers of Mr. Fraser’s will be familiar with Walt in all his manifestations, his youngest days growing up in Bannonbridge (an alias for Chatham, NB) are lesser-known.… Continue reading
I always enjoy reading Ray’s novels and short stories and this book is no exception. It is one of his earlier works and his characters Walt Macbride and his friend Sully will be familiar to his longtime readers. The Costa Blanca novella is entertaining, covering the time when Walt and Eva were together and he was still writing. Then, a few years later everything has changed on a return trip to Spain (“Return to Costa Blanca”).… Continue reading
Raymond Fraser is a Canadian author of novels, biographies as well as poetry. In 2012 he was made a member of the Order of New Brunswick for his contributions to literature and New Brunswick’s cultural life. He has also received the Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for High Achievement in the Arts for English Language Literary Arts. His most recent novel is Seasons of Discontent (reviewed here).… Continue reading
Seasons of Discontent (2015, Lion’s Head Press) is Raymond Fraser’s thirteenth work of fiction by this prolific New Brunswick author. It could also be subtitled “The Continuing Adventures of Walt Macbride” since it features the recurring semi-autobiographical character Ray’s readers have met before in such novels as The Bannonbridge Musicians and In Another Life, just to mention two. In fact, “Seasons” expands upon Part Three of In Another Life (“The Mid Sixties and Beyond”).… Continue reading