Off we go.........

4:30 this afternoon, we board a lovely Air Canada aircraft for our nine hour flight to Lima.

Lima, Peru

We arrive late at might, 12:30 am, and will be taken to our hotel on the Malecon, Miraflores Park

Miraflores Park Hotel

The malecon

We’ll spend a couple days getting to know Lima, and then the Silver Spirit - en route from stops in Santiago & Antafagasta  (Chile) and Pisco – will arrive at the port at Callou to pick us up.

The port of Callou

 Okay, okay, they were going to stop here anyway.

Silversea Silver Spirit

The Spirit is well into its inaugural voyage, and hopefully well-stocked with champagne. We’re gonna need it. I’ve heard that the port at Antafagasta was closed due to weather, and that they’re currently just waiting to get clearance to head for Peru (and us! ).

We are finally beginning our aborted trip to South America. After the devastation suffered by Chile, we decided to bypass Santiago where we were to spend a few days before boarding a cruiseship, the Silver Spirit. It just didn’t seem prudent, right, or necessarily safe to be playing tourist while the residents were going through the aftermath of one of the largest earthquakes in history. When the airport was closed, our flight was cancelled, then re-scheduled to Buenos Aires with no guarantee that Air Cananda would be able to get to Santiago, the deal was sealed.

Without going into the complexities and decision yo-yos and intricacies involved over several days, we ended up changing our itinerary and arranged to meet up with the Spirit in Lima, Peru several days into the cruise.

In the meantime, we got our minds off the mess by spontaneously heading to Vegas to try out the new Vdara hotel.

VDARA

We also saw the hilarious Menopause, The Musical

Menopause the Musical

It started off slow, but then the four performers really got into it and it was a lot of fun.

And Zumanity, which was certainly created to be steamy, but for some reason it rang a little hollow…maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for it…

Zumanity

After a quick stop back at home to unpack, repack, check out the progress of the house painters, catch our breath, we are now on our way to Toronto. Odd thing – when we decided to make this change and went to book a hotel in Toronto, every single room anywhere near downtown was taken. What is going on in Toronto this week? We finally had to settle on staying at the airport.

Tonight we’ll try out Blu Restaurant.

Blu

Then it’s one more sleep and – finally – off to South America.

Yup. A Gaybie.

Coming as a complete suprise to me, Aloha, Candy Hearts has been nominated in the Best Gay Mystery category for a

TLA GAYBIE AWARD! 

Yay! A Gaybie nom!

TLA is the largest online and mail order retailer of gay home entertainment and books in the US. The TLA Gaybie Awards honor what they feel were the best films, books, actors, blogs, film festivals & more in 2009. I am the only Canadian on the books shortlist – so that is kinda cool.

Sounds like a good reason to celebrate!

Nominees were chosen by TLA from the best and the best-sellers of
2009. The winners will be determined solely by online voting with the results to be announced on April 15.

Anyone can vote, as many times as they like, during the month of March.

All you have to do is go to:

http://www.tlagay.com/gaybies/a-2

Scroll toward the bottom, to the Best Gay Mystery section (do not lollygag over all the pics of near naked men or in the gay erotica section – you have voting to do!), click on the photo of Aloha, Candy Hearts, then scroll further down and hit the big red VOTE! button. That’s it.

And you can do it as many times as you like.

With my thanks for reading this far in this bsp and hopefully for your vote!

CBC Radio Interview – The Next Chapter – with Shelagh Rogers

Host Shelagh Rogers

Air Times (These are EST, For Saskatchewan listeners – tune in one hour earlier)

CBC Radio One
Monday, March 15, 2010 – 1 pm
Saturday,March 20, 2010 – 4 pm

Sirius 137
Monday, March 15, 2010 – 9 am & 12 midnight
Saturday, March 20, 2010 – 2 pm

Or, you can listen to podcast by going to:

http://www.cbc.ca/thenextchapter/podcast.html

The Next Chapter’s podcast is updated Saturdays.

The Next Chapter is the destination for anyone who wants to know about Canadian books and writing. Every week Shelagh Rogers will talk to Canada’s best known writers, as well as to the literary stars of tomorrow. With her spirit and passion for books, Shelagh connects her audience to the stories and ideas that shape us.

As the release date for the 7th Russell Quant book, A Date With a Sheesha, approaches, I think about the great year I’ve had with Aloha, Candy Hearts:

Greeting guests at Aloha, Candy Hearts launch

p.s. If you decide to watch the slide show below, I would change settings to max size: 1024×1024, and delay: 3 seconds timing interval

http://www.anthonybidulka.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=slideshow.Slideshow&g2_itemId=1637

Thanks everybody for a great year.

I was enjoying a lazy hazy day of fishing with some friends when I found him.

Ahhhh, the weekend.

Well, not exactly him, but rather my first real clue as to how to track down my next Canadian Crime Writer – Garry Ryan.

Garry Ryan

I knew Garry way before I presented him with the Lambda Literary Award in NYC:

Garry hogging all the attention at the Lambda Awards in New York City (that's me waaaay over to the right...grrrrrrr)

Not to say I’m responsible for all his success. It’s true, but I won’t say it. Ever.

Since then, I’d lost touch with Garry. Every time I showed up at his house in Calgary to interview him for “10 Silly Things”, he was never home.

I was sure I saw him behind the curtains, but all efforts to get in failed.

Knock, knock, Garry.

But I had him now. Instead of the Northern Pike I was hoping for, my final cast of the day netted me Garry’s secret location.

Message in a bottle: Invitation to Hummingbird's Dance

The message in the bottle was a personal invitation to attend the opening night of the new Cirk Do Solay show:  Hummingbird Dance in Las Vegas. Signed by John.

Well, I’m no dummy.  I am a crime writer after all. This was my brilliant deductive thinking:

(a) Garry’s latest release is called A Hummingbird Dance.

A Hummingbird Dance

(b) His detective’s name is JOHN Lane

(c) Another of Garry’s books is called The Lucky Elephant Restaurant – and everyone knows where you go when you feel lucky

The Lucky Elephant Restaurant

(d) Plus, I was itching for some slot play.

It was obvious. Garry was working on the musical version of his latest tome. I was off to Vegas, baby!

Coming in for a landing...the runway is here somewhere...

The Hotel featuring the newest Cirk show was a little off the strip…

The Sand Hotel

There weren’t many people around when I approached the showroom. And it was awfully dark in there. But I was welcomed by a…hostess let’s call her

Mabel

I forked over the $3.99 (including a post show buffet) and was instructed to take a seat to await the show.

Rush seating only

I won’t frighten you with what happened next. Needless to say, the show’s producers seemed to have veered quite far from the excellent storyline of Garry’s book. 

I had to warn him! But how? Where was he?

Wait! The first book in Garry’s series was the answer to it all!

Queen's Park

Sure, Queen’s Park may refer to an area in Calgary. But couldn’t it also refer to the greatest queen of all? Queen of the Nile! And where does the Queen of the Nile live? That’s right - Ceasar’s Palace!

Garry's desert hideaway - Ceasar's Palace

And that, folks, is where I learned the power of that famous phrase “What happens in Vegas, won’t stay in Vegas, unless you agree to tell me…

10 Silly Things You Didn’t Know About Canadian Crime Writer Garry Ryan“

1.    If you could invite any famous person, dead or alive, for dinner, what
would you serve?

Chili crab from Kukup in Malaysia. It is, quite simply, ambrosia.
 

2.    Who do you think you are?

A guy who wishes he could tell jokes that are actually funny.
 

3.    What’s your problem?

Besides the fact that I’m a Canadian who doesn’t much like hockey?
 

4.    The Canadian crime writer. Myth or mystery?

Canada has writers? 
 

5.    If you could change one thing about any of your books, what would it be?

All of the crazy typos that I didn’t see until the books came out. Now it’s too late to do anything about them.
 

6.    When no one is looking, what is your guilty pleasure?

Caramel coffee and a chocolate croissant.
 

7.    If you could have one wish, who would you give it up to?

The genie. The genie never gets to wish.
 

8.    When you wake up in the morning, what celebrity do you most resemble?

The gopher in Caddyshack. Or Alvin, the chipmunk. You think I’m joking? Look at my picture.
 
 

9.   What’s the most Canadian thing about you?

I once helped dig a hole for an outhouse in the middle of the bush. I know it sounds vaguely obscene, and when you think about it, it is.

10.  Do you have anything you’d like to plug?

Besides the hole in my wallet?

You can learn more about Garry and his books, including the upcoming:

Smoked

at his website: http://www.garryryan.ca/index.htm

By the way, I did pretty well…

I'm not crying. Just resting.

Next up: I’ll be chasing a few recalcitrant Canadian Crime Writers around South America and Mexico in March, but come Monday, April 5, 2010, join me as I pluck worms out of the Big Apple only to discover 10 Silly Things You Didn’t Know About Canadian Crime Writer Jeffrey Round.

A recent poll on my website about whether or not readers are using an e-Reader came up with some interesting results.

A full 42% said they use an e-Reader. Of those e-Readers, 71% said they absolutely love using it. The balance said they only used it for travel or in other special circumstances.

Of the remaining 58% of respondents who said they did not use an e-Reader, 36% of them said they would NEVER use one. But, interestingly enough, 36% also said that might consider using one in the future. 21% said they were undecided. 7% didn’t know what an e-Reader is.

Looking at the numbers in a different way, 75% of respondents either use an e-Reader or might be swayed to use one in the near future. Even if some of those decide not to, a conservative estimate would be to say tha 50% of readers will use an e-Reader at some point. This is significant. And it corresponds with Amazon’s recent announcement around Christmas time that for the first time, they’d sold more books in e-format (Kindle) than in traditional paper format.

My experience has been this:

I resisted using an e-Reader. As a writer, somehow I felt as if I’d be betraying my profession to turn to an electronic book. Last year, during a vacation (during which I came precariously close to having to mortgage my house to pay for suitcase overweight charges to the airlines for the books I was carrying …and maybe a few shoes) we sat next to this couple at lunch one day who raved about their e-Reader.  They happened to have it with them. It was my first time handling one. Before taking it in my hands, I glanced about nervously to avoid being seen with the thing.

As I worked with it, the couple shot down every con I could think of. It had a glare-resistent screen for reading on the beach. It had a touch screen. You could magnify the word size if it was dim or you needed a bit of help and didn’t have your reading glasses with you. It was easy to navigate. Battery power lasted for 17,000 page turns or something extraordinary like that.

Still, I resisted. There is nothing like the feel of a real book in my hand.

Then, for Christmas, someone bought me a Sony e-Reader. I decided to try it out on an upcoming vacation. It was easy to figure out. The books were easy to download. It was WAY easier to transport. It handled beautifully on the beach, and at night. I had some issue with re-charging it, but finally figured that out. In short. I was sold. It really was pretty darn cool – not to mention that I felt like Jean-Luc Picard from the Star Ship Enterprise every time I used it in public. And handy. And weightless. And I didn’t miss turning pages as much as I’d imagined.

The big question will be, will I begin to buy less books in paper and more as e-copies, and start using the reader at home? Will I curl up on a couch in front of a fire with a glass of Malbec and my e-Reader?

That will remain to be seen. I still have a big pile of hard copy books to get through. And, I think for those beloved series I’ve been collecting hard copies for years – like Grisham, Grafton, Hart, McCall-Smith, Plakcy, Penny etc etc – I can’t stop. Also, there are a few restrictions. Since I have a Sony reader, I think I am restricted to the books sold at the Sony e-Reader store. It’s kind of like, Sony is deciding which books I can read. Scary. And the list is far from exhaustive. For instance, I wanted to try out the Donna Leon series, but very few of the earlier books were on the site.

Also, when I went to check if my books were there. They were. But selling at $3.99!!!! Even the newest one. I also received an email from a reader who told me he bought them off the Sony site and that whatever program they were using to create the digital book was causing some problems – i.e. an exclamation point turned into a diamond or something like that. I immediately contacted my publisher. $3.99? Oh, no way. Not when most other books like mine were selling for at least $7.99, which I still fear is predatory pricing. So, all the Russell Quant books have been pulled from the Sony store. They are at the Kindle store (Amazon) for $7.99. Still too cheap. Grrrrr. Better yet, folks, support your local bookstore and your writers.

In the end, I began to remember that once upon a time not long ago, writers wrote their books longhand. Some I know, still do. It is their preference. They feel they aren’t really writing unless it comes out of the end of a pen or pencil unto a paper. I’m glad they still have the option to do so, without costing anyone else anything. But for the rest of us, technology came knocking. Most of write our books on computer, putting out words into digital form. Does it make sense to resist having our output match our input - having our books available to be read as we wrote them – on a computer screen? I wonder.

The next website poll asks the question: What type of mystery do you prefer to read? Give your feedback at http://www.anthonybidulka.com/home.php

“She’s a wily one, that Louise Penny”, I whispered to myself, admiration tinting my disappointment.
You see, I’d come upon the old United Empire Loyalist brick home in the Quebec countryside, surrounded by maple woods and mountains, where the author is rumoured to live.
But no Louise Penny. 


Maple Woods & Mountains

 

It was an idyllic spot, I had to admit as I gathered the ropes and fabric of my expired parachute.

 

With sun-ripened squash,  gambolling colts, steadfast sheep, and a stinky dog or two, this was someplace I could really get to like.



The alleged sun-ripened Squash



Gambolling?



Sheep - do they bite?

 

Suddenly, a thought pierced my otherwise inpenetrable focus:  Perhaps these delightful creatures had been abandoned! Perhaps they were in need of my Ukrainian love and care whilst Penny was away?

 

And so, I admit to you now… using the ball-peen hammer I carry around just for such purposes…I smashed an old United Empire Loyalist window, and moved in.



Nice legs, eh?

 

Now don’t get all upset.

 

As a fellow crime writer, it stands to reason that Louise is quite supportive of crime, and the odd break-and-enter here and there is quite acceptable.

 

Besides, I only stayed a few weeks.

 

Ahhhh, the solitude of it all.

 

The loveliness. 

 

Time well spent reflecting on life in the glorious Quebecois landscape. 

 

And best of all?

 

The unadulterated enjoyment of raiding the contents of a fridge that does not belong to me.

 

For many sun-tinged days, I lived a life that was grand beyond belief:



Walks at dusk



Running hands through wheat...or is it corn?... like Russell Crowe in Gladiator



Making myself at home at the Penny place (a little over my usual lithe cat-burglar weight)

 

 

But enough of that. I was on a mission.

 

Once all the pâté in the fridge was gone, I was determined to find my quarry.

  Where was Louise Penny? Where was her delightful husband, Michael? 



Louise & Michael

Where did they REALLY live if not in this utopia I’d come to think of as my own?

 

I pulled my ever-present magnifying glass from it’s holster and began following the bread crumbs.

 

A stylish shoulder wrap tossed here, a discarded bowtie strewn there, and before I knew it, I was in…

 



Sultry Tangiers

 

 



Tangiers - at the tip of Morocco

No rolling, green countryside for them. No maturing autumn leaves, no sweet scent of gently ripening fruit, no cute fuzzy animals. No.  They were here! In hot and sweaty Tangiers! The shame of it all!

 

Now I was more intent than ever to find the duo, to reveal the truth behind their naughty ways! And to score some really good coffee.

 

It didn’t take long.

 

I waved around a few book covers…



The Brutal Telling



Dead Cold

 

…and a few almighty Moroccan Dirham.

 

And before I knew it, tongues were wagging. The mystery lovers of Morocco were more than glad to give up Penny’s location for a bit of cash and the promise of a great read from a New York Times bestselling author! (Yay Louise!)



The shameless tattle tales

 

I didn’t have far to go.

 

It only seemed that way given my transportation.



Zeroing in on Penny

 

But alas, I found her. In the company of her beloved husband.

 

Far be it for me to spread rumours. So, I’m not saying there was dancing on tables, or even next to one.

Because this is about Louise, not me. 

And, once I was done shaking my money-maker,  our shiny Canadian Penny seemed sincerely glad to see me.



See- what'd I tell you - happy to see me.

(Note: I promise to tell her about my impromptu stay in her house much, much later. So, everyone, mum’s the word!)

 

In the meantime, gracious as always, Louise shared with me:

 

10 Silly Things You Didn’t Know About Canadian Crime Writer Louise Penny

 

1.        If you could invite any famous person, dead or alive, for dinner, what
would you serve?
   

Something made by someone else, unless I wanted to kill or alienate them.

2.    Who do you think you are?

        A huge crime writer, and quite a wide one as well.

3.    What’s your problem?

         I think I might be too thin and too beautiful.  Oh, wait.  No.  My problem is I’m delusional.

4.    The Canadian crime writer. Myth or mystery?

           Myth, in that all great myths are based in truth and fact, and live forever.  Grow and become legend.  I’m deeply, profoundly (thin and beautiful) proud of being a
Canadian mystery writer, and to be a part of this vibrant and growing community.  Very
exciting!

5.    If you could change one thing about any of your books, what would it be?

        I would have not fictionalized the towns around Three Pines, but used their real names – to help really ground them in Quebec’s Eastern Townships.  I’ve started doing that, using
the names of real towns, but I wish I’d done that sooner.  That was a mistake.

6.    When no one is looking, what is your guilty pleasure?

         Reading People magazine in the bath while watching Ab Fab and eating chocolates.  How I suffer for my art.

7.    If you could have one wish, who would you give it up to?

           Jimmy Stewart

8.    When you wake up in the morning, what celebrity do you most resemble?

          The Cookie Monster

9.    What’s the most Canadian thing about you?

         I believe in socialized medicine, a national broadcaster, deeply subsidized university education.  I believe in social welfare and that we are, indeed, our brother’s
keeper.

10.  Do you have anything you’d like to plug?

         Yes, the magnificent novels of Anthony Bidulka,



This wholly (mostly) unsolicited plug, cost me but a few more dirham...

…and all the other Canadian crime writers.  We are a community and where one succeeds the others benefit.

 

In the words of The Ottawa Citizen’s Mike Gillespie: Penny writes like a modern-day Agatha Christie, with a little Dylan Thomas thrown in for good measure. Her characters leap from the page, her plotting is sublime, the atmosphere she builds…completely chilling.

You can find out more about Louise and her impeccable, multi award-winning, truly enjoyable Armand Gamache series at http://www.louisepenny.com/books.htm.

 

 

Coming up next? Glad you asked. Monday, February 22, 2010. Find out why everything that happens in Vegas, doesn’t necessarily stay in Vegas – not if I’m looking to reveal your 10 Silly Things. That’s right, Calgary writer Garry Ryan – this next one’s all about you!

In the just released McNally Robinson newsletter, The Bookseller, the sixth Russell Quant mystery, Aloha, Candy Hearts was named Saskatchewan’s  #1 bestselling fiction book for 2009!

Aloha, Candy Hearts

Excited author, here! Thank you to all my awesome readers!

Only the second interview into my ‘10 Silly Things’ series of interviews with Canadian crime writers and I wanted to quit.

And I blame it all on that damnable Vicki Delany

Vicki Delany

…and her love of anything cold. And I quote: “I love winter. I love the snow and the cold and the long dark winter nights…I would like to live in Northern Ontario, the Yukon, or in the mountains of British Columbia. I lived in South Africa for a number of years in my twenties. I HATED the weather. Sigh, hot and sunny AGAIN! “

Sunny South Africa

Oh…my…yes, that does look unbearable.

But why was I surprised? One of her books is called Winter of Secrets

Winter of Secrets

 

 

 

 

 

and then there’s  In the Shadow of the Glacier

In The Shadow of the Glacier

But I had promised I would accept all hardships thrown my way, undertake whatever challenges laid before me, in order to get to the bottom of what really makes Canadian crime writers tick.

So I did my research and found that author Delany was taking a short beach vacation in Oymyakon, Northern Siberia.

Oy my!

Oymyakon on a map, in case you'd like to drop by

Oymyakon is also known as the coldest place on earth, where it is rumoured that birds freeze in flight.

One cold bird

Resolved, undaunted, and a little happy on apple cider that sat too long in my grandma’s cellar…oh, but that’s another story…I headed out for Oymyakon.

Just a little something I had in the back of the closet

The going was a bit rough at times…

Thank goodness for four wheel drive!

I checked into my hotel.

Oymyakon Hilton

And went in search of Vicki at the local beach.  As soon as she caught sight of me, she jumped to her feet, threw a stylish wrap over her fur-lined bathing suit, and hopped into a pair of nearby mukluks. Cold be damned, what a warm welcome!  

Then she jumped into a sleigh and off she went. In the opposite direction. Perhaps she didn’t recognize me? I took chase. 

There goes Vicki and her reindeer...

Using a pole vault I always carry with me, I handily catapulted myself into the sleigh and began the interview.  Over the next several miles and a couple of frozen dacquiris, I learned about

10 Silly Things You Didn’t Know about Canadian Crime Writer Vicki Delany:

1.  If you could invite any famous person, dead or alive, for dinner, what would you serve?

I am very much into eating food that is produced locally. Hopefully, my guests would be coming in summer so I could serve a meal with emphasis on produce grown in my own garden or on one of the farms in walking distance of my house. We’d have soup made from summer squash first, followed by pasta with a sauce of cherry tomatoes, arugula and basil, cooked lightly in olive oil and tossed with goats’ cheese from Fifth Town Cheese in Prince Edward County (where I live). For dessert, I’d make a blackberry pie, with berries I picked on my own property.

If my dinner party is in winter, I’ll fake it.

Whatever time of year, there will be wines from Prince Edward County.  

2.    Who do you think you are?

A very lucky woman who is well aware of just how lucky she is.

3.    What’s your problem?

I’m 58 years old and STILL having menstrual problems.  If there was supposed to be ONE advantage of getting old, that should be it.

4.    The Canadian crime writer. Myth or mystery?

It’s a mystery why so many Canadian crime writers have to set their books in other places in order to be successful.

5.    If you could change one thing about any of your books, what would it be?

I might change the title of my first book published by Poisoned Pen Press, Scare the Light Away. I have met a lot of people at book signings who told me they wouldn’t like it because they don’t read horror. After I strangle them, I explain that the title refers to the central character not wanting to know the truth of her childhood, i.e. scaring away the light of knowledge.

6.    When no one is looking, what is your guilty pleasure?

I drink wine… probably more than I should. (Don’t tell anyone, eh?)

7.    If you could have one wish, who would you give it up to?

What a question. I’d like to give it to Stephen Lewis, former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, who now works tirelessly with victims and survivors of AIDS in Africa, emphasizing small, local, grassroots African organizations including grandmothers raising the children of their own dead children. Stephen and his foundation recognize that in Africa ‘the force driving the pandemic is gender inequality’.  

8.    When you wake up in the morning, what celebrity do you most resemble?

Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

9.    What’s the most Canadian thing about you?

I love winter. I love the snow and the cold and the long dark winter nights. I live in Southern Ontario to be close to my mother and two of my three daughters, but otherwise I would like to live in Northern Ontario, the Yukon, or in the mountains of British Columbia. I lived in South Africa for a number of years in my twenties. I HATED the weather. Sigh, hot and sunny AGAIN!

10.  Do you have anything you’d like to plug?

Why Tony, thank you for asking. When it comes to crime fiction, I write something for almost everyone. The Klondike Gold Rush series (Gold Digger from Rendezvous Crime),

Gold Fever - also in the Klondike Gold Rush series

set in the Yukon in 1898 is a fun-filled, mad-cap romp; the Constable Molly Smith books set in the Interior of British Columbia (Winter of Secrets, In the Shadow of the Glacier) are a traditional village/police procedural mystery series; I have also written two novels of psychological suspense set in the Muskoka area of Ontario with a back story of something that happened during World War Two (Burden of Memory, Scare the Light Away).

You can always find out much more about Vicki, her writing and her inexplicable lust for cold at: http://www.vickidelany.com/

Up next: Monday, February 8, 2010 – Louise Penny – Is break & enter always a bad thing?