Bachelor Brothers is Garageband.com's Spoken Word Track of the Week

Garageband.com
Spoken Word Track of the Week

Click here to visit the Garageband page for Bachelor Brothers.

The poem, from the collection Merrybegot, was selected as the track of the week in the spoken word category on garageband.com.

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The audio edition of Mary Dalton's Merrybegot is narrated by Anita Best with Patrick Boyle on trumpet and flugelhorn. It was published by Rattling Books in 2005.

Audio Publishers Association Press Release

Americans Are Tuning in to Audio: Audiobook Sales on the Rise in the U.S.


According to New Survey, Size of Audiobook Market Now Estimated at $923 Million

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) released the results of the 2007 APA Sales Survey, conducted to gather data and measure the growth of the audiobook industry. Independent research firm Lewis & Clark Research surveyed audiobook publishers during the summer of 2007, analyzing reported consumer sales data from 2006 and comparing current statistics against the previous year’s findings. This year’s survey showed a 6 percent increase over 2005 with audiobook sales now estimated at $923 million. Sales Survey Results: Overall Sales: * 30 member publishers participated in the survey, which looked at sales data from a range of sales channels from January 1 through December 31, 2006. * APA estimates the size of the audiobook market at $923 million, an increase of 6 percent (factoring in sales from non-reporting APA members and other audiobook companies who are not members).

Click on the following link to see the full APA press release.

Part 6 of Adrift on an Ice Pan, the comic

Wilfred Grenfell, Comic Book Hero

Ever wondered how Wilfred Grenfell's harrowing tale of survival in northern Newfoundland would translate into comic book form? Wonder no longer. The good doctor already made his debut way back in Issue 10 of True Comics.

The digital collections' page of Michigan State University Libraries has this to say about the series:

"True Comics was begun in 1941 to 'counteract the wild, rowdy superhero comics,' according to comics historian Ron Goulart (The Comic Book Reader's Companion, HarperPerennial, 1993). The editors were David Marke, a historian, and later Elliot Caplin, a prolific comics writer. True Comics, it could be said, sparked a small genre of non-fiction newsstand comics. Real Heroes, from the same publisher, lasted 21 issues (1941-1946), and other publishers produced similar titles: Real Life Comics (1941-1952), and Real Fact Comics (1946-1949), for example. True Comics was the most successful, lasting until 1950 and producing 84 issues."

Click here to read the sixth and final page of the True Comics version of Wilfred T. Grenfell's Adrift on an Ice Pan.

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Adrift on an Ice Pan, by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company. The unabridged audio edition of Adrift on an Ice Pan, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.

John Steffler's Poem of the Week, Aug 27-Sept 2

Follow this link to Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler's Poem of the Week website. This week's poem, Lee Valley Tools, is by Rhea Tregebov.

from John Steffler's word of introduction:

"The Poem of the Week website features a new poem by a Canadian poet each week. The initiative, which was started in 2003 by Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Bowering, and continued by his successor, Pauline Michel, has proven very popular as a way of showing readers everywhere a sample of the work of Canada’s contemporary poets. The support of the Library of Parliament makes it possible for me to keep the project alive.

There are many fine poets writing in Canada today. My aims are the same as those of George Bowering and Pauline Michel: to try to offer an inclusive representation of contemporary Canadian poetry in both English and French from all the country’s regions.

Here you will encounter the skill, imagination, and wide variety in Canadian poetry and gain a special insight into life in this country..."

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler, narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Diedre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins, is available from rattlingbooks.com

Lure of the Labrador Wild, excerpt #4

The following excerpt is from Lure of the Labrador Wild by Dillon Wallace. Wallace's account of the failed canoe expedition through the Labrador wilderness that resulted in the death of journalist Leonidas Hubbard was first published in 1905 by Fleming H. Revell, New York. The unabridged audio edition is narrated by Jody Richardson and is available from Rattling Books.

II. OFF AT LAST

Labrador's uncertain game supply presented more than one vexed problem for Hubbard to solve. Naturally it would be desirable to take with us sufficient provisions to guard against all contingencies; but such were the conditions of the country for which we were bound, that if the expedition were at all heavily loaded it would be impossible for it to make any headway. Hubbard, therefore, decided to travel light. Then arose the question as to how many men to take with us. If the party were large--that is, up to a certain limit--more food might possibly be carried for each member than if the party were small; but if game proved plentiful, there would be no danger from starvation whether the party were large or small; for then short stops could be made to kill animals, dry the flesh and make caches, after the manner of the Indians, as supply bases to fall back upon should we be overtaken by an early winter. And if the game should prove scarce, a small party could kill, on a forced march, nearly, if not quite, as much as a large party; and requiring a proportionately smaller amount of food to maintain it, would consequently have a better chance of success. Taking all things into consideration, Hubbard decided that the party should be small.

To guard against possible disappointment in the way of getting men, Hubbard wrote to the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company at Rigolet, asking whether any could be obtained for a trip into the interior either at that post or at Northwest River. The agent replied that such a thing was highly improbable, as the visits of the Indians to these posts had become infrequent and the other natives were afraid to venture far inland. Hubbard then engaged through the kind offices of Mr. S. A. King, who was in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company Post at Missanabie, Ontario, the services of a Cree Indian named Jerry, that we might have at least one man upon whom we could depend. Jerry was to have come on to New York City to meet us. At next to the last moment, however, a letter from Mr. King informed us that Jerry had backed down. The Indian was not afraid of Labrador, it appeared, but he had heard of the dangers and pitfalls of New York, and when he learned that he should have to pass through that city, his courage failed him; he positively refused to come, saying he did not "want to die so soon."

We never had occasion to regret Jerry's faint-heartedness. Mr. King engaged for us another man who, he wrote, was an expert canoeman and woodsman and a good cook. The man proved to be all that he was represented to be--and more. I do not believe that in all the north country we could have found a better woodsman. But he was something more than a woodsman--he was a hero. Under the most trying circumstances he was calm, cheerful, companionable, faithful. Not only did he turn out to be a man of intelligence, quick of perception and resourceful, but he turned out to be a man of character, and I am proud to introduce him to the reader as my friend George Elson, a half-breed Cree Indian from down on James Bay.

The first instance of George's resourcefulness that we noted occurred upon his arrival in New York. Hubbard and I were to have taken him in charge at the Grand Central Station, but we were detained and George found no one to meet him. Despite the fact that he had never been in a city before, and all was new to him, his quick eye discovered that the long line of cabs in front of the station were there to hire. He promptly engaged one, was driven to Hubbard's office and awaited his employer's arrival as calm and unruffled as though his surroundings were perfectly familiar.

Our canoe and our entire outfit were purchased in New York, with the exception of a gill net, which, alas! we decided to defer selecting until we reached Labrador. Our preparations for the
expedition were made with a view of sailing from St. Johns, Newfoundland, for Rigolet, when the steamer Virginia Lake, which regularly plies during the summer between the former port and
points on the Labrador coast, should make her first trip north of the year. A letter from the Reid-Newfoundland Company, which operates the steamer, informed us that she would probably make her first trip to Labrador in the last week in June, and in order to connect with her, we made arrangements to sail from New York to St. Johns on June 20th, 1903, on the Red Cross Line steamer Silvia. On the 19th Hubbard personally superintended the placing of our outfit on board ship, that nothing might be overlooked.

As the Silvia slowly got under way at ten o'clock the next morning, we waved a last farewell to the little knot of friends who had gathered on the Brooklyn pier to see us off. We were all very
light-hearted and gay that morning; it was a relief to be off at last and have the worry of the preparation over. Mrs. Hubbard was a member of the party; she was to accompany her husband as far as Battle Harbour, the first point on the Labrador coast touched by the Virginia Lake.


To be continued.

Part 5 of Adrift on an Ice Pan, the comic

Wilfred Grenfell, Comic Book Hero

Ever wondered how Wilfred Grenfell's harrowing tale of survival in northern Newfoundland would translate into comic book form? Wonder no longer. The good doctor already made his debut way back in Issue 10 of True Comics.

The digital collections' page of Michigan State University Libraries has this to say about the series:

"True Comics was begun in 1941 to 'counteract the wild, rowdy superhero comics,' according to comics historian Ron Goulart (The Comic Book Reader's Companion, HarperPerennial, 1993). The editors were David Marke, a historian, and later Elliot Caplin, a prolific comics writer. True Comics, it could be said, sparked a small genre of non-fiction newsstand comics. Real Heroes, from the same publisher, lasted 21 issues (1941-1946), and other publishers produced similar titles: Real Life Comics (1941-1952), and Real Fact Comics (1946-1949), for example. True Comics was the most successful, lasting until 1950 and producing 84 issues."

Click here to read the fifth page of the True Comics version of Wilfred T. Grenfell's Adrift on an Ice Pan.

Next week: the final installment of Grenfell's comic book blockbuster

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Adrift on an Ice Pan, by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company. The unabridged audio edition of Adrift on an Ice Pan, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.

Legal Briefs

Who Is Judge Prowse?
from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

PROWSE, DANIEL WOODLEY, lawyer, politician, judge, historian, essayist, and office holder; b. 12 Sept. 1834 in Port de Grave, Nfld, fourth of the seven children of Robert Prowse and Jane Woodley; m. 13 July 1859 Sarah Anne Edleston Farrar in Sowerby, near Halifax, England, and they had three sons and three daughters; d. 27 Jan. 1914 in St John’s.

The Prowse family from which the inimitable judge and historian Daniel Woodley Prowse descended was of Devon origin, and the first member with a direct Newfoundland connection appears to have been Samuel Prowse of Torquay, a West Country trader, who married the eldest daughter of the Mudge family, also of Torquay and with old Newfoundland interests. Their son Robert came to the colony at the age of ten as an apprentice, married a daughter of Daniel Woodley of St Mary Church, Devon, and by the 1830s was in charge of the Conception Bay operations of the St John’s firm Brown, Hoyles and Company. The first four of their children were born in Port de Grave, a settlement of some 400 inhabitants. Acute economic conditions, not helped on occasion by sectarian divisions, created turbulence during these years, and in 1835 the Prowse house and premises were burnt to the ground, whereupon Robert moved with his family to St John’s. A versatile entrepreneur, he soon established under his name a firm that reached some prominence as a supplier to the Bank fishery and an exporter of fish, and in other ventures [...]

To read the rest of this dictionary entry, click here.

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The audio adaptation of Judge Prowse Presiding, a one-man play written and performed by Frank Holden, is available from Rattling Books.

In the Chambers of the Sea: Eliot Sighting #1

T.S. Eliot In The Gas Station
from seattlepi.com blogs
Art to Go

Last week I blew a tire and found myself in a gas station, so distracted by the unexpected chore that I forgot to bring something to read. With a slightly desperate feeling, I headed for the waiting room, hoping at least to flip through pictures in old magazines.

Instead, I was startled to see a slender, palm-sized volume of T.S. Eliot on an orange bucket seat. With no owner in sight, I picked up the book to read the Post-It Note on the cover: "Yrs If You Want It."

People who leave books in public places for others to enjoy, free of charge, have banded together into an international organization. It's called Bookcrossing, the literary Web version of a message in a bottle (P-I story here.)

My Eliot did not appear to be part of that global community. It bore no ID number for tracking online. Instead, it seemed to be a solitary's attempt to start a literary conversation with anyone who wanted a copy of Eliot badly enough to put up with the former owner's marginalia [...]

To read the rest of this blog entry, click here.

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In the Chambers of the Sea, a short story collection by Susan Rendell, is available as an unabridged audiobook from Rattling Books narrated by Anita Best, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings, Joel Hynes, Susan Rendell, Janet Russell, Janis Spence, Francesca Swann and Agnes Walsh.

Captain Bob Bartlett in The Independent

Excerpted from a Review of The Log of Bob Bartlett
published by Flanker Press, 2006

The Independent
Friday, May 25, 2007
by Mark Callanan

Robert Abram Bartlett is often hailed as one of Newfoundland’s finest sons. Even in his own lifetime, the sea captain, adventurer, author and lecturer attained something of a mythic stature. His survival of multiple shipwrecks (twelve in all), his role in Robert E. Peary’s multiple attempts to reach the North Pole, and the rescue of his crew after the sinking of Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s flagship Karluk (which involved a seven-hundred mile trek across both frozen sea and Siberian coastline for help) made him a darling of the New York social circuit; he often sat as guest of honour at the tables of the rich.

Despite Michael Winter’s iconoclastic portrayal of Captain Bob in his 2004 novel The Big Why (Winter has Bartlett drunkenly confess to the narrator, American artist Rockwell Kent, that he “fisted” a man during a sexual encounter that took place after a visit to a gay fetishist’s club in New York City), it is the image of the rock solid, crag-faced sea captain that prevails. Reading The Log of Bob Bartlett, the captain’s own account of his life on the sea, it is easy to see why he has captured the collective imagination for so long.

Robert Abram Bartlett was born in Brigus, Conception Bay, on August 15, 1875 to William and Mary (Leamon) Bartlett, both Wesleyan Methodists. It was his mother’s intention that her eldest son become a Methodist minister, but the “deep religious atmosphere” of Bartlett’s childhood home was not enough to keep the young man from the nautical life. “Against all visible,” he writes, “there was the dual influence ever at work beneath my boyish exterior: the blood in my healthy young veins and the unending stories of my seafaring relations […] that fell upon my eager ears.”

Though Bartlett dedicates two chapters of this current volume to the Karluk disaster, it is more fully dealt with in The Last Voyage of the Karluk (1916; also reprinted by Flanker Press as a sister volume to The Log). Bartlett’s take on the Peary expeditions to the North Pole is of greater interest here. Of the Cook-Peary polar controversy, he writes: “I […] knew how utterly impossible it was for Cook to have crossed 1,000 miles of Polar Sea ice without supporting parties; especially since he had taken the Ellesmere Land route, which meant hundreds of miles of stiff travel before he even set foot on the Polar Sea.” Yet he stops short of denouncing Cook as a liar [...]

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Captain Bob Bartlett's The Last Voyage of the Karluk is also available in an unabridged audio edition from Rattling Books; an unabridged audio edition of Michael Winter's The Big Why is forthcoming from Rattling Books in the fall of 2007.

AudioFile Rave Review of Coasting Trade By Robin McGrath

from AudioFile Magazine
Reviewed by H.L.S.

In a performance of less than an hour, producer Chris Brookes and poet Robin McGrath transport the listener to a Yankee schooner circling Newfoundland in the late nineteenth century. The production, a Canadian tapestry for the ears, is beautifully embellished with sound effects that capture the waves, ship sounds, and local fauna. Robert Joy, Rick Boland, and Anita Best bring a lyrical beauty to this "Performance for Three Voices."

McGrath provides fleeting glimpses into the lives of an immigrant, a biologist, a smuggler, and Newfoundland locals scratching a life out of the rugged terrain. The short performance is superb, with the rich voices of Joy, Boland, and Best meshing into a melody against the harmony of background sounds.

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Coasting Trade, a performance for three voices written by Robin McGrath with navigation notes adapted from "Sailing Direction for the island of Newfoundland" by J.S. Hobbes (1865), was produced for Rattling Books by Chris Brookes and performed (in order of appearance) by Robert Joy, Rick Boland and Anita Best.

John Steffler's Poem of the Week, August 20-26

Follow this link to Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler's Poem of the Week website. This week's poem, La réalité, le poète, is by André Roy.

from John Steffler's word of introduction:

"The Poem of the Week website features a new poem by a Canadian poet each week. The initiative, which was started in 2003 by Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Bowering, and continued by his successor, Pauline Michel, has proven very popular as a way of showing readers everywhere a sample of the work of Canada’s contemporary poets. The support of the Library of Parliament makes it possible for me to keep the project alive.

There are many fine poets writing in Canada today. My aims are the same as those of George Bowering and Pauline Michel: to try to offer an inclusive representation of contemporary Canadian poetry in both English and French from all the country’s regions.

Here you will encounter the skill, imagination, and wide variety in Canadian poetry and gain a special insight into life in this country..."

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler, narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Diedre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins, is available from rattlingbooks.com

The Western Star on the Writers at Woody Point Festival

Another great year
Writers at Woody Point festival continues to gain momentum

By Michael Rigler
The Western Star

The curtain closed on another successful run of the Writers at Woody Point festival Sunday. The fourth annual installment of the event featured literary artists like Bernice Morgan, John Steffler and Michael Crummey along with performers like Cathy Jones and Pamela Morgan, to name just a few. Festival organizer Stephen Brunt said this year's event was another homerun. "I hate to sound like a broken record, but it's been a terrific event again this year," Brunt told The Western Star. "We had a really good mix in the audience with a lot of new faces and the real dedicated friends of the festival who come out every year. "The weather was worse than it's ever been, but that's not so bad -for an event like ours - no one was tempted to skip a show and go for a hike." With its fourth season in the history books, the festival is now comfortably established in the province's arts calendar. Brunt said the event has now generated a considerable amount of momentum [...]

To read the rest of the article, click here.

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Rattling Books audio literature by 2007 festival authors:

Hard Light: 32 Little Stories by Michael Crummey, read by Michael Crummey, Ron Hynes and Deidre Gillard-Rowlings

Down to the Dirt by Joel Thomas Hynes, narrated by Joel Thomas Hynes, Sherry White and Jonny Harris

The Grey Islands by John Steffler, narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Diedre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins

Audio Recording of Agnes Walsh Reading from Going Around with Bachelors

Agnes Walsh in Geist Magazine

Geist magazine is currently featuring a recording of poet Agnes Walsh reading from her new collection, Going Around with Bachelors, on their website. Click here to hear her reading of Dad and the Fridge Box. The poem was published in issue number 65 of Geist; Going Around with Bachelors was published in 2007 by Brick Books.

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In the Old Country of My Heart, Agnes Walsh's first book of poems, is available as an unabridged audio recording, read by Agnes Walsh with unaccompanied ballads by Simone Savard-Walsh and pump organ music by George Morgan, from Rattling Books.

AudioFile Review of Letters from Uncle Val

from AudioFile Magazine
Reviewed by M.T.B.

Adapted from the stage, and starring the author, this is a memorable one-man performance. Elderly Uncle Val has been forced to trade the city for the suburbs, moving in with his daughter, Margaret; her obnoxious husband, Bernard; three kids, and two poodles in Newfoundland. He confesses all his woes in 18 letters to his old buddy, Jack. As Jones wallows in his misery, his experiences go from bad to worse, building to a hilarious climax. Most rollicking are his letters about Bernard's new business, a tavern Val names Grapnel, which quickly fails. Second best are Andy's account of his bizarre method of babysitting his grandchildren and his thoughts on the plight of senior citizens. While lightweight, this is amusement par excellence.

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Letters from Uncle Val, a series of fictional letters from Andy Jones' incomparable comedic character, is available from Rattling Books. Written and performed by the author.

Excerpt: Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, installment #12

The following excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company. The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from rattlingbooks.com

Excerpt

At last the sun rose, and the time came for the sacrifice of my shirt. So I stripped, and, much to my surprise, found it not half so cold as I had anticipated. I now re-formed my dog-skins with the raw side out, so that they made a kind of coat quite rivalling Joseph's. But, with the rising of the sun, the frost came out of the joints of my dogs' legs, and the friction caused by waving it made my flag-pole almost tie itself in knots. Still, I could raise it three or four feet above my head, which was very important.

Now, however, I found that instead of being as far out at sea as I had reckoned, I had drifted back in a northwesterly direction, and was off some cliffs known as Ireland Head. Near these there was a little village looking seaward, whence I should certainly have been seen. But, as I had myself, earlier in the winter, been night-bound at this place, I had learnt there was not a single soul living there at all this winter. The people had all, as usual, migrated to the winter houses up the bay, where they get together for schooling and social purposes.

I soon found it was impossible to keep waving so heavy a flag all the time, and yet I dared not sit down, for that might be the exact moment some one would be in a position to see me from the hills. The only thing in my mind was how long I could stand up and how long go on waving that pole at the cliffs. Once or twice I thought I saw men against their snowy faces, which, I judged, were about five and a half miles from me, but they were only trees. Once, also, I thought I saw a boat approaching. A glittering object kept appearing and disappearing on the water, but it was only a small piece of ice sparkling in the sun as it rose on the surface. I think that the rocking of my cradle up and down on the waves had helped me to sleep, for I felt as well as ever I did in my life; and with the hope of a long sunny day, I felt sure I was good to last another twenty-four hours,--if my boat would hold out and not rot under the sun's rays.


To be continued.

Lure of the Labrador Wild Map

Hubbard's Labrador

Haven't got a mental map of the Labrador in your head? Now you don't need one.

Click the image above (or click here) to view a larger version of this Geological Survey of Canada map of Hubbard's Labrador.

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Lure of the Labrador Wild, by Dillon Wallace, is an account of the failed canoe expedition through the Labrador wilderness that resulted in the death of journalist Leonidas Hubbard. First published in 1905 by Fleming H. Revell, New York, Lure of the Labrador Wild is now available in an unabridged audio edition, narrated by Jody Richardson, from Rattling Books.

Lure of the Labrador Wild, excerpt #3

The following excerpt is from Lure of the Labrador Wild by Dillon Wallace. Wallace's account of the failed canoe expedition through the Labrador wilderness that resulted in the death of journalist Leonidas Hubbard was first published in 1905 by Fleming H. Revell, New York. The unabridged audio edition is narrated by Jody Richardson and is available from Rattling Books.

Hubbard hoped to reach the George River in season to meet the Nenenot or Nascaupee Indians, who, according to an old tradition, gather on its banks in late August or early September to attack with spears the herds of caribou that migrate at that time, passing eastward to the sea coast. It is reported that while the caribou are swimming the river the Indians each year kill great numbers of them, drying the flesh for winter provisions and using the skins to make clothing and wigwam-covering. Hubbard wished not only to get a good story of the yearly slaughter, but to spend some little time studying the habits of the Indians, who are the most primitive on the North American continent.

Strange as it may seem to some, the temperature in the interior of Labrador in midsummer sometimes rises as high as 90 degrees or more, although at sunset it almost invariably drops to near the freezing point and frost is liable at any time. But the summer, of course, is very short. It may be said to begin early in July, by which time the snow and ice are all gone, and to end late in August. There is just a hint of spring and autumn. Winter glides into summer, and summer into winter, almost imperceptibly, and the winter is the bitter winter of the Arctic.

If the season were not too far advanced when he finished studying the Indians, Hubbard expected to cross the country to the St. Lawrence and civilisation; otherwise to retrace his steps over his upward trail. In the event of our failure to discover the Indian encampment, and our finding ourselves on the George short of provisions, Hubbard planned to run down the swift-flowing river in our canoe to the George River Post at its mouth, and there procure passage on some fishing vessel for Newfoundland; or, if that were impossible, to outfit for winter, and when the ice formed and the snow came, return overland with dogs.

Hubbard knew that by ascending the Grand River he would be taking a surer, if longer, route to Lake Michikamau; but it was a part of his project to explore the unknown country along the river mapped as the Northwest. I have called this country unknown. It is true that in the winter of 1838 John McLean, then the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Chimo, a post situated on the Koksoak River about twenty miles above its mouth, passed through a portion of this country in the course of a journey he made with dogs from his post to Northwest River Post. His route was up the Koksoak and across country to the northern end of Lake Michikamau, which he followed for some little distance. After leaving the lake he again travelled eastward across country until at length he came upon the "Northwest" or Nascaupee River at a point probably not far above Grand Lake, from which it was easy travelling over the ice to the post. The record left by him of the journey, however, is very incomplete, and the exact route he took is by no means certain.

Whatever route it was, he returned over it the same winter to Fort Chimo. His sufferings during this trip were extreme. He and his party had to eat their dogs to save themselves from starvation, and even then they would surely all have perished had it not been for an Indian who left the party fifty miles out of Chimo and fortunately had strength enough to reach the post and send back relief. Later McLean made several summer trips with a canoe up the George River from Ungava Bay and down the Grand River to Hamilton Inlet; but never again did he attempt to penetrate the country lying between Lake Michikamau and Hamilton Inlet to the north of Grand River. The fact was that he found his Grand River trips bad enough; the record he has left of them is a story of a continuous struggle against heartbreaking hardships and of narrow escapes from starvation.

It is asserted that a priest once crossed with the Indians from Northwest River Post to Ungava Bay by the Nascaupee route; but the result of my inquiries in Labrador convinced me that the priest in question travelled by way of the Grand River, making it certain that previous to Hubbard's expedition no white man other than McLean had ever crossed the wilderness between Hamilton Inlet and Lake Michikamau by any route other than the aforesaid Grand River. As has been pointed out, McLean made but a very incomplete record of his journey that took him through the country north of the Grand River, so that Hubbard's project called for his plunge into a region where no footsteps would be found to guide him. Not only this, but the George River country, which it was his ultimate purpose to reach, was, and still remains, terra incognita; for although McLean made several trips up and down this river, he neither mapped it nor left any definite descriptions concerning it.

Here, then, was an enterprise fully worthy of an ambitious and venturesome spirit like Hubbard. Here was a great, unknown wilderness into which even the half-breed native trappers who lived on its outskirts were afraid to penetrate, knowing that the wandering bands of Indians who occasionally traversed its fastnesses themselves frequently starved to death in that inhospitable, barren country. There was danger to be faced and good "copy" to be obtained.

And so it was ho for the land of "bared boughs and grieving winds"!

To be continued.

Part 4 of Adrift on an Ice Pan, the comic

Wilfred Grenfell, Comic Book Hero

Ever wondered how Wilfred Grenfell's harrowing tale of survival in northern Newfoundland would translate into comic book form? Wonder no longer. The good doctor already made his debut way back in Issue 10 of True Comics.

The digital collections' page of Michigan State University Libraries has this to say about the series:

"True Comics was begun in 1941 to 'counteract the wild, rowdy superhero comics,' according to comics historian Ron Goulart (The Comic Book Reader's Companion, HarperPerennial, 1993). The editors were David Marke, a historian, and later Elliot Caplin, a prolific comics writer. True Comics, it could be said, sparked a small genre of non-fiction newsstand comics. Real Heroes, from the same publisher, lasted 21 issues (1941-1946), and other publishers produced similar titles: Real Life Comics (1941-1952), and Real Fact Comics (1946-1949), for example. True Comics was the most successful, lasting until 1950 and producing 84 issues."

Click here to read the fourth page of the True Comics version of Wilfred T. Grenfell's Adrift on an Ice Pan.

Next week: page five of Grenfell's comic book blockbuster

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Adrift on an Ice Pan, by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company. The unabridged audio edition of Adrift on an Ice Pan, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.

Michael Crummey at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts

from the blog (Sea)suns

Michael Crummey on poetry and home

This morning I went to the first event of the first day of the Sunshine Coast Writers Festival. Hard to get over the festival is celebrating its 25th year. I thought—at 9 a.m.—I would be one of a small number of people in the theatre, but it was almost packed! Michael Crummey, Newfoundland writer and fantastic storyteller was a hit. Normally I don’t go to hear fiction writers read or talk about their work. I am drawn to poets and creative non-fiction and memoir writers. However, the write-up in the program said he has written 3 books of poetry. I thought of my friends Rob Madden and dianna hurford who write incredible, lyrical narratives, because of their strong roots in poetry. So I was hoping Mr. Crummey would begin from his roots, his family, his own stories.

He did [...]

To read the rest of this posting, click here.

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Michael Crummey is also the author of three poetry collections: Arguments with Gravity, Hard Light, and Salvage. Hard Light: 32 Little Stories is available in an audio edition from Rattling Books read by Michael Crummey, Ron Hynes and Deidre Gillard-Rowlings.

The Toronto Star on the Winterset in Summer Literary Festival

Writers Share Spotlight with The Rock
In its picturesque surroundings, Winterset in Summer lets people get into authors' heads

Toronto Star
August 14, 2007
Susan Walker

EASTPORT, NFLD.–Cellphones don't work here. It's a contemporary, if minor, form of isolation that is part and parcel of the rich literary culture of Newfoundland. That culture in turn serves as an explanation for last weekend's Winterset in Summer Literary Festival.

In the small communities that dot the Newfoundland coast, "the only entertainment was the Sunday sermon. It's bred in the bone that you have to be able to perform, to talk, tell stories, sing, dance, play an instrument," says Richard Gwyn, Toronto Star columnist and summer resident of the Eastport area.

He established the Winterset Award in 2000, honouring the memory of his wife Sandra Gwyn, a writer whose childhood home in St. John's was called Winterset.

The Winterset Award, an annual prize of $5,000 for the best Newfoundland book, led to the festival. Run almost entirely by volunteers during its six-year history, with support from government, "friends of the festival" and five corporate sponsors, it sells out and then some each year.

This year, the big draw was Toronto's Michael Ondaatje, a poet and novelist who has shown a high regard for Newfoundland writing. Other than Ondaatje, the poets, novelists and songwriters were all from or resident in Newfoundland, in keeping with Sandra Gwyn's life-long support for the arts in her native province [...]

To read the complete article, click here.

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As part of this year's festival program, Rattling Books author Agnes Walsh hosted a poetry panel featuring Michael Ondaatje, Patrick Warner and Ken Babstock. In the Old Country of My Heart, Agnes' first book of poems, is available as an unabridged audio recording, read by the author with unaccompanied ballads by Simone Savard-Walsh and pump organ music by George Morgan, from Rattling Books.

The Real Andy Jones

Bucks hit hard by Jones departure

Andy Jones has quit AFC Telford United, leaving the Conference North newcomers with only four recognised centre-backs.

from BBC Sport

The departure of Jones and trialist Andy Tretton forces manager Rob Smith to seek defensive reinforcements.

"AJ said he was having a really bad time and needed a fresh start somewhere else," Smith told the Shropshire Star.

"We've got people we're talking to, and we're fairly close to doing one deal. The lad I'm talking to is young, but he's just what we need."

Get to know the real Andy Jones, King of Comedy.

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Letters from Uncle Val, a series of fictional letters from Andy Jones' incomparable comedic character, is available from Rattling Books. Written and performed by the author.

John Steffler's Poem of the Week, Aug 6-12

Follow this link to Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler's Poem of the Week website. This week's poem, The Painted Beasts of Lascaux, is by Paul Vermeersch.

from John Steffler's word of introduction:

"The Poem of the Week website features a new poem by a Canadian poet each week. The initiative, which was started in 2003 by Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Bowering, and continued by his successor, Pauline Michel, has proven very popular as a way of showing readers everywhere a sample of the work of Canada’s contemporary poets. The support of the Library of Parliament makes it possible for me to keep the project alive.

There are many fine poets writing in Canada today. My aims are the same as those of George Bowering and Pauline Michel: to try to offer an inclusive representation of contemporary Canadian poetry in both English and French from all the country’s regions.

Here you will encounter the skill, imagination, and wide variety in Canadian poetry and gain a special insight into life in this country..."

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler, narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Diedre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins, is available from rattlingbooks.com

Lure of the Labrador Wild, excerpt #2

The following excerpt is from Lure of the Labrador Wild by Dillon Wallance. Wallace's account of the failed canoe expedition through the Labrador wilderness that resulted in the death of journalist Leonidas Hubbard was first published in 1905 by Fleming H. Revell, New York. The unabridged audio edition is narrated by Jody Richardson and is available from Rattling Books.

More than a year passed, however, before Hubbard was able to make
definite arrangements to get away. I believe it was in February, 1903, that the telephone bell in my law office rang, and Hubbard's voice at the other end of the wire conveyed to me the information that he had "bully news."

"Is that so?" I said. "What's up?

"The Labrador trip is all fixed for this summer," was the excited reply. "Come out to Congers to-night without fail, and we'll talk it over."

In accordance with his invitation, I went out that evening to visit my friend in his suburban home. I shall never forget the exuberance of his joy. You would have thought he was a boy about to be released from school. By this time he had become the associate editor of the magazine for which he had been writing, but he had finally been able to induce his employers to consent to the project upon which he had set his heart and grant him a leave of absence.

"It will be a big thing, Wallace," he said in closing; "it ought to make my reputation."

Into the project of penetrating the vast solitudes of desolate Labrador, over which still brooded the fascinating twilight of the mysterious unknown, Hubbard, with characteristic zeal, threw his
whole heart and soul. Systematically and thoroughly he went about planning, in the minutest detail, our outfit and entire journey. Every possible contingency received the most careful consideration.

In order to make plain just what he hoped to accomplish and the conditions against which he had to provide, the reader's patience is asked for a few minutes while something is told of what was
known of Labrador at the time Hubbard was making preparations for his expedition.

The interior of the peninsula of Labrador is a rolling plateau, the land rising more or less abruptly from the coast to a height of two thousand or more feet above the level of the sea. Scattered over this plateau are numerous lakes and marshes. The rivers and streams discharging the waters of the lakes into the sea flow to the four points of the compass--into the Atlantic and its inlets on the east, into Ungava Bay on the north, Hudson Bay and James Bay on
the west, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the south. Owing to the abrupt rise of the land from the coast these rivers and streams are very swift and are filled with a constant succession of falls and rapids; consequently, their navigation in canoes--the only possible way, generally speaking, to navigate them--is most difficult and dangerous. In this, to a large extent, lies the explanation as to why only a few daring white men have ever penetrated to the interior plateau; the condition of the rivers, if nothing else, makes it impossible to transport sufficient food to sustain a party for any considerable period, and it is absolutely necessary to run the risk of obtaining supplies from a country that may be plentiful with game one year and destitute of it the next, and in which the vegetation is the scantiest.

The western part of the peninsula, although it, too, contains vast tracts in which no white man has set foot, is somewhat better known than the eastern, most of the rivers that flow into Hudson and James Bays having been explored and correctly mapped. Hubbard's objective was the eastern and northern part of the peninsula, and it is with this section that we shall hereafter deal. Such parts of this territory as might be called settled lie in the region of Hamilton Inlet and along the coast.

Hamilton Inlet is an arm of the Atlantic extending inland about one hundred and fifty miles in a southwesterly direction. At its entrance, which is two hundred miles north of Cape Charles, the
inlet is some forty miles wide. Fifty miles inland from the settlement of Indian Harbour (which is situated on one of the White Bear Islands, near the north coast of the inlet at its entrance),
is the Rigolet Post of the Hudson's Bay Company--the "Old Company," as its agents love to call it--and here the inlet narrows down to a mere channel; but during the next eighty miles of its course inland it again widens, this section of it being known as Groswater Bay or Lake Melville.

The extreme western end of the inlet is called Goose Bay. Into this bay flows the Grand or Hamilton River, one of the largest in Labrador. From its source among the lakes on the interior plateau, the Grand River first sweeps down in a southeasterly direction and then bends northeasterly to reach the end of Hamilton Inlet. The tributaries of the lakes forming the headwaters of the Grand River connect it indirectly with Lake Michikamau (Big Water). This, the largest lake in eastern Labrador, is between eighty and ninety miles in length, with a width varying from six to twenty-five miles.

The Grand River, as well as a portion of Lake Michikamau, some years ago was explored and correctly mapped; but the other rivers that flow to the eastward have either been mapped only from hearsay or not at all. Of the several rivers flowing into Ungava Bay, the Koksoak alone has been explored. This river, which is the largest of those flowing north, rises in lakes to the westward of Lake Michikamau. Next to the Koksoak, the George is the best known of the rivers emptying into Ungava Bay, as well as the second largest; but while it has been learned that its source is among the lakes to the northward of Michikamau, it has been mapped only from hearsay.

Now if the reader will turn to the accompanying map of Labrador made by Mr. A. P. Low of the Canadian Geological Survey, he will see that the body of water known as Grand Lake is represented thereon merely as the widening out of a large river, called the Northwest, which flows from Lake Michikamau to Groswater Bay or Hamilton Inlet, after being joined about twenty miles above Grand Lake by a river called the Nascaupee. Relying upon this map, Hubbard planned to reach early in the summer the Northwest River Post of the Hudson's Bay Company, which is situated at the mouth of the Northwest River, ascend the river to Lake Michikamau, and then, from the northern end of that lake, beat across the country to the
George River.

The Geological Survey map is the best of Labrador extant, but its representation as to the Northwest River (made from hearsay) proved to be wholly incorrect, and the mistake it led us into cost us dear. After the rescue, I thoroughly explored Grand Lake, and, as will be seen from my map, I discovered that no less than five rivers flow into it, which are known to the natives as the Nascaupee, the Beaver, the Susan, the Crooked, and the Cape Corbeau. The Nascaupee is the largest, and as the inquiries I made among the Indians satisfied me that it is the outlet of Lake Michikamau, it is undoubtedly the river that figures on the Geological Survey map as the Northwest, while as for the river called on the map the Nascaupee, it is in all likelihood non-
existent. There is a stream known to the natives as Northwest River, but it is merely the strait, one hundred yards wide and three hundred yards long, which, as shown on my map, connects
Groswater Bay with what the natives call the Little Lake, this being the small body of water that lies at the lower end of Grand Lake, the waters of which it receives through a rapid.

To be continued.

6th Annual Winterset in Summer Literary Festival

Eastport prepares to host sixth annual Winterset in Summer Festival

The Packet
July 16, 2007
Ashley Vardy

By 5am, Edythe Goodridge is halfway through her morning’s work. She has developed a routine – emails at five, phone calls at six, off to meetings at seven – but she anticipates a far more hectic schedule as the weekend of the sixth annual Winterset in Summer Literary Festival draws nearer.

Goodridge, who is the chair of the festival committee, is busier this week than Santa Claus at Christmas, but still manages to squeeze in my last-minute telephone interview.

Perhaps, though, I should first present a little background information.

Ah, Winterset.

Winterset is, of course, a writers’ festival. Subsequently, this means that for three glorious days, the Eastport Peninsula will be flooded with some of the nation’s greatest writers! And what this means is that I must now devise some clever plan to steal my brother’s car and get out of doggie-sitting my mother’s two favourite furry children in order to make my pilgrimage to the Eastport Beaches Heritage Centre next weekend [...]

To read the complete article, click here.

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As part of this year's festival program, Rattling Books author Agnes Walsh will host a poetry panel featuring Michael Ondaatje, Patrick Warner and Enos Watts. In the Old Country of My Heart, Agnes' first book of poems, is available as an unabridged audio recording, read by the author with unaccompanied ballads by Simone Savard-Walsh and pump organ music by George Morgan, from Rattling Books.

Robin McGrath Launches New Children's Book

Weather Makes for Perfect Party
from The Telegram
Shirley Newhook

It’s been quite a literary summer for local publishers. SeaFlow Publishing recently released “Pearl the Man and the Place” (The origin of Mount Pearl) by Donald L. Hutchens and Lilla Ross. It’s a biography of Sir James Pearl, RN, but also the story of the early history of Mount Pearl written by a man who found his inspiration in his great-great grandfather’s family bible.

Tuckamore Books just released Robin McGrath’s third novel for young adults called “Livyers World.” It’s a magical story of two young boys who get trapped in an alternate universe where Inuk traditions and customs help them survive without modern technology[...]

to read the entire article, click here.

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Robin McGrath is also the author of Coasting Trade, a performance for three voices with soundscapes, from Rattling Books. Coasting Trade is the product of a collaboration between author Robin McGrath, radio producer Chris Brookes and actors Robert Joy, Rick Boland and Anita Best.

It follows the voyage of a Yankee trading schooner, circumnavigating the island of Newfoundland sometime after 1865. As the vessel puts in at various ports, lyrical narratives weave back and forth through a century of change while the 19th century sailing notes adapted from Sailing Directions for the Island of Newfoundland by J.S. Hobbes (1865) remain timeless.

Part 3 of Adrift on an Ice Pan, the comic

Wilfred Grenfell, Comic Book Hero

Ever wondered how Wilfred Grenfell's harrowing tale of survival in northern Newfoundland would translate into comic book form? Wonder no longer. The good doctor already made his debut way back in Issue 10 of True Comics.

The digital collections' page of Michigan State University Libraries has this to say about the series:

"True Comics was begun in 1941 to 'counteract the wild, rowdy superhero comics,' according to comics historian Ron Goulart (The Comic Book Reader's Companion, HarperPerennial, 1993). The editors were David Marke, a historian, and later Elliot Caplin, a prolific comics writer. True Comics, it could be said, sparked a small genre of non-fiction newsstand comics. Real Heroes, from the same publisher, lasted 21 issues (1941-1946), and other publishers produced similar titles: Real Life Comics (1941-1952), and Real Fact Comics (1946-1949), for example. True Comics was the most successful, lasting until 1950 and producing 84 issues."

Click here to read the third page of the True Comics version of Wilfred T. Grenfell's Adrift on an Ice Pan.

Next week: page four of Grenfell's comic book blockbuster

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Adrift on an Ice Pan, by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company. The unabridged audio edition of Adrift on an Ice Pan, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.

John Steffler's Poem of the Week, July 30-Aug 5

Follow this link to Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler's Poem of the Week website. This week's poem, Arrache, is by Renée Gagnon.

from John Steffler's word of introduction:

"The Poem of the Week website features a new poem by a Canadian poet each week. The initiative, which was started in 2003 by Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Bowering, and continued by his successor, Pauline Michel, has proven very popular as a way of showing readers everywhere a sample of the work of Canada’s contemporary poets. The support of the Library of Parliament makes it possible for me to keep the project alive.

There are many fine poets writing in Canada today. My aims are the same as those of George Bowering and Pauline Michel: to try to offer an inclusive representation of contemporary Canadian poetry in both English and French from all the country’s regions.

Here you will encounter the skill, imagination, and wide variety in Canadian poetry and gain a special insight into life in this country..."

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler, narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Diedre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins, is available from rattlingbooks.com