I missed the Langdale ferry again today, by three cars, which gives me plenty of time to share this with you: My new book is coming out in April. It is called Back to Solitude: More Desolation Sound Adventures with the Cougar Lady, Russell the Hermit, the Spaghetti Bandit and more, and this is the very first look at the cover and some details inside.
But first a little background, eh?
Call it a ritual.
In 2010, Vancouver is awesome was just a cheeky upstart indie blog that challenged our “No Fun City” head-on. Founder and Editor Bob Kronbauer heard that I was writing a memoir that was basically going to be something like a cross between The Beachcombers and The brilliant.
Before I even had the chance to read what was to become Adventures In Solitude: What Not To Wear For A Naked Potluck And Other Desolation Sound Stories (Harbor Publishing, 2010), Bob was very supportive. So much so that he offered to publish a preview of the cover of this first book to VIA readers.
Twelve years and four books later, we still exclusively reveal the covers and details of my books through Vancouver Is Awesome. Thanks Bob!
As you may have guessed, this book is what my editor calls the ‘long awaited’ sequel to Adventures in solitude. The new book shares the other true escapades of many of the real-life coastal characters you met in this first volume: Hermit Russell Letawsky, Nancy Crowther Queen Cougar, German Bernard and many more, as well as the saga of a ghost – like a cabin squatter known across the Strait as “The Spaghetti Bandit”.
I have also become a husband and father over the past twelve years, so now I am dragging my kids down the winding Sunshine Coast road like my parents did with me, and the vomit keeps flowing.
The design of the front cover Back to loneliness is by wonderfully talented and award-winning Vancouver designer Naomi MacDougall. Naomi has designed all of my adult non-fiction books, which I consider an honor. The photo was taken by Rory Brown, a neighbor from East Van and Desolation Sound who appears over and over in my stories.
When this photo was taken, it was such a beautiful day in Desolation Sound, so calm, sunny and warm, that I asked Rory to stop the boat so I could jump in. I swim in ocean water about 400 feet deep and as warm as the Templeton Pool. And as you can see, there wasn’t another soul around.
This cover captures a lot of what I love about Desolation Sound: the vistas, the ocean, the great outdoors, and the deep mysteries that constantly amaze you. Hoping that you will enjoy the many that will unfold in the pages of Back to loneliness this spring.
