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Fiction
The man who ate sunlight One day in late April, in his fiftieth year, Macklin was laid off by the software company he worked for, and rather than look for another job he decided to take the summer off. FULL STORY Jumper A year after his wife was killed, Fitch sold his house in the south end of the city and moved to the North Shore, to a townhouse on the side of a mountain. FULL STORY What should we talk about now? Noreen had wheeled her husband into the patio garden of the nursing home and now they were sitting together in the bright June sunlight. FULL STORY Non-fiction Guitar hero Globe and Mail, Sept 2009 The nadir of my music career was grade seven choir, where I was ordered by the music teacher to stand in the back row with four other shlubs who couldn’t carry a tune and lip-synch the lyrics to a dozen carols at the annual Xmas concert. FULL STORY No questions, just lend a hand Globe and Mail, May 2008 A few Sundays ago, the day after my grand-daughter died, I went to visit my mother. FULL STORY Goodbye Amelia Globe and Mail, April 2008 On the morning of Tuesday, June 26, 2007, I went into hospital to donate a kidney to my 27-year-old grand-daughter Amelia. FULL STORY Joint Venture Globe and Mail, Aug 2007 On the day of the transplant, I woke up at 5, a few minutes before the alarm. I got out of bed, put on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, took the dog out, and carried the garbage cans out to the curb. FULL STORY Sailing into the rainforest Vancouver Sun, Mar 2006 The black bear was enjoying a late dinner in a clearing near the riverbank. He looked up, leafy greens still in his mouth, and stared at us. FULL STORY The Year of Magical Thinking Vancouver Sun, Oct 2005 For close to forty years now, Joan Didion has used her masterful skills as a non-fiction writer to conduct a subtle and persistent interrogation of American culture and political life. FULL STORY Losing our religion Globe and Mail, Feb 2005 Social change can shake the ground like thunder, but it can also arrive as silently as a sunrise. In 2001 almost five million Canadians told Statistics Canada that they have no religion. FULL STORY Ponce de Leon was looking in the wrong place Vancouver Sun, Feb 2005 Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon was searching for the elusive Fountain of Youth when he landed on the coast of Florida back in 1513. He never found it. I think I know why. He was on the wrong boat. FULL STORY Meet Alice, the 10-year-old ethicist Globe and Mail, February 2005 Is there any entity on the planet more predictable than a giant corporation? In typical copycat fashion, Nortel Networks has overreacted to its recent accounting misadventures by creating the post of Chief Ethics Officer. FULL STORY Jumper Geist, Spring 2004 One night I drove to Lions Gate Bridge over Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, to research a short story I was writing about a lonely, suicidal widower. FULL STORY Miami Beach Exile Geist, Summer 2003 In the fall of 1972 I packed all my belongings in the trunk of an old Volkswagen and drove south from Toronto to Miami, where I planned to paint houses for the winter and make enough money for university the next fall. FULL STORY What should we talk about now? Geist Spring 2002 For the last six months, my father has spent all of his nights and most of his days in a pink room on the second floor of LeisureWorld, a nursing home near Lake Ontario in suburban Toronto. FULL STORY Ladder 25 Geist Winter 2001 Ladder 25 of the New York City Fire Department is a small fire station on West 77th Street, on the upper west side of Manhattan. FULL STORY Why I sail Spring 2003 Few sailors will admit it, but sailing is mostly about escape. We sail to get away, and often dream of staying away, as though our boats could provide passage to a different and better life. FULL STORY On fear Spring 2004 I went to the west coast of Vancouver Island not too long ago to research a novel about castaways. FULL STORY |