All Hail The King

So,

July 15 can't come soon enough.

Will!!

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried

So,

There's a family of foxes living in the bushes near our driveway.

Last night, on the way to work, I had to stop while two tiny orange babies frolicked in my headlights, completely confused by the appearance of my car. They looked like they belonged in a calendar of cute animals, alongside kittens and puppies.

I was going to my first security guard shift at the Ovens Natural Park, where my job is to walk around the campground with a flashlight and make sure everyone is behaving.

During my job interview, Steve Chapin told me different people have different strategies for keeping the campers in line.

"The guy we had last year would go up around 10:30 and have a beer with the campers," he said.

"Most of them, when you come up, they'll offer you beer. Anyways, he'd sit with them for a while and get all buddy-buddy, then when 11:00 rolls around he can say `hey, wanna do me a favor and keep it down?"

Steve shrugged.

"It seemed to work for him. I don't know what your tactic will be, but whatever works."

Darby Jack and the Slug Genocide

So,

Since we moved into our new cottage, Darby has picked up a new hobby–gardening.

She's started a small garden box of tomatoes, basil, parsley, cilantro, kale and rainbow swiss chard (I don't know what that last thing is).

However, though she's put up chicken wire to protect from the rabbits, deer and baby foxes that roam around here, she's found herself fighting an unlikely nemesis: slugs.

Yesterday Darby's Mom passed down a trick–drowning the slugs in beer. (Apparently all good gardeners know about this...) I enjoyed it, because I got to drink the left-over alcohol.

Anyways, we woke up today to the above slug genocide. Sorry if you're disturbed by this graphic image.

I thought I'd write a post, since it's been over a week. Since I last checked in we've gained a new gnome (Greg, pictured to the right) and gotten jobs at a nearby campground called the Ovens.

Darby is working the front gate, and will be in the kitchen once the restaurant opens. I'm working as a maintenance worker and security guard, but spent most of the week mowing lawns and learning to use a Whipper Snipper.

The campground is owned by a musical family called the Chapins, who are related to the famous singer Harry Chapin. (I've posted one of his songs below.)

Should be a good gig for the summer.

What else? I'm reading the second book of the Game of Thrones series, and I've been trying to write for at least an hour every day. I'm currently working on Sea to Sky, which is still hovering around 30,000 words. I'm toying with the idea of marketing it as a YA novel, but I keep reminding myself I have to finish it before worrying about that stuff.

Well, off to dinner.

Will!!

Interview with Jay Hosking

So,

This week Troy Palmer from Little Fiction asked me if I would help out interviewing authors for his blog.

I jumped at the chance to catch up with my friend Jay Hosking, whose story "Analogue" debuted on the site a few months ago.

Jay was in my fiction class with Steven Galloway at UBC. He bought me a beer at the first mixer of the year, and the rest (as they say) is history. He's also pretty good at Settlers of Catan.

You can read his story HERE, and check out our interview below:

#1. You are currently working towards your PhD in neuroscience. When did you decide to pick up fiction?

I always wanted to write fiction but never knew what to write. In the spring of 2010 I barfed out a couple of short, related fragments of weird fiction, just some ideas that came out of the blue. 

 I got in touch with the inimitable Lee Henderson, an awesome author and professor of creative writing, and after showing him those fragments he was really enthusiastic/supportive about me giving writing a shot.

Our first week in Nova Scotia

So,

Hard to believe we've only been here a week.

Darby and I are getting used to cottage life, and have made a list of goals for the summer–first and foremost, finding jobs. But we've also been jogging every second day, getting our cottage organized, and helping her parents out around the land.

Mostly, we're just grateful to live in such a beautiful place.

A few days ago we had a campfire by our cottage, and while Darby's Dad was looking for firewood, he found two new buildings that he didn't know were there. There's an outhouse, and a shed that was ominously locked and nailed shut.

Today we cut a path to the structures, and made a clearing around them. I got to use a chainsaw, I chopped down a tree with an axe and lugged fallen trees around in the woods. I'm still picking bits out of my hair, and got a pretty decent sunburn.

Afterwards we went down to the beach and ran into the ocean, which was crazy cold but refreshing.

Darby and I have been building a stone path too, lugging rocks up from the beach and digging them into the ground. We bought a gnome named Steve (see above) to keep us company.

In other words, life is good.

Posted some pictures after the jump.

Will!!

Apiculture

So,

The new issue of The Malahat Review came the other day.

I was excited to read it, because the winning story from their fiction contest was in it. It's called "Apiculture", and it's by Victoria writer Erin Frances Fisher.

I interviewed Erin about the story a few months ago, but hadn't gotten a chance to read it until now.

Anyways, I'm happy to report that it's amazing. I think it's disturbing, beautifully written and haunting. I loved it so much that I read it out loud to Darby, and she thought it was phenomenal as well.

I thought I'd reprint the first paragraph, just to whet your appetites:

"The summer I was ten, when Dad was still happy with the bees, my sister Aubrey came home for a visit. The year before our mother had left–moved hundreds of kilometers east on her own, after the culmination of her own problems: the truck accident where she'd drifted into a ditch and lost her right arm below the elbow."

Amazing, right?

The new issue also has a story by Steven Heighton called "OutTrip", from his new collection The Dead Are More Visible. I've been meaning to buy it, so this will tide me over until the next time I make my way to a bookstore.

Looking forward to reading the rest of the issue.

Will!!

Hell's Cove

So,

We've arrived.

We woke up in Bangor, Maine yesterday and Darby decided she wanted to try to make it all the way to Nova Scotia in one day. Garmin told us it was about 530 miles, so we made a run for it.

We wanted it to be a surprise, so we told Darby's parents we were staying in Maine. We flew through the border and then up the coast.

We made a quite stop at UNB to check out the campus, then burned right back to the highway.

Our new house is so secluded that the GPS got confused, and we were briefly lost. But then we found it: our little church on the seaside.

Darby and I have been nesting, going for walks with her parents and starting to scout out jobs.

I've already set up my writing desk (trying not to get bummed that I was greeted by a rejection letter from The Malahat Review) and I'm looking forward to getting to work.

Our cabin (which is two minutes from the main house) doesn't have an Internet connection, which should help with my productivity. Work on my thesis will commence shortly.

I am so happy to be here. Darby's sister Ally (or "Gander") is here, and today we built a fire pit together. She brought me n' Darby a bunch of Lululemon stuff from New Zealand, so we basically have whole new wardrobes.

This area is gorgeous. Darby and I walked around Lunenburg a little bit today, and then we went for a walk along the ocean with her parents and Ally. I'm looking forward to exploring more.

Check out some more photos after the jump.

Will!!