1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I could say, it has been my love of travel, my degrees, genealogical publications, life at sea, four decades of systems analysis, but it really stemmed from time in my life as a kid. It was a towering toboggan hill that fed an early appetite for challenge, tall tales and doing the impossible. The black forested river valley set my dreams. In my kid’s mind, it was a place of horror, adventure, wildness and sometimes miracles.
2) What inspired you to write your book?
a) In less than a couple of lifetimes after London Oxford arrived, my father’s people settled the area just north of his land. My great-grandparents married in a church that was erected on what used to be his property. I was curious and wanted to know clearly who he was. He was instrumental in cutting and delivering cut timber to the east. It was a livelihood that my ancestors thrived on.
b) With the American attention extremely concerned with keeping outsiders out of their country in the period after the war of 1776, some Americans were concerned about leaving. In this story, a handful find themselves similarly blocked at the border.
c) The SWALLOWING OF THE MUSKELLUNGE is part of a series -“The Mischief Makers.” Each examines the phrase “Why do bad things happen to good people?” It doesn’t blame THE GOD (as in God the father in the Trinity) directly, but it attributes some blame to the “gahds,” who are mythological creatures (the Wisakedjak et al). They may have good intentions, but exist in an imperfect world and are bound with conflicting responsibilities.
The second book examines similar themes and beings (the Púca et al) within the same period but in South-East Ireland. The story focuses on difficult times after the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
The third book tells the story of a local Anishinabeg family from what would become Packenham, with a focus on what happened during the War of 1812.
3) What drew you into this particular genre?
I like history. The added genres are meant to popularize ideas for people who don’t pay much attention to the historical record.
4) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I would ask Thomas Wright what he really wanted, and why he chose not to go to Boston.
5) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Develop a good web site. Stoke your web site and vendor sites with respectable reviews, and market via Facebook and other social media.
6) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
If anyone is serious about accomplishing something important, should say a thing to any living person until it is completed and ready for review. Smokers, for example, might brag about how they tried to quit a hundred times, or someone might complain that they have planned to get somewhere many times but never gone. Walking the walk will feed a fire in the belly. Voicing the idea will just soak the ashes.
7) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
Hard Worked Days, which will be released in the spring of 2026, will be a science fiction novel, and will tell a story of a Lebanese and Greek recent immigrants who are forced to leave Brooklyn, which implies that it might lead to the end of the world.
An addition to the Mischief Makers trilogy will likely follow the year after. It will be a story about a local Anishinabeg family from what would eventually become Packenham. It will focus on events that transpired during the War of 1812.
A science fiction trilogy is also being written. It involves a young Navajo guy and a Hispanic FBI agent. It involves a curbing of reality theme.
About the Author
Lawrence was raised across from a hill shadowing Black Rapids Creek in Ottawa, Canada. The towering toboggan hill fed an early appetite for challenge, tall tales and doing the impossible. The black forested river valley set his dreams.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781777815561
