Dominion of Mercy - The Voice

-


 

The world needs strong feminine voices. My mother was a strong woman, as was her mother, my grandmother. As three of my grandparents were from Scotland, it is the only immigrant story that I can tell with some certainty. There my story begins, Edinburgh - 1917, and Mary Stewart, a force of nature, embarks on epic journey that will take all her courage, strength and wit. And the destination, something I know as well. The town of Anyox, British Columbia, the perfect setting. I remember as a boy, my father telling me that his father was sent to Anyox to work in the copper smelter in 1916. Anyox was located on the north coast near the BC/Alaskan border deep down Observatory Inlet. Nothing is left of the town now except an emerging forest and towering stacks from the smelter. I wanted to bring it back to life. That was exciting, to breathe new life into the plank streets. It was a short-lived company town of 3000 residents. A robust community that enjoyed a certain affluence from 1914 to 1935, but ended abruptly due to falling copper prices. Anyox was totally destroyed by a forest fire in 1943. British Columbia has a history of ghost towns, boom and bust towns. Not much remains except vintage photographs, and scattered buildings that have survived flood and fire. 

In writing Dominion of Mercy, a historical fiction novel, I recognize that the town of Anyox was located on the unceded traditional territory of the Nisga'a people.

 


 



Comments

  1. Less Ego15 March 2021 at 20:11

    Great! I love historical fiction and nonfiction. I’ll buy a copy soon! Also, I’m NDSS alumni too; 1990 was the year I graduated. Happy to meet you 🤩

    ReplyDelete
  2. Danial Neil16 March 2021 at 19:05

    Thanks for your comments, Shaz/Neel. North Delta grad. Very cool.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding the title of my new novel - The Sum of One Man's Pleasure

-
Image
 In my interview with Sheila Pratt, I was asked what The Sum of One Man's Pleasure meant, what informed me to create such a title. As a book title has great weight, and a certain mystery behind it, I wanted something compelling, and provocative. But I found the title in an unlikely spot, in one of Roderick Haig-Brown's celebrated books, A River Never Sleeps. Haig-Brown was a magistrate in Campbell River BC., but more recognized for his books on fishing, and for his views on conservation and environmental protection. His writing was one of my greatest early influences. Haig-Brown wrote eloquently of the rivers he fished, the mood, such as the heavy water of November. The feel of water against his legs, the power of it, the companionship of fellow fishermen, a bright fish, and life along the river. It's smells, and the texture of the woods, the earthy aromas. He called such things fishermen's pleasures. They are sensory pleasures, something the romantic in me can identify
Read more

The Fuse of Fiction

-
Image
 An idea arises, perhaps from a sketchbook of ideas in your head, yes, snippets of thought, inspiration from an article you read, a television news story, real life experiences that includes your own, historical records, and, of course,  information from the  creative Universe.   So, ideas come from many sources. There is never one way to create a story. It is an intimately personal affair. I can only give one view of it all - from my own writing journey, what I have learned after more than twenty novels. A great catologue, you might think, but only six have been published. The other novels, I can reflect now, are where I learned to write well. I am always open to where the next novel comes from. I ask the Universe for a story, something important, what the world  needs to hear. Sounds a bit self-righteous, I know, but I want my 900 hours of work to be worthwhile, that I learned something important, that it contributes to a better understanding of human endeavor and engagement, the hum
Read more