As My Sparks Fly Upward Other Stories

Among the citizens of these stories you will find: The best man, secretly against his best buddy’s marriage, finds himself having to actually talk the panicking groom into going through with the ceremony. After Larry Dun’s name appears in the obituary section of the local newspaper, he goes to a bar to contemplate life as a ghost, and decide what second chances are about. Legendary rock ’n’ roller, Wolf Kearney, takes the stage and faces a tumultuous audience—a mirror reflection of his thirty years in the business—a crowd lost in the past?—finding himself more confined within the spotlight, than exalted by it. As a young man drives home one night following band practice, his car is nearly struck by something falling from a bridge overhead: an ordinary soda can-filled with ominous, though potentially profitable contents. Adam—living in Dublin, Ireland—one night sees a statue of Jesus Christ standing upon a pedestal inside a Plexiglas box. And attempts to rescue him. A rock ’n’ roll fan makes a pilgrimage to Bono’s estate in Killiney, County Dublin, where he reflects on art, fandom and hero worship.

A young man finds his calling as a doctor in Queen Elizabeth’s court in this Christian historical trilogy finale—a prequel to the House of Winslow series. Neither bold and rough like his brother, Adam, nor headstrong and spoiled like his sister, Adara, young Colin Winslow is a gentle soul with a special love for natural things. His interest in animals and healing brings him in contact with Meg Caradoc, a strange woman who lives in the woods, and teaches him the fine art of herbal medicine. At Oxford, an eccentric but brilliant professor, Dr. Phineas Teague, guides Colin toward a medical career. This formal training, combined with Meg’s herbal remedies, makes Colin an insightful and successful doctor—one with the approving eye of Queen Elizabeth. Colin’s skill quickly earns him many patients, some highly placed in the courts of both his queen and her sister, Mary Queen of Scots. Soon, this once shy young man finds himself amid court intrigue, acting covertly on the queen’s behalf. When Colin faces his most difficult case—curing the wounds his brave brother suffered in battle—he must confront his attraction to Adam’s wife, his unsteady faith in God, and the limits of his ability to heal.

WARNING: Slight nudity and reams of coarse language.Who would be dishonest enough to summarize this book? The author, I guess.It's Wikileaks of satire and outrage that only our wet diaper of a culture could provoke.It's the white glove of sarcasm striking the huge, rubbery beachball face of this ignoble world.It's Thanksgiving, 1959, with the Bush Family. It's "Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday." It's the pope and Dick Cheney and Canadian Judas Prudence.It's man's inhumanity to man...

Todd Ternovan believed in keeping things simple: Marrying his college sweetheart, studying Early Childhood Education at Ryerson University, spending his professional life as a daycare teacher. It was a tidy plan. Except for one thing: Man plans and the gods laugh. To fund his life and education in Toronto, Todd worked a part-time job—as a corrections officer at the infamous Don Jail. Although he spent a few years working with kids, Todd’s experience in corrections propelled him into a 30-year career with the Ontario Provincial Police. Small-town policing isn’t just rescuing cats from trees and performing wellness checks. The concession roads and rural routes of southwestern Ontario are home to some incredibly kind, resilient people, and scene to some strange, tragic and heinous events. Todd dealt with them all, from the naked machete-wielding man who claimed to be Jesus Christ, to armed American fugitives, decades-old sexual assaults, harrowing traffic accidents, and even a year spent “Uncle Charlie” (undercover) investigating drug traffickers. The title derives from a motorcycle gang member who demonstrated his disdain for police by pulling a “wheelie” on his motorcycle following a traffic stop. The biker was charged with stunt driving. In his defense in court, the biker said, in a thick French accent: “It was not possible for me to a pull a ‘wheelie.’ I had a full gas of tank!” “Gas of Tank” embodies, for Todd, all the surreal, upside-down, unbelievable, description-defying experiences police face daily.

I have struggled with my weight my entire adult life. Dwelling among cubicles for two decades, my sedentary existence saw my weight climb to nearly 300 lbs. The number is irrelevant, but the discomfort, desperation, and despair I lived with were all very real. Fast forward to the COVID-19 global pandemic, I came to a crossroads where I realized I could choose which “95” I wanted to be—eat, drink, and laze my way to 395 lbs., or battle the isolation and anxiety by getting on my bike and pedaling toward for 195 lbs. I chose the latter. Since May 2020, I have logged more than 65,000 kilometers on my bike. I am not a slick, spandexed cyclist practicing his art in pelotons. I am a lone, obsessed hobbyist.

A chance meeting at a café one afternoon, I ran into an old girlfriend months after our years-long relationship ended. There was awkward talk of new jobs, new friends, and as I moved to say goodbye, there was one more piece of news: “I’m going to be an aunt,” she said. I looked at her. She shrugged, smiled sadly. “Deirdre’s pregnant. Two months, now.” The news echoed in my ears, quivered through my bones. I mouthed the words, Deirdre’s pregnant. Deirdre was seventeen years old. There seemed nothing more to say except goodbye and good luck. As I stepped into the sunlight, stunned and blinking, a murmur of longing and regret whispered through me. It continued unabated as I walked toward home, past my street, to the waterfront. All the while that voice welled until it surged through me like a cry… I cannot let this passing of affection happen without a word...