Wallaceburg writer John Gardiner is in the process of releasing his second book, My Lefthanded, Backwards, Upsidedown Life & Assorted Short Stories, and copies are now available through his website, www.johngardinerstories.com, from the author or at his upcoming book launch on Thursday, November 4 at the Black Goose Pub and Grill in Wallaceburg.
The book launch will run from 7-9 p.m. and will feature a couple of short readings at about 8 p.m.
This book, which contains a good chunk of Gardiner’s memoir, as well as 10 of his short stories, or emotional thoughtscapes, is somewhat of a departure from his first published work, Memories for Sale.
The memoir follows the writer through his growing up and coming of age years in a small Ontario town during the 1950’s and 1960’s, a time of major social change in our societies.
“The memoir is a different type of writing for me,“ Gardiner said, in a media release.
“For one thing, there are quite a few funny bits – plus I’ve written it as a series of anecdotes in a type of stream-of-consciousness style.”
Gardiner said a lot of the things that happened to him while he was growing up in the small Ontario town of Hanover could have happened in almost any small town, anywhere and to most people of his vintage.
One of the memoir’s anecdotes talks about getting an old junker of a car on the road – before safety checks – and how the first trip in it almost ended in disaster. Another talks about the mandatory enrolment in army cadets and how all teenage boys did a lot of marching the first couple years of high school.
Gardiner’s first book, Memories for Sale, garnered significant positive feedback and was very well received by the reading public.
Gardiner did over 50 readings in support of the book and produced an award-winning documentary chronicling his time on the road in support of it.
“I really can’t do any type of major tour with this book,” he said. “At least not right now – not with the COVID situation. But I’m going to try to get the book out there in the best way I can, including the launch at the Black Goose.”
The Wallaceburg writer is recognized mainly as the creator of short stories he calls emotional thoughtscapes because of the vivid emotional images they are intended to paint in the reader’s mind. 10 of these short stories are contained in the new book. He encourages folks who enjoy good story telling to check them out.
“My first book seemed to touch a lot of people and I’m hoping this one will do that as well,” Gardiner added. “That’s what I’m trying to do as a writer – make people think more about the folks who surround them in life – understand what other people are living through.”
