Favourite Sea Stories from Seaside Al

Favourite Sea Stories from Seaside Al

Alan Maitland

Toughed it out on CBC for 46 years. He retired to Mahone Bay near salt water in 1993 but died in Vancouver in 1999 and is buried in Port Hope, ON. Truly his Front Porch was all of Canada.

The book is a compilation of short stories and excerpts from the writings of others that Al favoured. Someone spent a lot of time getting permissions for their inclusion.

A Bluenoser myself I long for drone of those old-fashioned groaners on a foggy day and the bracing scent of salt in the air when a Sou'wester blows. And waking to the sound of the tide lapping on a rocky shore. Life revolves around those tides particularly on the Bay of Fundy where they can reach to 60 ft at spring tide and wash in faster than an Olympian can run.

So, what to expect. Emily Carr sketching totem poles. A Capulet/Montague epic in an isolated Outport where the denizens get drunk on shipwreck spirits. Tourists sit in a Nanaimo pub looking out over Gabriola Island and count the lighthouses on the shore.

There is the benign love of sea and sand here along with phantasm.

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The Bottle Imp

The Bottle Imp

Robert Louis Stevenson

This is one of those scary fairy tales for adults.

The moral at the centre of this story is be wary of winning your heart's desire, the price may be greater than you want to pay.

Ask the Beebs the price of fame, he can't show his face anywhere without causing a riot.

Ask Justin the price of power, he'll do anything to retain it.

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Showdown on the Hogback

Showdown on the Hogback

Louis L'Amour

Typical gunplay. Moral of the story. Make certain you know how many shots your opponent has left.

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Canyon Walls

Canyon Walls

Zane Grey

A gunslinger rides into the lives of a lone woman and her daughter in their remote canyon farm and turns their farm around while they turn his life around.

Grey once more is not particularly a fan or Mormons.

Grey once more is not particularly a fan or Mormons.

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Black Sheep

Black Sheep
Max Brand

A tom boy engineers the demise of a gang of desperadoes.

And lead will fly.


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An Irish Country Welcome: An Irish Country Novel

Irish Country #15

An Irish Country Welcome: An Irish Country Novel

Patrick Taylor, John Keating (Narrator )

We know that gossip spreads here at light speed. But can the community keep a secret?

And this outing begins with a continuation of the party begun last volume where the Lavertys announced their long expected first child and various others announced their accomplishments.

And as if a doctor needed reminding child birth is a natural process, not a disease; but there are many possible complications along the road morning sickness and frequent bathroom breaks the least among them.

Sectarian tolerance is one thing but when it's your own son or daughter talking marriage....

And the story ends with a complicated birth. Not a tale for the squeamish.

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An Irish Country Family

Irish Country #14

An Irish Country Family

Patrick Taylor, John Keating (Narrator )

And if there's anything a small country town can do it's throw a party, and do so with an open bar without undo drunkenness.

The trials of a seemingly healthy couple unable to conceive continues to play out.

And every now and then we are reminded that these tales are written by a physician.

People have it wrong, they say doctors save lives. Medical intervention merely delays the inevitable, we all die.

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A Wing and a Prayer: The Bloody 100th Bomb Group of the Us Eighth Air Force in Action Over Europe in World War II

A Wing and a Prayer: The Bloody 100th Bomb Group of the Us Eighth Air Force in Action Over Europe in World War II

Harry H. Crosby, Chris Monteiro (reader)

A first person account of bombing runs over Germany written by a decorated flight navigator. What's more remarkable this is an American who is modest and self-deprecating. On a mission in which he spent most of the flight unaware of his exact location and made multiple errors and omissions he was awarded the DFC for his brilliant navigation. And he freely admits to being frequently airsick, but then Lord Nelson suffered from seasickness.

Did being called on the flight line without breakfast have anything to do with his lack of air sickness?

Having set up a special top secret school for pathfinders base commanders are requested to send a flight crew each and take the opportunity to rid themselves of their worst flyers.

Unlike historians who have assessed the effectiveness bombing this author lived it and it would be an existential crisis to believe his sacrifice and that of those with whom he served was worthless but with Oppenheimer he can wish that wars would cease and his talents had not been necessary.

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An Irish Country Cottage

Irish Country #13

An Irish Country Cottage

Patrick Taylor, John Keating (narrator)

I would note that Barry is short of Finbar in Irish. It has been noted that Catholics and Protestants, here Presbyterian get along with one another the sectarian violence that plagues the rest of Ireland is glossed over in these volumes.

Whereas there are those who can't seem to stop making babies there are also those who for reasons unknown to science can't.

If you've seen that martinet female from Britain who takes dogs on walkies you've learned that dog training is about training the owners. The control Fingal has over his dogs is remarkable. On the other hand Lady Macbeth defies any discipline. And there are dogs who insist of sleeping between their owners in a canine form of birth control.

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An Irish Country Practice

Irish Country #12

An Irish Country Practice

Patrick Taylor, John Keating (narrator)

It would seem the publishers are promoting audio books as most of this series is available from my library in that format. Number 11 is not on offer and this volume was on hold.

Doctors are present at births and deaths and are responsible for registering both. Fingal takes on the training of a new young doctor who spots a case of spousal abuse that escaped his superiors. That these doctors make house calls as a matter of course seems an anachronism.

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An Irish Doctor in Love and at Sea

Irish Country #10

An Irish Doctor in Love and at Sea

Patrick Taylor, John Keating (narrator)

Pairs present day with Fingal's training in anaesthetics during the Blitz while he is seeking marriage to his first wife.

The story combines humour with pathos.

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The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid

Hans Christian Andersen

The story is nearing 200 years old. Disney incurred no costs in using it for their animated special.

A fairy princess with a tail falls in love with a human prince. They'd have to be handsome. Not sure how the in-laws are going to react.

How Disney gave it an HEA I cannot say but the original is a tragedy.

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The Wily O'Reilly: Irish Country Stories

Irish Country #9.5

The Wily O'Reilly: Irish Country Stories

Patrick Taylor, John Keating (Narrator)

A series of vignettes most of them included in books we've already read at least at first originally published in newspapers.

The author interacts with his fictional character.

Fingal's dog Arthur Guinness and his white cat Lady Macbeth both figure.

It occurs to me to ask how anyone could consume so much alcohol and not suffer liver damage.

Smoking is bad for your health, especially when you attempt to light your briar with gunpowder.

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Dawn of the Red Tomorrow: The Timeline and Lore of Mars After the Silence

Dawn of the Red Tomorrow: The Timeline and Lore of Mars After the Silence

Joseph Cruz

This is a rather depressing tale. Having escaped war-ravaged earth the settlers on Mars bring their martial tendencies with them and the book becomes a catalogue of their wars and the increasingly sophisticated technology they use to fight them.

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An Irish Doctor in Peace and at War: An Irish Country Novel

Irish Country #9

An Irish Doctor in Peace and at War: An Irish Country Novel

Patrick Taylor, John Keating (Narator)

For this outing we jump back even further to Fingal's service as a medical lieutenant on board a battleship with a crew of 1200.

The book jumps back from the present to life on board the battleship and sees Fingal operating in a mass casualty theatre. Add having the deck beneath your feet roll and heave as you work. Picking through a man's intestines as if searching for leaks in a hose sounds awkward. And to a doctor a man in need is neither friend nor foe, just a patient in need whether he cries for mother or mutti.

We get a thorough description of child birth matched with an amputation onboard ship and three burials at sea.

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Deefur and the Great Mistletoe Incident

Deefur

Deefur and the Great Mistletoe Incident

R.J. Scott

D for Dog, as Mark explained it in book one. So a little girl and a dog who weighs almost as much as its owner. In fact as a letter carrier I met a 4 something fellow out walking a St Bernard who out-weighed him by a considerable margin. If book one was kitch this outing multiplies it times three.

Jason, the gay male nannie becomes much more than employee to Cameron as he wangles Deefur, cares for Emma, cooks their meals and organizes their home. And since this is a romance they have an HEA.

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Deefur Dog

Deefur

Deefur Dog

R.J. Scott

The great lummox that rules Cameron's world was Mark's dog and was named by him. Mark died and with him any discipline the Great Dane might have known. Finding a nannie for their daughter Emma involves getting Deefur's approval. Took a trip to an animal rescue centre to find Jason, a 6 5 giant of a lad who Deefur adored at first sight.

Did I say this is an M+M novel. You can figure the rest out for yourselves.

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Take Me with You

Take Me with You

Catherine Ryan Hyde

Some books just speak to one's soul. First off this book includes a tour of National Parks I have also visited.

And then there's the heart tug. A single father, the mother does not enter the picture, is faced with jail time and confronts the danger of his two sons entering the child welfare system while he's incarcerated if he can't find an alternate solution. August is headed out for a summer in his motor home with his son's ashes and his little dog when his engine breaks down. He and his mechanic strike a deal that sees the two boys taken into the care of a stranger while they cross multiple state borders. August is a high school teacher so he has some skills and raised a nineteen year old again as a single father. The miracle here is the fact that the trio bond and even more remarkable in this age we live in that the boys respond in gratitude as August ages.

The themes explored here include childhood trauma, (Henry stops talking), Alcoholism, Raison D'Etre, respect, love, Woody--the Dog.

My fourth read through.

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His Fresh Start Cowboy

Woods Ranch #1

His Fresh Start Cowboy

A.M. Arthur

Still having trouble with the concept of female authors writing about gay cowboys. Also getting my mind around the idea of calling the relationship between a gay couple marriage. Some of these romances make it seem the whole world is gay but like celibate communities if no one had hetero relationships the society would die out.

After 10 years Hugo comes back to the Ranch where he spent so much time as a child as a cowboy hire. Rem was his best friend, Brand his new boss the man he crushed on before he left 10 years ago. Cole the oldest Wood was the guy Hugo worked for in California on a Dude Ranch and there are two married Wood sisters in the mix.

The author seems to get mixed up about who her characters are. Rem is Brand's brother, he would not have been a stranger to ranch. The men in this tale seem to have a lot of hangups. Brand being in the closet, essentially to himself as well complicates matters for Hugo who has issues of his own.

The pair at the centre of this M+M journey suffer many false starts and are the source of many of their own troubles. For the reader their lack of progress becomes frustrating.

Since I just finished another Cowboy Romance which was M+F that involved five brothers and very similar themes they get mixed up in my memory.

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Ford AbomiNation

Ford AbomiNation

Linwood Barclay

A tongue in cheek diatribe describing Fat Ford's government. Related by birth to that clown prince Rob who was mayor of Toronta. Surely they could find a landfill, AKA Dump, to name after both but the proposal is for an Arena in Etobicoke. Well maybe they should be put on ice.

Give the people Buck a Beer and alcohol at the corner grocery store and pot grown in a mine in Flin Flon and maybe they'll ignore the fact their kid's schools are underfunded, they can't find a doctor, and Emergency Rooms are closed. And if they're drunk enough maybe the pot holes won't bother them. If you stop tracking the spread of Covid you don't have to take unpopular measures to stop it.

The Doughboy believes parks and green space are wasted development opportunities. Is it a coincidence his latest pet highway is 4-13. Who else could come up with a tunnel under the 401. Or turn a people's park into a playground for the rich and famous. Maybe there really is a Santa Clause.

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Never Again

Dangerous Secrets #1

Never Again

R.M. Alexander

Ken Shepherd is an FBI Agent in a series written by a Romance Author. AS I start this prequel not sure what to expect.

A feel good story this isn't. Witness protection is a perilous business and losing people is part of the bargain.

I hope the author didn't spend too much on editing for surely given the sloppy nature of it he got less than he paid for.

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The Cowboy's Stolen Heart

The Cowboy's Stolen Heart

Jean Oram

Childhood sweethearts meet as adults when she comes back to small town Texas Hill Country. High heeled sandals, fake nails, and eye lashes do not a cowgirl make Nor do they work well on dirt roads and sandy ditches.

Since this is a Romance Novel one can expect an HEA. Whether the two can bridge the cultural divide is another question. Sweetheart Creek is the very definition of claustrophobic small town and gossip spreads at light speed at the local diner.

Romance novels follow a distinct formula and the crisis point in Laura and Levi's relationship arrives when Laura has to return to NYC to fulfill contract obligations and leave the ranch and Levi behind.

If their rapprochement seems too facile it probably is but don't all couples have disagreements, and that make-up sex is so sweet.

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In the Nick of Time: John Rebus vs. Roy Grace

Inspector Rebus #19.5

In the Nick of Time: John Rebus vs. Roy Grace

Ian Rankin, Peter James

Two master detective join forces to solve an ancient cold case that ruined two lives. One reduced to living in a wheel chair and the other haunted by guilt.

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Whoever Brought Me Here

Whoever Brought Me Here

Augusta Connor

Foster brothers are storm stayed by a blizzard in a rude stone cabin and share a narrow cot with a straw mattress.

Another female author writes an M+M novel.

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Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor

Irish Country #8

Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor

Patrick Taylor, John Keating (Narrator)

And we're back to Fingal reminiscing about his salad days and some of these stories the author must have experienced, you just couldn't make them up.

Great advances in medicine are highlighted along with some wallpapering at Number One.

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An Irish Country Wedding

Irish Country #7

An Irish Country Wedding

Patrick Taylor, John Keating (Narrator )

The usual mix of medical emergencies and mundanities. It ends with an extended wedding ceremony and the reception at Fingal's afterwards.

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