August 28, 2013 Volume 9 • Number 35 50¢ Newsstand Price
INSIDe
north shore
Hospital expansion update – page 2
LET US WASH YOUR CAR while you have lunch at Reubin’s Diner
ROBO
also
CARWASH & Convenience Store
Blazers in your community – page 3
Imperial Oil
228 Tranquille Rd | 250.376.1710
your neighbourhood. your newspaper.
Debut novel emerges from therapeutic writing Former North Shore resident Michal Allen returned home recently to meet with readers and sign copies of his first novel, Getarix, at Chapter’s Bookstore last week. Writing can be therapeutic for many, but it’s rare that an exercise in focus and distraction turns one into a published author like it did for Michael. “After my first tour in Afghanistan I was antsy. I was in Brock, visiting my mom, and one day I just grabbed a pad of paper and went down to the Denny’s on the North Shore and started writing,” says Michael, who currently lives in Meaford, Ontario and serves as the military chaplain of CFB Borden. “I wrote the first three chapters that day.” After that, wherever he went he took his computer with him, writing in coffee shops and restaurants. The book wasn’t finished for nearly five years. “Truth is I was pulled out of grammar in elementary school because they thought I was too dumb to learn,” says Michael, noting the irony while recognizing some truth in the statement. “I believe I’m dyslexic. I get sounds mixed up. I could be writing in a restaurant and come across a word I’m not sure about and you’d hear me saying to someone, ‘hey, how do you spell this or that word.’” So where did the writing bug come from?
A self-described lover of history and stories, Michael loved reading books where writers brought dry, dusty history to life, but had become frustrated with period fiction that didn’t get the historical facts straight. While living in Japan for a period, the story of Getarix started to take hold in him. Getarix tells the story of the historical figure of Vercingetorix, the chieftain of the Arverni tribe, who united the Gauls in a revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar›s Gallic Wars. Getarix is a young Celtic lad who hates the gods. After escaping a brutal sacrifice ritual at the hands of his tribe, he flees for his life, landing in Roman territory. Michael’s career as a Canadian Armed Forces Chaplain over the last eighteen years has blended military life with basic questions of faith and humanity, bringing a particular insight when it comes to the lives of soldiers and the choices they are faced with. What he hasn’t had is a lot of experience writing. “I started off in the military here in Kamloops as a cadet in the 2305 Rocky Mountain Ranger Cadet Corps in 1977 when I was 13,” he explains. “From there I went to theological school, and was out of the army for 13 years.
Ernie’s friends moved away from the neighbourhood…
Michael Allen’s life and new novel began on Kamloops’ North Shore.
After I finished my Masters degree I settled in Summerland area, had my own parish and was the chaplain to the British Columbia Dragoons in Kelowna. From there, I went regular forces. One of the principles of writing is that you’ve got to write out of experience.” As a layman to the craft, he describes his writing process as organic. Where he touches real history, he does exhaustive research. – continued on page 2
At Chartwell, they’re just down the hall.
CHARTWELL KAMLOOPS retirement residence
Ernie is part of an active
250-376-5363 • chartwell.com
community again. Like to have your friends down the hall? We can help.
628 Tranquille Rd. Kamloops