A collection of short stories where the humour runs dark and the slipstream bubbles up.
...imagine if Raymond Carver called up George Saunders and Joe Lansdale, and they all went drinking with Neil Gaiman.
“… it's clear that Terlson is way ahead of the curve in terms of crafting an engaging premise that reaches for elevated territory and reinvents enduring archetypes of action and suspense.” J. Schoenfelder
"Sometimes brutal, often demanding and always complex, this novel will repay the reader who likes their assumptions challenged and is happy to walk away from a book with minor questions unanswered but the big ones definitely dealt with! It’s likely to satisfy those who enjoy Hammet and/or Philip K Dick and who like their fiction very noir indeed." Kay Sexton
"I love a novel that you can't put down, and this is one of them." L. Cihlar
Sunday, August 12, 2007 at 11:25PM Just back from yet another Festival, this one in Regina - incredible sets from Bruce Cockburn and Michael Franti and Spearhead.
I'm rocking my way through summer here and have little time for blogging. But come back later this week as woofreakinhoo will be returning from its layover.
Crank up the tunes.
Friday, July 13, 2007 at 08:15AM 
So like where the hell you been? Oh, you mean me? Well, as you can see in the above photo there was a lot of shaking going on at the Folk Festival (incidentally, none of those fine legs are mine). It's not taking me a full week to recover, but on my return from the Fest I found myself embroiled in another project - this one involving toilets and pipe wrenches.
It's July so it must be reno-time.
Oh well, at least I have the best of Randy Newman to keep me shaking, as I scrape wallpaper, fix toilets and spackle. Spackle, now there's a word R.N. could make a tune out of.
Here's a couple of photos from his highlight of the festival set.
This next one is a blurry close-up - it was late, the bugs were eating me, and I started shooting pics of the video screen. That'll happen to you after 12 hours in the sun.
Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 11:20AM 
I am off doing that hippy-dippy-folky thing I do ever year around this time. I volunteer at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, one of Canada's top summer festivals.
This year I have a few must sees - Los Lobos, Leo Kottke and one of my favorite storytellers, crusty old Randy Newman. I say crusty because of the acerbic wit present in his songs. Sure, some of the tunes sounds the same (as parodied on the Family Guy), but I have loved his lyrics since my teenage years, when I had his stuff on 8-track. Passengers in my Pontiac were forced to shut up and listen to all the words to "It's Money I Love" - often followed by a lecture on the ironic nature of the piece. A lot of my friends just hated this weird piano playing guy who talked more than he sang. But more than 25 years later, Randy is still cranking them out, winning grammys and even the odd Oscar.
Anyone that can write a lyric like - you'll be as happy as a monkey in monkey tree - and make it work, is pretty damn fine to me. And no, I am not going to explain the irony in this song.
Sail Away
In america youll get food to eat
Wont have to run through the jungle
And scuff up your feet
Youll just sing about jesus and drink wine all day
Its great to be an american
Aint no lions or tigers-aint no mamba snake
Just the sweet watermelon and the buckwheat cake
Evrybody is as happy as a man can be
Climb aboard, little wog-sail away with me
Sail away-sail away
We will cross the mighty ocean into charleston bay
Sail away-sail away
We will cross the mighty ocean into charleston bay
In america every man is free
To take care of his home and his family
Youll be as happy as a monkey in a monkey tree
Youre all gonna be an american
Sail away-sail away
We will cross the mighty ocean into charleston bay
Sail away-sail away
We will cross the mighty ocean into charleston bay
Tuesday, July 3, 2007 at 10:33AM 
Finished a large job yesterday and celebrated by taking in one of the hardest working bands in showbiz (do they still say that?) - Jack and his "sister" Meg of the White Stripes. Someone asked me later that evening what was the deal with the Stripes, what made them good?
Well, to start with Jack White is probably one of the best guitarists on the planet right now, but there is something else... I've always been attracted to the quirky artist type bands, and White puts the Q in quirk; they have major style - what other band has a colour statement? (They only wear black, white or red - ditto all their gear); and the lyrics are poetic and gutsy... but mostly it's because the guy bleeds on the stage. That's what it feels like as he is ripping through a dirty neo-blues garage number and Meg thumps out the bass beat like she is tied into Jack's heart and is transcribing what she hears.
Plus, who wouldn't love a band that decides if they are going to tour Canada they are going to tour all of it. I wonder what the people in Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit thought of this Detroit rocker coming through town. I would have loved to been there.
Here is a link to my White Stripe inspired story Shuffle, at 3:A.M. Magazine.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 01:43PM 
Damn straight, we make our kids tough up here. No rainy day wimps here - if mom says go out and play, then dammit, we go out and play!
Allow me to interject - YIKES!
This was the tornado that touched down just a few miles from my city. As I am told in the news today, the kids were never in danger. Dad snapped the photo and whisked them to the basement.
Shoot, in my day we would have jumped on our bikes and headed for it. Of course, we weren't the sharpest spoons in the drawer.