the ottawa small press book fair : home edition #10 : Christian McPherson,

Christian McPherson is a poet, novelist, and cartoonist. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and their two kids. He has written a bunch of books including, The Cube People, Saving Her, and My Life in Pictures. His new book of poetry is being released this fall from At Bay Press, Walking on the Beaches of Temporal Candy.

Q: Tell me about your writing. How long have you been publishing, and what got you started?

My first book, Six Ways to Sunday, came out in 2007 from Canadian small press publisher Nightwood Editions; they are in Gibsons, BC. It was a collection of short stories I had been working on for close to a decade. My second book was a book of poetry Poems that swim from my brain like rats leaving a sinking ship published by Bayeux Arts out of Calgary. I did two novels with Nightwood, The Cube People and Cube Squared. Then I had a long run with Now or Never Publishing out of Vancouver BC. Now Or Never published three books of poetry (The Sun Has Forgotten Where I Live, My Life in Pictures, and One Poem), one novel (Saving Her), and my second collection of short fiction (Going Fly). My most recent book is a double book of poetry entitled Walking on the Beaches of Temporal Candy and is published by At Bay Press out of Winnipeg.

Q: How many times have you exhibited at the ottawa small press fair? How do you find the experience?

I have been coming since 2008, twice a year, I do believe. I think I only missed one. So around 20 times. It a nice way to meet fellow authors and publishers and I get to meet strangers I would normally never get to meet. It’s a hard to find place, so the traffic can be light at times. Overall, rob makes it a very welcoming place to be – he needs to work on the coffee! Ha.

Q: Would you have made something specific for this spring’s fair? Are you still doing that? How does the lack of spring fair this year effect how or what you might be producing?

It doesn’t slow me down in the least, however the pandemic I heard was very tough on small publishers because the distribution through Amazon and Chapters came grinding to a halt as I understand it. So not to have a fair to exhibit their work is tough.

Q: How are you, as literary writer, approaching the myriad shut-downs? Is everything on hold, or are you pushing against the silences, whether in similar or alternate ways than you might have prior to the pandemic? How are you getting your publications out into the world?

I was recently invited to do a Zoom poetry reading. That was a first for me. My new book Walking on the Beaches of Temporal Candy is supposed to launch this fall. I may do a virtual launch on Zoom. I’ve seen some different online events by way of Zoom. I’m also promoting as I normally do by way of Facebook and Instagram and email. Now that stores are reopening, I’m hoping that people will find it in actual stores.

Q: Have you done anything in terms of online or virtual launches since the pandemic began? Have you attended or participated in others? How are you attempting to connect to the larger literary community?

Like I mentioned in the last question above, I’ve participated in a reading and I’ve seen the launch of Brad Smith’s new novel The Goliath Run by way of Zoom. Hopefully this won’t last forever and we can get back to in-person readings and launches.

Q: What is your most recent book or chapbook? How might folk be able to order copies?

Walking of the Beaches of Temporal Candy is a double book of poetry from At Bay Press and you can order your copy here: https://atbaypress.com/books/detail/walking-on-the-beaches-of-temporal-candy

It’s my first hardcover book and it also has an illustrated walking cycle so when you flip the pages, my little astronaut avatar walks across the page – it’s super cool!

Get it straight from the publisher! At Bay Press.

Q: What are you working on now?

I’m working on more poetry and I’m drawing what I call, demented doodles. I really want to do a book of illustrations – maybe a poetry/drawing combo book. Sometimes my drawings come out as political cartoons, other times they are just weird images that my brain comes up with. I tend to invoke the zeitgeist of the 1960s in my artwork. Artists like Rick Griffin, Ralph Steadman, Tomi Ungerer, Mati Klarwein, and so on. I’m really having fun doing it.

On writing #9 : Christian McPherson

On Writing
Christian McPherson

        Jesus, how has it come to this? How is it someone has asked me to say something about writing? I suppose I should know something about it, considering I can look at the bookshelf beside me and see a bunch of published books by. . . well, me (and not self published either). I was practically illiterate until I reached high-school. I failed grade four because I couldn’t read or spell. I was a disaster. Even now, as I type this, the red squiggly line appears often under words misspelled. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent looking up words in the dictionary. Thousands. Thank bloody goodness for spell-check.
        So what can I tell anyone about writing? For me, it’s about being creative. It’s about creating things, making thing. When I was a kid it was about building Lego, drawing cartoons, and making my own computer games. I’ve always made things, artistic things. I love doing it. In fact, as I’ve gotten older, I realize making things, let it be Lego castles for my kids (which are really for me) or Halloween monsters for my lawn, or writing novels, it’s what I love to do. The medium is the only difference. Different tools, different products, but it’s in the creating where I live. With writing you get to create a whole world which can be as big or a small as you want. The only limit is your imagination. I’ve got that in spades. Straight flush. My limitation is time. I only have so much time. Dishes, stepping on a Lego piece and doing the one foot hop, a day job, dogs to walk, kids to drive here and there, help with the school fundraiser, etc. and then repeat ad infinitum. I like this quote from writer Harry Crews which I keep it on my wall at work: “The world wants you to work the lawn or walk the dog or paint the house – anything but write, just so you bleed whatever energy you have away from writing, and if you’re not careful that’s exactly what you’re going to end up doing.” This is exactly how I feel about writing, how I feel about creating things. It’s what’s important to me. Aside my family, I don’t care about anything else (well that’s not entirely true, but close) other than my writing. If I lost my DVD collection or someone stole all of my books, I could care less. If someone were to erase my hard drive I would murder them. I would be on the cover of the newspaper covered crimson like Dexter. Writing is creating and creating is how I breathe.
        I got into writing because of my love for film. Perhaps this is what I should have done with my life? Maybe it will still be the thing I do? Time will tell. But yes, film. I lived and breathed film. I ate celluloid for breakfast. Lauren Bacall hung inside my high school locker. I wanted to be a screen writer. A screenplay was far too daunting of a task. I began with short stories and poems. These seemed like manageable pieces to chew. And they were. And after seven years of typing and editing I managed to publish my first book, a collection of short stories (Six Ways to Sunday). And never begin a sentence with “And.” Cheapens the work.
        Post publication I felt high and wanted more. The mountain stood before me – the novel. Why climb? Because it’s there you nincompoop! Sorry about the name calling. Anyway, I climbed. When I got to the top and realized it was a mountain rage. There are tons to climb! I also discovered much to my own amazement I liked climbing. And right now I realize I’m sick of this stupid analogy. I like writing novels. Period. I’m currently finishing my third. How crazy is that? From the kid in remedial English his whole life.
        I suppose I should say something about work habits, my work habits. Often writers say you should write every day, even if it’s crap. Just write. Bullshit I say. If you are sucking wind, take a break, take the day off. Go do something else. Go read a really good book, go for a walk, go see a movie. Hell, do all three. Shit, take the week off. Come back to when you are ready. I live by this. I would write every day if I could, but often I just don’t have the time or energy (remember the words of Harry Crews). I try to carry around a note pad and a pen in case I get a good idea. Write them down because you will forget. Sometimes I dream them. If you wake up in the middle of the night with a great idea, get up and write it down, because if you don’t, you won’t remember. Trust me. Get your lazy but out of bed and write it down. You will thank me in the morning.
        The last piece of advice I will give you is, read good writers. Who is a good writer? It’s the person you read that blows your hair back and makes you say, “Damn, I wish I had written that!” Read them and find out who they read. Don’t forget to pay attention to the world around you. Eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. Listen to how they speak. Listen to the ebbs and flows, the rhythms of their conversation. Write dialogue and make it sound like real people. Use slang. Be fearless.
        I will leave you with this quote from Harlan Ellison, “The trick is not becoming a writer. The trick is staying a writer.”



Christian McPherson [photo credit: Judith Gustafsson] is the author of six books, Cube Squared, My Life in Pictures, The Sun Has Forgotten Where I Live, The Cube People (shortlisted for the 2011 ReLit Awards), Poems that swim from my brain like rats leaving a sinking ship, and Six Ways to Sunday (shortlisted for the 2008 ReLit Awards). He has a degree in philosophy from Carleton University and a computer programming diploma from Algonquin College. He is married to the beautiful Marty Carr. They have two kids, Molly and Henry.