Nanaimo has been hit with some pretty heavy snowstorms this week, which is okay, as I’ve been tucked inside writing like a madman. As the deadline approaches to submit the manuscript for The Haunting of Vancouver Island, my excitement to share it with you has been intensifying. Some of these stories have been years in the making. A comment on my blog. A conversation with a stranger. A chance discovery in an old newspaper. I would watch a tale manifest slowly before my eyes. Not contrived. Not embellished. But viewed the way that it was meant to be viewed: organically and without hubris. I am a researcher, a newswriter, a collector of unconventional stories from across Vancouver Island. Who am I to say whether these things happened or not? A balanced, fact-heavy approach will make — in my opinion — a much more frightening read than anything else I could hope to create. “Let Vancouver Island tell its own story,” that’s what I say.
