The Devil's Violin: Myllysilta's History

So my newest novel has hit the shelves, both literal and virtual. THE DEVIL'S VIOLIN: MYLLYSILTA'S HISTORY is available in Thunder Bay at Entershine Bookshop on Bay Street. It's also available on Amazon, here.

This book grew out of my first published novel, SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR. Although it happens in the same world (what my wife calls "the Jussiverse") of SILENCES, it's not necessary to have read SILENCES before cracking open THE DEVIL'S VIOLIN.

While researching SILENCES, I spent a lot of time looking at photos of war and its consequences--definitely the stuff of nightmares. Although SILENCES focuses on Jussi Mantere, I knew his response to the war's violence and futility wasn't the only response possible. 

And so I began to wonder what motivated Antti Myllysilta, known in Port Arthur in 1955 as Andrew Millbridge. He and Jussi had "met" late in 1917, just as the Finnish Civil War was brewing. Their life paths continued to intersect. 

But Myllysilta was different, with different initial experiences that set him on a different path. Once there, he continued to make choices that let him have many successes as well as failures. 

Although Myllysilta/Millbridge was sometimes a challenge to be fond of, several of his friends and relatives were enjoyable to write and revise--in general, to spend time with.  

Naturally, now that it's published I still see a few flaws, some of which we'll correct for future printings. Alas, imperfections are inevitable, no matter how many proofs we dissect and read carefully.  

All in all, I'm happy it's out and on the shelves. I can't wait to hear what readers think of it. And now I can start bugging my wife (and publisher and editor) about the next book. 

SILENCES Recognized

This year so far has been ... interesting. My wife and I are hunkered down, working on my next novel, THE ITERATIONS OF CAROLINE. We hope to release it at the end of the summer, pandemic permitting

Meanwhile, exciting news! SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR is on the shortlist for the Whistler Independent Book Awards.

My book is one of six recognized in this way. Three finalists will be announced in mid-July, with winners announced in October--pandemic permitting, I suppose.

To learn more about the awards, click here.

It's welcome news, to know that people are reading my book and (apparently) enjoying it.

And even as the sun and warmth returns, we're still mindful of the little we know about COVID-19, its prevalence--and I suppose its malevolence, although it's not fair to anthropomorphize. It's just doing what viruses do.

So sometimes we mow the lawn, sometimes we rake last year's leaves, and we always keep an eye on our view. This year, we have redwing blackbirds nesting down near the lakeshore, and they're brave to take on and chase away the ravens that plunder their nests. Meanwhile, the ravens (joined by gulls and even crows) harass the eagles.

They all, too, are just doing what birds do. People, though--we can do better. We don't have to kill each other. I think the characters in SILENCES, from Jussi to the Solbakkens to Jimmy, would all agree.

Speaking Soon

The members of The Writer's Circle, a Thunder Bay writing group, have invited me to talk with them at their November meeting--it's the 27th at 7 PM at the Waverley Branch of the Thunder Bay Public Library.

I'll of course answer any questions they might have, but I'm planning to speak about some of the following questions: why write about this war (and how did I do it), and why set half of the book in the summer of 1955 in Port Arthur. 

Of course, the underlying, unanswerable question that I will, nonetheless, attempt to answer: How do you DO it? How do you write a historical novel?

Here's what I'll say. 

Start with an event in history that you are, yourself, interested in. Read a lot about it. This is why you need to be interested in it--you'll be spending a lot of time with it.

Develop a central character who will be changed by this thing, this event, this time period. Who is this character? Where does s/he start, and where does s/he end up?

Then, more fun: more in-depth and focused research on the time period and places.

At some point, you have to start the actual writing part. My way is to organize it in your head, and just start writing it. 

Once you have a chronology of the character moving through the event, you can play with the order of events--add a prologue or tweak the order in which the reader learns about events. 

It's that easy, and that complicated.

So that's what I'll say to those writers, who are so kind as to invite me. Meanwhile, my publisher and I are working on a new novel, one NOT about the Finnish Civil War. More about that later. 

Thank You!

The summer season is officially beginning, with all the sun and rain and growth. Hard to believe in the throes of January.

A huge THANK YOU to Ron Harpelle and Kelly Saxburg, organizers of the Finnish Festival 2019 celebrations in Thunder Bay this past weekend.

So much music, so many vendors, so much celebrating. I appreciated being able to participate with fellow Finnish Fiction (and non-fiction) authors Liisa Kovala and Mark Munger. They shared so much of their paths to their work. Go check them out.

Liisa: https://www.liisakovala.com/
Mark: http://cloquetriverpress.com/

Also, thank you to Thunder Bay's own Finnish Bookstore, part of The Kitchen Nook at the corner of Bay and Algoma. They now have copies of SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR available. It's an honour to have work supported so well in the community.

As for what else is happening--some revising, some writing, some waiting, a lot with the chainsaw and loppers and splitter.

On a related note: Did you know that alders grow quickly? It's a fact I get to remember every year.

Finn Festival 2019!

Finn Festival 2019 is coming up. This cultural get-together is held in different locations every year. This year it's in Thunder Bay, and I'll be speaking about SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR.

The festival runs June 20 through 22. Events will be held in what we locals still call PACI (Port Arthur Collegiate Institute), even though it's housed the Lakehead University law school for several years, as well as Waverley Park, Trinity United Church, and St. Paul's United Church.

I'll share more dates and times as I know them. Meanwhile, start exercising those wife-carrying muscles.

A Writer's Life

The writing life can be a lot of fun.

For example--this month, I've attended a book club meeting, where SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR was discussed. It was interesting to hear local readers compare notes: "Did you know about that?" "No, not until later." "I had no idea." "We walked back there often." "We went to the circus ever summer!" "My husband's grandmother refused to talk about her life before immigration." Et cetera. 

The books have been disappearing from the local chain bookstores, which means people are buying them. (Or they're lost in a back room somewhere--we are coming out of the busy season for all retailers, so that's possible.)

I've been chatting with many other writers working on books of history--fiction and otherwise. Having a book out there for people to read helps give me gravitas, though who knows whether I have earned it. 

Although "having written" and "having published" is fun, so is working on another project. 

For my companion novel to SILENCES, I've researched symptoms of lung disease, medical terminology from 1955 and earlier, the differences between psychopaths and sociopaths, and phases of the moon. 

My publisher and I are looking ahead to 2019 events. FinnFest, the celebration of Finnish culture, is in Thunder Bay this year--stay tuned to hear about our plans. 

Writing is a lot of fun--but it wouldn't be possible without readers. Thank you to everyone who reads, especially those who read the work of your friends and neighbours! 

Readers and Writers

Since publishing SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR, I've been involved in a lot of discussions. At the two signings this summer, some readers were surprised (and, I hope, interested) to learn that there even WAS a civil war in Finland. Others remembered summer in 1955 in Port Arthur (or Fort William or anywhere else, really) and enjoyed reminiscing.

A few reviews of SILENCES have appeared on Amazon. I've had generous, thoughtful email from readers and friends-of-friends who recognize places or attitudes or events.

I appreciate all of it. I have come to see how readers can help keep writers going.

Although researching and writing about war for SILENCES was no treat, my interest in the characters and how they responded to their choices forced me to keep wrestling with the material until I found out what happened.

Fitting together the pieces of my next novel, a companion to SILENCES, is requiring me to learn about corruption in business and government--what, in a crime novel, might be called the "seedy underbelly" of life in Canada in the early 20th century. It's more than a little sobering to see how easily people could move through the world without much regard for others. As with SILENCES, I'm writing to find out what happens.

I also think about how generous readers have been with their time and attention. I hope to exceed their expectations.

Thank you to you all.

More Good News and a Signing!

Previously, I mentioned that SILENCES appeared on the longlist for the Northern Lit Award. We recently learned that it was shortlisted!

Again, thank you to Ontario Library Service-North for this honour.

Also, I'll be signing copies of SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR at the Coles at the Thunder Bay Intercity Mall on Saturday, July 7, 2018, from noon until 4 p.m. Stop by to say hi!

Good News!

SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 CIVIL WAR appears on the longlist for the 2018 Northern Lit Awards!

This award recognizes the contribution that books make to the literature of the north. Be sure to check out the full longlist at this link.

It's a sincere honour for my work to appear in such sterling company!  Thank you, Ontario Library Service--North and all the libraries in northern Ontario!

Literary Events in Thunder Bay This Weekend

The Write NOWW LitFest is being held this weekend, May 4 and 5.



Friday night includes a FREE reading and conversation between Sandi Boucher and Angie Abdou, which is open to the public and for which registration is not required.

I'll be at the Saturday evening Gala Dinner and Awards--if you're there, look for me or check out the Celebration Table and flip through a copy of SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR.

More information about NOWW and the LitFest is here.

SILENCES: Questions to Consider

Shuniah House Books asked me to come up with questions for readers to consider after reading SILENCES. The list of questions is linked here and on their website.

It's always interesting to know what a reader sees, as opposed to what the writer sees. In interviews, you often see writers talk about "being immersed" in the books they're writing, or "living with" their characters.

Historical fiction is a little different. I can get in a car and go 20 kilometres to town without much forethought, where the same trip for Jussi, with Viola or Perho pulling his cart, would take far more time and require preparation.

Even the Port Arthur of 1955 is gone--subsumed into Thunder Bay, its streets renamed and re-routed, the bush where Jimmy plays developed into parks.

For those reasons, I don't quite "live with" my characters, though I still think of Jimmy when I make toast.

Nevertheless, characters speak in my ear. I can look out my window in the early 21st century, and while my physical eyes see snow-covered birches, my mind's eye sees again the destruction of Tampere or a box holding shoes and boots.

So I hope the questions help you consider some of the questions I lived with while writing SILENCES. And if you have other questions, please be in touch!

An Opera about the Finnish Civil War!

Thanks to Dr. Raija Warkentin, author and professor emeritus of Anthropology at Lakehead University, I learned about the premiere of an opera about the Finnish Civil War this coming Friday, in Finland.

Entitled VELJENI VARTIJA, which translates as "My Brother's Keeper," the opera is about a brother and sister who end up on opposite sides of the war. The title, of course, refers to the story of Cain and Able in Genesis.

There's a little more about the opera, composer, and librettist at the Shuniah House Books website.  The website of the concert hall, Tampere-Talo, has even more.

Stories, whether in books or operas or any other art form, are helpful for talking about difficult subjects--and this is a good year to tell this story it in.

Best wishes to the company on the premiere of this work!

Conscription

It's the season of snow in our part of North America. In fact, I have another date with our snowblower this morning.

As I put on my hat with ear flaps, my face warmer, my heavy coat, my thick and lined gloves, and multi-layered, extremely warm boots, I can't help but think of conditions in Finland 100 years ago.

At this time in the winter of 1918, neighbours and friends were sorting themselves into sides. Red vs. White. Labourers vs. landowners/independent farmers/white-collar workers.

People had begun to talk about Finland in terms of "us" and "them." Helsinki had become the capital for the Reds. Vasa was the de facto capital of the White side.

And they'd begun to talk about fighting--how many, where, when. It had become apparent that young men would be conscripted to fight for the Whites.

In SILENCES, a group gathers in the basement of a church after a funeral. They share news. And they know that soon, they and their friends will be on a battlefield.

Without the kinds of cold-weather gear I put on this morning.

Why Write SILENCES--and Why Write About Silences?

At the launch for SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR, I mentioned my father and my mother. Here's part of the story I told then, which also explains, in part, why I wrote the novel.

One day--probably on a Sunday afternoon in the summer, in what could have been 1955 but may have been a couple of years before that--my father and I were sitting on the front steps of the house. I had been playing war with my friends. Some of their fathers had served in World War II, and I wondered if my father had, too.

So I asked: "Were you ever in a war?"

To understand the significance of the question, you have to know that my parents never lied to me. To them, if a child asked a question, the parent must give a truthful answer. No lies, no dissembling, no "ask me later."

My father hesitated, then he said, "Yes, but it was not the Second World War. It was another war." He seemed tense.

I tried again. "What war was it?"

He said, "It was in Finland. The same time as World War I, but it was not that war."

"You were a soldier?"

"I was in the artillery."

"Who were you fighting?"

"The Russians."

"Did you kill anyone?"

"I don't know."

"Why?"

"We didn't see where the shells landed."

This is where my recollection of the incident ends. I know that at some point I was back in our house, and my mother was telling me that I shouldn't ask my father about the war because it upset him.

My father would have been 18 when the Finnish Civil War began. He likely fought in it on the White side. His younger brother, Elmer, would have been about 15. I have a picture of Elmer in a military uniform, wearing a white armband. He might have been in the war as well--or maybe not. I may have been told by my mother that Elmer had to be cared for by his mother because after the war "his mind was not right."

When I began looking into the Finnish Civil War, I discovered that an artillery school had been organized in Jacobstad early in the war, just a few kilometres from my father's home. Pictures of the school are available online, with men milling about, in the snow. Whenever I look at it, I try to see if one of them looks like my father. But I can't see him.

And, of course, my father is no longer around to ask.

I wrote this book, in part, because of that conversation with my father. Because he didn't want to talk about the war--understandably. But it was part of his experience, and it was important in his life, and that made it important to me.

My First Review!

Local writer, artist, and reviewer Michael Sobota reviewed SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR this past Sunday. The review, linked here, appeared in the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal.

With this sentence, Michael got to the heart of the story: "There are secrets in those silences."

As I hear back from readers--and thank you, everyone who takes the time to contact me--I recognize that many have questions like this one: "But what was THE CAUSE of the Finnish Civil War?"

That's such a difficult question to answer. I can only return to the scene in which Jussi first hears of Finland's December 6 Declaration of Independence, after the long years of The Great War, what we (sadly) have re-named World War I.

[Jussi's] mind was full of thoughts of war. The Reds would think that the country had been given to them; the Whites would think it was theirs.

The early years of the 20th century were a time of great social change. The early years of the 21st century have been, as well. Let's all hope that we can resolve differences in ways that don't require us to stay silent.

The Boy on the Cover: Onni Kokko

The cover for SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR was designed by Heather Dickson, aka H. Leighton Dickson, a Thunder Bay writer of science fiction and fantasy--and a fine designer.

Because the internet is a magical place, it's possible to find all kinds of photos of this time in history, which I drew on extensively in setting Jussi, Karl, and Ivor in various locations in Finland.

The image above is of Onni Kokko in his uniform as a soldier in the White Army. Just 14 when he was wounded in the battle of Tampere, he died in hospital. Before he died, Mannerheim granted him the 4th Class Cross of Liberty. He was the youngest to receive this award. A photo, available online, shows him lying on his deathbed, his head wrapped in bandages, with the award on the pillow beside his head.

Another photo, also available online, shows Arvo Koivisto, a thirteen-year-old boy who served in the Red Army.

Both Onni and Arvo informed the character of Ivor, who is barely fifteen when the fighting begins.

I was pleased--if that's the right word--that Heather suggested the photo of using Onni on the cover. I wanted readers to remember that this war tore apart families.

Now Available: SILENCES

I'm pleased that my novel, SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR, is now available from Shuniah House Books.

Here's the back cover:


Labour Day, 1955.
Near a creek in Port Arthur, Ontario, a man's body hangs at the end of a rope. The story of the body, and its missing shoe, begins in Finland, decades earlier and an ocean away.

In January, 1918, civil war breaks out in Finland. Jussi Mantere and his friends, the Solbakken brothers--Anders, Karl, and Ivor, known as Rabbit--as well as Karl's wife, Viktoria, are swept into the fighting. The war rages for months and the county is laid waste. When peace is declared, the price of mending the fractured country is silence: to heal and forget, both victor and vanquished, White and Red, are asked to not speak of the war.

In the ensuing years, Jussi and other survivors immigrate to Canada, bringing their silence with them. In Port Arthur's summer of 1955, events set in motion in 1918 come to haunt Jussi's family. A stranger--or is it someone Jussi knows?--threatens the peace and safety of his family. Jussi must decide whether and how to break his silence about the past and its horrors, and spare his grandson the bitter burden of generations-old resentments.


In the coming weeks and months, I'll share more about the war and my reasons for writing this novel.