It’s no duh if you’re following me anywhere on social media that I published a book this year. It’s available on Amazon and has had great reviews. It makes a great holiday gift for anybody on your list, including you… and if you buy the super-cheap kindle version it’s totally super-cheap and you’ll get it right away!
This is not only the season to buy stuff, but it’s the season to be grateful and say thanks to everybody who helped out (yeah, I know that’s Thanksgiving, but does that have to be the ONLY time?). But here’s some plugs for some books by some of my favourite comedy & writer people, who all did a little something special this past to help me out with Vengeful Hank & Other Shortweird Stories. Remember, if you want your own custom limerick, get the book! Post a pic and tag me or Shortweird Stories and get a custom limerick! Post TWO pics, and you get a haiku! Available in kindle or paperback on Amazon: http://tiny.cc/vengfulhank
So, after you buy my book, buy theirs!
In Gary Pearson’s newest novel, an unlikely collection of space explorers find themselves millions of light years from home, amid many strange new worlds and the dangers they contain. With nods to Star Trek, Star Wars, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Slaughterhouse 5, Firefly and other classics, Marooned in Space is a comic science fiction adventure about the future– complete with aliens, lifelike robots, internet brain implants, cryogenic space travel and a Ford F-150 pick-up truck. Authored and illustrated with over 20 drawings by award-winning television writer Gary Pearson (Mad TV, Corner Gas, Sunnyside, That’s So Weird, This Hour Has 22 Minutes), Marooned in Space! asks: “Instead of the superstar astronauts that typically go on galactic adventures, what if we saw a more ordinary collection of regular folks in deep space?” The space ship, The Icarus 7, is peopled by a failed cartoonist, a teen genius, a shop owner, a teacher, a brewery owner, a public relations hack, a super model, a young preacher, a little girl, a billionaire…and his wife. This is Pearson’s third novel, following Slapshot of Love and Me and the Crack Mayor, which are also available from Amazon. And because Gary’s been extra awesome to me by constantly plugging my book, I’m plugging a second one of his:
“SLAPSHOT OF LOVE” BY GARY PEARSON
Slapshot of Love by Gary Pearson is a satirical romantic comedy in the tradition of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity and Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary. Geri Halton is a young woman with an all too real life, working in an seniors’ residence in an industrial town, who finds herself thrown into the glamorous, but artificial world of a reality TV dating show called Slapshot of Love. Smart, funny, attractive, but not ‘model pretty’ or remotely glam, Geri must navigate the phony world of television and determine if her relationship with Ryan, the handsome hockey playing star of the show, is real, or contrived for the TV audience. The hilarious circumstances at both a seniors’ residence and the set of a reality TV show propel the characters through a comic story that also has a lot of heart.
“NOT QUITE THE CLASSICS” BY COLIN MOCHRIE
Colin Mochrie, a man known worldwide for working without a script, has penned a collection of stories destined to make its own mark in the literary community. Borrowing from a well-known improv game, Mochrie takes the first and last lines from familiar classics and reimagines everything in between. With the same engaging humour he exhibits on stage, television, and film, he takes the reader in bizarre and hilarious new directions. Imagine A Tale of Two Cities in which a coyote gets his revenge on a road runner or Herman Melville’s Moby Dick featuring a killer toupee. Imagine Sherlock Holmes performing stand-up at a Victorian club and The Night Before Christmas with a time-travelling twist. This inspired collection is comical, quirky, and clever—classic Mochrie.
AIR FARCE: 40 YEARS OF FLYING BY THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS BY DON FERGUSON
A staple of CBC television for fifteen years, with diehard fans numbering in the millions, Canada’s Royal Canadian Air Farce exemplifies brilliant comedic mayhem. Written by the founding members of Air Farce—Roger Abbott and Don Ferguson—this candid memoir, full of anecdotes, photographs, scripts, and other memorabilia from the authors’ private collection describes every aspect of their hard-scrabble early life in 1970 as an onstage comedy troupe, their historic run on radio, and their spectacular success on prime-time television. With contributions from many of their longtime friends and collaborators, including Dave Broadfoot (whose “When I regained consciousness” tagline is now part of the Canadian vernacular), and the irrepressive Luba Goy, Air Farce takes readers behind the scenes, and onstage, into the day-to-day creative vortex of one of the most popular comedy shows in the history of Canadian television. Offering a no-holds-barred look at the key players that turned comedy talent into prime-time gold, Air Farce offers their legions of fans a genuine keepsake destined to last at least as long as the troupe’s forty-year career—if not longer.
“KISS THE JOY AS IT FLIES” BY SHEREE FITCH
With all the wisdom, humour, and joy we’ve come to expect from Sheree Fitch, Kiss the Joy As It Fliesmarks the well-loved author’s move from children’s literature to adult fiction. Set in the fictional Maritime town of Odell, with a cast of exasperating but lovable characters, Kiss the Joy As It Fliespromises to be a remarkable debut and a reader’s favourite. Panic-stricken by the news that she needs exploratory surgery, forty-eight-year-old Mercy Beth Fanjoy drafts a monumental “to do” list and sets about putting her messy life in order. Among other things (hide the vibrator!), she’s determined to finally uncover the identity of her secret admirer; reconnect with a lost friend and rival Teen Gaudet; and, most importantly, get her hands on the note her father left her before committing suicide all those years ago. But tidying up the edges of her life means the past comes rushing back to haunt her and the present keeps throwing up more to do’s. Between fits of weeping and laughter, ranting and bliss, Mercy must contemplate the meaning of life in the face of her own death. In a week filled with the riot of an entire life, nothing turns out the way she’d expected.
“THE BOOK OF LETTERS I DIDN’T KNOW WHERE TO SEND” BY STEVE PATTERSON
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Steve Patterson’s The Book of Letters I Didn’t Know Where to Send is a collection of — wait for it — letters, written by award-winning stand-up comedian — you guessed it — Steve Patterson.
The host of CBC Radio’s The Debaters since 2007, Steve Patterson has become a household name, with more than 700,000 listeners tuning in each week. He has performed at several of the Just for Laughs prestigious televised galas, including one hosted by Steve Martin. Considered to be the highlight of the show by the audience and critics alike, Patterson’s performance prompted the legendary Martin to quip, “If I’d known he was going to be THAT good, I would have cancelled him.”
Patterson’s letters, long a staple of his stand-up comedy routine, address a number of recipients, from real people, to groups, to inanimate objects and concepts. He airs grievances, offers support or creates just plain confusion in unplainly humorous prose.
From the political to the personal, from the philosophical to the mundane, no subject — or target — is off limits. Patterson’s letters may not change the world, but frankly, it’s too early to tell. In these letters, he pleads, begs, cajoles, grovels, and always makes a compelling argument. He would like men to stop wearing Spandex bike shorts. He would like airlines to stop selling seats they don’t have. He would like gluten to explain itself. He would like his nine-year-old self to know everything will be all right . . .
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, EVER… PETER WILDMAN…
… has not published a book. But he does have a soundcloud. He’s got a ton of good stuff in there, from some old Frantics songs to new stuff like these. What’s a Frantic? Well, they were a troupe on CBC in the 80s, and on TV. But you can listen to the former (and current) Frantic on his soundcloud. https://soundcloud.com/pwildman You can go straight to Peter’s website. http://www.peterwildman.com/ You can even check out what The Frantics are now up to by getting over here: http://www.thefrantics.com/ Their awesome 1981-84 CBC radio show is coming back to podcasts! https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/frantic-times-podcasts-radio#/
Happy Holidays everybody!
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