Welcome to another first timer to the blog! Canadian author & photographer, Rod Raglin!
Rod Raglin is a Canadian
journalist, photographer and self-published author of 13 novels, two plays and
a collection of short stories. His short fiction has been published in several
online publications and aired nationally on CBC radio. He’s been a prize winner
in Vancouver West End Writers’ Poetry Competition. He lives in Vancouver,
BC, where he is the publisher and editor of an online community newspaper.
He loves cats, is lukewarm on
people and prefers to spend his time alone in his head creating stories very
few people read, or in the woods (alone again) shooting photos very few people
see.
Buy links for all my books: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Rod-Raglin/100013287676486/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rodraglin
Blog: https://rodraglin.wordpress.com
Photography (in case you want to take a peek) https://rodraglin.smugmug.com
Tell
us about your life outside of writing.
I’ve been a journalist for over 50 years and have published
community newspapers since 1977. I’ve downsized considerably in the past few
years until today I publish only one, a quarterly, online community newspaper
focused on southeast Vancouver, called The REVUE.
I’ve been interested in
community development as an activist in the 1960’s, a politico in the 1980’s
(including a candidate in civic and provincial politics – never elected, which
is probably a good thing) and with my community newspaper(s) from their inception.
Throughout this time, I’ve been on the Board of Directors of the South
Vancouver Neighbourhood House holding all the executive positions at one time
or another. I’d like to think I’ve made a little bit of a difference in my
community, but I’d be kidding myself.
An ardent environmentalist, I
was an avid hiker and alpine climber and still actively advocate for
environmental causes.
I’m also a photographer, a
logical spin-off of being a journalist and as well as news photography I shoot
landscapes, sunsets and all the other clichéd stuff.
Do
you have a work in progress?
I do. The Murder of a BIPOC
Queen is, like all my stories, a by-product of my research to understand
contemporary issues. This one came from my frustration with seeing BIPOCs and
other marginalized communities being given preferential treatment on submission
pages of publications I was submitting my work. I wondered if, in reality,
their work was being dismissed because of the colour of their skin or their
gender. And, were they really underrepresented compared to their percentage of
the population (in Canada)? It has been and continues to be an interesting and
complicated journey and at one point I realized my findings (and feelings)
would be better expressed through fiction than in an essay.
What
was the most difficult section/piece you ever wrote? What made it difficult?
I love to write and find it
effortless (though that doesn’t mean I write well). There was, however, one
exception when I was in grade three. My teacher, Mrs. Denholm, really hated me.
Can you imagine a grown woman, a professional, taking a distinct personal
dislike to one of her eight-year-old students? Once I got to be an adult it was
easy to imagine, and today, though I’ve mellowed considerably, I can still be
really offensive.
Anyhow… Mrs. Denholm, smug and
self-assured that she would be lavished with praise, had the entire class write
an “honest” essay about what they thought about her. I mean, who didn’t love
their grade three teacher, right? (Come to think of it, this woman must have
had some serious issues).
Well, she didn’t count on one
student who felt the same about her as much as she did him. The difficult part
was telling the truth. I could have lied and laid our feud to rest. But she
emphasized honest and so I let her have it.
She went berserk! Not only did
she completely lose it in the classroom the next day after she read my
hundred-and-fifty-word character assassination, but she also called in my
parents! Mom was mortified, she always was intimidated by authority – even an unhinged
grade three teacher. Dad was just the opposite, had no respect for authority,
the bastards who kept the workers under their heel (he was a card-carrying
Wobblie (Industrial Workers of the World) back in the 1930s), but
he never showed for the meeting – which was about the only thing you could
count on him doing, not showing up. As well as a severe scolding and my mother
gnashing her teeth and wringing her hands for days wondering what she had done
to have such a perverse son, I was also ordered to attend weekly sessions with
the School Board-appointed child psychologist. In a way making the hard choice
paid off – one hour less a week of Mrs. Denholm.
What
sort of research do you do for your work?
I do exhaustive research – and
I love it. It’s one of the reasons I write. I do this by taking an issue I’m
interested in and developing a character who has a different perspective than
mine. I mean, I know what I think and feel about, say, the white supremacy, but
what kind of person embraces that ideology and how did they come to it? Now
develop that character and make him believable. It’s mind-boggling, but what I
think we have to do if we want to understand what’s going on and, more
importantly, why.
I’m also obsessive about
getting the facts right. In the Mattie Saunders Series, I became an expert in
the evils of the exotic pet trade, the species involved, the threat to their
existence, and those committed few who rescue, rehabilitate and, in some cases,
rewild them.
Which
books and authors do you read for pleasure? Is there an author who inspires you?
I was a big fan of Anna
Quindlen probably because she too is a journalist, and her fiction addresses
contemporary issues. Lately, she seems to have lost her edge. Success tends to
do that (not a problem I have) – all those paid speaking engagements, people
hanging on your every word, critics too intimidated to give you a bad review.
That, and of, course, getting older – complacent, reluctant to take risks, and
not having the energy to carry them out if you took them.
I have this thing. I go to the
library and pick out three books of commercial/literary fiction by authors I’ve
never heard of without reading the blurb or back cover. I rarely finish one.
Some I quit after the first few paragraphs. What I enjoy reading most, is the
work of other unpublished authors and making suggestions on how to improve
their story. It’s far easier to see the shortcomings in someone else’s work
than your own. And I have no expectations.
Was
there a person who encouraged you to write?
No. Well, sort of, but not in a
good way. My father fancied himself as an intellectual, and he liked to get
drunk and read his awful poetry and bemoan the unfairness of life – he could
have been this, or that, blah, blah, blah, and when he dies will I make sure
his masterpieces find a publisher (kind of sounds like some of the members on
Canada Writes, come to think of it). Of course, pity parties need
company, so I was encouraged to write, read, drink and commiserate with him. It
was fun – when you’re sixteen. Then I grew up (he didn’t). Took me years to
overcome his bad influence. I still have his sarcastic mouth and shitty
attitude.
FOREST: Love, Loss, Legend
Matthew and Raminder are young, idealistic and in love. As soon as they can they plan to leave behind the small town and small minds of Pitt Landing. They will embrace life and experience the world, maybe even change it. Man plans, God laughs. Raminder’s father has a stroke and her commitment to her family means she must postpone her plans and stay in Pitt Lake. It’s just the opposite for Matt. A family tragedy leaves irreconcilable differences between him and his father and forces him to leave. They promise to reunite, but life happens.
Twelve years later, Matt is an acclaimed war correspondent. He’s seen it all and it’s left him with post-traumatic stress, a gastric ulcer, and an enlarged liver. He’s never been back to Pitt Landing though the memory of Raminder and their love has more than once kept him sane. He’s at his desk in the newsroom, recuperating from his last assignment and current hangover and reading a letter from his father, the first contact they’ve had in over a decade. It talks about a legendary lost gold mine, a map leading to it, and proof in a safety deposit box back in Pitt Lake. He’s sent it to Matt in case something happens to him and cautions his son to keep it a secret. Matt is about to dismiss the letter when the telephone rings. It’s Raminder telling him his father has disappeared somewhere in the wilderness that surrounds Pitt Lake. Lost gold, lost love and lost hope compels Matt to return home to a dying town on the edge of the wilderness. The forest is waiting.
https://www.amazon.com/FOREST-Love-Legend-Rod-Raglin-ebook/dp/B00SO4L080/
Quick-tempered, intolerant, and defensive, Mattie Saunders loves birds, but has little time for people. A childhood spent in one foster home after another has made her wary of commitment as evidenced by an absence of close friends and difficulty with intimate relationships. Instead, she's filled her life rescuing and rehabilitating exotic birds people buy as pets and then abandoned.
Mattie’s uncompromising attitude and high integrity frequently put her in conflict with friends, work associates, people in authority – just about anyone who doesn’t have her impossibly high standards. It also puts her at the forefront of environmental and social justice issues. Her passion for birds has her fighting to save endangered species, protect habitat and mitigate the effects of climate change. Her sense of morality demands she speak out against racial discrimination, advocate for gender parity and equal rights for the LGBTQ community.
Romance and action, tragedy and triumph, heartache and happiness – experience all this through Mattie’s eyes in this entertaining and thoughtful five book series that explores contemporary culture and issues.
HERE'S SOME OF THE ISSUES AND CHALLENGES MATTIE FACES IN INDIVIDUAL BOOKS...
Book 1 - The ROCKER and the BIRD GIRL - Fame and finances, rockers and parrots, success and salvation, hope and happiness.
Book 2 - COLD-BLOODED - Drugs and betrayal, lizards and snakes, friendship and family, condemnation and forgiveness.
Book 3 - The BIRD WHISPERER - Love and death, eagles and hummingbirds, #MeToo and gender equality, truth and reconciliation, oil spills and pipelines.
Book 4 - The BIRD WITCH - Relationships and culture clash, dead birds and climate change, migrants and cartels, politics and power.
Book 5 - The FLOCK - Indigenous rights and racial prejudice, alt-right and hate crimes, kids and care giving, LGBTQ and justice, purpose and commitment.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088NH8S6K?
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