"Defending the Inland Shores" by Gordon K. Jones - Now Available at Amazon and Indigo!

My book, Defending the Inland Shores, is now available from all major online retailers, independent book stores and from  Amazon and Indigo.

From the cover jacket:

Soldiers from Newfoundland played a significant role in the defence of Canada during the War of 1812. 

The Royal Newfoundland Regiment was on the front lines of the war, fought with honour and great courage, and took heavy casualties in many military actions, including the battle of the Maumee, the battle of Fort George, and the battle of Lake Erie, to name a few. This book also portrays several legendary military commanders from the War of 1812, such as George Prevost, Isaac Brock, Andrew Bulger, and George Macdonell. 

The author skilfully describes many renowned battles of the war, including the siege of Fort Detroit, the capture of an American naval schooner on Lake Ontario, a surprise attack against Ogdensburg, and desperate defence of a British ship on the Niagara River during an American night assault. Defending the Inland Shores tells these incredible stories and illustrates the important part that the Royal Newfoundland Regiment played in the war.

Book Review - A Boy From Botwood

Recently I had a chance to read an advance copy of A Boy from Botwood, which I just finished. The book is due out in January 2017.

I’m going to tell my story. With those words, eighty-three-year-old Arthur Manuel set his remarkable First World War memoir in motion.

Like many Great War veterans, Manuel had never discussed his wartime life with anyone. Hidden in the Manuel family records until its 2011 discovery by his grandson David Manuel, Arthur’s story is now brought to new life.

Determined to escape his impoverished rural Newfoundland existence, he enlisted with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in late 1914. His harrowing accounts of life under fire span the Allies’ ill-fated 1915 Gallipoli campaign, the Regiment’s 1916 near-destruction at Beaumont-Hamel, and his 1917 Passchendaele battlefield capture. Manuel’s account of his seventeen-month POW experience, including his nearly successful escape from a German forced labour camp, provides unique, compelling Great War insights.

Powerful memories undimmed by age shine through Manuel’s lucid prose. His visceral hatred of war, and of the leaders on both sides who permitted such senseless carnage to continue, is ferocious yet tempered by Manuel’s powerful affection for common soldiers like himself, German and Allied alike. This poignant, angry, witty, and provocative account rings true like no other.

Although there has never been a war that was fought nicely, the trench style of warfare fought in the first world war sounds utterly horrible. The years since has taught us how inept the generals were in their strategy to wage the war against the Germans. Their attitude that machine guns were just a fad in the war and to tell their troops to just walk across no man's land when attacking instead of charging across it shows they had no concept on how to lead.

Much of that comes through in this book. Manuel constantly shows contempt for the ones in charge, sitting back safely in England, eating well and sipping brandy while their troops eat slop, fight off rats and lice, while suffering from a variety of diseases.

Manuel gives us a first hand, up close look at what it was like to be a soldier on the British side and after taken captive, how German life in the trenches was far more comfortable for their soldiers. He lived through the hell of a slave labour camp and his account of his escape is an amazing dramatic read.

My grandfather fought with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during this war so much of what Manuel experienced, so did he. Incredible to know the hell that a family member had to go through.

This book is an incredible eye witness account of the life of a World War One allied soldier and is well worth reading.

Book Review - Little Sister by Vince Fernandez

Tonight I finished reading Little Sister, a thriller from first time author Vince Fernandez.

Mila Mirkin and John Lister want success any way they can get it. For Mila, that means working as an escort to finance grad school. For John, it means getting his hedge fund on track even if he breaks a basic moral tenant: thou shalt not kill. 

Following the mysterious death of Toronto's top financial prosecutor, Vitaly Mirkin is transferred to the role. His first case is against John Lister. Mila's brother is prosecuting her primary client. As John's ruthless plan unfolds, he pulls Mila ever closer, leaving her in a terrible quandary: tell her brother what she knows and expose her secret life, or pretend innocence and put the lives of others in mortal danger.

"... medical devices can be hijacked with a few keystrokes ... the sooner the deaths of the insured, the better the financial returns of investors ... This alarming reality is why Vince Fernandez wrote "Little Sister". His chilling debut novel ... puts a new spin on an old question: How far will you go to get what you want? I find few things more riveting than a good story that peels back the professional veneer of financial power brokers and exposes the underbelly of their corruption, greed, sexual predation, and revenge. With "Little Sister", Vince succeeds in doing just that."

- Norb Vonnegut, author of thrillers "Top Producer", "Gods of Greenwich Village", "Mr. President", and "The Trust".

I enjoy thrillers and this one did not disappoint. It is well-written and very fast paced. Mila Mirken is a fascinating complex character who seems stuck in an impossible situation with John Lister, a person that I found quite easy to hate.

It was an enjoyable read and I'll be sure pick up Fernandez's next book when it comes out.

Book Review - The Bologna Cookbook

I'm a big fan of bologna. Always have been, always will be.

When Teena and I were in Newfoundland a few years ago, I was delighted to find breakfasts came with a large serving of thick fried bologna.

One question: Why is bologna spelled like that? Ba-lone-ee is how it is pronounced, but spelled like it should sound like Bow-Log-na. Maybe it is thinking about this kind of stuff which makes me forget some of the things that Teena wants me to do.

Anyway, Teena was in Stephenville Newfoundland on business and saw The Bologna Cookbook sitting  on a shelf at a grocery store and picked it up for me.

Ex-military man and Canadian patriot Kevin Phillips grew up in Cape St. George, where he developed a love for the traditional dishes of his Newfoundland home. After high school, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and served for thirty-three years before retiring as a master warrant officer. During that time, he never forgot the old Newfoundland recipes of his youth. So, immediately upon his retirement from the CAF, he rekindled his passion for cooking and began his new career as a chef!

From Military to Culinary Kevin’s initial plan was to resurrect and share some of his favourite old-time recipes online. He intended to focus on old, lost recipes, but as the number of bologna recipes increased to well over two hundred, he decided to concentrate entirely on bologna. Kevin quickly realized that bologna was not exclusive to Newfoundland. In fact, this sausage was enjoyed by people from all parts of the country, as well as by many of his readers overseas! 

The Bologna Cookbook is Kevin Phillips’s first book, and the first ever all-bologna cookbook, featuring two hundred recipes whose main ingredient is . . . you guessed it . . . bologna! The cookbook outlines easy-to-make recipes for mouth-watering dishes that are a feast for the eyes and a delicious treat for the soul, such as Bologna and Eggs with Havarti, Bologna Caesar Wraps, Cheesy Bologna Calzones, Balsamic Peppercorn Bologna Steak, Bologna Stroganoff, and more!

In his introduction, Kevin states that over 1.365 million pounds of bologna are sold every year across Canada. One third of that, around 462 million pounds, are sold in Newfoundland alone which is about 9 pounds for every man, woman and child in the province. Wow!

I like how every single recipe in the book has an accompanying picture. I'm looking forward to trying many of these recipes and of course will be writing about them. Some of them will be:

Breakfast
Eggs in Bologna Cups
Toonie Bologna (how Canadian is that!)

Lunch
Creamy Mushroom Walnut Bologna
Bologna Cordon Bleu

Dinner
Fried Bologna and Spaghetti in Butter Sauce
Bologna Stroganoff
Dick Stoyles Legacy (Stuffed Bologna with Blood Pudding)

When we came home from our Newfoundland vacation, I made fried bologna and eggs for breakfast and posted it on Facebook. There were immediate comments from Newfoundlanders that I had used the wrong kind of bologna. Maple Leaf is the only accepted brand to use.

It looks like I'll need to pick up a big chunk of it. I'm looking very forward to trying some of these!

Book Review - "Saint's Blood"

I am a huge fan of Sebastien de Castell's Greatcoat series. I have read and reviewed the first two books in the series, Traitors Blade (2014) and Knight's Shadow (2015). I was so happy to see Saint's Blood, the third book in the series come out in April.

How do you kill a Saint? 

Falcio, Kest, and Brasti are about to find out, because someone has figured out a way to do it and they've started with a friend.

The Dukes were already looking for ways out of their agreement to put Aline on the throne, but with the Saints turning up dead, rumours are spreading that the Gods themselves oppose her ascension. Now churches are looking to protect themselves by bringing back the military orders of religious soldiers, assassins, and (especially) Inquisitors - a move that could turn the country into a theocracy. The only way Falcio can put a stop to it is by finding the murderer. He has only one clue: a terrifying iron mask which makes the Saints vulnerable by driving them mad. But even if he can find the killer, he'll still have to face him in battle. 

And that may be a duel that no swordsman, no matter how skilled, can hope to win.

The story is told in first person by a very exhausted and weary Falcio Val Mond, who with his closest Greatcoat friends, swordsman Kest and archer Brasti, who again, or perhaps more properly, still, are trying to save the nation of Trista and install the dead king's young daughter, Aline, onto the throne.

I'm not one who likes or reads much fantasy, but I have been very caught up in each book of the Greatcoat series, this one included. The pace of Saints Blood is frantic and exhausting. There are heroes of the highest order, villains who are most evil and blood thirsty, and the people of the land who do not know which to follow..

I don't want to say much about this book as it might spoil some stories in the first two. When I picked up my first Greatcoat book, I had hoped for an excellent swashbuckling story. This entire series has given me more.

Saint's blood is 576 pages long and not one dull moment.

Book Review - Training Aces

I have always had an interest in the air war during the First World War. Aviation was so new, yet quickly adapted for war. The Wright Brothers made the first flight in 1903 and eleven years later, war broke out.

Training Aces tells the story of how Canada trained men for this new method of warfare.

When the First World War broke out, little was known about aviation. Even less was known about using the biplane as a new weapon. "Training Aces: Canada’s Air Training During the First World War" chronicles the development of military aviation in Canada that began in the years before the war when early flight experiments were made by the Canadians and Americans, including Alexander Graham Bell, William Wallace Gibson, John Douglas McCurdy, William McMullen, Glenn H. Curtiss and William Straith.

This book portrays the important role that Canada played in the success of the air training efforts before and during the First World War, and describes the establishment of two aviation companies in Toronto and Vancouver. The Canadian air training system played a significant role in the overall development of military aviation and had a major impact on the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of the Second World War.

I have read about the exploits of Canadian aces, Billy Bishop and Wop May and found it very interesting to read in this book the training they would have to go through. The author, Peter C. Conrad, lays out in great detail the advancements in training that were made during the war years.

Where the Wright Brothers had flown the very first heavier than air flight, and designed what they considered the first commercial plane, Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, thought their design was flawed and created a much safer and durable version. The first part of the book covers extensively Bell's work in this area.

One thing I really enjoyed was the amount of pictures that were in the book. They really brought the atmosphere of the period to the reader.

This is a must read for those with an interest in World War One and Canada's role in it.

Book Review - Ice Diaries by Jean McNeil

I have read a few books about travels to the Arctic but never one about the Antarctic. When I heard about Ice Diaries, by Jean McNeil, a writer from Nova Scotia, who was selected to travel to the Antarctic with a British scientific team, I knew I had to give it a read.

A decade ago, novelist and short story writer Jean McNeil spent a year as writer-in-residence with the British Antarctic Survey, and four months on the world’s most enigmatic continent — Antarctica. Access to the Antarctic remains largely reserved for scientists, and it is the only piece of earth that is nobody’s country. Ice Diaries is the story of McNeil’s years spent in ice, not only in the Antarctic but her subsequent travels to Greenland, Iceland, and Svalbard, culminating in a strange event in Cape Town, South Africa, where she journeyed to make what was to be her final trip to the southernmost continent.

In the spirit of the diaries of Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, McNeil mixes travelogue, popular science, and memoir to examine the history of our fascination with ice. In entering this world, McNeil unexpectedly finds herself confronting her own upbringing in the Maritimes, the lifelong effects of growing up in a cold place, and how the climates of childhood frame our emotional thermodynamics for life. Ice Diaries is a haunting story of the relationship between beauty and terror, loss and abandonment, transformation and triumph.

The book was very interesting but more eloquently written than I expected. At first I thought it would take away from the adventure of the story but as I read on found, the eloquence actually added to it.

McNeil not only tells the story of being in the Antarctic but of the voyage and the personalities involved getting there. In most chapters, she also tells the story of her growing up in poverty and abuse in Cape Breton. I was wondering how this related to her trip to the Antarctic but it all ties together in the end.

There are many types of ice. Who knew! Each chapter starts off with the name and description of an ice type. The pictures are so breathtaking. Just for that reason, I wish that I had read Ice Diaries in book form rather than on a Kobo.

Part travel diary, part biography, part a study on global warming, part adventure, Ice Diaries is a book worth reading.

Book Review - The Ontario Craft Beer Guide

The Ontario Craft Beer Guide, written by noted beer experts, Robin LeBlanc and Jordan St. John came out very recently and I have had a chance to read it.

The renaissance of craft beer that has swept North America over the past thirty years has transformed the Ontario landscape, leaving over two hundred breweries, both great and humble, dotting the province. The diversity of craft beers we now enjoy is unprecedented in history and dazzling to behold. For the growing number of people who find their interest piqued, the sheer selection of brews can be intimidating. 

The Ontario Craft Beer Guide gives readers, whether bright-eyed beginners or aficionados of the highest calibre, a dependable field guide to the beers of Ontario. Noted experts Jordan St. John (Lost Breweries of Toronto) and Robin LeBlanc (The Thirsty Wench) tell the stories of some of Ontario’s most notable breweries and provide expert ratings for nearly a thousand beers.

I found it to be very well-researched and written. The book starts with the top ten craft breweries in Ontario (excluding contract brewers) and follows this with history of brewing beer in Ontario.In side boxes in the history section, LeBlanc and St. John list each list their top five favorites for various beer styles, (ales, lagers, porters, saisons, etc.).

The next chapter is about the history of buying beer in Ontario and where beer can be purchased now, giving the pluses and minuses of each.

This is where the research comes in. LeBlanc and St John have written a short history of nearly every craft brewery, bricks and mortar and contract in Ontario, followed by a rating of their top selling beers. I found the short histories to be very interesting.

There is also a chapter on recommended craft brew pubs listing so many places I would like to try.

I found this book to be very interesting and a handy guide for the future. If you enjoy craft beer, you will enjoy this book.

Book Review - Mr. Hockey, My Story

When I was a young kid in the late fifties, early sixties, I was a die hard Toronto Maple Leaf fan. I ate, slept and breathed hockey and the Toronto Maple Leafs. My favorite hockey player though, was not a Leaf. It was Gordie Howe from the Detroit Red Wings.

He would have been around 32-34 at the time I started , but still he was pushing around players, scoring goals (in a time where 20 goal seasons were considered excellent, at 33 and 34 years old, he scored 33 and 38 goals respectively) he was older, could do it all and his birthday falls on the same day as mine. I don't think that helped sway me though, as Maple Leaf Bobby Pulford, also shares that birthday.

Anyways, he has a book out about his life, in and out of hockey, Mr. Hockey, My Story.

Big, skilled, tough on the ice, and nearly indestructible, Howe dominated both the sport and the record books like no one has before or since. Over an incredible six decades, the Hall of Famer had so many accomplishments that he set the record for the most records by any athlete ever in any sport. He also achieved the remarkable feat of playing for six years with his own two sons, Mark and Marty.

But Howe did not inspire generations of hockey players simply by rewriting the record books. When people talk about him, it’s the man they revere even more than the player. Despite his ferocity on the ice, Howe’s name has long been a byword for decency and generosity. A family man, a man of his word, a lifelong ambassador for the game, he is a true icon, and now he takes us through it all, from his Depression-era childhood and early obstacles through the ups and downs of his spectacular career, to his enduring marriage and close relationship with his children, to his thoughts on the game of hockey today.

It is an excellent read, telling his story of growing up in the depression on the prairies, to getting into the Red Wing organization, to meeting his wife Colleen, to the life of playing in the original six NHL, always fearing for your job, no matter how good you were, to finally being able to play with his two sons, Mark and Marty and bringing home the huge paycheck.

Looking back from an era where players are so well paid, and have so much control, the managers of the original six teams of the NHL, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, New York, Detroit and Chicago were brutal. Jack Adams of Detroit was no different. He always promised Howe that he was the best paid player in the league (Gordie explains how teams told their players to keep their playing contracts silent to the others) and later Howe found out that for his years of loyalty, he was not even the best paid player on his team.

No player has been more durable. He played five decades in two leagues, At 46 years old, he was chosen to play in a eight game series against the powerful Russian  all-star team in 1974. Gordie put in 3 goals and had 4 assists.

How durable was Howe? Back in the NHL at 52 years old, in the last playoff series before he retired for good, he scored a goal and added an assist.

Howe tells a great story of playing in that era, his injuries, the crappy equipment and the evolution of the game. I recommended this book to Teena, and to everybody else. Time to read about a true, humble, dedicated, nice guy hero!

Book Review - Triumph at Kapyong

I admit that I don't know much about the Korean War which was fought from June 1950 to July 1953 or Canada's role in it. This why Triumph at Kapyong interested me so much.

April 24th, 1951,was a lonely, moon-lit night in Korea. On a godforsaken hill, a few hundred surrounded Canadian soldiers waited for the fight of their lives to begin. Soon, Chinese communist troops in their thousands, swarmed around them, plunging straight towards the Korean capital, Seoul. These Canadians were all that blocked the way. This is the story of the first battle by Canada's first soldiers in the Korean War: the 2nd Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. These volunteers were straight from Central Casting: truck drivers, construction workers, kids just out of high school, and bored farm boys. Outnumbered and outgunned, this people's army of amateurs beat off some of the toughest troops on earth. This battle that's become a legend takes its name from a nearby peanut-sized village: Kapyong. It's become a mythic Canadian story, except this is mythology that is real.

The book is well-written and focuses on many on the main Canadian personalities who participated in the battle. It follows the "Princess Pats" unit from its miserable voyage across the Pacific from Canada, then across the hills, mountains and valleys as they headed towards the North Korean Border.

Author Dan Bjarnason does an excellent job of putting the reader into the middle of the major battle. He also does a great job in explaining why many Canadians are unaware of our participation on the Korean war. As it was a police action and not a declared war, many Canadians ignored what was going on over there, while it was even happening.

Bjarnson finishes up with a chapter on who won battle medalsand an excellent account of one man who didn't and the prejudiced reason behind it.

Kapyong is such a heroic Canadian victory, a story of hundreds standing off thousands, and this is an excellent account of the battle.

Book Review - Leafs '65, The Lost Toronto Maple Leafs Photograghs

I was at the library a couple of weeks ago and saw Leafs '65, The Lost Toronto Maple Leafs Photographs sitting on a shelf and knew I had to have a read. In the 60s as a young boy I breathed, ate and slept hockey, hoping that one day, I would become a Toronto Maple Leaf. You guessed it, I didn't and, in fact, don't even watch hockey any more.

In 2006, Lewis Parker, an artist and illustrator, was disposing of some of his belongings from years before in preparation of a move. He and his friend Dennis Patchett were going through boxes, and anything that was deemed not worth saving was relegated to a roaring fire. As Lewis passed him box after box, Dennis would pitch them in the blaze, one after the other. Suddenly, he caught the words on a file folder: "Leafs 1965." Inside were photo negatives and contact sheets. "I think we should keep these," said Dennis.

In the fall of 1965, artist Lewis Parker received a call from Maclean's magazine for a possible gig: accompanying a reporter to Peterborough to cover the Toronto Maple Leafs's preseason training camp. Lewis would spend some time with the team, and shoot stills that would run alongside the magazine piece. Though it was a career departure, he agreed, and the result of his time spent with the Stanley Cup-winning team during the training camp before their last Cup win are within these pages: beautiful, visually arresting photography that captures the comraderie and purity of a time in hockey and Canadian history not seen since. With complete, unfettered access to the team -- many of the players from remote farms in the country, and none with agents -- and GM Punch Imlach, Lewis Parker's photos (which, once the piece was cancelled by Maclean's, were never used) reflect a wistful moment in time before the hockey league changed forever.

Accompanied by acclaimed writer Stephen Brunt's essay on the '65 training camp -- based on interviews with team members -- Leafs '65 is the ultimate tribute to the Stanley Cup-winning Toronto Maple Leafs, to a forgotten era of hockey, and to a moment in Canadian history that will resonate with any reader.

I really enjoyed not only the pictures in the book but also Stephen Brunt's writing of that era of hockey. There are many serious and humorous stories about that training camp, the Leaf situation at the time. They had won the Stanley Cup three years in a row before losing to the Montreal Canadiens in the 1945-65 season. 4 games to 2. Punch Imlach said the leafs were only loaning out the Stanley Cup to the Canadiens for the season.

Imlach was a hard man to deal with. Not only was he the coach, but also the general manager in charge of signing the players. The book deals much with the negotiations between Punch, Bobby Baun (my all time favorite defenceman), and Carl Brewer.

One funny story that came out is a classic well-known one. Bobby Baun knew how to negotiate. Gordie Howe did not. Players never ever discussed salaries with each other so didn't know where the bar was set. The Detroit Red Wings manager, Jack Adams, always told Gordie Howe he was the highest paid player in the league and not to tell other players how much he made as "It would make the other players jealous." When Baun became a Red Wing in the 1968-69 season, Baun told Howe, who was making $45,000 a season at that time (before the big money contracts that came a few years later) that he was making $67,000, $22,000 more than Howe!That was probably the point where players decided to start sharing information and form a union.

The pictures are excellent, of course. It's fun to see candid shots of some of my favourite players but the two photos I enjoyed most don't even have a player in them. One is just a clutter of Leafs long johns hung up to dry. The other is of the hockey stick rake. Every stick was a CCM and not one had a curved blade.

It was a different era of hockey and this book does a great job of telling the story. It would be enjoyed by any hockey fan.