runnerland

Maybe because it’s been major birthday season around here - my son, my brother, my best friend, and my birthmother all in one week (!) - and I haven’t had time for blogging, or maybe just because it’s raining, today seemed like the day to put up a short description of the book. This according to the publisher:

Peter’s just a normal teenager living a normal life — until his father suddenly dies and his world is turned upside down. Already teetering on the brink of despair, Peter goes over the edge when he accidentally discovers that he was adopted. Feeling betrayed, overwhelmed, and confused, Peter runs away from home and goes underground, living with other street children in a squat ruled by the creepy yet charismatic Dekman. The constant panhandling soon bores him, and Peter finds himself blacking out, escaping to a strange subconscious world he calls Runnerland. As the pressures on the street and in the squat mount, the borders between Runnerland and the real world begin to blur, forcing Peter to make some hard choices and seek answers to the questions he’s been avoiding. But can he escape Dekman’s cult-like gang? And if so, where will he go? Cautionary without being demeaning, Runnerland portrays life on the street with chilling accuracy.

And from the back of the book…

Life will always find a way to catch you, no matter how fast you run…

He’d never seen it coming. Not even close. It was like something out of a movie-of-the-week. Or a nightmare. But which version of his life was the nightmare, and which was real? Was his former life with its lies the nightmare and had he finally woken up? Or was he in the middle of a nightmare now?

It’s weird the way life works sometimes. One minute, everything’s normal: waking up; going to school; hanging out with family and friends. Then - without a hint of warning - change happens. And things go very, very wrong.

Life has just decided to shake things up a bit for Peter Weir. Suddenly, his father is dead, and Peter finds himself on the run. His mission? To find an answer to the question he found tucked away in his father’s desk drawer. To discover a truth that has remained hidden from him for far too long.

That’s a line from UK acid-country-house band A3 (you know them - they sing that song “Woke Up This Morning” that’s the theme song of The Sopranos). I was originally going to use it (“I’m down…”) as the line at the beginning of the book. But common sense prevailed (using lyrics without permission is generally considered about as savvy as swimming right after eating) and I ended up nuking the epigraphs altogether.

But - fun! - Google pointed me to a discussion raging on an A3 fan forum over the line, begun by a shadowy publishing figure who worked on the original manuscript. Apparently I’m a very careful listener. Must be the earbuds. But the big question is: Who could this shadowy figure be? Who? Who?

Here’s a song that’s featured in the book. The video is soooooo trippy… (By the way, the lead singer of Iron Maiden - Bruce Dickinson - is the host of a good metal show on BBC’s Radio Six, which you can stream.)

 What music gets you writing?

I’m not sure how I feel about this - the book is currently No. 7 on the Hot New Releases list over at on-line bookseller Amazon.ca, in the category of Death & Dying. I’m super-pleased it’s there at all, of course, but I find it hard to think of Runnerland as a book about Death & Dying. Certainly there’s a death in it - on the first page, in fact. And there’s lots about how Runner comes to terms with death. (Hey, a plot synopsis would be useful here at some point…) But is it a book about death ‘n’ dying?

Or maybe every book is ultimately about death and dying?

Currently reading: Larklight

Currently watching: Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star

Currently listening to: DJ Dangermouse’s The Grey Album

Well, actually this is the book’s second public appearance, not the first, but tomorrow I get to present Runnerland to a room of booksellers and librarians at the Western Book Reps Assocation book fair breakfast (phew!).

Good news: Everyone who comes gets a free copy of the advance version of the book
Bad news: It’s at 7:30 in the morning!

There’s a line in the book (I’m paraphrasing) where Peter says - ruefully - that you can say what you like about panhandling, but - at least at the squat where he lives - it sures gets you up and going in the morning. I feel the same way about publishing…

Have to go iron the shirt for tomorrow now because if I leave it for morning I’m liable to burn my tongue or some other body part on it; I shouldn’t be allowed to operate complicated machinery like an iron before noon.

Watched the new Miami Vice on the ferry on the way over this morning. What a weird, nonsensical movie. Exciting, but weird. And Moby on the soundtrack?! Better than Jan Hammer, I guess, but not by much!

Ack! The iron’s smoking!

The finished book arrived today (okay, I finally opened my mail today), and I’m so excited I could fall over. I probably will.

I’m so excited I’m playing the soundtrack to Casino Royale very, very loud right now because I am supah-suave.

The thing I hadn’t thought about is that the publisher, Raincoast, is a big believer in using recycled paper for its books. Every book gets an environmental audit from Markets Initiative, and here’s mine. It makes me feel a little less guilty about cutting down trees to make books…

By printing Runnerland on paper made from 100% recycled fibre (40% post-consumer) rather than virgin tree fibre, Raincoast Books has made the following ecological savings:

• 22 trees
• 1,987 kilograms of greenhouse gases (equivalent to driving an average North American car for 4.5 months)
• 16 million BTUs (equivalent to the power consumption of a North American home for two months)
• 25,040 litres of water (equivalent to nearly one Olympic sized pool)
• 745 kilograms of solid waste (equivalent to nearly one garbage truck load)

(Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defense Paper Calculator.)

Here’s a link to a story I wrote, like a year ago, about this very thing. Back before it was my - yes, my! - book…