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| GOLD MEDAL winner of the 2009 Independent Publisher Awards (IPPY) Best Fiction in Western Canada region |
Ed Zaruk Author & Bush Pilot Historian
North Western Ontario has always held a special place in my life. I remember my grandfather telling stories about the bush pilots who flew float planes from Kenora's Second Street dock where Parsons Airways and Ontario Central Airlines were based. I dreamed of being a bush pilot.
As my life unfolded, the opportunity to become a pilot escaped me, but I did work for OCA at the Redditt maintenance facility in the final years that Barney's Ball Lake Lodge was in operation. When mercury pollution shut down the livelihood of most everyone on the Grassy Narrows Reserve, closure of the Redditt facility followed.
Returning to British Columbia, I settled in my wife, Marian's, hometown of Quesnel, and raised a family. As my sons worked their way through highschool I became interested in writing and one winter decided to write a novel. It took ten years to finish. Proudly displaying the manuscript to my wife, I told her Iwas going to send it off to a publisher. Knowing how bad a speller I was she insisted on reading it first. After correcting the spelling and punctuation, she moved on  to suggest content changes and became my resident editor.
We have collaborated on five works, of which Altar and Throne is the first to be published. Editors, agents, and authors at the Jackson Hole Writers Conference taught us the need to develop character, and my wife showed me how to turn emotion into print. This book is truly as much hers as mine. I was honoured to be invited to sell Altar and Throne alongside authors such as Kyle Mills and Craig Johnson at the Sunday book fair for the conference this year. We both hope you find it an engaging read. Photo- Author and his wife at Ball Lake |