I'm a Canadian writer, now retired and ready to get the ideas that have been rattling around in my head down on paper. My writing interests are mystery and science fiction. The mysteries are more "what happened?" than "whodunnit?". Science Fiction covers a wide spectrum. Hard science fiction is one extreme, pure fantasy is the other. I'm a fan of both. Captain Nemo and Harry Potter are side-by-side on my bookshelf, but when I write I lean towards the hard stuff - the real world, but with a twist.

The novels listed below are available from Amazon (for Kindle), Kobo, Barnes & Noble and other e-retailers in multiple formats. I've added the publishers' own sites for those who wish to go straight to the source (where I make more money).

Instead of the usual blurb, I've attached a short paragraph explaining the origins of each story but with this warning: I'm not always sure myself. The plots drift in unbidden, brought on by music, driving and listening to long, boring lectures on topics I don't care about.
          Pretending to do something important
DARIAN BRIDGE - 2024   www.clublighthousepublishing.com
(also in paperback from Amazon)

This one began after watching a Youtube of Vladimir Troshin's  Moscow Nights with images of 1950s Moscow in the background. I always imagined 50s Russia as a grey depressing place, but what did the citizens feel about it at the time? They'd survived three versions of hell: the revolution, Stalin and finally Hitler. Now conditions were improving and they were a world power. They must have felt proud of their accomplishments.

This story does not take place in Russia. It's about a man whose generation survived bad times and is proud of its accomplishments, even if the modern world seems to have forgotten.
HERDING CLOUDS - 2022  www.clublighthousepublishing.com
(also in paperback from Amazon)
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I often thought about setting a traditional murder mystery in a retirement home. That was the intention when I started this one. Funny how the stories take on a life of their own after I start writing. Still involves a retirement home. Still involves a murder.
THE MAISONIST, A GHOST STORY - 2018  www.clublighthousepublishing.com
 (also in paperback from Amazon)

A ghost story this time instead of my usual sf. I enjoy a good ghost story even though the only ghosts I believe in are the ones that exist between our ears. That doesn't make them any less interesting - or dangerous.
KREOTOPIA - 2016   www.clublighthousepublishing.com
 (also in paperback from Amazon)

I've no idea how the nauseating smell of fuel oil transformed into the image of happy little bugs harvesting the stuff from plants, but that that was this story's starting point. I was on a  train at the time, so I was free to let my mind wander without killing someone in a head-on car crash. The astronomical cost of high-tech research wormed its way into the story later.

Finding a planet that supports life should be cause for celebration. Finding a planet that supports intelligent life should inspire euphoria (or panic, depending on the kind of movies you watch), but sometimes reality refuses to humour our preconceived notions.
ICE YACHTING UNDER A LETHAL STAR - 2015   www.clublighthousepublishing.com
(also in paperback from Amazon)

I don't want to live forever. I do want to know how it will all end. I'm assuming that there will be an end.

Earth is supposed to remain inhabitable for another 500 million years. The baked rock that remains will be consumed by the expanding Sun in about 5 billion years. Neither of those time limits need apply to us. We could leave this planet for a cooler one. We could even learn to move our planet.

Whatever approach we take, it would be wise to remember that although we prize ourselves highly, Fate doesn't give a damn.
TRANSCENDING VENUS - 2013     www.clublighthousepublishing.com

'Absent in the Spring' is a novel by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) about a woman stranded for days at a desert railway station. With too much time on her hands she begins to dissect her own life. An astronaut stranded in space would also have too much time to think. Interesting concept, but I couldn't form it into a story.

I was also struggling with a story about a less-than-inspired university student, his unfortunate love interest and her annoying sister. I find it difficult to write about a character I don't like. The student had a professor who was never intended to be an active character. He was old, stuffy and opinionated. Him, I liked.

I combined the two stories and made the professor the main character. Everything flowed.
STEAMDRAGON - 2009     futurespasteditions.com

Another story that had to be rewritten (twice) because I found the original protagonist to be a pain (and my wife said it was boring).

I'm fascinated by the reasons that things go wrong. Engineer J Edward Anderson published some laws of engineering. One that I recognize from experience is that there must be continuity from conception through to completion. Unless at least one person guides a project from beginning to end that project will wander off in an unexpected direction.

What better way to explore a project that goes off the rails than with the construction of a steam locomotive?
RUBY ON THE NORTH SHORE - 2002     futurespasteditions.com

I like the title. The publisher doesn't. Based on the number of sales, she is correct. Another note: the cover shows a naked women drowning in seaweed. There is no such event in the story. I think that the publisher chose it to offset the bland title.

What would life be like for the first settlers of a distant planet? Imagine that your parents' generation had built a starship, survived the trip, carved the beginnings of a new life out of bare rock and then said "Done the hard part. Your turn. Don't screw up." Feel intimidated?

AFTER THE POLOTHIANS - 1997     futurespasteditions.com

Started this one on an ocean liner while crossing the Pacific back in 1974. Even in my optimistic youth I knew that it wasn't working. Years later I made a couple of attempts at Steamdragon (not the final version) to gain experience before trying again.

Note: best cover of the lot. No idea who did it.

Haven't you ever wanted to know what the future of the world will look like? What will the land you're living on right now look like in a hundred, a thousand, a hundred million years? What will people be like? What if you make a short trip into the future and find ... no-one?