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Mom's office. About 1980 - likely at Churchill, Manitoba I'm a secondhand and rare internet bookseller in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. While I carry a general stock covering most topics, I specialize in books on horses, and you'll find a strong bias towards books on aviation, motorsports, Canadian history, and military history. This reflects my personal interests (as with most rare booksellers' specialties), and if such a motley selection seems curious to you, well... My parents were both Can-Am drivers for Team Renault in the 1960s, my mother was a bush pilot up until a couple of years ago, and I've had horses all my life. Carleen, sitting still for once... My daughter Carleen is almost 21. She's bright, noisy, brave, outgoing, and very dramatic. Quite the opposite of her mother. Back in the days when I had a storefront, Carleen loved to work at the cash register. I believe it made her feel as if she was running the store singlehandedly (not that I would deny that she was capable). She also enjoyed putting on impromptu performances of Shakespeare for the customers. Her favorite was Macbeth. Lady Macbeth and/or the witches particularly... picture a small, blonde, elfin girl bellowing "Out, damned spot! out, I say!", or, with great relish... "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble!!" As is rather obvious, I love books and animals. I've ended up with a lot of strays over the years. It's a great cliche to put up pictures of pets on websites, but any page about me would be utterly incomplete without mention of my flock. Yeti, in his movie star pose, out sunbathing on a bale. There are three bookstore cats, Yeti, Taz, and Luna. Yeti is movie star beautiful and a fierce mouser. He's 18 pounds, with feet like a small bear. And as you can see, he's quite photogenic. Taz has huge eyes, and a rather round tummy, and is seriously hyperactive. Even when he sleeps his tail twists and flickers constantly. Luna is a very recent arrival. She was a stray who was rescued by a friend of mine. Luna is short for "Lunatic". She's a wee bit strange, probably because she was a feral cat until almost a year old. Even so, she's extremely (EXTREMELY) friendly. The boys enjoy a good game of thunder cats (tumbling, rolling, and flinging themselves at each other, the furniture, the walls, etc with great glee) quite regularly in the middle of the night. The cats are actually very fond of the cardboard decor created by boxes of books everywhere. In fact they spend a lot of time popping in and out of empty boxes. Tristan, in a rare moment of relaxation. Another recent addition is my Border Collie, Tristan. He's smart, handsome, and very, very busy. The first time he saw Yeti, the big white cat, I think he immediately guessed that this must be a sheep. Yeti disabused him of that notion quickly and efficiently. Border Collies are amazingly smart dogs, and this makes them an interesting dog to have around. He loves to learn, and is very agile. We've worked on jumping obstacles, and I'm planning to do some agility training with him. He'd make a great flyball dog. However, I must admit that if I lived in town, he would be completely impossible. If there was ever a dog that needed to be on a farm with room for exercise, it'd have to be a Border Collie. Tango I have two horses of my own, and one boarder. Tango is an Oldenburg gelding, 17.1hh and almost 22 years old. I still ride him fairly regularly, and he's still as responsive and cheerful as he ever was. He's a bit of a doofus really. He loves attention, small children, treats, clicker training, dressage, and thievery. If you brush him in the right spot, his lips quiver, and he drools. If you let him see you pick up a clicker, he'll start to preen and pose instantly. King is an Arabian gelding. He'll be 3 in the spring of 2002. He's greenbroke, playful, and bratty. But one day he'll be my distance horse. He's currently 15.1hh, and may grow a bit yet. I suspect he'll end up being even more of a pet than Tango. Twister is a 3/4 Arabian, the same age as King. He's quite adorable, but has his moments of brattiness too (not as often, but much more unexpected). Twister came from Heaven Can Wait Equine Rescue in Cameron, Ontario. His owner, Jen, worships the ground he walks on, so he's a happy little guy. I'm a member (and webmaster) of the Ontario Competitive Trail Riding Association, and have started doing some distance riding this year. Eventually, I hope to ride King, my young horse, in competition. I began selling books in 1987 in an open shop in Newmarket, Ontario called Starlight Books. The store did very well, and I sold it late in 1992. It's still open and thriving under its new owners. Since then I've sold books by internet and mail order only on my own site, as well as on ABE and other sites. It suits me perfectly, as I actually enjoy my computer almost as much as my books. I now design and host websites for other booksellers, as well as acting as the site administrator for the IOBA, and running Littera Scripta (an information site for bibliophiles). I run several mailing lists - BooksCanada being the largest with about 350 members. With Taz on my shoulder, back when he was actually small enough. Sometimes I miss meeting and chatting with my customers face to face. However, there are compensations - on my wall is a world map with red flags on every country that I've had a customer. It's amazing how many places are flagged - Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium, England, Singapore, Israel, France, Germany, Taiwan, South Korea, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Lebanon, Argentina, Japan, Croatia, Brazil, etc. And that's just a start. I meet people from around the world every day... Twister Sky King Some of my favorite books: Mowat, Farley. Grey Seas Under. Non-fiction. Miscellany of events taken from the logs of an ocean-going salvage tug based in Halifax, NS. Huffaker, Clair. The Cowboy and the Cossack. A western that transcends the genre. About a cattle drive across Siberia in the late 1800s. Shute, Nevil. Trustee From the Toolroom. A tiny perfect story of a little gray man who does the impossible. Shute, Nevil. Pied Piper. WWII novel of an old man who walks across France at the beginning of the war accidentally rescuing children. Gallico, Paul. The Snow Goose. Short but lovely British novel of a snow goose, and the small boat owners who performed miracle rescues at Dunkirk. Yeats, William Butler. poems. Not much I can say about him except that he was the best. Zelazny, Roger. The Amber Chronicles. Fabulous, vividly visual fantasy series. The first five are the best. Smith, Linnell. ... And Miles to Go: The Biography of a Great Arabian Horse, Witez II. Non-fiction. Story of an Arabian horse born in Poland just before WWII. He was rescued by grooms who led him back and forth across Poland on foot during the German invasion. He went on to become a champion sire in the US in his old age. Davies, Robertson. Leaven of Malice. It's a gem. Van Herk, Aritha. The Tent-Peg. Strange but fascinating novel set in the Canadian arctic. King, Laurie R. The Beekeeper's Apprentice. A brilliant and irascible young woman runs into Sherlock Holmes after his retirement. Laurence, Margaret. The Diviners. Perhaps I like it because it reminds me so much of my own prairie childhood... Perry, Thomas. Metzger's Dog. A very quirky caper novel. Perry's books are all good. Hardy, Thomas. Jude the Obscure. It's dark and dreary and rather horrible. But also one of the most powerful novels I've ever read. Tey, Josephine. Brat Farrar. A lovely little British murder mystery in the classic style. Du Bois, William Pene. Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead. Okay, maybe it's not a favorite now. But I loved it when I was six. Appleton, Victor. Tom Swift series. Another childhood favorite. Goerner, Fred. The Search for Amelia Earhart. I don't know if it was actually good - but it was the first adult book I ever read. I was seven. I'm not sure how much I understood, but I could tell she was dashing (kinda like my Mom). King, Thomas. Medicine River. And if you can't find his books, just listen to him on CBC Radio in "The Dead Dog Cafe". It's wonderful. MacGill-Eain, Somhairle (MacLean, Sorley). Reothairt is Contraigh Taghadh de Dhain 1932-72 (Spring tide and Neap tide: Selected Poems 1932-72) My Gaelic is pretty bad, but this collection has facing page translations by the author. And they are lovely poems in either language. Cope, Wendy. Serious Concerns. More poetry. Goofy, but brilliantly pointed. And very funny. Maxwell, Jenny. The Blacksmith. British mystery novel. A bit surreal, with a remarkably fascinating central character. About a woman blacksmith in England who has neighbour problems. Kinsale, Laura. For My Lady's Heart. Historical romance written in Middle English. Kinsale's books are not your standard romance fare.

The view from my office window around the end of November.