New Brunswick Author Portal

Graeme  R.  Smith
Categories: Male Authors - Anglophone Authors - Novelists - Acadian Coast - Southeast

Source: Author / auteur

Biography

Born: RAF Wegburg, West Germany. But I was only there six months, so it probably doesn't count :-). Since then: Many places – some in the UK, but since I was forty-one, Canada. Toronto for over twenty years, and now Kent County, New Brunswick.

Working history? Some time as a student Psychiatric Nurse, over forty years in Information Technology – now retired. Writing history? The very first book with my name on the cover was co-written with a long-time online gaming partner and published by the game company in 2008. The first book with just my name on the cover was published in 2012. Since then? Depending on when you're reading this, well, let's say multi-published - by Canadian traditional publisher BWL Publishing Inc. I thought about trying to come up with a really cool pen name, but I decided to take the easy way out – Graeme Smith. It's my real name. Or maybe it isn't – maybe it's my keyboard's name, and I'm just an artificial intelligence, buzzing round a massive (or in my case, very tiny (blush)) computer's microchips :-). And while there are famous Graeme Smiths, believe it or not – there aren't many of us – er me – on Amazon. So, there it is, and here I am. Me – Graeme Smith – Fantasy author. Time was, I worked on a psychiatric ward. Now I write about people who believe in magic and dragons, and who live where the folk who don't are the ones who need help :-).

How has New Brunswick influenced your work?

Living here has quite genuinely changed my life – so likely my writing as well. Is it because my life here is quieter? Absolutely not! My wife and I wake up, and every day is forty-eight hours of non-stop life. And by that, I mean “living” – not the nine-to-five existence of work. And being able to “live” as opposed to being able to exist in that nine-to-five, brings a new perspective. To live in New Brunswick's fresh, clean air, among people who are real and alive as well? That makes a great deal of difference indeed. Being where I am in New Brunswick – the Acadian Coast – has sparked an interest in links to Louisiana, which is why one of my writing projects is set in New Orleans.

My publisher selected me to write the New Brunswick volume of one of their Canadiana sets – a book from each province, each by a Canadian author, all with a common theme. This set was Canadiana Paranormal [and the book is] Twice Born. While it is indeed set in and around mid-1800s New Brunswick for its main story, [it] has Italy in it, and the kind of journey many people took from where they were to the new 'here' of Canada and New Brunswick back then. Plus, it also has elements of Mi'kmaq myth and language, which was certainly a research and growth journey of my own :-).

What do you consider to be the highlight of your career so far?

I was first published by a house now closed (as a result of the owner's ill health). I didn't initially know what to do with the titles I had with that publisher (I had a second publisher with other titles). When I mentioned what was happening, my second publisher said, “give them to us!” I asked them why they would want them. They said, “Because they're by you.” And that was all they needed. It was, I confess, an amazing feeling.

Featured Publication

Twice Born (2025)

Excerpt: FRIULI, ITALY – September 19th, 1835 There should have been thunder. There should have been lightning tearing the skies and the very heavens weeping. There should have been portents and comets and demons of fire riding skeletal horses of ice-white bone—but if there had been, this would have been a movie. Probably with very artistic lens flare. So, there wasn’t. What there was, was a small house. A small house in a small glen in the Southern Limestone Alps of Friuli, Italy. And yes. Friuli is a long, loooong way from Ne… but no. We’ll get to that. And get there. But not yet. Spoilers, OK? Ahem. Where was I? Oh. Right. There was a house, small and lost in the little glen. There was a single window casting candlelight into the falling evening. Which was exactly how it was supposed to be. What was to come next? Not so pretty. But that’s how it is, when you do what I do. You have to start somewhere nobody will ever miss, if you’re going to make it different.

Source(s): Author.