Novels by Stephen C R Lovejoy
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I am quite proud of my cover art. They are each composites of scenes and people in the book. I made them myself, and they took months to perfect. All images used are either mine, public domain or licensed to my use at a price. Art, like music, is too available on the internet. Artists should be rewarded for their work.
I began to write Freebird aboard our sailboat, Nightnoise, which we lived aboard for a number of years. When we got on with the Canadian Coast Guard as lightkeepers, the opportunity of a reliable portion of each day I could devote to writing facilitated making it through this first effort.
Having done some research into writing, I purposely set out to write in the first person, as I had learned it was more difficult. The book was written long hand, then torturously typed out (anyone who has seen my hand writing will understand where the torture lay) on a Zenith PC/XT computer by my wife, Ruth.
A million lessons were taken, books bought on punctuation and language rules, charts and maps poured over for accuracy, and much fact checking was performed when we were on vacation from the remote light stations. Notwithstanding, in a pre-Google world, I’m sure there are a few statements that will be looked upon askance by current day Google wielding zealots!
Freebird makes no pretenses at grandeur, and simply hopes to entertain you on a rainy weekend when you’d rather be having an adventure. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it !
Without further ado ... here are the opening chapters ...
Tillicum was written at a number of Lighthouses along the west coast of British Columbia. Further writing and editing occurred on our sailboat, Nightnoise, and in Cobble Hill and Crofton areas. Cover art was eventually completed between Saltspring Island and Medicine Hat.
While writing the first novel, I made assumptions about who my audience would be. There is probably too much sailing jargon, and some rather pedantic sailing information. In Tillicum I try to gentle this obsession and add a glossary of terms at the end to help out.
The Tree is my work in progress. It leaves the sailing realm and takes place from Alberta's hills and mountains straight across to Canada's eastern most province, Newfoundland. There are a fair number of motorcycles in the adventure, true to my experience.
The adventure surrounds a family, their family tree, and strange goings on around an ancient oak tree in a one moose town in remote Newfoundland.