Crossing Canada by train gave me three reasons to hate Calgary

We called it The VIA-Rail, 50 Canadians, Ocean-to-Ocean, Book-Tour Extravaganza.  By using voodoo magic, my book publisher, Harper-Collins Canada, had worked a deal with VIA-Rail to send me and my artist-photographer-wife, Sheena Fraser McGoogan, back and forth across the country by train to promote 50 Canadians Who Changed the World.  All I had to do was…

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Ten thumbs up at Canada’s History

We had ten thumbs up at Canada’s History magazine. But that classic photo ended up on someone else’s camera. Here, as you can see, we registered four. Mark Reid, editor of Canada’s History, and Our Hero are signaling joy and satisfaction. Today’s the day The Book turns up in bookstores: Oct. 15 = Pub Date…

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Notes from an upper bunk while rocketing towards Winnipeg

–> At Hornepayne, while the train took on fresh water, we got out, strolled around, took photos of ourselves with The Canadian (21 cars) and also of the old brick train station, its boarded windows decorated with art. At Longlac, a site well-known to fur-trade voyageurs of the 18th and 19th centuries, we rocketed beneath…

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Cash in your chips, take a sharp left, and hit the beach

Gotta love an article that turns up in today’s Globe and Mail. It’s all about turning failure into success, and in it we find Our Hero talking about 50 Canadians Who Changed the World. “In researching my new book, I came across all kinds of creative ways to respond to failure. The revelations included: 1.…

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Happy Canada Day . . . en francais aussi!

One of the great things about VIA Rail’s Destinations magazine is that it speaks both official languages. In French, the “extrait exclusif” included in the July-August issue (see previous post) begins as follows . . . POUR ECRIRE 50 CANADIANS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD (A PARAITRE CET AUTOMNE), LE CELEBRE AUTEUR CANADIEN KEN MCGOOGAN A…

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Hear ye! Hear ye! Modest contest announced

Around our house, the most anticipated book of the year is 50 Canadians Who Changed the World. HarperCollins Canada will publish it in October. The author? Mais, c’est moi! The jacket copy promises an “astonishing array of activists, humanitarians, musicians and writers, comedians, visionaries, scientists, and inventors, all of whom are transformative figures who have…

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50 Canadians Who Changed the World

So this is what it looks like, the most anticipated book of the year . . . at least around our house. Early on, I decided to make things harder for myself rather than easier — and also more fun. I decided to include only those Canadians born after 1900. End result, more than two…

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