Colombo-Plus

Sophia Writ Large / Sophia Writ Small is the title of a new collection of poems composed by Ruth Colombo. It is a long book for it consists of seven-two poems that explore Wisdom ancient, modern, and in-between.

In its pages, Sophia meets Pallas Athene and suffers Lilith’s screed against wisdom. She celebrates Hagia Sophia and Tamar’s victory over Judah. She scolds Carl Jung for lack of wisdom in his Answer to Job. She extolls Hypatia, the first female astronomer, and mourns Jephtha’s daughter who, like Iphigenia, was sacrificed by her father. Sophia bears witness to the indifferences of the stars, to man’s struggle to make a difference, and to woman’s struggle to make up the difference.

Sophia Writ Large / Sophia Writ Small has been published in a trade paperback edition by Colombo & Company. ISBN 10-1-894540-54-9. 350 pages. $35.00

Canadian Hauntings

John Robert Colombo’s latest publication The Big Book of Canadian Hauntings is another jumbo-sized collection of told-as-true ghost stories told by Canadians past and present. It measures 7 inches by 10 inches and comes to 536 pages. It offers first-person accounts of the appearances (and disappearances!) of ghosts and spirits as well as considerations and discussions of their effects on observers. Some of the scary tales are reprinted from newspapers and periodicals of the past, but the majority are based on verbatim accounts preserved in the words of the witnesses themselves.

So whether you believe in ghosts, spirits, spooks, spectres, or poltergeists, or not at all, after reading these narratives, contributed by Canadians from all walks of life, you definitely won’t be indifferent to them!

The Big Book of Canadian Hauntings has been published by Dundurn Press. ISBN 978-1-55488-449-0. $29.95

“Haunted Toronto” and “Spirits of Canada” were the titles of two public talks that I gave at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, the country’s largest annual fair and exhibition. The hour-long talks were held at 3:00 p.m., August 27 and September 3, 2009, and the venue was the Courtyard Stage, Heritage Court, Direct Energy Building. All 150 seats were filled for the first talk, 125 for the second – better ratios of attendance to seats than could boast former U.S. President Bill Clinton earlier in the week!

I was introduced by Mike Filey, broadcaster and columnist and compiler of books of vintage municipal photographs. CNE Archives sponsored the public talks as part of its exhibit titled “The CNE After Dark” which consisted of archival materials with captions related to the Exhibition’s “haunted heritage.” Also held were popular walking tours of the haunted sites on the Exhibition grounds. Read the rest of this entry »

The highlight of the Summer of 2009 was the opportunity to deliver one of the keynote addresses at Worldcon. What a weighty honour! Background: This year’s Worldcon was held in Montreal, August 6-10, 2009. The full title of the event was “Anticipation: The 67th World Science Fiction Convention.” The Palais des congrès de Montréal served as the venue.

For readers unfamiliar with the world of fandom, Worldcons are annual conferences run by fans for fans who, in turn, invite professional, semi-professional, and non-professional science-fiction personalities to be their guests and to participate – to speak, to read, to moderate panels, etc. The total enrollment for this year’s event was said to be about 3,500 fans.

Quebec (oops, Québec!) was well represented; Elisabeth Vonarburg served as guest of honour, and Julie Czerneda served as master of ceremonies. English Canadians who attended in one capacity or another include (to name a handful at random) Lorna Toolis, Guy Gavriel Kay, Candas Jane Dorsey, Cory Doctorow, Glenn Grant, Peter Halasz, Candas Jane Dorsey, Taral Wayne (fan guest of honour), Carolyn Clink, and Robert J. Sawyer.

There were four keynote addresses. I was asked to deliver the one for the academic track of programming, and did so. The event took place between eleven o’clock and noon, Sunday, August 9, 2009. By my estimate, it was attended by 1% of the total attendance at Worldcon. I spoke without notes, though I did make use of a script when I had occasion to quote – for instance, from the diary of Mackenzie King (if you can imagine!).

“Up, Up, and About” was the title of the talk. First, it alludes to Superman’s “Up, up, and away!” Second, it mimics “out and about” (which Americans hear as “oot and aboot”). Third, it suggests “being up and about,” i.e., doing things. For fifty minutes I reminisced about my introduction to fantastic literature in the late 1940s and early 50s, and recalled my youthful paranoia (Cold War, Atom Bombs, etc.) that the country was being invaded by foreign armies.

In light of civic and national disintegration, I discussed the genesis of Other Canadas and Years of Light and other books that I wrote or compiled. I probed the psychology of the anthologist (completist vs. theorist). I ended with an informal quiz based a work-in-progress (modelled on my “dictionaries of quotations”) that amounted to identifying the speakers of “characteristic remarks of superbeings.”

Rob & JR at the Worldcon         [Photo: Christine Mak]

For the invitation to speak, I must thank the organizers and especially Rob Sawyer. I will long remain grateful for him for recommending me and encouraging me to accept. He introduced me with gusto in terms that may only be described as “extravagant.” I know Rob to be an author of fantastic fiction; I now know him as a writer of fantastic non-fiction as well! Read the rest of this entry »

I am quite often asked, “What are you working on now?” I find that question to be a difficult one to answer, mainly because at any one time I have half a dozen projects in the works. So I usually refer to the project that is currently on my computer screen. Right now I am checking the proofs on screen of the big book that the Dundurn Group will be publishing this fall. It is indeed a book that is big, not only because it is called “The Big Book of Canadian Hauntings,” but because it is the size of a small city’s telephone directory. Indeed, it offers the reader 175,000 words! It also offers over 100 told-as-true stories of ghosts and spirits, eerie experiences, and weird-and-wonderful places! It will be available well before Halloween. Here is an advance look at its front and back covers.

Every once in a while one of my books receives a review that convinces me of two facts. The first fact is that the reviewer knows what he is talking about. The second fact is that the author knows what he is writing about.

These two facts are in evidence in the following review which I am reprinting in its entirety. It was written by Daniel Kolos and it appears as “Working, Whistling, and Words” in the latest issue of The Leaf, a semi-annual chapbook publication devoted to the literary arts, Spring 2009. The theme of the issue happens to be Work. It is a publication of The Brucedale Press, Box 2259, Port Elgin, ON N0H 2C0.

Daniel Kolos is an exuberant and knowledgeable writer, influenced by the Hungarian poet George Faludy, trained in the discipline of Egyptology, whose latest book is a collection of poems titled From One Child to Another (Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007).

Whistle While You Work: A Chestomathy by John Robert Colombo reviewed for The Leaf by Daniel Kolos

John Robert Colombo’s reputation as the Master Gatherer belies the true extent of both his talents and his experience. He is, first and foremost, a poet who had a break when the publishers of The Tamarack Review wanted a young editor to bring a new generation of poets into Canada’s literary limelight. Colombo brought us George Jonas, Margaret Atwood, and others. He has continued to write poetry and still publishes one poetry book a year. Read the rest of this entry »