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Author copies! Hats off to HarperCollins Canada for making this paperback edition a reality despite the COVID logjam. The hardcover did so well at $33 that they produced this trade paperback, suddenly available in better bookstores and online for $20. And bonus: the back cover carries some wonderful quick hits from reviewers. You can check 'em out here:
By
Mike Merritt (The Herald / Scotland)
OVERLOOKING
the sea, with views of neighbouring islands, it is enough to inspire a spirit
of adventure in any youngster. Now the childhood Orkney home which helped to
inspire the man described as the greatest Arctic explorer of his age is set to
undergo a multimillion pound restoration as a visitor centre in his honour. Dr
John Rae discovered the final stretch of the North West Passage and the fate of
the Franklin Expedition. However,
his achievements were airbrushed out of history.
Supporters
the 19th century surgeon – including explorers Michael Palin and Ray Mears –
acquired the Hall of Clestrain on Orkney’s south coast in 2016, after a 20-year
campaign to negotiate its purchase.
They
plan to restore the house “to its former glory” and open it to the public, as
well as making the area around it a visitor attraction. Orkney Islands councillors
have now approved funding towards a feasibility works project.
Councillors
at a special general meeting gave their backing to a request from the John Rae
Society for grant assistance of 50 per cent of the total eligible costs, up to
a maximum sum of £14,730, meaning the full funding package of £29,460 has now
been secured.
The
society is contributing £10,830 of its own resources towards the project and
has been awarded £3,900 of grant funding support from the Architectural
Heritage Fund. The feasibility work will focus on developing a business plan,
options appraisal and a conservation report.
A
commissioned feasibility study completed in August 2019 concluded that the
project, with an estimated project cost of around £3 million can become a
financially viable visitor centre and community resource. John Rae Society
president Andrew Appleby said: “The development of The Hall of Clestrain, John
Rae’s birthplace and family home, has been such a long-awaited ambition. It’s
been a long road this far.
“We
have saved the building by making it wind and water tight. Now we want to turn
it into a world-class tourist attraction and tell the story of this remarkable man and the Arctic in
general.” A
service in honour Dr Rae took place in Westminster Abbey in 2015 - helping to
right a historical wrong stretching back more than 200 years.
Dr
Rae, who was born in Orphir in 1813, discovered the last link of the North West
Passage and the fate of the Franklin Expedition. However, his achievements were
airbrushed from history after he reported that the Franklin Expedition
survivors been forced to resort to cannibalism.
But
through the efforts of the John Rae Society, Northern Isles MP Alistair
Carmichael saw a plaque honouring him unveiled at Westminster Abbey in 2014. Dr
Rae’s achievements are said to rank above all 19th-century Arctic explorations. . . .
Ken
McGoogan author of the book ‘Fatal Passage’ featuring John Rae has said:
“Because of John Rae, Clestrain is the most important heritage building in
Orkney, and one of the most significant in all of Scotland. It
will make a spectacular visitor centre.”
(Click link in byline to read the complete story.)
For nineteen months, while in her mid-twenties,
“Chasing Lemurs is a riveting journey into one
of our planet’s most imperiled biodiversity hotspots. With the irrepressible
spirit and sure voice of a hardened traveler, McGoogan exposes the physical and
mental toll that remote scientific field work can take upon the scientist, and
how moments of epiphany in the wild are made all the richer for it. The
adventure of a lifetime. Recommended for all primate fans, and anyone who has
ever dreamed of studying animals in the wild.”
–Andrew Westoll, author of The Chimps of Fauna
Sanctuary
"Keriann McGoogan weaves a gritty and
truthful tale that immerses readers in the remote, dangerous, and
uncomfortable world of expeditionary fieldwork.
The intense narrative reveals the wonders of a lost world and
the sacrifices made in the name of research. Her confessions of
self-doubt and uncertainty will resonate with anyone facing life's
challenges or choosing to take the road less traveled."
–Jill Heinerth, author of Into The
Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver
“Keriann McGoogan has given us a fascinating
adventure story that is also a superb travelogue, field guide, and
social portrait of one of the world's least-known, yet truly exotic
countries. A reader could hardly ask for a more encompassing overview of
Madagascar or a clearer description of its increasingly threatened ecology.
Importantly, the reader is left with the terrible realization of how badly
humans have treated our fellow primates -- the many and intriguingly various
species of lemurs, who are endemic to this African island. McGoogan’s 's book
is fundamentally a call to action to protect these complex and endangered
creatures, and she has succeeded admirably.”
–Geoff White, Canadian chargé d'affaires to
Madagascar, 2010-2013
“An honest and suspenseful account of the challenges of wildlife research, Keriann McGoogan’s book shatters all the romantic illusions of doing science in a remote tropical location. Her story is a must read for any wildlife enthusiast considering embarking on a career in the field, or for any conservation-minded individual curious about the difficulties field researchers sometimes endure. McGoogan rose to the seemingly insurmountable challenges and persevered. As a result, she has made substantial strides in what has become a very rewarding career in both primate research and conservation”.
“An honest and suspenseful account of the challenges of wildlife research, Keriann McGoogan’s book shatters all the romantic illusions of doing science in a remote tropical location. Her story is a must read for any wildlife enthusiast considering embarking on a career in the field, or for any conservation-minded individual curious about the difficulties field researchers sometimes endure. McGoogan rose to the seemingly insurmountable challenges and persevered. As a result, she has made substantial strides in what has become a very rewarding career in both primate research and conservation”.
–Dr. Brian Keating, presenter/producer
greatBIGnature.com & owner of goingwild.org
(Chasing Lemurs, published by Prometheus Books of New York, will be released everywhere on April 14.
Sounds dangerously radical, I know. But that,
I'm afraid, is today's burning question. It surfaces here because a fabulous writers' conference
is coming to Toronto and I play a small part in it.
The annual gathering of the Creative Nonfiction
Collective will take place at the University of Toronto (Emmanuel College) from
May 8 to 10. Born in the Wild West (OK, Banff) some 16 years ago, the CNFC will
attract writers from across the land.
The Friday night keynote speaker is Ian Brown,
whose books include Sixty and The Boy in the Moon. Trust me, he is one heckuva speaker. And the program is jam-packed with CNF writers of all kinds -- memoirists, essay-writers, narrative historians -- as well as a public relations consultant, a
publisher-agent, an online marketing strategist, you name it. Here, check it out.
As for F*cking With Narrative, well, that’s what we'll explore in my Saturday workshop. When research-based story-telling drives you towards third-person omniscience, suddenly you find yourself facing stop signs and roadblocks. You can’t
do this, you can’t do that.
Narrative is f*cking with you.
Or maybe your story
cries out for scene but the biographical record presents nothing. Nada. What to do? No worries. These problems have technical solutions. In this craft-oriented
workshop, we’ll look at best strategies, among them transparency, implied
stream of consciousness, multiple flashbacks, and The Rolling Now. We’ll do
some on-the-spot freewriting. Master these moves, it says here, and you’ll be break-dancing with story. Yup, you’ll be f*cking with narrative.
Neil Ferguson noted: "A visit to the book shop in the Skara Brae visitor centre [in Orkney] led to the discovery of Fatal Passage and I suppose it all mushroomed from there. . . . My imagination was kindled by reading of Ken McGoogan's journey from Gjoa Haven to the site on Boothia Peninsula where John Rae first saw that the strait remained free of ice for part of the year and that King William Island was an island and not part of Boothia Peninsula."
The editors note that "Neil booked a place on a Hurtigruten curise this August so as to be able to stand on the same place Rae did when he identified the last 'missing piece' of the puzzle of the North West Passage."
And Nick Collis Bird responded that he had always been interested in Polar exploration. "Franklin was a hero to me until I read Fatal Passage by Ken McGoogan. I'd never even heard of John Rae. I thought, 'There really ought to be a society to promote this amazing man' and lo and behold I came across [the JRS]. Of course I just had to join."
These are the bits that jumped out at me, though the Advisor contains much else of interest.
These are the bits that jumped out at me, though the Advisor contains much else of interest.
[Right: In 1999, Cameron Treleaven, the late Louie Kamookak and I placed a plaque at the ruins of the cairn that John Rae built to mark his discovery of the final link in the Northwest Passage.]
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