Posts tagged ‘safari’

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April 6, 2012

Excerpt from my new novel “Triumph the Lion” on CJSF Radio

In Chapter 2 of my new novel “Triumph the Lion,” the protagonist meets the story’s love interest, a photographer named Maria who has come to South Africa to document a lion with a peculiar trait. Blu, the Toronto-raised safari ranger, is immediately fascinated by Maria because of her beauty as well as the un-Canadian way she introduces herself.
I had the chance to read an excerpt from the book on KP Wee’s show “Smitten with the Written” on CJSF Radio (90.1 FM) in Vancouver last week. Prior to continuing with “Triumph the Lion,” KP and I talked about character development in fiction, and some techniques writers can incorporate to make sure they develop well-rounded protagonists, villains and supporting characters. Among the topics discussed are the use of inventive dialogue, the importance of conflict in storytelling and the necessity to employ action to reveal the truth about the characters you create.

Listen now to Excerpts 5 and 6 from “Triumph the Lion”:

Click here for Excerpt 5, which is after a 10-minute interview about character development in fiction.
Click here for Excerpt 6, which is more from Chapter 2 of the novel.

Click on the links below to hear Excerpts 3 and 4.

Click here for Excerpt 3, continuation of Chapter 2 (following interview)
Click here for Excerpt 4, also a continuation of Chapter 2

Chapter 1 and the first half of Chapter 2 are available here:

Click here for Part 1, Chapter 1 (following interview).
Click here for Part 2, start of Chapter 2.

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February 1, 2012

Thanks to voters for my 3 travel journalism awards

safari ranger brett du bois sabi sabi private game reserve

Safari ranger Brett DuBois inspired an award-winning story. (Julia Pelish photo)

When I met Brett DuBois, I knew I had a good story, and a potentially great one. DuBois is a safari ranger in South Africa who lives with passion for his work and the animals surrounding him. He’s intense, tough and fearless, and showed me that the wild animals aren’t the only fascinating beings you encounter on a safari. DuBois, who I met during a visit to the Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve in Greater Kruger Park, became the focus of a story that appeared on the cover of the Toronto Star’s January 8, 2011 issue. On Tuesday, that story won the top award for Best International Article in a Newspaper with a Circulation of 250,000 or More from the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA).

You can find a link to it here on this website and here on the Star’s website.

I also won third prize in the same category for an article on Curacao, a Dutch island in the Caribbean that attained its own government on October 10, 2010, shortly before my article was published in the Star. Curacao is a fun place, full of passionate people who care about their island and its uniqueness. I’m glad I was able to spotlight it.

Lastly, NATJA voters awarded me and my good friend Jim Byers, the Star’s Travel Editor, with the Gold award for “Best Travel Series in a Newspaper” for our “Grand Tour” series that sent him and I to destinations around the globe in an insanely short amount of time. We covered 10 of the world’s most iconic cities, with Jim writing on 6 of them and me on 4. Here are the links to my articles in the series: Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, St. Petersburg and Cape Town.

Also, I’m proud to say that Julia Pelish, my wife and perpetual photographer/videographer, won a Bronze award in the “Best Cover Photo, Illustration” category for her stunning picture of a thunderstorm in Aruba. You can see that photo on her website.

Thanks to the voters for singling out my stories for the second year in a row. Much appreciated and greatly honoured.

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January 25, 2012

More from “Triumph the Lion” — my new novel — on CJSF Radio

In “Triumph the Lion,” a Toronto-born safari ranger in South Africa makes a peculiar lion so famous tourists from around the world venture to the jungle to catch a glimpse of it. The lion becomes such an object of obsession, however, that some visitors arrive wanting much more than a photograph for their Facebook page. With a bounty suddenly on its head, the lion must struggle for survival while the man who made him a celebrity seeks to interfere with the plot to kill the animal. In his quest to do so, the ranger named Blu is joined by his African friend, Shamrock, and Maria, a visiting photographer from Canada who may be the one person in Kruger Park more interested in the man who made the lion a star than in the beast itself.

Click on the links below to hear Excerpts 3 and 4 from the novel, which were read on CJSF Radio (90.1 FM) in Vancouver last week. There’s a 10-minute interview with me that runs before the storytelling begins.

Click here for Excerpt 3, continuation of Chapter 2 (following interview)
Click here for Excerpt 4, also a continuation of Chapter 2

Chapter 1 and the first half of Chapter 2 are available here:

Click here for Part 1, Chapter 1 (following interview).
Click here for Part 2, start of Chapter 2.

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