By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
Having your book nominated for the both the Giller Prize and the Trillium Book Award is no easy feat.
Neither is being the number one top seller on Amazon for Canadian short stories.
But in the past few weeks, Wallaceburg’s John Gardiner has achieved all three.
Titled ‘Life in the Deep End, Stories from the Soul,’ his latest release features 19 short stories showcasing what the author calls “emotional thought-scapes.”
And while they are tales about ordinary people dealing with ordinary things, Gardiner said the stories are far from ordinary.
“Because they paint vivid emotional images in the reader’s mind,” the author said of his published work. “That’s the idea. I write like no one else you’ve ever read, I guarantee it.”
Part of the attraction to his work is its accessibility, Gardiner explained.
“People with a Grade 6 education can read my writing and enjoy it and people with university degrees in English can enjoy it,” he added. “My writing is what you call every-person writing for everybody.”
Michael Davie is Gardiner’s new, and first, book publisher. The president and CEO of Manor House Publishing discovered Gardiner’s writing by chance while surfing the internet. He liked what he saw and asked Gardiner to send him some samples.
Gardiner forwarded some of his work and that submission morphed into Life in the Deep End.
Davie said he was “quite taken” with Gardiner’s talent.
“He’s a remarkable writer and the work is very engaging,” the Ancaster-based publisher said in a telephone interview, calling Gardiner a “very effective” writer.
“I was drawn right in,” Davie explained. “It held my interest.”
Publishers are the ones who nominate writers for the Giller and The Trillium. They are only allowed to submit one title for the nomination. Davie zeroed in on Gardiner and Life in the Deep End.
The winner of the Giller Prize, Canada’s top fiction award, receives a $100,000, while the provincial Trillium Book Award winner receives $20,000. The Giller starts off with a long list of nominees in September. This is winnowed down to a short list in October, before the winner is announced in November.
For Gardiner, 73, finding a publisher and having his work recognized at the highest level, is rewarding. He’s been writing for a half century, founding the “Probe” newspaper at his high school in his hometown of Hanover. He went on to achieve a Masters in Library Science at Western and did a turn as a reporter in Delhi.
In 1985, he was hired as the editor of The Wallaceburg News, a job he did for eight years. Following that, Gardiner worked on various iterations of news media – both pre- and post-Internet – becoming a well-known voice in the region. He founded the CK Times and ran it for 10 years before retiring 13 years ago.
News reporting informs his fiction writing in a number of ways, Gardiner said, helping him become skilled at writing dialogue.
“I don’t mean to brag, but I write dialogue particularly well, because I spent 40 years interviewing people and writing down what they said,” Gardiner explained, adding newspaper deadlines also helped him become a “first draft” writer.
Life in the Deep End is Gardiner’s third book. His first two were self-published, and while he’s happy with them, having a publisher is a whole new writing ballgame.
“I’ve been chasing a publisher, like for 40 years,” Gardiner said. “The big difference between having a publisher is you can enter contests normally closed to those who self-publish. It opens the whole world up to you.”
Gardiner is pleased about the nomination but isn’t getting ahead of himself.
“You have to be realistic,” he said. First of all, it’s only a nomination but it’s still a big deal. I’ve got a long way to go before I win anything,”
But it’s gratifying nonetheless.
“For my publisher to have the confidence in me, to enter me in the Giller competition…I feel pretty good about that.”
Gardiner, also a well-known “retired” bass player, is a cancer survivor hit by some serious health issues in the last five years. However, he’s buoyed by his recent success.
“For years it’s been just John. It’s been me out there against the world. But now I have a publisher. If I get hit by a truck tomorrow, my book is still out there.”
Life in the Deep End can be purchased at manor-house-publish.com; on Amazon; or by emailing Gardiner directly at gardiner@kent.net.
