Tag: fiction
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Before I became a writer, I wanted to be Robin Hood
Like most boys, my ambitions were once wildly unrealistic and prone to sudden change. At seven or eight, my career plan shifted decisively away from cowboys and towards outlaws. Specifically Robin Hood. Before that I’d been fully committed to life on the frontier. I even had an Indian identification wall chart in my bedroom in Tasmania and…
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Doing things by the book
I felt like Moses receiving the Ten Commandments when I was given my very first newspaper stylebook. I DIDN’T SAY I LOOKED LIKE HIM. The Bible never says what Moses was wearing on the mountain or describe his attire when he came down. Exodus (34:29) only says that his face shone and that he was…
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Take me back to the year 1972
The first hint I might be a Time Lord happened in high school. So I wasn’t panicked when my old mate Orville proudly showed me his new watch. That’s Orville all over. One upmanship. I had just named more Doctors than he could. I stared at his watch face. It said 4:17. I glanced at…
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Top of a lighthouse is on my bucket list
Get in line if you want to know how many humour columnists it takes to change a lightbulb. I’ve got a more pressing riddle: how many humour columnists can you squeeze into a lighthouse? That’s the question I asked in an email I sent to Steve Jeffrey, former editor and proprietor of the Anchor Weekly…
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The evolution of funny, satirical books
Humour has been part of storytelling for as long as people have been telling stories. Ancient writers used comedy to puncture pomposity, while medieval satirists sharpened their pens on the powerful. In English literature, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726) proved that a ridiculous adventure could carry biting political commentary, and Charles Dickens later filled his novels with…
JOHN MARTIN'S TALES 