eugene stickland  

As many of you know, I wrote a novel earlier this year titled

Display of notebooks and pencil at Reid’s Stationers

The Piano Teacher.

Now that it’s Christmas, I hope that you will consider putting it on your shopping list, either for yourself or someone special who likes Canadian Literature. (Not to mention your kid’s piano teacher!)

I know many people who seem to value my friendship on the strength of the fact that I’m a well-known writer. (You know, on top of my good looks and engaging personality.)

Yet, I think it’s entirely possible that some have never seen a play of mine, or ever read my column in The Calgary Herald (too late for that now!) or heard me read my poetry or anything else, for that matter, other than my occasional witty Facebook status updates.

Well, now’s your big chance to change that, and all it will only cost you $20.00.

As you may know, I’m a big fan of shopping locally and supporting locally owned businesses. So, other than online, here’s a list of places where you can find my book in Calgary.

To begin with, it’s for sale at Shelf Life Books (4^th Street and 13^th Ave. SW) and on Saturday, December 12 from 3:00 to 5:00 PM I will be at Shelf Life to sign copies for you. (I’ll likely head over the The Blind Monk Pub on 12th Ave just west of 8th Street after that, so if you can’t get to Shelf Life, you will likely find me there. I’ll have some books with me. And we could have an eggnog together!)

Other books stores in Calgary that are carrying the book are Owl’s Nest in Britannia Village and Pages in Kensington.

After a recent feature on the CBC on Caffe Beano, where I wrote most of the novel you can once again buy the book at the café (on 9^th Street, 10 steps north of 17^th Ave. SW). If you buy it there, you might see me hanging out, and I would be happy to sign it for you.

You can also buy the book at Reid’s Stationers on 17^th Ave. across from Western Canada High School. The folks at Reid’s have even put together a little museum-like display (pictured above) of the notebooks I wrote it in and the pencil I used to write all 70,000 words.

Finally, if you are not in Calgary, you can buy a copy of the book (not an e-book, but an actual book) through Blurb.com. Here’s the link: http://www.blurb.ca/b/6423475-the-piano-teacher

The creation and maintenance of a culture only works if the works of art created in a community are experienced by members of that community. As you can imagine, I feel the same as I feel about my book as I do about other elements of our culture, from fellow authors and their books, to live music, (and there are many wonderful venues in Calgary), to live theatre, to art galleries – you name it. There are many opportunities to support local artists, especially at Christmastime.

Whatever our medium, that’s why we do it — to share it. If it costs a few dollars to acquire it, well that only goes back into the pot so we can keep creating more. And hopefully, on it goes.

I hope you have a good holiday season. In your search for the perfect present for the loved ones in your life, please don’t forget to support the people who are your friends and neighbours. Including me!

Merry Christmas.

Here’s a new take on an old Christmas song I heard the other day . . .