In October 2015 I published a novel, Alone: A Winter in the Woods (Hidden Brook Press) . In 2020 Alone was released as an e-book. On the Alone page you will find reviews.
Blue Denim Press, after the success of Hill Spirits (2012), released a second anthology Hill Spirits II, edited by Gwynn Scheltema, Erika Rummel, Susan Statham and me. The anthology showcases some of the remarkable writers who live in this area and are members of the Spirit of the Hills Writers’ Group, a part of Spirit of the Hills Arts Association and was released in 2015. Hill Spirits III, eds. Reid, F.S., Scheltema, G. and Statham, S. was released at the Spirit of the Hills Festival of the Arts in November 2017 and a fourth volume, Hill Spirits IV, was published at a second festival in November 2019. This year as we celebrated the resilience of authors and artists and arts organizations across the county and their contribution to the wellbeing of all our communities, the rebranded Northumberland Festival of the Arts 2022 ran from September 16th to October 2nd at venues in nine towns in our area. The new anthology Hill Spirits V, edited by Susan Statham was launched as part of the festival.
To maintain a sense of community during the pandemic among the members of our Spirit of the Hills writers’ group, in 2020, I and Kim Aubrey initiated and edited a blog on the Northumberland Festival of the Arts (festivalofthearts.ca) site to provide a way to share our work in difficult times. In 2021 Blue Denim Press published Our Pandemic Times which contained many pieces from the blog as well as longer stories submitted specifically to this anthology.
The pandemic offered me the opportunity to concentrate on writing and putting together two collections of poetry. The Yellow Magnolia, Glentula Press was published in April 2021 and a larger collection, The Many Faces, edited by Alan Briesmaster was released by Aeolus House in September 2022.
Finally a little about Word on the Hills, a continuing series on Northumberland 89.7 FM. This half hour show introduces listeners to writers based or having connections in our area and invites them to read from their work. Gwynn Scheltema and I co-host the episodes and in the past few years have enjoyed working with Chris Cameron as sound editor and co-host. However, since he has left to concentrate on his other projects we have welcomed our new editor, John Unruh, who makes all the shows sound great. The programme is now in its tenth year since it was first broadcast on Northumberland 89.7 FM in November 2013. Since March 2020 these shows have been recorded for broadcast by Zoom. We have a list of interesting interviewees lined up for the months to come. The show currently airs on Sundays at 1:00 pm, is streamed at northumberland987.ca and can be accessed at any time and from anywhere on our website wordonthehills.com