Morgan Wade's Blog, page 11
January 8, 2012
Last Stoic Presentation to Queen's Institute for Lifelong Learning (QUILL) next Sunday
I'll be presenting The Last Stoic to the Queen's Institute for Lifelong Learning (QUILL) on Sunday, January 15th, at 2PM as part of their Sunday Lecture Series.
The talk is entitled "The Last Stoic – A Fictional Account of the Parallels between Ancient Rome and Modern America"
January 6, 2012
Reading on CFRC 101.9
I'll be reading from The Last Stoic today, Fri. Jan. 6th at 4PM, on CFRC 101.9 FM. I'll be speaking with Bruce Kauffman on his show "finding a voice". His show this week features interviews/readings with 3 recently published poets/authors – myself, Tara Kainer and Kathryn MacDonald – with a bit of music thrown in.
The show can also be heard, and is archived, online at www.cfrc.ca
January 2, 2012
Reading on HOWL – CIUT FM
I will be speaking to Nancy Bullis of the radio program HOWL (on CIUT FM – University of Toronto radio) and reading from The Last Stoic this Tuesday at 10:20PM EST.
December 18, 2011
Last Stoic Giveaway on Goodreads
I'm giving away two copies of The Last Stoic on Goodreads…
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Last Stoic
by Morgan Wade
Giveaway ends January 16, 2012.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
December 1, 2011
The Old King’s Head
Working on a novel set in Kingston between 1820 and 1840, provisionally entitled The Old King’s Head, the name of a tavern from the era.
One tavern among very many.
78 taverns in 1812, servicing a population of 2250 and 1500 soldiers. In 1842 Montreal with a population of 45 000 had 220 licensed premises. Kingston, with less than a quarter of the population (8-9000) had more than half that many (136).
Apparently Kingston is still a hospitality centre, with one of the highest restaurants per capita of any city in Canada.
The Old King's Head
Working on a novel set in Kingston between 1820 and 1840, provisionally entitled The Old King's Head, the name of a tavern from the era.
One tavern among very many.
78 taverns in 1812, servicing a population of 2250 and 1500 soldiers. In 1842 Montreal with a population of 45 000 had 220 licensed premises. Kingston, with less than a quarter of the population (8-9000) had more than half that many (136).
Apparently Kingston is still a hospitality centre, with one of the highest restaurants per capita of any city in Canada.
October 13, 2011
New Dracula Movie
A still shot from the set of the new Dracula movie by Anthony Mann. Terry Wade (my dad), pictured here, plays Van Helsing. He is standing with Miss Mina Murray (Denise Wedge). Some of the filming has already been done at Fort Henry here in Kingston. The film is slated for general release in 2012.
October 11, 2011
An Indecent Death
I just finished reading An Indecent Death by David Anderson. David was my elementary school teacher in grades 3, 5, and 6 and he was the first person to encourage me to write and to give me the idea that writing seriously was something worth pursuing. He made a real difference to me as an impressionable child. So it's wonderful to now read his own work!
An Indecent Death is an entertaining read. It features lots of interesting characters to keep you guessing on who committed the crime, plus a quirky and endearing main character (Nicholas Drumm) tasked with solving the mystery. Drumm exposes a suprisingly seamy side to the outwardly mundane world of elementary schools and their teachers. The book is fast-paced and engaging, and well worth checking out if you are a fan of murder mysteries.
October 3, 2011
Review in the Kingston Whig-Standard – The Last Stoic
There is a nice write-up for The Last Stoic in this weekend's Kingston Whig-Standard, by entertainment editor Greg Burliuk.
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3319696
Then and now
By Greg Burliuk, from The Kingston Whig-Standard, Oct. 1, 2011
Sometimes the axiom that history repeats itself it can seem like deja vu, so startling are the similarities. That's what sent Morgan Wade on his way to creating his first novel, The Last Stoic, which shows the parallels between the ancient Roman Empire and former president George Bush's United States.
It began in 2003 when Wade read Henry Gibbon's mammoth six-volume The History of the Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire, written in the late 18th century.
"It was a book I'd wanted to read for ages," says Wade. "At the time, the Americans were invading Iraq and I could see all these amazing parallels between the two eras."
For his book, Wade chose the period when Caracallus was emperor in the early third century. "Caracallus even invaded the exact same place that Bush did in 2003," says the author. "Both were unnecessary wars in the Middle East."
Wade found the parallels so eerily similar that he decided to tell a story that alternates between the two time periods. A chapter will end in ancient Rome but the story will be picked up next in modern times. The plot is about a young man who comes to the big city with bright prospects, but whom another young man grows to hate and plots his downfall. The plotting of the other eventually succeeds and our hero is false imprisoned and tortured by an intolerant government. What keeps him going is reading from The Meditations, written by the founder of stoicism and one of Rome's last great emperors Marcus Aurelius.
These days, if someone says you are stoic, the implication is that you are cold and impassive. But such was not the intent of Marcus Aurelius in his writings, says Wade.
"Stoicism was the state religion for 600 years," he says. "Even the early Christians espoused some stoic tenets. The main one was that you should let reason rule your appetites. You should take what you need but something like hoarding was irrational. You should live in the present not the past or the future."
One could theorize that trouble began in both eras because the philosophy of stoicism wasn't followed. "In ancient Rome they gave in to their appetites and fears," says Wade. "And in modern times, there was a lot of war profiteering going on during the invasion of Iraq. In stoicism there's nothing so absurd as an old man trying to get even more wealthy. They would say why did he try so hard to get wealthy in the first place.
"I didn't know very much about Marcus Aurelius and his writings before but I've become a big fan now. That was one of the perks of researching this book. "
Wade says that another central theme in stoicism is that its practitioners be ethical.
"They talk a lot about the right way to live," he says. "One of the questions the book raises is who exactly is The Last Stoic. It could be one of the characters or even Marcus Aurelius himself."
The author says "the central conceit of the book is that the eras are so similar you could have a continuous narrative. That was a lot of fun trying to put together.
"My first draft was twice as long as what was published because I was trying to cram a lot of history in there. A lot had to come out and I had to re-organize it all."
However, the first-time novelist had an experienced hand to guide him through it. Acclaimed local author Helen Humphreys served as the novel's editor. Wade met her while she was a writer in residence at Queen's. He showed her his work, she suggested a publisher and then agreed to edit the manuscript. "She helped winnow out all the unnecessary bits and make the novel tight," says Wade.
A computer programmer by trade, Wade and his wife moved to Kingston in 2001, after falling in love with the city almost by accident. In fact the Limestone City will serve as a backdrop for his next novel. "I'd like to set it in Kingston between 1820 and 1840," he says. "It was after the war of 1812 and it was an exciting time here then. I've already done quite a bit of historical research on the period."
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