Jacqui Nelson’s North of the Border with guest Glenn Lindsey

Who's next on my North of the Border guest blog series? Today we have Glenn Lindsey, author of the Billy Fender PI Series!

Where does Glenn get his inspiration? How is Canada part of his inspiration? Read on and see...

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Thank-you Jacqui for your blog invitation. I’m delighted to share my North of the Border inspiration.

It’s the Lindsey family cottage. Erected in the early 1950s, this is a very humble edifice. A pre-fab consisting of lumber, nails, shingles, and windows, it was built by my father on cow pasture near the shores of Lake Simcoe in then-rural-southern-Ontario-Canada. Three bedrooms, a living-room, a kitchen, and a washroom are squeezed into 600 square feet. In the early years, a big iron-cast stove provided heat on cooler August evenings while an ice-box kept the milk cool during the blast furnace hot days of July.

My younger brother and I shared a bedroom which housed a clothes dresser, (some of) our toys, and a bunkbed. I had the top bunk; he, the bottom. From this safe, tiny room, we ventured out and explored the surrounding farmers’ fields, the clear waters of the lake, and the leafy branches of the many trees. All the stuff of stories.

This was my summer world, populated by family, by cottage community friends, by birds and animals, by sweet warm breezes, by the fresh water in which to swim, nearby fields in which to explore, and by books—lots of books. This is where I first read Robinson Crusoe, Black Beauty, Swiss Family Robinson, and Tom Swift Adrift in the Stratosphere.

Sometimes, my mother would venture from the cottage and drive her 1952 black Austin into town to the local library where my brother and I would troll for books amongst the stacks. (We also hoped for an ice cream cone would be part of this in-town adventure.) I can always remember my mother reading at the kitchen dining table while I often lay on couches getting lost in my favorite books and comics.

Stories continually spun out from this wonderful rural world North of the Border. Some came from Marvel comics read on rainy days, some from marshmallows impaled on sticks sizzling over evening bonfires, some from our tree fort built high above the ground, and some from innumerable pasture patties, occasional bee stings, and quite often—very impressive thunderstorms!

Probably the most bombastic inciting incident for a story was a simple bedroom whisper uttered one hot and humid night.

“Did you hear that?”

Our humble cottage must have been in the middle of an energy vortex. Every summer, it seemed that thunderstorms would roll across the lake and lash the cottage with rain, hailstones, and wind. Lightning would flash amongst cumulonimbus, and thunder would shake the earth. Huddled under our covers, my brother and I would share hushed commentary while violence rained [sic] just outside our bedroom window.

As I grew older, my world grew bigger. I bought a shortwave radio and stretched a copper wire out the cottage window to a flagpole in the backyard. I heard foreign news stories from distant radio stations: examples included Radio Moscow, Radio Australia, Radio Hungary, the BBC, and the more exotic Radio Brazzaville. Some stories were exciting (the launch of Sputnik), some scary (Cold War nuclear tests), and some very sad (the murder of President Kennedy).

If the cottage’s walls could speak, they too would spin stories of two little boys growing up playing in a world of discovery and dreams, of happiness and sadness, and of love and concern. Most of all, it would be a storyteller of heroes and heroines who flew rockets, captained ships, and drove race cars.

The cottage is now old and creaky. Cloth pennants, however, still dot the bedroom walls and aged fishing rods still sit in a corner. I visited the cottage last summer. What did my brother and I do while we sat on the porch during a rain storm? We reminisced, filling that familiar space with warm, happy stories.

The Awesome Cottage

How did the cottage inspire the character Billy Fender? 

Well, it didn’t—at least not directly.

In retrospect and after some consideration, however, the super hero, Superman, found in my cottage comic book collection, is Billy’s metaphor. He could jump tall buildings, fly faster than a speeding bullet, see through walls, and hear the faintest sounds. He would work with a team, fight villains, solve mysteries, and help the community.

Does Billy Fender do the same things? You bet!

For a chance to win a Billy Fender bookmark (which Glenn will deliver to you by snail mail), leave a comment below. 

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Glenn Lindsey was born and schooled in the Toronto area. He enjoyed careers as a teacher, a banker, a computer programmer, and a curriculum designer in technical training. For six years in Victoria, he drove a school bus for children and youth with disabilities but has now turned his energies to writing novels fulltime. His author career started with his first university English paper which garnered him a mark of D+. Fortunately, his author’s skills progressed and has included a short stint as a journalist writing articles for the Boulevard magazine. He has also penned six full-length screenplays (one, in fact, garnered some interest from a director) and is now writing novels for his middle-grade Billy Fender PI Series.

His first is The Shoebox Mystery which has been followed with The Dinosaur Bone Mystery and The Ghostly Maiden Mystery. A fourth, The Fortune Cookie Mystery, will be ready for the 2018 holiday season. When he’s not writing, he enjoys hobbies like ham radio (call sign VE7GRQ), cartooning, and photography.

Webpage – www.glennlindsey.com

Facebook - www.facebook.com/Snug.da.Joiner

Twitter - www.twitter.com/snugthejoiner
Amazon - www.amazon.com/Glenn-Lindsey/e/B0777TQX3V

~ All pictures (except for the 1st) are supplied by today’s guest with their assurance of usage rights ~