SOMETHING FISHY
Macdonald’s new book takes fun look at classic Cape Breton fare
Macdonald’s new book takes fun look at classic Cape Breton fare.
It may be just a novel right now but author Frank Macdonald will be the first to admit that he may be on to something delicious.
On Saturday, Macdonald will launch his latest book, “The Smeltdog Man” at the Inverness County Centre for the Arts, from 3-5 p.m. It’s a light-hearted look at a Cape Bretoner who strikes it rich in the fast food industry with his invention, the smeltdog, which uses a Cape Breton staple, the smelt, in place of a weiner in a bun.
“I should have started marketing them myself,” laughs the award-winning writer in a phone interview from his home in Inverness.
The idea emerged from “a strange occurrence among friends back in the ’60s when there may have been … well, it’s now legal … but anyway, wouldn’t it have been great to have something to eat and I manufactured in my mind the idea of a smelt dog and it just never left?”
Eventually Macdonald found the right character to handle the idea. The character goes on to become a billionaire but faces a litany of challenges on his journey. Macdonald admits he had entirely too much fun writing this book.
“It was delightful to write,” he said. “I really liked all of the characters so it’s, I suppose, over the top but it’s seriously written in terms of what the final consequence of the concept turned out to be, which readers will discover towards the end. It just kept getting further and further out from me with the events that unfold
as this franchise begins to take hold. I did have fun writing it and I hope people have fun reading it as well because I write a column and it’s often humorous but I was kind of embarrassed at how much I made myself laugh with this book.
“That may or may not be a good thing. We’ll leave that to the reader to decide.” Macdonald said.
Although it will be officially launched on Saturday, Macdonald says the book is so new he’s not even certain if it has been distributed to stores but he expects
them to arrive soon. After the Inverness launch, he will take part in a writers’ event at the West Bay Community Hall, 7-9 p.m., on Nov. 8. He also expects to take part in Christmas markets near the Inverness area.
“It is hopefully fun to read, that the characters are likeable, that the story holds together, which I think it does, and as wild as that is, if you’re willing to suspend belief and go along with this billionaire’s wild ride, that would be great.”