Former Record reporter pens first novel
Former Record reporter and newlyminted novelist Maurice Crossfield sat down with Sheila Quinn to share some truths about his new book, The Granby Liar, which launches officially this weekend.
The page turner begins in July 1975 and Dave Rogers has just landed his first reporting job at the Granby Leader Mail. Having grown up in Montreal, it’s not a part of Quebec’s Eastern Townships he knows very well, despite having been born there. Amidst the stories of little old ladies turning 100, petty thefts and small-town politics, Dave soon finds himself covering hard news. Before long, he’s raised the ire of the local crime boss, the mother of a cattle thief, and an English-rights vigilante group. Not to mention the mysterious characters who seem to be watching his every move, or the father he barely remembers who haunts his dreams. There are longstanding scores to be settled, but extracting truth from the lies pushes Dave to the limits of what he can, and can’t, live with.
Here is the low-down on a little of the grit from the author himself.
SQ: Granby Liar is such a bold title did you have any others in mind? Why did this one stand out? Why the heck Granby?
MC: Back in the day, most of the bigger towns in the Townships had their own newspaper. My mom grew up across the street from the Granby Leader-mail, which kept publishing until 1977. In our neck of the woods everyone called it the Granby Liar. In the novel I took the liberty of implying it was because of a reputation for shoddy journalism, which was not the case. It was a just a nickname that stuck...and popped back into my head many years later. My apologies to the people who worked there for my artistic licence…
SQ: Elaborate on the use of the word “liar”.
MC: There are a lot of lies that Dave, the main character, must sift through to figure out what’s going on. Lies from the people he’s reporting on, lies from people who have their own agendas, and even a lie or two from deep within his own family - lies that will strain his understanding of the world around him, and shape his future relationships.
SQ: Where did the drive to create this work come from?
MC: I got into journalism because it was a way to write and earn a living. Writing novels has always been a part of the bigger plan, ever since I started
reading. I’ve done a lot over the years, from daily newspaper reporting to restoring old cars to working in the woods to being an editor at Harrowsmith, but the dream was always to be a storyteller. I dedicated the book to my late father, who loved to tell stories. The book itself began to slowly take shape about 15 years ago. I decided that if I was ever going to write a novel, I’d better get at it. I had it mostly finished, but was feeling something was missing, when I went and had a heart attack at age 42. My dad died of heart disease, so the fact that I inherited his genetics prompted some pretty serious inner dialogue with dad. I went back into the novel and pulled it apart, and used it as a way to deal with some of my own issues. I think it gave a greater depth to Dave’s struggle to understand his own father.
My daddy issues and his are different in many ways, but I think all people who have lost a parent when they are young struggle to understand, to separate the fact from the mythologies we create around them..and to move ahead without them to guide us.
SQ: What is happening now? How is this adventure unfolding? What are you hoping will happen (will there be a sequel?
MC: Right now I am in the process of trying to get as many people to read this as possible. I know a lot of folks will buy it because they know me (I have a great and wide circle of friends), or because I talk about places like Granby, Cowansville, Dunham, etc. but it’s about more than that. The geography allowed me to situate my story, and revisit some old memories, but the story could have been set in any number of places. The issues are about much more than life in the Townships. My hope is that it will be read by a wider audience, and that they will find it engaging as well.
A sequel? That will depend to some extent on reader response, but so far my publisher and some early readers are wanting to know what comes next. The characters are still very much alive in my head, and there is some unfinished business, so it’s definitely a possibility. I also have some vague ideas for historical novels, so I guess we’ll have to see. I will always be a writer. I won’t take nearly as long to write the next one, I promise.
SQ: Why did you feel the need to create something, and what are your hopes for it, now that it is making its way out into the world? How do you feel about what you are hearing so far?
MC: Over the years I’ve done the whole starvingartist thing, lived the frustration of a changing media landscape, and at times considered giving up writing. But it always calls me back. When I started working at The Record back in the 90s, I got to tell stories, to write every day and earn a very modest living. That was pretty cool. It also deepened my love for the Townships. I hope The Granby Liar gives people an appreciation for the value of community newspapers. But most importantly, I hope it engages the reader and gives them their money’s worth.
Born and raised in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, Maurice J. O. Crossfield spent nearly 15 years as a daily newspaper reporter at The Sherbrooke Record. He then struck out on his own to work as a professional writer, translator, and editor of Harrowsmith’s Almanac and Harrowsmith’s Gardening Digest. True to Generation X’s work habits, not content with a single line of work he has also found employment as an auto mechanic, handyman, forestry worker and organic gardener. He lives in the quiet hamlet of West Brome with his wife, musician Sarah Biggs, their two kids and an assortment of dogs and cats.
Available starting Nov. 25, 2017 at Brome Lake Books, 30-D Lakeside, Knowlton, QC, J0E 1V0 Tel: (450) 242-2242 and at Black Cat Books in Lennoxville 168E Queen Street, Lennoxville J1M 1J9 (819) 346-1786 dleother distribution: Amazon.ca, Kin
From the Publisher at crossfieldcrossfield@gmail.ca www.crossfieldpublishing.ca
From the author at mauricecrossfield@iteract.ca
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