Barrington Passage author launches book
A novel written by Blair (R.B) Brown of Barrington Passage almost has you at the title – Soulitude.
Officially launched at the Wesley Community Heritage Centre in Barrington on Sept. 30, the work of fiction carries a message throughout that Brown hopes reaches each reader right to their soul.
“I wrote a book. I still don’t know why yet, but it was something I had to do,” said Brown during the launch.
Brown said he played around with the idea of writing the book after he lost his wife of 60 years, Shyrlie, and after having a few sessions with medium Rita Crosbie, which is something he and Shyrlie had also done.
“It stuck with me, I believed in the soul. I kicked it around in my head a bit. Somebody once said write the first true sentence and from then on it was almost like automatic writing. I would get up in the morning and start writing and had no problem,” he said. “There was never a blank. It was just amazing. It flowed.
“I created the characters (in the book) and I would get up in the morning and I couldn’t wait to join that family…it was such fun. I hated to lose them,” he added. “I understand now why there are some authors who will develop characters that go on book after book after book. I think I know why now. I’m sorry I ended mine the way I did.”
Brown talked about when he started rolling the idea of a book around in his head.
“I was thinking one day if the soul doesn’t die, which is a proven fact, and the soul is energy and can’t be destroyed, can there be murder? I thought about this for a long time. I thought no that doesn’t work. Would that be a story and finally I decided ya, why not? Hundreds of books have been written about the soul,” he said.
“The evidence that points to it is overwhelming, but no one has carried it to the extreme that I had predicted so I put that in the other half of the book. I think it worked out,” he said, adding he thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Brown also said he didn’t do it for money.
“The message is what I want to get out and the message is there. Fact is hidden in fiction and that way its not so hard to take. It’s more subtle. I hope more people will take the message from it. Don’t believe a word I said. Don’t believe a word I wrote. Search for yourself. Its all out there. As the X-Files say the truth is out there and it is,” he said. “Research yourself and you will come to the same conclusion that I have, and I have to tell you that since I made this decision and came to this conclusion my life changed in such a positive way… I feel we are all here for a purpose, otherwise why are we here and that purpose is to improve your little corner of the world in anyway you can. I guess you could say my book is my effort that reflects that.”
Soulitude already has an international audience.
“I have a niece who is a professor at the University of Michigan. She wrote and told me they have a book club in Ann Arbor that is attended by a noted neurosurgeon. She took my book off Kindle and they’re going to be using in their book club this fall. That’s a tremendous start for two reasons; it’s in the States and she’s a scientist and that’s where we can make progress.”
Brown said while he knows that Shyrlie is in the afterlife and is doing all right.
“It is a little strange and still is for me when you think of a parallel plane to ours and your departed is there and you are here, yet you can correspond with each other,” he said. “I don’t think there’s one sceptic who has ever had a reading. If they did they wouldn’t be a sceptic. It’s so enlightening and freedom giving. I urge you to try it.”