John Passfield

While driving his granddaughter home from day care, John -- the very author of this book -- suddenly finds himself without warning standing in the midway of a carnival of Mother Goose fairy tales He is greeted by Jack -- of Jack and Jill fame, of course -- who tells John that Mother Goose is expecting him, as she has a role for him to play. But what does Mother Goose really want? And why does she think John is a writer of detective stories? And why when she meets John does she greet him as almost a long-lost son? And for that matter, why do so many of the fairy-tale characters have a different story they want John to write for them, instead of the ones in which they have lived for hundreds of years? John is not a mythical creature -- he's only a human, after all -- but can he save the Mother Goose Carnival? Can he solve the mystery of the vanishing fairy-tales?John and Mother Goose: The Carnival of Tales is complemented by a selection of Mother Goose rhymes, chosen by John himself. Together, this charming novella and the fairy tales make ideal reading for young and old.

A charming story of Christmas magic from the author of John Passfield: Saturday Morning, nominated for the 2022 ReLit novel awardAs writer John Passfield is driving home from a December book-discussion meeting and thinking about the Christmas topics that were discussed---in particular, Dickens, who wrote a novella which transformed the world's conception of Christmas---he suddenly finds himself sitting in a sleigh pulled by Rudolph and eight tiny reindeer. What an excellent opportunity to ask San-ta about a seventy-year-old mystery---the mystery of the missing cowboy shirt

Water Lane, the last stop on Medieval pilgrimages to Canterbury, is located in the ancestral village that John Passfield shares with the, Elizabethan playwright, Christopher Marlowe. In this novel, the water in the lane becomes a central image in an imaginary pilgrimage that the dying artist recalls as he lies bleeding from a stab wound on the floor of Eleanor Bull's house in Deptford, in May of 1593. Amid the footsteps and murmurs of his murderers, as they rehearse their version of the scuffle, Marlowe's preconscious mind attempts a final structuring of the images of his life. The overt mystery -- who has arranged the death of Christopher Marlowe? --frames the covert mystery: what are the influences that shape, an artist's work?

Water Lane, the last stop on Medieval pilgrimages to Canterbury, is located in the ancestral village that John Passfield shares with the, Elizabethan playwright, Christopher Marlowe. In this novel, the water in the lane becomes a central image in an imaginary pilgrimage that the dying artist recalls as he lies bleeding from a stab wound on the floor of Eleanor Bull's house in Deptford, in May of 1593. Amid the footsteps and murmurs of his murderers, as they rehearse their version of the scuffle, Marlowe's preconscious mind attempts a final structuring of the images of his life. The overt mystery -- who has arranged the death of Christopher Marlowe? --frames the covert mystery: what are the influences that shape, an artist's work?

Author John Passfield contemplates writing a novel about the mythological figure Cassandra. Suddenly, he finds himself in the presence of her tormentor, Apollo, the god who -- seemingly as a whim -- has brought a catastrophic curse down on the head of an innocent human. John sees Cassandra as a mythical creature whose helpless situation epitomizes all that is wrong on the planet Earth. What a chance to confront a representative of the gods, ask him to explain such actions, and demand an immediate end to all the agony in the world Special BonusThis edition of Fair Is Fair includes a special bonus -- a 56-stanza poem by "John the Character," in which John reflects on his encounters with Apollo and Cassandra in verses at once humorous, whimsical, and sometimes angry.The Novels of John PassfieldTogether, this novel and the accompanying journal and notebook comprise the thirty-first installment in an ongoing novel-writing project in which the author is exploring the concept of form and meaning in the novel, and of the novel as a form of expression in the 21st century. All of the published journals and notebooks are available for free download from the author's website.

The year is 1938. With the prospect of another world war looming and faced with overwhelming personal problems, acclaimed Canadian author L.M. Montgomery begins to compose what she has decided will be her final novel featuring Anne Shirley. As she works on the novel, Montgomery remembers the now distant days when Anne of Green Gables became a worldwide literary phenomenon, and the dilemma that she faced at that time: whether to write a series of "Anne novels" in which Anne would forever remain the red-haired girl that the world had come to know and love, or whether she would allow Anne to grow to adulthood, with all the agonizing torments of the one who had given her life---L.M. Montgomery.

Glenn Gould's life as a musician begins as a fairy-tale, as his very first recording --- the Goldberg Variations --- skyrockets the young Canadian to the top of the music world, as a must-see and must-hear concert-pianist with sold-out performances all around the world. And then, at the height of his powers and his popularity, he makes a decision about his music and his life which splits the music world right down the middle, and remains controversial to this day.

From the author of John Passfield: Saturday Morning, shortlisted for the ReLit Awards in the novel category, 2022With the contribution of eight hundred cows, the tiny village of Ingersoll, Ontario, has not only produced the world's largest block of cheese, it has also nurtured the epic poet who can rapturously sing its praises. Now, if only Queen Victoria can be persuaded to take a hearty bite and add her majestic voice to the poet's ecstatic hymns of praise, the Mammoth Cheese will become the edible jewel in the crown of the globe-girdling British Empire. James McIntyre (1828-1906) won fame as the "Cheese Poet" of Ingersoll, Ontario, although his verse dealt with many other subjects as well. His best-known poem, "Ode on the Mammoth Cheese Weighing Over 7,000 Pounds," celebrated an actual (and immense) block of cheese produced in the town in 1866. Drawing on the legacy of McIntyre's poetry and the scanty biographical details still extant, novelist John Passfield creates a moving portrait of a man whose artistic ambitions perhaps outstripped his abilities, and the small 19th-century town that was his home. As the author notes, "One wonders whether McIntyre was not wiser than the cheese poems seem to suggest."

A twenty-one-year-old would-be writer, John Passfield, spends his last few months as a garbage collector on the streets of his home town, St. Thomas, Ontario, in the summer of Canada's Centennial year, 1967. As he works, he captures the imagery of his life so far -- and of his upcoming marriage and pending career as a high school teacher -- to the imagery of the great books he is reading, all while in pursuit of building the perfect load of garbage.

What is the myth of the Wright brothers? Is it the fairy tale of 1903, when two human beings ignored their differences and created an invention that split human history into two eras: before and after the possibility of flight? Or is it the grim post-1903 reality, when each brother struggled alone, an ocean between them, to promote their new invention in the face of hostility, indifference, ridicule and disbelief? Or - are both harmony and disharmony - chaos and control - the dark and light threads in the fabric of every human dream?The Wright Brothers: Flight is Possible together with the accompanying journal and notebook represent the twenty-first installment in author John Passfield's project of exploring the concept of form and meaning in the contemporary novel. More information can be found at www.johnpassfield.ca.