Welcome to my blog. Here I post some of my stories and news about what I am, or have been, up to. My most recent piece, the short-short story A Remorseful Heart, can be found on the CBC Canada Writes website by clicking on the link on the right sidebar.
Since May, 2013, I have been working on a non-fiction novel based on the story of victim's rights icon Michael Manning. In May of 1994 Michael's 15 year old daughter, Tara Manning, was raped and murdered in her bedroom in the Dorval, Quebec, apartment she shared with her father and her then 16 year old brother, Jazz. The police eventually identified Tara's killer, a 17 year old serial rapist, through DNA taken from a can of pop the suspect drank while in custody on another rape. But in 1994 in Canada, DNA was only admissible in court if voluntarily provided. Michael, a hard drinking, 40 year old construction worker, decided to change the law. He toured Canada, telling Tara's story to anyone who would listen. He was working against the clock: if the law was not changed before Parliament broke for the 1995 summer recess, Tara's killer, a native of Haiti, would be released and likely disappear into the chaos of his homeland. Researching this story is expensive and so far I am footing the bill myself. Fortunately, I have the cooperation of Tara's parents and access to their records. Hopefully I will have the story done and a publisher on board in time for the 20th anniversary of the passage of Bill C-104, in July of 2015.

photo credit: Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press / 1-18-2012