Bio
 

My writing experience covers journalism, theater, and two published works: a book of 32 short stories Smash Palace and the noir thriller Altered Boy. I have a second novel completed, and am working on a third. I am excited that my short story “Ticket Out” will be one of 20 stories in the upcoming anthology Midnight Schemers, published by Superior Shores Press, and edited by Judy Penz Sheluk.
 

As a teenager, writing the High School News column for the Windsor Star, I had the good fortune to interview jazz icon Louis Armstrong.

Later, while working as a musician in British Columbia, I wrote entertainment columns for Vancouver’s Georgia Strait and Victoria’s Monday Magazine. Among my concert reviews were those of Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, John Mayall, Journey, Heart, and The BeeGees.

Back in Toronto, as member of The Comedy Connection, I wrote and performed original comedy routines at The Edge, The Pink Flamingo, and The Rivoli. For theater I have written and performed numerous performance pieces: poetry, monodramas, and plays. 
 

In 2016 my son Dylan and I produced a short movie Fun With Math, a comedy in which the Esperanto subtitlers’ union sabotages an educational math show by jumbling and falsifying subtitles in their effort to pressure TV-TV into paying them higher wages. To enjoy Fun With Math (Amuzi Kun Mat in Esperanto), please click …         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4CXaDy7Y9E       
 

In 2018 I launched my publishing company Amalit Books. As well as Smash Palace and Altered Boy, I have published Dylan McDonald’s book of poetry Year of Midnight. I am working on a memoir by John Hart about his years as an educator in 1950s Angola, Africa. To inquire about publishing your book, please contact amalitbooks@outlook.com.

The novel Altered Boy involves a gang of tough teens who hustle lonely men until their clash with a rogue priest results in death. This story is based on actual events.

Besides promoting Smash Palace, I am completing a historical fiction novel Counterculture Revolution, based on anti-war activists of the late 1960s, culminating with the 1970 Kent State Massacre.

Personal information: After completing my B.A. and B.Ed. (U. of Toronto), I taught high school mathematics. In 1987 I founded A-Plus Tutoring Service, and still work as a self-employed private tutor, teaching mathematics and English.

In 2017 I became a Humanist Marriage Officiant appointed by Humanist Canada and licensed to perform marriages under the Marriage Act of the Province of Ontario. As an officiant for Happy Together Wedding Ceremonies, I have married 138 couples. Please visit my website http://www.happy-together.ca/

Married since 1987, I have five children and three grandchildren, all boys. A lifelong learner, I read books of all kinds: physics, philosophy, biographies, history, and noir fiction. As a cinephile, I am drawn to film noir.

For crime fiction, read Jim Thompson, Patricia Highsmith, Ross Macdonald, and the Swedish husband-wife team Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes has fascinated me since childhood.