I’m not sure how surfing influences me as a writer, but maybe it goes something like this. Surfing is the art of tapping into those invisible energies travelling through deep waters and matching your energy to theirs as they manifest themselves near the shorelines of continents. It has taught me that when you get smashed by those powerful forces of nature, you take the punishment, surface, get back on your board, paddle out, and try again. Writing novels is often like that.
As a publisher, I worked with Mi’kmaq elder Rita Joe when she was alive to create the first Mi’kmaq Anthology, and I admired her quiet, deep, and compassionate spirit. She sent me on a couple of spirit quests including a search for a nearly-lost petroglyph in Bedford, Nova Scotia. I’d like to think her spirit was gently guiding me (or Jeremy) in the creation of this book. I also worked with a number of other gifted Mi’kmaq writers for a second anthology published in 2011.
Certainly as a teacher, I learned many things from my students that went into this book. I teach in the Transition Year Program at Dalhousie University, a program for Black and Aboriginal students. Many of my Mi’kmaq students shared experiences, ideas and beliefs from their culture and traditions. So I was a good listener and I learned a lot. (However, if fall rolls around and I discover I have a student named Jeremy Stone on my class roster, I may be a bit freaked out.)
And finally, as a storyteller, I just know I’d be lost if I had to live only in the so-called real world all the time. I don’t exactly “escape” into fiction. I immerse myself in it (like the ocean) when I sit down to write, and grieve when a novel is over, leaving me ever anxious to tell the next story and write the next book. Like everyone else, my lifetime is relatively short. I want to live as many lives as I possibly can in this brief tenure here on the planet.
Thank you, Lesley, for the insights you’ve provided here.
Lesley Choyce can be found on the internet at:
www.lesleychoyce.com
Copyright © 2013 Lesley Choyce
5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Red Deer Press or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), 1 Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E5, fax (416) 868-1621.
Published in Canada by Red Deer Press
195 Allstate Parkway, Markham
ON, L3R 4T8
www.reddeerpress.com
Published in the U.S. by Red Deer Press
311 Washington Street, Brighton,
Massachusetts 02135
Edited for the Press by Peter Carver
Cover image courtesy of iStockphoto
Text and cover design by Daniel Choi
eBook development: WildElement.ca
We acknowledge with thanks the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council for their support of our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Choyce, Lesley, 1951-, author
Jeremy Stone / Lesley Choyce.
ISBN 978-0-88995-504-2 (pbk.) 978-1-55244-353-8 (epub)
I. Title.
PS8555.H668J47 2013 jC813’.54 C2013-904217-2
Publisher Cataloging-in-Publication Data (U.S.)
Choyce, Lesley.
Jeremy Stone / Lesley Choyce.
[ 184 ] p. : cm.
Summary: Jeremy Stone is a First Nations teenager trying to find out where he fits in the world, particularly as a loner in a new high school. In this contemporary free verse novel, Jeremy is guided by voices from the spirit world, especially that of his grandfather, Old Man, as he explores a new relationship with the intense Caitlan, deals with the school bully, and tries to keep his family together.
ISBN: 978-0-88995-504-2 (pbk.) 978-1-55244-353-8 (epub)
1. Bullying – Juvenile fiction. 2. Racism – Juvenile fiction. I. Title.
[Fic] dc23 PZ7.C569je 2013
Jeremy Stone Page 10
