Check it out: a Goodreads Giveaway of Poor Man's Galapagos and Abundance of the Infinite! Details under the Events Page. And stay tuned for details on the WorldTeach Alumni Page, where I will soon be featured in an Alumni Spotlight. I will also be doing a WorldTeach Instagram takeover the week of December 18th, stay tuned for details!

It's not too late to sign up for the 2017 CanWrite! Conference of the Canadian Authors Association. This year's conference will be held in Toronto at the Humber College Lakeshore Campus. See the following website for more details and the lineup: https://canadianauthors.org/national/canwrite-conference/

I will be on a panel at the International Festival of Authors, at Harbourfront in Toronto, in October 2016. I will also be reading at the Rowers Pub Reading Series in Toronto on November 1, 2016. Details to follow. See http://ifoa.org/ and ​https://rowerspubreadingseries.wordpress.com/

I am saddened by the passing of Austin Clarke, the Toronto-based writer and Giller Prize winning author. I met him at the Gladstone Hotel on Queen Street West in Toronto, several years ago, for his appearance at This Is Not A Reading Series. He will be missed, but his writings of the immigrant experience in Canada will live on.

The 2016 Canadian Writers' Summit is coming up this week! It will take place at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. See all the details and the great lineup at: http://www.ccwwp.ca/conference/

I had an uncomfortable conversation with Dr. Laura Schlessinger today, discussing my writing. She is reputed to be one of the most popular talk show hosts in radio history. 

After the devastating news of the magnitude - 7.8 earthquake this past weekend, with the epicenter around the coastal Manabi Province, there are many people affected and are in need of assistance and help.
If you would like to join the relief efforts, please follow the link below. Many options are included.
http://4pelagatos.com/2016/04/17/como-ayudar-una-guia-urgente/

The book launches for Poor Man's Galapagos on Saturday, November 21, 2015 at the Paintbox Bistro at 555 Dundas St East in Toronto, and the launch on Wednesday, November 18th, 2015 at Meet at 66 King East at 66 King St East in Cobourg were well attended. The crowd in Toronto enjoyed the Flamenco dancing and the readings, and took time to peruse the book table after the launch. I was interviewed, along with Shane Joseph for his new novel "In the Shadow of the Conquistador" by two radio stations, CFRC 101.9FM’s ‘finding a voice’ and Northumberland 89.7. Afterward, I was interviewed in a televised interview by thatchannel.com. CFRC 101.9FM's interview aired December 11, 2015 (archived, see under "interviews" for more information). The other interviews are forthcoming and will be posted on my website when available. Look for the upcoming virtual book tour and upcoming tour dates. And most of all, buy the book and support Canadian small presses!

Hi! Well, here it is, the final day of my WorldTeach Twitter Feed Blog. It has been great blogging and tweeting this week, and I wish to express my sincere appreciation to WorldTeach, and to Erika, for giving me the opportunity!

Blue Denim Press will be launching my novel Poor Man's Galapagos on November 21, 2015 in Toronto, as well as another novel by Shane Joseph entitled In the Shadow of the Conquistador, where two backpackers are forced to confront their pasts together as they hike along the trail to Machu Picchu. Please continue to check my website for updates on the launch, and if you are in Toronto on November 21, 2015, please drop by. And if not, please look for information on my website about where to buy the book. I have included a synopsis below. Thank you my WorldTeach friends!!! 


Poor Man’s Galapagos is a story about an irrigation engineering student living on a small, impoverished island in Ecuador, South America. Tomas, the main character, is conscripted into military service in a border war where he is certain he will die a senseless death. His father, a renowned British travel writer, is accused of embezzling government funds and quickly leaves the island. Tomas searches for answers amidst the backdrop of a fight for conscientious objection; the construction of a luxury hotel designed to attract tourists and infrastructure; a priest promoting the philosophy that it is against the precepts of religion to focus on spiritual needs while ignoring the worldly ones; and a nurse who longs for escape from serving as a doctor in a remote rural community. Tomas embarks on a journey of discovery that may lead him closer to his father, his biological mother who abandoned him at birth, and away from his home country for the first time in his life. The novel explores the enduring themes of duty, honour, obligation, sacrifice, and how the struggle to improve the condition of our lives sometimes comes with an inestimable expense...