About the Author
Alan fell in love with a sailboat in his childhood and never fully recovered.
He still has an image in his mind of the lovely St. Lawrence Yawl against a backdrop of fog — his father setting anchors at low tide while Alan, aged 6, dabbled at the edge of the sandbar in his rubber boots.
Soft, quiet beauty in drizzly rain interrupted by a mighty squawk. Having stepped too far, both boots were filling with icy water.
Beauty, and self-inflicted misery. The two have been central to Alan’s life ever since.
Classic design in wood, extreme impracticality, and physical discomfort are the hallmarks of what he puts out to sea in around the beautiful but remote north shore of the lower St. Lawrence River in Québec.
Careers as an Anglican Priest and later a High School English teacher were mere distractions from his passion for sailing and the restoration of beautiful wooden boats.
Along the way came a long and joyful marriage, two fascinating children, a succession of dogs, and eventually the Do-It-Yourself construction of a house for Alan to retire in with his wife, Jane.
Then finally, there was time – time for the writing that had always been roiling, just below the surface, dammed by the priorities of making a living and raising a family. The ideas that had collected, undeveloped, in a drawer in his desk could finally flow into something real. Alan’s interest in world events and his passion for sailing and for people birthed two young adult novels set on his beloved Saguenay region of Québec, a memoir on the house-building project, and two novels to date — the first, Salma’s Shoes — forthcoming in Fall 2026 from Black Spring Press.
Sailing, with its extreme joys and near disastrous moments has become a metaphor for his life – beauty and misery – leading to a strengthening of character and an abiding concern for other people.
But that lovely yawl that so captivated the little boy with the swamped boots has remained the standard against which all other boats are judged — and never have any come close.
