Editor’s Letter
For me, July means it’s time to kick back, relax a little, maybe break a few rules. The same rules (or lack thereof) apply to the summer issue of Ottawa Magazine. In each of our other seven issues, we’re scrupulous about making sure that everything in the magazine has an Ottawa angle. Everything — be it gossipy or serious, off-the-cuff or weighty — is chosen with Ottawa in mind. If a story doesn’t have some link to the city, it doesn’t make the cut.
That’s what makes this annual summer fiction issue so much fun — and so relaxing — to work on. The only Ottawa angle is the authors, themselves. The capital is full of fantastic fiction writers, many of them well known worldwide. All I need to do is contact them to see whether they can fit a short story into their busy writing schedules. The topic is up to them; it could be set in Ottawa, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s summer, after all. We’re relaxed enough to break a few rules and see what happens.
This year I called up three crime writers to see what short-story ideas were lurking in the backs of their minds. Mary Jane Maffini quickly proposed “Afternoon in the Cemetery” (page 28). Maffini is well known to fans of the mystery genre who have eagerly followed the adventures of Camilla MacPhee, Fiona Silk, and Charlotte Adams. She’s also a charter member of the Ladies Killing Circle, a gathering of women writers — most of them based in this area — with murder on their minds.
When I spoke to another Killing Circle member, Barbara Fradkin (“The Cauldron,” page 34) immediately offered up a local idea. Over the years, Fradkin has published a half-dozen historical tales set in 1870s Ottawa and featuring a young physician named Dr. David Browne, who is modelled loosely on the life of her great-grandfather. “The Cauldron” finds Dr. Browne once again trying to work out a rather puzzling crime, one with his intended fiancée at its centre.
I found Rick Mofina just about to set off for England to promote the U.K. launch of Six Seconds, a page-turner that spent seven weeks on The Globe and Mail’s best-seller list. Though on a whirlwind schedule, he promised a chilling urban thriller (“Backup,” page 42), all the more jarring for the number of “kids and crime” stories in the news of late.
COMING UP: Gastronomes, get ready to do some sampling. Ottawa Magazine’s food writers have taste-tested their way around the city to bring you their “best of” list for 2009.
Sarah Brown
Editor
Columns
DRINK: Natalie MacLean demystifies the
world of wine and spirits with keen wit and sharp insight
FOOD: The controversial Chris Knight, a meat-and-potatoes
gourmet, takes his highly trained palate to town
RESTAURANTS: Our restaurant critic travels incognito
to bring back the honest-to-a-fault goods on the city's latest
dining establishments
ENTERTAINMENT LISTINGS: A comprehensive guide to the
best activities, shows and exhibitions in the region
Special Editions
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