After moving to the city in my early twenties, and roaming much of the world for another twenty odd years (and they were odd), I discovered that the place best suited to me was out in the middle of nowhere…which is pretty much where Carroll Manitoba is, about half an hour south of Brandon, in a house a few hundred yards from the one I grew up in.

There, I found that the peace that comes with solitude nurtured my writing, and in time my stories became recognized from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and most provinces in between. However, it wasn’t until the spring of 2012 that the LWWG first published my work in Manitoba, a gesture for which I will always be grateful.

I’m proud to say, though, that recognition has not been contained only in Canada. In fact my first story was published in England in 2008, and now to complete the circle, an English publisher has recently released my debut novel, “The Adventures of Charlie Smithers”.

To make a long story short: living out in the middle of nowhere doesn’t work for everyone, but it does for me.

You can read Chuck’s Story River Blog and find his new book at Amazon. Chuck was our December 2012 Featured Writer.

The Adventures of Charlie Smithers

Harry Flashman, step aside, old son. Make way for Charlie Smithers. The time is the nineteenth century. The place, the Serengeti Plain, where one Charlie Smithers—faithful manservant to the arrogant bone-head, Lord Brampton (with five lines in Debrett, and a hopeless shot to boot)—becomes separated from his master during an unfortunate episode with an angry rhinoceros, thereby launching Charlie on an odyssey into Deepest Darkest Africa, and subsequently into the arms of the beautiful Loiyan…and that’s where the trouble really begins. Maasai warriors, xenophobic locals, or evil Arab slavers, the two forbidden lovers encounter everything that the unforgiving jungle can throw at them…

View Chuck’s novel excerpt:

The Adventures of Charlie Smithers, Chapter One