For so very long, writing was something I did but never shared with anyone. Sure, I wrote a lot of impersonal items for work in my various jobs over the last 20 years or so, but the fiction I wrote was something few people had ever read. Until now.

A lot of people have been asking me why did I write this book. I suppose it’s a good question – and a fairly obvious one – but I have to admit I don’t have an answer. It was a story that wouldn’t leave me alone until I put pen to paper. So I did.

Was I trying to achieve anything by writing this story and getting brave enough to put it out there? I’m not sure. I certainly wasn’t trying to convey some type of big message in publishing Not Alone on the Voyage. It’s certainly not necessarily a heady book (nor a long one), so I don’t have too much belief that this book is necessarily transformative.

I think, in some way, I was trying to pass along a little bit of the Canadian North to the reader. Many of the folks who will pick up a copy of my book will probably never make it to the Canadian Arctic, so I suppose I wanted to do my best to paint a picture of the region to give them an idea of what it is keeps me coming back – even after having been gone for more than seven years before finding my way back. If someone was never fortunate enough to find their way here, maybe I could share with them a little bit of what I see.

A lot of books aren’t trying to give the readers some kind of take away. They’re just trying to tell a story, to share characters and images with the reader. Reading does not always have to be about gaining something significant through the practice. Sometimes it’s just about a good book.

That’s what I hope Not Alone on the Voyage turns out to be for those who pick it up. To be a good book and a great read.

I’m not sure I could really ask for anything more…