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Biography	Emily-Jane Hills Orford Emily-Jane Hills Orford’s stories and novels reflect her national pride. Emily-Jane began her writing career writing book reviews. She is currently a regular book reviewer for allbookreviews.com and her reviews appear on many other online sites as well as book jackets. Emily-Jane teaches creative writing to young people and regularly gives presentations in local schools and senior’s residences. Other writing accomplishments include articles in the 2005 edition of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, as well as several books, Spring (PublishAmerica 2005), Summer (Baico 2007), Autumn (Baico 2009), Ukulele Yukon (Baico 2006), Letters From Inside: The Notes and Nuggets of Margaret Marsh (Baico 2006), It Happened in Canada (Baico 2007), The Creative Spirit (Baico 2008), Beyond the Ordinary (Baico 2008), Beyond the Ordinary…And More (Baico 2008) and Personal Notes (Moosehide Books 2008). Emily-Jane’s book, The Whistling Bishop (Baico 2008), was recently named Finalist in the 2009 Indie Book Awards. This award-winning author believes in writing about Canada; but she also believes in writing about extra-ordinary people — the real people who made our country a great nation. The author may be reached by email at: ejomusic@sympatico.ca; or by mail at: 11 Stradwick Ave., Nepean, Ontario K2J 2X3. Or, check her website at: www3.sympatico.ca/mistymo.
Gary Miller: Miller’s Tales (and Poems)	Review of Miller’s Tales (and Poems), by Gary Miller (Ottawa: Baico 2010) 978-1-926945-09-5 paper $17.44. We have to laugh at ourselves. We do laugh at others, so why not ourselves as well? Situations demand a sense of humor. It’s a matter of survival. If we don’t laugh at the bizarre, the annoying; if we can’t laugh, then we are stuck in a rut of misery. Life is a maze of humorous incidents, trivial frustrations and wordless sidekicks, so why not embrace it all with a laugh, or, at least, a chuckle. Gary Miller does. He also writes about it: about life, that is, life at its most ridiculously bizarre and complex anomalies. Miller is a retired English teacher and professor. He doesn’t lack for entertainment in his retirement, as his daily jottings are entertainment enough. He writes daily and is published regularly in various literary journals. He’s also won a few awards here and there, including the somewhat unusual writing awards such as the James McIntyre Poetry Contest, Ingersoll’s annual ‘cheese poetry’ contest, in which he placed second in 2008 with his limerick, “To Laura Ingersoll Secord”. It’s all in good fun, or so he claims. His recent accomplishment is the publication of many of his stories and poems (some of which have won awards) in book format. Being the English teacher that he is, or was, he has had to choose an appropriately classic title. Miller’s Tales, of course, is a sidekick reference to another literary masterpiece, the second of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. However, this Miller is not the drunken miller, Robyn, who insists on telling his story of a carpenter and his wife to a group of pilgrims. This Miller is, however, a teller of “noble” tales, not necessarily about nobility; but rather about the noble aspect of life itself. This is clearly evident in his short haiku poems, such as “To Sister Mary Clare”: Your life is a poem lyrical and beautiful in the form of God Miller’s jottings are anecdotes, little beads of wisdom, revelations of another vision, and amusing twists of classic tales. It is a witty read, one that takes the reader through a series of themes, beginning with “The Joker”, a collection of humorous stories and poems, and finishing with “Leaves on a Forest Trail”, which includes haiku and tales of a more serious nature. With dry wit and intellectual word play, Miller leads the reader through a library of amusing anecdotes, senseless limericks, and a bit of Achilles Bull. This book, Miller’s Tales (and Poems) is definitely worth a good read. Highly recommended by Emily-Jane Hills Orford, award winning author of The Whistling Bishop (Ottawa: Baico, 2008) Emily-Jane Hills Orford

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description

Biography

Emily-Jane Hills Orford

Emily-Jane Hills Orford’s stories and novels reflect her national pride. Emily-Jane began her writing career writing book reviews. She is currently a regular book reviewer for allbookreviews.com and her reviews appear on many other online sites as well as book jackets. Emily-Jane teaches creative writing to young people and regularly gives presentations in local schools and senior’s residences. Other writing accomplishments include articles in the 2005 edition of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, as well as several books, Spring (PublishAmerica 2005), Summer (Baico 2007), Autumn (Baico 2009), Ukulele Yukon (Baico 2006), Letters From Inside: The Notes and Nuggets of Margaret Marsh (Baico 2006), It Happened in Canada (Baico 2007), The Creative Spirit (Baico 2008), Beyond the Ordinary (Baico 2008), Beyond the Ordinary…And More (Baico 2008) and Personal Notes (Moosehide Books 2008). Emily-Jane’s book, The Whistling Bishop (Baico 2008), was recently named Finalist in the 2009 Indie Book Awards. This award-winning author believes in writing about Canada; but she also believes in writing about extra-ordinary people — the real people who made our country a great nation. The author may be reached by email at: ejomusic@sympatico.ca; or by mail at: 11 Stradwick Ave., Nepean, Ontario K2J 2X3. Or, check her website at: www3.sympatico.ca/mistymo.

Gary Miller: Miller’s Tales (and Poems)

Review of Miller’s Tales (and Poems), by Gary Miller (Ottawa: Baico 2010) 978-1-926945-09-5 paper $17.44.

We have to laugh at ourselves. We do laugh at others, so why not ourselves as well? Situations demand a sense of humor. It’s a matter of survival. If we don’t laugh at the bizarre, the annoying; if we can’t laugh, then we are stuck in a rut of misery. Life is a maze of humorous incidents, trivial frustrations and wordless sidekicks, so why not embrace it all with a laugh, or, at least, a chuckle. Gary Miller does. He also writes about it: about life, that is, life at its most ridiculously bizarre and complex anomalies.

Miller is a retired English teacher and professor. He doesn’t lack for entertainment in his retirement, as his daily jottings are entertainment enough. He writes daily and is published regularly in various literary journals. He’s also won a few awards here and there, including the somewhat unusual writing awards such as the James McIntyre Poetry Contest, Ingersoll’s annual ‘cheese poetry’ contest, in which he placed second in 2008 with his limerick, “To Laura Ingersoll Secord”. It’s all in good fun, or so he claims.

His recent accomplishment is the publication of many of his stories and poems (some of which have won awards) in book format. Being the English teacher that he is, or was, he has had to choose an appropriately classic title. Miller’s Tales, of course, is a sidekick reference to another literary masterpiece, the second of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. However, this Miller is not the drunken miller, Robyn, who insists on telling his story of a carpenter and his wife to a group of pilgrims. This Miller is, however, a teller of “noble” tales, not necessarily about nobility; but rather about the noble aspect of life itself. This is clearly evident in his short haiku poems, such as “To Sister Mary Clare”:

Your life is a poem
lyrical and beautiful
in the form of God

Miller’s jottings are anecdotes, little beads of wisdom, revelations of another vision, and amusing twists of classic tales. It is a witty read, one that takes the reader through a series of themes, beginning with “The Joker”, a collection of humorous stories and poems, and finishing with “Leaves on a Forest Trail”, which includes haiku and tales of a more serious nature. With dry wit and intellectual word play, Miller leads the reader through a library of amusing anecdotes, senseless limericks, and a bit of Achilles Bull. This book, Miller’s Tales (and Poems) is definitely worth a good read.

Highly recommended by Emily-Jane Hills Orford, award winning author of The Whistling Bishop (Ottawa: Baico, 2008)