Liverpool author Vernon Oickle is getting ready for the release of his newest collection of ghost stories this fall. (Rick Conrad)

It’s a perfect night to tell a ghost story.

As the fog rolls in from the Atlantic Ocean at White Point Beach Resort on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, Liverpool author Vernon Oickle is in his element.

About a dozen people have turned out for his regular Thursday night ghost storytelling event at White Point. And while he usually tells his tales around a fire outside the lodge near the beach, his indoor audience on this night is nonetheless engaged as he recounts stories of spectres and restless spirits.

Oickle has crafted a reputation as a Nova Scotia authority on ghost stories and folklore, with books like Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia, Strange Nova Scotia, and Where Evil Dwells.

“Having been born and raised here in rural Nova Scotia, I’ve heard all this stuff, ghost stories and legends and superstitions,” he says.

“My family, particularly my mother’s side of the family, was extremely superstitious. And so I was raised in that environment and have been exposed to that and embrace that.”

He’s been collecting stories of the supernatural for decades, since publishing his first collection, Ghost Stories of the Maritimes, in 2001.

“There are stories told to me by other people who have had these experiences, and they’re quite popular. People love it. And, you know, particularly the children, when I do ghost stories at White Point, there’s a lot of children that participate.

“And it’s just a fun thing.”

But mining the spookier corners of Nova Scotia and the Maritimes isn’t the only thing that inspires Oickle, who began his writing career as a journalist at newspapers in Liverpool and Bridgewater. Other titles under his belt include the best-selling Blue Nosers’ Book of Slang, Grandma’s Home Remedies, the Outstanding Outhouse Bathroom Reader series, and various photo and trivia books. Still, the lure of a scary tale keeps drawing him back.

Early this fall, he’ll add to his assembly of alarming accounts with his 47th book, Even More Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia.

“It’s kind of become my thing, right? The year before we did Forerunners of Nova Scotia, which was all on forerunners. … And then last year, we did Grandma’s Home Remedies. All in that Maritime folklore tradition vein of things. So it’s been fun for me. I love it.”

While much of Oickle’s oeuvre is non-fiction, he’s also a celebrated mystery author.

In 2024, he added the International Impact Book Award to his collection of accolades, which also includes the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

He was honoured in the mystery/thriller-historical mystery category for the seventh in his Crow series of novels, Seven Crows a Secret Yet to be Told. Nine books have been published so far in the series, which is a play on the nursery rhyme that begins with One Crow Sorrow and ends with Thirteen Crows Beware It’s the Devil Himself.

The most recent, Nine Crows for a Kiss, continues the deadly intrigue gripping Oickle’s hometown of Liverpool. He says switching from non-fiction to fiction can be difficult, but it’s rewarding.

“I think most fiction writers would tell you it’s probably the hardest of the two, because you know you have to create worlds and events and characters that are believable. But it’s also quite freeing, quite liberating in that you can create your own world, your own environment, your own town if you want to. I’ve been invested in these stories, these people for a long time. And they’re like family to me now.”

Oickle says that after almost 50 books, he still loves telling other people’s stories and creating his own.

“I just enjoy it. And I consider myself very fortunate to be able to do it on a full-time basis, because a lot of people who want to be writers just financially can’t. But I’m in the position now, you know, I’m almost 64. And I have a very supportive spouse (Nancy) who supports and travels with me.

“But if you want to be a writer, you have to write. And if you want to be a photographer, you take pictures, or a sculptor sculpts, painters paint, right? Even if it’s a sentence a day or a paragraph. You know, I tell myself every day when I get up, y, OK you’ve got to move the story along. My advice to anybody who is seriously thinking about wanting to be a writer, just write.”

That persistence has paid off for Oickle throughout his career. He’s working on finishing his Crow series of novels, while coming up with new stories to tell and continuing his regular column in Saltscapes magazine.

“I have another piece of fiction that I’ve been mulling around for a couple years that I’d like to tackle once I get the Crow books off my agenda. So I hope to put pen to paper to that in the next year or two. And, you know, as far as other projects, I have a couple of other things that I’ve been delving into over the years. One’s historical, sort of a profile, biography type of thing.

“So, there’s plenty of material out there, you just have to be willing to put yourself into it and put in the time and the research to make it happen.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Justin Freeman launched Letterswitch Publishing on Saturday in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

In a town without a bookstore, starting a publishing business might seem like a leap of faith.

But Justin Freeman of Liverpool says he’s realizing a childhood dream by launching Letterswitch Publishing. 

“I’m content to just put out beautiful books that entertain and educate and encourage new parents, and parents of young kids especially, but everybody in a family,” he told QCCR.

“I hope it goes off well. Publishing is not exactly the most robust industry to be jumping into feet first at the moment, but I’m hoping with kind of the niche aspect of it and keeping things small and focused that it’ll be a success.”

Freeman unveiled his micropublishing company on Saturday at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool. The stay-at-home Dad moved to the area a few years ago with his young family. 

“(We) moved to Liverpool in 2022 after my son was born. My wife got a job at the hospital … and this is home now. We’re putting down roots and are looking forward to a lot of years here.”

Freeman says he’ll be concentrating at first on publishing his own work through Letterswitch. 

His first book was on display on Saturday. Called A Little Grieving, he partnered with a pediatric crisis counsellor on the parent’s guide to helping your child through the grieving process. 

He also plans a kids’ picture book called One Veggie, a middle-grade chapter book called Molly Moss Runs for Office and a western novel called Crimson Shadow.

“It’ll be a slow rollout. I’m a stay-at-home dad and I’ll just try to get things rolling here in the next couple years. But once both kids are in school, I look to open up to other authors and just get a nice catalog of titles.”

Freeman grew up on a farm in Missouri. He had an eclectic career before moving to Nova Scotia with his wife, Dr. Alison Freeman, and their kids Molly and James.

“I was formerly a police officer in Missouri in the city of Springfield. I was also a minister for a few years, and sold shoes and grew up on a farm and just have a varied background that kind of informs and inflects different writing. Thus all the different type of books that are coming out.”

The name of the company comes from how he met his wife, when he was still on the farm in Missouri and she was at home in Nova Scotia.

“Essentially, back in 2000, I was on the family farm using ICQ, a messaging app, and this message pops up saying, ‘Do you want to catch up?’ It was obviously a misdirect, but I went to reject it and something told me to accept it, so I did. And it was somebody looking for somebody named Justin Freeman that they had met in Massachusetts. And instead of typing MA for Massachusetts, they typed MO.

“And we struck up more conversations, postcards from abroad, kept up over the years, and then 15 years later, wound up meeting finally, fell in love. I’m now married to Alison and we have two beautiful kids. And so the letter switch is an homage to that switched letter that started our entire story.”

For the launch event, Freeman teamed up with local artisans to feature some of their work, including local baker Gabby’s Bread Basket, who catered the event, and the Covey Candle Company, who created a couple of limited-edition scents. 

“And there’s also a piece that I commissioned by local artist Katie Kripp called Bound for Novel Passages. And it’s a sailing ship with books for the sails and it just represents a new journey for me and some other creatives I look to work with. I find myself surrounded by creative people here in Liverpool and I wanted to work with a few of them for the launch.”

People at the Letterswitch launch, like Jaqueline Duck of Liverpool, said it was exciting to have a publisher in the area.

“I think that’s amazing because there are writers here and they have to go and find a publisher. If we have one in Liverpool, it makes everybody’s life that much easier. And it’s good business.”

Freeman says that while he’ll be busy for the next few months on his own work, he’d still like to hear from people interested in his new venture.

You can find Letterswitch Publishing at letterswitchpublishing.com or email Freeman at hello@letterswitchpublishing.com.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Pam Wamback holds copies of Lucy the Lob’Star, the kids’ book she officially launched this past weekend as part of Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl. (Rick Conrad)

On the same weekend that Lucy the Lobster saw her shadow, her star was set to rise a little higher thanks to a new book about Nova Scotia’s second most famous weather forecaster.

First-time author Pam Wamback officially released the kid’s book Lucy the Lob’Star on Saturday, the day before Groundhog Day. 

It’s about the clairvoyant crustacean who crawled into the international spotlight in 2018, challenging Shubenacadie Sam for supremacy among wildlife weather watchers.

In real life, Lucy is the official mascot of the Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl, a month-long festival every February celebrating Nova Scotia’s biggest seafood export.

“It’s a book for kids of all ages,” Wamback told QCCR. “A really tough one to learn to read on, but you know, for kids from 2 to 92. We’re all kids at heart, right?”

Featuring fun illustrations by Chad Thompson, Lucy the Lob’Star follows Lucy as she pops her head out of the ocean one day in her home waters of Barrington, and meets Gilbert the Groundhog. 

Gilbert is looking to retire as the local once-a-year weather forecaster, but he can’t find a replacement. So Lucy volunteers.

“It’s my take on how Lucy became famous,” Wamback says. “She’s not like any other lobster. She’s different. There’s always different lobsters. There’s blue lobsters, there’s calico lobsters. Lucy was different, but she just wanted to be famous. She just wasn’t sure how it was going to happen, and a chance opportunity came along, and the moral of the story is that change is scary, but so is staying the same.”

The book has been out for just a month, and Wamback says she’s amazed by the response.

“It’s been fantastic, because like I said, this is a passion project for me, a personal passion project for me. I’m not an author, it’s not my full-time job, but I also wanted it to showcase the destination of Southwest Nova (Scotia) and in particular Shelburne County.

“It’s my home, right? In the back of the book there’s also a little bit of fun facts about lobsters to educate people, and also creating awareness about Shelburne County, and Barrington as the lobster capital of Canada, the Lobster Crawl Festival, and the Shelburne County Lobster Festival as well.”

Wamback, whose full-time job is in communications with Tourism Nova Scotia, has been involved with the lobster crawl since it began in 2018. Her passion for lobster is reflected in her website, Lady Loves Lobster.

“Growing up near Shelburne, I’ve been surrounded by lobster my entire life. Growing up in a lobster community, lobster family.

“Publishing a book was never on my radar, I’m not a writer, I’m the organizer, the planner. I was just kind of playing with an idea, and it kind of grew from there. … So finally last year, I was like let’s see what happens, cast the net and fast track about a year and a half later and here’s Lucy the Lob’Star.”

Wamback has promotional events lined up in Mahone Bay, Shelburne and Bridgewater over the next few weeks. 

“Lucy, I’m probably one of her biggest fans. The real Lucy the Lobster, she’s an international superstar. She’s been on CNN, she’s been on blog posts across Europe, she’s been in the Miami Herald. So we need to celebrate her and showcase her, and that’s kind of what I want to do. I’ve got some people that keep saying, ‘What’s your next book?’ I’m like, ‘Next?’

“I never anticipated one, but who knows? Like I said, I never expected one, so you never know. ”

Lucy the Lob’Star is available at bookstores around Nova Scotia or online.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Cover art from “Remembering Queens County vol. 3” Courtesy Tim McDonald

A local author’s latest book is sure to stir memories for Queens County residents.

Tim McDonald’s new book is the third volume in the “Remembering Queens County, Nova Scotia” series.

McDonald said because it focuses on the 1950s and 60s it feels a lot less like the typical history books he usually writes.

“People really love it. It’s not just a book of history, it’s a book of memories because there are so many people that would remember what’s in this new book of mine,” said McDonald.

Along with stories, the book is full of photographs of the era. McDonald dedicated the book to the three photographers responsible for the images: Armand Wigglesworth, Ralph Morton and Ken Dagley.

He said part of the research for the book involved posting photos to social media, which, more often than not, would start a lively discussion. McDonald said history he may not have had access to comes pouring out when people recount their memories of a photo.

“People don’t realize I’m asking because it’s for a story I’m working on.,” said McDonald. “I’ll say, who worked at Liverpool Ladies Wear or who worked at the Worthmore store? It creates interest, it creates conversation, but it also gives me the information I need for my stories.”

McDonald began writing this book in the midst of writing his previous release and didn’t think he would have it published until 2021.

The pandemic changed all that for him, in the best possible way.

“With COVID, I was home an awful lot more. I expected this wouldn’t get done until next year,” said McDonald. “But because I was home so much in the spring, night after night, I had to do something.”

McDonald currently lives in Halifax and had planned to return to Liverpool to release the book in person but due to COVID-19 precautions, he decided travelling outside of metro wouldn’t be responsible.

Instead, he has sent a batch of autographed books and enlisted some local friends to sell them in his place Saturday between 10:00am and 2:00pm at Work Evolved, located in the formers Oscars space on Main Street.

McDonald is optimistic the book will resonate for a large swath of people in Queens.

“I think anybody that’s at least 40 years old or older and lived in Liverpool, there’s going to be something in this book they’re going to remember. But for the people my parent’s age, in their 70s or 80s, they’ll remember everything.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson