Twelve Aunts and Twelve Uncles

I’ve been working on a book project. Two books, actually. I began this project just over four years ago and am happy to say that I finally finished it in June of this year. The books are called Twelve Uncles and Twelve Aunts and I am quite proud of the finished products.

The concept was to write a book for each of my children and gift it to them on their high school graduation day. I’ve never been much for bought gifts, but show me something hand-made, created, built, custom crafted, just for the recipient and nobody else, and now you are into something special. For my birthdays I never ask for “stuff” from the kids; I ask for a handmade card, and I’ve received some real beauties over the years. This year, for the kids’ birthdays, Ana and I made giant cards with scruffy black and white home-printer quality photographs of them over the years, along with some written messages. They loved it.

In these books I wanted to bring together many of the important things I've learned over the years (or in some cases, still trying to learn) and present them to the kids in the form of a fictional story about a family similar to ours. These ideas came from many sources - experiences with my own aunts and uncles, my parents, cousins, friends, and many books and articles on a wide range of topics. I am very, very fortunate to have such a diverse family and kaleidoscope of friends to draw inspiration from, which made coming up with themes for the book quite easy. Reflections of my friends and family exist in the books' characters. Not one-to-one, mind you, but little pieces scattered over many of them, like pieces of a shattered mirror. The characters in this book are fictional, but all fiction comes from the imagination, which is fueled by decades' worth of real memories and real people.

This may sound morbid to some, but one of my goals was to document all the things I'd hope to pass onto the kids before I expire, which (as we all know and fear) could happen to any of us at any time. Here's how I imagine the post-mortem proclamation to go down, likely read from a parchment by a robed Buddhist monk standing on a spiritually significant mountain peak, or at the very least a kitchen table:

In light of my untimely and unscheduled departure from this earth, I bequeath to you, my dearest children, not a generous trust fund, nor a secret map to hidden treasure, nor a chest loaded with bearer bonds, but a gift far more valuable - two books. These books reveal many hitherto unknown secrets of the universe, wisdom compiled from ancient sages and prophets, profound knowledge of the way of humankind, plus I think there was an excellent raisin bread recipe in there too. Read these books, absorb the ideas, and dutifully heed the exhortations contained therein. The elixir in these pages is sure to bring you great riches, success in love, inner peace, stillness, clear skin, a triumphant career, legions of worshippers, excellent muscle tone, and an eternal appreciation for art, beauty, and music. Take these books my children, they are yours.

In truth, I don't even know if the kids will read them or find them relevant at this point in their lives. But I hope they do, and they are able to draw an idea or two from the books that help them along the way as they travel into adulthood. And if not, well, it's been said that writers write for themselves. If it turns out somebody else enjoys it, that's a bonus.

I used Amazon to create the books (it's an incredible tool, and free) and printed out copies for each of my nephews and nieces, our kids, then a copy to have at home. The plan was never to make this a commercial exercise; it was a labour of love. But I decided I do want to make the books available to those interested so I've set the price to the lowest that Amazon Canada will allow, about nine bucks (links below, plus images of the covers). If anybody would prefer a free pdf copy of them, just shoot me an email and I'll send them to you.

So here's a big cheers to all of my incredible aunts and uncles!

Amazon link to purchase Twelve Uncles

Amazon link to purchase Twelve Aunts