BARRIE ISLAND—Barrie Island author Donald Roberts has been recognized with a special honour for promoting literature around the world.
Mr. Roberts was recently designated as a Literary Colonel in the ‘Army of Literary Warriors’ at StoryMirror, for lending a helping hand in promoting literature.” The award was signed and sent by Bibhu Datta Route, co-founder and CEO of StoryMirror.
StoryMirror “is one of the biggest publishers in India, and this award is international,” Mr. Roberts told the Recorder. In order to be in line for the award, “you have to advocate and support reading and literature.”
Mr. Roberts had a textbook published in South Africa in university in 2014, a textbook teaching people how to read English. He is self-published and traditionally published, and has written about 15 novelettes and well over a hundred short stories, as well as some graphic novel/comic books in his writing career.
As the Recorder published this past March 15, Mr. Roberts had at the time just released his newest novelette, ‘Leather Lace and Lead: A Donna Maria McCarthy Mystery Thriller.’ He has over 300,000 followers on his website’s online blog.
He is working on several new projects including a murder mystery series blog that will run weekly for 13 weeks, ‘A Murder in Twin Bluffs Harbour,’ using Gore Bay as the setting. “The names of characters and business names will be changed, but people will recognize locations in town in the book.” This will be published early in the new year.
Mr. Roberts provided a preview: “The Town of Twin Bluffs Harbour is swept into a frenzy of fear and mayhem when a mystery as tangled as a Gordian knot darkens its streets and takes the keen mind and observation of Miss Violet Ruckstahl to unravel, to the chagrin of Detective Inspector Marsh, but not before the plot thickens murderously. Zak Vancura, owner-operator of the Twin Bluffs Mirror reports the story in weekly special exclusive editions.”
He explained, “the characters in my quirky little short stories and novelettes are all developed from aspects of myself and my imaginary friend. In real life, this mundane world with tunnel vision reality, I have endeavoured to live it out in many ways. I have been a sailor and soldier, a farmer, a hobo, musician, mountaineer, hunter-gatherer, fisherman, author, editor, teacher and student, to mention only a fraction of my experience. It has been a beautiful life and I hope for more decades to learn and experience a great deal more. I hope your life has been equal to or more than mine.”
