Toward No Earthly Pole

I am delighted to announce that after eight years, I have finally finished my book on Sir John Franklin's last (spoiler alert: and fatal) expedition. It is now available for sale from Amazon. Treat yourself and buy a copy. Better yet, treat your friends and family too!

Since I was young, I have been fascinated with tales of geographic exploration. Early on, my interests focussed in on the Polar regions, likely because of the Canadian connection. I read every book in my local library on the subject. Around the age of 12, I received my first Polar book as a present, a modern reprint of John Franklin's first expedition to chart the Canadian North (Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea in the Years 1819, 20, 21, and 22, Hurtig, 1969). From that day on I started collecting modern books on the exploration of the Polar regions.

For my birthday in 1985, my parents gave me the book: The Polar Regions by John Richardson. Not a reprint; the original edition from 1861! It is not a rare book, but no matter. It was over 100 years old. I could "touch" history. John Richardson was on Franklin's first (and second) expedition and parlayed this into an amazing scientific career. This book was from the time when Richardson was alive. Perhaps he even held this book. It made history come alive for me.

For the last 34 years I have been building a library of antiquarian and modern Polar literature and ephemera. In 2010 I decided it was time to use it. I had a dream of contributing in a meaningful way to the vast Polar exploration literature. I wanted to write a book and, as a true academic, have it be cited. I did not see a good way of writing an interesting book through the use of my computer science background. A history book would be better, but I quickly realized that I would either have to write a popular mass-market book (of which there are hundreds) or an academic history book (for which I was not qualified). I put my dream on hold.

A couple of months later I hit on the idea of writing a historical fiction book. Take an expedition and create a story around it that educated and entertained the readers (once a teacher, always a teacher). But I wanted this to be a serious effort, so I decided to intertwine the historical record with fictionalized events. What expedition should I choose? The choice was obvious: John Franklin's third and final command. In 1845, he and his crew sailed into the Canadian Arctic to find a path through the labyrinth of islands seeking the fabled North-west Passage. They were never seen alive by Europeans again. There are few facts as to what happened and lots of speculation. It was the perfect opportunity for me to achieve my goals.

With huge efforts in 2011 and 2016, the book was completed. Now all I needed to find was a publisher. I have published several books before that have been well received (in particular, One Jump Ahead, 1997 and 2008 -- another great opportunity to treat yourself). They were computer science related books and I have the professional credibility that appeals to publishers. But when it comes to historical fiction, well, quite frankly, I am a nobody. After over two years of trying to find a publisher, I gave up. Toward No Earthly Pole is self published through Amazon.

I am thrilled that I have finally completed this project. I really do not care if it sells 10, 100 or 1,000 copies. All that matters is that I have now contributed -- yes, in a small way -- to the literature that I so enjoy reading.

There is one thing left to do. Will someone please cite the book, hopefully in a positive way?