Brief Encounters

I’ve been writing for various publishers since the fall of 2008, although I’ve been writing for myself far longer. I’m often asked why men? What’s so fascinating about writing stories about men falling in love? It’s never been an easy question to answer. I just always have written stories about men, and as I reached the age where I started to fall in love (and that happened on a fairly regular basis, and not always with men, myself) my characters grew along with me. For a long time, I thought I was pretty odd. A lot of people who know me are raising eyebrows right about now, and to them, I say: “I wasn’t asking you.”

When I discovered the internet, in the form of text chat rooms in university, and that‘s as close an aproximation on age as you’re going to get, I realized I was not the only one who had this fascination. There were other writers out there writing the stories I wanted to read, and reading the kind of stories I was writing. Sometime between then and now, an author was born.

Welcome Jaime, on with the questions. 

Biddle’s Jazz Club – Montreal

1. If someone was coming to Canada on vacation, tell them one place they MUST visit (can be as large as the Rocky Mountains, or as specific as a unique museum)?

Well, depends on the person. If you’re a city slicker, and money is no issue, do a bit of jet setting and check out the jazz scene in Montreal, a bit of theatre and dinning in Toronto, and round it out with sunset in Vancouver. If you’re the outdoorsy type, you can’t beat camping in Northern Ontario, the land of lakes and trees.

2. Can you ice skate? Do you understand the rules of hockey and have a favourite team? (please don’t be the Maple Leafs)

Awww. Scoring on the Maple Leafs, how sad.

Let’s see: No, Yes and No. I ice skate like a drunk water buffalo. Hockey really isn’t that complicated: Hit the little black thing with the stick into the net, and demolish anyone in your path. Oh, and don’t go offside or shoot the puck too far down the rink. That’s icing, and not the sweet yummy kind. I grew up in a hockey town, and my four brothers might be the only one growing up in town who didn’t play. They seem to have all made it to adult hood intact despite that stigma, though.

3. Do you think there is a quintessential Canadian food? What would you serve guests who demand some real Canadian food?

You should do a little poll to see how many people tell you poutine. It’s French fries with mozzarella cheese and hot beef or turkey gravy. OMG good! And terrible for you in every, conceivable way. People really shouldn’t eat it at all, but it’s soooo good! Also, my uncle can BBQ a mean moose steak.

4. How many provinces/territories have you visited? Have you ever been to the arctic?

Let’s see: I live in Ontario, been to Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Alberta. And no, never been, and have no desire to go. (See answer #10)

5. What was your first published story?

When We Were Three, which at the moment, is no longer available, as the publisher went bust, but the story that really kicked off my career was a short, sweet (no sex, just some very nice kissing) story about two cowboys meeting again after the death of one of their fathers. They haven’t spoken in a decade and their reunion is…fraught. It’s called The Runaway.

6. Have you ever written a story set in Canada? Which one?

Actually, a lot of them are set in Canada, in that they are modeled after Canadian social norms, politics and legal systems (Like Better, which deals with a court case, I used Canadian law, though I don’t really get deeply into the details) I generally don’t get into specifics about exact cities my stories are set in, unless it’s pertinent to the story. Most notably, my Ageless series, that just this week came out in print is set in Newfoundland. The main character buys a house in a post natural disaster coastal area called The Battery, which is featured on the cover of the book. It’s just a tiny little fishing village perched on the face of a cliff on Newfoundland’s coast.

7. Who is your favourite Canadian actor or actress?

Paul Brandt

Easy Keanu Reeves.

8. Who is your favourite Canadian musical artist?

Paul Brandt.

9. If you could be a Canadian animal shifter, what would you be?

I don’t think there are any animals that are strictly Canadian, except maybe Beavers, but I’m not too interested in being a smelly rodent, especially since my father has had a life-long feud with the critters. On the other hand, Snowy Owls are pretty awesome…

10. Winter – yay or nay? Discuss.

No. no, no, no and more no. For a Canadian of Finnish decent, my abhorrence of winter is probably a strange and unusual mutation, but there it is.

11. What’s the best thing about being Canadian?

Also easy: our health care and other social support systems. Sure, there’s all the nature and wide open spaces an easy-going friendly attitude, but I wholly appreciate how well looked after we are in terms of social programs that fill in the gaps that our southern neighbors don’t enjoy. I can’t think of many places I would want to live outside of Canada.

Thanks so much for answering all our questions Jaime. It was great to have you. You can find Jaime around the web at: 

Website: http://jaime-samms.net/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000982219151&ref=tn_tnmn
Livejournal: http://dontkickmycane.livejournal.com/
Deviantart: http://dontkickmycane.deviantart.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JaimeSamms