Winnipeg's Chadwick Ginther on writing fantasy in the city

Book Cover: D' Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths

I write about Winnipeg.

I write fantasy.

My Winnipeg is a fantastic Winnipeg. Not in the "One Great City" sense, although it's that, too. My Winnipeg is a magic city in a magic province. Manitoba is home to ghosts and hauntings, a lake serpent and Sasquatch sightings. Look up at the Golden Boy, atop the Manitoba Legislature. He is a representation of the Roman god Mercury. The Romans stole him from the Greeks, who called him Hermes. Ironic as he was the patron of thieves. And it was in Hermes, and mythology, that I found my first inspiration.

Two children's books, D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths and D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths had a huge influence on me. I checked them out of my hometown library in Morden one after the other, again and again. Eventually the librarian suggested that perhaps another boy would want to learn about mythology. She must have realized how unlikely her proposition was -- I certainly did, our gods were hockey players -- as she never did stop me. And I never stopped. These stories showed me the way, and authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard showed me it was a path that could still be walked.

My dream is to write and to make a living doing so. This city has an amazing collection of talented writers working in many different fields doing just that. We have a respected writers festival. I've seen visiting authors amazed by the turnout they receive here. Being Aqua Books' Emerging Writer-in-Residence has given me a taste of the dream: reading my work before adoring fans (granted all but three were friends and family), an office where I may write without distraction, and the sense of being a part of Winnipeg's community of writers.

I write fantasy.

Writing is fantasy.