I cannot remember a time when I have not enjoyed reading.
My mother tells me I began sounding out words from my older brother’s readers when I was three. I developed severe asthma as a child, and reading allowed me to take part vicariously in the world outside the safety of my home.
By the time I was ten, I had read through the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series and had moved onto my father’s collection of Louis L’Amour and Max Brand western novels. Two years later, I discovered science fiction and found the genre that fit the stories that were growing inside my head.
I have been a storyteller for as long as I can remember.
Even as a young child, I understood the joy that I brought to my family when I shared a completely made-up story. Of course, with so many stories in my head, I had to write them down. The first piece of fiction I remember writing was a short story for a Grade 6 assignment in the two-room elementary school in Waterton Lakes National Park. Each student was asked to read their story to the classroom. I was 12 and my classmates were my first real audience.
My father was a park warden, and I wrote about a Sasquatch whose family had been killed by wardens. In response, the fierce creature of my imagination exacted a bloody revenge on Waterton’s townsfolk. I was reading my story with the passion and emotion I hoped my words evoked, and at one point, I realized someone was crying. I didn’t dare look to see who it was until I finished. When I glanced up and saw a look of horror on the face of one of my classmates, I had a realization:
Words from my mind could affect people other than my family. It was a defining moment for me as a person.
I love imagining the impossible and enjoy mashing the science of our universe and the boundless domain of imagination into something just beyond the realm of possibility. As a reader, I enjoy the journey that another person’s imagination takes me on. As a writer, I love the journey of crafting a good story.
Though I have written many short stories and novels since that first piece, I only pursued publishing in recent years. Medusa Gone, The Key to Enniskillen, and iDead and Other Short Stories are all published through an independent publisher, Raspberry Press. Medusa Gone is my take on the superhero genre, with an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek spin. Enniskillen was based on a dream I had about a young man who inherits an old house from his grandfather and discovers a door that functions as a portal to destinations around the planet. The collection of short stories is mostly based on dreams I have had.
To me, the most exciting part of writing is the journey of taking an idea that exists only in my mind and bringing it to life for others to read.
Tremblay’s books are available online on Amazon and at Chapters/Indigo and Alberta public libraries.
