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John Stiles

Goodreads Author

Born

in Wolfville, Canada

Website

http://www.insolentboy.com/bio.html

Twitter

goldenglow

Genre

Fiction, Poetry, Philosophy

Influences

Jean Rhys, Mordecai Richler, Ernest Buckler, Margaret Atwood ...more

Member Since

August 2008

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John is the author of Scouts are Cancelled and Taking the Stairs, amongst other works.

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

John Stiles The idea for Taking The Stairs came to me when I was working as a temp at a pension board in Toronto and noticed the faces of the people who were wai…more The idea for Taking The Stairs came to me when I was working as a temp at a pension board in Toronto and noticed the faces of the people who were waiting to take the elevator at the end of day; no matter how much they wanted to get out of the building on a Friday, most would just patiently wait till the elevator came instead of taking off down the stairs. The idea stuck me how easy it is to fall into a holding pattern, neither being happy nor unhappy. I based the story on a young aspiring author who was resisting this holding pattern, in his mid-thirties. The story is about the tragi-comic pitfalls that impede his pursuit of his dream to get published. I was inspired by the life experiences and 'slice of life vignettes' of male writers such as Kerouac, Henry Miller, TF Rigeloff, Mordecai Richer and by the female writer Jean Rhys whom I admire most. Taking The Stairs is a romantic novel set in modern era Toronto, which also slides back in time to 1970's London, England.
Poverty-stricken, soon-to-be-evicted and harassed by a phone that rings off the hook, Jarod Palmer is a vulnerable young lad teetering on the brink of emotional despair and financial ruin. The story is also about the women in the young author’s life.  The title of the novel is taken from one of Jarod’s hopeless job experiences where he finds himself telemarketing for eight dollars and hour. Jarod`s delusions of fortune and fame crumble when he finds himself in a crowded office building in the middle of a soulless city. He realizes as he stares at the faces of the people crowding into the elevator that the last thing he wants to do is fall in line and take the elevator, he simply wants to follow his own path and take the stairs.(less)

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Combine Editions
John Stiles’s books

Average rating: 4.16 · 43 ratings · 8 reviews · 8 distinct works

	Taking the Stairs 4.17 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Poet's Quest for God: 21st Century Poems of Faith, Doubt and Wonder by Oliver V. Brennan, Todd Swift, Dominic Bury 4.18 avg rating — 11 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Scouts Are Cancelled: The Annapolis Valley Poems & One Short Story 4.22 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2001 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Insolent Boy really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Creamsicle Stick Shiv 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Professional Guide to Freelance Writing 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Untitled Nobby Stiles by John Stiles (Goodreads Author), Mike Keegan 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Untitled Nobby Stiles by John Stiles (Goodreads Author), Mike Keegan 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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3 posts
John Stiles's Blog

NOTES ON DICKENS WALKS

http://howyahdoon.blogspot.co.uk/2015...

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Published on December 30, 2015 07:01 • Tags: dickens, dickens-walks, john-stiles, scouts-are-cancelled, taking-the-stairs

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John is Currently Reading

John Stiles is currently reading

What Diantha Did

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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Oct 21, 2018 01:35PM

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John Stiles is now friends with Greg Kearney
May 22, 2024 05:20PM · like

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John’s Quotes

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
― Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You

tags: writing

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“She was a person who, when confronted with an easy way out, always took the hard way. The easy way out of this would be to marry Hank and let him labor for her. After a few years, when the children were waist-high, the man would come along whom she should have married in the first place. There would be searchings of hearts, fevers and frets, long looks at each other on the post office steps, and misery for everybody. The hollering and the high-mindedness over, all that would be left would be another shabby little affair à la the Birmingham country club set, and a self-constructed private Gehenna with the latest Westinghouse appliances. Hank didn’t deserve that.”
― Harper Lee, Go Set a Watchman

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