Since there's a memorial event this Saturday, I felt I needed to post something about our brief but very beneficial relationship.

Many people remember Martin Smith for his contribution to Canadian Gospel music and for his plays and work in the theatre. But few people know how instrumental he was in promoting Canadian writers who are Christian in Canada.

I was so sad to learn that Martin, who was the President of the Gospel Music Association of Canada and an extraordinary person, passed away in June. 

Martin’s picture in our Hot Apple Cider books

I met Martin years ago at a Christian Booksellers Conference in Canada. I was there helping an artist set up her booth. (I’d met her in 1994 when I was asked to write an article on her for ChristianWeek.)

It was my first time at a conference like this, and I spent most of my time wandering around looking for books by Canadian authors. It became a bit of a joke, because I had a really hard time finding any. I had arrived expecting the Canadian authors to be front and centre, and instead they were hidden, if there at all. I did manage to find a Sigmund Brouwer book, and two men in suits scoured their booth to find Linda Hall’s new book August Gamble. One of them finally found it on the bottom, back side of a tall metal turning stand. I had the impression that he wanted a prize for finding it.

And then there was Martin Smith, who was working for a music distributor which, of course, included many American singers. But he and Eric Spath, who was also working for the distributer, were actually promoting Canadian singers, too!

After that conference, I bumped into Martin at other events, and we talked about the need for more promotion for both Canadian musicians and writers who were Christian.

Then, in March, 2007, at a Christian conference in Toronto, I had a conversation with Eric Spath, who was now working with World Vision Canada. He had actually come to The Word Guild’s Write! Canada conference the year before looking for authors who were also speakers for a Girls Night Out program World Vision Canada had begun.

For some reason, Eric showed me a book they were giving out at the Girls Night Out events. It was an American book, and I won’t say the title, but it made me gag. I was pretty sure it was being given out because it wasn’t selling as well as expected.

I said, “What if we could give them a book with Canadian writers in it?”

Eric shrugged. “We’d need 30,000 books by January.

“Let me think about it.”

I wandered around the booths, my head spinning. How on earth could we get 30,000 books by Canadian writers in that short a time?

I knew how to create books. In 2000, I had republished a young adult book that had been first published by Moody Press in 1991. And I’d written and published four additional ya books. But it was hard work. And how would we fund it? We’d be giving the books away, not selling them.

I ended up at the table where Martin Smith was sitting alone. Since no one else was around for the moment, I told him about my conversation with Eric. He was supportive and encouraging. He mentioned the compilation CDs that were sitting on the table in front of me. I picked one up and examined it. Ten songs by ten different Canadian artists.

What if?

I looked up at Martin. He had a questioning look in his eyes.

“We could do this!” I said. “Stories. True or fiction. A few poems. Kind of like Reader’s Digest. A compilation. By Canadian writers!

Martin was grinning. “That would be terrific!”

I won’t go into the details here about how the books came into being. That’s another story. But I just wanted to emphasize that without Martin, the 30,000 copies each of Hot Apple Cider and A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider that went out at Girls Night Out and Couples Night Out events, as well as the books sold in stores and by the authors, not to mention the later copies of A Taste of Hot Apple Cider, Christmas with Hot Apple Cider, and Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon, would likely never have happened.

These are the current covers, not the original ones. 

The bonus for us, and Martin, was that he ended up having stories in both Christmas with Hot Apple Cider and Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon. Stories filled with his gentle humour, I might add. In fact, his story “The ‘Other’ First Prize” in Cinnamon opens the book. 

Martin’s memorial service is this Saturday, August 16, from 2 to 4 pm at The Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts, 88 Dalhousie Street, Brantford, ON.

In his honour, we’ve just made the ebook version of Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon available for $0.99 until the end of the month. (The price might not have changed yet, but it will.) 

(Click here for more information about Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon and links to get the ebook at Kindle, Kobo, iBook, and Nook.)

The post Remembering My Friend, Martin appeared first on N. J. Lindquist.