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Collision
256 pages, Paperback
Published May 19, 2026
About the author
Eric Walters
165 books923 followersEric was born in Toronto in 1957, which makes him "real old". But, as Eric says, "Just because I have to grow old doesn't mean that I have to grow up!" In his many roles as parent, teacher, social worker, youth sports coach and writer he is in constant contact with children and young adults. He draws from these experiences and feels that this helps him to capture the realistic interaction between young people—the conflicts, tensions, stresses and interests that make up their lives.
Eric began his writing as a teacher. He taught in classes from kindergarten up and his stories often reflect the curriculum that he was teaching. He always read stories—picture books and novels—to his students and this helped him to understand what children liked, responded to, and were inspired by. He enjoys the enthusiasm of his students and often looks at them to provide him with the inspiration to pursue a particular topic in both the classroom and in his writing.
Eric tries to write every day. When he has a story idea he starts with research. This could involve reading books, watching a documentary, or trying to experience the things that his characters are going to go through. This could include rock climbing or riding white water (for Stars), spending time in a wheelchair (Rebound), playing and walking with tigers (Tiger by the Tail), hanging around a tough biker bar (Diamonds in the Rough), standing out in his backyard in a blizzard wearing a T-shirt and shorts (Trapped in Ice), or traveling to Africa (Alexandria of Africa).
"The most important thing anybody ever told me about writing was to write what you know . . . and the only way to get to know things is to do your homework and research before you write," Eric stated.
Once the writing begins the story is always playing around in his head. He takes any opportunity, even if it's just a few minutes between presentations, to put things down, either with pen and paper or on his laptop.
Prior to entering teaching and writing Eric was a social worker (B.S.W., M.S.W., B.A.Hons—specialized major psychology). He worked in a variety of settings including child welfare, private practice, a mental health centre, and, for twenty years on a part-time basis as a Crisis Social Worker in an emergency department. He stopped teaching 4 years ago and left the ER only last year.
The majority of Eric's time is spent in the company of his wife, children and dogs (Lola a big standard poodle and a little white dog named Winnie the Poodle).
Eric began his writing as a teacher. He taught in classes from kindergarten up and his stories often reflect the curriculum that he was teaching. He always read stories—picture books and novels—to his students and this helped him to understand what children liked, responded to, and were inspired by. He enjoys the enthusiasm of his students and often looks at them to provide him with the inspiration to pursue a particular topic in both the classroom and in his writing.
Eric tries to write every day. When he has a story idea he starts with research. This could involve reading books, watching a documentary, or trying to experience the things that his characters are going to go through. This could include rock climbing or riding white water (for Stars), spending time in a wheelchair (Rebound), playing and walking with tigers (Tiger by the Tail), hanging around a tough biker bar (Diamonds in the Rough), standing out in his backyard in a blizzard wearing a T-shirt and shorts (Trapped in Ice), or traveling to Africa (Alexandria of Africa).
"The most important thing anybody ever told me about writing was to write what you know . . . and the only way to get to know things is to do your homework and research before you write," Eric stated.
Once the writing begins the story is always playing around in his head. He takes any opportunity, even if it's just a few minutes between presentations, to put things down, either with pen and paper or on his laptop.
Prior to entering teaching and writing Eric was a social worker (B.S.W., M.S.W., B.A.Hons—specialized major psychology). He worked in a variety of settings including child welfare, private practice, a mental health centre, and, for twenty years on a part-time basis as a Crisis Social Worker in an emergency department. He stopped teaching 4 years ago and left the ER only last year.
The majority of Eric's time is spent in the company of his wife, children and dogs (Lola a big standard poodle and a little white dog named Winnie the Poodle).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
The 13-year-old Daniel lives in a small town in Southern Ontario on the Welland Canal—the one intended for ships to bypass Niagara Falls on their way to Lake Erie. One day, two ships crash in the canal, and in one of the shipping containers, starving and sick people are found. As the assorted group are treated in the local hospital, they are very reluctant to talk about how they ended up in the shipping container. But Daniel manages to make a connection with the youngest of the survivors, Bol from South Sudan, which becomes the beginning of a great friendship and brotherhood despite their not having a common language at first.
This book is a middle-grade explainer of some global social processes that might require deliberate explanation for a young audience (the intended age category is younger than the protagonists, I would argue). Together with Daniel, to whom people explain things that are unclear about the events around him (he is conveniently the son of a police officer and the head ER nurse and a grandson of a canal pilot, which gives him access to insider information), the reader will learn about refugees and some of the factors that might send them on dangerous journeys, as well as about anti-immigration sentiment. The protagonist’s family is of Irish origin, and the family memory retains stories of how their ancestors were not welcome in North America, not unlike how anti-immigration protesters make it clear that contemporary refugees are not welcome. Because this book tends to explain everything in so much detail, it is quite unfortunate that the idea that the people in the container are victims of human trafficking and the later interpretation that they are refugees who paid to be smuggled somewhere are conflated without serious discussion (and why is Romania on the list of places of origin of the people in the group—an EU country, last I checked? It feels like the authors are working off some obsolete stereotypes, despite allegedly attempting to counter derogatory stereotypes about certain “others”).
I really liked the setting of a small town where everybody knows everybody and goes way back with everybody. Also the canal—the infrastructure of the canal is something one can learn about from this story, and I just have a soft spot for the historic and contemporary infrastructure around the Great Lakes (somehow).
Publication date: May 19, 2026.
Thanks to the publisher for making an eARC of this title available to me through Edelweiss+. The opinion above is my own.
This book is a middle-grade explainer of some global social processes that might require deliberate explanation for a young audience (the intended age category is younger than the protagonists, I would argue). Together with Daniel, to whom people explain things that are unclear about the events around him (he is conveniently the son of a police officer and the head ER nurse and a grandson of a canal pilot, which gives him access to insider information), the reader will learn about refugees and some of the factors that might send them on dangerous journeys, as well as about anti-immigration sentiment. The protagonist’s family is of Irish origin, and the family memory retains stories of how their ancestors were not welcome in North America, not unlike how anti-immigration protesters make it clear that contemporary refugees are not welcome. Because this book tends to explain everything in so much detail, it is quite unfortunate that the idea that the people in the container are victims of human trafficking and the later interpretation that they are refugees who paid to be smuggled somewhere are conflated without serious discussion (and why is Romania on the list of places of origin of the people in the group—an EU country, last I checked? It feels like the authors are working off some obsolete stereotypes, despite allegedly attempting to counter derogatory stereotypes about certain “others”).
I really liked the setting of a small town where everybody knows everybody and goes way back with everybody. Also the canal—the infrastructure of the canal is something one can learn about from this story, and I just have a soft spot for the historic and contemporary infrastructure around the Great Lakes (somehow).
Publication date: May 19, 2026.
Thanks to the publisher for making an eARC of this title available to me through Edelweiss+. The opinion above is my own.
January 15, 2026
I liked this more than I expected. The Welland canal stuff didn’t really interest me as I don’t live in Southern Ontario but I thought the anti-immigrant sentiment was handled well and in an age appropriate manner. The story was more engrossing than I expected. It read like pure Eric Walter’s and I would be curious to learn how much the co-author had to do with the writing process.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews