Bemused

by Peter E. Fenton, Scott White

George and Carol Walcott, a young song-writing couple from Madison Wisconsin have one dream: to leave the penny ante jingle-writing business of the 1940s far behind and become successful writers for the Broadway stage. Fate comes calling when noted producers Arthur Green and Iris Langdon hear the Walcott's only hit song "Tipsy In Poughkeepsie" on the radio, and hire them to "fix" the music of their Broadway-bound musical, "Bonita Goes Bananas."

But George and Carol discover that getting a show to Broadway isn't all that easy, as they learn about the fickle nature of creativity and the courage it takes to achieve one's dreams. Along the way they are helped by a stow-away child, the world's oldest tap dancing bellhop, a chambermaid with a special gift, and a run-away skunk. But will they finish the show before Cole Porter gets back and discovers that they are squatting in his New York suite?

136 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2012

About the author

It started with poetry. When Peter E. Fenton was having a difficult day, he would put pen to paper and dive into a world of imagination. None of these poems were published. They were kept in a book on a shelf for future reference. A way of looking back at a time and place in life.

But poems led to short stories...tales often told in letter form to amuse friends during their long summers away from home working jobs in theatre.

And then twenty-four years ago he met a composer and writer and they became life partners, and they got the ridiculous idea that perhaps writing musicals and plays would be fun. And so they did that. While his partner wrote on over twenty projects, Peter participated in four of those projects, and these plays were produced across the country, won awards and some were even published.

But life can't all be "play". There was also some work to be done, in this case a 42 year relationship with the Royal Ontario Museum, where Peter spent his time in palaeontology doing collection management and going on expedition in remote locations including the Canadian Rockies, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

When the time came to step away from the fossils at the museum, a new passion took hold ...the desire to write a longer narrative...a book... a gay romance. He wanted to write something that would draw on many years of living, loving and exploring the world.

And so with the kind support of his partner, he began writing his first novel, and a publisher expressed interest, and in the spring of 2022 The Woodcarver's Model was released and was a four time nominee in the Goodreads M/M Romance Readers’ Choice Awards.

That was followed by the release of Mann Hunt in the summer of 2023, which was also nominated in the Goodreads M/M Romance Readers’ Choice Awards. The book has been translated into German, Italian and Spanish.

Last summer, he released Hoodoo House, which is the second part of the Declan Hunt Mysteries series and is now also available in Italian and Spanish. The book was nominated for a Goodreads M/M Romance Readers' Choice Award.

In the fall of 2024 his youth novella Not Not Normal published by Lorimer Publishing came out to critical acclaim (and another Goodreads M/M Romance Readers Choice Award nomination)

The third novel in the Declan Hunt Mysteries series entitled The Burnt was released in August of 2025 It came out in Italian and Spanish editions as well. It was recently nominated for a Goodreads M/M Romance Readers' Choice Award in the Mystery/Whodunnit category.

The final book in the series will come out in the summer of 2026.

PUBLICATIONS

Vite Bruciate (October 25)
El Calcinado (October 2025)
The Burnt (August of 2025)
Trova L'uomo Giusto (July 2025)
La Casa Incantat (July 2025)
Jagd Auf Mann (July 2025)
Casa Hoodoo (March 2025)
Mann Hunt - Spanish (January 2025)
Not Not Normal (September of 2024)
Hoodoo House (June of 2024)
Mann Hunt (August of 2023)
The Woodcarvers Model (April of 2022)
Bemused or Bonita Goes Bananas
The Giant's Garden (A full length musical)

CONTACTING PETER:

Website: www.peterefenton.ca
Blog: www.peterefenton.ca/blog/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/peterefenton...
insta: https://www.instagram.com/peterefento...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peterefenton...
British Publisher: https://www.pride-publishing.com/inde...
Canadian Publisher: https://lorimer.ca/childrens/contribu...
Email: peterefenton@gmail.com