The Story Behind the Story with Sean Paul Bedell of Halifax, NS, Canada.

 Let’s welcome Sean back! 

A true gentleman and a talented author, we are most keen to have him return to tell us about his new novel.

He’s been with us before and if you missed his visit, please go HERE.

Read on. My friends.

 

 

Author of the novel Somewhere There’s Music, Sean Paul Bedell has been writing and publishing for more than 30 years. A longtime paramedic and captain with the fire service, he lives with his wife Lisa and their golden retriever, Maggie (Margaret Atwood), in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

 

Title: Shoebox

 

Synopsis:

In this gritty and emotional exploration of the human condition, a dedicated paramedic, Steve Lewis, faces the devastating aftermath of a fatal collision that casts a dark shadow over his once-passionate commitment to saving lives. Plagued by guilt and grief, he finds his career, family, and very existence hanging in the balance as he navigates the complexities of trauma both personal and professional. As Steve grapples with the high stakes of his job amidst the scrutiny of a community that admires yet questions him, each life he saves rekindles his passion for his work, reminding him of the profound connections he can forge through compassion and care. A compelling and visceral journey of personal redemption and triumph over adversity, Shoebox explores the human spirit's capacity for healing.

 

The Story Behind the Story:

Two things drove me to write Shoebox. First, readers of my first novel, Somewhere There’s Music, frequently told me they liked the paramedic-ambulance-first responder angles in that story. Also I had a bunch of paramedic stories – sad, funny, poignant – from my own career as a paramedic. I worked ambulance for many years in the Halifax-Dartmouth area and along Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore. As I wrote Shoebox, experiences that my fellow crew-mates and I had shaped some of the anecdotes in the book. Overall though, Shoebox is a story of redemption after tragedy, and the healing that hope offers.

 

Website: please go HERE.

Scribbler: Who was your favourite author, or story, growing up, Sean?

Sean: Growing up, I read everything I could. When I was twelve, my mother gave me a boxed set of classics. I immersed myself in those books. Exciting, exotic worlds enchanted me. My favourites were Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe.

An Excerpt from: Shoebox

Chapter One 

My ambulance was based at University Station, the oldest f ire station in Halifax. In the year I worked there, I’d seen the sandstone building’s interior walls transform from frost-caked blocks in the winter to oven-like bricks in the summer. A brass pole that connected the firefighters’ sleeping quarters to the bays downstairs was cordoned off now, out of service. Two of the old-timers at the station still polished it every week so it gleamed when the sun hit it through the arched windows. If I ever did use it, to speed up my time getting to my ambulance, I’d look like that serpent, curled fetus-like around the pole. I’d pop out at the other end into the truck bays, freshly born to dispense miracles everywhere, sent out into the chaotic world to save lives. I would be one with the image emblazoned in the blue, six-pointed star of life crest on my ambulance, the same image embroidered on the shoulder flashes of my uniform shirt. Instead, to get to my ambulance, I’d bound down the narrow staircase that had three twists, each with a tiny landing. Legend said the staircase was designed during the days of horse drawn fire apparatus. The tight turns prevented the horses from climbing up the stairs. I didn’t care about blocking horses but wanted to get to my ambulance without breaking my neck or knocking myself out.

 

University Station was smack in the centre of downtown, a hotbed of the wildest calls a crew of medics could get dis patched to. It was at the crossroads of the wealth of Halifax’s South End and the grit and despair of its downtown. Calls were either dramatic or mundane. They ranged from stints fighting with newly liberated drunken university students out of sight of their parents for the first time; to the breathing or heart problems of the old, rich elites; to the homeless and addicted who had skidded here from across the province and toted their demons with them. I worked with Fletch—Gideon Fletcher. He was a tall medic with a tidy grey beard. His deliberate, erudite manner of speaking, along with his appearance, made him seem like a mis placed professor from one of the city’s universities.

 

Fletch stocked a bird feeder so he could watch chickadees and jays from the window upstairs in our quarters. Once, when we were coding to a call from Graham’s Grove to downtown Dartmouth, Fletch jammed up the brakes by Sullivan’s Pond to let a mother duck and her ducklings cross the road. A lot of medics would have roared through with a trail of feathers behind them; they would have plowed through anything to get to the call to save the day. That call past the duck pond turned out to be anything but an emergency. Fletch was down to earth, wise, kind, and didn’t take any bullshit.

 

Buy the book HERE.

This one too, maybe?

 

I’m looking forward to reading your new book, Sean. Thanks for being our guest this week.

We wish you continued success with your writing. 

Thank you to all our visitors and readers.

Feel free to leave a comment below.

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