Tablet Pharmacy: Ever find yourself waiting endlessly at a big-box pharmacy, feeling like just another number? At Tablet Pharmacy, they provide the personalized service you deserve. They offer free delivery and blister packaging options to make managing your medications easier than ever. Check their competitive prices online at tabletpharmacy.ca.

Rockin' Rhonda: Here comes Peter. Here comes Dave. Oh, listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing, spinning tales in the hot podcast cave. So laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat.

Peter McCully: Welcome back to The Pulse Community Podcast. I'm Peter McCully, and summer is now in full swing here on mid-Vancouver Island. The beaches are bustling, the picnic tables are busy, and the parks and hiking trails are full of folks enjoying the season here on our little patch of paradise in the Pacific.

Dave Graham: And I'm Dave Graham. I come bearing news, great news, the kind worth getting excited about. At least I am. It's a giveaway. The prize being tickets, concert tickets. You know where I'm going with this? Yes, Blue Rodeo concert tickets. We are going to be providing further details any second now.

Peter McCully: Dave, the details will be coming up later in the show. You're getting ahead of yourself again.

Dave Graham: I may be head over heels with Blue Rodeo fever. Could be a while till I am myself again. This contest is going to be a veritable diamond mine for two of our listeners. It really hasn't hit me yet that one of the country's biggest bands is coming to Parksville, but the best advice I can give is to try. Try your hand at the contest, and who knows, come Friday, August 21st, you could be in the park with a few other fans, lost together in the music.

Peter McCully: Are you gonna do this with every song title?

Dave Graham: I say to our listeners, it could happen to you. You could be the big winner. And yes, Peter, I am gonna see just how many Blue Rodeo titles I can use, although I'm not sure how long I can keep it up. The contest details are coming, and so I ask, are you ready?

Peter McCully: Okay. While Dave works through the Blue Rodeo song catalogue, allow me to add some real news. Today's guest list includes Major Sergii Kachanov, a corps officer and pastor of the Salvation Army in Parksville, here to talk about the growing need at the Mount Arrowsmith food bank, and the army of volunteers who show up to help.

Sergii Kachanov: For the last five months, we served 4,591 families. It is definitely an increase compared with last year, because during the whole of last year, we served 8,200 families. And for this year, only for five months, we have 4,591 families, which will be more than last year.

Dave Graham: Let me get this right. We're halfway through the year and already closing in on the total for all of last year. That's a community under real pressure, and it makes the work that Sergii and the volunteers do all the more important.

Peter McCully: And our second guest today is Chris Humphreys. C.C. Humphreys to his readers. A playwright, actor, and award-winning author of more than 20 novels. Born in Toronto, raised in London. He spent a dozen years on Salt Spring Island before moving to England, where he now lives in Devon. He joins us today with two brand-new books.

Chris Humphreys: Sometimes to the despair of my publishers, I don't seem to be able to stick to one thing. I like to do modern work, which I'm writing now in the case of One London Day. The Double Life of Eve Sinclair, which is the novel I'm touring right now and came out last week, is the second of my World War II books looking at the world of spies, particularly female spies in war-torn Europe. Though this one is quite different from the previous one, which was called Someday I'll Find You.

Dave Graham: Playwright, actor, novelist. Beyond that, Chris can be a challenge to categorize, and I admire that. When he isn't building new worlds on the page, he has made all the world his stage, playing Hamlet in Calgary, a gladiator in Tunisia, and on screen he's been a dead immortal in Highlander. He's lived on Coronation Street, commanded a Starfleet in Andromeda, and lent his voice to animated characters. Quite a resume.

Peter McCully: It certainly is. Looking ahead to future podcasts, blues singer-songwriter Harry Manx will be touring Vancouver Island this summer, and he'll be joining us soon.

Dave Graham: Jennifer Bate will be here to tell us what's on at the McMillan Arts Centre. They have a busy summer planned.

Peter McCully: And Kyle Gilson, an initial attack crew leader based out of the Arrington Fire Base, joins us. Kyle leads a four-person crew whose job is to reach a new wildfire fast and stop it in its tracks.

Beachfest: This is the weekend Parksville Beach comes alive. Parksville Beach Festival opens this Friday, July 10th, with a ribbon cutting at 2 p.m. Thirty international master sculptors are pounding up their sand bases for the Beauties and Beasts competition. Watch jaw-dropping creations take shape before your eyes. Saturday night, April Wine headlines the Van Rock Interiors opening weekend concert. Get your tickets before they're gone. Saturday and Sunday, sand sculpting lessons run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hands-on, all ages, no experience needed. The spectacular sand sculpture exhibition opens Sunday and runs daily, 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., right through August 16th. Cast your people's choice vote. $5 suggested donation at the gate. The summer's biggest celebration starts this Friday. Parksville Beach Festival. See you at the beach. Visit parksvillebeachfest.ca.

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX, Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network, since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca.

Dave Graham: You might ask, how long? You might wonder, are the tickets already gone? Those are good questions, and also great songs by Blue Rodeo. Not much longer, and not yet. Stay tuned to the podcast and our website and social pages. Our Blue Rodeo ticket giveaway is coming soon, with tickets, a couple of folding camp chairs, and a hundred-dollar Thrifty Foods Smile card up for grabs.

Peter McCully: Keep an eye on thepulsecommunity.ca website or our Facebook page. We'll let you know the moment it opens for your chance to win this fabulous prize package.

Dave Graham: It's your chance to experience one of Canada's most celebrated bands at the biggest live music event in Parksville's history. Good luck. Now for our first guest, here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Major Sergii Kachanov is the corps officer and pastor of The Salvation Army Mount Arrowsmith in Parksville, alongside his wife, Major Tatiana Kachanov, overseeing church, food bank, soup kitchen, and community services across District 69.

Peter McCully: Sergii, welcome to the podcast today.

Sergii Kachanov: Thank you very much for taking the time to have me and to share some more information about what Salvation Army does on Vancouver Island, particularly in District 69, including Parksville, Qualicum, and Nanoose. We are happy to be here, and we do what we can only because we have so much generous support from the local community, whether that's volunteering or resources.

Peter McCully: Sergii, before we talk about the food bank in particular, The Salvation Army has been expanding up and down the island. Maybe you could tell us about that.

Sergii Kachanov: Yes. In every big community we have representation, starting with Victoria, then Duncan, Nanaimo, of course Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Comox, and Campbell River. We have a wonderful centre at Port Hardy, and it's thriving.

Peter McCully: And a couple of your centres have been rebuilt, new buildings.

Sergii Kachanov: There are some centres which have been rebuilt. The first one is in Comox. I think it will open in the next few months. There is another one in Campbell River, which is fully functioning already.

Peter McCully: Sergii, I understand you were in Nanaimo for a number of years before moving up to the Parksville, Qualicum Beach area.

Sergii Kachanov: That's correct. We arrived in Nanaimo in July of 2011, coming from Ukraine, having spent five years in Ukraine. We were in Nanaimo from 2011 until 2016, when we moved to Surrey. Then after Surrey, we were in Williams Lake, and then we asked to move back to the island because we believe we still have things to do here on this beautiful island.

Peter McCully: What's the history of The Salvation Army Food Bank in the Parksville, Qualicum Beach area, and how long has it been serving the community?

Sergii Kachanov: Our ministry unit is called The Mount Arrowsmith Salvation Army Ministry Unit, and the food bank has served since 1990. We cover the area of District 69. We started from modest emergency hamper distribution and grew into a comprehensive grocery-style food service hub, located on 886 Wembley Road.

Peter McCully: For someone who's never needed the kind of help you get at a food bank, can you walk us through what it actually looks like when a person comes in for the first time? What's the process?

Sergii Kachanov: First of all, we smile. Then we ask the person's name and ID, just to get to know the name and address. It would be great if the person brings proof of address. Then we ask about the number of family members, just to understand the volume of support that person needs. Then we schedule the person to come for an appointment to do a grocery-style shopping, accompanied by one volunteer. Sometimes we have two volunteers, if it's a family with children, like a mom with two or three kids. They move along the shelves with different kinds of food, hygiene items, generic items. We also have a points system. Every client accumulates a certain number of points while they're shopping. Beside the appointments, we have a system of hampers. In critical situations, sometimes we serve families with hampers more often than appointments. We also serve hampers to people in sudden critical situations, like a family who lost their house, or several families who live in the bush. They come to us regularly, and we serve them with food hampers.

Peter McCully: Has demand for the food bank changed noticeably over the past couple of years? And if so, what's been driving that?

Sergii Kachanov: Yes, that's correct. In the last couple of years, for example, I know that in May the price for food items jumped up 3.2 percent in that month alone. The number of clients is growing. We have two-parent working families who come to us for support because they can't cover rental prices, which are also very high. We have young adults, we have seniors who struggle with their pensions, and we have some seniors who live in cars. Unfortunately, that situation is also growing, the number of senior clients who live in cars, and we serve them as well.

Peter McCully: How many folks are using the food bank on a regular basis?

Sergii Kachanov: We have busy days, like Tuesdays and Thursdays, and less busy days like Wednesdays and Fridays, where we normally serve the community table and food hampers. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have a full service with food hampers and shopping-style visits, and we have up to forty-five individuals representing families.

Peter McCully: On a monthly average, how many individuals or families are using the food bank?

Sergii Kachanov: It's approximately 740 families per month. For the last five months, we served 4,591 families.

Peter McCully: Just over 4,500 families have used the food bank in the last five months. Is that an increase over this time last year?

Sergii Kachanov: It's definitely an increase compared with last year, because during the whole of last year we served 8,200 families. And for this year, in only five months, we have 4,591 families, which will be more than last year.

Peter McCully: What's the biggest misconception people have about who uses food banks?

Sergii Kachanov: That people who use the food bank are either looking for a handout or don't want to work. They do work, and they simply can't cope with the rise in prices and the big increase in rent. We also have retirees, and families who are doing everything right but are simply trapped by the situation. Unfortunately, we have a big increase in the number of children we serve, and it really hits us hard to see that younger generation now needing more support from us.

Peter McCully: Am I correct that you operate an appointment model for full food bank shopping, but if someone needs produce and bread, it's available without an appointment?

Sergii Kachanov: Yes. We have a free shelf at the entrance point where we put canned food, grains, and hygiene items when we have an excess amount. Everybody can come and get as much as they need, not as much as they want. Twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, we have a community table, again open access, for people who need mostly produce, bread, and milk products. If we have an excess of other items, they can get those at the community table too.

Peter McCully: These programs bring in fresh fruit, vegetables, and dairy from some of the local grocery stores. How did that partnership come together, and which stores are involved?

Sergii Kachanov: We're so blessed to have grocery stores in the area, such as Thrifty Foods, Save-On-Foods, and Quality Foods. Every morning our drivers go to those stores and pick up those items.

Peter McCully: I wanted to go back to something you mentioned, Sergii. You mentioned the emergency food hamper. What kind of situation typically brings in a first-time client needing one, and what's in it?

Sergii Kachanov: We call it the emergency food hamper. It's designed to bridge the gap for a household for two to three days. Sometimes they can come every three days, and as I said, we have several families who live in the bush who come more often than others. It contains basic non-perishable staples such as pasta, rice, canned proteins, soups, and cereal, combined with whatever fresh items we have on hand from the community table.

Peter McCully: So the food bank is operated by the Salvation Army Mount Arrowsmith. What role do volunteers play in keeping the food bank running, and what does the team behind the scenes look like?

Sergii Kachanov: Volunteers play the crucial role in our operation. Without volunteers we would not be able to do anything, not just the food bank, but the soup kitchen too. Volunteers operate in different capacities, such as sorters in the produce room. Volunteers stock the shelves at the food bank. We also have drivers who handle daily grocery store pickups, volunteers who do intake, and a reception team who work at the front desk with newcomers and regular clients. We also have volunteers who work as shopping assistants, walking alongside clients through the food bank aisles to help them select their items.

Peter McCully: What does the food bank typically need this time of year in the way of donations?

Sergii Kachanov: We have seasonal needs and year-round needs. Year-round needs are our essential products, non-perishable canned food. I personally go shopping at the grocery store for a big amount of canned food, up to three times a month, and we're still struggling. It goes very quickly. Last week we had empty shelves. We're also very much in need of shopping carts, special carts we use to serve clients and to move boxes from the cargo vans onto the shelves. Those carts are very old and need to be replaced. We also have two cargo vans, Dodge Ram cargo vans, which are extremely busy, getting old, and constantly need repair, which drains money. We need replacement of those two cargo vans.

Peter McCully: If folks were going to donate something through their grocery store, through the food bank boxes, or drop it off or have it picked up, what in particular would you be looking for?

Sergii Kachanov: We're looking for cereal in boxes, corn niblets, canned peas, green beans, mixed vegetables, pork and beans, kidney beans, tomato paste, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, pasta sauce, canned peaches, pears, fruit cocktail, crab dinner, peanut butter, chicken noodle soup, mushroom soup, tomato soup, vegetable soup, and soup broth, chicken, beef, and vegetable. Every week our clients get those items during their shopping.

Peter McCully: Is there a moment or a client interaction that's stuck with you, something that's reminded you of why the Mount Arrowsmith Salvation Army Food Bank matters?

Sergii Kachanov: Almost every week we have cases where people come to shop and are amazed by the kindness and support from our volunteers, and the variety of food they receive. We very often have ladies in tears because of the support they received from the Salvation Army Food Bank.

Peter McCully: Tell me about a couple of your volunteers here at the food bank, Dmytro and Yana.

Sergii Kachanov: Those two are amazing young people, stellar examples of the passion driving our volunteer base. Yana volunteers in our admin office. She was very supportive and creative, and both of them are extremely creative with new gadgets and computer technology. Yana made beautiful newsletters using computer technology. Dmytro is multi-talented. Being a refugee from Ukraine, he raised money and sponsored our food bank with several major items, such as printers. He purchased six printers for our ministry unit on his own money. He also supplied us with a power washer for cleaning the garage and receiving area, and purchased electric scissors, which we very much needed for the produce room. Right now he's on paternal leave. A couple of days ago they had a baby, a son, so he's taking care of him. And Yana, I think, wants to continue her work again very soon.

Peter McCully: If groups or individuals are interested in creating a food bank drive, a fundraiser, or even volunteering, what should they know, and who should they contact?

Sergii Kachanov: Any business, school, community group, or individual who'd like to host a drive should first contact our food bank ahead of time. We can tell them exactly what items we're lowest on so their drive is highly targeted. It's also a good option to consider a virtual food drive right now. It's new, but very productive. We can help set up an official virtual food drive through Food Banks BC, on behalf of the Mount Arrowsmith Salvation Army Food Bank. This allows people to donate financially online, generating tax receipts automatically, and gives us the flexibility to buy high-priority fresh foods or bulk items right when we need them most.

Dave Graham: Major Sergii Kachanov, almost 5,000 families served in just five months, already closing in on the total for all of last year. That's a sobering number, but thankfully it's matched by the dedication of the volunteers behind it. You'll find a link to help in our story notes.

Peter McCully: The Pulse Community Podcast is on Facebook and Instagram, and you can also find us on Apple, Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube. A new addition to our website allows you to find other podcasts from the island, as well as Vancouver Island webcam links.

Dave Graham: Plus, our website allows you to send your comments, questions, feedback, and suggestions for other stories we might want to look into. Head to our website, click the contact link, and leave a voice or a text message at thepulsecommunity.ca.

Fireside Books: There's exciting news for book lovers. Fireside Books in Parksville now has a second location in Port Alberni, The Bookwyrm. Used books are just $5 each, and be sure to ask about their volume discounts. The Bookwyrm, on the corner of Redford and Anderson, opens seven days a week from 10 to 5. Fireside Books, at 464 Island Highway East in Parksville, is a book dragon's dream come true. Browse their extensive collection weekdays from 9 to 6, and weekends 10 to 5. Both locations make growing your personal library easier than ever. New books, used books, activity books, puzzle books, and much more. Order online at firesidebooks.ca, and your books will be waiting when you arrive. Ask about returning books for a book credit. Fireside Books and The Bookwyrm, two locations, one amazing adventure in browsing.

Tablet Pharmacy: Ever find yourself waiting endlessly at a big-box pharmacy, feeling like just another number? There's a better way. At Tablet Pharmacy, they provide the personalized service you deserve. Check their competitive prices online at tabletpharmacy.ca before you even leave home. They offer free delivery and blister packaging options to make managing your medications easier than ever. With convenient locations in Parksville, Qualicum Beach, and now open in Nanaimo near The Brick, Tablet Pharmacy has been serving Vancouver Island since 2019. Stop being just a prescription number. Experience the Tablet Pharmacy difference today. Visit them online and check their prices at tabletpharmacy.ca.

Dave Graham: The Pulse Community includes Cindy Thompson of Parksville. Cindy hosts A Resilience Project. This week's guest, Shannon Bergstrom, speaks about her longstanding pattern of perfectionism, people pleasing, and other idealistic expectations that did not serve her well. For anyone seeking approval through external validation, this episode is for you.

Peter McCully: And for the kids, we have Skookum Kid's Stories, featuring Peter and Gracie the Eskimo dog, along with the Mellow Submarine, with Captain Dave and his first mate, Larry the Lobster. This week's episode has the submarine caught in the Hornby Island current.

Dave Graham: It's a good lesson about staying calm when things don't go as planned. Another program to catch is our Radio Archaeology series, classic radio programs, Dragnet with Sergeant Joe Friday and Gunsmoke with Marshal Matt Dillon. You'll find these podcasts and more at thepulsecommunity.ca. Now, for our next guest, here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: C.C. Humphreys is a playwright, actor, and award-winning author of more than 20 novels. Born in Toronto and raised in London, he spent a dozen years on Salt Spring Island before moving to England, where he now lives in Devon. He joins us today with two brand-new books, One London Day and The Double Life of Eve Sinclair.

Peter McCully: Chris, welcome to the podcast today.

Chris Humphreys: Thank you so much. Delightful to be here.

Peter McCully: Last time we chatted, you were living on Salt Spring Island, and now you've moved back to the UK. What drew you back, and what's it like trading Salt Spring Island for the English countryside?

Chris Humphreys: What drew me back was that I'm a natural wanderer. I've figured out that I've emigrated, including the first few times with my parents, ten times in my life. I'm a serial emigrant, not really a settler, and different things appeal at different times. I loved living on Salt Spring for so many years, thirteen years, the longest I've lived anywhere, I think. It was a great place to raise my son, Reece, who's gone on to great things in Vancouver now. He's just finishing up at UBC, he's a photographer. But then other things drew me back. Aside from the beauty of the English countryside, which I'd always loved, there was professional stuff happening there. I was always involved in theatre on Salt Spring, and loved it, and really enjoyed working with the community here, but there were slightly more professional opportunities for me back in England. I have to say probably in the top three is the ability to walk to a pub. The place we found in Totnes, in Devon, is five minutes' walk from an amazing pub called The Albert. The other thing was really with the stuff I often write, the historical stuff, there's an atmosphere in England. I'm leaning back into the medieval, and I've got a ruined castle within an hour of my front door I can walk to. So maybe that's an element too. But yeah, it was just switching it up. I loved Salt Spring, but I was getting a little complacent, and I was up for a new challenge.

Peter McCully: You've lived in Toronto, London, California, Vancouver Island, just to name a few. You seem to be someone who moves towards the story rather than staying put. Does where you live shape or influence what or how you write?

Chris Humphreys: It does, but not in the sort of direct way of, “Oh, I'm living in a forest, I'm gonna write about a forest.” I'm prone to looking outside, and if it's raining, I'll write a scene where it's raining, things like that. But the interesting thing for me is that I was on Salt Spring all that time, and I was writing historical fiction mainly set in Europe. The Fall of Constantinople, which is called A Place Called Armageddon, or the thriller biography of Vlad the Impaler in Romania, all written in my cedar octagon off Morningside. Plague and Fire, ditto. One London Day also. I always feel that whatever story I'm telling, it's me and the story. I immerse myself in the story directly, and where I'm writing doesn't affect that. I like to write in nice places, but I'm not faddish about it, because once I start writing, it's me and that screen or that piece of paper.

Peter McCully: Before we chat about the books, I wanted to ask about your family of actors. There's you, your father Peter, and grandfather Cecil. Have you had any screen or stage projects lately, or have you been focused purely on the writing?

Chris Humphreys: Actually, one of the interesting things about being back in England is that I seem to have gravitated back to the theatre a bit more. I've written two short plays for Totnes. They did their first Fringe Festival last year, and I did a play about the love story of Elizabeth and Essex, which I'd written a novel about, Shakespeare's Rebel. I cut it down and did it in a building that's been there since 1575, promenade style, at the Totnes Museum, moving from the herb garden to the courtyard to the bedroom. And I'm doing another play, which is what I'm going back to do as soon as I finish this book tour. I'm back in Totnes for the second Fringe Festival, doing a promenade performance again in the same building, this one called The Seance, about ghost stories. I've got further involved in theatre. I'm also working sometimes with a murder mystery company, just to get my acting jollies, improvising for two hours as a dastardly murderer or a detective. It's great fun.

Peter McCully: You've been on the road from England across Canada, now in British Columbia. I understand you were recently in Serbia as well.

Chris Humphreys: Yes, two weeks ago I was in Serbia for five days. For reasons I'd struggle to explain, the Serbians really like my writing. I suppose it's something to do with the fact that I wrote medieval stuff about fighting Turks, which they've done for 500 years. But also, in this case, I was wearing a different hat, since I've been a fantasy writer as well, and they just really like all my writing, fantasy and modern stuff. So I was presented with the Minas Edel Award at a thing called Smajcon, meaning Dragon Con, a fantasy festival in the town of Nis in southern Serbia, and it was brilliant. They were so hospitable and lovely, and being with enthusiasts like that really gladdens the heart.

Peter McCully: Since we've last chatted, you've written two very different books from your earlier work.

Chris Humphreys: Yes, they are. Sometimes to the despair of my publishers, I don't seem to be able to stick to one thing. I like to do modern work, which I'm writing now in the case of One London Day. The Double Life of Eve Sinclair, which is the novel I'm touring right now and came out last week, is the second of my World War II books looking at the world of spies, particularly female spies in war-torn Europe, though this one is quite different from the previous one, called Someday I'll Find You.

Peter McCully: Give us an overview of One London Day.

Chris Humphreys: One London Day was an outlier, certainly at the time. The initial draft I wrote seven years ago on Salt Spring. I'd written some ideas eleven years before, I discovered, and forgot about them, and then I pulled down an old notebook and thought, “What is that?” It was based on something that happened to a friend of mine. Sadly for her, she witnessed an assassination outside her front door. It was a crime story, rival gangs. Her neighbour, a meek and mild-mannered accountant seemingly, was actually an accountant for a crime gang, and was killed by another crime gang. This happened on one of the most ordinary streets, in suburban, upper-middle-class, detached homes, a beautiful street. Not the sort of thing you'd think would happen there, and that set me going on the contrast. I came up with the idea of a story that spooled through different characters, like a relay race, passing a baton from one to the next. So we have the hit man, Mr. Phipps, who kills this man, Joseph Severan, in the first chapter. Not much of a spoiler, really. But then we back up. How did Joe Severan, this quiet, normal family man, pillar of the Jewish community, accountant, put himself in a position to be assassinated? And then we follow the mistakes he'd made that week, and end up on one London day as it all plays out. It was a chance for me to really look at where I came from. I'm a North Londoner, and in so many ways it's my most personal novel, because it's set in places I know really well. I was at school with Joe Severan. I was at school with the villains, the Shadows, who are MI5 rogues making a lot of illegal money from the intel they've got through the security services. I knew guys like that. I knew the jazz pianist, Lottie, an interesting, rather amoral character. All those people caught up in the world I knew well. So I wrote quite a personal novel, but in the guise of a thriller.

Peter McCully: And the book is structured in two parts, five days in London, and then one London day. There's also an excerpt from what sounds like a sequel set in Berlin. Is this the start of a series?

Chris Humphreys: It is the start of a series. The interesting thing, Peter, is that I couldn't find a publisher for One London Day when I wrote it six years ago, and I thought it was rather good. But there was an element of, “Oh, you're a historical fiction writer, stay in your lane, son.” I didn't like that, so I self-published it, to not much noise. Sold 500 copies, didn't think much more about it. But then last year at the London Book Fair, my agent was talking to a publisher who was lamenting the lack of male thriller writers, so he showed them One London Day, and they said, “Yep, we love it, we'll have three if he has more ideas.” So I did. I'd always had an idea that not all the characters could go on, but Mr. Phipps, the assassin, certainly could. Ellerby, I expanded her role in the updated One London Day, a woman who's broken through two glass ceilings at MI5 because she's a woman and she's Black, so she was interesting. So she and Phipps go on to an adventure in Berlin, One Berlin Day. Currently I'm writing what I think will be the conclusion. It'll be a loose trilogy, One Istanbul Day.

Peter McCully: Chris, I know you voice your own audiobooks. You're obviously from the stage and do very well in narration. Mr. Phipps has, in my mind, quite a distinctive voice. I know he's working class, has a sense of humour, but it's very dry. Did you write him with a voice already in your head?

Chris Humphreys: I think I always write characters with the voice in my head, yes. Sadly, for reasons that have yet to be fully explained to me, the publishers in London didn't let me do the audiobook, and I'm not happy about it, I have to tell you. However, I have done the audiobook of The Double Life of Eve Sinclair, but only partly, because even though I did the whole of Someday, which had multiple male and female voices, Eve Sinclair is so much told from a young woman from Montreal's perspective that I thought it really needed a young woman from Canada's perspective. So I opted to do only the male voice, which is much smaller in it, Eric, a young Norwegian soldier and spy.

Peter McCully: Let's talk about that second book, The Double Life of Eve Sinclair. She's a fascinating mix, the daughter of a Glasgow-born Canadian mining tycoon, raised partly in Sweden, educated in Switzerland, and ends up as a British intelligence operative. How did this character come together in your imagination?

Chris Humphreys: It's an interesting question. Books start in all sorts of ways, in flashes of inspiration, a place you visit or a character you talk to. I was asked by Doubleday, my wonderful Canadian publishers, to write a follow-up to Someday I'll Find You, but not a sequel. They wanted a World War II spy romance with some Canadian content. I sat down one day once I got that brief and just started writing, and the name Eve Sinclair popped up almost immediately. I always talk about the oscillation in my writing, between plot and character and structure and history, the ways your mind moves around. So I developed this character quite quickly. Writing is an exploration for me, and I like to pick subjects I don't know much about and then research the hell out of them, because I'm really a closet historian. No, I'm probably out of the closet now, actually, I'm a historian. So I wanted to look at Sweden. I'd written about Norway a lot, I'm half Norwegian, in the previous book, but I wanted to look at the role of neutrality, a very loaded word, particularly in regard to how Sweden operated in the Second World War. So that was interesting to me as a backdrop to the thriller. I always set up a baseline for a character. Eve, coming from that privilege, educated expensively to do one thing, marry well so she can be a good wife to a rising star, in this case a diplomat, who marries her and then they go straight away to Sweden as World War II breaks out. But in the early part of the book, you're getting hints that all is not quite what it seems with Eve, that she has a capacity for more, and then circumstance forces her to develop a core of steel and takes that journey into being a spy and a saboteur.

Peter McCully: I wanted to go back to something you mentioned about research. Research for a wartime novel set across multiple countries must be considerable.

Chris Humphreys: Oh, it's always considerable, but I love doing it, because the research isn't so much about getting the facts right, though that's very important. You need to set the context of the character's journey against a credible world, and a reader will definitely pick you up if you get that wrong. But research is the springboard for the imagination, I always call it. You find a fact and you go, “Eve could do that,” or, “This could happen to her, which forces her to look at this.” So I use that research, those facts, to pursue the character's journey within the context of that world. I sit down and read, probably for three months, mostly books, though of course the internet is fabulous, and when I'm actually writing the book, I use the internet quite quickly. These days it's so easy, how much did a pint of bitter cost in London in 1944, things like that. So that's useful. But yeah, research is the queen, but story is king.

Peter McCully: Chris Humphreys fans will know that Someday I'll Find You is inspired by your parents' actual story, a Norwegian spy and a British pilot.

Chris Humphreys: That's right. My dad was a Battle of Britain fighter pilot. My mom was a spy. So it's quite heady stock to come from, really.

Peter McCully: You've got two books out, One London Day and The Double Life of Eve Sinclair. Two books, two publishers, two national identities.

Chris Humphreys: Yes, absolutely. One London Day is a different tone, and a different style. I started to opt for shorter sentences, shorter chapters, the free flow of how people think, because when you go to each character, it's so much told from their perspective, though not that it isn't with Eve as well, but I think it's more like how a mind works, the associations a mind makes with different things it's thinking about. You can be thinking, “Well, how do I do this assassination now, and I have to pick up my daughter after school.” That's the hit man. You can move quite quickly between those things.

Peter McCully: How many novels have you written now, Chris?

Chris Humphreys: It sounds like you must know, surely, but I don't know, actually, because I was trying to work out how many have been published and how many are going to be published within the next year or so. I'm pretty sure, I stand to be corrected, that Eve is my 23rd novel. One Berlin Day, out later this month in England, and so in a couple of months in Canada, would be my 24th. The 25th will be One Istanbul Day, and the 26th, I've already written it, I'm relaunching my Jack Absolute series.

Peter McCully: Excellent.

Chris Humphreys: People nag me on the internet, I promise you, still, because I wrote the last one in 2009, and then only wrote a novella in 2016. So I've actually done it, and the title says it all really, it's The Resurrection of Jack Absolute, and that'll be out probably in January.

Peter McCully: For folks who may not be familiar with the Jack Absolute series, this is a swashbuckler.

Chris Humphreys: It is indeed, yes. An 18th-century soldier and spy who's riven by all sorts of problems and divided loyalties, and is a fool for love. They're great fun. I actually thought Jack, I'd be on my fifteenth Jack, I'd be doing a Bernard Cornwell and just continue writing it, because people loved him. Then Vlad the Impaler got in the way, and I switched sides for a bit and wrote that book, which is still my most successful novel by quite a way, Vlad: The Last Confession.

Peter McCully: So you've basically got twenty-some published and a few ready to go. What's next?

Chris Humphreys: I've got to go back and do this play, called The Seance. I'm not thinking of it really as a life beyond the Fringe Festival, but who knows. Then I'm diving back into One Istanbul Day. I'm about a third of the way through, I think. The way I write, I don't tend to pre-plot a huge amount, so I don't know exactly where it's going, which is always quite exciting. But I've got the same characters in place, and new ones, new villains. After that, I'm not sure. I'm talking with my agent about maybe doing a, I don't want to call it a memoir, because who am I to write a memoir, but I've had quite an interesting life, and I've started looking at some of the stories of that life, and I'm thinking perhaps I could put a storyteller's perspective on the world, and on writing, and on acting, and on living, all the interrelations between them. My agent seems to think if we get the pitch right, he can get a deal for it even without writing the book. Maybe I'll write that, and it will be called This Is Another Story.

Dave Graham: Chris Humphreys, 20-plus novels, a stage and screen career most actors would dream of, and he still can't sit long enough to write the same kind of book more than once. Whether it's a fantasy world or a wartime spy thriller, the man clearly loves the work. You'll find links in our story notes.

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Dave Graham: I ran out of Blue Rodeo song titles, but this isn't a case of bad timing. We're counting down the Days in Between now and the big draw. So cross your fingers, put on those Rose Colored Glasses, picture yourself winning, put those happy thoughts into your House of Dreams, and believe that Life is Always Getting Better.

Peter McCully: Well, I thought you were out of songs. You just listed about half a dozen Blue Rodeo titles there, Dave.

Dave Graham: Come on, Peter. Let's Walk Like You Don't Mind to the stage door, and No Miracle, No Dazzle. We'll just walk along the Side of the Road as we enjoy This Town.

Peter McCully: Okay, Dave, you're making less sense with each title.

Dave Graham: You've got to trust yourself to know that After the Rain has already gone, we'll be Better Off As We Are with a Girl in Green falling Down Blue.

Peter McCully: What am I doing here?

Rockin' Rhonda & The Uptown Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave, oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves, no missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave, so to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere, what a treat. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. All right, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.