Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in the U.K., but my parents immigrated to Canada when I was a boy, so I think of myself as Canadian. I’m now semi-retired, living the good life in Montreal, drinking the odd glass of wine before dinner with Manon, my wife … and writing a few novels when the fancy strikes me, as it has three times so far.
All of my novels were written in the last few years, and all are set in present-day Montreal. The first two, Last Call at the Ringrose Pub and Flash Drive, are both available on Amazon worldwide, in ebook and softcover versions. The third, Time Lost, will be published in the next month or so.
I’m an erstwhile, once-upon-a-time, incorrigible taximan.
What else? For more than thirty years I made a living in the Montreal taxi industry in just about every capacity. At different times I was driver, call-taker, dispatcher, customer service manager, call center manager, office manager, and general manager for several different taxi companies in the city. Now I’m more or less retired from that world, but I still keep my foot in the door as a part-time instructor at the Montreal Taxi School (l’École du Taxi). Once in a while, I do some consulting work for local companies. And I still follow the issues and give my opinion from time to time.
And finally, I can’t talk about myself without owning up to the fact that I’m a child of the Sixties and, like so many others of my generation, I was swept up in the historic tumult of those times. As an undergraduate at McGill University, I joined the demonstrations, supported the movement. It was a hell of a time to be young and alive. It turned my life upside-down.
Today my activism is limited to signing the odd petition against nuclear proliferation and sharing Facebook posts denouncing Donald Trump. But, like my years in the taxi business, the experience of those hectic days is still with me. It’s part of who I am, and it informs my writing in different ways, some subtle, some less so.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Time Lost, which will be published sometime in the next couple of months. It was partially inspired by a chance meeting with a young woman – a student in one of my classes – who reminded me of a girlfriend from years ago. That encounter inspired a what-if speculation, which eventually became Time Lost.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nope. I just string one word after another like everyone else.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
There are too many. I think every book I ever read has influenced me one way or another. Recently, I can recommend Still Time by Jean Hegland, about a man developing Alzheimer’s disease, told from his point of view! I wish I could write like Jean Hegland.
What are you working on now?
I’ve begun work on a fourth novel. But it’s too early to tell what will happen.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Ebook promotion sites and newsletters have been the only truly effective way of finding readers for my stuff. I’m lucky enough to be at a stage in my life where I don’t care if I make any money from my novels. If I can share a book with some readers, and some of them like it, I’m a happy man. So far, so good. 11,000 people have downloaded Flash Drive so far. Many of them took the time to rate and review the book, and said mostly nice things about it. That’s all the reward I need.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write the best book you can.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write the best book you can.
What are you reading now?
Open Rprimary by A.C. Fuller
What’s next for you as a writer?
Publishing Time Lost. Coming soon to an Amazon store near you.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Crazy question. Anthologies, I guess. Collected works of Hemmingway, etc.
Author Websites and Profiles
Peter C. Foster Website
Peter C. Foster Amazon Profile
Peter C. Foster’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
I have been reading books most of my life, many of them fiction. I read two of Peter C Foster’s books in October, 2018, and I was quite impressed for a variety of reasons. First, I enjoyed the plots. The action was fast-paced enough to keep the reader interested. The characters come across like real people, similar to the ones the ones we meet in real life, with all kinds of flaws. The attention to detail is also good, especially as it relates to the plot.
Then, there is the location, mostly in NDG. Anyone who has ever lived in that Montreal neighbourhood will appreciate the attention to those geographical details, especially when Alex Ryan gets off the metro at Vendome to board the 105 bus. In fact, both Papineau and Ryan seemed to live on Sherbrooke Street near the Montreal West Station. I still remember crossing that station on my way to school in the 1950s. Of course NDG has changed, in recent decades, and is longer the Anglo bastion it once was. And this also shows up in both novels.
in short, both of these books are worthwhile reading. I would not hesitate to recommend them to any reader.