Praise for Tales from the North Shore, which contains the popular “Death in Etobicoke” trilogy:
“My friend Allie and I are reading ‘Death in Etobicoke’ to each other over Korean takeaway laughing our heads off. Actual tears. You are a genius! Best thing I have read in ages …”
— Alexandra Gillespie, English professor and principal, University of Toronto.
“It’s a treat to read this book… (The Thunder Bay stories) are laugh out loud funny.”
— Lisa Laco, host of Superior Morning, CBC Radio Thunder Bay
“The book is beautiful. And the voice of your narrator is so much more human and vulnerable and versatile than anything you’re ‘allowed’ in most of your other writing. I really like the innocence and vulnerability … and the way your narrator’s curiosity and occasional expression of wonder at whatever revelations are at hand keeps giving the reader or listener a sense that magic is just a word or two away.“
— Charles Wilkins, author of The Circus at the Edge of the Earth, Walk to New York, In the Land of Long Fingernails, Little Ship of Fools and international bestsellers, Paddle to the Amazon and After the Applause.
Scott Colby is a journalist and best-selling author who lives in Toronto. He has written two books, the most recent being Tales from the North Shore, a humorous and satirical collection of short stories, published in July, 2019.
Tales from the North Shore contains two trilogies: the popular “Death in Etobicoke” series set in suburban Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario and another set in the frontier city of Thunder Bay, Ont., on the rugged shores of Lake Superior. These dynamic stories are inhabited by unforgettable characters and combine fact and fiction, humour and horror, birth and death, darkness and light.
The original “Death in Etobicoke” story began as a satirical first-person send up of Thomas Mann’s classic novel “Death in Venice,” which was the book of the month in Scott’s friend’s wife’s book club. Follow that? Scott was not a big fan of Death in Venice, but hopes you are a fan of “Death in Etobicoke,” especially when you find out who dies, and how. In the trilogy, Scott also honours some classic horror titles, such as The Shining and The Silence of the Lambs. “Death in Etobicoke” introduces the bewildering and intoxicating young Goth woman, Lucy Fehr, who throughout the trilogy shows a mysterious and dangerous attraction to the author. How will the trilogy end? Can Scott resist Lucy’s siren call into the darkness?
The Thunder Bay trilogy contains two coming-of-age memoirs from Scott’s childhood. One features a deranged and bloody-minded Finnish trapper; the other an epic night as a teenage bingo caller. The third story is a lively fictional tale inspired by a real Thunder Bay man with an unbelievable — and unsanitary — connection to Queen Elizabeth.
The book is available as a paperback and ebook. Purchase it here.
Listen to Scott’s interview with CBC Thunder Bay.
Read Scott’s interview with the Etobicoke Guardian.
Scott is also the co-author of How We Did It: The Subban Plan for Success in Hockey, School and Life. The book debuted in October 2017 on the Canadian bestseller list. Scott first met NHL hockey dad Karl Subban in 1980 when he was a high school student attending a basketball camp at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. Karl was a varsity player at Lakehead and one of the camp’s instructors. Over the next few years Karl became an occasional coach to Scott and a teammate in a summer league for senior high school students and university players. How could they know that nearly 40 years later they’d co-author Karl’s memoirs together?
How We Did It is sometimes mistaken as being only a hockey book because of the success of Karl’s sons at hockey. All three boys are professional hockey players and two play in the NHL: P.K. is an all-star defenceman with the New Jersey Devils and Malcolm is a goaltender with the Vegas Golden Knights. But this book is so much more. It is an immigrant story, it is a book about education, it is a parenting book. The subtext of the book is how to develop the potential of any child, based Karl’s 30 years as a parent, high school principal and coach.
Besides writing books, Scott is also the Opinions editor for the Toronto Star. For two years he also wrote a popular parenting column called “Lake in the Game,” for the newspaper, Canada’s largest.
Scott Colby: Author and Journalist 