In 2013, my son Sebastian, who was then 13, challenged me to write a novel in a month during National November Novel Writing Month AKA Nanowrimo. In a flurry of activity, we both managed to finish our first novel, and do a daily video blog about our experience.

Fresh off my experience as a CNE blogger, which involved going to the fair a dozen times, at least once with most members of my family, I wrote a time travel fantasy about a boy who is trapped on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition, travelling through time through the entire century of its history. for me is the author, it was a romp through my childhood, and pop culture, seen through the eyes of my inner 13 year old, and the experiences of my own 13 year old.

In 2014 and 2015, I produced a podcast version of the story, here. Looking at the worldwide situation in 2020, with everyone hunkering down at home, I think it is time to revisit my light YA fantasy. I might re-podcast the story with new audio introductions, or just post links to the original podcast. In 2015, I also prepared files for a full audiobook version to upload to the now defunct Podiobooks.com. Would anybody be interested in downloading a full audiobook version from Bandcamp or is the podcast version sufficient?

Here is the first episode of the podcast as first published in November 2014.

After a little over a year of alternating preparations and procrastination, here are the first two chapters of my original podcast novel, Time for the Fair.

I will be releasing an episode weekly for about 5 months. You can follow along by visiting https://sean.mcgaughey.ca/timeforthefair or you can subscribe to the story in iTunes or your favorite podcatcher at http://feeds.feedburner.com/TimeForTheFairPodcastFeed. Hopefully, I should have a listing in the iTunes podcast directory by next week. Starting next week, I will have guest authors read a brief recap of ‘The Story So Far’ and feature promos for some great indie fiction.

I welcome any feedback or volunteers to read, ‘The Story So Far’ in the comments on the blog, or send an email to ductapeguy@gmail.com.

In this week’s episode we meet Billy MacCauley, his father Robert, his Aunt Sue, and his grandfather Pops. The family is grieving the loss of Billy’s mother to cancer the previous spring. Billy wants to bring a bit of normal family life for one day.

Settle into your favorite chair now, It’s Time for the Fair…

Last year, my 13 year old daughter challenged me to write a novel in 30 days for NaNoWriMo.   We had a wonderful month of writing side by side, and both of us completed our first novels.   Over the past year, I’ve been working on polishing and recording my podcast novel, Time for the Fair.  It is a time travel fantasy about family, loss, grief, being 13, and going to the Fair.

This winter, I will be podcasting the story, one chapter a week from this site.

To whet your appetite, here is a promo for the podcast.

It has been one hell of a summer for Billy MacCauley . His mom died from cancer in May. His dad has drifted away, drowning in his own grief. His grandfather, Pops, has forgotten almost everything and everybody he ever knew. And his Aunt Sue has moved into their lives trying to pick up all the pieces.

For just one day, all Billy wants is to be a normal 13 year old boy and have one perfect day at the fair with his family. He ends up getting much more than he bargained for. Now all he wants is to go home to his family.

Time for the Fair is an original podcast novel by Sean McGaughey. You can find it at https://sean.mcgaughey.ca/timeforthefair.