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Wednesday, ‘August 30, 2000__ 30, 2000

Peninsula News Review

%. erry Gotro reads
gr. aloud several pas-
3. sages from one of
his first published books.
As he does, the emotion of
the text is evident in both
the tone of his voice and the
glistening in his eyes.

The passage he reads
portrays two hospitalized
mothers, strangers to one
another, bonded together in
grief. A shared moment be-
tween them serves as a kin-
ship for life. It’s the begin-

ning of his book Beyond Sur-.

~ vival — the first installment
in a'series he’s been work-
ing on for the past decade.
Gotro: grew up in a‘small
mining town in Ontario. Af
ter leaving home he joined
the air force and spent five

years travelling -overseas.

After leaving the Forces, he

‘moved _on to the aerospace A

industry.

But it wasn’t until the late.
"80s when he thought seri-.

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ously about putting pen to
paper in-an attempt to leave
his memoirs for his daugh-
ter,

Gotro comes from a fam-
ily of writers and hoped that
maybe ‘some of that talent
had rubbed off.on him.

He received his inspira-
tion from the 410 Squadron
— the group he spent his
days with while stationed
out of northern England. —

“I thought, I] am going to

die one of these days and

she (my daughter) has no
idea,” Gotro said.

“I wrote 100 pages and
read 99 of them and I
thought ‘this is the biggest
piece of crap’ and threw itall

out,” he said of writing the

story...
A friend of Gotro’s took

.. the piece to finish it.

‘The first book was called

When Falcons Fly.

Three months later Gotro
received a call from Books

In Motion out of Spokane,
Washington, asking to. put:
“his: story ontapes..

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FEATURE

JUDY REIMCHE PHOTO

Gerry Gotro began writing when he decided to pro-
duce his memoirs for his daughter.

“It was the biggest fluke
in my life,” he said. “The
publisher asked me if I had
anything else (aside from
my memoirs). I hada series
of short stories that I had
written ‘years before when I
didn’t know how to write.”

And so with that hint of
interest from a publisher, he

sent the series of stories off:
‘In no time they became a
‘compilation called Dark
Fragments of Time. .-

One of the tales, “Wh

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per Ball,” almost became
the basis for the hit TV se-
ries X-Files. Unfortunately,
story wasn’t long
enough for an hour-long
episode. _ . “
Nonetheless, the interest
froma hit network show
gave Gotro a big boost of
confidence.
Although tapes seem to.

be arather unconventional
“way. to: listen : to stories, :
- Gotro says they’re.a big hit
with truckers and cat at

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cross-country drivers.
“Truckers come in and
want to do 900 miles that
night, and they don’t want to
listen to mood music be-
cause they will be upside
down in a ditch,” he said.
Another hint from the

~ publisher, to concentrate on

survival stories, put him
over the top: ° His first sur-
vival book, Beyond Survival, -
featuring Canadians and
Ojibwe Natives, served as a
springboard for other books .
that included and further
developed several of the
same characters.

“The books put: white

people with ‘Anisanawbe’

(North and South American
Aboriginals) ,” said Gotro.

That spirit of cooperation
is what Gotro attempts to
‘emphasize in his writing.

He also places a high re-
gard on justice in his books.

“Justice is when.all debts
are paid and all honors are :

given— that is justice.”

In order to write in an ed--
. ucated manner about. the
Ojibwe. culture,. he spent —
time on reserves in Ontario. |

“They were very, very —
“dand to me. I spent a lot of
ime there i in libraries.” o

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"PENINSULA NEWS REVIEW a7

His survival know-how
came from actually living it.

“] learned how to survive
in a hostile environment as
a kid,” he said.

He remembers setting:

~ out with a friend for two

weeks in Northern Ontario
with nothing but a knife, ax
and long bow.

“We did just fine. The
nights were very, very cold,
but we knew how to handle
that. We caught food by

_ shooting fish mostly,” he

said.

Two’ published novels
later, and with three in the
works, Gotro is still devel-

oping the Same characters
‘and testing them by creat-

ing ever-challenging situa-
tions.
Now he is not only writ-

‘ing good stories, but he is

incorporating: local Jand-
marks including Oak: Bay,
Shawnigan Lake and: Port

Hardy.

“] don’t know a1 any ‘aoe in

the ‘world that down and

dirty ‘stuff doesn’t happen,
but in my. world 1 make it

clean, "he said.

“TJook around (atthe real
world) and say, ‘oh: man,
hata mess,’ I don't want to.

be in that mess so I loose. e

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