National Network for Equitable Library Service

A collection of true Christmas stories by Gary Collins, Newfoundland and Labrador’s favourite storyteller! Gary Collins invites us to live again the gone forever. These stories embody the soul of Christmas in outport Newfoundland, and each one carries a message that rings true every time: all roads lead to home. Christmas, with all its lights and music and gift giving, is also a time to remember days long ago.

The Mounties don’t always get their man. There is a folk legend living in Bay Bulls, on the Southern Shore of Newfoundland, by the name of Leo Crockwell. He ranks up there with legends like D. B. Cooper and Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper of Rat River. This is the story of how Leo Crockwell took on one of the most revered police forces in the world, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and walked away unscathed.

On January 4, 1914, the Karluk was stuck in ice when the ominous sound of the ship’s stern being ripped open by pack ice was heard by all on board. It sounded like the firing of a cannon. Bartlett immediately ordered supplies be unloaded on the ice. The Karluk began to break up on January 10, and all on board were ordered to abandon ship. When everyone was safely on the ice, the captain himself went back to his cabin and, all alone, put Chopin’s Funeral March on his Victrola.

In 1969, Miles Frankel, a young British doctor, was recruited by the International Grenfell Association to provide medical services to communities in northern Newfoundland and coastal Labrador. From St. Anthony he travelled—by boat, Jeep, aircraft, and even dogsled—to nursing stations and small cottage hospitals strung out along the coast. Ever willing to heed the call, his work in outport Newfoundland and Labrador would sometimes require him to take on the role of veterinarian!

“HowYaGettin’On?” is how downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland, corner boy Snook says hello. He’s been hanging around, telling yarns, and having a laugh for over thirty years now, and this is his welcome for you to read all about some of that. Known as a fast talker and funny laugher, Snook finally jotted down some of his musings on . . . stuff—all sorts of stuff. Some of it’s actually half-decent, as they say. So have a sit (wherever you please, or need to), relax your literary standards, and see what goes on in one of the most suspect minds and imaginations in this province.

Courage at Sea: Newfoundland Sailors in the Great War is a collection of more than forty World War I stories involving the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve and the Newfoundland merchant seamen who delivered goods to Europe in aid of the Allied war effort. Many foreign-going vessels carrying Newfoundlanders were apprehended en route by German U-boats and shelled, torpedoed, or boarded and bombed. Some of the crews were let go, but others were less fortunate. Some of the stories included are . . .

More frightening and scary tales from Newfoundland and Labrador.

The residents of Harbour Breton, a small fishing village in Newfoundland, claimed that it rained for forty days and nights. For forty days and nights, a prevailing southwest wind off the Grand Banks brought persistent rain, drizzle, fog, and sometimes torrential downpours. Root crops rotted in the ground, paint peeled off houses and fences, brooks and rivers overflowed their banks, and ponds and lakes swelled to bursting. In the early morning of August 1, 1973, the earth could take no more.

Where Eagles Lie Fallen is celebrated master storyteller Gary Collinss solemn tribute to the American servicemen and servicewomen who lost their lives aboard Arrow Air Flight 1285 when it crashed in Gander Newfoundland on December 12 1985.

"Beggars cannot be choosers. We wanted just companies, we gave a damn who they were, we had no prejudice against them. We went to Germany because Europe was scared of Soviet Russia and saw a communist revolution coming. The German industrialists were particularly scared. In 1950 I was the first public visitor who came to Germany from any country. The leaders of the German companies all spoke excellent English. I was impressed.