I think it was Pierre Burton who said that a writer is always writing two books at a time—the left-over research and the cuts from the book your working on becoming the raw material for your next book.

The first draft of the sequel to The Fracture Nation Interviews was largely completed when I decided to do a book on the Koran. The extensive research I had already done for The Interviews in exploring Islam’s impact on national unity made it a natural.

Now it's time for the sequel to The Interviews, and it’s not pretty. Some of the worst fears expressed by guests of television host Johnny MacDonald are now a reality.

I have tried, in Remembering Uzza, to imagine Mary’s reaction to the re-birth of the mythical, medieval man’s world of Islam in parts of the former Canadian Confederation.

Remembering Uzzah is meant to make learning about the Koran a painless and often pleasant experience while not sugar-coating or leaving out the naughty and nasty bits, as does Little Mosque on the Prairie.

Except for Uzza, and her nemesis from H.A.M.M., all other characters, including Archie the bartender, are modeled on real patrons of a popular Ottawa night-spot.

The sequel to The Interviews adopts the same play-like format as that milestone publication. Again, the format chosen breaks with Dramatic Play Services and Playwrights Canada and the so-called Standard American conventions for plays. Names of characters are not CAPITALIZED so as not to distract the reader with excessive CAPITALIZATION. Only the first letter of the character’s Name is in uppercase. The names of the characters still appear in bold.

Expect the first full draft of Remembering Uzza to be finished by late Summer 2011.

The portion of the Interview which led to Johnny's injuries, is summarized in a newscast in the opening Act.

Interested in staging a production of Remembering Uzza? Send me an email

Bernard Payeur