A Full House-But Empty by Angus Monro book spotlight and author interview

Paperback: 268 pages
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (September 25, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0595437192
ISBN-13: 978-0595437191

Book Synopsis:

A Full House – But Empty by Angus Munro

The author was born during the Great Depression in Vancouver, Canada. His father was from a prosperous farming family in Saskatchewan. When he married, his father leased farmlands for him to get established so eventually he could become independent. Unfortunately, when he received payment from his first wheat crop, a wild poker game was ensuing at the local grain elevator. He later arrived home with only one can of strawberry jam to present to his wife.

Angus’ father decided to throw in the farming towel and moved to Vancouver. The Great Depression had started and sometime later the grandfather died and left all of his estate to his other son. As the Depression deepened, Angus’ father went back to Saskatchewan to seek financial assistance from his brother. He received nothing and returned home unexpectedly one evening finding his wife in bed with a cheater. The cheater jumped out of the nearest window and he pointed the front door for his wife to leave. Thus, the father became a single parent to Laura, age 6, Angus, age 3 and Marjorie, an infant. The following day, Angus was rushed to the Vancouver General Hospital with acute appendicitis.

Needless to say, with a horrible Depression and three small children, the father had his hands full. However, near the end of the Depression and the beginning of WWII they lived with another family. A father with five children and he had been from a farming family and his marital problems were similar to Angus’ father. They spent four wonderful years together.

At age thirteen, while in the seventh grade Angus was wrongly accused of an incident that took place. Angus was extremely upset and refused to study. He played sick at every opportunity to avoid attending classes. He failed and had to repeat the seventh grade and he dropped out thereafter.

At age seventeen, Angus was working in a sawmill tossing lumber ends off of a conveyor belt – a total dead-end position. At that time, his father was an outside foreman for a large oil and coal company. He worked hard and highly respected at work and in the community. However, he had that penchant for poker games and/or parties of which occurred in their home frequently on weekends and either one lasting all night.

One Saturday evening, a group from his father’s pub club arrived bringing a young theological student from the University of British Columbia. George, apart from studying theology, was very active in working civic pursuits – such as teen town organizations, etc. He and Angus became good friends. One quiet evening, during the week he stopped by and delivered a Dutch uncle speech to Angus. He informed him that he had above average intelligence and wondered why he was working in a dead-end job that had no future options. Angus informed him that he was a total failure and an uneducated grade-school dropout with no skills.

His response was, “You need to get off of your ass and get moving!” He further challenged Angus’ comments by saying he wanted to discuss his potential not the unfortunate circumstances relating to leaving school. He further stated that Angus needed to enroll at a local high school taking evening classes in typing and accounting to acquire some basic skills. Additionally, Angus needed to immediately seek a white-collar job at an entrance level that would have future promotional opportunities. His rhetoric was so compelling – Angus did exactly what he suggested.

To summarize, Angus eventually spent nine years in the petroleum industry in both Canada and the USA and he was being groomed for a junior executive position. He decided to change fields and spent thirty-nine years in hospital administration in both California and Alaska. As a director, his staffing complements were from fifty-five to seventy employees.

I was lucky enough to be able to ask the author some questions:

Who has influenced you throughout your career as a writer?

This is my first book. In terms of content, my greatest influence was my father.

Do you write every day?

When I was writing this book – usually every day.

What has been your greatest achievement as a writer?

To receive 5-star reviews!

Have you always wanted to be a writer, or did you aspire to be something else growing up?

As a grade-school dropout – survival was my key focus.

Are you currently working on anything?

No. I am working mainly on promoting my book. However, I am mentally gathering thoughts for a new book down the road.

What authors do you enjoy reading?

I am an old movie buff. In my library, I particularly like Bob Thomas, Anne Edwards and Adela Rogers St. John. I think Ellis Amburn has great writing skills too.

Is there a particular author who you feel don’t get the recognition they deserve?

Not offhand; however, I assume there would be many.

What is your favorite book?

Thalberg, written by BobThomas. I have a signed copy that I treasure.

What is a book that has been highly acclaimed but you haven’t liked?

I cannot think of one.

What word or phrase do you feel is overused?

Wrongly used, “ Like I say.” Instead of “ As I say.”

A FULL HOUSE BUT EMPTY VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '08 will officially begin on September 2, '08 and end on September 26, '08. You can visit Angus' tour stops at http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in September to find out more about him and his new book!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available. The winner will be announced on our main blog at http://www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.wordpress.com/ on September 26!

Angus Munro's virtual book tour is being brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion and choreographed by Dorothy Thompson.


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