Independents are an important part of the literary ecosystem. Plus they are usually very cool places.

That is definitely the case with Carrefour Atlantic at Halifax’s Historic Properties. I dropped by today to sign some copies of my latest book. It’s well worth a trip to Carrefour Atlantic to check all the many wonderful books and other stuff the place sells.

Maybe it’s the time of year — a darkening period when many of us look both back and ahead — or maybe it’s my age — I don’t seem to be getting any younger!

Whatever the underlying motivation, I laid out the various books I possess that have my name on the cover. (I later realized I had missed one or two.)

It made the calculated spill seen here.

As things stand, I hope to add at least two more books before I’m done. After that, who knows?

The love for the book about The Lincolns keeps on coming.

Yesterday, I read a wonderful write-up on the book in the bi-weekly newsletter of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia. Here it is:

“It’s hard to pack a sax and a Hammond organ in a book, but AJB Johnston does a good job of it in The Kings of Friday Night, about Truro in the 1960s and the legendary band The Lincolns. Through interviews and first-person stories, and featuring photos of the band’s evolution, The Lincolns will stir fond memories for the band’s countless loyal fans. Check out the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZC7SU4gT24) that goes with the book!”

Here below is how Nimbus Publishing has summed Kings of Friday Night: The Lincolns in a single sentence. How would you sum it up, sticking within that single sentence length?

Any takers willing to give it a try?

Here’s a not-so-crazy idea. A very long, longshot, yes, but not crazy.

The idea is to turn the story presented in “Kings of Friday Night: The Lincolns” into a TV series.

Sort of like Irish writer Roddy Doyle’s “The Commitments”, which went from a novel to a movie to a play in London’s West End.

The TV season I imagine would be based be six, eight or ten episodes of 20 to 30-minutes each. The starting point would be the real-life characters and events detailed in the book, presented with both drama and humor, and music of course. It would be important to get the period right, from fashions to cars to dialogue and attitudes. Anyone who knows the stories in the book will grasp that there was a fascinating mix of characters in the band and among friends and fans, and there were some zany hijinks and adventures, along with a few heartbreaks. There is more than enough for a bunch of episodes. Maybe more than a single season.

The series would begin with the formation of the band and move on from there, showing the many ups and downs as the 1960s unfolded. It would be funny and yet sometimes sad, and stirring and poignant at the same time.

So, there it is. That’s not crazy, is it?

Anyone know somebody in the TV production business?

When I reached the end of the writing stage of Kings of Friday Night: The Lincolns I had the odd sensation of thinking of one of my earlier books, Endgame 1758: the Promise, the Glory and the Despair of Louisbourg’s Last Decade.

“That’s odd,” I said to myself.

It took me a while—maybe a year—but I just figured it out. Some inner, unconscious part of my brain recognized that both books are about decades, and both are continuous narratives that follow a central cast of characters throughout to see what happens to them across a ten-year time span.

The stories could hardly be more different—a 1960s rock ‘n’ roll band versus a massive imperial 18th-century conflict involving many thousands of combatants—but the common elements mentioned above are definitely there.

I like to think that those who enjoy the one book might like to check out the other. They are both compelling stories.