Kenn Crawford Published Songwriter, Author & Amateur Photographer

I inherited all my grandfather’s unpublished manuscripts and he wrote a lot of books. Everything from old westerns to what just might be some real-life experiences from WWII. As I was going through the boxes and boxes of manuscripts I discovered an old envelope with an unedited short story. The pages were stained yellow with time and it didn’t even have a title, but I was compelled to read it for two reasons:

First, it was a story about a family during an explosion in a coal mine. I was a teenager when my home town of Glace Bay experienced a coal mining disaster on Feburary 24th, 1979. Twelve lives were lost that day. From 1866 to 1987 there were 1321 fatalities reported in Cape Breton mines. Coal mining involves deep tunnels, soft rock, explosives and less than perfect ventilation systems. The mark it leaves on you is as deep as the black beneath a coal miner’s eyes.

The other reason I had to read the story was because my grandfather did not pen the story; my grandmother did. We all knew Nana helped my grandfather with his writing – proofreading, counting words and typing because he only had one functioning hand from a WWII injury – but no one in the family knew she had a talent for writing. As I go through the rest of the boxes I hope to find more hidden treasures by her.

When I was interviewed on the ErkPod podcast, he asked me if I planned on releasing any of my grandfather’s novels. My answer was no because I have so many of my own stories in me that I have to get out. But this short story I just had to share. I worked on editing and expanding the story; trying to stay true to her style of writing, the language of the time, and using as much of her original text as possible. I hope I did the story, and my grandmother, justice.

I changed some of the character names and eventually named the piece, Steven’s Song. I felt that was a fitting title for several reasons: in the story she talks about the beat of his own drum, records with a faulty groove, and I choose Steven in memory of my dearly departed friend, Steven White McNeil.

With the text version done I started auditioning people to narrate it, but as soon as I heard what author R.E. Chambliss did with it, auditions were over! I was of course very familiar with her voice because she narrated my zombie novel, Dead Hunt, so I had an idea of what to expect from her…

Boy o boy, did I ever miss the mark on that! Of course she delivered it with the same crisp and clear enunciation and recording that I have grown to expect from Renee, but she really captured the essence of the main character, Ann Shaw, and of my grandmother, Hannah Crawford. I was nervous about letting anyone do this story because it meant so much to me, but Renee surpassed my expectations. Thank you, Renee. To learn more about Renee, her book, and the other exciting projects she will be voicing, visit her website at REChambliss.com

Play “Steven’s Song”

© 2010, Kenn Crawford. All rights reserved. Audio is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.