Larry Gaudet – författare

“Forgive the assumptions I’m about to make. I’m sure they say much more about me than you. You have a dream of sanctuary too” (p. 21).“Sanctuary” is a beautiful word: philosophically rich, culturally intriguing and evocative of so much we cherish — protection, safety, contemplation, solitude. But lurking at the edges of this bright concept are some very dark associations: fear, paranoia, the slamming of gates to exclude the threat of other-ness. Whatever the word means to each of us, and whatever our ancestral legacies, the yearning for sanctuary is a malady we all share to varying degrees, a quest that is both our birthright and our affliction.These are the assertions of award-winning author Larry Gaudet in Safe Haven, an unorthodox and highly engaging work of imaginative non-fiction. Sure to resonate with anyone who has dreamt of escaping from the pressures of the workaday world — that is, all of us — this book is a highly personal, funny and unflinchingly honest investigation of the power and allure of the idea of sanctuary.Safe Haven begins and ends in the soft fog of coastal Nova Scotia, taking side trips into the ruined shrines of ancient Greece (with a fictional Bayou-born international spy serving as tour guide), journeying by rail through the frozen vistas and forlorn social realities of Canada’s north and dipping into Gaudet’s own Acadian heritage of displacement.Booking a year for this project, Gaudet moved with his wife, Alison, and their two small boys to a newly constructed barn by the sea in the fictionally named community of Foggy Cove. His intent: to chart the meaning of sanctuary through the ages, using his family’s solitude as an idyllic jumping-off point. But the project becomes far more complicated than he’d envisioned, and far less idyllic. Envying his children who can oversee uncomplicated imaginary civilizations in a sandbox, Gaudet cannot shake the awareness that he is complicit in the very iniquities from which he seeks to shelter his family, from the environmental toll of their septic tank on this ecologically sensitive land, to the wince of a lobster he is about to boil for dinner. He must also contend with the guilt he feels for having hijacked his wife and children, potentially for naught. As Alison’s desire to return to the comforts and stimuli of urban life grows with every month spent in isolation, Gaudet knows their idyllic days in Foggy Cove are numbered. In his search for the diverse meanings of sanctuary, Gaudet illuminates the dysfunctions and hidden costs of the way we live — and challenges us to find ways to bring down the walls that keep so many of us estranged from our own experiences. Safe Haven is an entertaining and illuminating romp through the fog-shrouded territory of sanctuary through ages and mythologies, guided by an engaging author who is not afraid to shine the light directly on his own fallable and highly likeable self.From the Hardcover edition.

From one of Canada’s top CEOs, a heartfelt invitation to reimagine the business world as a place in which conscience and empathy count.Steel manufacturer Stelco Inc. went into bankruptcy protection in early 2004. There was a lot at stake during the company’s gruelling court-mandated restructuring: 6,000 jobs, 10,000 pensions; the struggling economy of a company town; and the egos and pocketbooks of lawyers, investors, union leaders, politicians and hedge fund managers, each with a special interest to flog and no interest in compromise.Also on the line was the reputation–and conscience–of CEO Courtney Pratt, who was hired to clean up the mess. To Pratt, survival for Stelco meant attempting to keep the company alive as he ethically reconciled the competing interests, a task made absurdly difficult by the circus-like atmosphere that reigned among those fighting over its future. But at what cost?To answer that question, Pratt has joined forces with novelist and non-fiction writer Larry Gaudet in a collaboration the two almost jokingly call “magic corporate realism.” Their book provides a thoughtful challenge to the very tired notion that, in the age of Enron and Worldcom, all CEOs are incubated for the sole purpose of looking after their own selfish interests. Pratt’s story, told with imagination, honesty and wit, is about a more important challenge: how to stay human in a bottom-line world.From the Hardcover edition.

An anarchist online group sets out to assassinate the corporate elites they believe have turned culture into a digital nightmare.Don Barton is the visionary creator of Greenhouse, a popular immersive game where millions play at “saving the environment” in the surreal digital landscapes of the metaverse. Now retired to his plutocratic wealth, he learns his teen son, a gifted gamer, has suddenly gone missing, having joined a terrorist group led by a mysterious young woman, Eris, a former cryptocurrency trader. She’s on a mission to destroy the world’s entertainment and social media platforms and assassinate the corporate elites who run them.In desperation, Barton roams Greenhouse, the only place his radicalized son will talk to him, learning that the game — his life’s work — is on the terrorist hit list. And both his life and his son’s are in danger.A RARE MACHINES BOOK