Pastor by day, author by evening.
That’s the life of Alex McGilvery, a local minister who recently released his latest book, Sparkles and Blood.
McGilvery is best known for his sermons at Northminster Memorial United Church but long ago found a creative outlet through writing.
Sparkles and Blood is his fifth self-published book, a compilation of four short stories, including the title story – a spoof on the popular Twilight saga.
McGilvery originally posted Sparkles and Blood on a website, where it is now approaching nearly 100,000 readers.
Sparkles and Blood was officially released at the end of April with both hard copies and ebooks available, though the author encourages the online edition.
McGilvery says seeing his name in print hasn’t lost its appeal.
“It’s cool,” he said. “It’s really neat to have a book with your name on the cover and on your shelf.”
And not only his shelf. After his short story was ranked number one on a reader website, McGilvery received word from a Winnipeg high school teacher that the book was perfect for her students.
“It was cool that my book was being read by all these students in one particular high school,” he said.
Common theme
A common theme runs through the pages of McGilvery’s books – dark and twisted tales.
“One of my mentors, which was part of my spiritual discipline, said it was good to get the dark side out, look at it and put it in its place,” said McGilvery. “Not all my stories are dark and twisted, but they have their moments.”
McGilvery says the dark, twisted stories often float around his head and come more natural than a non-fiction book would.
As a member of the Flin Flon Writers’ Guild, McGilvery says the other writers are sometimes surprised at his stories.
“I get up to read these terrible dark, twisted tales and they ask, ‘How can you be writing this stuff,’” he said. “It’s just what comes out of my head.”
But it’s not all that comes out of his head, as McGilvery is currently working on a children’s story.
“The last…story [that I read] was the introduction to a children’s book that I’m working on,” he said. “It wasn’t horrible, twisted and nobody died, so they didn’t know how to take it. They are used to this really dark stuff.”
McGilvery is working on releasing a children’s book later in the year, though still has a number of steps to complete before it’s ready.
McGilvery says he doesn’t have plans to write a purely religious story any time soon, though faith is another common theme found in much of his work.
Seeing his name in print and knowing others are enjoying his work is rewarding enough for McGilvery, who doesn’t plan to leave his day job at the church anytime soon.
“I sold enough books last year to buy myself a decent bottle of scotch,” he said. “It’s not going to replace my day job anytime soon.”
Though the idea of writing for a living is a nice one, McGilvery says authors can rarely do that.
“Statistically, the vast majority of authors make less than $1,000 a year,” he said. “So the idea of publishing a book and becoming rich off of it, you’re better off buying a lottery ticket.”
Sparkles and Blood is available both online as well as in hard copy.
Online volumes can be found through the Amazon or Smash Words websites. Hard copies of the book can be purchased through McGilvery himself.
