What is ‘Wasteland’ about?  Here’s the blurb on the virtual ‘back cover’ of the book:

“Ryan is a cog in a corporate consultancy based in Montreal, Quebec. One day the steel doors of his office building’s elevator open up to reveal that his workplace has been completely transformed into a desert wasteland. Over the next few weeks he strives to reconcile the desolate vista that surrounds him at work with his seemingly untouched personal life, until events in each environment begin to intersect in ways he could never have predicted. Ryan must then negotiate both the sands that surround him and the intricacies of human relationships in order to save the life of a friend.”

When I started writing ‘Wasteland’ I was in a fairly dark place in terms of my future outlook on life.  I was much younger than I am today, working for the federal government, and I felt like just another replaceable piece of a much larger machine whose purpose was obscure but definitely had nothing to do with my well-being.  It took several years, but I eventually escaped the nine-to-five world and built a career as a freelance writer.  It was then that I found the strength to pick up the ‘Wasteland’ manuscript once again and pour my heart out onto its pages, bringing to life the isolation that had seeped into seemingly every aspect of my existence during that period.

Why did I choose to publish via Amazon.com?  In a word, access.  E-books are the future of the publishing industry, and the Amazon.com Kindle platform gives me the ability to reach millions of potential readers who either own a physical Kindle e-reader device or who have downloaded one of the free Kindle apps that allow you to read e-books on almost any device – phones, tablets, iPads, PCs and Macs.  That’s right – you don’t need to own a Kindle to purchase and read Kindle books, you can just download a free application in seconds.  I eventually plan to offer the book via other online platforms such as Barnes and Noble (the Nook and the Nook app).

Writing this book was something I could not have accomplished without the support of my friends and family, and the professional expertise of my editor Patrick Lavery and illustrator Angela Hodge.  I intend to continue to document my foray into the world of e-book publishing and promotion via my blog to give you a glimpse behind the scenes at what this new and rapidly-growing form of media distribution is all about.

Oh, and by all means – if you haven’t already (and I thank you if you have) – please feel free to buy a copy of my book at the following link:

Purchase ‘Wasteland’ by Benjamin Hunting at Amazon.com.

Last week I drove a 2012 Chevrolet Sonic LT over 2,000 km’s from Montreal, Quebec to Detroit, Michigan on my way to attending the 2012 North American International Auto Show.  The Sonic was on loan from General Motors Canada, who provided it to me for a week-long test drive and evaluation.  My review is now live on Autobytel.com.

It had been quite a while since I was last in Detroit, and the weather was far more hospitable than would be expected in January near the water.  The atmosphere at the Cobo Center, where the NAIAS was held, was also more upbeat than in previous years given the economically healthy year enjoyed by most automakers compared to the darker days of the recent recession.  Hospitality abounded throughout the event, with chili trucks, sushi bars and breakfast spreads adorning almost every booth and product announcements being made with an elevated level of pomp and circumstances.  The industry parties that dominated the evenings – the Cadillac ATS reveal, the Hyundai all-you-can-eat festivities at Slow’s, my favorite BBQ restaurant in the known universe, and Nissan’s somewhat surreal buffet and cigar lounge hosted at Chris Chelios’ downtown bar – were also vibrant and seemingly endless, leading to bleary eyes in the media room the next day.

What were some of the cars that caught my attention in Detroit?  The 2013 Ford Fusion is far and away one of the most attractive mid-size family cars out there, especially with its revised interior and Aston Martin-inspired face.  The Acura NSX Concept indicates that yes, there might still be a spark of life left at the slumbering luxury car company, and the Subaru BRZ is much nicer on the inside than either the Subaru WRX or the WRX STI – actually, much nicer than an entry-level rear-wheel drive sedan has any right to be.

The best part of the entire event, however, was meeting other journalists and industry professionals – as well as the members of the Autobytel.com team whom I have worked with for years but never actually got the chance to speak with face-to-face.  It can be somewhat isolating to survey the automotive universe from my icy Montreal HQ, and Detroit provided a welcome reality check and a chance to touch base, make new friends and laugh for hours with a crowd of people equally as obsessed about automobiles as I am.

I got my hands on a brand-new 2012 GMC Sierra 1500 with the All Terrain package this week, and I did what anyone should do when presented with an off-road ready full-size pickup:  hit the nearest mud bog and put it to the test.

Check out my video review to see just how well the GMC Sierra All Terrain did when asked to handle the rough stuff.  You can read my full review of the 2012 GMC Sierra 1500 All Terrain at Autobytel.com.

Special thanks to Ryan Harkness for his camera work in filming this segment.  This vehicle was provided for me for review purposes by GM Canada.

This is the first entry in a new feature on this blog where I provide a quick snapshot video review of a brand new automobile.  This week I take a look at the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze LT Turbo+ with the RS package – the most competent compact car to have ever been produced by General Motors, and a genuine competitor in the entry-level segment.

Check out the video for a synopsis of what it is like to drive the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze LT Turbo+ and to get my opinion on the car.   You can read my full review of the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze at Autobytel.com.

Special thanks to videographer Steven Vuong for filming and editing this segment.  This vehicle was provided for me for review purposes by GM Canada.

The last Ford Crown Victoria rolled off the assembly line Thursday, September 15 at its once-busy production facility in Ontario.  Down to just 80,000 Vics, Mercury Grand Marquis sedans and Lincoln Town Cars fleet sales a year (all of which share the same “Panther” platform), the plant that had been designed to fill orders of a quarter million vehicles every 12 months no longer made fiscal sense to operate.

Over the past 15 years the Crown Victoria and its Panther cousins became somewhat polarizing automotive designs, sure to elicit one of two reactions when mentioned in conversation with a fellow car fan.  The majority of gearheads scoffed at the ancient underpinnings that formed the basis of the full-size behemoth, heaping scorn on its body-on-frame design, anemic V8 engine and detached driving dynamics (not helped by the inclusion of a live rear axle in an age where independent rear suspensions rule the day).  A small subset of automotive enthusiasts, however, waxed eloquently about the Crown Vic’s rear-wheel drive layout, its ability to absorb substantial abuse (which along with its ease of repair made it a favorite amongst taxi and law enforcement fleet buyers) and the comfortable, magic carpet-esque ride quality that was especially apparent in the Town Car.

Which side is right?  In all honesty, neither camp is all that far off in either their denouncement or praise of the Ford Crown Victoria.  There is no doubt that the sedan was well past its prime in terms of being competitive with other, more recent full-size family cars.  After all, the platform that it rode on up until the 2011 model year was originally designed in 1979.  That being said, the Crown Vic wasn’t really aiming at the same customers that vehicles like the Toyota Avalon or the Dodge Charger were attempting to pull into showrooms.  It wasn’t a baby Lexus, nor was it a chiseled four-door muscle car.  It was a simple, roomy cruiser that could carry as many perps, shotguns, stacks of luggage or VIPs as you could stuff into it, and when you hit a curb during a pursuit you could bang things back into shape with a hammer without having to order and install a brand new front end.  For some buyers, these are important characteristics.  Note that I said some, not all or even most, which is why the Crown Vic and co. have bowed out of the automotive landscape.

Personally, I have always had a soft spot for the Crown Victoria.  Growing up, a close friend had a 91 Police Interceptor with a 351 cubic inch V8 that featured the world’s worst carburetor, a variable venturi unit that sucked down gas as such an intense rate that every time the accelerator was pinned to the floor, Saudi Arabia sunk another inch.  That buddy of mine is still driving a Crown Vic, by the way, although he has upgraded to the latest model.  I myself owned a 93 Crown Vic as a winter car for a very brief period of time before it upchucked its radiator and transmission fluids all over the street in front of my house one frosty January morning.  My fondest memory of that car was piloting it flat-out during a few illicit laps around the Gilles Villeneuve Formula One circuit here in Montreal while a friend held on to the inner door handle so tightly that by the time security had chased us from the grounds the panel itself had been torn completely off its mounting points.

Was it weird that growing up, my friends and I had a passion for this large, seemingly clunk full-size Ford?  In retrospect, maybe it was, and while most of us have moved on to park very different types of vehicles in our respective driveways, looking back it still makes sense to me.  At a time when rear-wheel drive, V8-powered cars were seemingly in danger of extinction, the Crown Victoria was a beacon of affordable performance and style that was far more appealing to us than the bland, anonymous family sedans of the day.

Think of it this way.  If the Camry were to disappear tomorrow – as competent a car as that is – would anyone be writing a blog post like this?

Probaby not.

Vaya con Dios, Crown Vic.

I recently walked into the Chapters bookstore in downtown Montreal and was immediately put on edge by the almost complete lack of books on display at the front of the shop.  Chapters, like most large book retailers, had traditionally maintained an impressive array of new, bargain and heavily promoted books that greet would-be buyers as soon as they enter the store.  Apparently, this is a thing of the past, as the only merchandise Chapters had available at the front of their flagship location were novelty notepads, bookmarks, small puzzles and what seemed to be their own branded e-reader device.

Sure, there were plenty of books elsewhere inside Chapters, but the decision to shift the focus from fiction and non-fiction to consumer bric-a-brac was unsettling to me, to say the least.  I even asked a salesperson as to the reason for the lack of books, and although she acknowledged that yes, books were missing from the store’s main display, she wasn’t able to provide a reason for the change, or inform me as to whether it was permanent.  She actually seemed more uncomfortable with my question than anything else, although perhaps that was understandable as I’m sure Chapters does not consult with every member of its staff before making strategic decisions.

Has anyone else out there encountered something similar at their own Chapters location?  Or at any other large book chain lately?  Are the major book retailers being forced to diversify their product offerings in order to survive, or is the downtown Montreal shop an aberration?

It also helped that the PWAC National Conference – think annual meeting – was being held in Montreal, a city so close to my home that there was no reasonable way I could talk myself out of attending.  I thought that the PWAC Conference would give me a chance to meet a broad spectrum of members, as well as get a feel for how the Association presents itself to the world.  I signed up for the introductory reception, one seminar and a potluck dinner being held at the home of one of the Montreal organizers and approached the event with an open mind.

I came away with mixed impressions of the National Conference.  I enjoyed connecting with other writers, and in particular the chance to finally meet Angela West in person after years of email correspondence.  I also made some new friends in Melanie Epp, Giancarlo La Giorgia and Lauren Stewart, along with many others.  It is rare that I am able to converse in-depth with those in the writing profession, and it was most interesting to hear the sometimes very different perspectives that other professionals have towards their careers.

The seminar I attended was unfortunately not up to the same level as the quality of the interpersonal interaction that came with the weekend.  It was focused on entrepreneurship for freelance writers, but the three panel members – while all interesting to listen to – came from a very different business perspective than that of a freelancer.  I came in expect to hear an experienced, freelance writer / entrepreneur say “here are some of the challenges I faced while running my business, here are some of the solutions I came up with, and here are some of the things I tried that did not work.”  Instead, entrepreneurship was discussed in very broad strokes by panel members who were running organizations, tech companies or publishing houses.  Interesting, but not nearly as applicable as I would have liked it to be.

I was also surprised by how low attendance was.  Roughly 100 members attended the National Conference, and although I am uncertain as to the total number of PWAC members in Canada, this seems like a small turnout to me.

That being said, I continue to be intrigued by the possibilities offered by PWAC membership.  I have been told that Quebec chapter activities slow down during the summer, but that the fall is projected to be a busier time.  I am happy to have met the writers who took the time to speak with me, and the experience was definitely worth the effort of attending.  I often get to meet and interview interesting people from all walks of life, but it is unusual to get in touch with other writers in person and just spend some time talking about the issues that affect us professionally.  I appreciate PWAC giving me this opportunity at the National Conference.

Starting next week, visit the Autobytel website to check out my column’s new home.  A permanent URL for the column is in the works as well, once the digital dust settles from the site launch.

There won’t be a Five Thoughts about the Auto Industry column posted this week, as I am spending the weekend at the Professional Writer’s Association of Canada conference in Montreal.  If anyone out there is attending the conference as well, please feel free to email me and get in touch.  I will be at tonight’s reception, one of tomorrow’s seminars and the dinner on Sunday evening.

Make sure to visit next week as I resume regular posting.

It’s been a quiet week, so this Friday I am presenting you with only three thoughts about the auto industry, instead of my usual five.  Here are the stories that caught my eye over the past seven days.

01 – Next-Generation Mazda Miata to Lose Over 700 lbs

The Mazda Miata has always traded on its lightweight chassis as its strongest selling point, and Mazda appears to be willing to hammer home that point with the next generation Miata.  Reports are emerging that the roadster could lose as much as 30 percent of its current mass to come in at an eyebrow-raising 1,760 lbs.  This would be lighter than even my first-generation NA Miata, which tips the scales at just 2,200 lbs.

If Mazda can pull this off – and if they can maintain a solid power-to-weight ratio – then the future Miata could be a force to be reckoned with.  This is particularly true if the automobile gets a turbocharged engine to go with its diet.

02 – Stirling Moss Retires

Most of us would never consider heading out onto the track as an octogenarian, but then again, most of us were not gifted with the driving skill bestowed upon Stirling Moss.  The four-time F1 champion announced his retirement this week after admitting to himself that his abilities were no longer able to keep pace with the performance potential of the cars he was driving.  Moss cancelled his entry in the Le Mans Legends race, where he was scheduled to compete in same Porsche RS61 that he had previously had an on-track incident in while driving at Laguna Seca.

03 –Chevrolet Volt Now Nationwide

It is now possible to walk into any Chevrolet dealership in the United States and order a 2012 Chevrolet Volt.  Availability is still staggered, with the majority of the country not able to have those orders fulfilled until November, but GM is hoping to cash in on hype surrounding the vehicle and start moving units as quickly as possible.  There is still no word on when Canada will have access to the electric sedan.