Don Bassingthwaite is a Canadian author from Toronto .
30-728: Bassingthwaite was born in Meaford, Ontario . He played Dungeons & Dragons in high school, attending the Georgian Bay District Secondary School where his project on the root of squares won the senior secondary division, and for his application of computers he won the District 23 of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation book awards. He was one of four Georgian Bay Secondary School Grade 13 students who earned
60-680: A change of 4.5% from its 2016 population of 10,991 . With a land area of 587.57 km (226.86 sq mi), it had a population density of 19.5/km (50.6/sq mi) in 2021. The former mayors of Meaford were: Meaford is on the eastern edge of the Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound federal and provincial electoral district. The town of Meaford is located on Ontario Highway 26 between Owen Sound and Collingwood on Highway 26. A local public transit service makes stops within urban Meaford but not in Sydenham or St Vincent. Local taxis service
90-617: A library by 1856. Meaford had previously been named Peggy's Landing and Stephenson's Landing. The post office was renamed Meaford in 1865, after the birthplace of John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent , for whom the township of St. Vincent is named; by then, the community was booming and had connection by steamship and roads with the railway at Collingwood. The community became a town in 1874. The Northern Railway of Canada 's North Grey Railway arrived in Meaford on December 31, 1872 in its westward push from Collingwood via Thornbury . It
120-511: A novel set in White Wolf's World of Darkness universe. He followed this immediately with another World of Darkness novel, Pomegranates Full and Fine , and Breathe Deeply . He wrote the novel As One Dead with Nancy Kilpatrick, to which reviewer Neil Barton commented that it and other vampire novels he reviewed "were competently told, but all spotlighted a shortcoming of this type of tale:
150-500: A place of apple orchards , but in the 21st century the area has partly switched to weekend homes, seasonal homes, and lakeside tourism . The Canadian Army maintains a training facility, the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre Meaford (4 CDTC), 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northwest of the town of Meaford. In addition to the town of Meaford itself, the municipality also includes the communities of Annan, Balaclava , Bognor, Centreville, Leith , and Woodford. In 1837, when this area
180-434: A short story to the dark science fiction and music anthology Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero . In 2016, he published a collection of comedy horror short stories, Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight , featuring the gay protagonist Derby Cavendish. Reviewer Heather Grove enjoyed the book, calling it "marvellous [...] The characters are fantastic, with plenty of hilarity and depth to them. The world of otherworldly creatures
210-519: A story called "Book of the Dead" to White Wolf Publishing , set in their world of Vampire: The Masquerade . White Wolf used this story in a supplemental book for the Vampire game. Bassingthwaite also sold another short story to White Wolf that was published in an anthology. In 1995, during his second year of graduate studies, he was offered a fiction contract by White Wolf that led to Such Pain ,
240-623: Is available in the Town of Meaford while residents in the former St. Vincent and Sydenham have access only to Satellite TV. On April 15, 2016 the Canadian Heraldic Authority granted Meaford its coat of arms , flag and badge . Per fess Argent and Azure an escutcheon of the Arms. An apple Gules charged with a schooner Argent. The Grieving Tree The Grieving Tree is a fantasy novel by Don Bassingthwaite , set in
270-582: Is built well, with a glamour that helps to keep the ordinary people from remembering the strange things that go on around them." Meaford, Ontario Meaford is a municipality in Grey County, Ontario , Canada located on Nottawasaga Bay , a sub-basin of Georgian Bay and Owen Sound Bay, in the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation in southern Ontario. The municipality's seal and motto reflect its heritage as
300-484: The Earl of St. Vincent and Meaford was named after his stately house. A township is an area of land (about 15 miles by 12 miles) that is usually divided into 100 acre farms. For more than one hundred years the townships of Ontario were municipal entities with an elected council and a reeve. Sometimes a small area of a township was separated and incorporated as a town. The town was then a separate and distinct municipality. This
330-583: The Meaford Express and the Meaford Independent , the latter originally an online only publication, however as of May 31, 2013 and the former being sold and eventually ceasing publication, is available both online and in print. CKNX-FM , originating from Wingham, Ontario to the south, has a low-power retransmitter on 104.9 FM to serve the municipality. Meaford is otherwise served principally by media from nearby Owen Sound . Rogers cable
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#1732790921026360-511: The CN Meaford Subdivision. Regular passenger service ended in 1960 and the line was abandoned in 1985. In 1872, there were six churches. By the early 1880s, Meaford boasted three planing mills, three carriage factories, two tanneries, a sawmill, a shingle mill, a woollen mill, two foundries, two flour mills, a dozen general stores, and a wide range of other stores and tradesmen. The community also had ten hotels. A public school
390-553: The Chained God (2012) For a number of years, Bassingthwaite was also a contributing editor for Black Gate , writing a games and books review column. Theodore Beale called it "one of the longest and best game review columns I’ve ever read, (13 pages!), concentrating primarily on RPG books." Bassingthwaite also contributed a number of short stories. In Issue 5 (Spring 2003), Bassingthwaite wrote his first sword & sorcery short story, "Barbarian Instinct". Alan Lattimore, on
420-454: The Coast (WotC) for their science fiction role-playing game Alternity . He pitched an idea for a novel set in their Star*Drive space opera setting, but WotC was not interested. He then pitched a story idea for their Dark•Matter setting; this was accepted in 2000, and became If Whispers Call , the second of four Dark•Matter novels written by various authors. Bassingthwaite also wrote
450-749: The Wilfrid Laurier University scholarship by winning the Reach for the Top district finals, and was the co-recipient of the three grade 13 English awards for the Meaford Graduation diplomas at Georgian Bay Secondary School. Bassingthwaite continued playing Dungeons & Dragons while earning a B.A. in anthropology at the University of Toronto . He was a student in the master of museum studies program, also working part-time in
480-593: The absence of any significant human presence from these stories robs the vampire characters of their power to horrify." Bassingthwaite is one of a number of Canadians who have written fiction for Wizards of the Coast set in the Dungeons & Dragons worlds. After Bassingthwaite graduated with Master of Museum Studies, he wrote another novel for the World of Darkness setting, Breathe Deeply (1999), but he then started to look at new worlds being developed by Wizards of
510-629: The area around the town of Meaford. Major-General Richard Rohmer Meaford International Airport is located in the municipality on Highway 26 between the Town of Meaford and Owen Sound. Meaford has one public school with the Bluewater District School Board : The closest post-secondary school is the Georgian College regional campus in Owen Sound, Ontario . The town is served by two community newspapers,
540-658: The characters from The Dragon Below ; this became The Legacy of the Dhakaan series: The Doom of Kings (2008), The Word of Traitors (2009), and The Tyranny of Ghosts (2010). When WotC published the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons , the default setting for adventures was the Nentir Vale . Bassingthwaite created The Abyssal Plague trilogy set in the Nentir Vale: The Temple of Yellow Skulls (2011), Oath of Vigilance (2011), and The Eye of
570-484: The fifth novel of the series, By Dust Consumed , but submitted it for publication in 2001 just as WotC cancelled the Alternity line of products; it was never published, but was made available as a PDF for a limited time. With the end of the Alternity line, Bassingthwaite switched over to WotC's popular Forgotten Realms setting, and wrote the last book of The Rogues series, The Yellow Silk (2004), as well as
600-400: The name "Meaford" is commonly used in reference to the urban area formerly known as the Town of Meaford, while the name "Municipality of Meaford" is commonly used in reference to the merged region resulting from amalgamation in 2001. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Meaford had a population of 11,485 living in 5,035 of its 5,828 total private dwellings,
630-404: The new municipality named Georgian Highlands voted 4-3 on 5 February 2001 to name the amalgamated municipality Meaford, citing confusion with the neighbouring municipalities of Georgian Bluffs and Grey Highlands . A by-law to formalize the name change was subsequently passed on 5 March 2001, also by a 4-3 vote. Since that time confusion has continued in the use of the name "Meaford". At present
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#1732790921026660-506: The review site Tangent Online , wrote "Cacia is a loved and indulged daughter of a well respected city merchant. Pawel is the Barbarian fighter hired to guard her and guide her from the city to safety. [...] Cacia and Pawel are both engaging characters, their situation is credible, their interaction set off sparks and their ultimate acceptance of the value of the other feels solid. A nice tale well told." In 2012, Bassinghtwaite contributed
690-672: The second book of the Realms of the Dragons series, Beer with a Fat Dragon (2004). In 2002, WotC had staged a contest to create a new setting for Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 ; the winner was Keith Baker 's Eberron . When the Eberron setting was published in 2004, Bassingthwaite pitched an idea for a series of Eberron novels. The result was The Dragon Below series: The Binding Stone (2005), The Grieving Tree (2006), and The Killing Song (2006). Reviewer Pat Ferrara recommended
720-497: The series, saying, "Don Bassingthwaite created an easily accessible series with plenty of action and great personalities. If you’re looking for a fun and engrossing trilogy to sink your teeth into look no further than this trilogy." After finishing The Dragon Below series, Bassingthqaite decided to become a full-time writer, and his next assignment was a new series concerning events in Eberron's goblin nation of Darguun using some of
750-499: The university bookstore, and remained involved in the school while starting his professional career, and in 1995 he began a two-year assignment running the UT Press's (UTP) Custom Publishing Service which he considered his fondest achievement. Bassingthwaite started writing fiction in his spare time, and submitted a story to Dragon magazine that was rejected. In 1993 at age 22, during his first year of graduate studies, he submitted
780-615: The world of Eberron , and based on the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. It is the second novel in "The Dragon Below" series. It was published in paperback in March 2006. The group from the previous novel, The Binding Stone , is joined by former Bonetree hunter Ashi and hobgoblin dirge singer Ekhaas. Pat Ferrara of mania.com comments: "Although constrained somewhat in geographic scope, The Grieving Tree' s plot keeps up its fast pace as major narrative points are brought to light and polished. [...] What I liked most about this novel
810-478: Was added in 1868 with 152 students within a year. A high school was opened in 1890. In 2001, with the amalgamation of various municipalities in Southern Ontario, St. Vincent Township, Sydenham Township and the Town of Meaford, were amalgamated to form one municipal entity. Sydenham Township was named in part for Lord Sydenham , governor of Canada from 1839 to 1841. St. Vincent Township was named after
840-527: Was originally planned to extend further west to Owen Sound, but this ambition was never realized due to a number of factors, including rough terrain, financial limitations, and competition from the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway , which reached Owen Sound in 1873. The railway was later part of the Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian National Railways (CNR) systems. Thereafter, it became known as
870-531: Was part of the St. Vincent Township, locals asked the government for a piece of land at the mouth of the Bighead River . The first settler was from Ireland, before the townsite was laid out by Charles Rankin in 1845 and called Meaford. By then, a sawmill and gristmill were already operating nearby; the post office there was called St. Vincent. Meaford saw little growth until 1850 but then began booming; it had
900-564: Was the case with Meaford in 1874 when it was separated from St. Vincent Township. However it ceased to be a town at the time of amalgamation. A transition team preparing for the new municipality voted in September 2000 to name it Georgian Highlands , with the name Meaford ranking second. Highland Hills, Georgian Shores, Bayview, Trillium, Big Head Valley, Georgian View, Cape Rich, Bay Shore Highlands, Georgian Bay Highlands, North Grey and Queen's Bush were other names considered. The council of
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