About Me / Downloads for Press
A brief biography
Bruce Bishop, originally from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, has been writing professionally since the mid-1990s, primarily for travel, tourism and leisure freelance markets. He has written and contributed to several guidebook companies over the years, especially Fodor’s, Michelin,
and DK Eyewitness Guides.
From 2000 to 2002, he was the elected president of the
Travel Media Association of Canada.
In 2020 at the outset of the pandemic, he began writing fiction for the first time, and his debut novel Unconventional Daughters (Icarus Press) was published the same year.
Based on its popular appeal, he chose to embark upon writing a trilogy, and the second novel, Uncommon Sons, was released in 2021. The final novel in the trilogy, Undeniable Relations
was published in 2022.
The coming-of-age Grow up, Rory Rafferty, set in 1979 Toronto, was published in 2024. Its follow-up, Stephanie Makes a Scene, was released in May 2026.
All his books are published in affiliation with
Icarus Press Publishing in Fredericton, N.B.
He was one of five authors selected to read at the Read by the Sea annual literary festival in July 2023
and he read an excerpt from Undeniable Relations.
Bishop is a member of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia
and the Writers' Union of Canada.
PUBLICATIONS
Dreamscapes, Travelweek, Saltscapes, Toronto Star, DINE,
Saltwire Publications, Porthole Cruise Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Sun, Calgary Herald, Sky (Delta Airlines), The Rotarian,
The European Reporter (also as editor), Travel to Wellness,
The Medical Post, Expedia.com and Expedia.ca,
and many others
Book publishers: Fodor’s, Marco Polo Guides,
Michelin Green Guides, DK Eyewitness Guides
AWARDS
Cayman Islands Award for Excellence in Caribbean Travel Writing
Why I write fiction
Like many authors, I began writing stories from a young age. I was lucky to pursue a career in travel writing from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s, both online and in print. Those assignments literally and figuratively opened the world to me, but it wasn't until the Covid19 pandemic that I began to take fiction writing seriously.
Oddly enough, having to stay at home for a prolonged period
sparked some creative juices to flow. I devoured online instruction about the business of self-publishing.
Now that I have four novels and one novella published,
I can't see a return to non-fiction writing.
(But never say never, eh?)
My "author brand"
If you had asked me what an author brand is before I self-published Unconventional Daughters in 2020,
I probably would not have known the answer.
While 'Daughters' and the interlinked two follow-up novels, Uncommon Sons and Undeniable Relations, are technically historical fiction,
I'd rather not be pigeon-holed as only that kind of author.
My newest work, Stephanie Makes a Scene is set in the present day
in a fictitious town in Nova Scotia.
Grow up, Rory Rafferty is set in Toronto in 1979,
rendering it contemporary adult fiction.
...and what that brand truly is
I want to give a voice to characters who are often left out in mainstream storytelling. Some may be loosely based on people I've met or known in my sixty-plus years on earth;
others are entirely figments of my imagination.
I'm comfortable in researching the backgrounds of characters who might not be White, male, or gay - characters unlike me who I feel should be given a role in historic or contemporary fiction.
I always use sensitivity readers from that minority group
to ensure I'm telling the truth.
The service industry jobs I had as a young man - from being a short-order cook to waiting on tables - were of great value. They were opportunities to be a silent witness and observer.
For example, I've seen or experienced bullies, rich and poor,
from all corners of the earth.
I don't want those characters to have the last word.
The writer doesn't forget these experiences and people;
they inhabit his or her fiction.
My first novella: Stephanie Makes a Scene
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - April 14, 2026
Author Bruce W. Bishop in affiliation with Icarus Press Publishing in Fredericton, N.B. is releasing the follow-up novella, Stephanie Makes a Scene, to Bishop’s 2024 success, Grow Up, Rory Rafferty on April 15 (Kindle) and wide on May 6, 2026.
The novella reflects today’s surge in older independent protagonists who take on established systems set in atmospheric locales; in this case, coastal Nova Scotia, Canada.
When a corrupt administrator tries to steal her play, a resilient 67-year old playwright must rally a quirky Nova Scotian community to stage her masterpiece in a deconsecrated church, as she fights to save her artistic legacy and finds unexpected love along the way.
“After introducing the feisty Stephanie Whittaker in my last novel which closes in 1980, I wanted to return her to the present day as a playwright in her mid-sixties, still striving to make a mark on the ever-evolving and highly fickle entertainment world,” Bishop says. “Simply put, Stephanie insisted I continue telling her story!”
ORDER THE PAPERBACK DIRECTLY FROM ME! Click HERE.
April 15/26: eBook available on Amazon and Kobo
May 6/26: paperback available on Amazon
ISBN eBook: 978-1-0688628-2-3 ~ CAD$7.99
ISBN paperback: 978-1-0688628-1-6 ~ CAD$17.99