Full Name: Michael John Tanner

Birthdate: April 4, 1960

Birthplace: Bombay, India

Memories of Birthplace: None. Satisfying a mystical longing for fir and spruce forests, mountains, an ocean vista, and a damp coastal climate, Mike Tanner moved to beautiful Burnaby, British Columbia, when he was six months old. Regrettably, Burnaby offered only the damp climate; in place of forests, etc., there were cul-de-sacs, strip malls, and the largest indoor multi-rink facility in North America.

Family: Robyn (wife), Flynn (son), McLean (dog), Don (father—Australia), Judy, Barry, Ron, Janet, Sadie, Anna (in-laws/neices—Vancouver). Plus the Wilson family (aunt/uncle/cousins—White Rock, B.C.), and other cousins, etc. too numerous and distant to mention.

Home: “Caverna Canis,” Toronto

Favourite Place: A toss-up. Option #1—Paris, France. Option #2—North Tea Lake, Algonquin Park.

Least Favourite Place: Any retail or restaurant establishment with the word “World” in its name (e.g., “Mattress World,” “Donut World,” etc.)

Things Acquired While a Young’un/Adolescent: Rocks, stamps, Canadian dimes, European coins of all nationalities and denominations, Archie comics, seashells, Hot Wheels cars & equipment, tropical fish and aquarium paraphernalia, hockey cards (especially during the NHL post-expansion era of 1968-1973), and later, black-light posters, especially those featuring Bruce Lee. Later still, Bachman-Turner Overdrive tour merchandise. And even later (and more surreptitiously), men’s skin rags (but never Hustler).

Things Not Acquired While a Young’un/Adolescent: Girlfriends

Favourite Writers: Joseph Campbell, Ted Hughes, Aldous Huxley, Mordecai Richler, Philip Roth, William Shakespeare, David Foster Wallace, Oscar Wilde.

Favourite Musicians: L. van Beethoven, Bob Dylan

Past Occupations: Musician & Songwriter (3 albums of original music independently released in Canada); Labourer (in a variety of jobs, most involving large machines and large buildings); Waiter.

Current Occupations: Teacher of English as a Second Language; Corporate Language Trainer; Bar Musician; Novelist.

Best Job Ever: Being paid to discuss ethics and aesthetics with expressive, opinionated young adults from around the world.

Worst Job Ever: A toss-up. #1—grinding down toxic, freshly-applied fiberglass in the three-foot-deep hold of a fishing boat, using a 40-lb. grinder in sweltering July heat. #2—training insurance company staff on how to write more effective e-mails.

Favourite sport: Hockey. What else?

Living Person Most Likely To Inspire Awe & Reverence Upon Meeting: Bobby Orr.

Organizations Belonged To: The Toronto Well Basically Association; The Schopenhauer Brothers Band; The Munro Brothers Band

Number Of Visits To Niagara Falls: 0

Drinking Establishment Most Often Frequented: Allen’s on the Danforth.

Favourite Drink: La Fin du Monde (hi-test 9%-alcohol beer brewed by Unibroue in Chambly, Quebec).

Favourite Quote: “I drink in order to make others more interesting.” (Oscar Wilde)

Currently Working On: A third novel (the second novel having been abandoned at approximately the 75-page mark). This third work involves a leftie journalist, infidelity, strife between parent and grown child, a strip club, and the suicide guard on Toronto’s Bloor Viaduct. Also working on forming a loose conceptual group of musicians, writers, drinkers, acrobats, and ship-jumpers called “The Circumstantialists,” who will get together whenever to do whatever circumstances require.