Back Cover Texts
I May Be Big But I Didn't Cause That Solar Eclipse is award-winning Canadian humorist Gordon Kirkland's fifth book.
In this book, Kirkland once again takes on subjects ranging from marriage to dealing with a canine companion. He looks at the odd events of daily life, and even finds humor in the experiences of moving and having a serious illness.
An April 2006 profile of Kirkland in the Canadian edition of Reader's Digest said, "Kirkland's specialty is making others laugh at him, at themselves, and at life in general."
Gordon Kirkland is recognized as one of North America's premier humor writers, having won Canada's Stephen Leacock Award of Merit For Humour for three of his previous books: Justice Is Blind - And Her Dog Just Peed In My Cornflakes , Never Stand Behind A Loaded Horse and When My Mind Wanders It Brings Back Souvenirs . At this writing, we are waiting to hear the results of several award nominations for his fourth book, 2006's I Think I'm Having One Of Those Decades.
Kirkland entertains audiences in live appearances and on radio and television throughout North America . He is proud to be the first Canadian writer chosen for the faculty of the prestigious Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop at the University of Dayton in Ohio .
"Canada has given the United States many wonderful gifts: Beer. Hockey. That famous entertainer, whatshisname. Beer. The list goes on and on. And to this list we must add the name of Gordon Kirkland , a very funny writer who is able to find humor in just about anything, because the only alternative would be for him to get a real job. As a fellow class clown suffering from maturity impairment, I salute him."
Dave Barry
Pulitzer Prize Winning Columnist and Author"Not only is Gordon accomplished in his field, but he is funny! I don't know if you have ever tried being funny on paper, but it is one of life's miracles. Gordon should probably be sainted. But don't take my word for it; just read him."
Ridley Pearson
Author of 23 best selling novels,
TV films and children's booksGordon Kirkland is recognized as one of North America's premier humor writers, having won Canada's Stephen Leacock Award of Merit For Humour for each of his three previous books Justice Is Blind - And Her Dog Just Peed In My Cornflakes, Never Stand Behind A Loaded Horse and When My Mind Wanders It Brings Back Souvenirs .
I Think I'm Having One Of Those Decades is another romp through the humor Kirkland finds in daily life. As he says, his writing makes wives feel better about their husbands because they aren't like him, and husbands feel better about themselves because they are pretty sure they aren't like him. Lynn Johnston, the creator of the comic strip For Better Or For Worse notes that she loves to read Kirkland 's stuff, she just wouldn't want to be married to him.
Kirkland entertains audiences in live appearances and on radio and television throughout North America . He is proud to be the first Canadian writer chosen for the faculty of the prestigious Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop at the University of Dayton in Ohio .
" Canada has given the United States many wonderful gifts: Beer. Hockey. That famous entertainer, whatshisname. Beer. The list goes on and on. And to this list we must add the name of Gordon Kirkland , a very funny writer who is able to find humor in just about anything, because the only alternative would be for him to get a real job. As a fellow class clown suffering from maturity impairment, I salute him."
Dave Barry
Pulitzer Prize Winning Columnist and Author"Not only is Gordon accomplished in his field, but he is funny! I don't know if you have ever tried being funny on paper, but it is one of life's miracles. Gordon should probably be sainted. But don't take my word for it; just read him."
Ridley Pearson
Author of 23 best selling novels,
TV films and children's books
Gordon Kirkland has been called one of Canada's premier humorists. His weekly syndicated humor column, Gordon Kirkland At Large, has been entertaining newspaper readers for over ten years. His first book, Justice Is Blind - And Her Dog Just Peed In My Cornflakes , won Canada's Stephen Leacock Award of Merit for Humour in 2000. He is also the author of 2004's Never Stand Behind A Loaded Horse . He is a frequent guest on radio and television programs in Canada and the United States.
He was the first Canadian writer chosen to be on the faculty of the prestigious Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop. He dedicates a portion of each year's tour to speaking at writer's conferences and festivals as his form of 'pay it forward.' Many people helped him when he was getting started in his writing career, and his involvement in these events lets him pass the help on to others.
Gordon also speaks to a wide variety of health and medical organizations about the use of humor in dealing with chronic pain and major lifestyle changes. In 1990, he became partially paralyzed in an automobile accident. He says that his focus on the humor that surrounds us all in daily life has truly been the best medicine.
He lives in a semi-rural suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his wife, Diane and his assistance dog, Tara. They have two grown sons.
"Gordon Kirkland deserves a readership as large as he is! Goofy, demented, and uniquely Kirkland."
Bruce Cameron
Author
8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter
and
How to Remodel A Man
"Gordon Kirkland's wit and insight into everyday life are fabulous! His mind may wander but yours won't as you read this book. You'll be riveted to every page."
Tim Bete
Author
In The Beginning There Were No Diapers
and
Director,
Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop
“Spoof is stronger than fiction” says For Better of For Worse humorist Lynn Johnston, and in Never Stand Behind A Loaded Horse, Leacock merit medallist Gordon Kirkland drives the point home with funny-bone accuracy.
Kirkland's syndicated newspaper column is no stranger to Canadian and US audiences, and in this premium collection, Kirkland fans will find it all.
Drawing humour out of everyday situations such as trying to stay awake while on an all-night drive through the mountains, or the skewed memory of a long-lost office affair, Kirkland keeps the lines rolling and the laughs churning.
“ . . . If life is a load then laugh at it. This is Gordon Kirkland's take on the stress of survival. His writing is an affirmation that we're all in the same boat — it just leaks in different places Nothing is safe from his crack-the-wit columns, which is why I love to read his stuff . . . I just wouldn't want to be married to him!”
Lynn Johnston
(For Better Or For Worse )
Nothing is sacred in the hands of humorist Gordon Kirkland. From video arcades to vasectomies, wheel chairs to weight control and mega-stores to marriage, Kirkland exposes the foibles of daily living with hilarity and honesty.
In 1990, Kirkland sustained a severe spinal injury in a golfing accident--his car was rear-ended while he was on his way to a golf course ("It really screwed up my handicap"). In the years following his accident, laughter helped him cope with the stress and pain of his slow and difficult recovery, and the knowledge that he would not be able to walk again without the assistance of forearm crutches.
Here's Kirkland's unique sense of humor and outlook on life in the '90s. Meet "commutus obnoxiousi," more commonly known as Other Drivers ("The male of the species is sometimes called the Wet-lapped Swerver, because he tries to simultaneously steer, hold a coffee, answer the cellular phone and insert a stress reduction cassette tape into the stereo"). Or one of Kirkland's sons, "a teenage-grocery-sucking-appetite-on-legs" who is being taught to drive by his mother ("Diane gave me a very important duty to take care of while she and Mike are out driving. I'm in charge of hosing down the driveway every day. She wants the ground she'll be kissing to be clean when she gets home"). And Kirkland himself, enthusiastic and downright irrepressible, who, having been told that it takes fewer muscles to laugh than to cry, and being committed to energy conservation, chose to give his readers the chance to laugh with him, at him, and hopefully, at themselves.
Gordon Kirkland, born in Toronto in 1953, held management and executive positions both in private industry and the Canadian federal government before becoming a humor columnist and freelance writer over five years ago. His syndicated weekly column, "At Large," is a regular feature in a growing number of Canadian and American newspapers. Kirkland is a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association and the BC Paraplegic Association. He lives in Pitt Meadows, BC with his wife Diane, two teenage sons, two cats and the dumbest dog to ever get lost on a single flight of stairs.
Gordon Kirkland received Canada's Stephen Leacock Award of Merit for Humour for Justice Is Blind - And Her Dog Just Peed In My Cornflakes in 2000, for Never Stand Behind A Loaded Horse in 2005, and for When My Mind Wanders It Brings Back Souvenirs in 2006. This site makes extensive use of pdf files, which require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this software, click here to download it. ©1994-2008 Gordon Kirkland. No part of this webpage may be copied without the written permission of the copyright holder .
The Gordon Kirkland At Large caricature logo provided by Milt Priggee one of North America's top editorial cartoonists. For more information about Priggee and samples of his daily work and other caricatures see http://www.miltpriggee.com .
