Ann McMillan is a retired scientist who loves to write, but often gets asked to edit. Ann lives on 10 acres near Stittsville where she can think about words while she pulls weeds. Ann transitioned from working life by editing Air Quality Management: Canadian Perspectives on a Global Issue, with Eric Taylor in 2014. It dawned on her that although she had been working in science policy for the government for a very long time, what she was really being paid for was the two-minute elevator briefing, and writing. Finding the former stressful, but loving the latter, she has explored her softer side with The New Devil’s Dictionary and Naked in Time. Ann happily takes all the credit for the idea for this current almanac, and is pleased to have exploited this vehicle for story-telling, verse and essay-writing.
Jon Peirce is a writer, actor, writing mentor, teacher, and sometime impro-visational dancer, singer and progressive political activist who plies his many trades—with varying degrees of success—in his cozy half-duplex by the banks of the Gatineau River in Gatineau, Quebec. His favourite writing subjects include education, technology, theatre, the world of work, love and romance, food and drink, popular culture or the lack thereof, the Canadian and American political scenes, and the ever-changing mores of the English language. Twice-divorced, he has two daughters, one son, and one grandson. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Amherst College, a Master’s Degree and a Doctorate in English from Dalhousie University, and a Master’s degree in industrial relations from Queen’s University, in addition to parts of another doctorate in industrial relations and another master’s degree in history. His interests include tennis, cooking, swimming, bird-watching, train travel and going for long walks. He is a board member of Ottawa Independent Writers.
Publisher
Robert Barclay is a jack-of-all-trades, one of which is publishing. He has produced 50 books under the banner of Loose Cannon Press, a few of his own but most for a wide range of clients. Titles include fiction, technical works and biographies. His work encompasses all aspects of creating a book from the raw manuscript, through the various stages of editing, page formatting, cover design and printing. Although no longer publishing actively, Bob took on the Plague Take It project with great enthusiasm, soon finding it to be one of the most complex and widest in scope of any publication he has worked on. Both Jon and Bob are enthusiasts of the English language with all its idiosyncrasies and contradictions, and Bob has delighted in a witty and incisive exchange with Jon throughout the whole project.
