Brendan McLeodPublications
Visit: http://www.3daynovel.com/2009/02/01/the-convictions-of-leonard-mckinley-by-brendan-mcleod
Brendan has written a novel, a play, and a full-length monologue. The novel is called The Convictions of Leonard McKinley. The play is called The Big Oops. The monologue is called The Fruit Machine. Read below for more details.
About the Book
**Nominated for the 2008 Re:Lit Award for Fiction***
Young Leonard thinks his own moral failures caused his father’s heart attack and triggered an epileptic fit in his dog. As he launches himself through increasingly dangerous ethical trials, his thoughts grow darker and the stakes get higher in his constant struggle to be good.
The winner of the 29th Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest is a coming-of-age gone awry; a funny, suspenseful and touching story of a young prairie boy who can’t reconcile his faith, his offbeat family, and his own teenage impulses. In Leonard McKinley, McLeod has drawn a complicated character—open, charming and heartbreakingly conflicted.
Reviews
“McLeod’s plot works away with quiet efficiency. Leonard comes apart as the book comes together….a very personal addendum to the scariest of biblical prophecies.”—The Globe and Mail
“The newest 3-Day winner is an emotionally powerful book and an intense read… McLeod’s knack for realistic dialogue and for shaping young male characters you might have met at summer camp 20 years ago bring this coming-of-age tale to life.” —Now Magazine
“McLeod…has built a solid reputation as one of the country’s best spoken word performers. It turns out his command of language is just as strong on paper, however, as Leonard McKinley is an equally funny, disturbing and poignant tale of a young man struggling to reconcile his strong Christian faith with his increasingly dark impulses.” —Monday Magazine
The Big Oops
About the Play
An original one woman/ one act play centred on upcoming children’s entertainer Sammi Sam, who lives to please and inspire everyone around her: the children she entertains, her long-term boyfriend Ben, and his affluent parents. When she accidentally becomes pregnant, she and Ben must choose whether or not to have a child during a financially and socially unstable time of their lives. The decision forces them to re-evaluate their life goals and their relationship to both their families and each other. Part naive children’s show, part interpersonal drama, The Big Oops takes on contemporary social mores with abnormal humour and pathos.
Reviews
“Cara Yeates is bubbly perfection in Brendan McLeod’s play, which was directed by TJ Dawe. Watching Yeates take her character through the evolution is both funny and touching, especially when her accompanying cheery soundtrack gets in the way of a tough decision.” – CBC (4 Stars)
“…unabashed fun and full of life, but it’s also a pregnant pause that delivers a surprising amount of poignancy” – Winnipeg Free Press (4 Stars)
The Fruit Machine
See video excerpts: www.youtube.com/brendanmcleodpoems
About the Show
In the 1950’s, the RCMP set out to fire every homosexual in Canada ’s civil service. In the process, they built a machine aimed at scientifically detecting homosexuality, which became known as ‘The Fruit Machine’. In his monologue of the same name, Brendan McLeod explores the absurd activities our nation has undertaken under the guise of protecting its families. Drawing on subjects as disparate as Facebook, the BC court system, adultery, Iron Maiden, and the invention of birth control, Brendan weaves parallels between one hundred years of Canadian history and his own neurotic existence. In firm disagreement with the words of William Lyon Mackenzie King, “Canadians in all their habits, are essentially a temperate people,” he explores the more extreme aspects of our nation – and himself – in a comedy about death, disease, and anxiety, which is ultimately a meditation on the natures of responsibility and fear.
