The Writings of Geoff Micks

About Me

 

Welcome!

My name is Geoff Micks. I started this blog in my late-twenties, and then I allowed it to lapse for a number of years as other things came to occupy my time and attention. I started it up again in my mid-thirties, and haven’t done all that much with it since, to be honest with you. Now I’m about to launch a podcast, and so it’s time to slap a new coat of paint on it and see if I end up sticking to it this time.

It is an interesting exercise to revise an ‘About Me’ section. My priorities have changed. I have changed. I think ‘less is more’ is probably the best rule to apply here. One item that I will hold over from previous iterations of ‘what is this blog all about?’ One of my posts went viral to the point where I have been mentioned in passing in the Washington Post, interviewed by the New York Times and NPR, and hired by Vice Media to write and narrate an animated short that aired on HBO. When I think of all the people who had blogs twenty years ago where absolutely nothing happened with them, I take some pride in making that much noise out of something I noodled around with for an afternoon once.

I suppose more than anything else, this site is about promoting my writing. I have written five novels, Inca, Zulu, Beginning, Middle, and End. The last three I call The Tape Recorder Trilogy, and tomorrow (he writes on August 31st, 2025) I go live with The Tape Recorder Trilogy Podcast.

As long as I’m sharing links, I suppose I should say after the fall of Twitter I moved over to Bluesky, and enjoying that a great deal. For slice-of-life-but-general-positivity content, by all means follow me there.

All my very best, and thanks for reading!

–Geoff Micks

(Last Revised: August 31, 2025)

 

 

16 responses to “About Me”

  1. Mike Steede Avatar
    Mike Steede

    Hi Geoff,

    Just came across your site and love what I’ve seen so far. I came across it after looking for the ‘daddy wait for me’ picture to send to a friend in the UK. My dad was an officer, commanding in the 1970’s, with the Royal Westminster Regiment in New Westminster. My great-uncle Burt was a steam tug captain, then a destroyer captain on the North Atlantic (later a coastal pilot out of Victoria). Other cousins that served in WW2 were Tony (senior officer with ‘The Green Howards’, an armoured division from Yorkshire), captured at Dunkirk – 6 years in a camp, Desmond, a battlefield surgeon who went over on D-Day, and George, a Hurricane pilot who died in ’41 while retraining for night fighter duty. When I visited his sister Muriel in Lewes, Sussex, then 94, she told me the only thing they were told was he had ‘flown into a hill in an English county without any hills’. A rather droll way of putting it, oui? Ironically, just came across your site after coming home from my son’s sea cadet annual (RCSCC Fraser – perpetuates a Canadian destroyer lost in WW2). He’s determined to go to the RMC in Kingston – we’ll see if he gets his grades up in the meantime!

    All the best / M

    Reply
    1. faceintheblue Avatar
      faceintheblue

      Hello Mike,

      Thanks for reading! Which destroyer did your Uncle Bert captain? My grandfather was a wireless operator on the HMCS Drumheller, a Flower-class corvette that did convoy runs for most of the war, then was switched over to indepedent duty escorted ships between ports in the lead up to D-Day. He was off the Normandy beaches on June 6, and was deafened in one ear by a salvo from the HMS Norfolk. He didn’t want to be put ashore, so he didn’t tell anyone, and he just worked his radio with one ear for the rest of the war.

      You’ve just come back from your son’s annual? I remember those well. I spent seven years in the air cadets from age 12 to 19. The cadets are a big, big help for an RMC application. If I remember correctly, his years in the cadets will count towards his pension if he makes the Canadian military his career after the five years you have to serve upon graduating from RMC. Here’s hoping his grades are good enough, as you say, but I’d also recommend he takes all the French he can, as that will also be a big help on his application.

      Cheers, and good luck to him!

      –Geoff

      Reply
      1. Mike Steede Avatar
        Mike Steede

        Hi again Geoff,

        Thanks for the pointers re: Kingston. My dad took courses there in the summers as a junior officer while and after doing the ROTC program at UBC, then serving in the signals corps under NATO command while in Germany for several years before I was born in ’62 (yes, I’m becoming an old fart very quickly!).

        Finding out the name of the destroyer, or possibly corvette (I was told destroyer, but who really knows at this point) would be extremely problematic. Uncle Burt and Aunt Isobel never had any children, with Burt passing away about ’65 and Isobel about five years later. They left everything to my father, who passed away suddenly in ’88, only 51 years old. Dad was the historian in the family and I have all the materials he left behind. Burt’s siblings, my grandmother and a brother who was a neurologist in Toronto, also predeceased Aunt Isobel, so at this point there is no one to go to for information other than the RCN archives.

        According to the government requirements, for me to get his service records I have to a) provide documentation as to his death, and b), the problematic part, a single piece of documentation that mentions both his name and mine and there being a relationship. So, basically this would be a massive task even if given allowance to use multiple documents backing up the family tree. It really is a shame when families don’t pass on the greatest detail they can, especially when it’s so important they need to be remembered and their contribution to us and our country is witnessed fully for the generations to come.

        But, we must take what we get and also take a lesson from that as well when we pass on our family stories. The only hard evidence I have of Burt’s existence is his pilotage authority ID from the ’50’s. Too bad… At least with cousin George the RAF provided me with the details of his night fighter training aircraft and its serial number. I sent them a letter back in the ’90’s early in the year, but never received a response. Then, in late November of that year, I received a letter with the details and dated November 11th. I was surprised by that point and very touched.

        Keep up the good work. It’s important for our younger Canadians to pick up the torch and carry on. I’ve bookmarked your page and look forward to reading through the archives!

        Best / Mike S.

      2. jim o'neil Avatar
        jim o’neil

        hi, my dad served on the drumheller beginning in ’43, he spoke of the refit in new york, meeting jack dempsey the famous boxer in his bar, i haven’t met or corresponded with any others that may have known my father but would like to. if you know of any contacts i would like to get in touch with them as well as hear stories you may have
        jim o’neil, nova scotia, son of lewis, lou o’neil

  2. Stacey Avatar
    Stacey

    Hey found your profile on LinkedIn. Was interested in knowing how you like working as a conference producer. I am asking because I saw a posting that the Canadian Institute is looking for a conference producer and I wasn’t sure if I should apply.

    Reply
  3. Once Upon a Time��� Avatar
    Once Upon a Time���

    Just came across your site and love what I’ve seen so far. I came across it after looking for the ‘daddy wait for me’ picture to send to a friend in the UK. My dad was an officer, commanding in the 1970′s, with the Royal Westminster Regiment in New Westminster. My great-uncle Burt was a steam tug captain, then a destroyer captain on the North Atlantic (later a coastal pilot out of Victoria). Other cousins that served in WW2 were Tony (senior officer with ‘The Green Howards’, an armoured division from Yorkshire), captured at Dunkirk – 6 years in a camp, Desmond, a battlefield surgeon who went over on D-Day, and George, a Hurricane pilot who died in ’41 while retraining for night fighter duty. When I visited his sister Muriel in Lewes, Sussex, then 94, she told me the only thing they were told was he had ‘flown into a hill in an English county without any hills’. A rather droll way of putting it, oui? Ironically, just came across your site after coming home from my son’s sea cadet annual (RCSCC Fraser – perpetuates a Canadian destroyer lost in WW2). He’s determined to go to the RMC in Kingston – we’ll see if he gets his grades up in the meantime!
    +1

    Reply
  4. David Barratt Avatar
    David Barratt

    Hey – you did some great reviews of our site. Since then we have added many more – we are up to 114 now. Fancy giving us another listen?

    db

    Reply
    1. faceintheblue Avatar
      faceintheblue

      Oh, I still listen regularly David. Please keep up the good work! I haven’t done a new review lately because it takes all day to do the article. That, and I’ve gotten a little frustrated that you keep changing your site’s address and the article links, so if I do a review, within a couple of months no one can actually hear what I’m referencing anymore.

      Reply
    2. faceintheblue Avatar
      faceintheblue

      New review is up and running, plus the old ones have been relinked to your new URLs. Cheers for the kick in the pants. keep up the good work!

      Reply
  5. Mary Tod Avatar
    Mary Tod

    Saw your review of Bernard Cornwell … I’m researching top historical fiction authors, what makes their fiction so compelling. I’ve only read his Sword Song – you seem to know a lot about him (and you’re a fellow Torontonian). What do you think makes his stories a great read.

    Reply
    1. faceintheblue Avatar
      faceintheblue

      Sword Song is an interesting one to start (being the middle of a series and all). I’d recommend the Warlord Trilogy, which is his imaging of the Arthur story before the myths set in. He bases as much of the story as possible on the history, but he makes it a human story through characters you care about leading lives of adventure that force you to turn the page. I can’t think of the last Cornwell book I didn’t read in under two days. They aren’t savoured so much as devoured.

      Reply
  6. Mick Theebs Avatar
    Mick Theebs

    I stumbled upon this blog from reddit and I really enjoyed reading your Presidential Knife Fight entry. I looked at your books and I just wanted to say that what you’re doing is really cool and I hope everything works out for you.

    Reply
  7. Clash DailyA Presidential Battle Royal

    […] Geoff Micks’s blog can be found here if you want to see his predictions: http://faceintheblue.wordpress.com/about/ […]

    Reply
  8. A Ranking of American Presidents based on Knife-Fighting Abilities | Cousin Dampier's Blog

    […] because I am delightfully amused at this idea.  And before we begin, thanks to Reddit as well as faceintheblue for doing the groundwork.   As a caveat, I had the same final three as faceintheblue before […]

    Reply
  9. Ukulele Ray Avatar
    Ukulele Ray

    Hey, Geoff! Thanks for your review on my cover of “I Need You,” and enjoyed reading your other reviews. You might also want to check out my George Harrison ukulele tribute album, “If Not For Uke.” Lovingly arranged, I believe, the way George would’ve done them. Peace & Love!

    Reply
  10. Nancy Green Avatar
    Nancy Green

    Hi Geoff thanks for this article. My Dad was Bob Green and my uncle was Chub Downey. This really brought back fond memories of my Dad’s stories about the milk route and especially of his horse Queenie. My Dad died in 1982 and Chub died 2 years ago. Thanks for keeping this memory alive. I’m going to print it and read it to my Mom. Bless you. Take care. Nancy Green

    Reply

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