A great aspect of being a travel writer is constantly getting the opportunity to meet likeminded adventurers and swap stories of the road.
Local author, traveller and motorcycle enthusiast Jeremy Kroeker has taken a handful of adventure stories from likeminded travellers to create an anthology called Motorcycle Messengers: Tales from the Road by Writers who Ride.
Presently, Kroeker has 25 per cent of the funding needed to publish the anthology and has an Indiegogo site currently set up, with the campaign running to June 29.
“I got the idea because I was going to all of these motorcycle travel rallies like Horizons Unlimited, and I went to Overland Expo in the United States recently and I was promoting my book. Along the way I was meeting a lot of really cool people who also had great stories.” Kroeker said.
“I met other people promoting their books and I realized there are a lot of cool stories out there and I hadn’t heard of a motorcycle travel anthology, so I decided to put one together.”
Kroeker is the author of two other motorcycle-inspired travel books: Motorcycle Therapy and Through Dust and Darkness, which have taken him on the travel writing circuit for promotion over the last few years.
“In California, when I was at a Horizons Unlimited meeting I was talking to a British motorcycle travel writer named Sam Manicom, who is in the book, and we got to chatting about how it’s nice to support each other – technically, we have competing products, but we don’t look at it that way, we’re more of a family,” Kroeker said.
Rather than fighting and hoarding great motorcycle travel stories, Kroeker just wanted to help raise awareness of other great travel writers.
“Maybe someone who really likes Sam’s work is going to buy the book because of Sam’s story and along the way they’re going to discover Mark Richardson, or somebody buys it because they’re a fan of Rush; Neil Peart of Rush also has a story in there,” Kroeker said.
“Sam is a really big name in the U.K., but in Canada and the U.S. nobody has heard of this guy so that’s what I’m trying to change with Motorcycle Messengers. Hopefully, people along the way in the United Kingdom will discover my books and some other Canadian writers too.”
The anthology stories cover a lot of ground, with writers Jordan Hasselmann discussing being robbed at gunpoint in Guatemala, and Sam Manicom being forced out of Sudan by the military, but Kroeker insists the common thread for the writers is that travel and adventure is still worth it.
“The risk is generally quite low, especially when compared to the reward, and that’s also a theme in the book – don’t let your fears stand in the way of your ambitions,” Kroeker said. “At the heart of every adventure typically something goes wrong and it’s only an adventure in hindsight. Sometimes the experiences can be quite uncomfortable, but then when you look back on it with a little perspective, you see that it was an adventure and a cool experience.
“There’s one story in there that’s the anchor for the book by a young woman out of California named Natalie Ellis Barros, and her story is about her first solo trip 100 miles away from where she lives. Her adventure is not huge, she’s definitely an unknown rider, but her enthusiasm just exudes through the story and I had to include it, so there are definite big names in there and some people you’ve never heard of.”
If you preorder a copy of Motorcycle Messengers you will receive a copy of your book months ahead of the official release slated for the spring of 2016, and Kroeker is also giving away copies of his previous book Motorcycle Therapy.
As well, 10 spots in the back of Motorcycle Messengers have been slated for businesses that wish to donate to the cause. Visit hwww.igg.me/at/MotorcycleMessengers to donate to the campaign.
