Fate's Instruments ― No Safeguards - Paul's Story

Paul, an aspiring writer in his mid-twenties, marries Carlos, a boyfriend he lived with in Guatemala; brings him to Montreal, and looks forward to a life of bliss. Things go wrong from the beginning. The trouble Carlos causes leaves Paul little time for much else, and they break up. Bill, whom Paul sees as the father he always wanted, helps him overcome his guilt about his sexuality. At the peak of Paul's troubles Bill dies. Then fate, in the form of a brain tumour, strikes Paul. He receives support from his brother Jay, Lionel (himself a brain tumor survivor), friends, and enigmatic Professor Bram. But it is Paul's exploration of his Vincentian childhood and new-found love that restores his equilibrium.

H(ubert) Nigel Thomas is the author of ten books and dozens of essays. His novels Spirits in the Dark and No Safeguards were shortlisted for the Quebec Writers Federation Hugh MacLennan Fiction Prize. In 2013 he was awarded Universite Laval's Hommage aux createurs. His books Behind the Face of Winter and Lives: Whole and Otherwise have been translated into French. Nigel lives in Montreal.