Zen Slaps from a Cancer Warrior is the irreverent memoir of a passionate photographer/writer fighting cancer on his own terms, while living a love story.
James Hockings is a witty and sometimes profound companion for anyone facing a life-threatening disease. He has written a soulful answer to Hitchens' Mortality.
For Jim Hockings at 64, life was very good indeed. The respected photographer had launched a writing career with the 1960's novel The Redemption of Danny Harper, with more books to follow. In excellent health, the amateur distance runner had overcome prostate cancer ten years earlier, largely through his own research. Best of all, he had met the love of his life and looked forward to a wonderful future with her by his side.
Then cancer attacked again, on a new front.
Here is his spirited counter attack in real time: provocative essays, selected personal correspondence and cancer forum postings, arranged in chronological order, with occasional reactions from his wife, doctor and friends.
Be warned: this is a man who commissioned a statue of Robert Crumb's underground cartoon character Mr. Natural for his gravestone.
I love making morbid jokes that no one expects from someone labouring under a death sentence. The unexpected Zen slap that wakes the student up briefly to alternate ways of thinking...
But Zen Slaps also includes his essay “On the Ability to Love” after a visit to a cancer clinic. After witnessing the “haunted looks of people whose worst nightmare had just come true,” Jim saw for each person:
...An opportunity to teach the 'immortals' still living in their fantasy world what it really means to be a man or a woman. Not by becoming some vision of perfection or bravery — not in the guise of a noble suffering saint, but by becoming a mortal human, stripped of all the trappings and vanities — naked in an uncaring universe and still able to create meaning, still able to give and still able to love...
If you are living in ‘cancer world’, know that Jim Hockings is on your side.
Some early responses
A spell-binding memoir and fascinating read… a good book that you don’t want to put down. A refreshing change from books on similar topics… conversational, “from the heart”… honest and at times very funny.
Marguerite Neimanis, long-time cancer survivor
A charming love story about two funny, erudite, older people that find each other long distance and deal with his ultimately fatal disease, all told in a unique way. Quite enjoyable.
Dr. Frank Warsh, author of the blog "Impatient Care"
The book is very candid and the author quite engaging. A portrait of someone embracing life enthusiastically.
— Gordon Prince, Nova Scotia and Tennessee
As a clinician who focuses on treating bladder cancer, I always marvel at how much I still have to learn. Zen Slaps weaves an honest, clever, and at times poignant tale from the the other side of the table. I am grateful for his funny and witty voice through the chronology of a life being lived, with a deadly disease. Short enough to read in an afternoon but many of the thoughts and ideas linger with you.
Jennifer M. Taylor, MD, MPH
A distinctive voice. For those who can hear it, that voice may be profound… A suspenseful narrative of medical choices. Hockings’ honesty is arresting.
Nicholas Eric Preus, English professor emeritus, Luther College, Iowa
James Hockings (1947-2013) was a master portrait and artistic photographer in London, Ontario, for over three decades. A 2010 graduate of the highly regarded Creative Writing program at Humber College, Toronto, he announced his career as a writer in 2011 with the 1960s novel The Redemption of Danny Harper. In that same year he also released the dark comedic novel How to Kill Your Wife plus two titles in a Max and Molly Murder Mystery Series. Hockings' short but prolific writing career also produced two books on photography, How to Photograph Children (2011) and Photographing Feelings (2012). A two-location retrospective of Hockings' photographic work was exhibited at his alma mater, Luther College, Iowa, in 2013. His photography continues to be on view at offbroadwayphoto.com
Eric Hustvedt is a writer, editor and communications consultant based in Nova Scotia. He founded Talent Bank Communications in 1985.
