Inside of you there is a gift that, once released into the world, will enhance your life and the lives of those around you. You are unique, and your gift is unique, but the world you release it into is very much connected.

A Waking Life is the story of Nomad Truestar's journey through the darkness of a single night. After his appendix ruptures, he wakes to the hollow nothingness of isolation. Not knowing whether he will live or die, Truestar begins the quest of confronting the meaning woven into his fragmented life. With the help of a curious quartet of guides, including a wild cat, an Arctic wolf and the woman he believes to be Death, Truestar travels through time and beyond the space he appears confined to, in an exploration of the perceived self, the connected universe and even death. Will he find the Borealis that exists within the darkness itself, before the night is over?
What transpires is a journey meant to reawaken the human spirit to the possibilities that exist within each of us, regardless of where we are in life.

-Miigwetch

Scott Mainprize is a gay, Jain, fourth-generation Algonquin who holds a Bachelor of Education, Master of Social Work and Juris Doctor. He currently works as a lawyer and professor of restorative justice. He has previously taught in Arctic, Quebec, worked in a homeless shelter and AIDS hospice, and has been a student-prosecutor across north-western Ontario. He is not dead; but, he does not have an appendix. Also, he thinks he is funny.