Toronto writer Tanis Rideout first heard about the exploits of the late legendary mountain climber George Mallory while working at an outdoor sporting goods store in the city. It scared her just thinking about his adventures on the world’s highest peak, Mt. Everest. But what really piqued her interest was the thought of what Mallory’s wife, Ruth, must have been going through. Rideout’s interest in the love story behind the mountain adventures inspired her debut novel, Above All Things.

“Everest sort of pinpoints for me a lot of things that scare me and that I don’t understand,” she says. “I hate the cold. And I didn’t understand why people would put themselves through that type of thing.” But she quickly found herself consumed by the romanticism of it all.

“I would joke around with my friends and say, ‘You know, if it’s possible to be in love with somebody who’s been dead for 80-some-odd years, then I think I am,’ ” she says.

This work of historical fiction was 10 years in the making and it began with casual research and a heartfelt interest. After the second draft, she went to England for some hands-on research, jumping from the Royal Geographical Society to the Alpine Club to Cambridge University, reviewing original documents and letters sent between Mallory and his wife.

“It was pretty emotional to sort of go in there those first days,” says Rideout. “These were real events that happened to real people at one point in time that I was sort of taking on.”

Though Above All Things is Rideout’s first novel, she published a poetry collection in 2005 and was named Poet Laureate of Lake Ontario by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper in 2006.

Instead of traditional tales of harrowing mountaineering that usually follow the name George Mallory, she wanted Ruth to be central to her novel, so Rideout focused less on historical accounts and instead created a love story.

“I just thought she had to be more complicated and more interesting than that, because he is such a tremendously charismatic character and they seem very much in love when you read their letters,” Rideout says.

“I wanted to explore her and her world and also how much you support your partner in the crazy things that they want to set out to do. It sort of became a love triangle between George and Ruth and the mountain.”

Rideout reads from her novel on Dec. 5 at the Press Club in Toronto as part of the Pivot Reading Series. For more information on the book, go to tanisrideout.wordpress.com.

What can you do in seven minutes?

In comedy, it’s enough time to deliver a good stand-up set or perform a sketch or two. But in the world of the sitcom, it’s just act one of a three-act structure that usually runs about 22 minutes. Traditionally, the storyline needs to stretch out to about a half an hour to allow for enough character development and narrative beats.

But the Internet is changing all of that. The last decade has not been kind to the traditional sitcom. Reality programming and a shorter attention span make it difficult to get that sitcom idea up and running.

So if you’re a bunch of funny guys with a proven track record, what do you do? Give up? No. You embrace the brave new world of the webisode.

And that’s exactly what sketch troupe the Imponderables have done. The group has been the next big thing since 2004 but never got the big TV break everyone predicted. So they did it their own way — on the web, where no one could stop them.

The series, called Bill and Sons Towing, is a 10-episode sitcom that features the members of the group as four brothers that have taken over their ailing dad’s (played by Nicholas Campbell) towing business. Of course, the brothers have differing approaches on how to get this accomplished. Brother Eric, played by Eric Toth, is a failed MBA grad who tries to apply professional business principles to a dodgy business. Brother Dave, played by Dave Brennan, is the sweet-natured idealist who wants nothing more than to be liked by the customers — even if they take advantage of him. Brothers Jon and Tony, played by Jon Smith and Tony Lombardo, are the lazy dim bulbs who just don’t take the business all that seriously and never met a beer they didn’t like.

Episodes run about seven minutes and are best watched sequentially. I watched the first three and found them affable, with a nice loose charm, but nothing that broke any new ground, especially for the uncensored platform of the Internet.

Then I watched episode four.

To say it rocked my world is a complete understatement. Titled “Bikini Calendar,” it takes off in a direction so nervy and unique that it could hold its own with any episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm or Louie. I don’t want to spoil it for you; watch it yourself and see if you don’t agree.

Bill and Sons’ office really looks like a down-at-the-heels towing garage, and the whole enterprise reminds me of the early days of Taxi. It still needs its Andy Kaufman character to take it to the next level, but the group has managed to corral acting greats such as Sonja Smits and Jayne Eastwood.

The Imponderables aren’t the only Canadian comics using the new short  format. Guidance is a 15-episode series that stars Adam Cawley, Rob Baker and Pat Smith as inept, even amoral guidance counsellors in a big city high school. And then there’s Comedy Bar, the web series about the people who run … Comedy Bar, the club on Bloor Street West.

Consider these shows the next time you have seven minutes to spare. You won’t be disappointed.

Post City Magazines’ humour columnist, Mark Breslin, is the founder of Yuk Yuk’s comedy clubs and the author of several books, including Control Freaked.