Online Shared Author Table

Get your tacklebox packed, your pole ready, and your soul primed for adventure. Two-time Robyn Herrington Memorial Award finalist Robert Bose (nEvermore; AB Negative; Enigma Front: Burnt) takes you on a guided tour all the way from the lakes of hell to the unforgiving sands of the red planet. FISHING WITH THE DEVIL and other fiendish tales collects stories new, and previously published, spanning the genres from Science Fiction to Urban Fantasy, from childhood terror to bizarre bathroom horrors, while always keeping the Devil himself close at hand.

Welcome to the Seventh Terrace of Dante’s tower of Purgatory. Here, in darkness lit only by a wall of flame, we find souls enslaved by the sin of lust. Desire, curdled by madness and desperation. From a pair of crazy-in-love criminals on a scavenger hunt at the outskirts of Hell, to a lonely custodian working in a love doll brothel, to a sinister lingerie boutique hidden behind a red door. Lust is a great and terrible thing, and this collection of dark tales follows a mere handful of the many paths leading to the wall of fire.

All Isaac Barrow wants is to be left alone to pursue his supernatural research and tinker with his inventions. But when you’re the only technomancer openly practicing the craft in 1880s Halifax, trouble has a way of finding you. When a routine mechanical service call reveals the grisly handiwork of the Nightshade Cabal – an underground cult of necromancers – Barrow finds himself in a race against time to put a stop to the Cabal’s depredations before they can kill anyone else and turn them into... office machinery?

Assassin. Tactician. Magic user. To reclaim her birthright, Meg must defeat a prince who's inherited his father' war: a prince unravelling the mystery of his brother's addiction to Heaven. Bursts of Fire: an epic political fantasy of revenge, addictions, and redemption.

Meg and Janat Falkyn, fugitive daughters of an imperial magiel, escape to the edge of the world to restore their people’s access to their Gods—by recapturing a fabled prayer stone. But to accomplish the theft, whom can they trust? The ambitious High King’s sister thirsts for power. A calculating regent enriches himself with a steam-driven textile monopoly. A charming swindler sets up an elaborate scheme. And unraveling secrets hidden in castles, alleyways, and brothels threaten to expose everything. With rebels stalking the sisters, and the High King's armies on the march, Meg’s time is up.

Imagine a world with armies of terra-cotta warriors operated by steam power, Chinese Dragon Airships, Tesla-Oolong Tea, robot acupuncturists, weapons carved into dragon’s mouths, artificial limbs imbued with Chi, and schools of martial artists dedicated to cybernetic combat. Imagine a steampunk version of Shanghai or Hong Kong or an alternate history where Britain not only won the Opium War but conquered China, or vice versa. Imagine a completely new Chinese-inspired fantasy world with steampunk elements. These are just a few possible scenarios for SHANGHAI STEAM, a unique mashup of steampunk and the Chinese literary genre known as "wuxia" loosely translated to "martial hero".

The second novel in Abby Lane’s Reign of Blood and Magic series “…is rich and complex, with numerous engaging protagonists that make the prose dynamic, immersive, and ideal for fans of epic fantasy.” Self-Publishing Review

A malevolent queen schemes with the devil to gain supernatural powers and conjure the highest level of Solomonic magic. The mega-spell not only casts a blanket of evil on three princesses but also threatens a god. But power comes with a price and the cost earns the queen unforeseen circumstances.

The first novel in Abby Lane’s Reign of Blood and Magic series “reprises beauty-and-the-beast themes with feisty characters and richly intriguing witchery.” —Kirkus Reviews

A stubborn princess challenges her stepbrother with a serpentine ordeal, unaware that her treasonous act will endanger her father the king, threaten her two royal sisters, and assist the premeditated plans of her step-mother—the queen. The sovereign has an agenda to steal the throne and rid the castle of her stepchildren. Soon condemned to death, a risk saves the princess from execution, but the queen banishes her from the kingdom, delivering her to certain death.

When drama teacher Paul Samson decides to put on a High School production of Macbeth, he forgets that it isn’t just The Scottish Play, it is The Cursed Play. And Paul soon learns just how cursed. After grappling with his principal, the PTA, his family, and his students, he must contend with witches, ghosts, and skeletons from his past.

The show is destined from the outset to end badly, but no matter how desperate or dangerous circumstances become, Paul cannot cancel the play. Theatre has but one rule and one rule only: the show must go on.

From the drought-plagued plains of Mars, to a post-apocalyptic Canada, to the familiar American West and Mexico, to other dimensions and other worlds weird and wonderful, an international cast of bestselling, award-winning, established, and emerging authors brings you 25 strange western tales.

We invite you to explore these stories in the grand pulp fiction tradition: from weird westerns, to sci-fi and space westerns, to post-apocalyptic westerns, alternate history, time travel, and cattlepunk.

Featuring Canadian authors Ron S. Friedman, Paul Alex Gray, R. Daniel Lester, and Claire Ryan.

In a post-apocalyptic Saskatchewan, the Gunslingers are a holy order of Law empowered to keep the peace and protect the common people. They have supernatural powers to back it up.

The Walsh siblings are about to find themselves entangled in the nefarious schemes of a necromancer! But they're not Gunslingers -- not yet. Graeme and Piper will need all of their training and courage, and all the support of their newfound companions, to put a stop to the villain's plans. Fortunately, Graeme has an ace up his sleeve. Nobody but his family and his teacher know that he's a sorcerer.

Welcome to the Wyrd West!

Vivianne Schoen, the young Baroness von Grunwald, makes the startling discovery that she can alter history - but not before she is branded a witch and must flee through a time-space tear. Now in an alternate France ruled by Teutonic Black Knights, she must decide how to remake history.

Ethan Carson discovers that he has a cougar living in his head. Sort of. These two short stories cover parts of his early life and what he discovers about Monster as he delivers groceries and drugs to support himself on the streets.

E-book only

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Ethan is captured by the Coalition. They aren’t what he expected. Mostly. Someone there is spreading rumours about his past to make everyone fear him. Should Ethan seek to escape and return to a lonely life with Monster in the wild places?

E-book, Print

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On nice days the witch Sandrine, a wife and mother of two (or is it three?) canoes along the Stream of Consciousness to the outskirts of town where her friend Vienna lives on the edge of a swamp. At Hartwood portals litter the paths, big as dinner plates, but only if you have an eye for that sort of thing. Sometimes Vienna, who does, outlines them in circles of wildflowers or pastel chalk, to alert the unwary who might otherwise be whisked away. Instead, Vienna tells her, Sandrine should explore the disused upstairs bedrooms, haunted not by the ghosts of former inhabitants but by alternate worlds, one behind each of many brightly painted doors. What kind of world is behind each door?

In these stories seers and vagabonds, addicts and gardeners succeed and sometimes fail at creating new kinds of community against apocalyptic backdrops. They build gardens in the ruins, transport seeds and songs from one world to another and from dreams to waking life. Where do you plant a seed someone gave you in a dream? How do you build a world more free of trauma when it’s all you’ve ever known? Sometimes the seed you wake up holding in your hand is the seed of a new world.

The Alphabet Stones is about three families, one of them supernatural, and how they intertwine—with each other and with the land, a moody eastern Ontario of communes, music festivals and cedar swamps; stony farms and muddy rivers. This is a story about enchantment—how the land enchants us, how we enchant one another—why it’s necessary that we do, and dangerous when we don’t. Like 14 year old Jody, we learn not just the names of trees and stars and birds, but also of “the gate between worlds,” a place she stumbles across in a forgotten back pasture, both ordinary and powerfully mysterious.

A Welsh warrior-in-training can control the minds of animals. His sister can see the future in a drop of water. Hyw’s gift—seeing through the eyes of birds and animals—lets him spy on the English for the Prince of Wales, until they clash with old friends and ruthless enemies. Catrin sees only death and disaster in her visions, but her strongest ally thinks his love endangers her power. Hyw and Catrin must stretch their gifts to stand between their people and the invading English army—even as their world shatters around them. This medieval fantasy combines magic, mythology, and forgotten legends with the historical realities of a world at war. Book 1 in the Last of the Gifted series.

After being shot at in Calgary, I take a job in London. All I have to do is locate a missing historical artifact for some rich collectors. They’ll even handle recovery.

Unsurprisingly, they left out a few details. Everybody is after this thing. I have to dodge bullets meant for another P.I., get chased all over Europe, steal from terrorists, and decide the fate of the world.

At least the volcanoes are nice this time of year.

My private investigation business is doing well, especially after the weirdness of my first cases.

Life isn't as good for Alyssa Blakeway. She suspects her husband is having an affair. It's an easy sneak and peek job.

Nope. After a hit-and-run "accident", a missing necklace, the worst covert operation in history, Witches, the Vatican, Freemasons, and hot but problematic men, there's an old acquaintance who drops by for pizza and body disposal.

At least I'm still alive. For now.

After years of effort, Chandler Investigations is a reality, and I get my first and second clients on the same day. Both cases are simple: a little surveillance, a few pictures, and there's money in my pocket.

Unfortunately, the easy money is complicated by an allegedly demonic dwarf (or two), vanishing furniture, impossible coins, a global secret organization, annoying telephones, and a kinky pony show.

All in a day's work for a normal Canadian woman, I suppose.

Liam hasn't seen his widow, Becca, in nearly four hundred years and suddenly there she is, riding past the commuter train he's stuck on with a pixie princess.

In the battle between Dark and Light, Liam is a Shield, a protector of the Balance, and he's been running from Dark Hunters for over two thousand years. He's not immortal in the usual sense of the word, but he's been reincarnated so many times that his body and mind are slowly breaking down, which is the perfect time for Becca, Dark forces, and an elven bounty hunter to arrive in town.

Liam's not the only one in trouble, though, because all over the world Shields are dying and the Balance is shifting in Lucifer's favour.

Framed for a murder they didn't commit, six young, rebellious fairies refuse to go quietly into exile and death and instead undertake an impossible quest to prove their innocence and save their families, before it's too late.

Ogres and gnomes and trolls, oh my. The Sisterhood of the Black Dragonfly is a tale of family, friends, and being true to yourself when the rule-makers have plans for you.

The story begun in Wilding: Book One of the Traveller’s Path continues!

Having discovered he is a Fey Traveller with wild and untamed powers, Thomas must now deal with an even more unexpected surprise: his father has returned to his life.

Thomas thought Matthew McCadden died eleven years ago. But he has suddenly arrived in 7th-century England—and he is not alone. Pursued in a Wild Hunt by the menacing, time-riding Alder King, Matthew brings danger with him, and more questions than answers.

A shocking event propels Thomas to his most painful challenge yet. Can he cut the ties that keep him in this time? Or will he be bound there for good?

A young man’s shadowed destiny leads him to the past…and could change our world forever.

On Halloween eve, a frightening encounter with mysterious creatures transports twenty-year-old Thomas McCadden to an unknown and ancient world—7th century Britain. How did he get there? What does he do now? The answers to these questions change his life forever, revealing secrets that have long been hidden. As he tries to survive this long-ago time, Thomas encounters the unknown and the otherworldly; an exiled warrior, holy men, tribal kings, and something far more sinister shadowing them all.

Is he a tool for the dark forces of this land? Or the liberator sent to save them all?

Book Two in the acclaimed The Shard Of Elan series!

Now that the kingdom is at last protected from marauding Ryuven, the only worth Shianan’s ever had is no longer needed. Trapped in conflicting oaths of allegiance, he’s more a political liability than ever—and less able to court the woman he nearly died to save.

But the protective shield, for which he suffered so much, may not be working. The reports of Ryuven raiding the countryside should be impossible within the magical shield.

Luca has returned to his homeland, but how can it be a home ever again, as he faces the family who sold him into slavery? Newly betrayed by the only person he trusted, he can conceal physical signs

He can save her life -- if he sacrifices those he swore to protect.

Shianan Becknam buries himself in his military career to avoid the family that never wanted him and the dangers of drawing political attention. When the artifact intended to end an interdimensional war is damaged, the mage Ariana is trapped on the other side of the rift with her servant—only the cheery young boy is really one of the monstrous enemy, disguised as a human. Shianan is desperate to rescue Ariana, one of his few friends, but to do so requires committing treason and betraying his duty, leaving his people open to attack.

She tells Greek legends to entertain Norse gods–until one of her stories leads to murder.

When Euthalia’s father trades her to Viking raiders, her best hope is to be made a wife instead of a slave. She gets her wish–sort of–when she is sacrificed as a bride to a god.

Her inhuman husband seems kind, but he visits only in the dark and will not allow her to look upon him. By day Euthalia becomes known as a storyteller, spinning ancient Greek tales to entertain Asgard’s gods and monsters.

When one of her stories precipitates a god’s murder and horrific retribution, Euthalia discovers there is a monster in her bed as well. Alone in hostile Asgard, Euthalia must ally with a sp

In the near future city of New Montreal, where wireless technology connects everything, Kraft finds himself disconnected due to his ability to see the aura of supernatural creatures hiding as humans. He has accepted that no one will believe him, and so prefers to waste his life away in solitude. No such luck, though, as he is given a job to illicitly clean a mega-corporation’s computer system — only to find something has infected the network. Something with a mind of its own.

She was raised to save her people—as long as she doesn't go crazy and kill them all first.

Calandra is the most powerful undine healer in three thousand years—her people's last hope for salvation. To save them from the humans they fear, she must choose between enslaving the man she loves or trusting a cryptic, seditious message left behind by the mother who abandoned her as a baby. But if she can't find the brother she's never met, she doesn't have a hope in Tartarus—and all the powerful healers go mad eventually. Can she save everyone before she goes crazy and kills them all?

Buy The Undine’s Tear to start your journey into the mind-blowing epic Rise of the Grigori series toda

When their brothers die, Alban and her sister, Rayhan, must take up the roles of heir and wizard. While facing their own personal struggles, they must save their family, their world, and magic.

Magic has been banned in the north, the same magic that holds back the demonic myst that would devour their world.

Wizards are dying.

AND Alban’s and Rayhan’s new husbands have been poisoned.

Alban risks her life on an untried path to become a wizard so she can search for the cure, while Rayhan leads her armies into bloody battle.

With old magic newly found, battles fought, and difficult choices made along their journeys, they discover their strengths and talents.

And, we hope, survive.

▴ Genre List ▴

Elsie Nuefeld loves to sit on her porch and watch the children grow in the Mennonite community near Landmark, MB. Returning to the area after moving to Paraguay for a time, Elsie is happy to be living on the wild rose dotted prairie of south-eastern Manitoba. Her granddaughters are growing up and getting married, it's an exciting time. Secure in her long standing marriage to Ike, Elsie is content to observe the community from the sidelines and rejoice in the joys of the young ones. She often walks with her daughters and granddaughters through the graveyard abloom with wild roses and shares the stories of the ancestors sleeping there. It’s important, she feels, for the younger generation to

A chance meeting brings new hope to a beloved character trapped in a literary classic.

Constance and her daughter, Jayne, are enjoying a peaceful walk through the grounds at Notre Dame Cathedral when they hear the sound of crying. Convinced someone is hurt, Jayne insists that her mother investigate. Who they find and how they transform the agony of that troubled soul will touch your heart.

(Short Story: 4140 words)

Caught in a storm on the unsettled prairie, Marram’s only shelter becomes her worst nightmare.

Marram, a young rancher in the early 1900’s, is heading home from a supply run to the closest town when she is caught in a storm and has to shelter in the inexplicably abandoned home of a couple she doesn't know well. Follow her through a gruelling night of horrific finds, suspense, and mysterious allies.

Julie Fox is on the run. A psychotic breakdown has shattered her career in Calgary, her marriage and her love for her child. Julie travels to California to search for her mother and learn the root of her problems. Clues at a cult-like retreat appear to hold the answers. As the retreat leaders lure Julie into their twisted game, her ex-husband tries to wrest her from their control. Trapped in a tangle of lies, Julie’s grip on reality falters. Who will catch Julie Fox? Or will she break free, confront the truth about her past and set out on a new journey?

Motion Sickness, a flash novel consisting of 55 chapters of exactly 500 words, each accompanied by a scratchboard illustration, follows one young woman’s humorous and poignant misadventures in the worlds of employment, friendship, dating, birth control and abortion. Smart, engaging and well-written, the novel deals with the life of a young single person finding her way in the world of work and love.

Anthology edited by Catriona Sandilands

Rising Tides is a collection of short fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir and poetry addressing the past, present and future of climate change. Bringing stories about climate change—both catastrophic and subtle—closer to home, this new anthology inspires reflection, understanding, conversation and action. Holly Schofield's work is among pieces that "emphasize the need for intimate stories and thoughtful attention. These stories parallel the critical issues facing the planet, and imagine equitable responses for all Canadians, moving beyond denial and apocalypse and toward shared meaning and action.

Sometimes to find heaven, you have to go through hell…

Sarah seems to have the perfect life—a successful career, a successful husband, and the freedom to do whatever she wants. Or does she?

Behind the façade, her marriage is a shambles, she hates her career, and she feels trapped behind masks of her own making. A cancer diagnosis has just dealt the final blow.

A chance encounter with Steve—a man who gave up the rat race to help Mumbai's prostitutes—makes her question her priorities and wonder if it's time for a change. But the kind of love he offers seems unattainable. Besides, she knows he must be hiding something, just like everyone else.

Is it too late for Sarah to fi

▴ Genre List ▴

Paula Savard’s life takes a dangerous turn when her best friend is murdered on Calgary’s Elbow River pathway. Evidence suggests the friend was coming to Paula for help with a desperate problem. The more Paula learns, the fewer people she can trust. When the police abandon the case, Paula must pursue it alone, before the killer strikes again to bury the last secret. Book # 1 of the Paula Savard mystery series.

Calgary, Alberta, gears up for its ten-day Stampede festival. When a hoarder dies in a suspicious house fire, adjuster Paula Savard sets the revelry aside to handle the property insurance claim. But Paula’s interviews with the hoarder’s bickering heirs raise questions. Did one of them set the blaze to kill a relative and hasten an inheritance? The case turns personal when Paula’s daughter becomes involved with a suspect. To ensure her daughter's safety, Paula digs through the hoarder’s life. She unearths betrayal, murder and a long-ago secret that led to his death. Book # 2 of the Paula Savard mystery series.

The third anthology by the Mesdames of Mayhem featuring crime stories centered on animals. The animals range from cats (of course!) and dogs to snakes and even a dragon! Contains three stories by promising new writers.

The second anthology by The Mesdames of Mayhem where time fits the crime. A collection of stories from comedy to noir by leading Canadian crime writers.

Alone at her derelict cottage, a young woman discovers that she's targeted in a sinister plot. Glow Grass was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Best Novella award. The book features more mystery stories ranging from comedy to noir.

Music may soothe the savage beast but not in these nefarious crime stories by some of leading Canadian crime writers and one promising newcomer!

The first anthology by the Mesdames of Mayhem featuring nefarious tales by 13 talented crime fiction writers. An eclectic collection ranging from comedy to noir.

Danny Bluestone, a young college student, is drifting through life in his Northern Ontario hometown, Red Dog Lake. A shady entrepreneur, known locally as Santa, draws him into an illegal bear hunt at a remote lake. The morning after the hunt, Danny wakes up to find all but one of the hunters murdered. To survive, Danny must fight his way through the bush with an enigmatic American who may or may not be the killer. Finalist for the Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award. Runner up for the Debut Dagger and Unhanged Arthur awards.

After finishing her bachelor degree, an island holiday was just what Elise wanted, and the chance to discover stone carvings. Any place with a carrot juice stand couldn't be all bad. It might even be ... interesting. But the first thing she found was a jack-of-all-trades. Now, Dale knows about petroglyphs and how to find these carvings. Elise doesn't want to be one more project for this handyman hovering around her, until suddenly, she does need his help. Instead of relaxation, on Saltspring Island she's finding unexpected challenges ...and danger.

Meg Spencer is all set. She's wearing her Hawaiian shirt. She's on a beach. She's even got an ice cream cone, for crying out loud. What could possibly go wrong?

A dead body, of course.

And no one can find a dead body faster than Meg Spencer, a recently retired homicide detective. All she wants is to have some fun. But that's the one thing she's not going to get.

Welcome to a new series of cozy mysteries by Pamela Kenney featuring a recently retired homicide detective from Toronto, trying to find a quiet, peaceful life in Victoria.

Her old co-workers warned her it would happen but she refuses to become the next Miss Marple.

Even if it kills her.

The latest case has Meg’s past coming back to haunt her.

This time it’s personal and, if she’s not careful, the next dead body might be hers!

Meg Spencer is used to dealing with dead bodies. After three decades on the Toronto homicide squad, she’s solved thousands of cases.

And in the very short time since she’s retired, she’s solved even more. Three, so far, and counting.

But she never expected that she'd have to fight for her own life, especially AFTER she retired.

Welcome to a new series of cozy mysteries by Pamela Kenney featuring a recently retired homicide detective from Toronto, trying to find a quiet, peaceful life in Victoria.

Meg Spencer can breathe a sigh of relief and finally enjoy the view from her hotel.

Unlike the guy, a few wicker chairs over, who isn't breathing at all.

Meg's finally reached Victoria and thought everything was going to be all right. From now on she can concentrate on relaxing and having fun, just enjoying her newly retired life after thirty years on the Toronto police force.

How hard can it be? Turns out it's rather difficult.

Especially when she finds a dead body in her hotel on the very first day.

For anyone other than Randy, a contract to do archival research and web development for Alberta’s famed Rutherford House should have been a quiet gig. But when she discovers an unsolved mystery linked to Rutherford House in the Alberta Archives and the bodies begin to pile up, Randy can’t help but wonder if her modern-day troubles are linked to the intrigues of the past!

Randy and Steve have finally tied the knot. With the snow blowing and temperatures dipping well below zero they are looking for an escape from the frigid Edmonton winter. Like so many others, they head south to Puerto Vallarta, Jalísco, Mexico, along with a crush of University of Alberta students, looking for a good time during spring break. When a student is found dead in an elaborately staged scene, Randy’s romantic beach walks and candlelit dinners will have to wait. Instead Randy and Steve will have find meaning in the murder to catch the culprit. If they don’t, the honeymoon just might be over.

Some folks have a talent for finding trouble, no matter how good they try to be, especially Randy Craig. Maybe she shouldn’t date a cop. Maybe she should have turned down the job at the University of Alberta’s Folkways Collection library — a dream job that becomes a nightmare when a rich benefactor’s belligerent heir turns up dead.

Randy tried to be good — honest! — but now she’s a prime suspect with a motive and no alibi in sight.

How dangerous can words be? The University of Alberta is caught up in maelstrom of threatening letters and hate-filled graffiti. When one of part-time sessional lecturer Randy Craig’s students is brutally murdered after receiving a poison-pen letter, Randy finds herself becoming both a reluctant investigator and the target of the mysterious killer.

While in Mexico searching for his fugitive father, Peter Galloway chances upon the murder of a Canadian tourist. What should be a pleasurable working vacation in an exotic destination becomes a desperate struggle to understand and survive the dangers of an unfamiliar culture. Criminals, police, and politicians all hinder Galloway’s investigation, bringing their own brand of danger, and turning upside down his understanding of justice. Even RCMP Sergeant Angela Ford is helpless to keep Galloway out of trouble.

When ex-homicide detective Peter Galloway is asked to investigate a murder in the Alberta oil sands, he has nothing but misgivings. His better judgment, however, is trumped by the prospect of working with an intriguing RCMP officer. Armed with only his wits and the support of a small-town police service, he is forced to confront not only the dark side of a modern oil boomtown, but his own personal demons. With no shortage of suspects, Galloway must find an elusive killer or risk damaging his hard-won reputation in this seemingly idyllic northern community.

-- Free short story --

Peter Galloway thought he’d put murder in the rear-view mirror when he left Calgary Police Services Homicide to pursue the life of a private investigator. Cheating spouses. Runaway teens. PI work is a terrific improvement over the murder of the week he’d faced as a cop. Today the gig is something unusual— a nickel and dime protection scam. He’d have this one put to bed before dinner, maybe even before he finished his coffee. His strategy to catch the culprits is turned on its head, however, when a gunshot echoes along the crowded outdoor mall. So much for leaving murder behind.

New Release! Peter Galloway’s search for his mother’s killer takes him to scenic Niagara Falls, where he and Angela Ford pose as an engaged couple at an international bridal fair. Things go from bad to worse when they discover murder at the fair, along with clues suggesting a runaway teen may be next. Galloway and Ford find themselves pitting their wits against a gang of ruthless drug traffickers, only to discover the criminals are more than meets the eye.

When Peter Galloway takes Angela Ford and her two children into hiding to elude her abusive husband, they wind up in Prince George, British Columbia, where they are unexpectedly embroiled in a series of grisly murders at a nearby high school. With the help and hindrance of the local RCMP, Galloway and Ford struggle through a sea of bureaucracy, power games, and victimized teachers in hopes of catching a killer before the next body drops.

Black Water is the second mystery in the Pat Tierney series. Toronto financial planner Pat Tierney heads out to Ontario cottage country to head up a new branch that her investment firm has opened, and discovers that the seemingly idyllic community has a dark underside. The Toronto Star's Jack Batten says: "Here's McCracken back with her second Pat Tierney novel, writing again with wonderful pace and invention."

Raven Lake is the third mystery in the Pat Tierney series. Financial planner Pat Tierney's dream vacation in Ontario cottage country turns into a nightmare when a con artist targets cottages in the area; vacationers start arriving for their holidays only to learn that they are victims of a rental scam. When disgruntled renters show up at the door of her rented summer home, Pat fears for her family's safety. The Toronto Star's Jack Batten says: "Pat Tierney is developing into the kind of sleuth who will be welcome on return visits."

A finalist for Britain's Debut Dagger in 2010, Safe Harbor is the first mystery in the Pat Tierney series. It introduces the Toronto financial planner confronting a deadly scheme involving illegal immigrants and trafficking in human body parts. The Toronto Star's crime fiction reviewer Jack Batten calls Pat Tierney "a hugely attractive sleuth figure!"

Kenora Tedesco is starting over. When an eleventh-hour interview lands her a job as a private investigator, the former library manager figures her financial and career troubles are finally over.

But danger threatens. She has her identity stolen. A lovesick embezzler traps her in a storage locker. Rookie blunders put her second-chance romance with Jake Barclay, a retired cop—and her new boss—at risk. Kenora fights back, ditching the fear, trusting her judgment, and solving cases.

With witty dialogue, plot twists and turns, Kenora Reinvented propels readers into a binge-worthy whodunit with enough action to keep them engaged until the last page.

Recovering from an MS attack, former marathon runner Naya is frustrated by her lack of progress the gym. She’s definitely in no mood for wheelchair bound Larson Rask and his endless prying questions.

Noticing that his legs still look muscular, Naya guesses that he’s only been in the wheelchair for a short time. She puts aside her annoyance to patiently listen to him. To her horror, a police Tactical Unit raids the gym and arrests Larson Rask – on three counts of murder. Was he grooming her to be victim number four?

Reluctantly she’s drawn back into the world of sleuthing – tracking a ruthless serial killer who will stop at nothing to stay free.

Naya had the perfect life. Co-owner of a fast growing security software company, she ran marathons in her spare time. Suddenly everything changed when she developed MS and now can barely climb a flight of stairs. Hiding at home, her computer the only contact with the outside world, she reconnects with her childhood best friend.

But when her friend disappears and the police dismiss her concerns, Naya leaves the safety of her home to find her. She ignores her physical limitations to follow a convoluted trail from high tech suspects to drug dealers, all while becoming an irritant to the police.

A multi-genre anthology where the protagonists are disabled and they are the heroes, not the sidekicks. My short story Backbone, features Ian, a young boy who uses a walker. He meets three other children in elementary school. When the four meet again as adults, their reunion is a bit more bloody than Ian could have imagined.

An underwater ghost town, an inexperienced diver, two ghosts . . .

Even though Lost Lake is renowned for claiming the lives of divers searching for the legendary gold, Christie McFee is determined to explore the Lake’s underwater ghost town.

And then a ghost convinces her to join the treasure hunt, and Christie throws her usual caution overboard.

Local Divemaster Gaven St. Michel is confident he can keep Christie’s lovely body from being added to the Lake’s count. Besides, he’s sure the talk of ghosts is strictly for the tourists—until something happens in the watery graves of Bandit Creek.

Can Gaven protect Christie from the ghosts that drift in Lost Lake’s murky dep

Things creep and crawl in the woods. Things that can wreak havoc with your life.

Things that can be deadly.

As an infectious disease expert for the DOH’s vector-borne disease division, Matt Malloy knows this. What he doesn’t know is who, or why, someone would want to deliberately infect innocent people. Adding insult to injury, his co-workers think he’s either paranoid or losing his mind because of erratic behavior and disordered sleep habits.

A traumatic head wound can have that effect on a man. He was clocked hard while interviewing a patient with Lyme disease weeks ago, and he’s still suffering from it.

But he’s definitely not crazy.

Or paranoid.

Someone is delib

Get the first three books in the Reg Rawlins series for one low price!

A self-professed con artist practicing as a contact to the dead, a drop-dead gorgeous warlock, and a psychic cat—what could go wrong?

Unlawful Harvest is a Kenzie Kirsch Medical Thriller. If you have been reading the Zachary Goldman Mysteries, then you have met Kenzie Kirsch, who works in the medical examiner’s office.

This story will take you back to before Kenzie started medical school, to the case that first attracted her to medical investigation.

Kenzie Kirsch had led a sheltered life; daughter of a wealthy lobbyist, her way had been paved for her, and she wasn’t really required to do much in life.

When she set out to find out why her sister Amanda was so ill, she had no idea where her amateur investigation would take her.

As Kenzie’s questions take her deeper and deeper into the murky world of tran

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The Emotion Thesaurus was written to help writers convey the quality and depth of their characters’ feelings through thoughts, body language, and visceral reactions. But emotions can also be amplified. States like exhaustion, boredom, illness, pain, and extreme hunger can push characters to the limit, compromising their decision-making abilities and decreasing the likelihood of them reaching their goals.

Formated the same way as the Emotion Thesaurus, Emotion Amplifiers is a great tool for any writer wishing to tighten the screws on their characters and amp up the tension in their stories.

Available in eBook & PDF (via the WHW Bookstore)

The bestselling Emotion Thesaurus, often hailed as “the gold standard for writers” and credited with transforming how writers craft emotion, has now been expanded to include 55 new emotions!

One of the biggest struggles for writers is how to convey emotion to readers in a unique and compelling way. When showing our characters’ feelings, we often use the first idea that comes to mind, and they end up smiling, nodding and frowning too much.

The Emotion Thesaurus, in its easy-to-navigate list format, will inspire you to create stronger, fresher character expressions and engage readers from your first page to your last.

Available in Print, eBook, and PDF (via the WHW Bookst

Readers connect to characters with depth, ones who have experienced life’s ups and downs. To deliver key players both realistic and compelling, writers must know who they are and what made them that way. Of all the formative experiences in a character’s past, none are more destructive than emotional wounds. The aftershocks of trauma can change who they are, alter what they believe, and sabotage their ability to achieve meaningful goals, all of which will affect the trajectory of your story.

Identifying the backstory wound is crucial to understanding how it will shape your character’s behavior, and The Emotional Wound Thesaurus can help.

Available in Print, eBook, and PDF (WHW Bo

Crafting likable, interesting characters is a balancing act, and finding that perfect mix of strengths and weaknesses can be difficult. Not only does a well-drawn protagonist need positive attributes to help him succeed, he must also have flaws that humanize him and give him something to overcome. The same is true of villains and the rest of the story’s supporting cast. So how can writers figure out which flaws best fit their characters? Which negative traits will create personality clashes and conflict while making success difficult? The Negative Trait Thesaurus will help you plan a character's dark side and give them the complex layers readers crave.

Available in Print, eBook, and PDF

NEW RELEASE

What if you could fast-track the reader’s understanding of a character without chunky paragraphs of description that kill the story’s pace? And what if you could use a common element of daily life to explore story goals, relationships, themes, and even the character’s internal growth? You can. It’s time to activate the power of your character’s occupation.

The Occupation Thesaurus will show you how a career choice can characterize, drive the plot, infuse scenes with conflict, and get readers on the character’s side through the relatable pressures, responsibilities, and stakes inherent with work.

Available in print, ebook & PDF (through the WHW Bookstor

It’s a writer’s job to create compelling characters who can withstand life’s fallout without giving up. But building authentic, memorable heroes is no easy task. To forge realistic characters, we must hobble them with flaws that set them back while giving them positive attributes to help them achieve their goals. So how do writers choose the right blend of strengths for their characters—attributes that will render them admirable and worth rooting for—without making it too easy for them to succeed?


Unearth your character's unique personality with the Positive Trait Thesaurus.

Available in Print, eBook, and PDF (WHW Bookstore)

Within the pages of a book exists a world drawn from a writer’s deepest imaginings, one that has the ability to pull readers in on a visceral level. But the audience’s fascination will only last if the writer can describe this vibrant realm and its inhabitants well. The setting offers readers a unique sensory experience. Much more than stage dressing, it can build mood, convey meaning through symbolism, drive the plot by creating challenges that force the hero to fight for what he wants, and trigger his emotions to reveal his most intimate feelings, fears, and desires.

The Rural Setting Thesaurus takes “show-don’t-tell” to new heights.

Available in Print, eBook, and PDF (WHW

Making readers care and feel part of the story should be the number one goal of all writers. Ironically, many storytellers fail to maximize one of fiction’s most powerful elements to achieve this: the setting. Rather than being a simple backdrop against which events unfold, every location has the potential to become a conduit for conveying emotion, characterizing the cast, providing opportunities for deep point of view, and revealing significant backstory.

The Urban Setting Thesaurus helps you tailor each setting to your characters while creating a realistic, textured world readers will long to return to, even after the book closes.

Available in Print, eBook, and PDF (WHW Bookstore)

Insightful and brutally honest, The Full Catastrophe is the story of a well-educated, professional woman who, after marrying the wrong kind of man―twice―finally resurrects her life. After being married to Duncan―a bully who'd been controlling her for the fourteen years they'd been together―Karen thought divorce was in the cards. But eighteen months later, Duncan died of cancer.Without him taking up space in her life, she had her own demons to face. Luckily, Duncan had inadvertently left her the keys to her own salvation and healing―a love of Jungian psychology and a book that was to be her guide.

In the summer of 1967 Janice MacDonald and her mother Joyce jumped into their Plymouth Barracuda and drove across Canada to celebrate Canada’s 100th birthday and Expo in Montreal. Fifty years later she recreated the road trip with her husband to experience the same magic that defined her childhood.

Confederation Drive looks at how Expo was Canada’s coming out party to the rest of the world and how we are seen by the global community fifty years later. It’s a love letter to her beloved mother. It’s lobster dinners and Anne of Green Gables and Saskatchewan rest stops and Manitoba detours.

Wondering how to stay alcohol-free at the annual rounds of office parties and family gatherings when booze is everywhere?

Worried about how to respond when situations get uncomfortable?

Wish you knew what other sober people have to say about their experiences?

UnPickled Holiday Survival Guide includes insights and lessons learned from hundreds of blog posts and interviews about life after alcohol by Jean McCarthy.

PLUS:

Practical exercises to build you readiness for awkward situations

Bonus information for friends and family of people in recovery

Tips from others in recovery

Learn how to write for the Anthropocene: from habitats and trophic levels to metaphor and archetype...

Learn the fundamentals of ecology, insights of world-building, and how to master layering-in of metaphoric connections between setting and character. "Ecology of Story: World as Character" is the 3rd guidebook in Nina Munteanu's acclaimed "how to write" series for novice to professional writers.

Are you a writer looking to get published? "The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Right Now!" provides the basic tools that every beginning writer needs to get published. It's packed with real examples and practical exercises. Author Nina Munteanu is lively and humorous, and makes learning fun. Give your book the chance it deserves to get published.

A comprehensive guidebook for all writers to express themselves. The guide provides help choosing the best medium, style and platform for expressive and life-writing. Includes help with safety, privacy, using the computer and electronic devices, social media and the Internet.

Second of the Alien Guidebook Series

In this fascinating meditation on water, internationally published limnologist, Nina Munteanu, draws inspiration from some of the world’s greatest thinkers, artists and scientists, and a lifetime dedicated to water, into a spectacular gift for hydrophilics.

Part history, part science and part philosophy and spirituality, "Water Is..." combines personal journey with scientific discovery that explores water's many identities and ultimately our own. Written by internationally published author, teacher and limnologist Nina Munteanu.

Sixty is not old, right?

To celebrate turning 60, Dianne Young decided to spend the year doing 60 things she'd never done before. This is the story of her adventures--shaving her head, skydiving, visiting a nudist camp, and 57 other intriguing first-evers. It's funny, it's informative, and it might even inspire you to start your own list! Just don't try haggis. Seriously. Just don't.

▴ Genre List ▴

Creativity often hides in the subconscious. Using prompts can access ideas and possibilities that the conscious mind has not considered. In this book author, poet, and high school teacher Shawn Bird provides 123 prompts for writers to explore for developing characters, plot lines, or poetic themes. Tried and true strategies, as used by Shawn in the classroom and writing workshops, are also provided.

48 original poems that celebrate and explore the every day moments.

A collection of 22 haiku poems depicting love and seasons.

Anything is Possible.

Anything?

Any Thing.

You hold in your hand an exploration of love, life, despair and hope. Find words to contemplate. Find connection and inspiration.

(Available as paperback only)

Amy LeBlanc’s debut poetry collection, I know something you don’t know, resides in the intersection of folklore and femininity. With fairy-tale lucidity and fluid voice, the poems in this collection weave through the seams between story and fact. This debut collection is alluring and noxious like hemlock, foxglove, and blooming wildflowers.

"LeBlanc paints women as complex and frightening, secretive and forceful: women who know what it means to be broken, to bleed, and to generate strength, a sort of sorcery, from the very visceral quality of this bleeding." – Erica McKeen, Canthius

Amy LeBlanc's chapbook "Ladybird, Ladybird" examines nursery rhymes, fairytales, and folklore through poetry.

"LeBlanc asserts the power of the feminine in fairy tales through violent reclamation. She amalgamates the archetypal meek princess and violent witch figures into one, and hands the power back to the women being wronged. And though these female characters do violence, we as readers do not hate them. Their violence is justice, "Conyer Clayton" (Canthius Magazine)

A cd with Josephine LoRe reading selected pieces from her Calgary Herald Bestseller collection of poetry and photography to original music composed and created by Jim Jackson.

Available through bandcamp or directly from Josephine LoRe via email at jolore62@hotmail.com

In this powerful collection of poems and photographs, Josephine LoRe contributes to the long tradition of evoking place through verse and images. Her photographs capture the natural world of ocean, ferns and flowers, alongside small-town life and the Saturday marketplace. LoRe's words and images are simultaneously about Cowichan and yet have a much wider resonance that triggers memory and longing.

Adapted from comments submitted by Rosemary Griebel, author of Yes.

Also available at Shelf Life Books, Pages in Kensington and through the author at jolore62@hotmail.com

This stunning collection of poetry, prose and photography was born from a call for submissions by Loft 112. It is a multi-genre look at the concept of and the need for unity in this divisive world. The centerpiece is a centro poem created using the words of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela.

This chapbook is also available through the author at jolore62@hotmail.com

What happens when a person looks inside and addresses old wounds that have long been denied? How does it feel to lay down deeply ingrained patterns and behaviours that are no longer helpful? How do relationships change when self-worth is restored? The answers are found in The Ember Ever There, a collection of poetry by Jean McCarthy.

McCarthy believes that everyone has patterns in need of attention and healing, and suggests that the process used for recovery is transferrable to other aspects of personal growth. These poems pay homage to the pain of feeling adrift, the excitement of embarking on change, the wonder of self-awareness, and the joy of connections.

Impact Statement is a book of transitions.Transitions that are brought about by a catastrophic health situation. Transitions in life brought on by facing the potential for death and dying to happen at any time; being desperate enough to ask for help from a long ignored faith; the realization that a long time loving relationship has been neglected; understanding that that relationship can be weeded and tended like a garden until it blooms again. This is, in every sense, a book of love poems.

This collection treats life as a series of passages. Reaching the divide between middle and old age brings with it an understanding – one does not have to react to everything that happens. Memories lose their power to control, and simply become memories, good, bad, funny and poignant. There is choice in the things one reacts to. These are the things that matter now.

▴ Genre List ▴

Lara Clint, a skilled modern-day daemon hunter hears a voice beckoning her to awaken and remember her rightful destiny. Spooked and concerned for Sedona, the city of her heart, she becomes troubled at the reappearance of an ancient fallen angel bent on revenge.

Rafe Avery, a sidhe warrior and Protector of Dreams is challenged to remove the black rose of darkness and help the chosen one to replace the mystic red rose of love. Time has run out.

A hot attraction ignites between the human and the fae as they struggle to accomplish their goals. Lara’s denial of truth threatens to destroy their lives. Is Rafe’s love strong enough to break evil bonds and bring the darkness to justice?

The youngest child of the local doctor and evangelical preacher, Annie Baldwin was expected to work hard and not protest. Life on a pioneer farm was tough so neighbors helped each other. George Richardson the underage Doctor Bernardo Boy, orphaned and shipped to Canada a few years earlier, is loaned to the Baldwins to help bring in the hay. Younger brother Peter Richardson was placed with another neighbor, so the brothers stayed in touch with each other. The Great War brought a lot of changes to life even in the back woods of Ontario. In spite of the differences in their social standing, George and Annie fell in love. When George departed for France they had an understanding and he promised

The only thing bigger than the storm in Michelle's heart is the blizzard raging across the Alberta prairie outside her window. Finding an injured stray dog is the last thing she needs. Add to the mix the handsome new vet who is taking over her beloved Doc’s practice and peace of mind is not in the picture. Cale Benjamin is too nice to be for real. Michelle is still smarting from being jilted by her high school sweetheart fiancé and not in the mood to trust any man, let alone one as drop dead gorgeous as Dr. Cale Benjamin DVM. The injured stray, Storm, keeps putting Michelle in Cale’s path whether she likes it or no. She is distressed to find that the handsome young vet is sliding past h

Rayna thought she knew what she was doing when she spontaneously married Ethan and left the city to live on a secluded ranch. It was supposed to be the answer that finally gave her life direction and got her away from her parent’s toxic relationship, but nothing is like she fantasized. Her few attempts at helping on the ranch are disastrous,she stands out like a sore thumb in the small town of Silver Heights, and her conservative mother-in-law, Carol, is convinced Rayna is ruining her son’s life. Worst of all, Rayna can’t seem to stop pushing Ethan away and sabotaging her own marriage.

A queen trapped in a castle during a siege is torn between duty to the king she cares about, and love for the knight sworn to them both. Faylin knows she is not the type to entice a man. She’s too broad, too exotic, too strong willed. But more importantly, she is a sorceress in a land where magic is mistrusted. When she married King Cheston, she thought that she had finally found a place in which to grow roots. At least until Gancett, a former suitor, laid siege to her new husband’s castle. As a handsome new warrior rides to their defense, she feels torn between duty to the husband she barely knows, and her heart’s desire she sees in a man she just met.

Djinni Princess Jasmine’s supernatural powers are flawed. She’s in danger of losing her royal title unless she can successfully serve a mortal. According to her father, it’s her mixed Djinni/mortal blood that is to blame. Noah D’Ark discovers a frozen body under the snow. Revived, the strangely dressed woman declares herself his Djinni. The idea of enslaving anyone repulses him, magic and auras mystify him, and his attraction to the beautiful supernatural being is positively terrifying. But, she’s a Djinni without a home so he reluctantly offers his until they can find her missing urn.

Djinni Prince Omar is tricked into the humiliation of service to a mortal mistress with a child. The widow refuses to issue wishes, instead living by the ‘fortunes’ from Chinese fortune cookies. After the disaster of a marriage of convenience, Alfie is reluctant to allow another man to interfere with her new-found freedom. When she insists he be her business partner instead of a slave, he finds himself falling in love with her. She refuses to let the prince lose his royal title over her. Special, bizarre conditions will allow them to be together without jeopardizing his royal standing. Omar never thought he’d want to be a part of them, or fall in love at all, and certainly not with a m

Fate cannot escape its guilty charge. Should the truth be discovered, the night watchman could detain Madeleine Bourbonnais once more…

A ward of King Louis XIV immigrates to New France to secure a husband. Madeleine secures a marriage, but difficulties are faced when the captain of the Carignan-Salières Regiment learns his wife carries a secret.

This historical novel was written to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday and French Canadian history.

A country music star finds a lasting harmony in this second chance love story.

Fired from her music contract due to drug and alcohol addiction, a country music star relocates to a small town in the Canadian Rockies to rethink her ailing career. She's soon attracted to a bartender, but her turbulent history could challenge a future with him.

After Lady Sophia faces a sudden change in societal class, she turns to the parish priest, but the developing relationship soon crosses the lines of propriety, forcing the priest to choose between his vocation and the woman he’s come to love.

No family can conceal their past forever. When a suitcase reveals a stampede legacy, a new generation risks history repeating itself…

To save the ranch, Kit Wheeler races where few women have raced before; the legendary half mile of Hell. But she won’t face the track alone. Her family, a supportive community, and a wealthy oil exec race with her, sending their bid toward the final flag. But who will win the Half Mile of Baby Blue?

Book 2 of the Women of Stampede series, this novel celebrates the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, The Calgary Stampede.

Why should being murdered keep a girl from living it up a little?

When Jerry Powell inherits a torn, bloodstained book of poetry he has no idea that it contains the soul of Anastasia Romanova; but when he accidentally awakens her ghost he discovers that death hasn't dulled her sense of mischief and joy for life.

Between driving across the continent to start a new job in a new city, fending off a shady Russian antiquities collector, and ignoring his worsening migraines, Jerry doesn't have time to cope with his undead royal houseguest.

She sews runway masterpieces … but who will mend her damaged heart?

Tragic loss has made Melinda Myers invisible. She hides as a nondescript waitress at an average diner during the day. But each night, she sews runway masterpieces that she wears only once before putting them into a box forever.

Peter Surati, an aspiring photographer, can’t help but notice beautiful, sad Melinda. He makes it his mission to help her find her smile again. But his meddling sister seems determined to ruin any chance he has to help her. Can he find a way to mend Melinda’s damaged heart?

Download this humorous, wonderfully heartwarming, and inspiring read today!

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Terrorists target an interplanetary freighter, aiming to create an atrocity large enough to reignite a bloody war between Mars and Earth. The only thing standing in their way: A token pilot pulled out of retirement simply to satisfy safety regulations.

But old pilots didn't get that way by trusting machinery, particularly when they were trained during wartime. They have no idea how far this old pilot will go to prevent his children's lives from being shattered by the same war that consumed his own generation.

(Short Story: 5000 words)

I am the princess of elves. I once believed my life to be set in stone, as most often do from day to day. It matters not if we are a prince or pauper, elf or gnome; we understand where we fit in the grand scheme of things. The sun comes up, the sun goes down, and we are assured of our very reality through simple objects and gestures.

My warning is complete and, hereinafter, is not to be ignored. Never get too comfortable! I was guarded, I lived in a palace, and I was dug in to privilege as secure as any badger in a hole. One such as I, one schooled in magic and the unknown, failed to see the impending avalanche of “could never happen to me” rolling down the hill of my delusions that eve

Solar System short story collection

Biblical Time Travel

The Hunt For Red October meets Back To The Future

Whether walking from the big city to beyond Hope, or from a secret house in the hills to what's left of town, characters in these stories are in transition from coping with the past and fears for the future. In stories of near futures uncomfortably like our own, author Paula Johanson brings elements of magic realism and eco-gothic fiction to focus on home and heart.

"Quiet little nightmares that sneak up on you when you're not looking. Paula Johanson is a master of the bucolic apocalypse."-Peter Watts, author of Blindsight

“Hilarious and horrifying.” –Foreword Reviews

“Cultured, witty, and very British.” –Kirkus Reviews

A smash-hit reality show is offering a lifetime of luxury to the one person living the world’s worst life, and now everyone is out to prove just how bad they’ve got it.

All you’ve got to do is accept ocular implants that let the whole world see life through your eyes, twenty-four hour a day, seven days a week.

Fortunately, there’s still one person who hasn’t lost faith in all humanity. The show’s ever-smiling host is determined to wring some tiny bit of meaning out of this twisted competition and his own unhappy existence.

There has to be a purpose behind

Life doesn't pick winners and losers. That's for the corporations to decide. And they picked Liam Argyle for a carefree life of fame and fortune as host of the world's most popular reality show competition.

But after two seasons of parading about the world's biggest victims on The Grass is Greener, he's been forced to put a happy face on one tragedy too many-and he won't turn a blind eye to the horrors of the corporate dystopian world of the 2070s any longer.

Now, Liam is out to destroy the very people who made him a star. Even if he fails, he vows he'll never be a feckless pawn of the industrial-military-entertainment-culinary-janitorial complex ever again.

…and this time, he mea

Join twenty-one speculative fiction authors to examine the dreams, struggles, and triumphs of those who choose or are forced to leave home and familiar places. Stories that transcend borders, generations, and cultures—to hold fast to home, to family—to strive for a better life.

Alberta Book Publishing Award winner.

Authors:Vanessa Cardui, Elsie Chapman, Kate Heartfield, S.L. Huang, Tyler Keevil, Matthew Kressel, Rich Larson, Tonya Liburd, Karin Lowachee, Seanan McGuire, Brent Nichols, Julie Nováková, Heather Osborne, Sarah Raughley, Alex Shvartsman, Amanda Sun, Jeremy Szal, Hayden Trenholm, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Christie Yant , Alvaro Zinos-Amaro; Eric Choi & Gillian Clinton(Intro

We are your fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and lovers, invisible among you. We are your outcasts and underdogs, and often, your unsung heroes. Nineteen science fiction and fantasy authors tackle the delicate balance between mental health and mental illness.

Winner of the Aurora Award and Alberta Book Publishing Award.

Authors: Kelley Armstrong, Suzanne Church, A.M. Dellamonica, Gemma Files, James Alan Gardner, Bev Geddes, Erika Holt, Tyler Keevil, Rich Larson, Derwin Mak, Mahtab Narsimhan, Sherry Peters, Ursula Pflug, Robert Runté, Lorina Stephens, Amanda Sun, Hayden Trenholm, Edward Willett, A.C. Wise, Julie E. Czerneda (Introduction).

What would your world be like without someone or something to care for or to care with? What if there are no front-line workers? From the world of twenty-three speculative fiction authors comes a gift that can be funny, heartwarming, strange, sad,or not what we expect.

Aurora Award winner.

Authors:Colleen Anderson, Charlotte Ashley, Brenda Cooper, Ian Creasey,A.M. Dellamonica, Bev Geddes, Claire Humphrey, Sandra Kasturi, Tyler Keevil, Juliet Marillier, Matt Moore, Heather Osborne, Nisi Shawl, Alex Shvartsman, Kate Story, Karina Sumner-Smith, Amanda Sun, Hayden Trenholm, James Van Pelt, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Edward Willett, Christie Yant, Caroline M. Yoachim; Dominik Parisien(Introductio

Take a journey through Asia and beyond with twenty-three original thought-provoking and moving stories about identities, belonging, and choices—stories about where we come from and where we are going. Each wrestling between ghostly pasts and uncertain future.

Alberta Book Publishing Award winner.

Authors: Anne Carly Abad, Deepak Bharathan, Joyce Chng, Miki Dare, S.B. Divya, Pamela Q. Fernandes, Calvin D. Jim, Minsoo Kang, Fonda Lee, Gabriela Lee, Karin Lowachee, Rati Mehrotra, E.C. Myers, Tony Pi, Angela Yuriko Smith, Priya Sridhar, Amanda Sun, Naru Dames Sundar, Jeremy Szal, Regina Kanyu Wang (translated by Shaoyan Hu), Diana Xin, Melissa Yuan-Innes, Ruhan Zhao, Elsie Chapman(Introducti

Capone’s Chicago – Where heroes can be villains, villains can be heroes, and the rules change every day.

Life has dealt Howard Russell a bad hand. After two failed careers and one failed marriage, all Howard wants is to keep his head down and let someone else play the hero. But life isn’t finished with Howard, and thrusts him into an alternate reality where the mob rules Chicago and the lines between hero and villain are blurred. Once again, Howard must attempt to play the hero. But in this story, Howard could very well be the villain. The rules have all changed and Howard must rediscover not only himself, but the very meaning of good and evil.

A Diary in the Age of Water follows the climate-induced journey of Earth and humanity through four generations of women, each with a unique relationship to water. "Evoking Ursula LeGuin's unflinching humane and moral authority, Nina Munteanu takes us into the lives of four generations of women and their battles against a global giant that controls and manipulates Earth's water."--Lynn Hutchinson Lee.

A devastating disease. A world on the brink of violent change. And one woman who can save it or destroy it all. Julie Crane must confront the will of the ambitious virus lurking inside her to fulfill her final destiny as Darwin's Paradox, the key to the evolution of an entire civilization. Darwin's Paradox is a novel about a woman s fierce love and her courageous journey toward forgiveness, trust, and letting go to the tide of her heart.

When Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke investigates the genocide of an entire spiritual sect, she collides not only with dark intrigue but with her own tarnished past. Her quest for justice catapults Rhea into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty and toward an unbearable truth she's hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man. "Outer Diverse" is the first of the Splintered Universe Trilogy.

Barrat Trelner has two careers: assassin and financial analyst. Targeted by the police after a massive market crash, he hides his illegal activities in an innocent personality. He seeks justice for those affected by the crash and the police’s Interrogation Clinic.

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Barrat and his mentor Kerit are hired by a grieving widow to discover who murdered her husband, a small business owner. The police quickly closed that case as a simple mugging. The team discovers a serial killer with a love of diamonds is behind many other deaths.

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In his first semester at university, Barrat has an unusual job offer: to become an assassin. Only those thwarting true justice will be his targets. Can he reconcile his upbringing and moral compass with the reality of Kerit’s offer?

E-book only

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Jaren Alanyo and his father are targeted in a hostile, internal corporate takeover attempt. Illegal mind-control techniques can turn trusted allies into unseen enemies. Can Sanil's love for Jaren be the crucial factor in their survival?

Ebook, Print

https://www.facebook.com/Lee-F-Patrick-1082436225219498/

Sergeant Karl Jansenn is chosen for a black project producing telepaths for the government. It succeeds. The survivors become a liability after their existence is revealed. Can they survive?

E-book only

https://www.facebook.com/Lee-F-Patrick-1082436225219498/

I don't trust my new client, but his offer is one I can't refuse. Someone is on a worldwide killing spree, and the only person who can be trusted to bring the murderer to justice is—me. I hate it when that happens.

The last time demons were involved in a case I had to decide the fate of the world. Now I have to move heaven and hell to stop the killer before the spree becomes a global catastrophe.

Humanity's survival depends on my expertise with romantic relationships. We are so screwed.

Anthology edited by E.D.E. Bell

Eclectic, imaginative, and unexpected, Community of Magic Pens features forty genre-spanning flash and short stories—including fantasy, humor, science fiction, romance, historical fiction, satire, and mystery—bringing together a rich group of diverse voices from a wide range of backgrounds and intersections. Holly Schofield's surprisingly timely tale examines the creation of a "new normal " and a possible way to vastly improve the world.

Anthology edited by Sarena Ulibarri

This anthology envisions winters of the future, with stories of scientists working together and regular people rising to extraordinary circumstances Even when the nights are long, the future is bright in these seventeen diverse tales. Holly Schofield's story is set near Banff, Alberta -- a teenaged engineer struggles to save her intentional community.

Anthology edited by Eric Bosarge and Joe McDermott

Disruptive technology creates new opportunities for crime. On distant worlds and those not unlike our own, struggling humans commit terrible acts to survive, and artificial intelligence breaks all boundaries for love, steals human identities, and solves impossible mysteries. Holly Schofield's story features terraforming, BASE jumping, and murder!

A country consists of the stories we tell about it. National myths—not all of them based in reality—define how we look at our past and how we consider our future. Sometimes we can only see the truth by contemplating how it all might have been different. By seeing how different choices lead to different outcomes we can better understand how the choices we make now will determine the future we will all live in. Greatness is always a matter of choice, not chance.

49th Parallels offers 20 stories and 5 poems by writers from coast to coast in Canada and abroad which answer the questions: how might it have been different and how might things change?

Conflicts over resources are as old as human history.

Climate change, along with continued population expansion and changes to the world economic order, adds a significant new factor to the equation. We can live without diamonds and gold, we can even find alternatives to oil, but water, food, land, and air are irreplaceable.

Blood & Water presents an impressive collection of writers representing every region of the country whose stories are set from coast to coast to coast.

Mostly science fiction, with a sprinkling of the fantastic, Blood and Water presents a bleak future – but also offers hope and even joy.

Perhaps that is the ‘uniquely Canadian perspective’- every conflict has a

Found naked and alone in a locked room. The beautiful woman was in perfect health - except she was dead...

It's 2043 and much has changed: nuclear war, biotechnology and all-powerful corporations have ruled the world...

Now science is taking DNA manipulation to new, unrestricted levels.

Superintendent Frank Steele is an old-fashioned cop. He commands a small, elite police unit that is handed all of the bizarre and baffling cases no one else can solve. He knows the money, the murders, missing persons and gruesome body shops are all connected.

He knows it starts with the girl...

When Frank Steele retired from the police force to work as a private detective, he left behind more foes than friends. His girlfriend Nancy disappears in a high-tech abduction, no trace of her assailants to be found.

Steele has a good idea what his long-time enemies want from him in exchange for Nancy, but he isn’t willing to put control into the wrong hands. Fighting to survive amidst the treachery and power struggles of society's elite, he is haunted by the remnants of his dead son's memories. His new Borg implants introduce him to unimaginable physical capabilities and a final understanding of the intricacies of Borg culture.

Four dead Borg and counting. Serial killer, gang violence or civil war? While the Special Detection Unit hunts for answers, a terrified family searchs for their Disappeared daughter, and war between society's elites takes an even nastier turn. Borg and genetic technology is evolving exponentially and Frank Steele finds himself up against unfathomable enemies.

Franks needs to find the key that ties it all together. He's sworn to protect every citizen. It's his duty as a cop. But now it's gotten personal and Frank has to face the ultimate test - investigating the death of his own son.

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When Randi discovers a mysterious mark on her skin that matches an illustration in A Handbook on Paragonhood, she’s thrown into a world of powerful gods and ancient magic that she thought only existed in the myths. She’ll have to step out of her comfort zone to find a way to protect herself and the people she loves.

Randi’s not the only one with a secret, and she finds herself questioning who she can trust. With the fate of the world on the line, can she live up to being one of the chosen?

A trip to England sounds like a grand adventure, but Laurel Rowan can’t escape from her true reality. Her mother is terminally ill, and her father needs her to go so he can spend his time at the hospital. On a train to Penzance, Laurel meets a new friend, Coll. On the property of her host, she stumbles upon a magical spring. There she meets the White Lady, who offers her a chance at gaining her heart’s true desire, if only she can solve a riddle.

Laurel Rowan is happy to be home in Alberta and excited that Coll Hazel is coming from Cornwall for a visit. She’s looking forward to showing around him the ranch. The visit doesn’t turn out as she imagined when the plight of a band of wild horses comes to her attention. Laurel is angry and frustrated that her childhood friend Chance, the boy on the neighboring ranch, and his father are determined to round up the wildies and send them to the meat packers. Laurel, Coll, and Chance’s sister, Carly, embark on a mission to rescue the horses and find a protected place where they can live wild and free.

Fourteen year old Grace doesn’t know it yet, but she’s been around for three thousand years waiting to fulfill her destiny to become one of the Three Graces of Greek Mythology. Forces are battling for her love, her body and her destiny. Now all she needs to do is survive the war.

This is the omnibus that includes both Grace Awakening Dreams (set in Calgary) and Grace Awakening Power (set in BC). Two books for the price of one!

Jessica never thought it would go this far. Trapped in her own basement with a monster who’d already eaten one of her friends and couldn’t wait to sink its shadowy claws into her.

If she’d just ignored the visions. Ignored the way the laws of physics seemed to be wavering. But you can’t look away once you’ve seen real evil.

Her name was a joke at school. Her parents thought she was either already on drugs, or should be. And, her only allies were just as fragile and confused as her.

There's one thing this killer from the past hadn’t counted on...When the going gets weird, the tough are useless. You need a geek.

When the world goes crazy, it helps to have a head start.

Mutant science projects, a troubled werewolf, and other magic-related dangers are Jessica’s new normal, but someone has started targeting the students of Coldwater High with powerful curses, and she’s a suspect. A serious mistake forces her to question whether she deserves Drew and Michiru’s loyalty, and with the gatekeeper’s alien influence in her head, she’s not even sure she can trust herself.

Just as Jessica realizes she has also been hit with a lethal curse, a disastrously magical Valentine’s Day leaves her cut off from friends and forces her to put her life in the hands of her worst enemy.

Theo, a 17-yr-old, chubby, gay baker, is entered into a cooking competition by his best friend at Toronto's trendiest restaurant. As he progresses through the contest, Theo gains the attentions of sexy, celebrity chef, KCC, who is more interested in heating things up outside the kitchen. How far is Theo willing to go to launch his career?

Driving with her Dad to visit Aunt May is his idea of how to help Tina out of a depression that's lasted months. But the highway is boring, the weather is hot, and she's seen enough rocks and sticks for a lifetime. Tina is so preoccupied with her thoughts and memories, she hardly sees the world changing around her. When Tina and her Dad stop in a small town that hasn't changed much since 1918, it's a chance for her thoughts and memories to shuffle into an order that might make a little more sense. As she shifts from childhood to youth, from present to past and future, she's thinking of how to connect her music with people. As Tina says, just ordinary life but as if it counted.

On a remote, unspoiled planet along the outskirts of the galaxy, a desperate remnant of outcast humanity struggles for survival. But which is the greater threat? The enemy from without? Or the enemy within? Against a backdrop of slavery, outlawed technology, dubious prognostication, and sought-after telepathy, an orphan girl must help an arrogant prince discover his own true self as deadly forces conjoin to eradicate humankind.

Seventeen-year-old Camden splits her time between her father, a minor rock star, and her mom, a scruffy “hardware geek” who designs and implements temporary and sustainable power systems and satellite linkups for off-grid music and healing festivals. Camden prefers staying with her dad but one summer, Camden accompanies her mother, Laureen, to a healing camp on a mountain in Northern California. After their arrival, Laureen heads to San Francisco to find her lover, but she never comes back. Alone, penniless, and without much in the way of camping skills, Camden must forget everything she’s ever known to survive.

In a dark parallel world, following attacks by its most determined opponents, the Ministry has been forced to change its plans. Yet the ruthless Director-General is prepared to sacrifice anyone to achieve an entirely new beginning, no matter what the cost. In a deadly race against time, as events spiral out of control, Ben and Charlie must risk their lives in a desperate attempt to save two worlds from destruction.

Andrew Mitchell was one of the leading experts in highly advanced technology in Silicon Valley, until he vanished following a car accident, which also injured his son, Alex.

When a mysterious app later appears on Alex’s phone, he and his friend Stephanie embark on a terrifying journey involving secret technology, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and murder in a desperate bid to save the future from the sinister Veronica Castlewood.

On a doomed version of Earth, the sinister schemes of the Ministry are moving ever closer to completion, with dire consequences for the inhabitants of two worlds. For Ben and Charlie, an unlikely alliance, unexpected reunions, and the mysterious prophecy of the Chosen One offer a glimmer of hope, with the ever-present prospect of betrayal, as they embark on an unpredictable journey into the unknown.

While watching intense flashes of lightning during a violent storm, Ben experiences mysterious and disturbing visions of another world, one very different from his own. In the chain of events that follow, Ben encounters Charlie, a girl from a dark version of Earth, a planet doomed by the effects of environmental catastrophe, where the leaders will stop at nothing to complete their deadly mission.

Flashback - Max sees a boy that no one else can, who reveals twenty-year-old secrets that someone will go to deadly lengths to keep concealed. Max must leap into his friend’s past, not knowing how his actions will affect his own reality.

Twisted Fate - On a mission across multiple, shifting timelines and pursued at every turn by the ruthless Kane, Max and Julia engage in a desperate race against time to transform their own destinies.

Parallel Destiny - The borders between realities are thinning following Alastair Hammond’s experiments into the existence of parallel universes. Marooned within alternate timelines, Max and Julia must save the very fabric of reality from Hammond’s deadly

Anthology edited by Corie and Sean Weaver

The 24 stories in this 432-page book all examine the "what if " of science fiction, filling a much-needed gap of short speculative fiction for middle grade readers. Holly Schofield's story is about a young girl on a generation ship coming to terms with both her grandmother’s recent death and a shipboard crisis — intense topics for young readers!

In the forbidden West Woods, Ava stumbles on the secret fountain that has granted wishes to St. Augustus students for generations. Unknowingly, she watches the coin she tosses disappear and with it the world around her as she knows it.

In a quest to undo the damage she’s done, she and alumni kid Ethan break every campus rule unravelling a tangled web of history. Ava discovers that what’s right isn’t always clear and finds herself torn between a love she’s always known and one she has yet to explore.

The Fountain was a Prix Aurora Award 2016 Finalist For Best Young Adult Novel.

Courtney Wallis wants nothing more than to escape St. Augustus boarding school. After uncovering a well-kept secret about the school’s founder, Isaac Young, Courtney turns to the school’s magic to convince her dad to let her leave. Things take a turn when she meets Cole, who lives in the nearby town of Evergreen. He gives her hope that things might not be so bad. However, the school's fountain has other ideas, and binds Courtney to her ambition, no matter the cost.

As Courtney struggles to keep the magic from taking over, she and her friends get drawn into the mystery woven into the school’s fabric. Everything seems to lead back to the forbidden West Woods. Together, she and her fri

Hidden deep in the woods is a secret fountain that has granted St. Augustus students’ wishes for nearly a century, including the wish responsible for Ava’s very existence. When she learns that the woods will soon be destroyed to make way for a new road, Ava must do whatever it takes to save the fountain, or risk her own life being erased.

New girl Courtney knows more about the school’s magic than she’s letting on and has something to gain from the fountain’s destruction. Joining forces with Courtney seems the only way to stop the road, but Ava and Courtney share a thorny past. Trusting her is impossible, but if she doesn’t, Ava could disappear forever.

"2018 AURORA AWARD WINNER For BEST YA NOVEL"

Addie Stevens is a dedicated underachiever with a serious allergy to attention. When an enigmatic boy with piercing gold eyes stalks her, she can’t shake him. And when she’s attacked by other-worldly hunters called the Denagali, it’s her stalker, Eris, who saves her.

Addie doesn’t trust Eris, but every passing moment she stays with her family thrusts them deeper into Denagali danger. She flees with him to the sanctuary Kettlescon, but once there she’s far from safe. Secrets and rumors swirl around her like battle blades when Addie’s unique “talents” suggest that her blood might be the oldest of them all...

Where do you hide from yourself?

Zale Teague grew up thinking he was an ordinary boy—until the day he called lightning from the skies and caused an explosion with horrific results. Now, at only eleven, he is on the run across England to protect his loved ones from disaster. But can he ever outrun the demon within?

Award-winning Between the Cracks series

If you asked Ruby, she’d tell you she’s happy with her life. She’s tough and independent and doesn’t depend on anyone else. The road that has led her here has not been easy, and she’s blocked a lot of it from her memory.

But things aren’t as rosy as she would have everyone believe, and the road ahead of her is filled not only with gangs, drugs, and depression, but other challenges that Ruby hasn’t even imagined.

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