This week saw the passing of Russell Hoban, an underrated giant of fantasy, experimental fiction, and children's literature.

Generations of readers will remember him for his wonderful children's picture books, including Bedtime for Frances and The Little Brute Family; others, for his 1980 post-apocalyptic masterpiece Riddley Walker, written entirely in a kind of devolved pidgin, and its brilliantly fractured take on British history, any recollection of which has been occluded by catastrophe.

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We at McNally Robinson are thrilled to host one of the most unique new voices in dark fantasy fiction here at the store this evening. Michael Rowe is an award-winning journalist, and literary nonfiction writer whose essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in many publications including the Globe & Mail, The Advocate, and The Huffington Post, as well as CFQ, The Scream Factory, All-Hallows, among many others. For 17 years he was the first-tier Canadian correspondent for Fangoria.

He has won the Lambda Literary Award, the Randy Shilts Award, and the Spectrum Award, and has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award, the Associated Church Press Award, and the International Horror Guild Award. As the creator and editor of the critically acclaimed horror anthologies Queer Fear and Queer Fear 2, he was hailed by Clive Barker in 2002 as having "changed forever the shape of horror fiction." He is married and lives in Toronto.

His first novel, Enter, Night is another triumph from independent publisher ChiZine Publications and is being launched in Winnipeg tonight at 7:30 pm at an event hosted by Winnipeg's own horror maestra Susie Moloney. This event is a homecoming of sorts, as Rowe attended St. John's Cathedral Boys' School in Selkirk from 1977 to 1981. More coverage of his time here and the book itself can be found in articles at the Winnipeg Free Press ("Enter, Anti-Twilight) and Outwords ("A vampire story from the heart").

Click "More... to see what Moloney, Christopher Rice and others have to say about this exceptional new work of vampire fiction...

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Childhood Under Seige - How Big Business Targets Children$32.00 add to cart

This is our Head Book Buyer, Chris Hall's list of his three most anticipated releases for August. They are,

Childhood Under Siege, by Joel Bakan. Joel Bakan is the writer of The Corporation. Childhood Under Siege is a behind the scenes look at the widespread manipulation of children by profit-seeking corporations and of society's failure to protect them.

The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes. Barnes is an old favourite who seems to be on the rise again with his last few books, particularly Pulse, his set of short stories released last spring.

Empty Family, by Colm Toibin. I read The Master a few years ago and found it to be too much Henry James. Unfortunately that made me write off Colm Toibin. I recently read Brooklyn though and now I know what the fuss is about. Empty Family is due out in paperback this month and I can now recommend Toibin enthusiastically.

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Started Early, Took My Dog$24.95 add to cart

With favourable reviews from The New York Times, Salon, and The Wall Street Journal. I had to read Kate Atkinson's Started Early, Took My Dog.

Kate Atkinson did not disappoint. In the reviews she is praised for her plotting, but she's also at work on deeper levels and Started Early, Took My Dog becomes an extended and multi-faceted exploration of parenting and love, and of the ways people fail to protect children. This could turn out bleak, but Atkinson's characters are well crafted, and their depth, and humour save it.

For an audio extract of Started Early, Took My Dog, click here.