In Other Worlds - Manitoba Writers Tackle the Fantastic
Thursday, Sep 06, 2012 at 2:21pm
Chadwick Ginther
Ginther's first published story, First Light, appeared in the Summer 2011 issue of On Spec, the premier Canadian magazine of speculative fiction. More recently, his story Back in Black has been anthologized in Tesseracts Sixteen, which came out in August. He is also a regular reviewer for Quill and Quire, Prairie Books NOW and The Winnipeg Review. But more to the point, he's been a stalwart and enthusiastic bookseller at McNally Robinson Booksellers' Grant Park store for over ten years, and we're all delighted to be able to get our hands on his first novel, Thunder Road, which is also the first book in his fantasy series featuring Ted Callan.
It turns out Manitoba is a magical land full of Norse gods and supernatural beings. When three stout men assault Ted in his Osborne Street hotel room, he doesn't like his chances of getting out alive. But when he comes to, he discovers he's more than alive. His body is covered in an elaborate Norse tattoo that gives him the power of the Gods. And he's going to need every ounce of that power as he sets off on a journey that leads him from Winnipeg to Gimli and finally to Flin Flon for a showdown of mythological proportions.
Karen Dudley
The author of four environmental mysteries featuring research scientist and amateur sleuth Robyn Devara (Hoot to Kill, Shortlisted for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel; Red Heron; Macaws of Death; Ptarmageddon), delivers a mystery set in the nasty world of Greek mythology entitled Food for the Gods. Pelops' troubles begin when his father chops him into stewing meat and serves him to the gods for tea. Although he's remade and given a talent for the culinary arts, he's not his old self. But things go from bad to worse when a courtesan drowns in a vat of his olive oil and his clients begin to stay away in droves. Pelops asks the gods for help, but when they turn him down, he realizes he alone must find the woman's killer to salvage his reputation.
David Annandale
David Annandale
is the author of three thrillers featuring rogue warrior Jen Blaylock: Crown Fire, Kornukopia, and The Valedictorians, but he has a hankering for the kind of dark tales that make your skin crawl. His horror fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and he has a novel from Black Library coming in 2013. Enjoy Annandale's unique brand of horror in his new novel Gethsemane Hall, which has just hit the shelves. Richard Gray, grieving over the loss of his wife and daughter, learns that his ancestral home, Gethsemane Hall, holds the secret of what lies beyond the grave. The skeptics think they know what's going on at Gethsemane. So do the religious. So do the spiritualists. So Gray lets them all in, these people who think they're coming for the truth. What they don't know is that the truth is coming for them.
| Categories: buzz, SciFi & Fantasy, Winnipeg, New Releases, Horror |
See:
Thunder Road
- Chadwick Ginther 
Trade paperback
$16.00
Reader Reward Price: $14.40
Winner of the 2014 Michael Van Rooy Award for Genre Fiction as well as the 2013 Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher. In a flash, Ted Callan's world exploded. Now he's on the road looking for a fresh start. What he finds is a mysterious young woman named Tilda who tells him he's destined for more than an ordinary life. When three stout men assault Ted in his hotel room, ordinary starts to look very appealing. The next thing he knows, his body is covered in an elaborate Norse tattoo, complete with the power of the Gods. Accompanied by the trickster Loki and the beguiling Tilda, Ted wants nothing more than to have his old life back. No more tattoos. No more mystic powers. No more smart-ass Gods. The problem is, if he succeeds, it might just be the end of the world.
Red Heron
- Karen Dudley
Trade paperback
$16.95
Reader Reward Price: $15.26
The Red Heron is the second book in the Robyn Devara Mystery Series. As in her first book, Hoot to Kill, Karen Dudley creates an intriguing mystery with a background in environmental issues. This time we go to Holbrook to clean up an abandoned pesticide plant.
Gethsemane Hall
- David Annandale
Trade paperback
$22.99
Reader Reward Price: $20.69
Sometimes the truth will make you bleed.
The skeptics think they know what's going on at Gethsemane Hall. So do the religious. So do the spiritualists. They're all wrong. Richard Gray, grieving over the loss of his wife and daughter, learns that his ancestral home holds the secret of what lies beyond the grave. And all of a sudden, everybody wants a piece of Gethsemane Hall.
Louise Meacham wants in because a fellow CIA agent committed suicide there, and she has to put the ghost rumours to rest to get her career back. Anna Pertwee wants in because she's determined to save the ghosts from the unbelievers and the debunkers. Patrick Hudson wants in because he has to save Gray's soul.
So Gray will let them all in, these people who think they're coming for the truth. What they don't know is that the truth is coming for them.
Crown Fire
- David Annandale
Trade paperback
$10.99
Reader Reward Price: $9.89
When Canadian Forces soldier Jen Blaylock's father -- an investigative
journalist -- and the rest of her family are murdered in an attempt to
cover up illegal arms sales, Blaylock abandons military life to exact
vengence on the multi-national conglomerate she deems responsible. But
bitter revenge soon becomes entwined with uncommon valor as Blaylock and
her man on the inside, Mike Flanagan, struggle to uncover Integrated
Security's conspiracy to trigger global chaos.
Kornukopia
- David Annandale
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$11.99
Reader Reward Price: $10.79
Jen Blaylock, David Annandale’s Canadian–Forces-soldier-gone -rogue, is back with a new globe-spanning mission, a bigger arsenal and another head-spinning body count.
Don't miss this pulse-pounding sequel to the hit 2002 thriller Crown Fire... or don't miss this oppurtunity to acquaint yourself with Jen Blaylock, Ananndale's tough-as-nails addition to the Canadian literary scene!
The Valedictorians
- David Annandale
Trade paperback
$16.00
Reader Reward Price: $14.40
Russian arms company Kornukopia is in flames, and the one-woman war machine, Jen Blaylock, is having second thoughts about letting CIA Deputy Director of Operations Joe Chapel live. From his hospital bed in northern Europe, Chapel, self-proclaimed saviour of the USA, plots to kill Blaylock and his former ally, Sam Reed, the president of the United States. To do his all-American duty, he enlists the help of South American dictator General Jorge Quintero. To stop him, Blaylock will have to raise her own army and wage war right to the steps of the Capitol Building. The third episode in the Jen Blaylock series, following Crownfire (Ravenstone 2002) and Kornukopia (Ravenstone 2004), The Valedictorians finds Blaylock torn between her need for retribution and her responsibility to Flanagan, her lover, and the men following her into the breach. Will Blaylock drown in her unquenchable thirst for revenge, or find redemption with all debts paid? As the body count rises and the action explodes off the page, David Annandale's epic action-thriller will have you glued to your seat until the dust finally settles.
