Storyteller Magazine - New & Notable


Here's our collection of all things new and notable at, about, or by Storyteller Magazine!

	You Had Me At ARRGH!! by Ken Goldman is now available. Ken Goldman's collection of short stories about ghosts, sex, murder, revenge, and sex, You Had Me At ARRGH!!, is a perfect-bound trade paperback, with illustrations and cover by acclaimed artist Tom Moran. The titles include: "Wood River Honey," "Skin Flick," "More Than I'd Hoped For, Less Than I'd Dreamed," "Good Samaritan," and the ghost love story "Deep Kiss Tuesday." In addition to these "five uneasy pieces," You Had Me At ARRGH!! includes a bonus story, "Memories of Dragons Slain." All in all, You Had Me At ARRGH!! is a well-crafted collection for those who appreciate outstanding dark tales.

	Storyteller congratulates Barbara Fradkin on her 2007 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Canadian Crime Novel for Honour Among Men, the 5^th novel in the award winning Inspector Green series, and the 2^nd consecutive Ellis win for this accomplished author. The fifth book in the Inspector Green series finds Green eager to get back into the day-to-day fray of policing after doing administrative work in the office. He gets his chance when an unidentified woman is drowned in the Ottawa River. The investigation leads Green to Nova Scotia, where he learns the woman was the witness to her fiance's killing in a bar fight 10 years earlier. As Green and his team dig deeper into the military past, one of his female detectives is brutally beaten and may die. Green finds himself sucked not only into the murky past of a peacekeeping unit, but into the high-stakes present of a federal election race.

	Congratulations to Storyteller author Michael McPherson! Michael's science fiction short, Acclimatization, just won third prize in the James Patrick Baen Memorial Writing Contest sponsored by Jim Baen's Universe and the National Space Society. The official announcement will appear at http://www.baens-universe.com/ after the International Space Development Conference (where first prize will be awarded) on May 28th. No stranger to awards, Mike's story Working with Psychos won first prize in the 2006 Great Canadian Story Contest. Working with Psychos was Mike's eighth story for Storyteller Magazine and his fifth consecutive appearance in the Great Canadian Story Contest. Can he go six for six? Check out our upcoming Great Canadian Issue to find out!

	Running Toward Home is the first novel from author Betty Jane Hegerat! Running Toward Home reveals the complex relationships surrounding a foster child, and the fine line between protection and standing in the way of life lessons. For twenty-four hours the Calgary Zoo becomes the entire world, and the lines between the nurturing instincts in animals and humans become blurred.

	The Rock 'n' Roll adventures of Dak Sifter continue in Featherless Bipeds, the sequel to the popular, award-nominated Cheeseburger Subversive, by Storyteller favourite Richard Scarsbrook. There is no distorting the unwavering pull of guys to rock 'n' roll bands, and when Dak Sifter builds his band, the "Featherless Bipeds", he has every intention of enjoying the ride.

	The Fragrant Garden is now available from Storyteller author Day's Lee: Jade is a curious nine-year-old who likes to help out at her family's Chinese restaurant, The Fragrant Garden, after school. Though she is often allowed to help set tables or clean up, she longs to be part of the more exciting tasks such as helping in the kitchen or using the cash register. Her father thinks she is too young for these responsibilities - until a fire breaks out in the kitchen. Jade's quick-thinking response wins her praise and her father reconsiders her request for more responsibility at the Fragrant Garden. This playful character will win the hearts and minds of all who know and love a lively, precocious youngster.

	The Dead Don't Get Out Much is the latest Camilla McPhee mystery from Mary Jane Maffini: It's the Year of the Veteran and that means a lot to Camilla's friend, Mrs. Violet Parnell. But Mrs. P. claims to have had a conversation with a dead man, which sets her on a journey to discover how that could be. Since she doesn't mention that she's leaving or where she's going, naturally this triggers a protectionist panic with Camilla and Alvin. Mrs. Parnell is well past eighty and, according to the emergency room doctors, it seems likely she's suffered a series of mini-strokes. Meanwhile, the extraordinarily patient Ray Deveau's been planning a romantic trip for Camilla and himself, but looks like that just fell off Camilla's radar. So it's a transatlantic trauma as Camilla doggedly tracks Mrs. Parnell through the hills of Italy in search of old secrets with deadly ramifications in the present. Will she find Mrs. P. before someone with good reason to silence her does? Will Ray Deveau quit trying to get together? Will Alvin redecorate Camilla's new digs? Will those sisters ever shut up? What a nightmare.

	When Boomers Go Bad is the latest collection of wicked tales from the Ladies' Killing Circle: This newest anthology of short crime fiction from the Ladies’ Killing Circle takes a spirited look at baby boomers as they go from young, hairy and hip to old, bald and bad. The children of the sixties are are up to no good in another wicked anthology from this prolific collective of writers. The editors, themselves celebrated short crime fiction writers, have assembled such luminaries of crime fiction as H. Mel Malton, Lou Allin, Vicki Cameron and Melanie Fogel, as well as Arthur Ellis Award winners Barbara Fradkin, Mary Jane Maffini and Sue Pike. (NB: The above text was taken (mostly) verbatim from the publisher's press release, and in no way should be misconstrued as a shameless act of self-promotion by Storyteller editor, Melanie Fogel :-)

	From Ellis Award nominee and Storyteller author Andrew Salmon comes The Forty Club -- a hilarious and insightful tale of aging and its consequences. Jack Russo is turning forty and there's not much he can do about it. He's had a lifetime to get ready for this milestone but nothing can prepare him for what he is about to face. For you see, turning forty means more than just candles on a birthday cake. It comes with the expectation that one will join the Forty Club, leaving Jack faced with a decision which will change his world forever. In fact, you might say his life depends on it. Well, no one ever said getting old was easy. Don't trust anyone over thirty? That's a laugh! It's the older crowd you've got to watch out for. The book is available at: www.lulu.com/content/121377.