by Ivonne Spinoza We like to think of villains as fun rebels these days. Characters like Loki from the Thor movies are fan favorites, and we even love questionable anti-heroes such as the modern interpretations of Sherlock we’ve gotten in recent years. If you look further, though, this sort of playful acceptance of attitudes that...
Category: Fiction
Fiction: Death Friend by Nora Bailey
I died for the sixth time on the night of my thirtieth birthday. It was highly annoying—after making it through my whole twenties alive, it had been too easy to think that I’d finally become normal. Damn, I can just hear my mother now. “What is normal and who says so anyway?” Okay, fine. But...
Friday’s Forgotten Books: The Resurrectionist by Wrath James White
The Resurrectionist is a horror story by Wrath James White. It is primarily split between two narratives. One follows Dale McCarthy, who has an unusual power and a disturbed mind. He can bring the dead back to life, and his ability intertwines with his perverse desire to kill over and over again so that he...
On The Grill: Dea Poirier talks about issues with the media, likable & unlikable characters, trauma, and the hardest part of writing her new book, Beneath the Ashes
Dea Poirier’s new book, Beneath the Ashes, is on sale today. You can read my review here. Sandra Ruttan: Your debut novel, Next Girl to Die, came out in May of this year. You’re about to have book 2 be released in a few weeks. Can you tell us about the best author moment you had when...
11 Indigenous Canadian Children’s Books To Read To Your Children
by Margaret Kingsbury In honor of Canadian History Week (Nov. 18-24) and Native American Heritage Month (November), we’ve gathered these eleven children’s books by Indigenous creatures to celebrate the rich cultures of Indigneous persons from Canada. While some of these children’s books tell stories from the past, others place Indigenous peoples in contemporary times. It’s...
Friday’s Forgotten Books: Take the Long Way Home by Brian Keene
Four work colleagues who carpool together from Baltimore to Shrewsbury are in an accident. One is killed instantly. Another has disappeared. Turns out, their friend isn’t the only one missing. Traffic accidents and driverless vehicles have plugged the Interstate. Nobody is moving. And all cell lines are down. Have there been mass alien abductions? Is...
Fiction: The Price of a Word by Laura Jane Swanson
Content warning: stillbirth Tamsin was sweeping away the last of the spell when the door opened. She squinted against the sunshine, bright even with someone standing in the doorway. Had the mother brought the child back? His fever had broken as soon as the dust of Tamsin’s spell had fallen on him. Surely that was enough....
On The Grill: Nick Kolakowski on Storytelling, Social Media, and how Hurricane Sandy led to Maxine
Sandra Ruttan: Total geek writer question. You chose to segment this story and allude to missing gaps in Maxine’s history. Did you write those bits or outline what happened during those gaps? Nick Kolakowski: I did not write those bits! But I know what happens during them. I’ve been trying mightily over the past few...
Review: Beyond the Gate by Mary SanGiovanni
A research team discovers a gateway to another world. The company they work for is anxious to exploit the discovery. Then one of their staff dies in a way that defies comprehension and their team of scientists go missing on the other side of the gate, forcing the company to reach out to others for...
Friday’s Forgotten Books: Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Moon of the Crusted Snow introduces us to an Anishinaabe community in northern Ontario, where some of the Indigenous residents still hunt and fish and hold to the ways of their people. Others have lapsed into complacency, coddled by the creature comforts they’ve become accustomed to. The first sign that anything is wrong is when...