A Post-Festival Post

Photo credit to AJ Proc

What a wild and wonderful weekend! 

From finally shaking hands with Sam Hiyate of The Rights Factory (my agent Olga's boss) at his seminar on Thursday through to a last meal with friends from far away at Sunday suppertime, it was one ever-flowing meet-and-greet with eager readers and other writers. all  passionate about their work and their genres. 

There were many more panels and presentations than I had a hope of getting to, and many great authors I either didn't get to meet or only nodded to as we rushed past each other in the hallways. This really is an amazing festival-slash-conference-slash-freewheeling party; one person can never see, let alone participate in, everything. 

My fun with panels began with a hilarious set of mysteries plotted from audience suggestion at "Who Killed this Character" ably moderated by Mahrie G. Reid of Calgary Crime Writers. Tying together parakeets, goats, blackmail and an air traffic controller with a victim and a murderer in under 15 minutes was no easy feat!

Photo credit to AJ Proc

Presenting this season's books with other Tyche Books authors was a blast. Time travel and kidnapping, ghosts and baseball, deep-dark Noir to light-bright Steampunk, Tyche has reading for every taste and age. Check out Axel Howerton's FURR, EC Bell's DYING ON SECOND, Simon Rose's TWISTED FATE,  Pat Flewwelling's upcoming HELIX: SCOURGE OF BONES   and of course MADDIE HATTER AND THE GILDED GAUGE.

Pat Flewwelling setting up her reading from her second HELIX book.

Later Saturday afternoon I had a howling good time debating all aspects of writing paranormal mystery with fellow panelists EC Bell, Erin Lindsey, and SG Wong: Ghosts and Fae, mythical and mystical dangers, magical systems and their limitations, and how to throw a challenging obstacle in the path of a character who can throw a fireball back. The audience of mainly mystery writers asked great questions and kept us on our toes. Panelists' personal ghost stories had us on the edge of our seats and shivering with the chill of the unknown.

SG Wong's latest!

Sunday's Elements of Suspense panel - featuring members of Sisters In Crime Canada West - was a real thinker. Old WWC hands SG Wong and Eileen Bell and me, along with newcomer Merrilee Robson, wrestled with the differences between suspense and tension and how to express them through our characters, plots, and settings. 

EC Bell, hiding her wicked wit behind a pale, cool facade

We all threw out examples of writers who do it well, and how we think they manage it. And we gave a collective whoop of delight at learning that the inimitable Deanna Raybourn will be coming to When Words Collide in 2018. #fangirling 

Photo credit to Constantine K

At the end of the day, Sisters in Crime Canada West presented Women of Mystery, moderated by the sparkling SG Wong (our chapter's president). We fabulous four presented our new books, told jokes, threw candy and gave away prizes. 

Look for SG Wong's  DEVIL TAKE THE HINDMOST and Merrilee's MURDER IS UNCOOPERATIVE as well as my second Maddie Adventure and Eileen's Marie Jenner mystery series (4th one, DYING ON SECOND, is coming out in September). 

The Maddie Hatter Adventures and I would also like to thank all the people who threw their coins and bills into my collection box for Girls Not Brides. The weekend total came to nearly $200 over just 4 panels, adding to the money raised at my Calgary and Edmonton book launches.

 Girls Not Brides empowers young women everywhere

Since Maddie herself was a runaway to avoid being pressured into marriage, it seemed fitting to collect for this very reputable organization that helps girls all over the world stay out of early/forced marriage and in school, learning whatever skills they need to become healthy, productive, independent citizens. I am thrilled that so many wonderful attendees at When Words Collide supported the cause, and wish to shout out to fellow crime writers SG Wong, Eileen Bell, and Erin Lindsey, who amplified my meager effort in word and in deed.

All in all, it was a marvelous weekend, one I'd happily repeat a lot sooner than this time next year. For now, farewell and happy reading/writing/listening to stories of your choosing.

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Tyche Books Halloween Triple Launch

On October 27th, Tyche Books held a combined Halloween and launch party at Owls Nest Books, featuring three of its authors who have appeared on this blog in the past week: Eileen Bell, Kevin Cockle, and Axel Howerton. 

Here are are some quick shots of the doings, courtesy of Kevin Jepson.

THE JOKER wasn't laughing during Axel Howerton's reading

Owls Nest Events Coordinator Sarah was busy as a bee all night.

Me practicing my ferocious glare

Voodoo priest guards Princess Leia from Han Solo, who is babysitting Chewie's youngest but on Endor. I'm not sure whose side the gypsy was on, or the witch.

All the crazies in costume. Thanks, Tyche Books and Owls Nest Books, for a great evening, and good luck to the three featured authors: Axel Howerton, Kevin Cockle, and Eileen Bell.

New Release Nugget: FURR by Axel Howerton

A New Release Nugget is a short piece about one new thing an author learned during the process of writing their new book, something they hope will encourage and inspire other writers as they navigate the swirling currents of creation and publication.

Calgary author Axel Howerton first came to my attention when his gritty PI caper, HOT SINATRA, appeared on the shortlist for the Arthur Ellis Award in the Best First Crime Novel category. 

I'm a sucker for a caper so there I was, nose-down in the misadventures of Moss Cole, PI. And thus was my admiration for Axel born. Not only is his writing quirky, atmospheric, and subtly hilarious, he's risen from his meek and retiring beginnings to the shady power behind Noir-Bar-YYC. Now that he's the Prairie VP for Crime Writers of Canada, he's also a big step closer to his not-so-secret plan for world domination
 
Here he is reflecting on what he learned while writing his newest, FURR, which bursts snarling onto the world this Thursday, October 27th at Owls Nest Books in Calgary.
 

Research. The bane of a lot of authors, and the downfall of many others. 

 

I tend to do a lot of research, get lost in it even. But sometimes it pays off in ways you can't possibly expect. In starting my new book Furr, I read a lot of werewolf fiction, from Guy Endore's The Werewolf of Paris to short stories by George R.R. Martin and Neil Gaiman. I did research on the Rocky Mountains, the Kootenay Indians, ancient Irish mythology, Chinese symbolism, the American pioneer plains, voodoo, 14th century witchcraft, and the 2014 Dodge Challenger. Usually, I cram all of this stuff into my brain at the beginning of a project, let it stew and simmer for a while, then let it seep into the cracks and corners of the work. Sure, I have to refer back to things, double-check my facts, but once I'm rolling, I'm rolling.

 

This time, having initially written the book in such a short time frame (the first draft was six or seven weeks in the fall of 2015) I had to kind of cram the research in as I went, and I discovered that it helped, rather than hindered, to be doing it while I was writing. Specifically, one little fact about wolves gave me a whole added layer of meaning. There's a repeated phrase: A strong wolf leads from behind. 

 

It's probably obvious what the meaning is, but the genesis of it was something I stumbled on in the 6th or 7th nature documentary I'd watched on wolves, not even really taking in information, so much as trying to saturate myself with the feeling of wolves, how they move, how they look... when something that had never been mentioned in my other research caught my attention.

When we think of the Alpha Wolf, we think of a tough, powerful and vicious animal, stronger than the rest, leading by example at the front of the pack.

What I learned, quite unexpectedly, was that the Alpha rings up the rear of the pack formation, in part to protect the stragglers - the weak and the young - and protect the pack from behind. He doesn't just lead the family into battle or on the hunt, he protects them from the darkness they might not see. That was a profound discovery for me, and fit so perfectly into my narrative that it became the shiny red cherry on top. 

So keep researching, keep immersing yourself in your subject matter. You never know what might find you at just the right time.

 

 

About FURR:  

From the South three sisters fair ran athwart the gloom… Dressed of fur and fierce of tooth, The maidens of the Moon.

Jimmy Finn is having a real bad day. He woke up drunk and on the wrong end of a nightstick. He lost his job, and had to see his shrink. Now the cops are after him, he’s falling apart, and his only friend is a volatile drug lord. How could it get any worse?

As smoke envelopes the city, he finds himself on the run, and out of time. He’s either losing his mind, or becoming a monster. Or maybe it’s both. Jimmy Finn has one last hope. A long-buried family secret, lost above a mysterious town in the mountains, full of bizarre shadows and a strange girl that haunts his memories.

 www.axelhow.com

bit.ly/AxelHowFurr

 

Axel will be celebrating and signing in Calgary on October 27th, at Owls Nest Books (815A 49th Avenue SW) during the Tyche Books Halloween Triple Launch

Artie's Alberta Welcome Party

Calgary Crime Writers' annual barbecue featured a tribute to the Arthur Ellis Awards, and a group photo of all its members who have been shortlisted:

Best First Novel:  Axel Howerton, 2014 (centre)

Best Unpublished First Crime Novel::

• Dwayne Clayden, 2015 (back row)
• Alice Bienia 2016 (left)
• Jayne Barnard 2011, 2016* (right)

* Winner of 2016 Dundurn Unhanged Arthur for When the Flood Falls, a suspenseful tale of danger, dogs and an out-of-control hockey player, all caught up in the swirling currents of the Elbow River in full flood.