And so it ends....

... sailing off over the wine-dark sea, or at least taking the ferry from Victoria over the deep blue Strait of Georgia

Into the sunset... (or rather away from it since the ferry is actually going east).

...back to Alberta where the sky is wider and the land flatter but the authors and publishers as expert at their craft as any in the country.

With thanks to:

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts for funding support and encouragement to give away as many books by Alberta authors and from Alberta publishers as humanly possible;

Mystery Writers Ink for sponsoring the Writing the Open Range panel;

The following publishers who donated books:

University of Calgary Press
University of Alberta Press
Folklore Publishing
Lone Pine Publishing
Cormorant Books
Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
TouchWood Editions/Brindle & Glass Publishing

And authors Garry Ryan, Sharon Wildwind, Joan Donaldson-Yarmey, Susan Calder, and Anthony Bidulka who donated books and items to the prize basket and promoted the panel, and were all-round good ambassadors for Alberta's many fine writers.

We had a wonderful time at Bloody Words 2011. Thanks for allowing us to represent Alberta authors and publishers

Sincere Best Wishes from

Jayne Barnard & Anne Jayne

Hummingbird Dance - Garry Ryan

A Hummingbird Dance begins with a disappearance connected to an unsolved murder.  When Detectives Lane and Harper investigate the death of a sixteen-year-old First Nations man, they begin to unravel a series of killings. They must also deal with complex family issues while risking their lives to uncover the truth behind the killings.

More on this book and Garry Ryan


This book was given away to a mystery reader at Bloody Words thanks to funding support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Lucky Elephant Restaurant - Garry Ryan

The Lucky Elephant Restaurant
Garry Ryan
NeWest Press

Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail (Canadian Crime Books):
"Ryan’s forte is Calgary, and it shows in his precise descriptions and great images. Lane and Harper are fine characters who deserve a series."



Copies of this book were given away with funding support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Alberta Author Garry Ryan - panelist

Panelist Garry Ryan is author of four published novels in the Detective Lane series set in Calgary. His fifth novel, Malabarista, comes out in September 2011.

Writing Crime on the prairies

"Every time I leave Calgary, one of the many things I look forward to upon returning is the sight of the Rocky Mountains on that western horizon. The there is the wide-open sky looking east to the horizon. It’s that combination of the sheer massiveness of the mountains on one side and that view to infinity on the other. It just seems to make almost anything possible.  Perhaps that’s why the imagination feels so powerful in this part of the world."

Garry

More about Garry and his novels here

 

Welcome to Writing the Open Range!

This blog chronicles Alberta crime books and crime writers at Bloody Words, Canada’s national conference on mystery fiction.
 
Your blog hosts are Jayne and Anne, better known from Mystery Writers Ink in Calgary.  Along with descriptions of panels we attend and mystery icons we meet in the elevator or the autograph line, we’ll feature books by Alberta writers and writers who set their mysteries in Alberta, along with crime novels and non-fiction published by Alberta publishers.

Many books will be given away to unsuspecting conference-goers. Some of the titles were donated by the authors and/or publishers, and many others were purchased with generous support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Mystery Writers Ink, a Calgary-based mystery writers group, sponsors the 'Writing the Open Range' Panel at 6:30 Friday evening, showcasing Alberta crime writers Garry Ryan, Sharon Wildwind and Susan Calder along with ex-Alberta writer Joan Donaldson-Yarmey. The amazing Anthony Bidulka, author of the Russell Quant mysteries, moderates.

For more news on the panel and the Ink authors, see the group's blog at  Mystery Writers Ink

A tip of the cowboy hat to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, whose support makes possible our promotion of Alberta books and publishers here at Bloody Words.

Jayne and Anne