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

After the Bloody Words Banquet, it was One Careless Moment

Kate Derie, better known as Cluelass, and as editor of the Deadly Directory series, got a a warm smile when presented with a copy of  One Careless Moment by Alberta author Dave Hugelschaffer, courtesy of Dave's publisher, Cormorant Books.

Later that evening, Jim Bottomley jumped on the same title, provided by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

And the following morning, there was no stopping Dave Olsen from Kamloops getting his fingers into the fire!

Cormorant donated additional copies which went to eager readers from Gibsons, Saskatoon and Victoria.

Dying By Degrees - Eileen Coughlan

Dying By Degrees

By Eileen Coughlan

Ravenstone

Emily Goodstriker and her friend Zac are working toward their masters degrees in psychology by conducting panic experiments on local street people... under the guidance of the brilliant but tyrannical Dr. Martin Mullarcant. After the annual graduate Christmas party, Emily's lab partner, Beth Wong, takes a dive out of a ten-story window. Emily is not convinced her friend committed suicide and takes it upon herself to find out what's really behind Beth's death. She continues Beth's work in Mullarcant's experiments but something is going drastically wrong.



Dying by Degrees was short-listed for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel in 2001.

Copies of this title were handed out at Bloody Words 2011 with funding support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.




                                                                                                           

Illegally Dead - Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

Illegally Dead
Joan Donaldson-Yarmey
Sumach Press


This isn't the first time travel-writer Elizabeth Oliver finds herself smack in the middle of a murder investigation. Crime seems to follow her around as closely as her cockapoo companion Chevy.

Determined to focus entirely on her work this trip, she sets out to explore the length of Alberta's Crowsnest Highway to research a new travel article. But no sooner has she settled into travel-writing mode than she is flagged down at a roadside crime scene. Human bones have just been discovered in an old septic tank on a property slated to be used for a new hog barn development.

Resisting the temptation to get involved, she arrives at her B&B only to find that her hostess' mother Peggy used to own the septic tank property, and may know more about the situation than she's letting on.



Copies of this book were handed out courtesy of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and Owl's Nest Books.

Fall from Grace - Wayne Arthurson

WAYNE ARTHURSON, like his protagonist Leo Desroches, is the son of Cree and French Canadian parents. He has worked as a newspaper reporter, a drummer in a rock band, and as a freelance journalist. He was born in and lives in Edmonton, Canada. Fall From Grace is his first novel.


This title was given to an interested reader at Bloody Words thanks to funding from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

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.

Grizzly Lies - Eileen Coughlan

Grizzly Lies - Eileen Coughlan
Sumach Press

Hellie MacConnell retreats from a troubled relationship in Toronto to the quiet town of Banff, Alberta where life is peaceful and nature abounds. But when her landlord turns up dead and her bear-loving neighbour Arthur Elliott disappears, Hellie finds herself at the heart of a murder investigation. Is Arthur a dangerous extremist who will do anything to protect 'his' grizzly bears? Is someone lurking in wait for Hellie, too? And what dark history is shared between Arthur and a visiting Texan hunter. A truly Canadian mystery set in spectacular Banff, Grizzly Lies charms with small-town legend and chills with dark secrets. As Hellie delves deeper into the mystery of her landlord's death, she learns to listen to stories of others, heal herself and let go of the past.


Copies of this book were given out courtesy of the author and of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Amuse Bouch - Anthony Bidulka

Amuse Bouch - Anthony Bidulka

2003 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel Finalist
2003 ReLit Award shortlist

A gay wedding gone bad. A missing groom. An unsullied reputation at risk. Enter Russell Quant, cute, gay and a rookie private detective. With a nose for good wine and bad lies, Quant is off to France on his first big case. 


This book was given out thanks to the generous support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Only Shadow on the House - Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

The Only Shadow on the House
Joan Donaldson-Yarmey


In this fast-paced sequel to Illegally Dead, Edmonton travel writer Elizabeth Oliver is excited to get back on the open road to research a new article when, suddenly, an unexpected romance leads to a new murder mystery!
Though she is determined to stay focused on her writing, Elizabeth can't ignore the familiar goose bumps she feels when handsome wheelchair basketball coach Jared asks for her help to find out the truth about his mother's death. 
Purchased through the generosity of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Some Welcome Home - Sharon Wildwind

First book in the Elizabeth Pepperhawk/Avivah Rosen Viet Nam veteran mystery series.

Captain Elizabeth Pepperhawk survived Vietnam, but will she survive Fort Bragg? Whoever dressed a body in a World War II uniform, and put it in her bed at Normandy House, wants to shorten not only her military career, but her life.

Copies of this book were given away courtesy of the author and of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

And the Grizzly goes to....

Joan Donaldson-Yarmey chose this novel by her fellow Sumach Press author, Eileen Coughlan.

Review of Grizzly Lies here

Copies of this title were provided to the Bloody Words promotional team by the author and with funding provided by 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

Staying Human Through the Holocaust - Terez Mozes

Staying Human Through the Holocaust

Terez Mozes

Teréz Mózes was born in Romania in 1919 to a stable and loving family. Her idyllic life would eventually be shattered by the upheavals of the Second World War as the Nazis systematically undertook the destruction of the Jewish race. Starting with the insidious and menacing anti-Jewish laws, and continuing with resettlement into cramped ghettos and finally deportation to the death camps, Teréz and her sister Erzsi would be thrust into a harrowing journey that would forever alter the course of their lives.

This book donated by the University of Calgary Press

 

 

Prisoner of Cage Farm - Cecelia Frey

The Prisoner of Cage Farm

by Cecelia Frey

The McFaddens are a well-to-do country family who occupy Thorncliffe Heights in rural Alberta. Across the road, the Cage Farm can barely keep its household together. Still, Lewis McFadden, war veteran and incurable romantic, is hopelessly infatuated with the beautiful and mysterious Isabel Cage. Enter Emiline Thomas who answers a newspaper ad to be Isabel's tutor at the Cage Farm. Coming from big-city Toronto, Emiline is soon exposed to the harsh and uncompromising effect of the prairie landscape on her ability to survive an isolating and lonely experience. In a time before electricity, paved roads, and reliable vehicles, the clash between Emiline's urban upbringing and the Cages' monotonous prairie existence is inevitable.

This book was donated by

The University of Calgary Press

Missing Pieces - Olga Verrall

Missing Pieces: My Life as a Child Survivor of the Holocaust

 

Olga Verrall

This book donated for Bloody Words by the University of Calgary Press.

Mystery of the Frozen Brains - Marty Chan

A Chinese boy growing up in a prairie town believes his family are aliens because they don't look like all the other people in town. He teams up with a school friend to expose his parents as outer space visitors and find their flying saucer. Instead, they find frozen brains in the freezer and believe they are the only two warriors against an impending alien invasion.

Book gift thanks to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

 Marty Chan is a nationally known dramatist, screenwriter, and author. His juvenile novel, The Mystery of the Frozen Brains, won the Edmonton Book Prize, and was also listed as one of the Best Books of 2004 for grades three to six by Resource Links magazine. The second book in the Chan Mystery Series, The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul, was short listed for the 2007 SYRCA Young Readers’ Choice Diamond Willow Award, the 2007 Golden Eagle Children’s Choice Book Award, and the 2007 Arthur Ellis Crime Writers of Canada Award in the Best Juvenile category. Marty Chan lives in Edmonton, Alberta

The Sign of Four - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Sign of Four
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Edited by Shafquat Towheed

Arthur Conan Doyle’s second Sherlock Holmes novel is both a detective story and an imperial romance. Ostensibly the story of Mary Morstan, a beautiful young woman enlisting the help of Holmes to find her vanished father and solve the mystery of her receipt of a perfect pearl on the same date each year, it gradually uncovers a tale of treachery and human greed. The action audaciously ranges from penal settlements on the Andaman Islands to the suburban comfort of south London, and from the opium-fuelled violence of Agra Fort during the ‘Indian Mutiny’ to the cocaine-induced contemplation of Holmes’ own Baker Street.”

Donated by Broadview Press

Inkster brings home the Bony Pete short story award

As previously reported by president Anne Jayne, Inkster Jayne Barnard won the short mystery story contest at Bloody Words 2011 in Victoria BC.

Runners-up were Melodie Campbell and Gloria Ferris, both of Ontario.

The prize is $100 and publication in Victoria's Monday Magazine this week, followed by publication on the Monday Mag website.

Here's a photo of Jayne receiving the traditional award statue, in its hand-crafted carrying case, from Grant McKenzie of Monday Magazine:

Canadian Indian Cowboys in Australia - Lynda Mannik

Canadian Indian Cowboys in Australia: Representation, Rodeo, and the RCMP at the Royal Easter Show, 1939

 

In 1939, a troupe of eight rodeo riders, accompanied by an RCMP officer, travelled to Sydney, Australia to compete in the Royal Easter Show. The men were expected to compete in various rodeo events, as well as to sell handicrafts at the fair's "Indian village," where they also camped. International competition in rodeo was very rare at the time, and the team proved to be a popular draw for Australian audiences. This little-known moment in Canadian history is explored in Canadian Indian Cowboys in Australia. Author Lynda Mannik uniquely incorporates five different perspectives of the event: that of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales; the Canadian government; the eight First Nations men who participated; the RCMP officer who travelled with the team; and the Australian public.

This book is donated to the Bloody Words project by the University of Calgary Press.

Canadian Spies and Spies in Canada - Peter Boer

 Author Peter Boer exposes some of Canada's best-hidden security threats.

Book given courtesy of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.