The Bloody Words conference is the result of months, indeed years, of hard work by the organizing committee and many volunteers.
Four volunteers who ran the registration desk in the main room of Bloody Words chose books by Alberta's authors and publishers.
Noreen Lerch took time out from her new Victoria B&B, Medana Cottage, to pitch in as a registration volunteer for Bloody Words. Noreen chose Joan Donaldson-Yarney's most recent mystery, The Only Shadow in the House (Sumach Press, 2010).
Joan Donaldson-Yarney was a travel writer before turning to mysteries. Her protagonist is Elizabeth Oliver, who is a travel writer specializing in he back roads, encountered her first murder in Illegally Dead, published in 2008. In The Only Shadow in the House, Elizabeth is asked to investigate what happened to someone who went missing years before.
Joan explored every corner of Alberta while writing books in the "Back Roads" series, and that knowledge shows in her mysteries.
(Noreen's B&B operation is new, but Medana Cottage at 162 Medana, near the Inner Harbour, is not: it is a heritage house. Given Noreen's interest in mysteries, guests can no doubt find lots of mysteries to read within its walls, but whether there are mysteries to solve only Noreen will know. Her website is at medana-grove.com.)
Jenny Watson chose Eileen Coughlan's Grizzy Lies, which is set in Banff. Eileen's first novel, Dying by Degress, was set in Calgary, at a fictional university. In that novel, Eileen explored many corners of Calgary for her setting, and featured characters who were equally diverse, from university professors to people who are homeless.
In Grizzly Lies, Eileen brings that same interest in the diversity of a community to Banff and its surrounding wildnerness. There is indeed a grizzly in the story.
Grizzly Lies was published by Sumach Press in 2006.
Andree Chenier chose Wayne Arthurson's debut mystery, Fall from Grace. Wayne's protagonist is Leo Desroches, who is a journalist of French and Cree ancestry Leo has his challenges in life, as he is separated from his children and trying to get back into journalism after some professional bumps in the road. Leo is sent to cover the story of the death of a young woman, whose body is found in a rural area near Edmonton.
Wayne Arthurson is much like his protagonist, at least with respect to his journalistic profession and his ancestry.
Fall from Grace was published this spring by Tom Doherty.
Judy Hudson chose Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectivces, edited by Justin Gustanis and published by Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing in Alberta.
This is an anthology of fourteen tales of cases that require investigation that goes beyond the usual methods of deduction--far, far, beyond. The authors and their detectives include:
* Danny Hendrickson - from Laura Anne Gilman’s Cosa Nostradamus series.
* Kate Connor - from Julie Kenner’s Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series.
* John Taylor - from Simon R. Green’s Nightside series.
* Jill Kismet - from Lilith Saintcrow’s Jill Kismet series.
* Jessi Hardin - from Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series.
* Quincey Morris - from Justin Gustainis’ Morris/Chastain Investigations series.
* Marla Mason - from T. A. Pratt’s Marla Mason series.
* Tony Foster - from Tanya Huff’s Smoke and Shadows series.
* Dawn Madison - from Chris Marie Green’s Vampire Babylon series.
* Pete Caldecott - from Caitlin Kittredge’s Black London series.
* Tony Giodone - from C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp’s Tales of the Sazi series.
* Jezebel - from Jackie Kessler’s Hell on Earth series.
* Piers Knight - from C. J. Henderson’s Brooklyn Knight series.
* Cassiel - from Rachel Caine’s Outcast Season series.
Readers who love both mysteries and science fiction/fantasy do not have choose between the two!
Anne Jayne
