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Where I’ll be at WWC

August 9, 2015Newsadmin

Calgary’s When Words Collide writing conference is less than a week away. I’ll be sure to get there in time for the keynote addresses on Friday night (August 14th). These are always a great introduction to the conference’s special guests and are sometimes quite creative. If I’m up to it, I’ll stay on for the Noir Bar Evening Social in the hotel’s Boomtown Lounge.

My events are all scheduled for Saturday, August 15th. At noon, I’ll be moderating a panel on Does the Mystery Protagonist Drive the Novel? – my first experience as a panel moderator. At 2:00 PM, I’ll be reading from my short story “Freezer Breakdown” at the book social for the Alberta crime anthology, AB Negative. Then at 3:00 PM, I’m on a panel that will discuss Thrillers vs. Traditional Mysteries. Again, if my energy sustains I’ll attend the Crime Writers Fandango party that evening.

For the rest of the weekend, I’ll be free to chat with people I run into, browse the booksellers’ tables and attend sessions that strike my fancy. I’ve looked at the WWC program and, as always, it will be hard to choose from the varied and exciting offerings.

Wild youth in Calgary

August 7, 2015Blogadmin

Calgary gets raunchy in Ophira Eisenberg’s memoir Screw Everyone: sleeping my way to monogamy. I like the surprise twist of the excerpt’s last line. My sons also attended Western Canada High School. They were there later than Ophira, thankfully.

AB Negative Launch

August 5, 2015Newsadmin

Stacey Kondla captured this photo at the AB Negative launch Tuesday night, at Owl’s nest bookstore. I look kind of goofy, but the picture doesn’t lie when it shows me having fun during my reading.

AB Negative Shout-out

August 1, 2015Newsadmin

In today’s Calgary Herald, Eric Volmers wrote a great piece about AB Negative, the new Alberta Crime Anthology that will be launched this Tuesday at Owl’s Nest Bookstore. There’s even a line in it about me. I hope to see you at Owl’s Nest this week.

Cemeteries

August 1, 2015Blogadmin

My husband finds it morbid, but like Aritha Van Herk in Places Far From Ellesmere I like to wander through cemeteries. You can imagine stories from so many of the graves. This reminds me that I haven’t visited any Calgary cemeteries. Perhaps, I will now.

Life-long Calgarians

July 24, 2015Blogadmin

When I first moved to Calgary, it seemed that no one I met was born here. They’d all migrated from Saskatchewan, eastern Canada, BC and beyond. Evidently, Calgary natives exist. Here are some wise words from Calgary’s first poet laureate on being a Calgary lifer.

Book launch

July 24, 2015Newsadmin

On Tuesday, August 4, 7:00 PM, I’ll be at Owl’s Nest Bookstore in Calgary to help celebrate the launch of the new Canadian crime anthology AB Negative (Coffin Hop Press). Alberta crime short stories by Alberta authors. Joining me will be contributing writers Jayne Barnard, Robert Bose, Axel Howerton, Brent Nichols and Randy McCharles. I’m thrilled to be part of the pack.

Owl’s Nest Bookstore, 815A 49th Avenue SW (Britannia Shopping Plaza), Calgary. Tues, August 4, 7:00 PM. For more information, phone Owl’s Nest: 403-287-9557 or email: owlsnestbooks@shaw.ca. Free. Everyone welcome.

Music and Calgary Literature

July 17, 2015Blogadmin

This week’s Writing the City post by Shaun Hunter features a novel I really enjoyed: Love Minus Zero, by Lori Hahnel. Sadly, perhaps, I identified with the novel’s naive protagonist and her hopeless, too-long obsessive love for a creep. I also appreciated the novel’s abundant Calgary setting and glimpse of the city’s 1980s punk rock scene by an author who was there the thick of it.

AB Negative

July 11, 2015Newsadmin

I’m so happy to have my short story included in AB Negative, an anthology of Alberta crime writing. The book will be available August 6th and featured at Calgary’s When Words Collide writing conference.

What a brilliant title and cover for crime stories by and about Albertans.

The Stampede and Values

July 10, 2015Blogadmin

Shaun Hunter’s blog post on Writing the City shows how author, Will Ferguson, used the Calgary Stampede to reveal character in his novel 419. The incident he describes in the book reminded me of a grocery shopping trip with my father when I was a child. Perhaps to keep me quiet through the asiles, my dad let me buy a box of animal cookies, which I munched on through the cash. After we left the store, he realized he’d neglected to pay for the cookies. Rather than take off, pleased with a freebee, he went back to pay for them. That kind of action imparts values to kids in ways parents are scarcely aware of.

At this year’s Stampede, my sister-in-law found a dime on the cement. Someone else I know found a loonie. There was no one to return them to and who would do that for such small amounts? I’m sure a lot of change gets dropped at the Stampede grounds. An enterprising person with sharp eyes could probably collect enough to buy a bag of warm mini-donuts. Mmmm.

Susan Calder

Author of Paula Savard Mystery Series & To Catch A Fox