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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Stampede Parade
In this week’s post about author John Ballem’s story featuring the Stampede parade, Shaun Hunter makes a connection to a former Canadian prime minister. On Friday, I enjoyed the parade in shady comfort despite the heat. With a federal election coming up this fall, all the leaders of the major parties are in town. If any rode in the parade, I missed them.
Writing the Stampede City
Shaun Hunter’s post about Katherine Govier writing about Calgary makes me look forward to the sky ride at next week’s Calgary Stampede. While riding up high, I always enjoy counting the construction cranes.