To Push Back the Darkness by Lisa Timpf

SF Canada member Lisa Timpf has just published her first novella with JMS Books LLC. To Push Back the Darkness is a f/f romance/police procedural with science fiction elements.

When the trail goes cold on a string of robberies, Detective Janet Vertran is forced to call on her ex Fiona for help. When Fiona broke things off between them two years earlier, Janet swore she’d keep her distance. But she also knows from past experience how helpful Fiona’s creation, an android named Pat, can be in ferreting out the little details that make all the difference when solving tough crimes.

 

Though the robberies appear to have been conducted by separate individuals, Pat finds an unexpected connection between them. But as Janet, Fiona, and Pat get closer to unearthing the truth, it becomes clear the case is taking an emotional toll on Fiona.

 

As she works with her ex once again, Janet is reminded of old times and familiar feelings begin to stir. Is it possible they’ll get a second chance to make their relationship work? And will Janet find the courage to do what it takes to find out?

Lisa Timpf is a retired human resources and communications professional who lives in Simcoe, Ontario. Her writing has appeared in a number of venues, including Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Very Good, Very Bad Dog, New Myths, Third Flatiron, and Scifaikuest.

A graduate of McMaster University’s Physical Education program, Ms. Timpf also completed course work toward an MSc in Sport History at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. When not writing, Lisa enjoys cycling and bird-watching.

Learn more about Lisa’s writing at lisatimpf.blogspot.com.

Purchase your copy of To Push Back the Darkness on Amazon.

The Electric Girl by Christine Hart

SF Canada member Christine Hart just released a new YA novel, The Electric Girl. The story features a dual POV narrative, a rural BC setting circa 1988, and plenty of retro pop culture.

Polly Michaels is trying to forget that her mom has cancer. She keeps busy at school and plods through a normal social life. Until a freak electrical storm and a unicorn appear in the orchard next to her house.

Sy’kai wakes on an orchard floor to the smell of rotting cherries and wet earth. She doesn’t know where she is-or what she is-but she knows something is hunting her.

Polly recruits her friends to find the mysterious creature she saw from her window while Sy’kai, a confused shape-shifting endling from another dimension tries to piece her mind back together. Once the human girls find Sy’kai (whom they nickname Psyche) the mystery unravels and the danger facing all of them comes into focus. 

A gritty struggle ranges throughout the girls’ rural hometown and in the wild terrain around it. All while two questions hang over their heads. Can an alien deliver a miracle for a human mother? Can a group of teens defeat an interdimensional demon?

Christine Hart writes from her suburban home on BC’s beautiful West Coast. She specializes in speculative fiction for young readers. Her stories feature detailed real-world landscapes as a backdrop for the surreal. Her backlist includes YA, NA, and MG titles, including The Variant Conspiracy trilogy and Watching July.

Christine works as a content and communications specialist for a technology studio in Vancouver. And when not writing, she melts metal under the guise of her Etsy alter-ego Sleepless Storyteller.

Learn more about Christine and her books at www.christine-hart.ca.

Order your copy of The Electric Girl from Amazon, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble.

Marie Powell on Sci Fi Saturday Night

Today we have a new SF Canada member interview. Marie Powell recently spoke with Sci Fi Saturday Night about about her new series Last Of The Gifted and the first book in this saga, Spirit Sight.

“Those familiar with most of her past work as a children’s author will be quite delighted at the beauty, maturity  and difference in this work. While some have referred to this as YA, I will vociferously disagree. This is the beginning of a wonderfully well written series of novels. Take the time to listen to her, get to know her, read the book and do what we did.”

Listen to the full interview at www.scifisaturdaynight.com.

Learn more about Marie at mariepowell.ca.

Marie Powell’s adventures in castle-hopping and exploring her family roots resulted in her historical fantasy novels, Spirit Sight and Water Sight (Last of the Gifted).  These are just two of Marie’s 40-plus children’s and young adult books with such traditional publishers as Amicus Publishing, Scholastic Education, Lerner/Lightning Bolt, Crabtree and more. Her short fiction and poetry can be found in subTerrain, Room, Transition, and other literary magazines. She is also a professional writer, editor, journalist, and photographer with work published in a variety of formats.

Marie’s children’s books include early readers, middle-grade nonfiction, and science books for young readers. Her young adult novels include fantasy and historical fantasy books. Her articles appear in newspapers, magazines, online and international markets. Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in a variety of literary magazines and anthologies. As well, she provides research and editing services, and loves to do readings and workshops for all ages.

New Interviews with Robert Runté and Lorina Stephens

Another two SF Canada members were recently interviewed online, Robert Runté and Lorina Stephens.

Robert spoke with Todd Sullivan and read his latest short story, “Inuksuk” from Issue #15 of Polar Borealis.

Watch (or listen) to the full interview here:

 

Lorina was interviewed by Gordon Gibb for his radio feature, The Bookshelf, on Kawartha Oldies. They chatted about her latest novel, The Rose Guardian, a story of grief and the power of forgiveness.

Listen to the full interview here:

https://fiveriverspublishing.com/?p=4529

There is a conversation that should have happened between Vi Cotter and her mother. Now it’s too late.

But sometimes the dead speak through the legacy they leave, and in this case Vi’s mother bequeaths her, among other things, her journals. Do we sometimes seek absolution from the grave? Do we seek reconciliation between the child, the woman, the crone?

In a story of unspoken truths and hidden fears, The Rose Guardian explores the cages we make when we fail to unlock our secrets.

 

Dr. Robert Runté is Senior Editor with EssentialEdits.ca, a retired professor (University of Lethbridge), and former Senior Editor for Five Rivers Publishing. As an academic, editor, reviewer, and organizer, Robert has been actively promoting Canadian SF for over forty years. He was a founding Director of NonCon, Context89, and SF Canada; and has served on the Boards of the Edmonton Science Fiction and Comic Arts Society, On Spec Magazine, Tesseract Books, and The Writers Guild of Alberta. In addition to dozens of conference papers, journal articles, book chapters, and a half dozen entries in the Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada , Robert has edited over 150 issues of various SF newsletters.

Lorina Stephens has worked all sides of the publishing desk: writer, editor, publisher. From freelance journalist for regional and national periodicals, to editor of a regional lifestyle magazine and then her own publishing house, she has been in the industry since 1980. Lorina has witnessed publishing evolve into the dynamic form of self-expression which exists today. For 12 years she operated Five Rivers Publishing as a house which would give voice to Canadian authors. Her short fiction has appeared in literary and genre publications, novels under her own house, Five Rivers Publishing, non-fiction under Boston Mills Press and an anthology co-edited with Susan MacGregor, Tesseracts 22: Alchemy and Artifacts.

Nina Munteanu on Minddog TV

SF Canada member Nina Munteanu was recently interviewed by Matt Nappo on Minddog TV in New York, NY. Their conversation covered the science and magic of water, climate change and how to not become cynical, as well as the writing process and what makes for great storytelling.

Keep watching for the scoop on Nina’s eco-novel A Diary in the Age of Water published by Inanna Publications.

Watch the full interview here:

Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and award-winning novelist and short story writer. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Nina has coached writers to publication for several decades using her Alien Guidebook Series writing guides.  Nina’s non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada.

Night, the Hardest Time to Be Alive by Melissa Yuan-Innes

SF Canada member Melissa Yuan-Innes, was recently published in Enchanted Conversation: A Fairytale Magazine.

Her fractured fairy tale “Night, the Hardest Time to Be Alive” is a re-imagining of the story of Ondine, but from the point of view of her child, and with a contemporary context.

“Editor’s Note: Love in its many forms can uplift or curse those that find themselves under its spell. It is a theme that resonates in fairy tales set in the past and the present. We hope you enjoy this unique tale as much as we did.”

Melissa writes speculative fiction as Melissa Yuan-Innes and medical thrillers as Melissa Yi. She is an emergency physician and award-winning writer. In her newest crime novel, SCORPION SCHEME, Hope Sze discovers a man with a nail through his skull shortly after she lands in Cairo, Egypt. This man could hold the key to millions of dollars in buried treasure. Previous Hope Sze volumes were recommended by the Globe and Mail and CBC Books as best suspense novels of the season.

Read “Night, the Hardest Time to Be Alive” at fairytalemagazine.com.