Monday, April 5, 2010

Next year's book

We are now in the process of choosing the book for next year! Tell us what you think. Which book would you like to read? Please comment!

We are considering:
1. Ottawa writer Rick Mofina and his book Panic Zone, due to come out in June 2010. This is the second in a series (after Vengeance Road) and is a fast paced thriller.

"The Panic Zone is a headlong rush toward Armageddon. It's brisk pace and tight focus remind me of early Michael Crichton."
Dean Koontz #1 New York Times bestselling author.

2. Ottawa writer Phil Jenkins and his book River Song which is a non-fiction book about the history of the St Lawrence River, told in a narrative and personal style.

He was the winner of the Ottawa Citizen Award for Non-Fiction and Winner of the Canadian Authors Association Lela Common Award for Non-Fiction

3. Drew Hayden Taylor and his book Motorcyles and Sweetgrass. It is a story of magic, family, a mysterious stranger . . . and a band of marauding raccoons.

“Drew Hayden Taylor has woven an epic tale of magic, mystery and charm for the world to discover in Motorcycles & Sweetgrass. This is a novel to savor. A complete delight!”— Richard Van Camp, author of The Moon of Letting Go and The Lesser Blessed

4. Ottawa author and winner of the Ottawa Book Award for 2009, Andrew Steinmetz and his book Eva's threepenny theater which tells the story of his great-aunt Eva who performed in the first workshop production of Bertolt Brecht’s masterpiece The Threepenny Opera, in 1928.

5. Tom Henighan's book due out in July 2010 entitled Nightshade.

Deadly nightshade - the poison plant par excellence … and in historic Quebec City at an important scientific conference concerning the genetic manipulation of trees it means murder!

Police, RCMP, and a mysterious FBI agent from Washington converge on the scene. But the sharpest eye belongs to Sam Montcalm, a despised "bedroom snooper" from Ottawa whose primary concern is to clear a First Nations activist of the crime. Sam is middle-aged, tough, and sophisticated, with a taste for classical music and serious art. Yet he's also a lone wolf who feels displaced nearly everywhere, and his relations with his colleagues, the police - and with women - are always complicated. "You're a psychic wound without a health card," a friend comments.

The story moves to its surprising climax as Montcalm follows the trail of murder back to Canada's capital and into the Gatineau Hills, his deep sense of cynicism about human nature confirmed as he closes in on the killer and struggles to come to terms with himself.

Tom Henighan is an Ottawa writer and editor. His fiction includes The Well of Time, shortlisted for the Seal Books First Novel Award; Mercury Man, shortlisted for the Red Maple Award; Viking Quest and Viking Terror, the latter shortlisted for the City of Ottawa Fiction Prize, and Doom Lake Holiday, a teen mystery set in Ontario's Rideau Lakes.