Allow me to introduce: J.W. Schnarr

J.W. Schnarr—a remarkable person, and a remarkable writer of horror who makes his living as an award-winning journalist and photographer for the Lethbridge Herald. Again through an introduction by Robert Runté, I met J.W. Schnarr in 2012 when Bill pitched the idea of his collection of stories, Things Falling Apart.  Beyond the comfort zone I have to admit to being shocked when I read Bill’s collection of shorts. He went beyond my personal aesthetic of justifiable…

Day in the Life of an Editor

From the Desk of Robert Runté, Senior Editor: So…my 11 year-old is having trouble getting to sleep one night, so I offer to sit with her until she is asleep. I bring my computer so I won’t be bored and so she can’t talk to me when she should be trying to get to sleep. And I’m doing my email, because that’s the sort of not-having-to-concentrate work you do when you’re in a dark room…

Five Rivers at When Words Collide Festival

From the Desk of Robert Runte: Five Rivers will have seven authors and two staff attending the When Words Collide Festival in Calgary, August 14-16, 2015. It’s my favorite writers convention because of the high proportion of writers, the cross-genre orientation/cross-pollination, and the high quality of the programming. I missed that Susan MacGregor (pictured below) was going to WWC this year until after I’d already done the poster, but she’ll be there too, and doing…

4-star review for A Quiet Place

available in print and eBookfrom Five Rivers Publishingand booksellers worldwide This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. It’s impressive to find an author that knows exactly when to end a short story. Far too often, stories drag on past a natural conclusion or end abruptly, leaving me unsatisfied. The supernatural nature of these shorts appeals to me, and the plots are fun and inventive. All-in-all, definitely worth a read. (  )    |   flagcartomancer | Jan 3, 2014 | 

Gifts for short story lovers

For the lover of horror, two great collections by J.W. Schnarr For the lover of classic Canadian SF and a deeper look at an author’s inspiration two inspiring reads by H.A. Hargreaves And for the devotee of speculative short fiction Susan Forest’s collection paired with Derryl Murphy’s or Lorina Stephens’ provocative, great reads all Or for just plain whacky, weird and just a little bit evil