THE BOOKS
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WINDSHIP
The Crazy Plague
A hard science fiction novel of struggle and survival, told across nine interlinked stories. On the colony world New Hope, a plague has broken out. Its victims become delusional. Some experience moments of crazed religiosity, while others fall into uncontrollable violence. Still others fall into a stupor, and either starve to death, or wander onto the vast desert playa that makes up most of the planet, where they die.
So far, the plague is confined to the northern hemisphere. But it’s in danger of spreading, via the “windships” (wheeled landships driven by sails) that serve as long-haul cargo carriers between cities in the planet’s northern and southern temperate bands.
Nine tightly integrated stories, written by seven different authors, tell the tale of Fusheng, a windship captained by Min Long, a woman who clings to the romance of windships in an era in which coal-powered landships are becoming the norm. Fusheng seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time - sailing into the thick of the plague. Ultimately, the crew of Fusheng will be the ones to tip the balance, for good or ill...
A tale of the Amazons
It is the era of the Trojan War, a time of gods and heroes. Young Helle, a princess of Orchomenos, is forced to flee her native city with her mother and brother. When a storm threatens to sink their ship, the sailors throw Helle overboard as a sacrifice to the gods.
Somehow, Helle manages to survive the angry seas. After being washed ashore on a beach near Troy, she is discovered by a tribe of Amazons – horsewomen who live apart from men and ride into battle with bow and sword.
Hoping to find her mother and brother, Helle travels east along the Black Sea coast with the Amazons, who teach her to ride and shoot the bow. In this wild and rugged land, Helle learns that her royal blood is a liability, rather than an asset.
Helle has a special talent, granted to her by the gods. In her dreams and visions, she can catch glimpses of the future. But are these visions truly a boon, or is Artemis, goddess of the hunt and patron of the Amazons, merely using Helle as a pawn to accomplish her own ends?
Ultimately Helle must choose between a reunion with a mother who places politics before her daughter, or a life as one of the “daughters of Artemis.”
Vanishing Act​
Some people will go to great lengths to commit murder—even staging an avalanche.
At least, that’s the way it appears to freelance journalist Carol Byers, who happens to be in the right place at the right time in order to witness what just might turn into the story of her career.
A tour bus belonging to a group of stage magicians is buried by an avalanche, and when rescue workers dig it out, everyone on board has mysteriously vanished. Later, when the body of one of the magicians later turns up inside a stage prop, only to disappear again, it appears that this so-called “publicity stunt” was really a cover-up for murder.
In the world of stage magicians, the method used for murder turns out to just be as convoluted as the motives. And just as Carol thinks she has solved the case, the real murderer tries to pull one last vanishing act and nearly slips away.
Vanishing Act is set in 1984, a time when news gathering was a very different business. It’s a world before cell phones, digital selfies, and instant communication—a time of cameras that used film, fax machines, of primitive personal computers and dial-up modems. It’s also the year I became a journalist.
Creature Catchers
Sibling stowaways take a supernatural safari through Victorian England.
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Though Kenneth and Candace are twins, they couldn't be more opposite. Even so, the one thing they do share is a fascination with their eccentric Uncle Nigel, the "creature catcher." He works for the Londinium Zoo, collecting fantastic beasts like unicorns and fire-belching salamanders. When the London Timesannounces a creature-catching contest for kids, the twins hatch a plan to win.
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As Uncle Nigel heads for the Moorlands to capture a will-o'-the-wisp, Kenneth and Candace stow away on his dirigible, determined to bring back a troll and a pixie. But neither of the creatures is what they'd expected, and the catchers find themselves caught.
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Soon the twins have rescued each other, befriended a troll and raced against time to save Uncle Nigel. Their triumphant return to Londinium with their uncle and their trollish friend wins them the prize and recognition as creature catchers of the highest order.
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Full of fun and adventure, Creature Catchers evokes a wonderful world of mythological beings.
NON-FICTION
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Immigrants: Stories of Vancouver's People (2009)
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Vancouver: Stories of a City (2008)
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From Boneshakers to Choppers: The Rip-Roaring History of Motorcycles (2007)
ORIGINAL NOVELS​​
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Windship: The Crazy Plague (2018)
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Amazons: Daughters of Artemis (2017)
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Vanishing Act (2017)
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Creature Catchers (2007)
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The Apparition Trail (2004)
FORGOTTEN REALMS NOVELS
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The Gilded Rune (2012)
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The Lady Penitent Trilogy Book 1: Sacrifice of the Widow (2007)
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The Lady Penitent Trilogy Book 2: Storm of the Dead (2007)
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The Lady Penitent Trilogy Book 3: Ascendancy of the Last (2008)
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War of the Spider Queen series Book 4: Extinction (2004)
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Heirs of Prophecy (2002)
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House of Serpents Trilogy Book 1: Venom's Taste (2004)
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House of Serpents Trilogy Book 2: Viper's Kiss (2005)
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House of Serpents Trilogy Book 3: Vanity's Brood (2006)
SHADOWRUN NOVELS
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Tails You Lose (2001)
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The Forever Drug (1999)
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Psychotrope (1998)
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Blood Sport (1998)
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The Lucifer Deck (1997)
VOR NOVELS
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The Playback War (2000)
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SHORT STORIES
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"We Are All Mad Here"
in Alice Unbound (2018)
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"2020 Vision"
in Tesseracts Seventeen (2013)
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"Soul Steel"
in The Haunted Lands (2010)
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"Weasel's Run"
in Realms of War (2008)
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"Three Impossible Things"
in Worlds of Their Own (2008)
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"The Intruder"
in Tesseracts Ten (2006)
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"Necessary Sacrifices"
in Realms of the Elves (2006)
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"Standard Delving Procedure"
in Realms of the Dragons (2004)
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"Trial by Ordeal"
in Realms of Shadow (2002)
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"Boneyard Train"
in Deadlands: The Good, The Bad, and the Dead (1999)
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"Defiance"
in Dragons: A Celebration of the Greatest of Mythical Creatures (1995)
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"Los Muertos"
in Writers of the Future Volume IX (1993)
The Apparition Trail
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Steam punk meets the supernatural in a Canada that might have been. The year is 1884, and Corporal Marmaduke Grayburn of the North West Mounted Police always gets his man. Assigned to the highly secretive Q Division, he is sent out to investigate the paranormal with eccentric researcher Arthur Chambers. Settlers are disappearing from the Prairie, and it all seems to center on a mysterious artifact called the Manitou Stone. In a land where perpetual motion machines meet ancient sorcery, Grayburn must maintain an uneasy peace.
The idea for this novel came to me after I read The Great Adventure: How the Mounties Conquered the West, by David Cruise and Alison Griffiths, a gripping non-fiction account of the adventure-packed origins of what would become the RCMP. I've always loved alternate history, and wondered how Canada might have played out differently, if the First Nations had magic.
The Apparition Trail features a number of crazy Victorian inventions, including the perpetual motion "air bicycle" shown on the cover. It revolves around actual historical figures like Sam Steele. (I couldn't have invented a better "larger than life" character if I'd tried.) I spent two weeks touring the Prairies, to get the locations just right, and read memoirs written by turn-of the-century Mounties, so I could nail down the first-person narrative I use in this book.
I had more than one sequel planned, books that would take our hero to the Riel Rebellion, to the building of the railway through the Rockies, and up to the Klondyke gold rush, but unfortunately the only place you'll find these novels is in the alternate reality in which I've cloned myself and have as much time to write as I please.
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