August 18 “Show Your Pride” at Stonewall Gallery: Meet The Authors

(Disclaimer: 'Nathan Burgoine so inspired me with his blog post about our upcoming reading that I cribbed from him for my post.) 

This Thursday night (August 18), Christian Baines, Stevie Mikayne, 'Nathan Burgoine, and myself have a reading event at Stonewall Gallery, starting at 6:00pm. Please RSVP here (the Facebook event page) if you are interested, so the owner knows how many fans are going.

This is my first reading at Stonewall Gallery and Bookstore. Originally called After Stonewall, this establishment has been Ottawa's legendary gay bookstore since David Rimmer opened the business in 1990. Philadelphia had Giovanni's Room Bookstore from 1973 until 2014. Ottawa is fortunate to still have Stonewall Gallery (now also an art gallery, hence the new name).

This event is also my first reading during Ottawa's Pride Week, so I'm doubly honoured. And you can't go wrong with this mix of literary, horror, sci-fi and fantasy from local talents. 

Christian Baines will be down from Montreal and if word from 'Nathan Burgoine is any indication, Baines' new novel, The Orchard of Flesh, is a creepy urban paranormal smash.

Reylan’s last assignment for The Arcadia Trust brought a rebellious human servant under his roof, and a volatile werewolf lover named Jorgas into his bed, leaving the self-reliant Blood Shade–known to the outside world as vampires–in no hurry to risk his immortality for them again. But when a new terror starts disappearing humans from a bad part of town, Reylan must do everything in his power to keep Sydney’s supernatural factions from the brink of war. Having an ambitious, meddlesome human in the mix is only going to make things worse…especially when that human is Jorgas’s father. Reylan will need all his determination and cunning to keep the peace under his roof, between the night’s power brokers, and in his lover’s troubled heart.

Christian Baines was born in Toowoomba, Australia. He has since lived in Brisbane, Sydney, and Toronto, earning an MA in creative writing at University of Technology, Sydney along the way. His musings on travel, theatre, and gay life have appeared in numerous publications in both Australia and Canada.

Dual passions for travel and mythology (both of which he attributes to growing up in Australia’s bible belt) have sent him chasing some of the world’s most feared monsters, including vampires in New Orleans, asuras in Bangkok, and theatre critics in New York. His first novel, The Beast Without, was released in 2013, followed by his erotic short story, “The Prince and the Practitioner.”

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We are vey lucky to be reading with Stevie Mikayne who can give audiences the literary goods with Jellicle Girl.

When Beth met Jackie, she was fifteen and shy, living in the shadow of her mother: talented artist Heather Sarandon. Jackie—wilful, cheeky and confident, made Beth see things in herself that she’d never imagined, and do things she never thought she would. As memories of Beth’s last night with Jackie grow more like waking nightmares, Beth does everything she can to forget the girl who was so much more than a friend.

Beth has a self-destructive ritual she swears she’ll keep secret, even from the psychologist trying to help her. But Dr. Nancy Sullivan doesn’t have time for secrets. In fact, she doesn’t have much time at all. She’s been charged with helping Beth break through the barriers of her past, knowing very well that her own demons might end her career before she can get through to the stubborn young woman.

Meanwhile, a young foster child with a wicked sense of humour, and a devastating past, reminds Beth that secrets seem powerful, but can destroy the person who holds them too close. A haunting and evocative story about redemption, identity, and learning to let go of secrets that scar.

Stevie Mikayne writes fiction with a literary edge, combining her obsession with traditional literature with a love of dynamic characters and strong language. She graduated with an MA in creative writing from Lancaster University in the UK, and published her first two books, Jellicle Girl and Weight of Earth, shortly after.

When she met a woman who could make the perfect cup of tea, create a window seat under the stairs, and build a library with a ladder, she knew she’d better marry her before someone else did. They live in Ottawa, Canada, with their young daughter.

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'Nathan Burgoine's first novel, Light, was a crackling debut (as anyone who reads my blog knows), in which I praised the author for having a "charming, witty narrative voice." So, I have great expectations from his follow-up, Triad Blood. I look forward to reading with him again, (He's fine gentleman), as well as reading Triad Blood.

The law of three is unbroken: three vampires form a coterie, three demons make a pack, and three wizards are a coven. That is how it has always been, and how it was always to be.

But Luc, Anders, and Curtis—vampire, demon, and wizard—have cheated tradition. Their bond is not coterie, pack, or coven, but something else. Thrust into the supernatural politics ruling Ottawa from behind the shadows, they face Renard, a powerful vampire who harbors deadly secrets of his own and wishes to end their threat. The enemy they know conjures fire and death at every turn. The enemies they don’t know are worse.

Blood, soul, and magic gave them freedom. Now they need to survive it.

‘Nathan Burgoine grew up a reader and studied literature in university while making a living as a bookseller. His first published short story was Heart in the collection Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction. Since then, he has had dozens of short stories published, including Bold Strokes titles Men of the Mean Streets, Boys of Summer, and Night Shadowsas well as This is How You Die (the second Machine of Death anthology). ‘Nathan also has a series of paranormal erotic short stories that begins in the Bold Strokes anthology Blood Sacraments, and continues with further instalments inWings, Erotica Exotica, and Raising Hell. His standalone short erotic fiction pieces can be found in the Lambda Literary Award finalist Tented, Tales from the Den, and Afternoon Pleasures. ‘Nathan’s nonfiction pieces have appeared in I Like it Like That and 5×5 Literary Magazine. Nathan’s first novel,Light, was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award.

A cat lover, ‘Nathan managed to fall in love and marry Daniel, who is a confirmed dog person. Their ongoing “cat or dog” détente ended with the rescue of a six year old husky named Coach. They live in Ottawa, Canada, where socialized health care and gay marriage have yet to cause the sky to cave in.

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And let's not forget me. I'll be reading from Town & Train, of which Publishers Weekly said "Moran does an excellent job of conveying the desparation that drives people to seek salvation in the supernatural...".

In a small Ontario town, seventeen-year-old John Daniel wakes by the railroad tracks with no recollection of how he got there. Something called him from his bed. Officer David Forester, a recent transfer from Toronto, struggles to fit into the local police force, despite resistance from established circles. Both soon suspect a more pervasive and menacing collusion occurring in town when an antique steam train arrives late in the night. At the phantasmal engine, a conductor promises the desperate locals escape from their town dying with so many closed stores and shattered dreams–but there is no denying what the stranger really brings is the stuff of nightmares.

James K. Moran’s fiction and poetry have appeared in various Canadian, American and British publications, including Bywords, Glitterwolf: Halloween, Empty Mirror Magazine, Icarus, On Spec, Postscripts to Darkness 3, and The Rolling Darkness Revue. His debut horror novel, Town & Train, is available from Lethe Press. A longtime contributor to Daily Xtra, Moran’s articles and reviews have also appeared in a wide variety of media, including Arc Poetry Magazine, Daily Xtra, Matrix Magazine, the Ottawa Citizen and Rue Morgue. He lives and dreams in Ottawa, Canada.

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With such fine company, I feel very humbled and honoured to part of this Ottawa Pride event. So if anyone in the Ottawa area wants to come out for a great literary evening, we have something for everyone.