The germ of the idea to produce an anthology of the work of the Brampton Writers Guild came early in 2020. It had been at least fifteen years since we had last produced an anthology; time enough for our members to have written some memorable stories.To encourage entries, as President of the Guild along with Ken Puddicombe, owner and publisher of MiddleRoadPublishers, we decided to start the ball rolling by running a contest for members only. We retained two outside judges to review...

1989 - the world holds its breath. The Soviet Union is on the brink of collapse, its eastern empire in a state of rebellion. Only a street trader, a drug dealer, a discredited young colonel and a woman, haunted by her past, stand between the world and Armageddon. STROIKA is the story of their friendship, love and betrayal, the quest for unparalleled wealth... and a coup which threatens them all.Stroika is a fast moving, atmospheric tale, charting the destruction of the old...

Urban Fantasy meets Future NoirOnce people have messed with a man's DNA, what can he do but become a private eye? And when a gorgeous thing like Elizabeth Savoy comes gliding into his office and blinks her big baby blues, what can PI Mike Heller do but say sure—even though he sees just what she is, and knows what a bad idea it could be? Not that Heller has a clue just how bad. But by the time he suspects that Lizzie's troubles might bring the end of life as he knows it, he's already...

FROM THE #1 BESTSELLER‘If you like your conspiracies twisty, your action bone-jarring, and your heroes impossibly dashing, then look no farther’ Mark DawsonWhen twelve-year-old Valentina fails to return from a visit to her father in Moscow, alarm bells start ringing. Her rich and powerful family know there’s one man they can depend on to bring her back safe: former SAS major Ben Hope.But what starts off as an apparently straightforward case of paren...

A collection of the year’s best short stories, selected by Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer and series editor Heidi Pitlor.Andrew Sean Greer, “an exceptionally lovely writer, capable of mingling humor with sharp poignancy” (Washington Post), selects twenty stories out of thousands that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year.

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2011Snowdrops. That's what the Russians call them - the bodies that float up into the light in the thaw. Drunks, most of them, and homeless people who just give up and lie down into the whiteness, and murder victims hidden in the drifts by their killers.**Nick has a confession. When he worked as a high-flying British lawyer in Moscow, he was seduced by Masha, an enigmatic woman who led him through her city: the electric nightclubs and ...

“Beautiful. The human condition is on full display in these glimpses of our essential connectedness. Perfect for our times.”—Dani Shapiro, author of InheritanceSixty-five extraordinary writers grapple with this mystery: How can an ephemeral encounter with a stranger leave such an eternal mark?When Colleen Kinder put out a call for authors to write a letter to a stranger about an unforgettable encounter, she opened the floodgates. Th...

Aidan Snow thought he could escape his past. But now it’s back, with a vengeance.Ten years ago, SAS Trooper Aidan Snow was left fighting for his life after a mission went wrong and ever since he has been haunted by the image of the man with green eyes. The man who should have killed him.Now, Snow is finally living a peaceful life in Ukraine… Until Taurus Pashinski, the green-eyed man, returns.As Snow’s past catches up with him he finds himself thrown back into the w...

Toronto in the twenty-first century: At night, a beacon on a lonely ancient lake, a drainage pond from the last ice age. In the daytime, a bulwark of glass, glinting in the radiant sun. Joe, Mary, and her cat, Sam, sit in a lakeside condo, trapped by a crazed, mysterious sniper. What has become of their lives? What has become of their city? What has become of their century? As the situation begins to unravel, Mary finds herself wondering, “What would Margaret Atwood do?”

In this shimmering mosaic of a novel, a writer reflects on the final days of her friend' s life. In the decades after they met at school, they shared a passion for books and words, took care of each other' s children, received acclaim as authors, and endured failure and disappointment. Yet during these last days together, as she and her friend go on walks through their neighbourhood, she discovers that their paths may have been more different than she realised – and bridging the gulf becom...

The eagerly anticipated, deadly prequel to the number one bestselling Alex Rider series.In the prequel to the number one bestselling Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, contract killer Yassen Gregorovich is given orders to kill Alex. But Yassen knows a secret from the past that connects him to the fourteen-year-old spy. What is it that makes one of them choose to do evil, and what does it take to turn him into a killer?

The ultimate book about growing up in Australia – a choice selection of wonderful stories and recollectionsThis special collection is the perfect introduction to Black Inc.’s definitive ‘Growing Up’ series. Featuring pieces from Growing Up Asian, Growing Up Aboriginal, Growing Up African, Growing Up Queer and Growing Up Disabled in Australia, it captures the diversity of our nation in moving and revelatory ways.Growing Up in Australia