Pia Edberg is an author and artist. With a passion for human nature, she has spent over fifteen years studying personal development and has worked in human resources in the film and animation industries for the past ten years.
Pia wants to dedicate her time to sharing what she’s learned while inspiring others through her works. Pia was born in Denmark and currently lives in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada.
The Curse of the Red Crystal and Other Gothic Tales celebrates gothic horror. These eleven tales of terror span the distance from Victorian times to the present day, from Egyptian tombs to modern streets, from creaking ships to stately mansions, and from good intentions to damnation. Mysterious locales, mystical artifacts, eerie omens, and macabre machinations converge to delight and horrify even the most complacent among us in these atmospheric accounts of guilt, revenge and obsession. Be it mad science performed on human bodies or madness infecting the soul, Anton von Stefan examines what lies beneath the veneer of familiarity to see what hides from us in the shadows.
Be prepared; your hair will bristle and your jaw will drop. Covering your eyes won’t make the words on the page go away, only plant the images deeper into your mind.
Jacqui Stanley has moved back to Houston Texas. Before she left Washington she received the award as the outstanding student for Secondary Education for 2005 by the faculty at Woodring College of Education at Western Washington University.
Dr. Brian Hayden is an author and archaeologist who has conducted research on four continents, with a passion for understanding past cultures—especially hunting and gathering societies—and the reasons for their changes. Born in New York, he obtained a Certificate of Prehistory at the University of Bordeaux, studied stone-tool making with Australian Aborigines, and earned a doctoral degree in Archaeology from the University of Toronto. For 30 years, he worked with native groups in the interior of British Columbia, recording their traditional uses of food resources and excavating the prehistoric winter village at Keatley Creek; he has also worked extensively with complex hunting and gathering societies in the region, including short fictional reconstructions of life in the prehistoric Lillooet area.
Now a Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at Simon Fraser University and Honorary Research Associate of the Anthropology Department at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Hayden lives on Cortes Island in coastal British Columbia. He has published numerous professional journal articles and books, including works on the Old Stone Age in France and a landmark synthesis of prehistoric religion (Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: The Prehistory of Religion, Smithsonian Publications, 2003). His later books include The Power of Feasts (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and The Power of Ritual in Prehistory: Secret Societies and the Origins of Social Complexity (Cambridge University Press, 2018). His research has been recognized by induction into the Royal Society of Canada.
You can find further information about Brian on his website.
Graeme McCreath was born in the United Kingdom and became blind at age 9. Initially trained as a shorthand typist, he has beaten the odds and, through his tenacity and strength of purpose, has worked all his life. He lives with his wife and family in Victoria, BC, where he works as a physiotherapist in their private practice. Over the years, he has gained a passion for blind civil rights.
Michael Dupuis is a retired history teacher, consultant and author. For nearly 50 years, his writing has focused on the role played by journalists in historical events. His previous non-fiction works focus on the Winnipeg General Strike and the Halifax explosion. Michael holds a BA in English and an MA in Canadian History from the University of Ottawa and a BEd from the University of Toronto. This is his first novel.
Illustrator:
Michael Kluckner is an artist and the author of illustrated books including memoirs on farming, a sketchbook of Canada’s culture landscapes, detailed histories of British Columbia, Vancouver and Toronto, and the graphic novel Toshiko about the Japanese-Canadian experience during World War II.
A hoard of artifacts uncovered inside an old barn in Reno, Nevada galvanizes Vancouver antique dealers to search for missing treasure. When Catherine Chan, assistant to Regency Antiques owner Frank Ball and art expert Colin Fisher travel to a ranch to investigate the barn, they discover that valuable items are missing. Meanwhile, an estate sale in Vancouver pits the major antiques dealers against Ball, who has cornered the sale for himself. Set in 2007 against an impending economic market meltdown, The Road to Reno is a mystery that sheds light on the glamorous but ruthless world of the antiques trade.
Richard McDonell began racing in 1965 and took several class wins, claiming second place in C Sedan Class in the Prairie Region Championship in 1968. After a long break, he returned and raced IMCA Modifieds for six seasons. He retired in September 1995 as Race City Speedway champion. He lives in Red Deer, Alberta with his wife, Diane.
Joann Robertson is the granddaughter of a Yukon pioneer and riverboat pilot. Born in Dawson City, she spent the first ten years of her childhood in Bear Creek, the centre of gold production from the early 1900s to later, she lived along the Alaska Highway and in Whitehorse. She has a degree in Sociology from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, and resides in Vancouver.
With a PhD in criminology, Christopher Nowlin is a defence lawyer and legal scholar who also teaches law at Douglas College. The author of Judging Obscenity: A Critical History of Expert Evidence, he has been interviewed on radio and television. He once busked around Europe playing saxophone and is also a professional painter. He lives in Vancouver, BC.
