National Network for Equitable Library Service

Samuel Archibald’s stories come from over there: way, way over there.  They live in the woods, hunting for creatures that may or may not exist, and they sometimes go surging down the highway at reckless speeds.

In a drought-ridden Saskatchewan of the 1930s, self-possessed, enigmatic Elena finds herself living alone in the small village of Trevna. Her mother has been dead for many years, and her father, burdened by the hardships of drought, has disappeared, and the 18-year-old is an object of pity and charity in her community. But when a stranger shows up at a country dance, she needs only one look and one dance before jumping into his Lincoln Roadster, leaving the town and its shocked inhabitants behind.

From "The Robot Baby," in which we discover what happens when a robot feels emotion for the very first time, to "Heaven," about a grandfather who died for a few minutes when he was nine and visited the pearly gates, to "The Little Wolf-Boy of Northern Quebec," in which untamed children run wild through the streets of Paris, to "Dolls," in which a little girl's forgotten dolls tell their own stories of woe and neglect, we are immersed in utterly unique worlds.

"Midnight Sweatlodge tells the tale of a group of strangers and family gathered together to partake in this ancient aboriginal ceremony. Each seeks healing from the ceremony and each character gives us a glimpse into their lives that is tearful and true"--Back cover.

When DCI Alan Banks is dragged away from his vacation in London to supervise DI Annie Cabbot's sensitive murder case, he finds himself embroiled in the clandestine world of the secret intelligence service.

This is the story of a middle-aged copywriter in New York City. He's worked at the same ad agency for fifteen years, but one morning this copywriter finds himself fired from his job, and after he catches his live-in girlfriend moving out of their apartment a couple hours later, he's also single. Believe it or not, these aren't the biggest problems in this copywriter's life. There's something bigger, something that has been haunting him his whole life. Meet Earnest Hemmingway. What's in a name?

In the small town of North River, every day that goes by bleeds into the next. Poverty begets hopelessness, hopelessness begets violence, violence begets despair. The only way to change fate, a minister tells his son, is to leave. The minister's son, Jake MacNeil, chooses to ignore his father's advice. Only when he realizes what has become of his life--working a grueling dead end job, living with a drunk, friends with a murderer--does he decide to make something of himself.

"A World Elsewhere has all the hallmarks of Wayne Johnston's most beloved and acclaimed novels: outsiders yearning for acceptance, dreams that threaten to overpower their makers, and unlikely romance. It is an astounding work of literature that questions the loyalties of friends, family and the heart. At the centre of this story is a mystery: the suspected murder of a child. This sweeping tale immerses us in St. John's, Princeton and North Carolina at the close of the nineteenth century.

Alex is a playwright suffering from writer’s block and harsh reviews. His best friend, Roy, is a theatre director with lung cancer and six months left to live. In pursuit of fresh air and great wine, they go on a road trip to the Okanagan Valley, where Roy rediscovers his passion for theatre. But when he decides to stage a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at a winery, disaster ensues: the woman cast in the lead is the winery owner’s wife and has no talent; wildfires encroach upon the surrounding forest; and Roy slips closer to death, one cigarette at a time.

Professor Amelia Harsh searches for the legendary city of Camlantis on her quest for the perfect society--a quest that has a good chance of bringing her own world to the brink of destruction as she faces off against convicts, female mercenaries, and a lunatic steamman acting as their guide.