THE CURSED HERMIT
(In STORES NOW!)
Reeling from the strange and confusing discoveries of their last adventure, the Hobtown Junior Detective Club is looking forward to Christmas break when two of its Teen Detectives —Brennan and Pauline—are made to attend an extra-credit boarding school called Knotty Pines. After attending their first classes, however, they realize they may have stumbled on their weirdest case yet!
It’s not just that the Headmaster and the Headmistress are unusually strict, it’s that they seem to be controlling the students, transforming them into boneheads and bullies. On the final night of their stay, the boys and girls are paired up to pledge eternal allegiance to the long-dead Lord Hobb—and to each other—in unholy matrimony!
The follow-up to the critically-acclaimed, Doug Wright Award nominated The Case of The Missing Men, THE CURSED HERMIT follows two of our junior detectives, Pauline and Brennan, as they attempt to solve a centuries-old mystery with the help of a cantankerous hermit and a frightening ghost.
USE YOUR IMAGINATION!
(in stores now!)
A woman becomes obsessed with a story about her family from 1890—when a naked, mute girl stumbled onto their property—and whether or not it really happened. A self-help guru and his chief strategist take their most affluent and unstable clients on a harrowing nature hike that destroys their company. A young convict in a prison creative writing class chronicles the rise and fall of his cellblock’s resident peacemaker. A rural neighbourhood is mesmerized by the coming of a strange and powerful new homeowner who is in the middle of reinventing herself.
The stories of Use Your Imagination! are about stories, about the way we define and give shape to ourselves through all kinds of narratives, true or not. Sometimes funny, strange, or frightening, these stories represent Bertin’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed, award-winning debut, Bad Things Happen.
Praise for Kris Bertin & Alexander Forbes's THE CASE OF THE MISSING MEN:
"The volume is designed to look like part of a Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew series, but each new clue the kids discover only makes the mystery deeper and more threatening. The script by Bertin, previously known for literary fiction, deserves the most credit for creating a temptingly-comfy, suddenly-ominous mood, but Forbes’s illustrations are marvelously effective, too [...] It’s an exceptional, odd mystery."
- Publisher's Weekly
The Case of The Missing Men follows a gang of teens who have made it their business to investigate any mysterious happenings in their rural N.S. town as part of a registered after-school program. Their world of missing pets and shed fires is turned upside down when real-life kid adventurer Sam Finch arrives in town, enlisting them in their first real case—the search for his missing father. Their investigation leads them to discover a hidden world beneath their sunny town, full of secret societies, weird-but-true folk mythology, subterranean lairs, and an occultist who can turn men into dogs!
CLICK to ORDER from BIBLIOASIS!
PRAISE FOR KRIS BERTIN'S BAD THINGS HAPPEN, winner of the 2016 danuta gleed literary award:
“Kris Bertin’s stories are a revelation, a triumph — each stamped with the mark of a new and rising genius.” - David Adams Richards
"Fiercely told, sharply described, bitterly funny, and unexpectedly moving, Kris Bertin’s stories have reasserted to me just how powerful short fiction can be." - Michael Christie
"The ten stories in this collection come at you like the rounds of a heavyweight match. They are tough and bloodied and pure. And yet, beneath the surface there is revealed a surprising softness, as when a mother gathers her damaged adult son to her chest and says, ‘It’s alright, and it’s all over.’ Bertin knows place and he knows language and he knows his characters — the garbage collectors, the overweight landlords, the petty thieves. And then, oh my, there are the children. What a beautiful book.” - Danuta Gleed Judges' Panel
"Brash (in the best possible sense), intriguing, and consummate without being showy, these are terrific stories in a strong, diverse, and fascinating collection" - Quill & Quire