Cyber Central: The Joli Pantry

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Today, my daughter and her husband launched their new blog, The Joli Pantry, where they share cooking tips and enjoying life in Canada’s food capital, Montreal!

First recipe, Jul Glogg, or a very spirited warm Christmas drink from Sweden.  I grew up on it so I can guarantee it’s a panacea for winter chills and blahs!

Second recipe, Spaghetti Carbonara, which they made for us and it’s excellent though Montreal has better cremini mushrooms so I’ll leave the cooking to Mitch.

 

 

 

 

 

Surrealist Trapdoor: Invasion of the Ladybugs

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My friend, Gail Hamilton, fellow author and nature photographer, captured this gathering of lady bugs on her farm house.

We, too, in the city are noting a massive invasion in our attic, porch and garden. Strange variation in their spotting, too, from profuse to none.

A bit late for the mating season, eh what? They better get at it before the snow starts flying.  Wonder how long lady bug eggs last in the Deep Freeze.

For more breath-taking pics of country scenery, check out Gail’s website, www.gailhamiltonwriter.com.

 

 

November Gigs of the Mesdames of Mayhem

cover4Check out the upcoming November events for me and my friends at www.mesdamesofmayhem.com!

Surrealist Trapdoor: We Meet the Tallest Man in Canada!

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Unusual things have happened to me all my life. Perhaps my friends are right: I possess a dark aura that attracts surreal experiences.

Last July, my son-in-law, Mitch, was in the throes of moving himself and our daughter to Montreal.  Buried by boxes and worn out by the family dog, Pips, who’s mostly Jack Russell terrier, he seriously needed rescuing. The two of us escape up the street to the local Italian bakery for a much-needed café latte.

Standing by the cash register, I become aware of a mountainous presence and look up – way, way up into the kindly face of the largest man I have ever met.

jerryJerry Sokoloski, a true gentle giant, stands 7’8″ in his size 25 shoes. His fingers span 12 inches: he holds out his hand offering me a comparison. My size 8 hand looks like an infant’s!

Jerry is at the café to be interviewed.  He sits at one of the elevated tables where ordinary mortals stand to drink their coffees. Mitch and I are struck by the difficulties Jerry faces in daily life: driving, riding the bus or streetcar, getting clothes that fit, attending a movie theatre.  The list goes on and on.

Jerry trained with the NBA and recently completed filming David and Goliath.  (Three guesses which role he played.)  I invite you to meet this sweet and patient man in this Youtube video.

Mitch and I head back to packing. At 5’9″ I rarely feel short.  Meeting unusually tall people, feels welcome, yet at the same time, somewhat overwhelming and intimidating. I tell Mitch this but he is having none of it.

“Welcome to my world,” he says. (He’s 5’6″.)

 

 

 

 

Bio

Mad ProfileWelcome Readers!

When I was five, my mother and I drove up to Jasper on what was then a dirt road. Wild bears were plentiful and wandered about freely.

We pulled up to a spot where tourists were hand-feeding the bears candy bars. (Even as a kid, I knew this was a Bad Idea!) When Mum didn’t deliver the sugar, a bear thumped on our driver’s window with huge muddy paws. I wrote up our adventure in school and got an A+. A writer was born!

At university, I studied science, not English. Tired of academia,  I grabbed my doctorate and leaped back into the real world, first working for a gold mining company and later for the government doing disease investigations. Eventually I studied business and ran my own IT consulting service,  while my husband, Ed and I raised our family of one child and many, many pets.

My work was fascinating: I helped investigate a murder, toured the 3000 foot deep Falconbridge nickel mine and even met the Queen of England (though not all at the same time). Perhaps that’s why I didn’t start writing seriously until 2002.

I started out writing short crime fiction. My story, “Kill the Boss”, won first prize in the Golden Horseshoe contest held by Crime Writers of Canada. That gave me a great boost and I went on to publish several more stories in e-zines, print mags and anthologies. I was thrilled when my story, “The Lizard”, won the 2012 Bony Pete prize and when my experimental work, “The Ultimate Mystery”, was a finalist for the 2015 Derringer prize.

But my dream was to pen a novel. I wrote a “learner novel” which now rests in my filing cabinet. Encouragement from a leading literary agent and my writing critique group led me to write a second one.  That manuscript was short-listed for the Debut Dagger in 2009 and later for the 2012 CWC Best Unpublished Novel award.

My odyssey to publication is a story by itself: I give regular talks about it to inspire emerging writers. Seraphim Editions published my debut novel,  Windigo Fire, in September 2014.  It received glowing reviews from the Globe and Mail and was one of Huffington Post Canada’s choices as a Book for Book Clubs.  To be short-listed for the 2015 CWC Award for Best First Novel was my dream come true!

I would not have hung in there without the friendship and support of my two literary critique groups.  In 2013, we linked up to form The Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem, an autonomous nation-wide collective of 25 emerging and established Canadian crime writers, publishers, book sellers and film makers. Carrick Publishing has released five collections of our stories, Thirteen , 13 O’clock 13 Claws  , In the Key of 13 , The Spirit of 13  and now our sixth, The 13th Letter, due out in September, 2024.

Three stories in Thirteen were finalists for the Derringer and CWC awards for best short story.  And my story, Glow Grass, in 13 O’clock was nominated for the CWC Award for Best Novella. 13 Claws hit it out of the park with no less that four nominations, including the 2018 CWC winner. I was delighted to have my long story, Snake Oil, nominated for Best Novella. In 2019,  one of our stories in In the Key of 13 was nominated for a Derringer award. In 2023, two of our stories in In the Spirit of 13 were finalists for a CWC Award, including my novella, Amdur’s Ghost.

In 2018, I had two short stories published: “The Cry” in Mystery Weekly Magazine and “The Seeker” in the noir anthology, The Dame Was Trouble. And in 2019, my domestic noir, “Brainworm”, appeared in the Mesdames’ latest anthology, In the Key of 13.

Despite Anno Horribilis, otherwise known as 2020, Carrick Publishing brought out A Grave Diagnosis,  a crime fiction anthology with a medical slant. What prescience! My story, “The Eternal Bakery of the Fractal Mind”, is another crossover into speculative fiction. In 2021, I was honored to have my story, “The Moon God of Broadmoor”, be part of the anthology, Moonlight and Misadventure.

I had a good year as a writer in 2022 with the publication of two stories and one novella. My long story / novella in the Mesdames anthology, In the Spirit of 13, again features my beleaguered civil servant, Dr. Benjamin Amdur. In “Amdur’s Ghost”, he investigates the disappearance of the former Medical Officer of Health in the most obscure and most poorly funded health department in Ontario. A self-proclaimed medium warns him about a yellow dog and he finds out he should have listened. 

At the end of 2022, I had two marvelous surprises. My comedy thriller story, “Must Love Dogs – or You’re Gone”, was published in Gone, a noir anthology by Red Dog Press,  Stephen J. Golds, ed. My very first British publication!  Only 30 stories out of more than 200 submitted made the cut. And my Danny Bluestone short story, “Last Island”, was featured on the cover of the November issue of  Mystery Magazine!

In 2023, my cozy noir story, “Wisteria Cottage”, was accepted into Malice Domestic’s anthology, Mystery Most Traditional. “Amdur’s Ghost”, from In the Spirit of 13, was short-listed for the CWC Best Novella Award and “Must Love Dogs” for Best Short Story.  What a terrific honor all round!  Later in the year, thanks to Carrick Publishing, I  brought out the second collection of my short stories, Snake Oil and Other Tales, with a terrific book cover by designer, Sara Carrick.

This year, I’ll once again be “story wrangler” for The 13th Letter , which is slated for publication by Carrick Publishing in September, 2024. I’m continuing to work on several projects, novels,  three novellas and of course, more short fiction. I look forward to reconnecting with fellow authors  at Left Coast Crime: Seattle Shakedown and at When Words Collide in 2024.

Memberships:

Writers Union of Canada

Crime Writers of Canada

International Association of Crime Writers

Sisters in Crime, Toronto Chapter

Short Mystery Fiction Society

The Mesdames of Mayhem

 

 

 

 

Books: WINDIGO FIRE

Seraphim Windigo Fire

Windigo FireSeraphim Editions, Sept, 2014.

A  Canadian noir thriller.

Danny Bluestone, a young Native man, overeducated and underemployed, is drawn into an illegal bear hunt to escape his stultifying hometown of Red Dog Lake in Northern Ontario.  Things quickly go violent and he must fight to survive both the killers and the wilderness.

 

Awards and Nominations

  • Finalist-400Finalist, Arthur Ellis Award, Best First Novel, 2015
  • Finalist, Unhanged Arthur, 2012 as Gunning for Bear
  • Finalist, Debut Dagger, 2009, as The Land of Sun and Fun

 

Reviews and Recognition

Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail

Well done atmosphere and a truly chilling premise. M. H. Callway is a writer to watch.

Don Graves, Crime Fiction Reviewer

A visually powerful debut, action packed, blunt and driving, set in the grandeur & frailty of Ontario’s north compounded by the cruelty of man. The writing burst with the sudden terror of fire, the terrible potential of man’s abuse and the peace that nature offers in the midst of pain. Urgent, descriptive writing polished beyond that of a debut novel. Read it and connect with the struggle of our north.

Huffington Post Canada: A Book for Book Clubs Selection, Fall 2014

Marian Misters, Sleuth of Baker Street Bookstore

I was captivated with the story…the characters of Danny Bluestone and Rachel Forest, one of the kids from the camp where Danny works, are just terrific. ..There is a lot packed into the story and I was very impressed with the book. Good job Madeleine.

Toronto Poet Reviews

A fast pace, heart-racing novel…The writing makes the surreal setting seem so real as almost a documentary…Vivid complex characters, violent without being gory…A great read and highly recommended.