Trace & Solomon: Torrington

By Sarah L. Johnson & Robert Bose

We wrote a new thing!

Read the review HERE!

Welcome to Torrington, Alberta. A wide spot in the blacktop, home to the world-famous Gopher Hole Museum above, and a massive convergence of mystical energy below. When a rogue exorcist acquires a soul translocating relic, the Vatican reluctantly – very reluctantly – turns to the only mercenaries capable of taking it back. The hard-drinking, double-crossing, catastrophe-courting mercenaries that sold it to him in the first place.

Trace and Solomon ought to know better. Church work is always a handshake with the Devil, but this time there’s more than money on the line, and it forces them to question what matters most. In this life, and the next.

Available at: AmazonAmazon CanadaKobo

Current Mischief – November 2019

WHAT’S NEW

Wow, it’s been a year since I updated this poor site. Not going to promise to do better because… yeah. Way too many other priorities at the moment.

2019 has been an amazing year thus far. The big news, of course, is that I started a micro horror press with the illustrious Sarah L. Johnson called The Seventh Terrace.

Our first book is a collaboration called Terrace VII: Wall of Fire. It’s a dark little beast. Pick it up and tell us what you think.

WRITING

After a busy summer I managed to get back to some serious writing, both on my novel in progress and numerous short stories. Some great stuff in the pipe that will hopefully find a home ‘out there’ somewhere or in my next collection that’s slowly congealing.

This year I had a couple of short stories published:

  • The King on the Beer Bottle Throne – in Black Dog Review #3
  • Essential Services – in The Stories We Hide: Enigma Front #5

Also had my story, The Last Wave, short listed for the 2019 Raven Short Story Contest at Pulp Literature. Super cool!

EDITING/PUBLISHING

The publishing business is crazy you know? The four books I’ve been working on over the last eighteen months all ended up being released in a late October and early November. Just the way things roll sometimes. Fabulous books, each and every one.

Some cool stuff planned and in the pipe for 2020 – stay tuned!

RUNNING

I ran. A lot. Kept the wheels on for the most part, stayed sane, and found adventure with the best of friends.

Races:

  • Frozen Ass 50 km (February)
  • Calgary Marathon 50 km (May)
  • River Revenge 100 km (June)
  • The Great Canadian Death Race 125 km (August)
  • Lost Soul 100 km (September)

Just getting sorted for 2020. Should be epic.

Current Mischief – January 6th, 2018

The News

Survived 2017 and another holiday season, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Years, an all that. 2017 was insane, getting Fishing with the Devil completed and published, joining Coffin Hop Press, editing and publishing some fantastic work including Con Morte, Manchester Vice, and It’s a Weird Winter Wonderland. I made a pile of great new friends, learned a crap ton about the publishing industry, ran some brutal ultra-marathon trail races, and had a blast doing all of it.

Now it’s 2018 and I’m pretty stoked with what’s in the pipe. We have at least seven great books coming out and I’ve signed up for even nastier trail races. It won’t be dull, I can guarantee that!

Writing

The last couple months were about coming up with crazy shit. Polished off Well Hung, the first Winston and Wu story for my Tales from the Double-W Pawn Shop book, and plotted out the rest of the book. Wrote a couple of fun stories for personal audiences including another episode of my yearly Christmas homage for the folks at work and a messed up piece, about a nasty little critter, for a dear friend.

Once I complete some editing projects and a possible sci-fi story for Enigma Front: Onward, I’ll get back to chipping away at No Joy (a full length Tagger Boone novel) and more Winston and Wu shorts.

Editing

Lots of editing work for Coffin Hop Press including turning the gears on Rocket Ryder and Little Putt-Putt Go Down Swinging and Killing Mr. Edwards.

I’m also happy to be assisting on the 2018 IFWA anthology entitled Enigma Front: Onward. This year Chris Carolan has stepped up to publish it and he’s set up an Indiegogo campaign, with one of the tiers a critique from yours truly. If you can, toss a few bucks towards this great project.

Upcoming Events

Look for these fantastic events over the next few months.

Bloody Offensive 2018
Wednesday, February 14th, 2018 (7pm-9pm)
Coffin Hop Press will be sponsoring this year’s Bloody Offensive event at The Owl’s Nest. Will it live up to last years? Only time will tell.

bloody offensive banner

♦♦♦

Infractus/Rocket Ryder and Little Putt Putt Go Down Swinging/Killing Mr. Edwards Launch
Thursday, April 19th, 2018 (7pm-9pm)

Coffin Hop Press will be officially launching our Spring titles at cSPACE King Edward this year. It’s going to be a fantastic party with drinks, food, readings, and lots of mischief. Not to be missed!

InfractusRocket RyderKilling Mr. Edwards

Running

Winter’s always been my off-season where I laze around the house, eat my weight in butter tarts, and generally turn into a fat slob. Not this year! With the demanding race schedule I’m planning for 2018, I figured I’d better my shit into high gear. In order to facilitate high gear shit, I joined the Strides Run Streak, a fun event that challenges you to run a mile every day during the month of December. Of course, being me and, uh, insane, my minimum target was 10 kilometers a day. I ran through the bloody snow and cold and ended grinding 367 kilometers with only minor injuries to body and spirit. I’ll definitely be doing that again next year!

2018 Run Streak

Upcoming Running Events

My 2018 race schedule is starting to shape up and it’s going to be both challenging and rewarding. Must… lose… weight…

♥ ♥ ♥

Cheers!
Rob

Current Mischief – October 24th, 2017

The News

I’m happy to say my book launch for Fishing with the Devil was a roaring success. We had great music, an awesome venue, a fantastic crowd, and… books. Lots and lots of books. A huge thanks to Hanging Judge and Owl’s Nest Books and Coffin Hop Press and all my friends and family for making it one for the ages.

♦♦♦

Rick and the boys from Hanging Judge blasted some tunes.

Hanging Judge at FwtD Launch

Sarah gave a cool introduction, I talked a little about the book, and then read from A Dead Reckoning. Then Axel gave talked about Coffin Hop Press and read from his brilliant new Noirvella, Con Morte.

Fishing with the Devil Launch

We sold a pile of books and managed to claw our way to the top of the Calgary Best Sellers List for the week!

FwhD Best Sellers List

 

Other Cool News

I was recently interviewed by Joshua Pantalleresco for his Just Joshing Podcast. We had a fun chat, so grab it from his site or iTunes and give it (and all the other great interviews he’s done) a listen.

Just Joshing

 

Writing

I finally finished and polished up a surfing-mythology infused story called The Last Wave. Now it’s time to find a home for it. I’m still grinding away on No Joy (a full length Tagger Boone novel) and Well Hung, the first piece for Tales from the Double-W Pawn Shop, my Winston and Wu story book. Also work on another short story collection about death titled Die Jobs and other Invariabilities. Oh, and I started a new sci-fi story tentatively called M33.

Editing

Lots of editing work for Coffin Hop Press with the finished products coming out in November. Look for Manchester Vice and It’s a Weird Winter Wonderland.

Upcoming Events

Some Funtacular events coming down the pipe.

Halloween Eve at Signal Hill Indigo
Monday, October 30th, 2017 (6pm-9pm)
Coffin Hop Press will be attending the Halloween Eve event at Signal Hill Indigo. It’s a fundraiser for WWC so come on down, chat us up, and buy some books for a great cause.

Halloween Eve at Signal Hill Indigo

Manchester Vice/Weird Winter Wonderland Launch
Thursday, November 16th, 2017 (7pm-9pm)

Coffin Hop Press will be officially launching Manchester Vice by Jack Strange and the twisted anthology It’s a Weird Winter Wonderland by seven fantastic authors, at the Owls Nest. It’ll be a fun party with drinks, snacks, readings, and most certainly mischief. Come on down!

Nov Launch 2017

Running

I’ve been healing up and rebuilding after my hard summer races, so I haven’t been pushing to many miles. I did run the local Harvest Half Marathon on September 30th, however, and set out determined to make amends for the pain that was Lost Soul. It was a beautiful, perfect day and I’m happy to say I was flying in my new Hoka ultra-cushioned trail shoes. I had one of my best half’s in many, many years.

Harvest Half 2017

Upcoming Running Events

The next body smashing ultra will be in February (Frozen Ass 50) and Steve and I are in the midst of planning some big races for for 2018. Stay tuned!

♥ ♥ ♥

Cheers!
Rob

Current Mischief – September 12th, 2017

The News

When Words Collide (WWC) 2017 has come and gone. I had a brilliant time with all my friends, made all kinds of new friends, and most likely frightened the bejesus out of everyone else. I participated in a fun panel about mythology in speculative fiction, a number of fantastic book socials, a couple of cool pitch sessions with Coffin Hop Press, and a blue pencil session where I gave all sorts of unhelpful (I suspect) feedback on other author’s work.

My new book, Fishing with the Devil, garnered a bit of soft launch interest. Check it out if you haven’t already and come to the official launch on September 28th at the Owl’s Nest (info below).

RustEnigma Front: The Monster Within was also released at the convention with my dark sci-fi story Secrets and Lies. It’s about a conflicted soldier willing to sacrifice everything to unearth ancient forbidden memories. Fun stuff so check that out if it sounds like your thing.

In other cool news, I was recently interviewed by Joshua Pantalleresco for his Just Joshing Podcast. We had a cool chat, so watch for it to be released sometime soon.

Writing

I haven’t had a lot of time to write over the summer (I’ve been spending my time editing and working books for Coffin Hop) but I’m still chipping away at No Joy (a full length Tagger Boone novel) and Tales from the Double-W Pawn Shop, my Winston and Wu story book. I’ve also started assembling stories for another short story collection about death tentatively titled Die Jobs.

Upcoming Events

CHIseries Calgary – Thursday, September 21st, 2017 (7pm-9pm)
I’ve been invited to participate in the fall instalment of the The Chiaroscuro Reading Series (along with Craig DiLouie and Axel Howerton) hosted by the queen of darkness herself, Sarah L. Johnson. Come on down to Buffalo Bob’s Canadian Pub and listen to us read some horrible (but in a good way) stories.

chi_series_calgary_sept_2017

Fishing with the Devil Launch – Thursday, September 28th, 2017 (7pm-9pm)
Coffin Hop will be officially launching Fishing with the Devil along with Axel Howerton’s noirvella masterpiece, Con Morte, at the Owls Nest. It’ll be a fun party with drinks, snacks, readings, and most certainly mischief. Come on down!

Sept Launch 2017

Running

The last few weeks contained two damn tough races, but I had fun and learned important lessons – namely to leave more than three weeks before long, hard races and do more heat training.

On August 19th I ran the Squamish 50 (Miles). The weather was fantastic (21C) and I was well trained up, both mentally and physically. Since it was my first attempt at a 50 mile (80 kilometer) race, I wasn’t sure how my body would handle it, but aside from expected fatigue and some crazy bladder issues, it went fantastic and I completed it in a little over 14 hours.

Squamish 50 2017

Then, three weeks later on September 8th, I ran the Lost Soul (100 kilometer distance). I’ve done his race twice before: the 50 km distance in 2014 and 54 km in 2015 when I paced my buddy Steve on his 100 mile slogfest. While I knew the course well, I was still beat up from Squamish but figured I could push past that and complete my first 100 km race. Sadly, it was not to be. The weather was rough, a 35C day (40C+ in the bottom of the river valley) with thick smoke blowing in from Waterton. The air quality was terrible and the heat ended up ripping the life out of me. Combined with already weary bones and sore feet, I decided to drop at 62 km when my heat exhaustion approached a full blown heatstroke. Not worth killing myself over. I’ll be back in a couple of years to try again!

Lost Soul 2017

Upcoming Running Events

No body smashing ultra’s until at least February (Frozen Ass 50), but I’ll be running the local Harvest Half Marathon on September 30th,

♥ ♥ ♥

Cheers!
Rob

Current Mischief – July 21st, 2017

The News

As the good Professor Farnsworth likes to say, good news everyone. Fishing with the Devil is done. Complete. Published. Loose in the world. A huge thanks to everyone who helped get it across the finish line – Sarah L. Johnson for making it gud, Axel Howerton and Coffin Hop Press for making it real, and James Beveridge for making it pretty. Whatever you think of it, I’d love to get a review on Amazon/Goodreads, it really does help getting it noticed.

Another Thing

Speaking of Coffin Hop Press, I had such a great time working with them that they’ve taken me in as a partner and senior editor. I’ll be helping them ramp with a number of fantastic projects centered around new crime, new weird, new pulp. Our two fall/winter books will be It’s a Weird Winter Wonderland, an anthology of crazy holiday stories, and Manchester Vice, a nasty bit of work from the dark and dangerous Jack Strange.

Writing

After nearly a year of grinding away on Fishing with the Devil I’ve moved on to new (and old) projects. No Joy, my full length Tagger Boone (fresh from A Dead Reckoning) novel is clawing its way to life, and while I chip away at that, I’ve been working on a set of interconnected stories about Winston (of Winston and Wu fame) with the working title of Tales from the Double-W Pawn Shop.

Upcoming Events

August 11-13th, 2017
I’ll be attending When Words Collide again this year. It’s the premier genre literary convention in Canada and always a fantastic time. This year, as part of Coffin Hop, I’ll be participating in a number of events.

My schedule so far:

  • Mythology as the Basis for Speculative Fiction Panel – Friday 1PM
  • Noir at the Bar – Friday 9PM+
  • Coffin Hop Presents – Saturday 10AM
  • Analemma Books (Enigma Front: The Monster Within) Book Social – Saturday 1PM
  • Autograph Session – Saturday 8-10PM
  • Blue Pencil Café – Sunday 11AM

September 28th, 2017
Coffin Hop will be officially launching Fishing with the Devil along with Axel Howerton’s noirvella masterpiece, Con Morte, at the Owls Nest. It’ll be a fun party with drinks, snacks, readings, and most certainly mischief. Come on down!

Running Events

Running, running, and more running. After surviving a nasty chest cold in June, I’m ramping back up in preparation for a couple of upcoming races.

Already picked out a tombstone.

♥ ♥ ♥

Cheers!
Rob

Current Mischief – December 24th, 2016

Another fantastic year pretty much in the can. Ran a lot, wrote a lot, cried when the universe snatched away some inspirational creative folks like David Bowie and Leonard Cohen.

The big news is that I’ll be editing a holiday crime anthology for Coffin Hop Press in 2017. We’ve got a great line up of cool cat authors and I can’t wait to unleash this soon to be classic on the world.

Holiday Havoc!

♦♦♦♦

Writing
Lots and lots of writing focused on getting my short story collection (Fishing with the Devil) into appropriate shape to release in 2017. I never thought it would take months upon months to clean up and complete the short stories, but yeah…

Upcoming Writing/Literature Events
Some great stuff coming up. So far on tap:

♦♦♦♦

Running
Now that I’m sliding into winter hibernation, I can relax and ponder my last three races of 2016. Finlayson Arm was a beautiful brute. Technical. Steep. Endless. I’d thought Squamish was tough, but this was tougher. Eleven hours of pain, but we pushed through it. The Harvest Half and First Responder’s Half in October and November were fun, flat, and simple. Not challenging, but considering I’d damaged both body and soul on Finlayson, that’s okay.

Upcoming Races
Next year is shaping up to be a killer race year. Since I’m turning fifty I’ll be pushing a pile of 50 km+ races! So far on tap:

  • Frozen Ass 50 – February 20th, 2017
  • Diez Vista 50 – April 8th, 2017
  • Calgary Marathon 50 – May 28th, 2017
  • Squamish 50 – August 19th, 2017
  • Lost Soul 100 – September 8th, 2017

♦♦♦♦

Book of the Week/Month/Variable Time Period
Shadow’s Fall: New White Sands City Cyberpunk Book 1 by Ron Bender
In a future where corporations govern, eCash rules, and technology is everything, Raven steals, kills, and shops while looking damn good at it. When she acquires some explosive data, and the scrutiny of powerful adversaries who know more about her than she does, she discovers that having the right friends, the right family, is the most valuable prize of all.

A fast paced cyberpunk action adventure that twists and turns, taking you down dark, dirty underworld paths and up to lofty, bright corporate corridors. The vast cast of characters pop, springing alive to populate a fully realized New White Sands City and one crazy world. A fantastic beginning to an ambitious series, highly recommended!

Shadow's Fall by Ron Bender

Current Mischief – August 21st, 2016

Last weekend I attended the annual When Words Collide literary festival and, as usual, it was a complete blast. A highlight was the fantastic Noir at the Bar with ‘spiderwoman’ Sarah L. Johnson taking home the golden skull and the door prize bottle of scotch being ‘returned’. I’m thinking it’s cursed, a spirit possessed by actually spirits. Great people, cool panels, and interesting parties. Really interesting parties. Nerds.

I finally met Nancy Kilpatrick in person, one of the editors of the award winning nEvermore!: Tales of Murder, Mystery & the Macabre. We did a day trip to Banff and Lake Louise, and even though the weather wasn’t stellar and the crowds were insane, we had a great, all day chat. At the conference we hung out at the Edge Publishing booth as featured authors.

Featured Authors

Enigma Front: Burnt officially released, with my story Hot Blooded, and we had a book launch. Additionally, my story Fallen made the finals of this years Robin Herrington Memorial Short Story Contest. It didn’t win, but the judges liked my writing and provided excellent feedback.

I love this festival and next year’s edition can’t come quick enough.

Writing

Lots on the go. Trying to finish my Camelot story, revising some sci-fi/horror tales, and considering putting together a short story collection of my current work since getting the Novel complete is going to take awhile.

Running
Finlayson Arm is only three weeks away! How time flies. Squats, squats, and more squats. I’ve also signed up for the First Responder’s Half Marathon on November 6th and I should sign up for the Harvest Half in October if Finlayson doesn’t kill me.

Upcoming Events

Book of the Week/Month/Variable Time Period
Enigma Front: Burnt by the IFWT’s (including old me)
From elemental wizardry gone wickedly wrong to devilish deeds and futures up in flames, these twenty one stories set the pages ablaze exploring the myriad ways of getting singed, fried and outright incinerated.