October is a transition month. Anything is possible. Our picks for this month include some for staying warm inside until the weather changes and some for the casual relax days that may come with the sun when it decides to show.

Local Authors:

Todd Babiak, The Empress of Idaho.

A coming of age novel that will grab hold of your eyeballs and hold them hostage until it is done with them. Babiak’s portrayal of a 14 year-year-old boy’s fascination with a woman who moves in next door lulls the reader into a misplaced sense of assurance and complacency. As the story moves along it opens up into a pit of manipulation, mystery, tension, and abuse. It’s good and the author lives right here in Edmonton.

Anna Marie Sewell, For the Changing Moon: poems and songs

Anna Marie Sewell is Edmonton’s fourth poet laureate and MacEwan University’s current Writer in Residence. This collection speaks to the contemporary indigenous persons experience in these times of relentless cultural change. Her poems incorporate structure that opens them to be chanted, sung, or spoken. This volume is expected to be available sometime this month.

Books you may not be aware just how good they are:

S.A. Chakraborty, The City of Brass (Daevabad Trilogy #1)

This book contains all that is necessary to be a fantastic read. It delivers an Aladdin-esque tale in the manner of mystical times and fantasy worlds tinged with factual historical tidbits that maintain your level of familiarity with artifacts and places related in the story just so it can spell bind you into its world of magic, treachery, beauty, and danger. It even has some romance and humour to round out all the prerequisites for fantastic reading. This book will not disappoint. It will have you searching for the second of the trilogy, but, beware, the third will not arrive until 2020, so pace yourself accordingly.