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samwiebe.com - the website of award-winning writer Sam Wiebe

Happy New Year...

My residency with the VPL was one of the most rewarding experiences in my career. The events were well-attended and seemed to help aspiring writers, which means a lot to me--my goal when I started was to put on events I'd want to attend. I think it was successful. Most of that success can be attributed to the library staff, and the writers and artists who gave their time. Thank you!

The Globe and Mail did a write-up on the residency here. Aside from a couple factual errors, it's a nice piece, and again, the credit for the success goes to everyone involved. The VPL is world-class.

A couple weeks ago I was reading the National Post's Top 99 Books list when it dawned on me that they had more novels about people turning into plants and animals than genre fiction. I may have shared this criticism with one or two people on social media...

...then a week later, the Post asked me to write a best-of list to address that oversight. I agreed. Here's my "Top Ten" list, titled "Reviewing the Evidence."

Let me say, I'm NOT a critic, and make no claim to objectivity or a clear view of the mystery/crime field. A lot of great authors didn't make the list simply because their books are still piled on my TBR shelf. The Post cut my "honourable mentions" addendum, which is below:

Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin (My family forbade me on pain of death from buying this because it was going to be a Christmas gift.)
Charcoal Joe by Walter Mosley
The Silent Dead by Tetsuya Honda
Cold Girl by R.M. Greenaway 
Strange Things Done by Elle Wild
Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty
IQ by Joe Ide 
Umbrella Man by Peggy Blair
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
Revolver by Duane Swierczynski

The second comment on the article is hilariously negative: "For shame, surely you can do better." I really, really can't.

Anyway, Happy New Year to you all. I've got a story coming out in early January and a very cool anthology project in the works. We'll see what else 2017 has in store.

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