The Funny Family Safari Adventure

Have you ever wondered how animals think and what goes through their minds? Just like humans learn from parents, teachers, and friends, many animal species pick up behaviors and knowledge from their packs and surroundings. Both humans and fellow species experience strong emotions.

This fun educational book for children and parents alike shares insights into how some animals perceive humans, based on a real-life safari adventure the author took years ago. While the human characters have been fictionalized, the animals featured existed and acted just as described. Their thoughts and behaviors conveyed are grounded in factual animal intelligence pulled from open-source media.

Join this illuminating expedition to find out what animals really think of people! The revealing perspectives will entertain readers young and old as we rediscover the wonders of the natural world.

The CurE

In a pre-apocalyptic world, 17-year-old Calgary teen Julia Klassen is going nowhere … fast.

Suspended from high school for fighting, Julia is attending summer school to graduate, in addition to anger-management sessions and staying under the radar of Alberta’s governing right-wing party’s Gender Appropriation Division.

You would think that would be enough chaos in the teen’s life. However, a global terrorism attack on small-modular reactors by environmental group, Terra Nova, says otherwise. As nuclear facilities are compromised by a computer virus coined ‘The CurE’ in an attempt to reset the earth, Julia is pressed into action and rescues a bus load of passengers from explosions and earthquakes in the aftermath.

As thousands flee contamination zones, the teen decides it’s the perfect time to come out as being transfluid. Fortunately, the pun-loving, quirky Christian Klassens embrace the new Jules. But it isn’t until they find sanctuary at the Church of the Holy Creator in the Piikani Nation of Southern Alberta, however, that Jules gets a taste of true belonging and healing, with the help of Two-Spirit friend, Todd, and Rev. Erin Stillwater.

It isn’t long before Jules is once again forced into a maturity pressure cooker, as the Klassens join other ex-pats from Atlantic Canada on the Exodus Train in a resettlement lottery program. Along the way, the teen joins Todd and their little brother, Jake, in foiling poachers, rioters and their inner demons in this action-packed adventure that pits wits and will against extremism in the fight for humankind.

Sword Against Steel - 1

Sword Against Steel – 1: Black Cloaks follows Arathrone, a boy who feels out of place in a hidden village until adventure unexpectedly comes knocking. Drawn into the outside world, Arathrone is trained as a warrior for many years under the tutelage of sage men, elves, and wizards alike, to reveal the skills of magic, swordsmanship, and even dark tales of the secrets of the past… And of course there is a bit of time for laughter too. But most importantly, they teach him how to survive as an outcast in a land raging in a very mysterious war. Alongside newfound companions, they must fight for their homeland while they are imperiled by threats revealing themselves after long being in secret.

Reluctant Hero

After settling into a quiet life in Northern California, the protagonist’s past from his college days in Washington, DC, catches up with him in a lethal confrontation. This violent encounter propels him on a surreal journey through the thresholds of the afterlife: heaven, purgatory, and hell.

During these celestial visits, gatekeepers evaluate the protagonist’s life, sparking debates about his worthiness for each realm. Through these conversations, the protagonist not only defends his past actions but also lays out a blueprint for young American males navigating life’s trials, from sports and romance to dealings with law enforcement and face-offs with adversaries.

He shares unique strategies for the under-sized athlete to thrive in contact sports and offers insights into everyday challenges, urging others to approach them with extraordinary solutions. His encounters also delve deep into the intricacies of police work, a knowledge he showcases during his discourse with hell’s sentinel.

With unwavering support from his tight-knit circle of friends, the protagonist surmounts both earthly and ethereal hurdles, exemplifying the indomitable spirit’s triumph over adversity and fear.

Owen's Dream

Owen’s Dream profiles the detailed struggles of Owen, a 12-year-old seventh grader diagnosed with autism at the age of four. Despite his condition, Owen tries hard to fit in with his few friends and classmates. Owen’s biggest desire is to make his school’s basketball team so his family will be proud of him.

Owen’s story provides the inspirational details of his disappointments and the discovery of the special abilities that he possesses because of his autism. With the help of his older brother Paul, a high school athlete, Owen’s life takes an unexpected turn that provides him with surprising new opportunities that showcase Owen’s skills.

Owen’s Story provides a positive message that can be used by all to encourage how determination and hard work can result in the most surprising successes in life.

Nero in the Land of Nut

Writing is the most unusual way to create. I have always been used to painting where materials such as brushes, canvas, and colors are at hand. Everything has a tactile quality about it, but writing is the opposite. It is more cerebral. You are dealing with words colliding with each other in your mind trying to make sense of them. But this can be more liberating, especially in a children’s book where anything goes. Nero in the Land of Nut is a play on words so convoluted and over-lapping it becomes infectious and incorrigible. At some point, the reader laughs hilariously in his/her attempts to make sense of it all. It reminds us of life itself and how serious we take things, when all the while, life just wants to laugh.

Nero and the Social Agreement

In the whimsical land of Nutville, a young boy named Nero embarks on a journey that defies the conventional boundaries of logic and reason. Nero and the Social Agreement follows the adventures of Nero, his friend Nora, and her dog Noodles, as they navigate a world where the quest for the fabled Nutless Forest leads to an unexpected revelation. The trio’s exploration challenges the very essence of their community’s identity, sparking a profound transformation among the Nutvillers.

Mother Nature & Her Human Friends

Mother Nature and Her Human Friends is a narrative poem. The characters include Will, a twenty-year-old, who works for Miller, the landscaper of the Bonvern Valley Park. Will discovers a cave of vines and a hidden pool, and, tired of his studio apartment, spends the night in the cave with his dog Hilda. He has a dream vision of Mother Nature, who speaks to him and creates a new direction for his life. A day later, Will meets Linda in the cave, and together they gather a new group called Mother Nature's Friends. They build a network to save the forest and the wetland in their valley, and risk their lives to protect the living beauty around them.

“I’ve worked all my life trying to re-envision who we are and what nature is and can be. The idea that nature has no soul is a travesty, a monstrous loss of our identity. But now I see a different goal, a new role for us to play.”
– Lisa Nieves, Parks Commissioner for Bonvern Valley

Moral Demise

Jack, Benny and Charlotte are best friends with a mission to find excitement in their sleepy town of Greensville. The adventure-seeking trio stumble upon something that piques their interest. Grabbing surveillance gear, they begin their own investigation, unaware that they are being watched. But this time, they end up going too far.

The CEO of a wealthy biotechnology firm is on the verge of a worldwide scientific break-through to benefit all of mankind: a massive advancement that is sure to earn him a Nobel Peace prize. In an unexpected twist, the CEO plots a sinister and unthinkable experiment.

A favorite science teacher goes missing and is replaced with a substitute with a secret that she will go to great lengths to keep.

In an unfortunate chance of fate, all plots collide to make a perfect story packed with adventure, childhood friendship, young romance and the struggle to find the balance between ethics and biotechnological advances of DNA.

Kill Two Birds with One Stone

Homeless and ashamed, a young women named Arabelle struggles to survive. When she seeks to escape her reality with friends in a forest, an accident occurs causing the forest to erupt in flames. While everyone makes it out alive, the blame falsely falls on one friend, leaving Arabelle with immense guilt for hiding the truth.

She finds herself with an ultimatum that will change the course of her life. Blocking out his past, a firefighter named Tucker immerses himself in his work and hobbies. He crosses paths with Arabelle during the forest fire and they begin to form a friendship.

Though their relationship blossoms, Arabelle fears her secrets and past will push Tucker away. Meanwhile, Tucker fears his feelings for Arabelle will leave him with a broken heart because of a past friendship he’d lost.

Grimm's Good

Whether it be in present-day society or in a magical world teeming with characters from all of your favourite characters growing up, everyone struggles with the idea of confirming to a certain norm. It doesn’t mean that something is tradition that it deserves to be a tradition for any longer, and this is something Winter comes to find as she struggles to learn what it means to be the future queen of a patriarchal kingdom.

Or for Prince Charmant, who comes to learn that love is love, and that a heart is never wrong, regardless of tradition and norms. Though these characters from our childhoods share the same appearances and stories, they now finally reflect the real struggles of everyday people, and portray a more diverse, and more complicated world, in which we all live and must learn to live in together.

Darkness Surrounds the Light

Where do you place your faith? Where do you go to when you need help? When patiently waiting to be saved does not work, whose arms should you fall into?

In Darkness Surrounds the Light, Shirley, a young woman in a foreign country, has to face trials and frustrations and danger without knowing how she will survive or who she can trust. She is captured and tortured for no reason and faces unmentionable abuse not knowing who to lean on or how she will survive. Even when she feels safe, she still has to keep up her guard and fight with her demons. She thought her savior was Shawn, but he could not protect her.

Who will protect her? Who can she trust when the hope of rescue appears to be out of reach?