HUGH A.D. SPENCER

Hugh Spencer’s short fiction has been published in magazines and anthologies such as Descant, Interzone, On Spec and the Tesseracts series. Most of which have been reprinted in Why I Hunt Flying
Saucers and The Progressive Apparatus from Brain Lag Publishing. His novel Extreme Dentistry, also from Brain Lag, was released in 2014. Hugh has also adapted much of his work into audio dramas
which have been performed by Shoestring Radio Theatre for NPR’s Satellite Network. He’s been twice nominated for the Canadian Aurora Award, and his story “(Coping with) Norm Deviation” received an honorable mention in The Year’s Best Science Fiction (2007). In May 2019, Hugh’s play “The Triage Conference“ was performed at the Scripted Toronto Theatre Festival; and his second novel The Hard Side of the Moon, was released in hardback in 2021. A collection of his radio dramas, The Fabulist Play Cycle was launched in 2024.

Hugh is founder and president of the Museum Planners Group and he has been consulting in the cultural field for over 30 years. In this capacity, Hugh was co-curator of the National Library of Canada’s exhibition on Canadian science fiction and fantasy, he also served as Chair of the Friends of the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation for the Toronto Public Library system, President of SF Canada (the association of professional fantasy and science fiction writers) and acted as programming advisor for Allarcom Pay-Television’s CRTC application for a specialty science fiction channel.

David Nickle is an author and journalist living and working in Toronto. His fiction has been published in magazines, anthologies and online, and been adapted for television. In 1997, he and Edo Van Belkom won a Bram Stoker Award for their short story “Rat Food.” In 1993, he and Karl Schroeder co-wrote “The Toy Mill” and won an Aurora Award for short form work in English. Some of his stories are collected in Monstrous Affections, and Knife Fight and Other Struggles.

He is the author of several novels: Rasputin’s Bastards, The ‘Geisters, Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism and Volk: A Novel of Radiant Abomination all available from Open Road Media. He is married to author and futurist Madeline Ashby.

Amy Stuart’s fourth novel, A Death at the Party, emerged as a longstanding #1 bestseller. She is the author of three other bestselling novels—Still Mine, Still Water, and Still Here. Amy’s other love is hockey. She is one of only a handful of women head coaches in the GTHL, the world’s largest youth competitive hockey league. In 2024, she co-wrote Mats Sundin’s #1 bestselling memoir, Home and Away. For many years, Amy was a high school gym and English teacher in the TDSB, and she is now building Writerscape, an online community for both emerging and experienced writers. She was born in Toronto, where she still lives with her husband and their three sons. They also spend much of their time on Prince Edward Island, where Amy’s family is originally from.

Dominic Capilongo:  I’m a writer, karate instructor, teacher, dad, husband, and Toronto guy. I have written three books of poetry and one of short fiction. I am a former Ontario Provincial Karate Champion and National Medalist. I teach and train with the Toronto West End Wado Karate Club and as an assistant karate instructor with the GTA YMCA. I am a member of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers, The League of Canadian Poets, The Writer’s Union, and The Ontario Karate Federation.

THE BEATLE BANDIT
A Serial Bank Robber’s Deadly Heist, a Cross
Country Manhunt, and the Insanity Plea that
Shook the Nation
By Nate Hendley
Paperback 9781459748101 • $21.99
epub 9781459748125 • $10.99
The sensational true story of how a bank robber killed a man in
a wild shootout, sparking a national debate around gun control
and the death penalty.
On July 24, 1964, twenty-four-year-old Matthew Kerry Smith
disguised himself with a mask and a Beatle wig, hoisted a semi
automatic rifle, then held up a bank in North York, Ontario.
The inteligent but troubled son of a businessman and mentaly il
mother, Smith was a navy veteran with a young Indigenous wife and
a hazy plan for violent revolution.
Outside the bank, Smith was confronted by Jack Blanc, a former
member of the Canadian and Israeli armies, who brandished a
revolver. During a wild shootout, Blanc was kiled, and Smith escaped
Nate Hendley is a journalist and author.
His books include The Boy on the Bicycle,
The Big Con, and Bonnie and Clyde. He
lives in Toronto.
STAY CONNECTED
#BeatleBandit
dundurnpress
— only to become the object of the largest manhunt in the history of
the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force.
Dubbed “The Beatle Bandit,” Smith was eventualy captured, tried,
and sentenced to hang. His murderous rampage had tragic
consequences for multiple families and fueled a national debate
about the death penalty, gun control, and the insanity defence.
With this absorbing, deeply researched tale of a troubled, gun
obsessed bank robber-turned-killer in 1960s Toronto, veteran
true crime writer Nate Hendley has scored another triumph.
—Dean Jobb, author of The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream and
Empire of Deception
A fascinating, bizarre, important story told by one of the
country’s top true crime writers. What’s not to enjoy? The
Beatle Bandit is a hit.
—Peter Edwards, Toronto Star crime reporter and co-author of The
Wolfpack: the Millennial Mobsters who brought Chaos and the Cartels
to the Canadian Underworld
The Beatle Bandit is a fascinating true crime story that weaves
meticulously
researched
facts
and
compassionate
observations into a gripping narrative that is as much historical
as entertaining. Nate Hendley’s eye for detail provides the
reader with an engaging account of life in 1960s Toronto, a
bank robbery gone bad, mental illness, the Canadian judicial
system, and the individuals who were a part of those places.
—Desmond P. Ryan, Retired Toronto Police Detective and author of
The Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction Series and The Mary-Margaret Cozy
@dundurnpress
dundurn.com
Series

Lisa de Nikolits is the internationally acclaimed, award-winning author of nine novels: The Hungry Mirror, West of Wawa, A Glittering Chaos, The Witchdoctor’s Bones, Between The Cracks She Fell, The Nearly Girl, No Fury Like That, Rotten Peaches and The Occult Persuasion and the Anarchist’s Solution (Fall 2019), all Inanna Publications.

No Fury Like That was published in Italian in 2019 by Edizione Le Assassine under the title Una furia dell’altro mondo. Lisa’s short fiction and poetry have also been published in various international anthologies and journals.

She is a member of the Mesdames of Mayhem, the Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, the Australian Crime Writers, the International Thriller Writers and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Originally from South Africa, Lisa de Nikolits came to Canada in 2000. She lives and writes in Toronto.

Dr. Léonard Rosmarin should perhaps be given the title of “Honorary Member” of WEN since he has been so active here since 2012. He has presented six books during WEN’s Breakfast Meetings, has been a judge of its Short Story Contest three times, and has twice written the preface for its yearly anthology. He is Professor Emeritus of Brock University and former Chair of its Department of Modern Languages. He has been a Visiting Professor at the School of Doctoral Studies at the University de Perpignan, and is the author of 17 books as well as a contributor to the encyclopedic Histoire juive de la France (The Jewish History of France) printed by one of the most illustrious publishing houses in the world, Albin-Michel in Paris. Incidentally, he was the only Canadian scholar invited to participate in this project, along with people from Yale, Oxford, Berkely, Princeton and the University of Paris. His latest book, which he will be presenting today, Words of Witness, The Fiction of Élie Wiesel, was launched at the international Frankfurt Book Fair in October of last year and is already generating its own buss. It is being carried by the Indigo/Chapters chain of bookstores. Next week he is off to Florida where he will lecture on Élie Wiesel at the Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale. His talk will be attended by about 100 book lovers and will be streamed live throughout North America. He has also been decorated twice by the Government of France for outstanding service in the cause of French letters. And he assures me that all this activity helps keep him from aging too quickly.

An inspiring political memoir of resilience and public service

In this memoir, David Warner shares an engaging, lighthearted, and no-holds-barred narrative of his journey.

Winner, 2019 IPPY Gold Medal for
Historical Fiction
Finalist, 2019 Northern Lit Award
Shortlisted, 2019 Fred Kerner Book Award
Winner, 2019 International Book Awards
(Best Cover Design – Fiction)

La Brigantessa is based on true events in the aftermath of Italy’s 1861 Unification, a turbulent period known as “The Decade of Fire” (1860-1870), when scores of brigands rebelled against the harsh policies imposed by the new government, which in turn ordered the destruction of these outlaws and anyone harbouring them. Gabriella Falcone is a peasant girl who works for Don Simone, the parish priest. She is forced to flee her hamlet of Camini in Calabria in 1862 after stabbing Alfonso Fantin, a wealthy landowner who sexually assaulted her. Devastated to leave her fiancé Tonino, and knowing her fate will be life imprisonment at best if apprehended, she allows the priest to lead her through the harsh Aspromonte mountain range to seek refuge in an isolated monastery. They soon discover that Fantin has survived and is employing the forces of law to pursue Gabriella and bring her to justice. Gabriella and Don Simone continue their journey to seek yet another safe haven but soon fall into the hands of brigands. Gabriella is catapulted into a world she has only ever heard about in nervous whispers, a world where right and wrong, justice and vengeance take on new meanings, and where the boundaries between good and evil are blurred. Gabriella is drawn into the role of brigantessa and discovers that the convictions she once held dear no longer have a place in this wild, unlawful territory.

“This is a beautiful novel, one that vividly recreates the heartbreak and drama of one of the most turbulent periods in Italian history.”

—Nino Ricci, award-winning author of The Origins of Species, Testament, and Sleep

“In the writing and storytelling of La Brigantessa, Rosanna Battigelli reflects the very passion and glory, the suffering and hope of the times that her Gabriella Falcone must endure and over which she must triumph. La Brigantessa is written with great heart and conviction—such that, in an era when truth is at a premium, no one will question the truth of this narrative. In fact, the great achievement of this novel is that Rosanna Battigelli is able to make fiction feel truer than truth, truer than non-fiction. Bravo!”

—Joseph Kertes, founder of The Humber School for Writers and author of Gratitude and The Afterlife of Stars

“Based on actual events, La Brigantessa is the triumphant, epic tale of a young woman’s incredible courage and resilience during one of Italy’s most tumultuous decades. This heart-wrenching, unforgettable novel was an addictive read that will stay with me for years.”

— Mirella Sichirollo Patzer, author of The Orphan of the Olive Tree and The Prophetic Queen

“In this historically accurate novel, Rosanna Battigelli uses every detail from pigeon soup to Southern Italian traditions to bad omens, bad luck, and retaliation. As unpredictable as summer storm clouds, as enjoyable as homemade Calabrian sausages, you should read this book with a glass of strong red wine and a supply of baci chocolates.”

—Maria Coletta McLean, author of My Father Came From Italy and Summers in Supino: Becoming Italian

“La Brigantessa is a feast for the senses. The author’s visceral descriptions of events, both terrifying and exhilarating, instantly transport the reader to the sun-bleached hills of Post-Unification Calabria. The novel is a meditation on class, politics, and women’s roles without losing sight of intrigue and adventure.”