BOOK CLUB FRIDAY – GUEST MYSTERY AND SHORT STORY AUTHOR WINONA KENT

Today we have a visit from award-winning Canadian mystery author Winona Kent, who has recently published her eleventh book. Ten Stories That Worried My Mother is an anthology of short stories spanning her four decades of creative writing. The Foreword is provided by well-known British Columbian author A.J. Devlin. Learn more about Winona and her books at her website.

Ten Stories That Worried My Mother begins with my first published short story, “Tower of Power”—about one night in the life of a rock and roll radio newsman—which won first prize in Flare Magazine’s fiction competition in 1982. The journey finishes with two mysteries starring my professional musician/amateur sleuth, Jason Davey: “Salty Dog Blues” and “Blue Devil Blues,” the former being shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada's Awards of Excellence for Best Crime Novella in 2021.

Between these two milestones are seven more pieces of short fiction featuring an unhinged Saskatchewan farmer; a bored secretary in England taking on an opinionated tea lady named Mrs. Thatcher; a shy high school kid with a crush on his soon-to-be-married social studies teacher; a creative writing instructor whose main claim to fame is one episode of the 1960s tv spy series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; a subversive temp working at a Canadian government office responsible for administering grants for cows; and two adventures featuring my time-travelling romantic heroes Charlie Duran and Shaun Deeley.

The collection includes four prize-winners, three mysteries, two previously unpublished works and one where the hero manages to spare-change John Lennon at the premiere of A Hard Day's Night in 1964. 

And yes, these stories really did worry my mother…

Ten Stories That Worried My Mother

“Tower of Power” - One night in the life of a rock and roll radio newsman. The author’s first published story, winner of the Flare Fiction Competition, originally published in Flare magazine in September 1982.

 

“Dietrich's Ash” - Inspired by an unfortunate situation that arose from a disputed property line between the author’s house and her neighbour’s house when she was growing up in Saskatchewan. Okanagan Short Fiction Award winner. Originally published in Canadian Author & Bookman. Winter 1985 and anthologized in Pure Fiction: The Okanagan Short Story Award Winners. (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) 1986. Also broadcast on CBC Radio, Ambience. 1982

 

“True Confessions” - A temp with nothing much to do, a tea lady named Mrs. Thatcher, and a rooftop garden overlooking a builder's yard. Originally published in Green's Magazine, a small Canadian literary journal, Volume XII, Number 4, Summer 1984.

 

“Creatures from Greek Mythology” - A student with a crush on his Social Studies teacher. A high school dance. A fine arts student who paints rainbows around her eyes. (Second Prize Winner, WQ Editors Prize). Originally published in Cross-Canada Writers Quarterly. Vol 6, No. 1, 1984. 

 

“The Man in the Grey Eldorado” - The first draft of this was written roundabout 1977 or 1978, after the author had spent a glorious few weeks at the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts at Fort San (a former TB sanitorium). Inspired by The Man from UNCLE, this is one of only two previously unpublished stories in the collection.

 

“Herd Maintenance” - Written in 1981 while the author was working as a temp at a federal government office on the Canadian prairies. This is the second unpublished story in the collection, although it did enjoy a brief life as a short, unproduced film script while the author was at Vancouver Film School in 2003-4. The typewritten letters in the story are real. The names have been removed to protect the innocent.

 

“Perhaps an Angel” - An adventure involving the two main characters from the author’s time travel romances, Charlie Duran and Shaun Deeley. Originally published in Carnival, a collection of short stories by Fable Press authors, in 2013.

 

“Easy When You Know How” - Another Charlie Duran/Shaun Deeley short story, in which Mr. Deeley manages to spare change John Lennon at the premiere of A Hard Day’s Night, and snag one of his plectrums. The story is also included at the end of the athor’s time travel romance novel, In Loving Memory.

 

“Salty Dog Blues” - Jason Davey, the author’s professional musician / amateur sleuth, was originally featured in a standalone novel, Cold Play (2012), working as an entertainer on board an Alaska-bound cruise ship. In “Salty Dog Blues,” the author takes him back to that nautical setting and gives him a very tongue-in-cheek mystery to solve. “Salty Dog Blues” was specifically written for and originally appeared in the short story anthology Crime Wave, published by Sisters in Crime-Canada West in November 2020. The story was a finalist in the Crime Writers of Canada's 2021 Awards of Excellence for Best Crime Novella.

 

“Blue Devil Blues” - This is a short story that was originally written for the anthology Last Shot: Four Tales of Murder, Mystery and Suspense, published in June 2021 with stories by Alice Bienia, Dwayne Clayden, Peter Kingsmill and the author. It tells the tale of how Jason got his permanent gig at the Blue Devil jazz club in London's Soho, and also manages to include the author’s obsession with the London Underground.

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