Merchandise

CD with four John Swan short stories read by Kerry J. Schooley.
"He's got the hard drinking, hard smoking, old reporter gruff that you need to fill Swan's ex-cop/ private eye story telling."
-James P. McAuliff, hideoutpress.

Buy The Crossing here.
$10.00 + 5% G.S.T. = $10.50
all prices Canadian Dollars

the Carless Cartoon Collection
not bad for an old bastard

Roy Carless Cartoons have been published in union and labour papers in both official languages, in the territories and provinces of Canada right to the Arctic Circle. His work has appeared in each of the United States and its territories from Guam to Puerto Rico. At his peak, Carless was drawing for publications with a combined circulation exceeding three million, an achievement still unmatched by any other editorial cartoonist.

Carless had a keen eye for the dark side of the human narrative, and exceptional skill bringing them to life on the drawing board.

Wayne Samuelson, President, Ontario Federation of Labour says:
"This book is long overdue. A great collection of work by a truly unsung working-class hero. Labour publications have depended on Roy Carless' art and humour for decades. He is one of Canada's funniest and most creative champions of workers' rights."

Bob Mackenzie, Ontario Minister of Labour, 1990-1994 says:
"Roy Carless cartoons hit their mark every time. Bosses, politicians, or anybody who thought they were 'high and mighty' felt the sting of his pencil. Justice is his issue, and laughter is his weapon."

Blaine, fellow artist and award-winning editorial cartoonist says:
"Roi paints a very accurate picture summarizing his interesting and colourful career. He surely was the King of his hill. Duncan Macpherson and I were always proud of the way he took the bull by the horns in the face of adversity."

...more

$24.95 + 5% G.S.T. = $26.20
all prices Canadian Dollars

the Rouge Murders

Fast, funny and hard...
The Rouge Murders go down in the bars and streets of the nation's toughest city. These are the stories you're supposed to believe don't happen in Canada.

Meet John Swan, a former cop who's always done things the hard way. Thrown off the job and losing touch with family, Swan is adrift in a world where everyone, rich and poor alike, scrathes for an edge. You'll want to read more of this character.

Wade Hemsworth, author of Killing Time and
Both My Legs says:
"John Swan is a distinctly Canadian detective hero. He struggles to pull the truth through familiar obstacles, armed with humble virtues, rendered vulnerable by the soft flanks of charming flaws."

Matthew Firth in Black Cat 115 says:
Swan has..."given us a new tragic hero of the same name; a hard-edged detective who prowls Ontario's mean streets, settling scores for a few bucks and restoring his tenuous sanity. The Rouge Murders is, by all accounts, an effective and entertaining work of fiction."
...more

Read Floater, an excerpt from
"The Ruby Takedown" in the Rouge Murders

$14.95 + 5% G.S.T. = $15.70
all prices Canadian Dollars

Chiffon

Short story in a 16 page, saddle-stitched chapbook.

When he discovers Mayor Bob, dead and with his knickers at his knees, in the backstairs of the city's premier gay club, Swan begins an investigation that links the street with the swank.

$5.00 + 5% G.S.T. = $5.25
all prices Canadian Dollars

Blame it on the neighbours.
sap, a mystery

It was the neighbours who introduced recently widowed ex-cop John Swan to the tantalizingly widowed Meg Maloney, your classic blond bombshell. Turns out, it's a match made in purgatory. Swan suspects Meg may have murdered her last husband. So what does sexy Meg want with a fat, middle-aged burnout like Swan?

Together, Maloney and Swan make the strangest detective duo since, well, ever. Darkly humorous, sap is full of shabby characters, sexy encounters and more twists and turns than your small intestine. God help us all if this spins into a series.

Peter Sellers, author of
Whistling Past the Graveyard says...
"John Swan is not a nice guy. Not a clean guy. Not a polite guy. But he delivers the goods. Sap is hard-edged, cynical and lean as a timber wolf when the deer are gone. If you're looking for a Canadian PI who's been boiled to leather, Swan's your man."

Scott Phillips, author ofThe Ice Harvest
and The Walkaway says...
"Sap is a very funny, very twisted book by and about the very funny, very twisted John Swan, one of the most original and compelling narrators to hit the pages of a pulp in a very long time."

"A delightfully ribald and funny romp. If this is Canadian noir, then give us more of it..."
I Love A Mystery (March, 2004)

"John Swan is another Canadian who kows how to bring the feel of the country to his readers."
Mystery Scene (Spring 2004)

"...you couldn't devour this book any faster if it were smothered in melted chocolate."
Hamilton Magazine (Winter, 2004)

"The essentials of noir in a distinctively Canadian style...from (Sap's) opening line, 'Every two-bit dick yarn starts with a beautiful woman,' we are in the world of gams, glamour and guns."
The Globe & Mail (November 22, 2003)

"...more of The Big Lebowski than The Big Sleep...more than enough good scenes and snappy exchanges..."
Quill & Quire (September, 2003)

"There's a pair of gay criminals, a delinquent teen who's the granddaughter of a developer and daughter of a gambler seeking custody of her, there's a nasty, dumb cop and a squeegee kid and a rave and dark streets and a few fist-fights - and there's John and Meg, in town for the weekend...oddly beguiling..."
London Free Press (November, 2003)

...more

Read Snare, an excerpt from
John Swan's sap, a mystery.

Buy sap, a mystery here.
$21.95 + 5% G.S.T. = $23.05
all prices Canadian Dollars

ICED
iced.jpg (8422 bytes)

Noir fiction by Mike Barnes, Brad Smith, William Bankier, Eric Wright, Peter Sellers, John Swan, Barbara Fradkin, Stan Rogal, James Powell, Mary Jane Maffini, Vern Smith, Eliza Moorhouse, Matthew Firth, Crad Kilodney, Kevin Burton Smith and Matt Hughes. Edited by Kerry J. Schooley and Peter Sellers.

Praise for ICED

The Mystery Review says:
"colourful stories of...anti-heroes whose nefarious antics blow away the usual image of Canadians as Mr. Nice Guy and Miss Goody Two-Shoes."

Quill and Quire says
ICED authors "are cool, clever, and completely oblivious to the limits of the genre, while showing respect for its conventions (Nathan Whitlock)."
...more

Read an excerpt from Head Job,
John Swan's story in ICED

$19.95 + 7% G.S.T. = $20.95
all prices Canadian Dollars

You used to know what love was all about.
Now There's HARD BOILED LOVE

From the editors of the acclaimed noir anthology ICED comes a scinitillating new kind of valentine - a book about the many ways love can go wrong.

Editors Kerry J. Schooley and Peter Sellers continue their exploration of contemporary noir by gathering a dozen stories from veteran crime writers and emerging, gritty authors. Stories of love misdirected and misplaced. Stories about the passion of obsession and the calculation of deception. Stories of searing jealousy and grinding indifference. Stories to remind us that in a cold, empty landscape, Hard Boiled Love may be the only warmth there is.

Noir fiction by Vern Smith, William Bankier, Stan Rogal, Peter Sellers, Barbara Fradkin, Gregory Ward, John Swan, Jean Rae Baxter, James Powell, Linda Helson, Mike Barnes, Sinclair Ross.

This is a marvellous anthology of short fiction... a book that is must reading for noir fans, especially those who like their mysteries Canadian.
Globe and Mail (May 24, 2003)

Perhaps tautness is the soul of noir-newcomer Jean Rae Baxter�s �Loss� is a brief but creepily effective tale of cruel, calculated revenge.
Quill & Quire (May, 2003)

...more

Read an excerpt from Buying The Farm,
John Swan's story in Hard Boiled Love

Jean Rae Baxter's "Loss" from Hard Boiled Love

a Wicked Company selection of the week.

Buy Hard Boiled Love here.
$21.95 + 5% G.S.T. = $23.05
all prices Canadian Dollars

Twelve short stories based upon that oldest of human desires:
getting even

Peter Sellers and Kerry J. Schooley continue their critically acclaimed exploration into the humour and terror of noir fiction.

For this third anthology of Canadian crime stories, the editors have uncovered tales from a mix of recognized masters and exciting new authors: Hugh Garner ("Hunky"), Jean Rae Baxter ("A Wanton Disregard"), James Powell ("A Murder Coming"), William Bankier ("Dead Like Dogs"), Fabrizio Napoleone ("Italics"), Vern Smith ("The Green Ghetto"), Barbara Fradkin ("Great Minds"), Leslie Watts ("Crocodile Tears"), Nancy Kilpatrick ("An Eye for an Eye") and more.

Theirs are stories of long overdue payback, whose time is coming sure as winter. And like them, readers will savour their cold-blooded Revenge like a fine cognac, hand-warmed on a crisp northern night.

"Peter Sellers and Kerry Schooley know their noir, and they get the grit, the sighs, the black-and-white style into every paragraph."
Globe & Mail (October 30, 2004)

...more

Buy Revenge here.
$21.95 + 5% G.S.T. = $23.04
all prices Canadian Dollars

Burning Ambitions

The Anthology of Short Shorts
edited by Debbie James.

Not a normal anthology, these stories comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comforted. Fifty stories that must be told in the hang-time of a mushroom cloud.

Featuring Derek McCormack, Crad Kilodney, Daniel Jones, Todd Klinck, Golda Fried, Ruba Nadda, Matthew Firth, Beth Lisick, Vern Smith and John Swan.

Read A Criminal Investigation,
John Swan's story in Burning Ambitions

$12.95 + 5% G.S.T. = $13.60
all prices Canadian Dollars