Hayden Trenholm

Writing fiction isn't easy. The 26 writers and editors-and one writing group-who contributed to this book know exactly how difficult it can be. They've seen the challenges and found the solutions, and they are here to share their hard-won lessons with you. From getting started to choosing a point of view, to adding resonance, crafting an unforgettable villain, advanced editing techniques, and more, Writing Better Fiction has something for writers at every level. Topics include: Dealing with the blank pageSurface problems and story-worthy problemsUnderstanding point of viewVillains and conflictWriter's blockWriting stronger scenesEffective dialogueGive your writing resonance with elemental talesThree steps to move from telling to showingAnd much more.

Walter Gladstone came to Paris in the spring of 1923 to write the great American novel but instead wound up dead in an artificial lake. When the police dismiss the death as a drunken accident, Max is hired to find out the truth, but the truth turns out to be an elusive thing, hidden under layers of deceit and artifice. Jealous writers, battling artists and industrial spies all clamour for his attention and nothing is what it seems to be.

After decades of stability, climate stresses, never far from the surface, are bringing droughts, crop failures, and massive storms. The world's end--avoided once, centuries before--seems likely to succeed the second time. Scientist Sarah Nahanni has a possible solution, but the math is daunting and the number of mathematicians willing or even able to solve the equations is very small. With the ancient satellites failing and the roads filled with hostile armies, the path to recovery seems lost. Far to the south, Ivan Rodriguez, an unlikely genius, is on the run from the death squads of his feudal overlords, his head full of fears for his family and mathematical dreams of a better future. He holds the key to Sarah Nahanni's problem and would help--if only he knew she existed and he could reach her in time.

When a naked corpse is found in the Luxembourg Gardens, Captain Gereau approaches Max Anderson to take on the case "to aid a fellow Canadian." Sarah St. John, the wife of the deceased, is the primary suspect but Max has his doubts. Mark St. John was in Paris, supposedly to visit his mistress, Irina Pavlovna, but he clearly had other reasons to be there -- politics, arms smuggling and stolen Italian money. Max soon finds himself embroiled in the violent world of French and Russian politics and the even more uncertain world of les liaisons dangereuses.

The Great War has ended. From all over the world, politicians and diplomats gather in Paris to negotiate the Great Peace. But Max Anderson, former lieutenant in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, cares for none of that. With no home waiting back in Canada, he is determined to make a new life for himself in the City of Light. But soon he finds himself immersed in intrigue and political turmoil of the treaty negotiations. The war may be over but the city is full of violent men pursuing violent causes, and when no one else seems willing to do the right thing, Max has no choice but to act.