Cursed On The Prairies

The culmination of the Sacred Land Stories Alternate history meets magical realism on the prairies of Saskatchewan Always go for more. Russ doesn’t want more. He has the perfect life planned. Even though he’s called a dummy most days, he knows he’ll go to college, marry Isabelle, and farm with his father and brothers. Yup, perfect. All that changes in June 1928, the night his brother is kicked out of the house and Isabelle is snatched by a bunch of men dressed like ghosts. Russ swore to protect Sacred Land but promises made to his pa when life was great are not so easy to keep after he finds himself plagued by a curse. Who are the men terrorising the Cursed Lands and trying to burn his gal for being a witch? His father thinks they’re acting out to scare them off the land, a hate group perhaps? His brother wonders if they’re wanting a sacred plant that grows in the tunnels. His ma knows of other secrets haunting them… While those things might be true, his ghostly grandpa, Silver, shows Russ something he can’t ignore; a curse summoned years ago that will suck them all into the earth. With lingering spirits, a troubled girl shadowing his destiny, dark rituals, a love potion, cursed men plaguing their lands, a prison break that takes him away from home when his wife needs him the most, and the earth itself trying to suck them in, Cursed on the Prairies is a Sacred Land Story that shows that the prairies are a place full of secrets that even a ghost can’t bury. An emotional journey into an alternate history with paranormal and romantic elements that proves we can’t escape our destinies, Cursed on the Prairies is the third of Tanya’s Sacred Land Stories, the culmination of a trans-generational timeline that started in Legends on the Prairies and continued in Ghosts on the Prairies. Visit bit.ly/CursedPrairies Review comments for Sacred Land Stories: “captures the reader’s attention from the first page” “a fascinating and harsh vision of life and death on both sides of the [US-Canadian] border.” “everything feels authentic and believable.” – Risingshadow

The story of the Northwest Rebellion is synonymous with Métis leader Louis Riel, whose allies joined together in 1885 to face the military forces of the Canadian government, engaging in a civil war on the Canadian Prairies. A lesser-known element of the story is the gripping tale of river warfare along the banks of rivers in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. InPrairie Warships: River Navigation in the Northwest Rebellion, historian Gordon E. Tolton tells of the follies and triumphs of a small prairie war that was fought using steamboats, ferries and other river craft. This was an adventure experienced at water level by warriors and soldiers on all sides--European settlers, First Nations and Métis. Richly illustrated and thoroughly researched, Prairie Warshipstakes readers to an era when the frontier was under siege, when prairie towns were ports of call, when a region's lifeblood depended on transport and when the mood of the river determined the fate of a nation.

What if someone believed that you were a hero from a legend? “Don’t you believe in legends?” Such a simple question, yet what Sacri really wants Alex to believe is that he is the hero from her legends. A hero meant to save land sacred to her tribe. Alex is a lot of things. He’s a painter, a sculptor, and a dreamer. He was just fired from a good job, grieves for a woman he hoped to marry, and is known as the local drunk. He’s terrified of fire, of losing his friend, and of being alone. He is a lot of things, but hero isn’t one of them. Travelling across the country in 1892 to settle land on an unexplored part of the prairies, he hopes to find himself, to find a reason for his pitiful existence, and to have one last adventure with his dying friend. What he actually finds in the heart of the lonesome prairies is Sacri, defending land with her very soul. She believes he is the Man of Legends sent to save Sacred Land. Her determination entrances him. Despite everything, Alex finds himself praying to a God that he thought had abandoned him, in the hope that, just maybe, there is some truth to Sacri’s stories. To add to Alex’s unease is the certainty that Sacri’s brother, often merely glimpsed as a silver shadow riding his horse across the horizon, will happily kill Alex if he turns out not to be the man that Sacri thinks he is. Legends on the Prairies, a Sacred Land Story is the prequel to Ghosts on the Prairies. Alternate history with paranormal and romantic elements, it is a story about growth, friendship, love, and the importance of believing in ourselves.

Death rides the blood of a pale horse June 1893. Undead prowl the streets of Glasgow at night hunting for blood. They, in turn, are hunted by the formidable Lady Delaney and her apprentice Kerry Knox, whose fight against the secret society ruling Glasgow will lead them into the city’s industrial heart where the poor toil in miserable conditions. Children have been exploited in mills and factories for decades, but the Sooty Feather Society has refined its cruel disregard in service to the undead. Delaney and Knox are not the society’s only problem. The elusive demon Arakiel employs murder and necromancy in his campaign to seize control of Glasgow, avenging betrayal and reclaiming what was once his. Wilton Hunt and Tam Foley are lying low in the Highlands where Hunt’s father has recently inherited title and estate. The blue skies and clear waters of Loch Aline may seem a tranquil sanctuary to the city men, but its forbidding forests and shadowed glens conceal dark secrets pertaining to Hunt’s family, and a diabolical revelation will change Wilton’s life forever. Demons walk the crowded, cobbled streets of Glasgow, and a necromancer’s debt is called in. Knox will learn what joining this war might cost her; Hunt and Foley will learn they can’t escape it. Their diverged paths will meet again when dark magic unleashes a horror not everyone will survive… Visit bit.ly/LordOfTheHunt Cover artwork by the artist Alison Buck

While Canada is home to one of the largest Ukrainian diasporas in the world, little is known about the life and culture of Ukrainians living in the country’s rural areas and their impact on Canadian traditions. Drawing on more than ten years of interviews and fieldwork, Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies describes the culture of Ukrainian Canadians living in the prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Despite powerful pressure to assimilate, these Ukrainians have managed both to preserve their sense of themselves as Ukrainian and to develop a culture sensitive to the realities of prairie life, creating their own uniquely Ukrainian Canadian traditions. The Ukrainian church, an iconic though now rapidly disappearing feature of the prairie landscape, takes centre stage as an instrument for the retention of Ukrainian identity and the development of a new culture. Natalie Kononenko explores the cultural elements of Ukrainian Canadian ritual practice, with an emphasis on family traditions surrounding marriage, birth, death, and religious holidays. Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies gives voice to a group of everyday people who are too often overlooked, highlighting their accomplishments and their contributions to Canadian life.

The Golden Curse A treasure. A murder. A curse. The Dominion of Canada, 1879 When con man William “Deuces” Sutherland wins a cryptic map in a poker game, he’s off to find a lost golden bonanza and he’s taking his friend, the beautiful and talented mechanician Satin New Brunswick, with him. Together with a surveyor, a nurse, two aeronauts, and the North-West Mounted Police, the two must decipher the map, deal with crazed prospectors, survive acts of God, and – oh, yes – escape the dread prairie whiskey pirates of Captain Rotgut and the infamous Rum Runner. And if that’s not enough, the gold is rumored to be in the thrall of a curse. A curse that’s already claimed more than one life.