Canlit Stories

World War 1 has broken out, but seems oddly far away for Egyptologist James Grimshaw, living in Halifax and working on research. However, a strange machine slides across his desk, and he ends up in the company of a rather unusual female machinist, who begin to uncover a centuries buried supernatural mystery, which could lead to the destruction of the entire world.

First published on Fiction on the Web, July 2016. See it there - http://www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2016/07/nothing-to-lose-by-mitchell-toews.html

A world-famous artist considers his legacy as he passes the torch to his protege. - Winner 2nd Place, 2008 Toronto Star Short Story Competition.

The story of an endless and conflicted love between a young man and woman. They play with fire and nearly lose their lives doing it. The story of one of the largest and most audacious gasoline tax evasion scams in Canadian and U.S. history. The perpetrator, Jim Servito, used The Peace Bridge, spanning The Niagara River, to facilitate his crime, and his private Cessna to transport the enormous fruits of the theft to the "safety" of a Cayman Island bank. Cynical and remorselessly ruthless, Servito possesses a brilliant criminal mind, has enormous contempt for the law, police, governments, and the system in which they function. He assumes rules are for fools, and takes sadistic pleasure in breaking them.

Can I give you words-the kind that sting & kiss, both at once. As does this storm, fiercely blowing at the leaves within your belly, green and supple to the tongue. Can I give you, what was torn, from my slaughtered gut? -The Cold Prose of Winter in the North-

I hope you enjoy this excerpt of my novel STILL MINE, now available in stores and online! *** THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN meets THE SILENT WIFE in this taut psychological thriller. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU VANISH FROM YOUR LIFE AND LEAVE NO STORY BEHIND? SOMEONE WILL MAKE ONE UP FOR YOU. Clare is on the run. From her past, from her husband, and from her own secrets. When she turns up alone in the remote mining town of Blackmore asking about Shayna Fowles, the local girl who disappeared, everyone wants to know who Clare really is and what she's hiding. As it turns out, she's hiding a lot, including what ties her to Shayna in the first place. But everyone in this place is hiding something-from Jared, Shayna's secretive ex-husband, to Charlie, the charming small-town drug pusher, to Derek, Shayna's overly involved family doctor, to Louise and Wilfred, her distraught parents. Did Shayna flee? Was she killed? Is it possible she's still alive? As Clare uncovers the mysteries around Shayna's disappearance, she must confront her own demons, moving us deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of lies and making us question what it is she's really running from. Twisting and electrifying, this is a get-under-your-skin thriller that will make you question what it means to lose yourself and find yourself in the most unlikely places. See more at: www.amystuart.ca