Enter the literary world of Frank Talaber in an archived edition of the Meet The Author Podcast at Indie Book Source, hosted by Rob and Joan Carter.

A natural storyteller, whose compelling thoughts are freed from the depths of the heart and the subconscious before being poured onto the page.

Literature written beyond the realms of genre, he is known to grab readers; kicking, screaming, laughing, or crying, and drag them into his novels.

Or as he has often said, I write like my soul is on fire and the pencil is my voice screaming.

Enter the literary world of Frank Talaber.

In the last month of 2021 he had three short stories accepted in publications, another story voted number one by the readers in a 300-entry anthology. And his novel, The Joining, out of two hundred entries in the Canadian Book Club awards made it into the top three finalists.

Born in Beaverlodge, Alberta, where the claim to fame is a fox with flashing eyes in the only pub, yeah, big place, that’s why his family left when he was knee-high to a grasshopper and moved to Edmonton, Alberta.

Eventually, he got tired of ten months of winter and two of bad slush and moved to Chilliwack, BC. Great place, Cedar trees, can cut the grass nine months of the year and, oh it does snow here once or twice. Just enough to have to find out what happened to the bloody snow shovel and have to use it. GRRR.

He’s spent most of his life either fixing cars or managing automotive shops and is a licensed automotive technician. However, it’s the little muses that keep twigging on his pencil that won’t let his writing pad stay blank.

He’s had several short stories published, short-listed in contests over the years, and a few automotive articles published in RV magazines. He has several novels published through BWL publishing, which includes the genres of urban fantasy, thriller, crime, and romance. He also has written in science fiction, spiritual, erotica, and comedy genres as well.

He was asked once, “Where does this creativity spring from?”

He answered, “It’s the Gypsy blood from my mother’s Hungarian ancestry.”

Literary madness that drives his wife crazy when he leaves their bed in the middle of the night to pound out some sort of prosaic induced brilliance. “Here we go again, the next War and Peace, Aka 21st century,” she moans, only to realize it’s either gibberish or there’s no lead in his pencil and he’s scribbled on sixteen blank pages in the dark.

PS: He’s better looking than Stephen King (Carrie, The Stand, It, The Shining) and his romantic stuff will have you gasping quicker than Robert James Waller (Bridges Of Madison County).

Or as is often said: You don’t have to be mad to be a writer, but it sure helps.

He is also working on a script and movie project and plans to get his works into films at some point.

The Joining

Welcome to Victoria in Beautiful British Columbia, the most haunted city in North America, and to Detective Carol Ainsworth’s first day undercover at the very grand old lady,

The Fairmont Empress Hotel. Ready to deal with the two Italian families flying in for a wedding to unite them, she did not bargain for the ghosts, the FBI agent, or the ancient curses that come along too.

Add to that the very wonderful and mysterious psychic lady claiming you’ve invited her, the young boys disappearing, and the weird things happening to the unfortunates looking for their next fix trapped alongside spirits in the sewers,

Carol found her first undercover assignment way more challenging than she could have imagined.
The one saving grace was the great Empress High Tea that Agnes introduced her to and the fabulous scones that are to die for.

Literally.

The Mystery of Ms. Teak

Detective Carol Ainsworth really has her work cut out this time! Agnes at her craziest best.

She discovers a secret that she can’t reveal to anyone, including herself, and how does one psychic stop another from hunting her down?

Meanwhile, Carol has her hands full with pissed-off Russians, the reborn builder of much of Victorian Victoria (yes, the Sir Francis Rattenbury), a young girl claiming to be our aforementioned psychic and there’s something very wrong with Nathan, Carol’s nephew that they saved from death.

To top it all, why is Agnes’ behaviour so weird?

Even for Agnes!

But in traditional English fashion High Tea is, of course, still being served.