From The Bookshelf: Michael Drakich & Stephen Gaspar

FROM THE BOOKSHELF War Is Hell, Even If You’re A Robot . . . Michael Drakich’s Requiem For A Genocide

On a cold, wintry day, an old football injury flared, as it often does for local writer Michael Drakich.

His left knee was bugging him.

It was this issue that became the inspiration for the novel, Requiem For A Genocide.

“As we grow old, the question of our mortality becomes more prominent in our minds,” says Drakich. “Most of us accept the inevitable future. Some fight it. Some fear it. As humans, we understand that issue.”

He continues by asking: “But what about a sentient robot? How does an impending demise affect them? Unlike us, they can be repaired. The question becomes not one of eventuality, but maintenance.”

Enter JAK037, simply known to his friends as Jak, a sentient robot built for one purpose.

Jak is a warbot on an alien world subject to the commands of the Dalreans, as robotic laws demand.

Built for the sole purpose of killing the enemies of Dalrea, he has survived longer than any other and is the last of his generation still in operation. The oldest of his kind, things begin with his opening statement to the novel: “My left knee is bugging me.”

When word comes of a treaty with their nemesis, Carthia, Jak holds out the hope that his final days will be ones without war. It is with disappointment he learns the treaty is so a new front can be opened against a race of settlers from another world.

Humans.

In the coming conflict, can Jak and his comrades of aged warbots survive against an enemy with superior technology?

With the aid of a human child, a sevenyear-old girl named Hannah, Jak hopes to end the war and save his people from what he believes is a looming disaster. It’s a race where not only humans but Carthians, Dalreans, robotic laws, and his own failing body all conspire to stop him.

This novel has garnered international attention by winning and placing in a number of independent publishing awards, such as in the category of science fiction in the Readers Views Reviewers Choice Awards, it won the Gold Medal, and in the Global Ebook Awards it earned the Silver Medal.

It can be found anywhere books are sold online, such as Amazon, goodreads and Indigo and locally at Storytellers Bookstore, 1473 Ottawa Street, Windsor.

Read more about the author and his previous books on: MichaelDrakich.com.

Award-winning local author Michael Drakich presents his eighth science fiction fantasy novel. Photo courtesy of the author.

Western History Comes To Life . . . Barclay Of The Mounted By Stephen Gaspar

The year 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of the formation of a Canadian icon, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was originally named the North-West Mounted Police.

To help commemorate the auspicious occasion, a book by Windsor author Stephen Gaspar — Barclay of the Mounted — is now available. Previously he has written three Sherlock Holmes books, with some of his detectives including a Templar Knight, a Benedictine monk, and a Roman tribune. However, his latest book is the memoir of a young man who, looking for adventure and glory, joins the newly formed North-West Mounted Police in 1874.

When asked how Barclay of the Mounted developed, Gaspar indicates: “I wanted a Canadian detective, so it seemed natural to make him a Mountie. Barclay actually debuted in The Canadian Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (2012) and he also made an appearance in my other two Sherlock Holmes’ books.”

Though he is a peacekeeper in late 19-century Western Canada, Barclay seldom uses his gun, but rather in the typical Canadian fashion, he uses wit and reason.

As he states in an early adventure: “I had faced death twice in as many days, and neither time did I feel the need to draw my long-barrelled Deane and Adams revolver.”

Barclay’s story covers 25 years in the Force, and most of the adventures take place in Western Canada.

Stephen Gaspar is a writer of historical detective fiction and has lived in Windsor all his life. Photo courtesy of the author.

The Western Territories of Canada are vast and in his varied duties, Barclay encounters whiskey traders, native tribes, desperadoes, thieves, and murderers.

In service of his country, Barclay meets historical figures from Canada’s past, such as Poundmaker, Sitting Bull, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, and George Dixon, the boxer.

There are true figures from the Force, as well, like Sam Steele, James Walsh, and James Macleod.

Barclay’s adventures are filled with humour and danger and are reminiscent of the pulp stories of the 1930s.

All of Gaspar’s books can be found on Amazon. Find more information at: StephenGaspar.webstarts.com.