Infamy
Launched June 2024
When Ian Landry moves to Canada to escape the draft in 1969, his grandfather Cal follows. Calvin Landry, a Hollywood builder of Western-movie sets, is disillusioned with the rewriting of history that makes heroes out of outlaws. Left behind in L.A. is Ian’s father, crestfallen: why won’t his son nobly serve his country in the Vietnam War?
This tale of a family divided is interwoven with movie legends and their not-so-glamorous realities. Follow the Landrys across the twentieth century and beyond as they discover the rewards and pitfalls of truth and authenticity.
Infamy is a novel for anyone who has wondered who they are and how (and for whom) they want to live.
The author acknowledges with thanks a literary grant from the Ontario Arts Council, which helped with the writing of this book.
Available now as an e-book or in print from Kindle and Amazon
An Ecstasy
Launched July 2023
It's 1996.
FIVE MONTHS OF SOLITUDE on a small island. She’s taking a break from her clinging boyfriend and her past career in insurance; he’s writing a book of political essays. His cottage is humble; hers, not so much. She’ll soon be launching a new music school; he’s working his way to the Rockies. They meet walking their dogs.
Narrated from three distinct perspectives--his, hers, and conventional society‘s--An Ecstasy is Barry Grills’ most existential love story yet: provocative, thoughtful, and fun.
The author acknowledges with thanks a literary grant from the Ontario Arts Council, which helped with the writing of this book.
Available now as an e-book or in print from Kindle and Amazon
The Last Light Spoken
Launched July 2022
1960. Love and innocence.
The people who live in the village of Meridian handle everything themselves - celebrations, the issues of the day, justice, even the permissibility of love. A child falls in love; an adult crosses the line of loyalty. Who will be punished by the people of Meridian?
Two young boys witness one night of unforgettable tragedy. Both finally tell their stories after a chance encounter half a century later. What was the crime? Who was the real victim? In Meridian justice is always done. In Meridian - after a fire - love is The Last Light Spoken.
A novel about children, rules, and the adults who live by them by the author of Roadkill and Too Late The Hunter.
Available now as an e-book or in print from Kindle and Amazon
Cock-Eyed Voice: Stories
Launched August 2020
Cock-Eyed Voice: Stories is a collection of short stories representing nearly fifty years of publication by author Barry Grills, including 'A Game With Adonis' ... "so successful the reader squirms in self-recognition" (Books in Canada, 1980).
Barry's nine finely-crafted stories appeared alongside accomplished authors such as Matt Cohen, John Newlove, Alice Munro, Hugh Hood, Joyce Carol Oates, Kent Thompson, Elizabeth Spencer, Hugh Garner, Mordecai Richler, Morley Callaghan, Andreas Schroeder, Dave Godfrey, David Helwig, and others.
With 10 books to his credit, including 4 bestselling musical biographies, Barry Grills has done all right. And fifty years of published writing means fifty years of editors, publishers and other writers--W.J. Barnes, Al Purdy, Caroline Heath, George Bowering, Gail Fox, Myrna and John Metcalf, Clark Blaise, Alistair MacLeod--all of whom had a role in the changing nature of how writing got published then or gets published now.
Available now as an e-book or in print from Kindle and Amazon.
Praise for Cock-Eyed Voice: Stories by Barry Grills
The short story "A Game with Adonis" ... [is] "so successful the reader squirms in self-recognition"
- Books in Canada
“These stories are vintage gold… with a unique and pointed voice… A treat for readers.”
- Author Jennifer Rouse Barbeau (Swampy Jo, Dying Hour)
Too Late The Hunter
Launched June 2019
Three people. A psychiatrist playing God. A reporter who can't decide. A killer confessing in letters. And a hidden rose garden park with disturbing secrets.
This psychological, erotic thriller by bestselling author Barry Grills explores the cost of choice, the price of passionate love and the nimble recesses of the human imagination.
While Peter must come to grips with what took place between him and the missing Lisa Boggs, he must also deal with Gordon Spaulding's astonishing confession of insanity without losing his own grip on conventional stability. Too Late The Hunter concludes in Rose Abbey Park, where Peter must face a series of shocking truths about himself. About Lisa. And about the nature of reality.
Praise for Too Late The Hunter by Barry Grills
"Psychological thriller about the interweaving of the lives of three men ... Grills writes masterful description! His phrases gave me goosebumps more than once ... a bingeworthy novel!"
- Author Marla J. Hayes
Oblivion
Launched October 2018
Oblivion (noun): The condition of being entirely forgotten.
Richard Braddock, family man, corporate vice-president, lapsed journalist, encounters Derek Cavanaugh on the street outside his workplace one day. Derek, a lawyer and once his best friend, is now homeless.
When Richard offers assistance, he is rejected. As their friendship is renewed on the corner of an intersection in a major city, economic inequities and all, Richard begins to develop a rash. Is he allergic to work? His life? Or Derek’s refusal of help? And why does he keep “zoning out”? What’s the strange, toneless mantra he “hears” all day: EVERYTHING JUST LIVES HERE? Is he going crazy? Can he hang on? Does he even want to?
Then his teenaged son, Kevin, mentions on Facebook that he is hearing it too: EVERYTHING JUST LIVES HERE. And Richard begins to see the light...
The author acknowledges with thanks literary grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, which helped with the writing of this book.
Praise for Oblivion by Barry Grills
""The author writes well and is, like his protagonist, a good communicator. . . [A] compelling midlife coming-of-age story."
- Whistler Independent Book Awards
I And You, And Me And Her
Launched June 2018
Love at first sight. A failure to seize the moment. Betrayed by coincidence.
Tom McNamara secretly suffers over the two women in his life, one he thought was right for him, another he thought was perfect. Destiny has concealed until the eve of his wedding that the two women are actually sisters. Tom wants to do the right thing. Perhaps his authentic self should put out the torch he's been carrying for two decades over his romantic disaster. Perhaps he should tell someone the truth.
Now all the people in this tangle must spend Thanksgiving weekend at an empty lodge in Northern Ontario. Having inherited this humble resort from a mother who kept it and its purpose secret, the two sisters must decide what to do with the property. Tom's beginning to think he knows what the two women can do. More importantly, he's beginning to believe he knows what he should do.
A thoughtful, original and playful novel about choice and authenticity by award-winning author Barry Grills, I And You, And Me And Her is emotional, poignant and heartfelt. For some people, love truly is everything.
Praise for I And You, And Me And Her by Barry Grills
“Stories about men in love with women they can’t have ... very detailed and vivid ...”
- The BookLife Prize
"The author is an excellent writer. This book is very well crafted with a strong combination of variety and repetition ('Of course, I'd never be caught saying so')... I found the portrayal of Tom and Judy's marriage to be extremely compelling. I also could understand Tom's 'mid-life crisis'. The author's commentary on love, marriage, success and identity was important and authentic... This is an extremely well-written book by an accomplished author with something to say. Anyone who has been married for more than a few years will be able relate to large parts of this story."
- Whistler Independent Book Awards
Roadkill
Launched November 2017
FINALIST, Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2018.
FINALIST, Whistler Independent Book Awards 2018.
From Fluid Grouse Enterprises, the new dystopic novel about love, freedom and human triumph. Gripping, allegorical, inspiring, gritty, fresh.
Two unlikely allies: Mary, The Golden Woman--professor, mistress to the brass, historian--and Keats, a broken and doomed bonded worker with nothing left to lose. A fateful night of escape that steers them into the private museum preserve of The Company that rules their world. Is the museum a trap? Is the freeway at the other end of the preserve as impassable as it is back in the bonded workers' camp? Will Mary and Keats find freedom or die under the rodancer wheels on the Liberty Freeway?
Praise for Roadkill by Barry Grills
"Set in a compelling dystopian future ... the story develops greater urgency as it progresses. Writing in fluid, lyrical sentences, Grills demonstrates a clear facility with language and tone ... alluring descriptions ... striking prose and an enticing premise allow this novel to stand out within the larger category of dystopian fiction"
- BookLife Prize
• Shortlisted for the 2018 Whistler Independent Book Awards
• 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist
Every Wolf's Howl
From Freehand Books
The award-winning memoir about a wolf-German Shepherd cross named Lupus, an extraordinary animal that inspired the author's transformation as a man and writer.
Every wolf's and lion's howl
Raises from hell a human soul.
William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
Praise for Every Wolf's Howl
". . . surprising, poignant, affectionate, and amusing memoir" - Prairie Fire Review of Books
"Every Wolf’s Howl proves a successful literary endeavour: it makes room for the broader themes of human struggle and triumph over loss, and testifies to our capacity to find solace in those we initially feel unequipped to care for." - Quill and Quire
“Every Wolf’s Howl is a moving story of friendship and transformation, and anyone who has ever longed to companionate with wild creatures will be transfixed." - Winnipeg Free Press
“His memoir takes us farther and with Lupus’ help deeper into the meaning of his crise du coeur, such that at book’s end we can reverse the process and gauge just how far he has travelled, from self-destructive behaviour, from pessimism, and from serious illness, to existential acceptance of himself and his species.” - The Winnipeg Review
“Innovative story told backward ... successful literary endeavour: it makes room for the broader themes of human struggle and triumph over loss, and testifies to our capacity to find solace ...”
- Quill & Quire
CBC TELEVISION MOVIE
Based on the biography Celine Dion: A New Day Dawns, by Barry Grills and Jim Brown