Local, self published author: Troy King joins Yenny on Regime Radio, to share about his book: “My Pet Cthulhu.” You can find the book at: Lookin’ For Heroes, A Second Look Books, KW Bookstore and Studio Comix Press.
From the back cover:
“LIVE…LAUGH, LOVECRAFT!”
“When Best friends, Howie and Sonia find a mysterious egg on the beach, they are shocked when out pops not a fish or a bird, but Cthulhu, Lord Of Madness! Instead of allowing him to rend the world asunder with cosmic fury, they decide to fill his heart and mind with kindness instead of chaos! But raising an Ancient God is not easy!”
“From one of the writers behind the acclaimed science fiction epic, ‘Starship Redemption: The Shattered Mirror’ comes a heartwarming, and hilarious tale about growing up, in the whimsical stylings of Dr. Seuss and H.P. Lovecraft!”
Episode XXXI of Reader’s Delight features authors Conor McDonnell, Stephanie Wyeld, and Susan Grundy, as well as a What’s In A Name Bookstore Story from Jeanette of Dog-Eared Cafe in Paris, Ontario.
Conor McDonnell joins us to talk about his writing journey as both a poet and a medical professional, and read from his debut poetry collection, What We Know So Far Is… Social Media:
Instagram: @conorpunchbook
Website: conormcdonnell.com
Books: What We Know So Far Is…
Stephanie Wyeld discusses the inspiration behind her debut novel, The Book of Maggie, as well as what she loves about being a writer, and then reads from the Prologue and Chapter 1 of the book.
Social Media:
Instagram: @wyeldchild
Facebook: Stephanie Wyeld
Books: The Book of Maggie
Susan Grundy and I talk about her latest novel Black Creek, and the family history that informed it, then Susan reads from two different characters’ perspectives in the novel.
Social Media:
Instagram: @susan_grundy_author
Website: susangrundy.com
Books: Black Creek
Jeannette from Dog-Eared Cafe in Paris, Ontario tells us how the name of the store was chosen.
Episode XXX of Reader’s Delight features authors Kevin Andrew Heslop, Bill Garvey, Kess Mohammadi, as well as a What’s In A Name Bookstore Story from Shannon McKechnie of Commonplace Books in Ingersoll, Ontario,
Kevin Andrew Heslop discusses his most recent essay collection, The Writing’s on the Wind’s Wall: Dialogues About ‘Medical Assistance in Dying‘, and then reads selections from the book.
Books: The Writing’s on the Wind’s Wall
Kess Mohammadi and I talk about their latest poetry collection The Book of Interruptions as well as their upcoming collection, out soon, and then Kess reads from The Book of Interruptions. Social Media:
Instagram: @DearKestral
Website: Khashayar Mohammadi
Shannon McKechnie of Commonplace Books in Ingersoll tells us how she chose “Commonplace” for the name of the store.
Episode XXIX of Reader’s Delight features authors Ewan Whyte, Crystal Quast, and Shani Mootoo, as well as What’s In A Name Bookstore Stories from Blueink Bookstore Cafe and Hidden Gem Book Co., both in Woodstock, Ontario.
Ewan Whyte discusses his new book, Mothers of Invention: Essays on the Community of Jesus and Grenville Christian College (Wolsak and Wynn, 2025), and shares his thoughts about cults, Christian Nationalism, abuse, and reads “Landscapes From the Back of a Train” from the book.
Social Media:
Facebook – Ewan Whyte
Instagram – Ewan Whyte
Website: ewanwhyte.com
Crystal Quast joins us to talk about her darkly satirical psychological thriller series Serenity Acres, and talks about the writing process and the inspiration behind it all. Crystal and I do a shared reading of the third book in the series, Eye Spied.
Social Media:
Facebook: Dinked Serenity Acres
Instagram: @DinkedSerenity
Books: Serenity Acres Series
Shani Mootoo makes an appearance to talk about her work as both a poet, novelist, and visual artist, and how she approaches different genres. She reads from her sixth novel, Starry Starry Night (Book*hug Press).
Social Media:
Instagram: Shani Mootoo
Website: Shani Mootoo
Books: Shani Mootoo
Wikipedia Page: Shani Mootoo
Episode XXVIII of Reader’s Delight features authors Danila Botha, Jason Allen, and Paul Edward Costa.
Danila Botha tells us about her new graphic novel Vidal (At Bay Press, 2026) and discusses some of the inspiration behind her latest novel A Place For People Like Us (Guernica Editions, 2025), then reads from the opening chapter of A Place For People Like Us. Social Media:
Bluesky – @danilabotha.bsky.social
Facebook – Danila Botha
Instagram – @danilabotha
Website – http://www.danilabotha.com
Books – Vidal, A Place For People Like Us
Jason Allen joins us to talk about his debut non-fiction collection of essays, 52 Things To Do In Hamilton: An Insider’s Guide To Fun In The Hammer. We talk about why he wrote the book, the wide variety of activities and events that Hamilton has to offer, and then he reads selections from the collection.
Social Media:
Website: jasonallen.ca
Book: 52 Things To Do In Hamilton
Paul Edward Costa makes an appearance and discusses his writing process, the style and themes that inspired his poetry collections Vigils of the Night Office (DarkWinter Press, 2025 ) and Some Half-Human Creature Thing (Mosaic Press, 2025), and the art of spoken word performance before he reads selections from his works, including his upcoming collection Black Pasture Insurgent (DarkWinter Press, 2027).
Social Media:
Instagram – @paul.edward.costa
Facebook – Paul Edward Costa
Books: Vigils of the Night Office, Some Half-Human Creature Thing
Episode XXVII of Reader’s Delight features authors Irina Moga, David Giuliano, and Whitney French.
Irina Moga talks about her writing process, her love of poetry that fuses the cerebral and the sensory, and then reads from her new collection, Quantum, published by DarkWinter Press last year.
Social media: @pictopoems
Books: irinamoga.com
David Giuliano joins us to discuss writing in a variety of genres, what inspires his writing, and provides an overview of his new book The Upending of Wendall Forbes (Latitude 46, 2025) before reading an excerpt from the novel.
Social media: David Giuliano on Facebook
Books: www.davidgiuliano.ca
Whitney French is with us to talk about her roles as writer, editor, and publisher, her love of writing in trees, and her new work, Syncopation, A Novel in Verse, which was just released by Wolak and Wynn earlier in February 2026, before reading from the book.
Social media: @whitneyfrenchwrites
Books: Syncopation, A Novel in Verse
Episode XXVI of Reader’s Delight features authors Cindy Matthews, Brad Smith, and Melissa Schnarr.
Cindy Matthews joins us to talk about her third short story collection Audrey Droop (DarkWinter Press, 2026), her writing routines and processes, and reads an excerpt from one of her favourite stories.
Instagram: @cindymatthews1957
Book Site: The Roach Family and Other Stories
Brad Smith discusses his love of history, politics, and baseball and their influences on his work, as well as his writing routine, before reading from his latest novel, Billy Crawford’s Double Play (Wolsak and Wynn, 2025).
Instagram: @virgilcain3
Website: Brad Smith Books
Melissa Schnarr tells our listeners about her new poetry collection A Bow Forged from Ash (Palimpsest Press, 2025), her publishing journey and the background to the creation of the collection, then reads several pieces from the collection.
Instagram: @mel_schnarr
Book Site: A Bow Forged from Ash
Episode XXV of Reader’s Delight features authors Lindsay Mayhew, Connor LaFortune, Kyle Flemmer, and Vanessa Ricci-Thode.
Lindsay Mayhew and Connor LaFortune join us to discuss the evolution of the anthology they co-edited, A Thousand Tiny Awakenings, and to read their own contributions to the collection.
Social media: @lindsaymayhewpoet http://NMKNS.ca
Books: A Thousand Tiny Awakenings
Kyle Flemmer talks about his work as a multi-media artist and reads from his recent poetry collection Supergiants (Wolsak and Wynn), as well as sharing with us about his upcoming book The Wiki of Babel.
Susan Salomonsson shares the second part of her Thread Through Time Series A Lemon Pie Life and explains the significance of the title before reading from the first chapter of the novel.
Margo LaPierre tells our listeners about her new poetry collection Ajar (Guernica Editions, 2025), her publishing journey and the background to the creation of the collection, then reads several pieces from the collection.
Website: Margo LaPierre Linktree
Book Site: Ajar
Jane Ann McLachlan talks about writing in a variety of genres and reads from her latest medieval historical fiction novel, The Lode Stone. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZR9RDQD
Tolu Oloruntoba discusses his approach to writing poetry and discusses his latest poetry collection Unravel (McClelland and Stewart, 2025) before reading a selection of pieces from the work. https://www.tolu.ca
Emily De Angelis joins us again to introduce her latest manuscript, For the Sake of Mercy, her second magic realism Young Adult novel with a protagonist who, this time, deals with her personal trauma through poetry, and then reads from the novel.
To commemorate its 40th anniversary, the only independent bookstore in Waterloo, Wordsworth Books, has revived the Wordsworthy Literary Award. The award, presented for the first time in several years, recognizes outstanding literary contributions from Canadian authors and is intertwined with the bookstore’s history.
One of the owners of Wordsworth Books, Mandy Brouse, explains why the award has been revived and how it connects with the store’s history. Over the past 40 years, Wordsworth Books has weathered the challenges to its business, including recessions, the ION LRT construction, and the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the loyalty of its customer base.
The winner of the 2024 Wordsworthy Literary Award will be announced at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 11 at the store’s Uptown Waterloo location.
