Guest Blog: True North by L.E. Sterling

UFI welcomes Author L.E. Sterling. Thanks for Joining us!!

L. E. Sterling’s Teenage Garage Sale:

This Saturday only! Come on by to L.E.Sterling’s teenage garage sale where I will sell off items from my teen years!  Don’t miss out on these one-of-a-kind items for sale at bargain basement prices!

Items of interest may include:

Scuffed poster, Robert Doisneau’s Le baiser a l’hotel de ville, Paris, 1950 - $2.00

My stomach lurched the first time I saw this poster in a West Edmonton Mall poster shop. I had to have it. I was maybe 13 at the time. It traveled with me across the country when I moved back to Ontario, age 16, and lasted through many of my university years. There were spots on the back and indentations from the sticky putty adhesive I used. No. Wait. I’ll start a bidding war on this one.

Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tale Treasury - $35

This remarkable collection is a holdover from childhood (who doesn’t need one of those at a teenage garage sale?) but one of my most cherished possessions. My grandmother bought this massive hardcover volume for me when I was 10 years old. I’ve read each of the 50 blood-curdling tales. (You’ll know you’re not in Disney any longer when you arrive at the part in Snow White where the evil stepmother tries to burn Snow alive -- by locking her in a room with a fire burning under an iron floor). You know what? I don’t think I can part with this book after all.

Aha – Take on Me (cassette tape) - $1

If you have a tape deck you’ll want this album. I can’t mention how many times I listened to this incredible album, flipping the tape back and forth and generally being a nuisance. If you like 80s Norway alt-pop this is the album for you. Not to mention, those boys were super cute. (My fave was Morten, obvs).

Pair of (slightly scuffed) men’s black leather dress shoes, size 5 1/2 - $10

These fine pair of shoes in the oxford style are perfect for those looking for a signature style. Recommendation: wear with knee high socks and overall jean shorts (see below). I wore these shoes to some killer concerts as a teen. I loved the fact that no one else had these antique shoes, which I had picked up in a thrift store (my fave place to shop).  

Well-thumbed copy of Gate to Women’s Country by Sherri S.Tepper - $0.50

For fans of SF-F and dystopian lit, this novel is a must-read! Think Handmaid’s Tale meets The 300. Smart, well-drawn female characters. Very interesting world post-nuclear apocalypse. One of my all-time favourite and most influential reads, and it’s YOURS for just 50 cents!

Perfectly frayed Jean overall shorts - $1

Comfort and style. Be a tomboy, an intellect and an ingénue all at once with these stylish and broken-in jean overall shorts. You can’t buy frayed overalls this perfect! The faded light blue colour accents every wardrobe. Look stylish with short sleeves, camisole tops and long, oversized sweaters. In fact – hang on – I should raise the price on these.

Arak Son of Thunder comic book series – prices range from $4 - $130

If you’ve never heard of Arak, Son of Thunder, then you’re not alone. But once you dive into this remarkable comic book series (featuring a First Nations hero/son of a God (!!) and a female Knight Templar (!!)) you will never go back! History, magic, romance -- this series is an absolute gem. What’s more, their value will only rise over time (see note about no one else knowing about them -- VERY exclusive)!!!

See you at the sale!

L. E. Sterling

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I was a voracious devotee of sci-fi and fantasy novels all through my childhood, so I suppose it doesn’t come as much of a shock that I’ve returned to the genre with a vengeance. For a while I turned my back on the genre in favour of ‘high-brow’ literary texts. Ironically, it was my doctoral degree that saw me circling back. There’s something about the way postmodern literature plays with the arcane that had me utterly fascinated, and it wasn’t long until I fell headlong back into my old ways and haven’t looked back since. My first novel, which isn’t in the Urban Fantasy or Fantasy genres, isn’t high literature, mind you, even if it tangles with some serious statements about politics and the way our western world runs. My editor described it as something between Charles Dickens and The Catcher in the Rye: Serious Fun, in other words. My second novel, Pluto’s Gate, is where I’ve come home to myself: it’s a contemporary retelling of the Demeter-Persephone-Pluto story from Greek mythology. Folded into the mix is a Shaman-in-training, a magical book, Underworld Gods, a world covered in ice, a three-headed dog, and one lousy ex-boyfriend. But I’ll tell you this much: I believe in the power of words and stories to transform our inner worlds. Whether the characters be vampires or vagabonds, a good narrative sucker punches so-called reality anyhow.

Find L.E. Sterling and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter

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True North
 True Born Trilogy #2

Abandoned by her family in Plague-ridden Dominion City, eighteen-year-old Lucy Fox has no choice but to rely upon the kindness of the True Borns, a renegade group of genetically enhanced humans, to save her twin sister, Margot. But Nolan Storm, their mysterious leader, has his own agenda. When Storm backtracks on his promise to rescue Margot, Lucy takes her fate into her own hands and sets off for Russia with her True Born bodyguard and maybe-something-more, the lethal yet beautiful Jared Price. In Russia, there's been whispered rumors of Plague Cure.
While Lucy fights her magnetic attraction to Jared, anxious that his loyalty to Storm will hurt her chances of finding her sister, they quickly discover that not all is as it appears…and discovering the secrets contained in the Fox sisters' blood before they wind up dead is just the beginning.
As they say in Dominion, sometimes it’s not you…it’s your DNA.

  Read the first 6 chapters HERE:
https://www.wattpad.com/389011096-true-north-chapter-one
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