An eclectic collection of action, adventure, whimsy and horror is in store for readers of Sam Blondahl’s new book: Homo Superior &Collected Works.
The book is a collection of short stories, written by South Cariboo local Blondahl, who has also pencilled the Anahita Chronicles.
“After art school I started a novel as a creative project and it spiralled from there into a trilogy of science fiction books and from there I’ve written half a dozen novels since then,” says Blondahl. “This anthology was a work of many years of short stories coming together.”
The title story, Homo Superior is a tale of ancient gods in the modern world, discovering romance among other things.
Other stories in the collection include a modern look at superheros or science-fiction meets horror in what Blondahl describes as “Lord of the Flies meets Alien.”
“I would say my biggest influences would be Stephen King and Michael Crichton. My writing style is definitely towards the adventure,” he says.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Stephen King and even the classics, Poe and Dracula, Frankenstein. Horror, classic horror, has always been a part of my life and science-fiction itself.”
Writing short stories is a different process than writing the longer novels, however, says Blondahl.
“When you are writing a large project it consumes you for months, if not a year at a time. With short stories they are more free,” he says.
“They are less stressful, less involved.”
Each story came together in their own way, he says.
“It was different for each one. Some are very short and they are just the work of a couple of days, some are novellas that took me months to put together. I love the characters, I love the stories, there are different processes for each one.”
Blondahl hopes his book appeals to everyone (although he does give them a PG 13 rating).
“It’s all ages. I’ve had teenagers to elderly women really tell me they enjoyed my books and I don’t want to discriminate by suggesting any particular audience,” he says.
“Everyone is welcome.”
Blondahl will be doing a book signing of his new short story anthology at Nuthatch books on Aug. 18.
After the original book signing was delayed due to wildfires, Blondahl will be on hand to chat about his collection from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.