Two heart-wrenching tragedies in the same week served as a stark reminder of the brevity of life. It was time for Leanne to free herself from the humdrum world of real estate and fulfill her heart’s desire. The need to achieve her dream became even more poignant when she discovered her mother had carried the same dream of wanting to paint, but self-doubt had prevented her from even trying.

Leanne embarked on a road-trip to Banff, a town nestled in the heart of the magnificent Rocky Mountains, surrounded by the most perfect of nature’s beauty. Since this was where her parents had fallen in love, it felt crucial to achieve their shared dream there. However, unbeknownst to Leanne, her run-of-the-mill road-trip turns into anything but and her journey to fulfillment becomes even stranger than fiction.

Born on the wild Canadian prairies but tired of the winter months in Edmonton, Frank immigrated to the more temperate cedar forests of coastal British Columbia. Yes, they get snow in Chilliwack during the winter months, and on that odd occasion Frank is forced to search out the snow shovel, dust off the cobwebs and have a go. At the snow, not the cobwebs. His run-of-the-mill day job of auto technician/service advisor seems at odds with being an inspired, off-the-wall, author, but his zest for life, the environment, and the little muses that won’t let his pencil stay still, spring from his mother’s Hungarian ancestry. It’s the Gypsy blood, he says, which pounds through his veins with wild abandon, driving him to the realms of fantasy. This is the muse inside, the essence of Frank Talaber. People who have read Frank’s books describe him as a natural storyteller who writes like his soul is on fire and his pencil is his voice. They go further to say that they find his books grabbingly intense and hilarious at times, screaming everyday life from such a realistic viewpoint you’re drawn into his world, hook, line and plum bob, unable to stop; almost cursing that they can’t set the book down, page after page. Frank takes great pride in the realism of his work, painstakingly visiting most of the locations, (obviously, only the “real-life” ones!) and he is so thorough that many readers have remarked that they can hear, taste, visualize, smell and feel the essence of the place. “It really is like being there” one remarked. There isn’t a greater compliment to be made. His tagline is Canada's Foremost Off-beat Author (also the name of his YouTube channel; check it out for his witty and informative videos) who writes in urban fantasy, science fiction, crime, spiritual, romance, erotica and comedy genres. Well, anything that comes to him, basically! Except westerns. Although he does like to ride Gangnam style; does that count? Literature written almost beyond genres, whose compelling thoughts are freed from the depths of the heart and subconscious before being poured onto the page. Or, as he often says, “you don’t have to be mad to be a writer, but it sure helps”.

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