Jason Shannon

Eye-Spied is the third installment in Crystal Quast's Serenity Acres series, newly released April 15th, 2026. This episode goes back to post-war Europe, illuminating some of the threads that lead to the modern-day Serenity Acres drama. In this episode, we host a release party to celebrate Crystal's third volume in the series. I am joined by Crystal, as well as fellow authors Matthew Gabrielson (author, Small Town Chaos), and Ryan David Gerard (author, The Baptist Trilogy, The Born Again Trilogy, The Things That Are Not, and Wildmen).

Congratulations Crystal on the release of Serenity Acres Volume 3!

Crystal's website: http://serenityacressecrets.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/55082710.Crystal_Quast

Matt's YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MattsIndieBookClub

Matt's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mattsrandomramblings

Ryan’s website: ⁠www.Gerardtheauthor.com⁠

Ryan's IG: @ryandavidgerard

JasonShannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. Hisseventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew ofmercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists inalt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Upcomingevents:

SudburyComiccon April 25

NorthBay Comiccon May 2

HuntsvilleComiccon May 3

IntriguingBookish Market in Peterborough May 30

GanonoqueComiccon May 31

ManitoulinIsland Comiccon June 13

EspanolaComiccon June 14

PictonComiccon June 28

SaultCon

FridayJuly 10, 3pm-8pm

SaturdayJuly 11, 11am-8pm

Sunday,July 12, 11am-4pm

FlamboroughBook Fair at the West Avenue Cider House July 26

Cogsand Clockwork Steampunk Festival in Fergus, Ontario September 12/13

Followmy social media @harujinshounds

Rod Carley is the award-winning Author of 4 books: A Master of Will, Kinmount, Grin Reaping, and his newest book, Ruff, which was long-listed for the Leacock Medal of Humour and the silver medal winner for best European fiction from and Independent Publisher. Today’s discussion focusses on Ruff, which is a retelling of a period in William Shakespeare’s life, and some of the events going on around him. Rod is also on the organizing committee for the St Lawrence Writers Festival, happening in September in Brockville,Ontario. Previously we had Michael Parkes on, also on the committee, to discuss the festival. We touch on it briefly here. Rod is also an avid Shakespeare fan and student, who’s worked as an actor, director and producer of various productions—one particular production that hasn’t happened yet is an adaptation of Julius Caesar reimagined surrounding the events of the October Crisis and the FLQ, which we discuss in the third part.

Reading at 1 hour, 9 minutes

Rod’s website: rodcarley.ca

Instagram: @rdcarley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rodcarley.ca/

St Lawrence Writer’s Festival:https://www.stlawrencewritersfestival.ca/

FARM FREAKS DAY 5 on Kickstarter:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/accidentalcreations/farm-freaks-day-5-the-festival

Ryan Poirier’s website: https://www.accidentalcreations.ca/

Jason Shannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. His seventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew of mercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists in alt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Upcomingevents:

BarrieComiccon April 11

SudburyComiccon April 25

NorthBay Comiccon May 2

HuntsvilleComiccon May 3

IntriguingBookish Market in Peterborough May 30

GanonoqueComiccon May 31

ManitoulinIsland Comiccon June 13

EspanolaComiccon June 14

PictonComiccon June 28

FlamboroughBook Fair at the West Avenue Cider House July 26

Cogsand Clockwork Steampunk Festival in Fergus, Ontario September 12/13

Followmy social media @harujinshounds

Hannah Manders is a lover of fantasy, a writer of books, and (in her words) a mighty fine cook. She also identifies as a slow reader and tea lover. In her free time she enjoys playing video games, reading, gardening, drawing, doing yoga and NPCing at a LARP in southern Ontario. She aspires to be at least one person’s favourite author and become local folklore in her city. She is excited to publish more of her series, and watch how her writing style grows and improves. Currently, she has several projects on the go, the most anticipated workbeing Death and Rest, the next book to release within herliterary universe, coming September 20th 2026.

If you are in the Durham area in Ontario, both Hannah and I have our books available at a local bookstore in downtown Oshawa called Book Dragons Den, and you can feel free to stop in and pick up copies.

Reading at 58 minutes

Hannah’s Website: https://hannahmanders.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannah_manders/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mossepajamas

Discord: https://discord.gg/GVQM9nhg3P

FARM FREAKS DAY 5 on Kickstarter:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/accidentalcreations/farm-freaks-day-5-the-festival

Ryan Poirier’s website: https://www.accidentalcreations.ca/

Kristy Lee’s website: www.authorkristy.com

Jason Shannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. His seventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew of mercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists in alt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Upcoming events: Barrie Comiccon April 11

Sudbury Comiccon April 25

North Bay Comiccon May 2

Huntsville Comiccon May 3

Intriguing Bookish Market in Peterborough May 30

Ganonoque Comiccon May 31

Manitoulin Island Comiccon June 13

Espanola Comiccon June 14

Picton Comiccon June 28

Flamborough Book Fair at the West Avenue Cider House July 26

Cogs and Clockwork Steampunk Festival in Fergus, Ontario September 12/13

Follow my social media @harujinshounds

Matthew Gabrielson is author of the book Small Town Chaos and Host of the Matt’s Indie Book Club Youtube channel.

Small Town Chaos: https://books2read.com/u/b60l0A

YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MattsIndieBookClub

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mattsrandomramblings

Vicki Ann Bush: https://www.vickiannbush.com

FARM FREAKS DAY 5 on Kickstarter:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/accidentalcreations/farm-freaks-day-5-the-festival

Ryan Poirier’s website: https://www.accidentalcreations.ca/

Jason Shannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. His seventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew of mercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists in alt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Upcoming events: Stratford Comiccon March 29

Cambridge Comiccon March 30

Barrie Comiccon April 11

Sudbury Comiccon April 25

North Bay Comiccon May 2

Huntsville Comiccon May 3

Intriguing Bookish Market in Peterborough May 30

Ganonoque Comiccon May 31

Manitoulin Island Comiccon June 13

Espanola Comiccon June 14

Picton Comiccon June 28

Flamborough Book Fair at the West Avenue Cider House July 26

Cogs and Clockwork Steampunk Festival in Fergus, Ontario September 12/13

Follow my social media @harujinshounds

Today I'm talking with Isaac Fernandes. Isaac is a brand new author who just published his first novel in February of this year. It's called Beneath Nevada, and is a western thriller about a man following an ancient map to potential treasure out in the Nevada desert. We talk about Isaac's book, the process of writing it, and how he's finding life as an author. Isaac also gives us a little preview of his next book, which, with luck, will be coming later this year.

Isaac's Instagram @issy.fern02

Jason Shannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. His seventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew of mercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists in alt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Upcoming events: Stratford Comiccon March 29

Cambridge Comiccon March 30

Barrie Comiccon April 11

Sudbury Comiccon April 25

North Bay Comiccon May 2

Huntsville Comiccon May 3

Intriguing Bookish Market in Peterborough May 30

Ganonoque Comiccon May 31

Manitoulin Island Comiccon June 13

Espanola Comiccon June 14

Picton Comiccon June 28

Flamborough Book Fair at the West Avenue Cider House July 26

Cogsand Clockwork Steampunk Festival in Fergus, Ontario September 12/13

Follow my social media @harujinshounds

Michael Parkes is the author of Cheryl and Gnomes and Knights, as well as some short stories, which wediscuss in the second half of the episode. Michael is also on the board of the organizing committee for the St Lawrence Writers’ Festival, an annual convention in Brockville, Ontario every September, and we spend the first part of the episode discussing the festival, how its organized, and why you should attend.

Michael's website

https://michaelparkesauthor.com/

IG: @michaelparkesauthor

X: @PichaelMarkes

St. Lawrence Writers Festival:

https://www.stlawrencewritersfestival.ca/

Jason Shannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. His seventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew of mercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists in alt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Upcoming events: Stratford Comiccon March 29

Cambridge Comiccon March 30

Barrie Comiccon April 11

Sudbury Comiccon April 25

Huntsville Comiccon May 3

Manitoulin Island Comiccon June 13

Espanola Comiccon June 14

Flamborough Book Fair at the West Avenue Cider House July 26

“Operation Salon Kitty” coming in paperback at Sudbury Comiccon

Follow my social media @harujinshounds

Allen Steele is a three-time Hugo Award-winning who has been publishing since the 80s. He’s well-known for his Near Space Series, the revival of Edmond Hamilton’s Captain Future series, numerous standalones (including one of my favourites, Chronospace, now named Time Loves a Hero), and, what we’re talking about today, his Coyote series. An intergenerational series following rebels who hijack an interstellar ship and colonize the habitable moon Coyote, the titular book came out in 2002. The main portion of the series consists of 5 books that take place on Coyote, and 3 spinoffs that mostly take place off of Coyote, and, as we’ll hear, Allen is currently working on a long-awaited next instalment in the series.

As I tell Allen in our conversation, I have been reading his work for 25 years, and he is one of my favourite scifi authors. In fact, I have the entire Coyote series in the first-edition hardcovers, including one of the signed and numbered copies of The River Horses, which is a novella that bridges the gap between Coyote Rising and Coyote Frontier. In case you’re wondering, I have copy 107 of 500. In the past few months, all 8 novels ofthe Coyote Series have been rereleased by Open Road Media, and are available now.

Oshawa Comiccon March 7th

Stratford Comiccon March 29

Cambridge Comiccon March 30

Barrie Comiccon April 11

Sudbury Comiccon April 25

Huntsville Comiccon May 3

Manitoulin Island Comiccon June 13th

Espanola Comiccon June 14th

Flamborough Book Fair July 26th

Jason Shannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. His seventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew of mercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists in alt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Follow my social media @harujinshounds

Matthew Gabrielson, host of the Youtube channel Matt's Indie Book Club, had me on his channel for an interview, which aired March 1st. We discuss Tiger Blues, my writing journey, and my cats.

Matt's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yF62ucl4RI&t=2s

Jason Shannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. His seventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew of mercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists in alt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Upcoming events: Stratford Comiccon March 29

Cambridge Comiccon March 30

Barrie Comiccon April 11

Sudbury Comiccon April 25

Huntsville Comiccon May 3

Manitoulin Island Comiccon June 13

Espanola Comiccon June 14

Flamborough Book Fair at the West Avenue Cider House July 26

Follow my social media @harujinshounds

RW Duder and Damian Richard have teamed up for the Guns and Gatesseries, an alt-history urban fantasy/western. Trapped Souls in theintroductory novella, a sort of Book 0.5, acting as an origin storyfor the antagonist. We discuss the book, co-authoring, making thejump to fantasy, and more.

Reading occurs at 37:15

Join their newsletter to get a free digital copy

https://storyoriginapp.com/giveaways/ce631da8-9d37-11f0-a5e8-7bb489778bae

Damian’s website: https://www.damienrichard.ca/

RW Duder Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rwduder/

Jason Shannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. Hisseventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew ofmercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists inalt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Upcoming events: Courtice Book Bazaar February 28– IG @bookbazaarcanada

Stratford Comiccon March 29

Cambridge Comiccon March 30

Barrie Comiccon April 11

Sudbury Comiccon April 25

Huntsville Comiccon May 3

“Operation Salon Kitty” coming in paperback at Sudbury Comiccon

Follow my social media @harujinshounds

Episode 69--yes, I'm juvenile enough to say "noice". Of course, I cannot miss the opportunity to capitalize on this moment. There will never be another 69th episode of this podcast.

And so today, you, my valued listener, are getting an all new story, one salacious enough to be worthy of this episode. 

I first had this idea about 5 weeks ago, and thought how I could best honour this episode. Olive already has their own salacious story--episode 65. I thought, I don't have enough with Yoshiko. Yoshi should get their own salacious story, something involving espionage, I've been writing and researching a lot lately that takes place during WW2... The answer is staring me in the face. Salon Kitty. It practically writes itself.

This is one of those little historical tidbits that just occupies space in my brain. Salon Kitty was a famed high-class German brothel used as a spying operation by the SD. Well-known clients included Goebbels, Ribbentrop, Sepp Dietrich, Francisco Franco's brother-in-law, and Mussolini's son-in-law.

And so my resident spymaster, Yoshiko, the cross-dressing Manchurian quote-unquote princess... can they be roped into this somehow? Doing some research, the brothel opened in 1941 under SD management, and closed as the result of an Allied air raid in summer of 1942. The ultimate man in charge of the whole thing was Reinhard Heydrich, who also had something happen to him in 1942. Yoshiko, at this point, was under a travel ban--essentially a form of house arrest--in Fukuoka, Japan. Their Tianjin restaurant, which I speculate may have been an op, closed in 1939 after they were assailed by axe-wielding bandits, they alienated all their friends in the Japanese military, their former lover and CO, General Tada Hayao was contemplating assassinating them, and even their friends in the far right underground were no longer taking their calls; Yamaguchi Yoshiko, in her memoir, talks about how Toyama Mitsuru, chief of the Black Ocean Society, wouldn't speak to Kawashima. Kawashima had just met with Toyama, and their former suitor, Iwata Ainosuke, also the head of a far right secret society, as recently as 1935, for reasons unknown.

The Fukuoka period of Yoshiko's life has a whole lot of nothing going on, except that they were dating a young woman named Sonomoto Kotone, and they were filing false police reports for petty money-making schemes. So... it's perfect. 1942 coincides with the operation of the brothel, the rescinding of Yoshiko's travel ban, and a particular event in Reinhard Heydrich's life. I have a story.

Of course, it began as a short story, and then it ballooned into a full on novelette. It is 7 chapters and 15K words. But have no fear, the entire thing is being released today. No previews here, this is the full story. Moreover, the PDF is available in full on my website. With luck, I can premiere the paperback at the Sudbury Comiccon at the end of April. There will be more news on that in the coming weeks.

I should note that, of course, this episode is explicit. 

Beneath Nevada by Isaac Fernandes - https://www.amazon.ca/Beneath-Nevada-Isaac-Fernandes/dp/B0G6VM2ZMP/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3J4PAXIQ7D402&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.TNutXab6N7ddzELo9-V4bagRl8hAtlYL22zR1nKpK9FSh-kPdp7zQav2JZLL0fXL_WxjPnewaJyIsu8IlXadtXcrT2ExNkvAa9E02rNzvkOv7bpywdjvUzoiPJgm0AoSefvWqapUK-Vm4EMn2wkiiE8A5S8p4KSz2YC3EPufljl7ZEruZ39y9qweMZfzZdU5.Gf0fgM-y4dVavW1n33kQhUwf-Bh-9cLZH6IbQUVZVIQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=beneath+nevada&qid=1771373987&sprefix=beneath+nevada%2Caps%2C136&sr=8-1

Jason Shannon is an indie Canadian author of science fiction and more. His seventh novel, Tiger Blues, is available now: “A plucky crew of mercenaries must keep a doomsday weapon from the Maoists in alt-history 1948 Tibet.”

Upcoming:

Courtice Book Bazaar Feb 28– IG @bookbazaarcanada

Stratford Comiccon Mar 29

Cambridge Comiccon Mar 30

Barrie Comiccon Apr 11

Sudbury Comiccon Apr 25

Huntsville Comiccon May 3

For a complete list of sources, see the PDF version on my website.