Val Tobin

Val Tobin writes speculative fiction and searches the world over for the perfect butter tart. Her home is in Newmarket, Ontario, where she enjoys writing, reading, and talking about writing and reading.

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Website: http://www.valtobin.com/
Twitter: @valandbob
Facebook: Facebook profile
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/valtobin
Blog: http://bobandval.wordpress.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Val-Tobin/e/B00KC5S69K/

action romance    alien contact    assassins    big city romance    conspiracy    contemporary fantasy    corporate intrigue romance    corporate romance    couples    creatures    creatures in the woods    creatures out of nightmare    creatures survival    dark fantasy    dark magic    detective hero    dystopia climate change    dystopia romance    dystopian action thriller    earthbound spirit    fae fantasy    faery fantasy    family dramas    family loyalty    family values    fantasy action    fantasy magic    fantasy series    female mage    fiction science fiction adventure romance    fiction scifi    fiction set in ontario    fraud and murder romance    ghost haunting    ghost thriller    government ops    horror    horror action    horror fiction    horror lake    horror short fiction    horror short story    horror story    horror suspense thriller    human monsters    lake creatures    love    love after divorce    love again    love again romance    love and romance    love relationships    love romance    mage and magic    mage born    mage romance    magic fantasy    magic realism    magical worlds    mediumship    messy divorce    modern fantasy    monsters    murder romance    mystery    mystery action    paranormal    paranormal abilities    paranormal and supernatural suspense    portal fantasy    psychic angels dreams    psychic espionage    psychic female    psychic heroine    psychic love story    psychic mediums    psychic paranormal    psychic thriller    relationship novel    relationships romance    romance about finding oneself    romance and suspense    romance contempory    romance crime    romance happy ending    romance money    romance mystery    romance writer    science fiction gmo    second chance at love    second chance romance    sexy romance    social anxiety    spirit contact    spirit journey    spirit quest    spirit realm    strong female lead    supernatural and paranormal    supernatural novels    supernatural paranormal    supernatural suspense    suspense action thriller    suspense and romance    suspense island    thriller and suspense paranormal    torrid romance    ufo    ufo abduction    ufo abductions    ufo conspiracy    ufo coverup    ufo encounter    ufo fiction    urban fantasy    vampire action    vampire books    vampire novel    vampire series    witches and romance    women author    women authors    women mystery    writers murder   

• Release on June 08, 2014
  
  If you're looking to be horrified, this'll do it.
  
• Specimen & Other Stories on May 28, 2015
  
  It doesn’t matter what Alan Annand writes, I’ll read it. Over the years, I’ve come to trust him as an author, and when I saw he had a short story collection out, I downloaded and devoured it. Specimen & Other Stories is a mix of the creepy, the icky, and the hilarious, some of them falling into more than one category. The offerings begin with the humour piece “Bananarama.” This one also falls under icky though with a side-benefit of laughter. You might think you don’t want to read about someone else’s bowel troubles as he struggles to go vegetarian by eating nothing but bananas and drinking only orange juice, but it’s worth it despite the mental images seared into your brain. I laughed out loud until the tears flowed, and I’ve only done that with a Dave Barry offering before. Kudos to Annand for providing what they call the best medicine. “The Date Square Killer” tells the story of a hitman scoring a date before he goes to work. The creepiness factor heightens as the killer ruminates on life and social justice. The story captured my interest and held it, a typical feature of Annand’s writing. “River Girl” is all wry humour and middle-aged angst. Stanley the cad has a life-changing experience with a free-spirted woman he encounters in Toronto’s Don River. It’s an excellent sample of Annand’s writing and why I always come back for more. “Specimen” brings back the creepiness and dispels the idea that twins can read each other’s minds. Annand plays with twin relationships as he did in “Hide in Plain Sight,” and the results are just as deadly and just as entertaining. “The Bassman Cometh” takes us back to all-out humour and doesn’t disappoint. I would have enjoyed knowing Annand in university, but perhaps from a distance, as an observer. His description of his escapades with Margaret Atwood again made me laugh out loud. “The Naskapi and the U-Boat” tells the story of Germans in World War two installing a weather station and finding themselves flummoxed by members of an aboriginal family. It’s the one I found most emotionally engaging as it engendered empathy for the innocent family. While I don’t typically go for short-story collections, I enjoyed this one. Each story was different though unmistakeably Annand. Well worth the read, and if you haven’t read anything before by Annand, it’s a good place to start.
  
• Antenna Syndrome on June 22, 2015
  
  Alan Annand’s talent for writing makes reading a pleasure, and in Antenna Syndrome, he’s in top form. Keith Savage, a cynical detective of the future, has been hired to find a politician’s missing paraplegic daughter, and the big question is, was she kidnapped or did she run away? Antenna Syndrome paints a bleak but frighteningly plausible picture of New York in 2026. Here, paranoia is a survival strategy. The air is poisoned, the streets infested with over-sized vermin. No one can be trusted, especially the cops. This world is the perfect setting for Annand’s hard-boiled style of crime fiction. Things start off hopeless for Savage as he struggles with loss and PTSD, and go downhill from there when he takes on the case to find the missing young woman. Between cops who want to frame him, criminals who want to kill him, and a mad scientist who makes the guy from Human Centipede look like a social worker, the job seems impossible to complete. The enjoyment comes from the twists and turns in the plot, the entertaining and clean prose, and the well-developed characters. If you liked Anannd’s other stories, or you like a good hard-boiled crime novel, you’ll enjoy this one.