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Detective noir meets spec fic in this story of an elusive biotech artist
The near-ish future. We’re in a city that feels almost utopian; even the aftermath of a disastrous train explosion has turned into a kind of artists’ commune.
Willa Bergson, private investigator (she prefers ‘info specialist’), has been hired to find Zed, an artist and survivor of the blast, whose latest work is a single bottle of perfume that fetched $1.1 million and replicated the stench after the explosion. He was planning his next project, which will use hallucinogenic morning glory seeds, when he vanished.
Mob bosses, art-world doyennes, and sockless artists are all on the hunt for Zed too. Who will find him first? And how is Willa’s family implicated?
Praise for The City Man:
‘Engrossing and entertaining.’ – Quill & Quire
‘The City Man is a fast and iridescent look at the world of big-city pickpockets circa 1934 ... Akler delivers the goods with originality and flare, with language as gorgeous as a Jean Harlow pin-up and dialogue sharper than a burst from a Thompson submachine gun.’ – The Globe and Mail
‘Crafted period piece, sly crime novel, nouveau noir, edgy love story – this wonderful first novel outs not only its tremendously gifted author, but the city of Toronto itself. If Akler’s deft dance of pickpockets, hacks, cops, suckers, “stalls” and “cannons” stands at odds with the stale-bread image of Toronto the Good, that’s the idea. Who knew hard-boiled fiction could sidestep its own clichés so effortlessly?’ – Kevin Connolly
Praise for Men of Action:
‘Like Harley J. Spiller’s Keep the Change, Howard Akler’s Men of Action similarly compresses a great deal – whole lives – into a very few pages … As might be expected, Men of Action delves into the father-son relationship, while also encompassing the father’s life, the parents’ marriage and the son’s youth in Toronto, where Mr. Akler still lives. But its more submerged subject is the act of writing itself, which is demonstrated with the carefully observed, resonant economy of poetry.’ – The New York Times Holiday 2015 Gift Guide
‘What makes someone who they are? What details and actions explain their inner thoughts? What moments matter in the telling of a life? These are futile questions, but what matters is that Akler is asking them in a way we haven’t previously seen. Men of Action not only gracefully succeeds in depicting the nature of human tragedy, but the inherent failures of language to capture it. The book’s brevity is its strength – a genuine testament to the writer’s talent that he is able to take us so far with so little.’ – Stacey May Fowles, The Globe and Mail
‘Men of Action is an insightful and heartbreaking exploration of consciousness, familial relationships, and the sense of self. As he and his family stand a restless vigil through his father's post-operative coma, Howard Akler explores and reorganizes the past, present, and future of his relationship with his father. Immensely relatable, this collection of essays delves fearlessly into loss, grief, and the understanding that often the moments in which we choose to be completely still are when we take the most important actions.’ – 2016 Toronto Book Awards Jury Citation
Praise for Splitsville:
‘A succinct novel that offers a glimpse into one of the largest civic battles in Toronto’s history … Written in brief, concrete prose [with] an ambient grace … Splitsville is an interesting look into the intricacies of a grassroots movement and Toronto’s history.’ – Benjamin Selesnick, Jewish Book Council
‘Toronto writer Howard Akler's brilliantly concise novel Splitsville has quietly become a customer favourite.’ – Novel Idea Bookstore