Malan, Violette

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Malan, Violette

PERSONAL:

Born in Canada; married Paul Musselman. Education: York University, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Ontario, Canada. Agent—Joshua Bilmes, JABberwocky Literary Agency, P.O. Box 4558, Sunnyside, NY 11104-0558. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, editor, and educator. Has taught creative writing, English as a second language, Spanish, and French. Cofounder of the Scene of the Crime Festival.

MEMBER:

Crime Writers of Canada.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Bony Pete award, Crime Writers of Canada Bloody Words Conference, 1999, for short story "Brush Off."

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Therese Greenwood, and contributor) Dead in the Water: An Anthology of Original Canadian Crime Fiction, Rendezvous Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

The Mirror Prince, DAW (New York, NY), 2006.

The Sleeping God: A Novel of Dhulyn and Parno, DAW (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to books, including Crime Spree, edited by Sandra DeLuca and Trey R. Parker, December Girl Press (Warwick, RI), 2001; Fit to Die, edited by Joan Boswell and Sue Pike, Rendezvous Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2001; and Bloody Words: The Anthology, edited by Cheryl Freedman and Caro Soles, Baskerville Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003. Contributor to periodicals, including Penthouse, Kingston Whig-Standard Companion, and Over My Dead Body.

SIDELIGHTS:

Violette Malan is a Canadian author of fantasy and mystery fiction. A cofounder of the Scene of the Crime Festival, she served as the coeditor of Dead in the Water: An Anthology of Original Canadian Crime Fiction, and has contributed work to anthologies such as Crime Spree and Fit to Die. Malan has also worked as a book reviewer as well as a teacher of creative writing and literature.

The Mirror Prince, Malan's debut novel, concerns Max Ravenhill, a history professor who learns that he is an exile from the Faerie world and that his human life is merely an illusion. Banished to earth by the Basilisk Prince, Ravenhill finds his life in danger and seeks help from his guardian and lover, Cassandra Kennaby. According to Library Journal contributor Jackie Cassada, The Mirror Prince "straddles two worlds, each detailed in vibrant colors and images."

In The Sleeping God: A Novel of Dhulyn and Parno, two members of the Mercenary Brotherhood, Dhulyn Wolfshead and Parno Lionsmane, must escort a young orphan to her distant relatives in the land of Imrion. Along the way, they encounter resistance from the New Believers, a group of fanatics led by the deadly Green Shadow. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised the novel's "abundant swordplay and the protagonists' strong, entertaining partnership."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, July 1, 2006, Jackie Cassada, review of The Mirror Prince, p. 70.

Publishers Weekly, May 1, 2006, review of The Mirror Prince, p. 41; June 18, 2007, review of The Sleeping God: A Novel of Dhulyn and Parno, p. 40.

Washington Times, August 27, 2006, Judith Kreiner review of The Mirror Prince.