Sherbaniuk, Richard

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SHERBANIUK, Richard

PERSONAL:

Male. Hobbies and other interests: Collecting sculpture, paintings, and antiques; traveling to Europe and the Middle East.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Forge Books, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER:

Environmental consultant, classical scholar, and historian; full-time freelance writer, 2001—.

MEMBER:

Periodical Writers Association of Canada.

WRITINGS:

The Fifth Horseman: A Novel of Biological Disaster, Forge (New York, NY), 2001.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

The Devil's Casket, a sequel to The Fifth Horseman.

SIDELIGHTS:

Canadian writer Richard Sherbaniuk maintains a special interest in environmental and geopolitical issues. A former consultant to governments and corporations, he has frequently served as an advisor on environmental protection concerns. Turning to freelance writing in 2001, he fulfilled a childhood ambition and became a novelist. The Fifth Horseman: A Novel of Biological Disaster follows the story of Dr. Michael Zammit, an environmental detective. Summoned by the White House, Zammit finds himself in the Middle East trying to stave off an environmental crisis. Terrorists have placed a genetically altered organism into the Turkish water supply, killing thousands of people and threatening to do much more damage worldwide. Readers follow Zammit as he goes through a series of misadventures trying to thwart the terrorist plot.

While having some reservations about Sherbaniuk's novel, several reviewers found The Fifth Horseman to be an action-packed novel worth reading. On the negative side, a Publishers Weekly contributor called the novel "woefully overwritten," but Booklist contributor William Beatty asserted that "Sherbaniuk has the skill and the detailed scientific and psychological knowledge to make this a gripping, fast-moving, realistic caper, and a frighteningly provocative one, to boot." Other reviewers also picked up on Sherbaniuk's deep personal knowledge of environmental issues and his ability to infuse the book with facts and realism. "It's definitely worth reading just for the interplay of historical, scientific, and political information," commented Eva Wojcik-Obert in Fantastica Daily online.