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About the Book 1
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Meet The Devil Spinners: edge-dwellers, poets and lovable scoundrels who bluster, blunder and bellow their way to redemption—or not—between stops at Crawley's Pub. Each faces a moment of life-bafflement, brief or prolonged, that finds resolution through a shift in perception, an unexpected intervention, a kind word, or in one case, an insect.

  
The stories are set on the B.C. coast in an indeterminate era when screens, though present, have not yet dominated every public place. At Crawley's, live conversation rules and a haphazard harmony prevails as bartender Gabe and her co-workers serve a ragtag assortment of neighbourhood regulars. Over the course of fifteen stories, we find Mike the lawyer advising Sam the towboat man on his faulty DUI charge, Haley the musician describing to Gabe how a detour in his travels led to lessons in devil spinning, the mad Professor Weibel refereeing the Great Debate over the ethics of Dutch the Greek, and the hapless Fredrik being bullied by a beetle. At a table against the wall, Beets the poet ruminates on the tyrannies of self-awareness, while down the road, ex-server Erin hatches a wicked plot for severing ties with Edward... 


According to Haley, everyone is a devil spinner, though not every formula is freeing: "Sometimes we spin to make the needle skip, sometimes we spin for the comfort of the groove." 

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Whether they favour the skips or the grooves, readers who appreciate a novel twist in a well-spun yarn, liberally laced with humour and heart, will find congenial company in The Devil Spinners.

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Reviews

REVIEWS

What readers are saying

"Picked your book up at Pages Bookstore after flipping through it and reading some of the opening lines to a few of the stories. I’m loving it. Terrific storytelling. The conversational, just-telling-a-story quality is really engaging. Well done. Hope you’re writing more."

"I really enjoyed this book of short stories. It’s full of quirky characters, amusing plot twists and thoughtful insights into the human condition—all rendered with a touch of pathos. The author has an original and engaging voice. She also has a talent for telling stories that draw you in from the get-go and deliver a satisfying punch on the way out. The 15 stories in this collection are linked to a fictional working-class bar, within which the oddball regulars enjoy a shared sense of community. Although most of the characters live on the margins of society, Hesthammar presents them with respect, dignity and gentle humour."

— Kevin Crowley, award-winning journalist, author and editor

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Don't forget to leave a review on Amazon or through the Contact page.

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The Stump Gump

Mother Nature honours a decaying stump for being a kind, inclusive host to a wide variety of lives. With the help of some rain and sun, a few trees and a good fairy, she transforms the stump into an elf called the Stump Gump. The Gump is warmly welcomed by everyone in his forest home. As he gets to know his neighbours, he meets bears and rabbits, birds and squirrels and bees—but no one who is quite like him. When he decides to search for another Stump Gump, his friend Bluebird directs him to “the pond on the hill by the red cedar stump,” where he has a life-changing experience. In a magical moment we couldn’t possibly spoil for the reader, his feeling of being separate is transformed into a feeling of belonging.

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