The Sanguinaires deals with reclaiming mortality, as it has been revealed to humanity through a collective premonition of their deaths. The debate takes hold of the world as it implores us to ask how this Event should be interpreted. Was it merely a psychological affliction, a collective mental illness, or perhaps a transcendent message that raises the question of free-will vs. fate? The book deals with death depression, anxiety and the perpetual paranoia that plagues a fringe minority of diagnosed Sanguinaires, who find themselves resistant to their meds and violently desirous to talk about the Event. These characters actively struggle against the Department of Psychological Welfare that has circumvented individual rights in order to protect society from their threatening philosophical/neurotic attitude. The Department ultimately diagnoses and thereby delegitimizes their paradoxical “neurosis” which they see as leading cause for behavioral radicalization, where in reality, those “afflicted” by the Sanguinaire affliction are stuck somewhere between suicide and salvation. The style is modernist, urban, and Canadian. The book takes place in Toronto and features a lot of historical landmarks and areas, as well as the culture and values of the city at large.

From the author: I was born in Toronto, (one of the few who can actually say that these days), and I’ve served in the honorable and distinguished position of barkeep most of my life, slinging drinks to slurring customers from the filthiest cesspools to the poshest of parlors this city has to offer. I once hopped in a cab after receiving an inheritance, a copy of Hemmingway on my lap and a bit of whiskey on my breath, I asked the driver to take me to the airport, he asked me “which terminal?” I replied, “which ever one has planes…” I landed in Spain but ultimately ended up in the streets of London’s red-light district trying to hustle my way into a bedroom just to stay warm. (I didn’t know hotels tend to be occupied on major football events…)

I’m a proud graduate of the City Adult Learning Center, which somehow allowed me to sneak in the backdoors of U of T admissions. I got a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto and loved my experience so much that I decided to take seven years to finish a four year stint. I’ve generally had a hard time doing anything the proper way and for that I sincerely abstain from apologizing.

After leading a life as the bachelor of bachelors, I met a woman and married her after only three weeks. It was the best decision of my life and she is the love of it. I also have an orange cat named Jonesy whom I dearly love.