This week’s Book of the Week is not quite as recent but it’s well worth resharing. Published in 2019 by NeWest Press as part of their Nunatak First Fiction series, The Melting Queen by Bruce Cinnamon tells an alternate history of the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, full of magic, intrigue, and dark secrets.

Its tale of the crowning of the Melting Queen every year at the breaking up of the ice on the North Saskatchewan combines satire, social commentary, and excellent storytelling into a sort of love-hate-love letter to my hometown.

Plus it includes an appendix of all of the city’s Melting Queens crowned throughout its imagined history, including a mix of both fictional and real historical figures.

It’s an excellent read with a timely message.

Happy Reading!

– Winston