Intervals of Hope  by Christopher Canniff (Blue Denim Press, 2021)
Website: www.intervalsofhope.com
The Audiobook is now available, with the amazing voice talent of David Lane Pusey!
Nicholas Dixon lives with his mother and brother in London, England between the world wars. His father, Wilfrid, once with the First Battalion, First Canadian Regiment in the trenches of the Great War, now works in the coalmines of South Leeds and rarely returns to his family. Armed with his father’s wartime journal, a spirited imagination, and a taste for insurgency, Nicholas embarks on a quest to reunite the family. A journey that will forever alter his perception of his father, leading Nicholas to confront his own cowardice. Inspired by multiple interviews with a former WWII British Commando, whose father was in the trenches of WWI, and through eighty-five letters sent home during WWI by the author’s great-grandfather, Intervals of Hope explores duty, responsibility, cowardice, abandonment, and the disparate paths to becoming a man of honour.

"Canniff's description is as powerful as any writer I have ever had in the Humber course.” ---David Adams Richards, Governor General’s Literary Award winner and co-winner of the Giller Prize.

“The constant interplay between father’s journal and son’s actions was brilliant. Full of human interest and emotion. Can’t praise it enough.” --- Gordon Schottlander, Veteran, British Infantry, Royal Berkshire Regiment, WWII

Promotional Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vsB4J9OQ4o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpvEQOoixmY (alternate promo)
Where to buy the book:
(Canada)
Amazon
Chapters
https://bluedenimpress.com/books/intervals-of-hope/
(USA)
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
(UK)
Amazon
Alibris
Also available worldwide, wherever fine books are sold.



Tómas Harvey is an engineering student living on a small, impoverished island in Ecuador. He is conscripted into military service in the border war with Peru where he is certain he will die a senseless death. His father, a renowned British travel writer, is accused of embezzling government funds and suddenly leaves the island. While searching for answers, Tómas embarks on a journey of discovery that may lead him closer to his father and to his biological mother who abandoned him at birth, and away from his home country for the first time in his life…
The novel explores how duty shapes a family over generations, the struggle for self-discovery, and how the abandonment of selfish obligations in favour of altruism can lead to a renewed faith in humanity, and ultimately, in ourselves.

Poor Man's Galapagos and Intervals of Hope began as one novel. Poor Man's Galapagos explores some of the same themes and is a companion volume to Intervals of Hope, a sequel of sorts in an exotic South American island setting. So if you enjoy Intervals of Hope, consider Poor Man's Galapagos by Christopher Canniff as your next read. Or consider getting the two as a set and read them back to back!

Poor Man's Galapagos was nominated by the publisher for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize.


"An engaging character study played out against the political turmoil of the time and infused with rich descriptions of the isolated corner of the world in which it takes place."
          -Michael Dyet

"...loyalty, friendship and duty all get their airing, but above all, the sense of belonging, complicated here by larger-than-life, though mostly absent parents with shallow or even non-existent roots in the only place — a small impoverished tropical island — the main character has ever known."
          -Jake Hogeterp

"Many twists and turns...your best bet is to keep on reading to the end in one sitting, if possible, like I did..."
          -Sharon Crawford


Promotional Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19eKu_-fEHk

Where to buy the book:
(Canada) 
Amazon
Chapters
https://bluedenimpress.com/books/poor-mans-galapagos/

(USA)
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

(UK)
Amazon
Alibris

(Audiobook)
audible.ca/Poor-Mans-Galapagos-Audiobook
amazon.ca/Poor-Mans-Galapagos-audiobook

Also available worldwide, wherever fine books are sold.

Tormented by his wife’s apparent determination to abort their child, a psychologist travels to a small coastal fishing town in South America, where his recently deceased father lived. There, he discovers many unsettling truths about himself and his family which eventually transform his reality into a lucid, disparaging dream from which he may not be able to escape…

Abundance of the Infinite shortlisted in the 2012 Ken Klonsky Novella Contest.
 
“An expedition through the emotional terrain of a man on a quest, Abundance of the Infinite is a succinctly crafted gem of a story. Author Christopher Canniff’s intuitive writing style masterfully blurs the line between dream and reality, torment and tenderness.”
            - Edward Brown, author of Playing Basra
 
“Canniff’s novella, with its Borgesian-like surrealism, sharp, insightful analyses, and De Quincey atmosphere, is a brilliant, unforgettable exploration of guilt in the service of love.”
            -Royston Tester, author of Summat Else
 


Promotional Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqp9ehz60JI

Where to buy the book:
http://quattrobooks.ca/books/abundance-of-the-infinite/
(In Canada) http://www.amazon.ca/Abundance-Infinite-Christopher-Canniff/dp/1927443075/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354150318&sr=8-1





Short Stories:


Christopher's fictional short story "The Russian Soldier" was published in the Spring 2011 issue of Descant Magazine (Descant 152). Descant received more submissions for this issue (Descant 152) than ever before in its forty-year history.
https://quillandquire.com/omni/descant-magazine-announces-final-issue/


2010 Matrix Litpop Awards Finalist!
Christopher Canniff made the shortlist of finalists for the 2010 Litpop Awards, as judged by a group of selected Matrix editors and Pop Montreal staff!
https://matrixmag.wordpress.com/about/


Twilight Zone Radio Drama “Back for the Fourth”
Christopher was commissioned in 2008 by Carl Amari, CEO of Falcon Picture Group and Producer of the Twilight Zone Radio Dramas, to write two scripts for this US nationally-syndicated radio series. 
https://www.hollywood360radio.com/bios/carl-amari/

From the Producer’s Blog:
“I received two terrific TZ scripts in this week both of which are brand new story ideas, not based on original TZ episodes.  One is by writer Chris Canniff.  It’s based on the John Collier story ‘Back for Christmas.’  “

And: “Speaking of new scripts, first time TZ writer Christopher Canniff delivered an excellent adaptation of the John Collier story ‘Back for Christmas...' "


LWOT (Lies With Occasional Truth) 3-Hour Novel Contest Winner!

Christopher won the LWOT 3-Hour Novel Contest in 2007!
​
From the LWOT Website:

Since it was first established in 1908, Lies With Occasional Truth has been bringing the very best Canadian fiction to readers across the world.  Over the past century, our quadra-yearly journal has showcased work from some of the most celebrated icons of Canadian Literature, including Gradey Alexander, Darren O’Groussny, and Merlin Callaghan.

Since our first issue was delivered by horse and carriage through the cobblestone streets of old Montreal, the fiction featured in LWOT has been unrestrained by the checks and balances of the traditional short story form.  Founding editor George Ross defined fiction as any piece of writing that is composed primarily of lies (with occasional truth), and this unique view has allowed LWOT writers to explore new and exciting directions in prose.

Quite simply, the fiction we publish is unlike the fiction being published anywhere else in the world.

As we approach our centennial anniversary, we have dedicated ourselves to supporting a new generation of exciting Canadian writers.  From the most handsome and hygienic emerging authors in the country, to some of the most short-tempered vegetarian superstars of the independent presses, LWOT’s eclectic community represents the future of Canadian Literature.


In the Dark Anthology, Tightrope Books

Christopher’s short story “Solitude” was published in this anthology of Canadian Writers from Toronto’s Tightrope Books in 2006.

Indexed in “The Locus Index to Science Fiction: 2006”
http://www.locusmag.com/index/yr2006/s11.htm#BOT