Laurie Channer

Fiction


Laurie Channer’s novel Godblog will be published in Canada in fall 2008 by Napoleon Books in their new Dark Star imprint for edgy fiction by young writers.  It is a tale of a young snowboarder in Vancouver turned coffee barista who starts an anonymous blog and begins to control a vast following who now will do his bidding.  Only Channer can make it funny, scary, sad and convincing!

Laurie Channer, who had won awards for her short stories, has studied screen writing, and works in Toronto for the Writers Guild of Canada. She is completing a third novel.

Napoleon Books Fall 2008

Godblog

Tall, non-fat, blond, extra-conflicted, to go

Godblog is an entertaining and inventive tale of Dag Olsson, a young coffee barista who discovers his amazing powers of influence through blogging. With the internet as the 21st Century equivalent of the Nuremburg rallies, or the pulpit, Dag’s rants, causes, and pranks begin to sway the masses in surprising ways.  

When his athletic career as a snowboarder plunges to a halt, Dag stumbles into a job at a Rocky Mountain ski resort, with no plan to reinvent himself as a hero of the modern world. Instead, he uses his considerable charm and salesmanship to become the best barista at the corporate chain Black Arts Coffee Company. But in his off hours, he secretly begins his Heroblog.

Surprisingly, his provocative thoughts infiltrate the minds and imaginations of his readers and the blog becomes a public phenomenon. But as the masses begin to act on the bluster and baiting of the Heroblog, Dag finds himself careening into a crisis of identity. 

When coffee company executives discover that the mastermind of Heroblog is an employee, they are determined to snare the dissenter in their midst. Heroblog morphs into the Godblog, and Dag wages war against the corporation.  As he becomes increasingly isolated, Dag’s percolating identity crisis boils over into real-life jeopardy, scalding himself and those around him.

Laurie Channer has such firm grasp of detail and such a sure touch that she makes Dag Olsson and his friends at the Black Arts café totally convincing. Blessed with humor and the soaring arcs of her imagination, Channer is a rising talent.