Frank Taber was born in Beaverlodge, Alberta but his family moved to Edmonton, Alberta, when he was very young. He moved to Chilliwack in 1996. He's spent most of his life either fixing cars or managing automotive shops. He wrote some automotive articles published in RV magazines and published a few short stories before trying his hand at novels. He has credited his creativity to "the Gypsy blood from my mother's Hungarian ancestry."

Talaber, a self-published writer, describes his e-novel Shaman's Lure as a crime/mystery/urban fantasy that revolves around the death of Vancouver's mayor, found brutally slain in Stanley Park. The heroine is a neophyte detective who encounters a mysterious First Nations sage, a shaman who is influenced by Pauline Johnson's Legends of Vancouver. A reporter also tries to unravel the case. The endorsement from Susan Musgrave reads, "After being stranded twenty kilometers from the nearest road at the tip of Rose Spit, Haida Gwaii, and having to push his spanking new SUV a few kilometers along the beach before the tide came in and we ran out of booze, my first reaction on being asked to write a back cover blurb was, 'over my dead body.' Some people will do anything to get an endorsement."

According to Talaber, his writing credits include the Gibbons Guardian Newspaper, the R.D. Lawrence Literary Anthology, Lies With The Occasional Truth and New Writer magazine. He won a John Galbraith Short Story Contest and he's had stories shortlisted in the Surrey Writers Contest and the Bluelines Contest.

"At fifty-six," he wrote in 2015, "I am blessed with two children, two loopy cats and a bonkers-mad English wife. My zest for life, the environment, and the little muses that won't let my pencil keep still, spring from my mother's Hungarian ancestry. It's the Gypsy blood, I say, which drives my wife crazy when I leave our bed in the middle of the night to pound out some sort of literary induced brilliance. 'Here we go again, the next War and Peace,' she moans, only to realize it's either gibberish or there's no lead in my pencil."

PUBLICATIONS & BOOKS:

(Novel) Ainsworth Chronicle, Book One: The Joining (2018)

(Novel) Ainsworth Chronicle, Book Two: The Mystery Of Ms. Teak (December 2021)

(Novel) Stillwaters Runs Deep, Book One: Raven's Lament (2015) E-novel. Print version (Books We Love, 2015) $15.94 9781771453998

(Novel) Stillwaters Runs Deep, Book Two: The Lure (2014)

(Novel) Stillwaters Runs Deep, Book Three: The Awakening (2016)

Shaman's Lure (2015). E-novel

(Novel) What I'd Say To Buddha If I met Him In The Pub (Jan 2021)

Jan 2012 (novel) Shaman's Lure in Third place in Brighid's Books Contest

Oct 2011 (novel) Shaman's Lure, in top ten finalists

(Novel) Seeds of Ascension, top ten out of fifty-seven in Brighid's Fire Novel Contest Oct 2009

(Novel) 2006, Windsong, First Runner-up in Booklands Literary Aid Contest

(Novel) Dec 2002, New Zealand Writers contest, opening page to novel, Haida Windsong, runnerup

(Novel) January 2000, Haida Windsong, Chapters Novel Contest, semi-finals 48/50points

(Short Story) 1995, A Witch After My Own Heart, and (Short Story)Unfullfilled Yearnings, published in "Into the Labyrinth: a worship of writers"

(Short Story) His Father's Eyes, published January 10th, 1994, Gibbons Guardian Newspaper

(Short Story) Echo Glen Misadventure, published February 22nd, 1995 , Gibbons Guardian Newspaper

(Short Story) Wes' Echo Harp, published, March 28th, 1994, Gibbons Guardian Newspaper

(Short Story) Sept 2004, Thesaurus and Raven Stew, short list 17out of 430, SIWC

(Short Story) Now 2004, Cellulose Musings, semifinals top 7, Bluelines Contest

(Short Story) July 2007, Thesaurus and Raven Stew, winner, John Galbraith Short Story Contest

(Short Story) Hitchhiking, West Coast Style, winner and published, Summer 2007 , RD Lawrence Literary Anthology

(Short Story) Embroidered Ghosts, March 2008, Global Short Story Contest, letter of merit

(Short Story) Embroidered Ghosts, Sept 2008, Mere Literary Festival, runner-up, letter of merit

(Short Story) A Guitar Cries Into the Night, Mar 2009, The New Writer Short Story Contest, Commendation, Finished in top 20 out of 600 entries. Published in The New Writer magazine Sept/Oct 2009 Issue #98, Editor: Suzanne Ruthven, Office: Box 60, Cranbrook, ISSN# 1363-1667

Semi finalist, Vancouver Province Newspaper Novel writing contest, (had to write a chapter in ongoing contest) 2007. Also received special attention for submitting to every chapter of contest.

(Short Story) 303Jen, Published in Lies with the occasional Truth magazine Dec 2009

Oct 2010, A Guitar Cries Into the Night, In final 250 of 1400 entries. New Millenium Writings.

Nov 2010, A Guitar Cries Into the Night, published in New Writer Magazine, England

May 2011 (short story) Thunderbird RIP second round of Writers Union of Canada contest. In top115 of 525.

April 2012 (Short Story) The Majestic Crane, Third place in The Times and Golden Ears Writer's Group Contest

June 2012 (short Story article) When Buzzards Are Circling Your RV, Published in RV Times

June 2012 (short story article) When Buzzards Are Circling Your RV, Published in Snowbirds and RV Travellers Vol. 9 Issue 3.

Doors Were Closing (short story) Cyclamen and Swords.com July 2012

Jed CLampett/Texas Tea, (article) August 2012, RV Times

Jed CLampett/Texas Tea, (article) September 2012, Snowbirds and RV Travellers

Jed CLampett/Texas Tea, (article) Oct/Nov 2012, Snowbirds and RV Travellers

Ponce DeLeon Was Such An Idiot (short story) Sept 2012, short listed Global short stories

Where's The Dipstick, (article), RV Times, Jan-Feb, 2013

Madness Merely Depends (short story) What's On Magazine May/June 2013

Azrael's Whispers (Short Story) Short-Listed London Magazine Dec 2013

Ponce DeLeon Was Such A Bloody Idiot Published in Massacre Magazine Issue Two March 2014

Short Story: Postcards. Etherbooks 2013 top 24th Free Download

Short Story: Full Moon Madness. Etherbooks 2013 top 27th Free Download

AWARDS

The Joining: one of three finalists in the 2018 Canadian Book Club Awards

What I'd Say To Buddha If I met Him In The Pub, Jan 2021 (contains Sylvia's Suncatchers) voted #1 by the readers in 2020 Rejected Manuscripts Anthology (in over 130 entries).

[BCBW 2021]