Book Store
You can order all my books from your favorite independent bookstore or, if you prefer e-book versions, you can download them through my Smashwords link. Looking for something a bit more personalized, as in signed copies, scroll down this page for prices + shipping fees:
Latest Release: June, 2022
My 16th book and first volume of poetry in nearly five years.
In THE DEFINITION OF MELANCHOLY the subjects range from the wonder and grandeur of Creation, to declarations of unconditional love and devotion that transcend even times of solitude and isolation.
The ebook is either available on Kindle or from Smashwords.
For your signed copy:
$17.00 (USA & Canada) + Shipping: $5.00 (Canada); USA $10.00 (Surface) $12.00 (Airmail)
Overseas/international orders contact blackdogpress@yahoo.ca for shipping rates, etc.
Send money order (NO personal cheques) to:
Black Dog Press
1142 105th Street
North Battleford, SK
S9A 1S7
CANADA
For ten years, I wrote down reflections and meditations on a variety of subjects, including theology, cosmology, life, death, fate and eternity. I kept these notions in two thin Moleskine notebooks, always within easy reach on my desk. I decided to release an edited version of those notebooks, despite the fact that I was dubious anyone would be even slightly interested in the errant musings of a little known, cult author.
NOTEBOOKS: 2010 – 2020 is my fifteenth book and in many ways it’s my most unusual and personal yet. You can learn a lot about a person if you have access to their innermost thoughts—and what is revealed sometimes surprises and shocks.
Ebook and Kindle versions are also available from Smashwords and Amazon.
For your signed copy:
$17.00 (USA & Canada) + Shipping: $5.00 (Canada); USA $10.00 (Surface) $12.00 (Airmail)
Overseas/international orders contact blackdogpress@yahoo.ca for shipping rates, etc.
Send money order (NO personal cheques) to:
Black Dog Press
1142 105th Street
North Battleford, SK
S9A 1S7
CANADA
Electric Castles: A Book of Urban Legends is my first short story collection in five years.
As the title suggests, these 15 stories have one thing in common: each is set in real or imagined cities. The sheer variety of the tales should please eclectic readers, as the narratives veer from magic realism to crime fiction to horror.
Original, chilling, drenched in satire, this book is for people who enjoy literary fiction with a touch of the strange.
Available for order from your favorite indie bookstore.
Ebook and Kindle versions also for sale.
For your signed copy:
$19.95 (USA & Canada) + Shipping: $7.00 (Canada); USA $12.00 (Surface) $16.00 (Airmail)
£16 (Great Britain) + $19.00 shipping
€13 (Europe) + $19.00 shipping
Send money order (NO personal cheques) to:
Black Dog Press
1142 105th Street
North Battleford, SK
S9A 1S7
CANADA
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Other books by the author:
Mouth: Rants and Routines is controversial, timely, essential reading. In an era of political correctness and intolerance, we need works that speak out strongly, unambiguously against censorship or any attempt to limit or control public discourse. Mouth is composed of 40+ mini-essays and satirical diatribes on a variety of hot button issues, from identity politics to the rampant narcissism that pervades our times. Employing hyperbole, black comedy, parody and outright ridicule, the book manages to offend just about everyone, from all political spectrums—the humor is dark indeed but so are the dangers lurking behind feel-good attempts to socially engineer a society without protecting freedom of expression. As comedian Ricky Gervais has stated: “Offense is the collateral damage of free speech.”
$2.99 (U.S.) Available only as as ebook. Buy the Amazon/Kindle edition here, for all other digital reading devices go to Smashwords.
The Algebra of Inequality: my first volume of poetry in five years.
In these 90+ poems, I explore the ethical and spiritual dilemmas confronting us in a world of technological marvels and growing corporate power. How does one retain their humanity in an increasingly superficial society, people obsessed with gadgetry, identity politics and reality TV, when they should be more concerned about the state of their souls.
Exploring theological, philosophic and cosmological themes, The Algebra of Inequality speaks to those who find themselves at odds with a culture that refuses to address serious issues, substituting bombast for discourse, trivia for wisdom.
Intimate, humane, literate…an impassioned response to those who insist contemporary verse is irrelevant and obscure, of no consequence to real world problems.
“In the boardrooms of corporations
where the wolves run free
who will pay due compensation
for the sheep they slay?”
For your signed copy:
$14.00 (USA & Canada) + Shipping: $5.00 (Canada); USA $9.00 (Surface) $12.00 (Airmail)
£11 (Great Britain) + $19.00 shipping
€12 (Europe) + $19.00 shipping
Send money order (NO personal cheques) to:
Black Dog Press
1142 105th Street
North Battleford, SK
S9A 1S7
CANADA
You can order any Black Dog Press title through your local book store.
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Righteous Blood: Back in print!
“Two top class novellas. Brilliant writing and characterisations counter balanced with terrific story telling. I picked this up and read it in a couple of hours. ‘Living with the Foleys’ – a homeless man defends and protects a suburban family and ‘Kept’ an horrific tale of the bizarre occupants of an apartment building from hell.”
Simon Gosden, U.K. specialty bookseller, in a 5-Star “Goodreads” review
Two terrifying novellas in which evil plays a predominant role. In “Living With the Foleys” a homeless man defends and watches over a suburban family, willing to go to desperate lengths to protect them from harm. “Kept” is nothing less than a suspense-filled thrill ride as the bizarre occupants of an apartment building find their sanctuary invaded by a deadly outsider, their only hope Maxine, the resident caretaker and, it turns out, a good deal more.
A reprint of a limited edition originally released by PS Publishing (U.K.) in 2002, this version of Righteous Blood includes a new introduction by Cliff Burns, as well as notes on each novella.
For your signed copy:
$19.00 (USA & Canada) + Shipping: $12.00 (Canada); USA $12.00 (Surface) $16.00 (Airmail)
£13 (Great Britain) + $19.00 shipping
€18 (Europe) + $19.00 shipping
Order the paperback here (or from your favourite indie bookstore)…or buy Righteous Blood on Kindle here…or in the ePub format for just about every other kind of device or reader here.
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Family secrets lie at the heart of my novel, Disloyal Son. A murder mystery spanning four decades, a tale of doomed love and an unspeakable act of betrayal. Drawing on details and incidents from my childhood, I’ve devised a strange hybrid of fact and fiction, where the boundaries of truth and invention no longer apply. The end result is a gripping, nail-biting work of suspense, a “false memoir” haunted by the shadowy presence of a wounded. enigmatic father.
Authentic, unsettling, all too credible, a novel that sets out to shed light on old crimes and, in the process, reveals how the sins of our parents and grandparents still have an impact, generations after the fact. Certain acts can never be forgotten…or forgiven.
Disloyal Son can be ordered through your favorite independent bookstore, from Amazon or wherever new books are sold.
Get your Kindle copy here, your e-book here.
For your signed copy:
$19.00 (USA & Canada) + Shipping: $12.00 (Canada); USA $12.00 (Surface) $16.00 (Airmail)
£13 (Great Britain) + $19.00 shipping
€18 (Europe) + $19.00 shipping
Send money order (NO personal cheques) to:
Black Dog Press
1142 105th Street
North Battleford, SK
S9A 1S7
CANADA
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Originally published back in 1990, Sex & Other Acts of the Imagination and its intimate, closely observed brand of horror had a powerful effect on readers, to the extent that the book acquired something of a legendary status among horror aficionados. We’re pleased to be re-issuing the Sex collection redux, which features a new cover, Author Introduction and story notes…and of course some pretty fine short stories (“Invisible Boy”, “Walt Disney in Hell” and “The Hibakusha”, among others).
Price: $16.95 (USA & Canada)
£10/€12 (Britain & Europe)
Shipping: Canada: $10.00
USA: $12.00 (Surface) $16.00 (Airmail)
International: $11.00 (Surface) $22.00 (Airmail)
Sex & Other Acts of the Imagination is distributed through Ingram and can be ordered from your favorite indie bookstore/seller or through Powell’s Books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.
Kindle and e-book versions are also available @ $2.99.
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Exceptions and Deceptions is a collection of genre-busting short stories encompassing the past fifteen years and highlighting an incredibly diverse roster of tales. Includes “Daughter”, a harrowing account of abduction, and the previously unpublished novella “Second Sight”. Nineteen stories, clocking in at over two hundred and fifty pages, with the added bonus of an author’s Afterword and notes on each of the tales. Gorgeous cover art by Joslyn Cain completes the package.
A volume book-lovers and fans of fantastic literature will treasure.
Shortlisted for 2014 ReLit Independent Press Award
“Cliff Burns’s books belong on anyone’s five-foot shelf of essential reading, lodged snugly between Borges and Burroughs.”
Stefan Dziemianowicz
“I’ve been following Cliff Burns’s career for the past 25 years and there isn’t a finer horror writer in Canada.”
Robert Runté, critic and academic
For your signed copy:
$17.95 (USA & Canada) + Shipping: $12.00 (Canada); USA $12.00 (Surface) $16.00 (Airmail)
£12 (Great Britain) + $19.00 shipping
€14 (Europe) + $19.00 shipping
Send money order (NO personal cheques) to:
Black Dog Press
1142 105th Street
North Battleford, SK
S9A 1S7
CANADA
Email inquiries: blackdogpress@yahoo.ca
Exceptions & Deceptions is available on Kindle and e-book.
Copies can also be ordered through Powell’s Books, Amazon..or your favorite independent bookseller.
Distributed by the Ingram Book Company.
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Surreal, unsettling verse and short prose; highly personal, lyrical, unrelenting, savage…
Poetry and short tales worthy of these dark ages. “Best of…” compilations culled from the past twenty-five years, the work appearing in these two companion volumes defies categorization and resists easy interpretation. It is a Rorschach Test for troubled times, prayers for rain in years of drought, a calm, clear center in the midst of Bedlam.
“The 20th Century is a skull/gleaming in a dry creekbed…”
Each edition includes an author’s Afterword.
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New & Selected Poems (1984-2011)
Price: $12.00 (USA & Canada)
£8/€10 (Britain & Europe)
Shipping: Canada $6.00 USA $7.00 Overseas $14.00
Also on sale at Amazon and Powell’s Books…or order through your favorite independent bookstore.
Available only as a trade paperback (no e-book or Kindle version)
Shortlisted for a 2013 ReLit Independent Press Award
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Stromata: Prose Works (1992-2011)
Now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or from your favorite independent bookseller.
(Same terms and shipping as New & Selected Poems)
Buy the Kindle edition here.
Or buy the e-book from Powell’s or Lybrary.com.
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The Last Hunt (A Novel of the Old West)
From the jacket copy:
Frank Seaver is done with killing. Tired of looking over his shoulder, all too aware that the era of the gunfighter is fading away, his kind virtually obsolete.
But his past proves hard to shake, especially after the accidental shooting of a deputy in Missouri. Now a wanted man, Seaver embarks on a long trek that takes him all the way to Livingston, Montana, where he is persuaded to join the hunt for a savage mountain lion terrorizing the Yellowstone region.
The Last Hunt is a story of violent men in violent times and the strict codes they lived by. It is an exciting, vivid evocation of the Old West, a heartfelt tribute to a genre that has produced masterpieces like Alan LeMay’s The Searchers and Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch”.
Price: $14.95 (USA & Canada)
£10/€13 (Britain & Europe)
Shipping: Canada: $12.00
USA: $12.00 (Surface) $16.00 (Airmail)
International: $19.00
The Last Hunt is distributed through Ingram and can be ordered from your favorite bookstore/seller.
You can also get the e-book for $1.99 from Powell’s or Lybrary.com (among other places).
Also available on Amazon Kindle.
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So Dark the Night is my first full-length novel. A supernatural mystery, shweetheart, featuring two of the most lovable gumshoes since Holmes and Watson shared digs on Baker Street.
Cassandra Zinnea and Evgeny Nightstalk have drawn their fair share of strange cases—what do you expect when your clientele is drawn from people who only come out at night? But this time they find themselves up against an adversary well-schooled in the black arts, their very souls in mortal peril. Danger lurks everywhere and the darkness can hide a multitude of sins…not to mention all manner of walking corpses, forbidden rituals and creatures plucked from the formless ether. So Dark the Night is a spook show that delivers everything it promises, an occult mystery that will keep you reading long into the night…
You can get it from Amazon.com (including a Kindle version), order it from your favorite bookstore, download the e-book or, if you’d prefer a signed copy, get in touch with me.
The price (if you choose the latter option) is $17.95 (USA & Canada) + Shipping: $12.00 (Canada); USA $12.00 (Surface) $16.00 (Airmail)
£13 (Great Britain) + $19.00 shipping
€14.75 (Europe) + $19.00 shipping
So Dark the Night is distributed by Ingram.
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Of the Night continues my “Ilium cycle”, although it is a stand alone novel, with an entirely different cast of characters than So Dark the Night. From the jacket copy:
Something is loose in the streets of Ilium…
People are disappearing, swept up and borne off in savage attacks launched from above, and the stories the survivors tell are horrifying, too unbelievable to be true.
Police detective Gus Novak finds his training, skills and instincts sorely tested by circumstances that defy rational explanation. As the city comes under siege and the body count rises, Novak acknowledges the strange, uncanny forces at work and enlists the assistance of an eccentric and diverse cast of characters to help him defeat his inhuman adversary.
A novel of supernatural suspense, Of the Night explores settings and situations first introduced in Cliff Burns’ So Dark the Night (2010). Of the Night is imbued with the spirit, passion and originality of the best of the “B” movies; it is pulp fiction of the highest order.
Price: $11.00 (USA & Canada)
Shipping within Canada: $3.00 USA $7.00
£7.50/€ 9 (U.K./Europe/elsewhere)
Overseas shipping $19.00
Note: You can also order Of the Night from your favorite bookstore…or buy it on-line from Amazon, Powell’s Books, Barnes & Noble, etc. There are also e-book and Kindle versions available.
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Other:
My science fiction novelette (10,000 words), “Eyes in the Sky” is now available for purchase on Amazon Kindle. This is an intriguing and unsettling “What if…” scenario, an alternate history where the atom bomb was a dud and the Space Age never happened. Influenced by the work of Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Alfred Bester, A.E. van Vogt and Barry Malzberg. For a mere $.99 (99 cents), less than the price of most stupid apps, you can buy the story here, settle back before whatever screen you choose and enjoy a solid, literate, original work of speculative fiction.
Download and read a free excerpt from “Eyes in the Sky”
Righteous Blood (PS Publications; Britain; paperback)
Two novellas on the nature of contemporary evil. Both were optioned for adaptation into films. Bleak, unrelenting offerings, tales truly from the dark side. Peter Crowther, the original publisher of this book, has sold out his run so these are the last available paperback copies. Going, going…
Price $20.00 (U.S./Canada) + shipping (same rates as So Dark the Night–-see above)
The Reality Machine (Black Dog Press; paperback)
My last short story collection, containing some of my best and most popular tales, including “Also Starring” and “New World Man” (selected for an anthology of the twenty all-time best science fiction stories, published by Goldmann in Germany).
Price: $16.95 (U.S./Canada) + $4.00 shipping (Canada); $7.00 (USA)
* Overseas orders: please e-mail me (blackdogpress@yahoo.ca) for mailing rates.
Terms: Please make money orders payable to either “Cliff Burns” or “Black Dog Press”. Send orders and inquiries to:
Black Dog Press
1142 105th Street
North Battleford, SK
S9A 1S7
CANADA
13 comments
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Beautiful Desolation 
My cheque is in the mail for a signed copy.
Can’t wait to read
Kathy (the golden child)
A signed copy it is–give it 7 days and you should have it in your mailbox. My printers have 5 boxes of books winging toward me from the States and they’ll be here any time.
You’re going to love SO DARK THE NIGHT, kid. And my thanks for your support and patronage.
Cliff – thanks for the read – I did not know what to expect – I was happily amused – your pricelessly funny grasp of the vernacular and amazing references to such a multitude of sources and inferences astonished me in their variety. I think you enjoy the research more than the writing? what better excuse to watch old movies and read up on things!
Thanks again for a most entertaining foray into a genre quite outside most of my brain experience.
I need a signed copy of ‘So Dark The Night’ for my son Richard – I think he will love the book – right up his alley. Ill send $s.
Thanks and thanks again – your friendly neighborhood quack
Dave M. @ North B. Medical Clinic. (Dark passages evaluated by appointment)
David is my family doctor, ladies and gentlemen, a man whose training and education should disqualify him from enjoying such a bizarre and noir-ish offering as So Dark the Night. I knew this novel had “cross over” appeal but it’s fun to have tangible proof for that view. My thanks, Dave, and it was great to see you at the reading/book launch. Even hard-worked MDs need a night off. And we sure had fun, didn’t we?
Gotta love randomness, I stumbled across your blog when trying to remember who opened for QOTSA back in 2008. Your blog entry about the concert was quite funny and when I saw you were an author I figured I’d explore your page a little further. I now know what’s next on my reading list and I’ll be visiting the kindle store when I get home tonight. Great prices by the way! I’ll get So Dark The Night and Of The Night for less than a paper book from the store! Best of luck!
You bring back some great memories. That was a fantastic concert. My son Sam has now become a HUGE Queens fan so our place just rocks some days.
Hope you enjoy both books—they were murder to write, So Dark in particular (3+ years of full-time toiling) just about killed me. But I dearly love the wee beauties and won’t begrudge the pain they caused, the years they trimmed off the end of my life. Drop me a line once you’re done, let me know what you think.
All the best to you.
I find your inputs very interesting. coming from a fellow book-lover, your articles are definitely worth reading.
Good stuff.
A thousand thanks, Kay. Always a pleasure to run across another bibliophile in cyberspace. Hope we encounter each other again…
Cliff, I was gifted signed copies of both In the Night and So Dark the Night by my fiancee, now wife, in 2012 or early 2013, that she found in a bookstore in Calgary. Your writing continues to amaze and delight me as it did when I met you before we were even twenty. I rue the loss of a collection of short stories you allowed me to read then, stapled pages that showed a reverence for life. A story has stayed with me of a little girl on a train and I find my hands clenching in reflex. I will send for a copy of this latest collection of poems.
Gordon
I think the story you’re thinking of (girl on train) might be “The Cattletruck”, which is in my very first book, Sex & Other Acts of the Imagination.
I can remember handing out photocopies of my tales to anyone who might possibly like them–co-workers, friends–trying them out on potential readers.
Glad you’ve rediscovered my work (and its strange author) and delighted to hear from you again.