Creativity, Comedy, Chaos, and Crime
The Increasingly Alliterative World of Canadian Author Noah J.D. Chinn
Not the breathing fire kind, defying all the laws of physics, but the kind you find on old maps. The ones that warns the intrepid traveller, “No one knows what you’ll find here.” Dragons of the mind.
The best kind.
Noah JD Chinn is an author, amateur adventurer, and has it on good authority to being a moderately amusing fellow. His latest novel, Getting Rid of Gary has just been released. It’s a family mystery set in 1985 Toronto, where the uncle of a low-rent PI has been shipped off to Peru – by one of their own relatives.
His other novels include the paranormal romantic comedy Bleeding Heart Yard and Trooper #4, about a state trooper who wakes up in a motel at the end of the world (and things only get a whole lot stranger from there). Mundania Press publishes these books, and all are available through Amazon, Chapters/Indigo, Barnes & Noble, and more.
As a published cartoonist and writer, several of Noah’s articles have appeared in distinguished publications, including Canada’s Globe & Mail. His short fiction also appeared in the UK magazine Fiction, which closed immediately afterwards and was in no way his fault. Probably. He actually has no comment on the matter and would prefer it if you talked about something else.
He’s the creator of Fuzzy Knights, a comic that ran for five years at Kenzer & Company, publishers of Knights of the Dinner Table magazine. It featured stuffed toys playing role-playing games, yet incorporated elements of myth about the nature of storytelling into its arc. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, had been a Fuzzy Knights fan, and graciously wrote a ringing endorsement for the trade paperback release that was very nearly justified. Noah later turned his attention to writing novels.
Though he spends entirely too much time hunched in front of a keyboard, Noah does enjoy having an adventure now and then. He’s biked across several countries and even climbs the odd mountain. He recommends the view from Mt. Fuji—if you have a pair of warm gloves and an oxygen tank.
Noah currently lives in Vancouver, Canada with his wife Gillian. He has yet to be accused of literature, but looks forward to the possibility someday.
As an honest-to-goodness nerd, Noah enjoys video games, photography, role-playing and exploring. This website was created to offer a little insight into the man himself—and shamelessly peddle his wares. Welcome!
Noah Chinn was born in Oshawa, Ontario, and has never really forgiven it for that. After high school he fled his hometown in favour of the freezing winters of Ottawa. Three years later it dawned on him that higher education and frostbite did not have to go hand in hand, and finished his degree in Toronto.
Shortly after university he moved to Vancouver, where he met his future wife, Gillian. He then spent the summer bicycling across Canada, which she thankfully didn’t misinterpret as him trying to get as far away from her as possible. They moved to Japan for three years, where he taught English yet managed not to learn a word of Japanese.
It was during this time that he had a successful cartoon series called Fuzzy Knights, which centered on the exploits of toy animals playing Dungeons and Dragons, and an evil hamster trying to destroy them. Some have called this a cry for help.
He later moved to England with dreams of making it big as a writer – because with a BA in English Lit it was either that or serving fries at a burger shack. Noah’s first serious attempt at a novel, The Professional Tourist, was set in a Tokyo language school. Unstable students (and teachers), biker gangs, and the homeless underworld of the Blue Village all featured in this slightly askew romantic comedy.
The book landed him an agent, but not a publisher. Unfortunately, in the way aspiring actors move to Hollywood and end up as busboys, the closest he came to literary success in England was working at several bookstores – each of which mysteriously closed down after his stay.
After writing several more manuscripts and moving back to Canada, he found more success in the North American market. He and his wife now live in Vancouver.
He now wears a hat.
In addition to the novels and short stories below, Noah also does book reviews for Knights of the Dinner Table magazine, and his topics there often spill over to his blog here.
Bleeding Heart Yard is a paranormal romantic comedy/horror set in the streets of London. Trooper #4 is a post-apocalyptic adventure that will mess with your mind. And Getting Rid of Gary is a murder mystery without the murder, set in Toronto in 1985.
The Three Short Stories series are Kindle ready collections ready for quick download, each featuring a sample chapter from one of these novels.
Review of Bleeding Heart Yard copied from KODT Magazine
Bewitched, Beloved, and Between Worlds – A review at Speculating Canada
Review: Bleeding Heart Yard – A review at Snarky’s Wonderland
Review of Trooper #4 copied from KODT Magazine
Review of Trooper #4 at Hearts On Fire
Review: Trooper #4 – A review at Snarky’s Wonderland (warning: heavy spoilers!)
Interview at Snarky’s Wonderland
Interview at Speculating Canada
Interview at author Jenn Nixon’s website
Writing Article at Clarion: Putter-inner or Taker-outer?
Writing Article at Star Crossed Romance: Love and Storytelling
Click here for additional material tied in with my KODT book reviews.
Not to be confused with the above reviews of my books, this is where I review classic and contemporary books for Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine. But sometimes 1000 words just isn’t long enough, and sometimes I’ve found interesting bonus material about the book that I’d like to share, so this is where it all goes.
Let me be clear: I’m no Edmund Hillary. I call myself an adventurer, but I’m an amateur at best. I’ve never broken a record and probably never will. I haven’t pushed my body to the breaking point, stared death in the face, or done anything National Geographic will be knocking on my door about any time soon. What I’ve done is this:
I’ve gone out and had fun.
It’s always been my philosophy that you can’t sit and wait for something interesting or exciting to happen to you. Sure it happens sometimes, but for the most part you have to go out and make it happen. I’ll never be Indiana Jones, but I can go out an indulge that part of me that wants to carry a whip.
While I was in high school I had for the longest time planned on some kind of bike adventure, possibly riding north up to James Bay. That trip never happened, but by the time I started University I found myself in a position to go on a different trip. Since then I’ve been on a few more, some longer and more epic than others, but all well worth my time.
Most of these were the pre-blog days, where I either wrote my thoughts down on paper or wrote on primitive websites with the kind of basic HTML code I could understand. I’ll do my best to keep the content intact and as it was. You’ll probably see my writing style change over the years.
2000 – Cross Canada (under construction, check for updates)
2007 – Northern Europe – London to Hamburg
2014 – Vancouver to Whitehorse???
