Goddess Fish Promotions Presents

Astrid Falls: A Legend of Vancouver
by Andrew Cownden

A randomly drawn winner will receive a $10 Amazon/BN GC – Enter Below

Vancouver is falling down—crumbling into sand. To save it, Astrid O’Brien boards a bus to a parallel dimension, there to confront the demons of the city, and to answer the question: Are we who we’re told we are, or who we decide to be?

#1 in Canadian Literature eBooks on Amazon.ca

5 out of 5

This was a fun read, with a bit of depth I wasn’t expecting. Cownden had me giggling with the prologue, and from that point on I was officially hooked on this odd, fun adventure. Astrid is a unique character, someone you might consider odd in real life, but who you might like to call a friend all the same. I can’t say when picking a setting for a magical, astral adventure, I’d have chosen Vancouver, but it somehow works, and in the end that’s all that matters. The imagery had me feeling like I was actually there, despite having never visited in the physical or astral worlds. I absolutely adored the footnotes, they felt odd in a story that the author eagerly assures us is absolutely not true, but I don’t think the story would’ve been quite the same or as enjoyable without them. If you’re looking for a magical story that is part existential, part magical, and is likely to elicit some giggles if not outright laughs as you read, then I highly recommend grabbing this!

(From opening scene)

Space: Vancouver, Canada

Time: The September of 2009

In a city built between the mountains and the sea, Astrid O’Brien worked in a shop. It was a cute little out-of-the-way bijou boutique that sold umbrellas, and umbrellas exclusively.

For some, this would seem to be a poor business model. Why not diversify? Why not sell raincoats or rubber boots? Or gum? Why not put some gum by the register for the impulse buyers—those godsent, reckless morons who keep the wheels of the economy greased with cash? Surely some gum would’ve helped to keep the lights on. Surely there was gum.

No. Just umbrellas.

Dense clusters of umbrellas lined the racks and hung from carousels crowding the floor. Some clung to the walls. An ambitious few managed to occupy segments of ceiling. Umbrellas were everywhere, and umbrellas were all there were. Champions of small-business-ownership looked upon the little shop with pity. How could it possibly hope to survive without gum?

But the founders of The Pennies from Heaven Umbrella Company ©* knew their business. They knew the one thing essential to their financial solvency, and they had acquired it long ago: a location on a street with high foot-traffic and absolutely no shelter from the elements whatsoever.

Unhappy pedestrians would wince up at darkening clouds, flip up their collars, scrunch up their shoulders. They would glance about anxiously, pining for a bit of eave or awning, for any form of preserving architecture jutting out over the street. Finding no such comfort, they would resign themselves to a fate of squelchy shoes and soggy underwear … And then, like a lighthouse at sea, they would spy the flashing neon sign of The Pennies from Heaven Umbrella Co. © and leap gaily over puddles to their salvation.

Needless to say, in Vancouver—in Rain City—the humble little umbrella shop did swift business.
__________
^{* Circa 1976.}

Amazon | Goodreads

Andrew Cownden is an actor and writer living in Vancouver, Canada. ASTRID FALLS is his first novel.

Website | Twitter | Mastodon | IMDB

Follow the tour here
The more posts you comment on, the more entries you get!