Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Encyclopedia
Cheryl Kaye Tardif is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 mystery writer best known for Canada-based novels Whale Song
Whale Song (novel)
Whale Song is a novel by Canadian author Cheryl Kaye Tardif. Whale Song was first self-published by Trafford Publishing in 2003. In the spring of 2006, the novel was picked up by Kunati Inc. Book Publishers, a Canadian publisher with offices in Ontario, Canada, and Florida, US...

, Divine Intervention, and The River. Her novels involve social issues
Social issues
Social issues are controversial issues which relate to people's personal lives and interactions. Social issues are distinguished from economic issues...

 such as assisted suicide
Assisted suicide
Assisted suicide is the common term for actions by which an individual helps another person voluntarily bring about his or her own death. "Assistance" may mean providing one with the means to end one's own life, but may extend to other actions. It differs to euthanasia where another person ends...

, school bullies, child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...

, and the search for youth and longevity.

Biography

Tardif was born in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. Her parents are Larry Norman Kaye and Mary Elizabeth McLellan. Her father was in the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 for most of her young life. She married Marc Tardif, also served in the Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...

. She has lived all across Canada and spent three years in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, and now resides in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

.

In 2003, she wrote a public service announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...

 for a racial harmony campaign. One Voice ~ One World placed third and was produced and aired on cable channels across Alberta. Tardif has appeared on TV, radio, and in newspapers and magazines across Canada and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Most of her published novels take place in various Canadian locations. Tardif "specializes in mile-a-minute pot-boiler mysteries, usually set in Western Canadian locales". Her most recent novel, The River, was released in September 2005. The River is about a woman who goes up north to search for her father, but what she finds instead is a taste of the future. The River looks at how far we have gone with our technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 in our search for youth
Youth
Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...

 and eternal life
Eternal life (Christianity)
In Christianity the term eternal life traditionally refers to continued life after death, rather than immortality. While scholars such as John H. Leith assert that...

. It is a combination of suspense
Suspense
Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead-up to a big event or dramatic...

, sci-fi, and adventure
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...

 and is based loosely on legends and stories from the Nahanni River area of Canada’s Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

.

Tardif wrote two earlier novels, Whale Song (2003) and Divine Intervention (2004). Whale Song explores topics such as amnesia and suicide and has strong societal messages involving racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

, schoolyard bullying, tragedy, betrayal, and forgiveness. A revised, expanded edition was published in 2007.

Divine Intervention is a psychic suspense novel. It is the story of a group of psychic government agents hunting for a serial arsonist in BC. It carries a message about what can happen to abandoned children caught in the foster care
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....

 web, and deals with topics such as abuse, abortion, and murder.

Other accomplishments

Tardif is the founder of A.F.T.E.R. Canada (Authors For Tragic Event Relief), a group of Edmonton area authors who fundraised after the 2004 Asian tsunami. The event was organized with the assistance of the Canadian Red Cross
Canadian Red Cross
The Canadian Red Cross Society is a Canadian humanitarian charitable organization and one of 186 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies....

, to whom all donations were given, and was supported by TV and radio stations in Edmonton. Tardif is also the creator/organizer of Authors' Row, a group of Edmonton area authors who promote their books regularly at the Edmonton Woman's Show held twice a year in Edmonton, Alberta.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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