Whipstock is a humorous tall tale exploring the literal, metaphorical and narrative links between pregnancy and Alberta’s petroleum industry.

Barb Howard is a third-generation Calgarian who worked as a lawyer and a land contract analyst before receiving her M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Calgary. In 2009, Barb received the Writers’ Guild of Alberta (Howard O’Hagan) Award for short fiction. She has also won contests in Alberta Views and Canadian Lawyer, and was also a finalist at the Western Magazine Awards. Barb's first novel, Whipstock, was published by NeWest Press in 2001. Since then, Barb has published the novella Notes for Monday (Recliner, 2009), and the young adult novel The Dewpoint Show (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2010). Barb currently lives in Bragg Creek, Alberta with her husband, a pair of easygoing sons, and one neurotic dog.

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