Ben Sigurdson

He’s busted ghosts, wailed on a harmonica in sunglasses, created a vodka brand sold in a skull-shaped bottle and dabbled in the Niagara Peninsula wine industry. And now Ottawa-born actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd is trying his hand in a new field — writing fiction. Aykroyd’s literary debut Soulhider lands in bookstores Oct. 27 via HarperCollins, falling squarely into the paranormal/science fiction genre, while bringing the Ghostbusters and Saturday Night Live star’s inevitable touch of humour.

The 55th edition of Folklorama is moving into its second week, with music, food, costumes and, of course, drinks in ample supply at venues throughout the city. With that in mind, here are six sippables tasted recently, all of which hail from countries represented in the second week of Folklorama’s pavilions. Medium gold in appearance, this South African Chenin Blanc offers opulent mango, honeycomb, apricot and an herbal, woolly component aromatically.

A new chapter has begun in Winnipeg’s literary landscape with the opening of science fiction and fantasy bookstore Other Places Books. Located at 436 Graham Ave., the queer-owned and operated shop is the latest in a host of genre bookstores to have opened in the city over the last few years. In addition to longtime mainstay Whodunit? Mystery Bookstore (163 Lilac St.), the local scene now also features a horror bookstore (Raven’s End Books, which opened at 1859 Portage Ave.