JANE RULE LETTERS P.9 • YOUR FREE GUIDE TO BOOKS & AUTHORS NONO NEWSNEWS ISIS BADBAD NEWSNEWS Ian Gill lambastes BC media moguls PAGE 20 BOOKWORLD PAGE 20

VOL. 31 • NO. 1 • SPRING 2017

“I was in my twenties, living away from home for the first time. I had very little contact with my family. I was asking myself many questions about race, identity, politics, and art.” RAWI HAGE PHOTO MADDIE’SMADDIE’S ASCENTASCENT BookerBooker shortlistedshortlisted novelistnovelist DON’T AGONIZE, MadeleineMadeleine ThienThien isis profiledprofiled inin ourour ORGANIZE! FICTIONFICTION ISSUEISSUE afterafter winningwinning bothboth thethe GillerGiller andand GovernorGovernor General’sGeneral’s AwardsAwards PAGESPAGES 25-3925-39

P.28 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT THE PIANIST & THE KNITTER #40010086 Faculty: “Perfect amount of speakers, sessions, Alice Acheson and attendees. I feel inspired and not Elizabeth Austen overwhelmed. I am looking forward Paula Becker to 2017!” Daniel James Brown Tara Fort Jonathan Evison Prescott, AZ Waverly Fitzgerald 2016 Conference Attendee Sean Fletcher Inspiration into Action Andrea Hurst Dan Larner Samuel Ligon Friday and Saturday Gary Copeland Lilley Priscilla Long June 23 & 24, 2017 Kelly Magee Tod Marshall Whatcom Community College Anis Mojgani Kathleen Dean Moore Bellingham, Washington Ijeoma Oluo Rena Priest Andy Ross www.chuckanutwritersconference.com

presented by

Left: Original serigraph titled “Along Chuckanut Drive” by Nancy McDonnell Spaulding, commissioned by Chuckanut Bay Gallery, www.chuckanutbaygallery.com

NANAIMO APRIL 27-30, 2017 JOIN US May 19th - 21st, 2017 SPRING WRITES Prestige Harbourfront Resort Salmon Arm, BC FESTIVAL Whatever level of writer Presenters: you may be Gail Anderson - Dargatz you’ll want to be part of Lorelei Fiset this inspiring weekend Jacqueline Guest Blu & Kelly Hopkins HOSTED BY on the shores of Theresa Kishkan THE FEDERATION OF BC WRITERS spectacular Myrna Kostash Shuswap Lake Halli Lilburn George Opacic THREE MASTER CLASSES: Anna Comfort O’Keeffe STEVEN PRICE (FICTION) Expect to be encouraged, Cea Sunrise Person informed and thoroughly Patrick Taylor ANGIE ABDOU (CREATIVE NON-FICTION) entertained. John Vaillant Jill Veitch KATHY PAGE (SHORT STORIES) Sheri-D Wilson PLUS WORKSHOPS, A PUBLISHING FAIR, A GALA EVENING, BLUE PENCIL SESSIONS, WRITE-INS, READINGS, AND MORE!

FOUR DAYS FULL OF EVENTS, ALL FREE OR AFFORDABLE, on the Lake IN DOWNTOWN NANAIMO, BC Writers’ Festival LEARN MORE AND REGISTER AT BCWRITERS.CA Find out what these published authors and industry professionals can do for you. Register at: www.wordonthelakewritersfestival.com

2 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 EOPLE TOPSELLERS* P

Ron Smith BCThe Defiant Mind: Living Inside a Stroke (Ronsdale $22.95) Wade Davis Wade Davis: Photographs (D&M $39.95) Colin Henthorne The Queen of the North Disaster: The Captain’s Story (Harbour $24.95) Aaron Chapman The Last Gang in Town (Arsenal Pulp Press $24.95) SHOUT,SHOUT, Chelene Knight is working with mentor Jen Sookfong Lee on a novel set in

PHOTO 1950s Vancouver, in

the area known as EHLERS

Hogan’s Alley.

GREG SHOUT,SHOUT,

Jay Currie Jay Currie What the Shell? Start & Run a Marijuana Dispensary or Pot Shop t a gas pump, Stephen Collis (Self -Counsel Press $22.95) LET IT ALL OUT notices an LED message crawl: Shelley Adams Help Shell change the world. He Whitewater Cooks with Passion A▼ collects such nuances for his amalgam of (Sandhill Book Marketing $34.95) Room, Canada’s oldest feminist liter- protest-driven poetry and “militant sincer- John Armstrong ary journal, is celebrating its longevity ity,” Once in Blockadia (Talon $18.95), A Series of Dogs partly a response to being named in a $5.6 (New Star $21) with a 400-page, retrospective anthology, million lawsuit unsuccessfully launched Derek von Essen & Making Room: Forty Years of Room Magazine. by U.S. energy giant Kinder Morgan. Phil Saunders (text) Lawyers cited Collis’ writing as a mobi- No Flash, Please! (Underground ROOM lizing force for protestors who stymied Music in Toronto 1987-92) E ASKED CURRENT EDITOR CHELENE KNIGHT TO the company’s exploratory boreholes on (Anvil Press $28) reflect on how the publication has affected Burnaby Mountain. John Knox her life as a writer. It’s hard to live up to being called “the Hard Knox: Musings from the Edge of ✫ most dangerous poet in Canada” but Canada (Heritage House $19.95) “I was a shy, paranoid, weird kid who never spoke Collis is doing his anti-capitalist darnd- W est, documenting his travels from the and instead just wrote a lot; I spoke through writing. I had no idea I could shape this skill into a career, and I definitely Alberta Tar Sands to Wordsworth’s Lake District for Once in Blockadia—a term did not know there was a community of writers just like me out there coined by Naomi Klein. His combina- feeling the same way. tion of transcripts and memoir has been Room “Before I stumbled onto magazine, I was steadily writing named as one of three finalists poetry and awkwardly-worded 750-word-limit parenting magazine for this year’s George Ryga articles, so why would a well-established literary magazine of such Award for Social Awareness, to stature have any interest in a young girl with limited experience? be presented in June. The other finalists are Wade Davis “Room magazine was the first Canadian literary periodical to for Wade Davis: Photo- publish my work. graphs (D&M $39.95) Margriet Ruurs Room “ magazine was the first literary magazine to say “hey, we and Eric Jamieson’s Margriet Ruurs want you to be a part of this.” The Native Voice: The & Nizar Ali Badr “Room magazine said, ‘your voice matters’ and they meant it. Story of How Maisie Stepping Stones: Hurley and Canada’s A Refugee Family’s Journey “I know for a fact that many women who have published with First Aboriginal News- (Orca Books $20) Room over the past 40 years can easily say the same. Room has paper Changed a Na- instilled an unwavering sort of pride in every woman that comes Bev Sellars tion (Caitlin $24.95). Price Paid: The Fight for on board whether staff, volunteer, or contributor. I keep saying First Nations Survival

PHOTO Stephen Collis is one

(Talonbooks $19.95) this aloud to myself and it is incredible to say, I am a part of this. of three fi nalists for TELLO Room is making sure the story, the voice, and the woman are the Ryga Award for Holly Crichton Social Awareness in No Way to Run: A Mother and Son Room heard at equal volumes, above anything else. At , we can shout.” CARLOS Literature. Story of Surviving Abuse (Caitlin Press $24.95) Publication Mail Agreement Contributors: John Moore, All BC BookWorld reviews are posted at #40010086 Joan Givner, Mark Forsythe, www.abcbookworld.com Douglas E. Delaney Return undeliverable Alex Van Tol, David Conn, BC Canadian addresses to: Cherie Thiessen, Jeremy Serge Marc Durflinger BC BookWorld, 3516 W. 13th Ave., Twigg, James Paley, Capturing Hill 70: Canada’s Forgot- Vancouver, BC, Canada V6R 2S3 ten Battle of the First World War BOOKWORLD Caroline Woodward, Caitlin Woods-Rotering (UBC Press $34.95) Produced with the sponsorship of Spring 2017 Writing not otherwise We gratefully acknowledge the unobtrusive Pacific BookWorld News Society. assistance of Canada Council, a continuous partner since credited is by staff. Volume 31 • Number 1 Publications Mail 1988, and creativeBC, a provincial partner since 2014. Jedediah Loeks Registration No. 7800. Design: Get-to-the-Point Graphics The Permaculture Market Garden Publisher/Writer: BC BookWorld ISSN: 1701-5405 Consultants: (New Society $39.95) Alan Twigg Advertising & editorial: Christine Rondeau, Sharon Jackson Editor/Production: BC BookWorld, 3516 W. 13th Ave., Photographers: * The current topselling titles from major David Lester Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6R 2S3 Barry Peterson, Laura Sawchuk BC publishing companies, in no particular order. Tel/Fax: 604-736-4011 Proofreaders: In-Kind Supporters: Associate Editor: Email: [email protected] Wendy Atkinson, Tara Twigg Simon Fraser University Library; Beverly Cramp Annual subscription: $25 Deliveries: Ken Reid, Acculogix Vancouver Public Library; UBC Library.

3 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 P EOPLE

Aaron Chapman (centre) with former members of the Clark Park gang in Clark Park.

WhenWhen gangsgangs usedused fistsfists

ANCOUVER’S SECOND OLDEST URBAN PARK, CLARK PARK, IS THE FOCUS OF The latest Vancouver author/historian Aaron Chapman’s The Last addition Gang in Town. At this location in the early 1970s the Clark I just shot Dad Park Gang evolved into one of that era’s most notorious street to the V gangs. In 1972, after the gang was involved in a number NE NIGHTMARISH DAY, Literary Map of headline-making clashes with police, including the ‘Rolling Holly Crichton of B.C. Stones riot’ outside the Pacific Coliseum, the Vancouver Police Depart- got a call from her will be an ment formed an undercover squad to go after the gang. Hostile inter- youngest son Mat allocation for actions culminated in a shooting death of a Clark Park gang member, with the news: “I Clark Park at Danny Teece, age 17. Chapman’s history includes stories from former just shot Dad.” It gang members and undercover police officers who worked to stifle gang was common knowl- 1500 E. 14th Ave., edge to neighbours that Holly and her sons activity. The full title of Chapman’s entirely original Vancouver history O in Vancouver had been victims of her abusive husband is The Last Gang in Town: The Epic Story of the Vancouver Po- for years. Even after Holly and Mat had lice vs. the Clark Park Gang (Arsenal $24.95). 978-1551526713 been disabled in separate accidents, the abuse didn’t subside. The shocker was that police investigators Founders of characterized the elderly A SPANIEL IN father as the victim and Bolen’s & Munro’s they concluded that son THE WORKS will be missed Mat was the aggressor. Known to friends and family as Holly’s community fiercely IKE MANY CLASSICS FOR Mel, Victoria bookseller Madeline came to her and Mat’s de- young readers—Win- Bolen died unexpectedly at age fence. A first-degree mur- 72 in December. She first opened nie the Pooh books, for der charge was reduced a small bookstore in Hillside Shop- example—Paymaneh ping Centre in 1975, expanding to manslaughter. No Way Ritchie’s My Name is four times before settling into the to Run (Caitlin $24.95) is LOliver (Tellwell $6.99) was written current 17,000-square foot space Holly Crichton’s story of by a parent to entertain their own in 1996, making epic courage and tenacity child. Told from the perspective of it one of the big- a lovable but depressive six-year- gest single-lo- in mounting her son Mat’s cation indepen- old Beagle-Springer Spaniel who defence. Born in 1958, dent bookstores was adopted from the SPCA, in Canada. Her Holly Crichton worked as a this children’s book delves into daughter Sa- professional horse trainer mental health issues that mantha took and jockey, until a racing over manage- include separation anxiety, accident in 1996 left her allergies, anxiety and depres- ment of Bolen’s Mel Bolen paralyzed. She has two sion. Ritchie’s aim is to have Books in 2010. One month earlier Victoria sons and the youngest, a light-hearted story that also lost Jim Munro, who founded Mat, was severely brain will enable the reader to dis- Munro’s books in downtown Vic- cuss tolerance, acceptance toria with his first wife, Alice injured in a car accident and unconditional love with Munro, in 1963, and operated it in 2004. Mat lives next children. A portion of the until he turned over ownership to door to her with his wife proceeds will go to the BC four senior employees in 2014. He received the Gray Campbell Dis- and two children, on their SPCA and the Beagle Freedom tinguished Service Award in 2009 cattle ranch in northern Paymaneh Project. in recognition of his contribution No Way to Run E-book: 978-1-77302-425- Alberta. is Ritchie to the book industry in BC. He re- 7; PB: 978-1-77302-251-2; Holly’s first book. HC: 978-1-77302-250-5 ceived the Order of Canada in 2016. 978-1-987915181

4 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 P EOPLE The voice of Joyce vs. choice of Trump

NTARIO FINANCIAL ADVISER, DR. JERRY Ackerman, is so impressed by Joyce Nelson’s Beyond Bank- sters: Resisting the New Feudal- ism (Watershed Sentinel Books $26) that he paid to mail copies to every member of Parliament in OOttawa, as well as every senator, in advance of Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s spring budget. Ackerman sees Nelson’s investigative perspective of global financial chicanery as an ideal “toolkit” for legisla- tors’ in the new Trump era. Beyond Banksters, Nelson’s sixth book, will likely grow in stature if U.S. President Zena Sharman: “Remember that Donald Trump follows through on his campaign prom- you are the expert on your body ises to renegotiate NAFTA and withdraw from the Trans and your health. So bring that Pacific Partnership (TPP). expertise and knowledge into your Many of Nelson’s topics, conversations with doctors and nurses and other people who like the trade deal with the might be caring for you.” European Union—CETA—or the Canada Infrastructure

Bank that Prime Minister PHOTO

Justin Trudeau is starting RACE EnGenderingEnGendering healthhealth up, are time-sensitive sub-

jects. “She wanted to get that SARAH information out there,” says DITOR ZENA SHARMAN’S “MOVING AND INCENDIARY” publisher Delores Broten, Joyce Nelson LGBTQ anthology, The Remedy: Queer “about how the trade deals, and Trans Voices on Health and Health the banking institutions and the big financial invest- ment companies all interact to remove the public inter- Care (Arsenal $18.95), presents true est from what government is doing with our property.” E stories from queer and trans people about Joyce Nelson—the Noam Chomsky of Vancouver their health-care experiences. Chapters range Island—names the people responsible for eroding from gay men with HIV facing prejudice, to a lesbian couple public accountability for trade deals and outlines the dealing with cancer, and essays from health-care providers and steps which have allowed trade deals to open up public activists exploring and examining the challenges and politics of services to corporate takeover and limit our ability to LGBTQ health issues in the shadow of the new post-truth era. control banks and investment corporations. Zena Sharman co-chairs the board of the Catherine White WS Books is the fledgling book-publishing imprint of the non-profit Watershed Sentinel Education Society Holman Wellness Centre, a holistic health care centre for trans- which began on Cortes Island. After fifteen years on gender and gender-diverse communities, located on Kingsway Jack Knox Cortes, its environmental news magazine, Watershed in Vancouver. She has been a cabaret host, a go-go dancer Sentinel , was transferred to Comox. 978-0-9953286-0-0 for a queer punk band and a campus radio DJ. 9781551526584 Victoria is Knoxville

Alligators and tigers can be white. Lobsters SELF-DESCRIBED GRUMP, THOR- can be blue. One in twelve people has a rare oughly British Columbian disease. So what should we do? To raise columnist Jack Knox has awareness of rare diseases, “the underdogs A▼ of health care,” Deborah Katz,Katz, an artist and been delighting Times Colonist read- nursing professor with twenty years of ers since 1988. Hard Knox: Musings experience in health care, has produced Rare is Everywhere (Miss Bird / Sandhill from the Edge of Canada (Heritage $19.95) in an attempt to educate children $19.95) is long overdue. Whether he’s about nature and make them feel better if they have a rare disease or any anomaly addressing his city’s sewage crisis, that makes them feel different. offering a rhapsodic ode to Nanaimo The overriding message about her assortment of strange animals bars or noting that millennials and comes at the end: “So if you ever elders are now willing to pay more feel different, like a white spirit bear, you don’t have to worry because, for their bikes than their cars, Knox Rare is EVERYWHERE!” Proceeds go Rare is EVERYWHERE!” Proceeds go charms with his curmudgeonly wit to the Rare Disease Foundation, started in Vancouver in 2007. and satirical eye. “No local peccadillo, A rare disease is defined as a imagined or real, escapes the anthro- condition affecting fewer than one in 2,000 people. pological notebook of this latter-day There are more than 7,000 Franz Boas,” says Bill Engleson in known rare diseases. The Ormsby Review 978-0-9958261-0-6 . In his dedication, he thanks Lu- cille, “who has stuck with me for more than thirty years. I question her judgment.” Raised in the B.C. RareRare isis everywhereeverywhere interior, Knox previously worked at newspapers in Kamloops, Regina and

Campbell River. 9781772031492

5 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 TIME TO SPRING LOOSE

Medicine Unbundled A Journey Through the Minefields of Indigenous Health Care Gary Geddes “Anyone who cares about human decency and social justice owes a debt to Gary Geddes and to his Indigenous informants. We can no longer pretend we don’t know about residential schools, murdered and missing Aboriginal women and ‘Indian Hospitals.’ The only outstanding question is how we respond.” —Tom Sandborn, Vancouver Sun Heritage House | $22.95 pb | $17.99 ebook

All the World’s a Stage Pulling Together Children of the Kootenays Camping British Columbia, The Story of Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach A Coach’s Journey to Uncover Memories of Mining Towns the Rockies, and Yukon Jayne Seagrave the Mindset of True Potential Shirley Stainton The Complete Guide to Government Park The inside story of Western Canada’s most Jason Dorland Scenes of West Kootenay communities in Campgrounds, Expanded Eighth Edition illustrious Shakespeare festival is revealed in A former Olympian reflects on his evolving the 1930s come to life in this charming Jayne Seagrave dazzling photographs and a clever narrative ideas about coaching as he prepares a crew memoir that features over a hundred Now fully updated and expanded to include the by Bard aficionado Jayne Seagrave. stunning photographs. of junior rowers for elite-level competition. national parks of the Canadian Rockies. Heritage House | $29.95 pb | $22.99 ebook Heritage House | $19.95 pb | $15.99 ebook Heritage House | $19.95 pb | $15.99 ebook Heritage House | $22.95 pb | $17.99 ebook

Mountain Footsteps Active Vancouver A River Captured The Columbia River Treaty Hikes in the East Kootenay of Southwestern A Year-round Guide to Outdoor Recreation The Columbia River Treaty A Primer British Columbia – 4th Edition in the City’s Natural Environments and Catastrophic Change Robert Sandford, Deborah Harford Janice Strong Roy Jantzen Eileen Delehanty Pearkes and Jon O’Riordan Revised and updated, with colour maps and With colour photos and maps, Active A profound work that explores the controversial A timely and accessible work that clearly beautiful photos which will breathe new life into Vancouver is the ultimate resource for treaty and its impact on ecosystems, Indigenous explains this complex water agreement between the hiking experience for outdoor enthusiasts. family-friendly outdoor recreation. peoples, culture, and recent history. Canada and the US and its impact on BC. RMB | Rocky Mountain Books | $30 pb | $14.99 ebook RMB | Rocky Mountain Books | $25 pb | $12.99 ebook RMB | Rocky Mountain Books | $20 pb | $9.99 ebook RMB | Rocky Mountain Books | $16 hc | $7.99 ebook

On Island Death in a Darkening Mist Icon Victoria’s Most Haunted Life Among the Coast Dwellers A Lane Winslow Mystery #2 Flagship Wines from British Columbia’s Best Wineries Ghost Stories from BC’s Historic Capital City Pat Carney Iona Whishaw John Schreiner Ian Gibbs A collection of stories chronicling the characters Former British Intelligence officer Lane Photography by Christopher K. Stenberg Featuring more than 25 eerie tales from and dramas that capture life in small coastal Winslow teams up with the Nelson police Canada’s most authoritative wine writer iconic sites such as the Empress Hotel, communities, written by long-time islander force to investigate the murder of a local showcases 100 of BC’s highest-calibre wines in Hatley Castle, and Ross Bay Cemetery, as and former politician Pat Carney. Russian man in this post-war cozy mystery. this guide of tasting notes and information. told by a Ghostly Walks tour guide. TouchWood Editions | $21.95 pb | $7.99 ebook TouchWood Editions | $16.95 pb | $7.99 ebook TouchWood Editions | $39.95 hc | $17.99 ebook TouchWood Editions | $19.95 pb | $7.99 ebook

HERITAGE GROUP heritagehouse.ca rmbooks.com touchwoodeditions.com DISTRIBUTION

1.800.665.3302 • [email protected] • hgdistribution.com

6 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 BIOGRAPHY USUALLY CITED AS VANCOUVER’S FIRST ROCK ‘N’ Before radio lost that lovin’ feeling, a kid first McDonald’s in Canada, he has no roll deejay, Robert Gordon ‘Red’ Rob- hesitation in criticizing the company. inson was born in Comox on March 30, from Comox thrived as the Forrest Gump Increasingly Robinson made his living 1937. He started his career in radio by in the advertising business, buoyed by contributing to Al Jordan’s afternoon of pop music in the Lower Mainland. thousands of friendships and contacts show for teenagers on CJOR in 1953. he’d made in the radio and entertain- They made contact after Robinson ment business. According to Brunet, phoned into the show impersonating were singing Rock Around the Clock, His foray into broadcast television, his honest and respectful nature was Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart who before Elvis, rock and roll wasn’t just as a sort of alternative to Dick Clark’s an unusual set of traits amongst the was visiting Vancouver at the time. dangerous, it kept parents up at night American Bandstand, led him to a gig large business peddlers and Robinson Red Robinson’s first program, called worrying about their children’s future. with a Portland radio station which, in has kept his integrity in tact. Theme for Teens, has been described In those days, as we learn from Robin- turn, led to him getting drafted by the Brunet closes with accolades and as the first scheduled radio program son’s encounters with the likes of Roy U.S. Army. His enrollment in Advanced honours acquired by Robinson, but for rock ‘n’ roll in Canada. As soon Orbison (after a gig in Port Alberni), Infantry Training (and his superior more compelling are the closings at as he graduated from high school in celebrities and musical performers officers encouraging him to pursue a the end of each chapter, in Robinson’s 1954, Robinson became an on-air host, could often be found in the backseat of military career) are sides of Robinson’s own words, as he reminisces about the befriending major artists who came to a disc jockey’s car as they went speed- story that the average teenaged Beatles people he has met. To read those remi- play in B.C. and frequently serving as ing down a highway to catch a ferry. fan would not have known. niscences from what is so obviously his an emcee for the likes of Elvis Presley In those days, buying an album by a Robinson returned to Vancouver own voice is a real treat. His respect (1957) and The Beatles (1964). Here black artist like Fats Domino, or Little and stayed the course. His love of and awe of these various people shines Steven Ferguson responds to Robin Richard could mean having the cashier the city is palpable; and it trumped through as he revels in his meetings Brunet’s biography, Red Robinson: pull it out from under the counter in grandiose career ambitions or possible with the likes of Steve Allen, Leonard The Last Deejay (Harbour $29.95). a paper bag, so people on the street salary increases from afar. That’s the Nimoy, Johnny Carson, The Beatles, couldn’t see what you were buying. charm of this biography: Robinson is a Elvis all the way up to Bublé. S ROBIN BRUNET MAKES After Brunet introduces Robinson man filled with life and love, and never Robinson is quick to point out he’s clear in his biogra- as an important and loved man, he speaks disparagingly about anyone. not literally the last deejay. The book’s phy, Red Robinson goes headfirst into Robinson’s early ca- (Renowned and beloved sports broad- title is meant to express that the en- is still a beloved reer, sprinkling the names of countless caster Jim Robson is revered for his ergy, the connectivity, and the radio A hero in Vancou- celebrities, only to veer further back similar appeal.) There were some who business itself is in its death throes. ver, as much a part to Robinson’s upbringing. Robinson cheated him, or treated him unfairly, In the old days, deejays were local of his city as Gassy didn’t know his father while growing but Robinson’s respectful nature ap- celebrities; now playlists Jack or August Jack Khatsahlano. To up with his siblings in near-poverty. parently didn’t allow for him to engage are compiled by bots. emphasize that Robinson is much more But there are few tears shed about his in petty vendettas or slights. Robinson com- than a relic, Brunet opens the story tutelage in the school of hard knocks. But Robinson is not averse to telling pares the demise with Red Robinson attending Michael Instead Brunet shows how Robinson’s it like it is, or was. Even though he was of his profes- Bublé’s wedding. innate good humour, optimism and instrumental in the ad campaign that sion to his The glory years of sense of adventure got him going for- paved the way for the opening of the grandfather’s Red Robinson ward, always fueled by his trademark work on steam are now al- enthusiasm. engine locomo- most alien. Robinson disclaims the notion that tives on Van- When he brought rock and roll to Vancou- couver Island. Bill ver. He was there at the right place, He does not ex- Haley at the right time. His fallback position press indignation and the is humility, but contemporaries and at the changing Comets friends such as music agent Bruce times, but there’s Allen (Bryan Adams) are quick to a sense of sadness place a lot of the credit on Robinson’s knowing some- shoulders for bringing a nascent B.C. thing important is music business into the mainstream. being lost. There is more to this portrait than 978-1-55017-769-5 a rehash of Robinson’s disc jockey encounters with celebs. We also learn about his stunts, such as the time he was broadcasting live from the bottom of Burrard Inlet in a dive suit— and hardly anyone took no- tice.

Ubiquitous deejay Red Robinson (left) with Elvis in Vancouver, SEEING1957.RED

7 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 TALONBOOKS 50 th ANNIVERSARY

From Oral to Written Entering Time A Celebration of Native Canadian Literature The Fungus Man Platters of Charles Edenshaw 1980–2010 COLIN BROWNE TOMSON HIGHWAY In this poet’s essay, Browne ranges through the fields of Tomson Highway’s From Oral to Written is a study art history, literature, ethnology, and myth to discover a of Native literature published in Canada between parallel history of modernism within one of the world’s 1980 and 2010, a catalogue of amazing books that most subtle and sophisticated artistic and literary cultures. sparked the embers of a dormant voice. 978-1-77201-039-8 • $19.95 • 192 pages • Non-fiction • January 2017 978-1-77201-116-6 • $29.95 • 448 pages • Non-fiction May 2017

A Crossing of Hearts In Search of New Babylon MICHEL TREMBLAY DOMINIQUE SCALI translated by Sheila Fischman translated by W. Donald Wilson

A Crossing of Hearts continues Michel Tremblay’s In this atmospheric, post–Cormac McCarthy western Desrosiers Diaspora series of novels, a family saga novel, four disparate characters criss-cross the desert in set in Montreal during World War I. pursuit of impossible ideals. 978-1-77201-011-4 • $16.95 • 240 pages • Fiction 978-1-77201-124-1 • $18.95 • 320 pages • Fiction May 2017 March 2017

Legend Price Paid MICHAEL BLOUIN The Fight for First Nations Survival In Michael Blouin’s Legend, narrative as we know BEV SELLARS it is torn apart only to be reconstructed piece by Price Paid untangles truth from some of the myths about piece as the pages progress. Blouin weaves a history First Nations and addresses misconceptions still widely of Canadian modern art, Hollywood B movies, and believed today. Price Paid is based on a popular pre- RCMP police procedure in this genre-defying novel sentation Sellars often told to treaty-makers, politicians, that is at once sensual and mindbending. policymakers, and educators. 978-1-77201-128-9 • $16.95 • 224 pages • Fiction 978-0-88922-972-3 • $19.95 • 240 pages • Non-fiction June 2017

Inspecting Nostalgia An Honest Woman R. KOLEWE JÓNÍNA KIRTON Taking its title from a phrase in a pop-up ad, An Honest Woman confronts us with beauty and Inspecting Nostalgia is R. Kolewe’s second collection ugliness in the wholesome riot that is sex, love, and of poetry that brings together found text and marriage. From the perspective of a mixed-race woman, fragments of various writers’ work with scraps from Kirton engages with Simone de Beauvoir and Donald his own journals. Trump, among others, to question the norms of 978-1-77201-132-6 • $18.95 • 144 pages • Poetry femininity and sexuality that continue to adhere today. April 2017 978-1-77201-144-9 • $17.95 • 112 pages • Poetry April 2017

Same Diff The Gorge: Selected Writing DONATO MANCINI NANCY SHAW Influenced by documentary cinema such as the Edited by Catriona Strang films of Frederic Wiseman, Dada poets, montage Edited by Catriona Strang – who co-authored Busted, Cold techniques, and a range of modern poets, Same Trip, and Light Sweet Crude with Shaw – The Gorge collects Diff explores the way social and economic histories a range of Shaw’s prolific writing with a focus on her become imprinted within language itself. collaborations and poetry. 978-1-77201-136-4 • $16.95 • 144 pages • Poetry 978-1-77201-140-1 • $24.95 • 240 pages • Poetry March 2017 April 2017

8 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 L ITERARY WISDOM Jane Rule’s grave in the woods on Galiano is an oft-visited site for pilgrims who value her character and work. WHATWHAT JINXJINX THINKSTHINKS A new collection of Rule’s letters reveals why she is revered.

EOPLE WHO KNEW Jane Rule are still saying to themselves, “I P wonder what Jane would think of this.” She has been called “the great- est lesbian writer of our generation” because the six-foot-tall, American- born, Galiano Islander wrote Desert of the Heart, a 1964 novel that dared to describe a lesbian couple succeeding in a long-term relationship. But Jane Rule—or Jinx, as she was sometimes called—was much more. Jane Rule (left) She lent so much money to her fel- as lifeguard, low islanders, so often, that she earned Galiano Island. a different nickname “The Bank of Galiano.” For years, when she and her THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JANE, IN PUBLIC: lifelong partner Helen Sonthoff shared their pool with teens and toddlers, it • I believe only in art and • It is love, very ordinary hu- was Rule who was the lifeguard who failure. man love, and not fear, which taught kids to swim. • I hope I’m remembered is the good teacher and the And she was hilariously funny. for being lusty, feisty and full wisest judge. More importantly, she should be re- of life. • My private measure of suc- membered as an iconoclastic social • My own sense of role mod- cess is daily. If this were to be philosopher who was just as interested els is you only need bad ones. the last day of my life would I in children and the elderly as she was You can say, “I’m certainly not be content with it. in gay pride and civil rights. going to be like that when I • I came out as a lesbian long Jane Rule’s wisdom is the best rea- grow up!” before I came out as a writer. son to wade through the misleadingly- titled A Queer Love Story: The Letters of Jane Rule and Rick Bébout (UBC Honour Creativity Jane Rule’s classic Desert of the Heart was $50), a 650-page, overdue omnibus “I do think it bizarre that we are taught “I can never think why anyone would republished by Talonbooks (1978). edited by Marilyn R. Schuster that to honor those who die in battle, con- be interested in reading a book I’ve records the eight-year correspondence demn those who die of pleasure.” just finished. It loses its vitality for between North America’s foremost Incest me, I suppose, once my imagination is “public lesbian” and her editor at the “Not mentioning incest is one of the unhooked from it.” The Body Toronto-based publication, ways we keep it from going away.” Virginia Woolf Politic . Candor “Virginia Woolf killed herself on my Bébout’s descriptions of his sex life, “I was very much in love with several birthday. I’ve never liked that. I’ve the scourge of AIDS and the emergence women before I met Helen, one of whom never liked, more importantly, the of gay culture constitute two-thirds I might have lived quite happily with if fixation on her suicide when she had of the text, but it’s Rule’s sanity that it hadn’t been for her terror at my need lived to nearly 62, a hardworking, often shines. Helen Sonthoff and Jane Rule for candor.” wonderful life against hard odds.” Here is a sampling of Rule’s private Death comments. Sublimation “I try to figure out why the idea of my Violence “Most sexual energy directed toward me now I find simply wearying. I’m own death doesn’t trouble me. I think I “If I were given an opportunity to cen- sure that importantly has to do with a have found life hard enough, demand- sor, I would ban all violence against frail back, aging bones, limited energy, ing enough, to think of death as a sort women, but I would ban all violence but there’s something else about it, of reward, rest anyway.” 978-0-7748-3543-5 against men as well, and that would too, a sense that the sexual energy is pretty well shut down the entertain- directed at my work rather than at me ment industry. And the wife beating, or anyway at the legend I am. As such it child abuse, beating up of men, and seems to be not only spurious but dan- war would still go on.” gerous not for me so much as for the Margaret Atwood and Jane Rule Children other person involved. One of the rea- “I do think the accusation that the gay sons I don’t give readings or lecture is community isn’t sympathetic about that I don’t like the kind of energy that children is probably a just one, though comes at me in those circumstances, I think it’s not a problem limited to the but it is harder and harder for me to be gay community. A lot of heterosexu- a person among other people: personal. als who don’t have children or whose I increasingly therefore, turn my “ab- children are grown aren’t interested in normal attention” and need for energy having children around.” in other directions, to the children I Risk teach to swim (no, don’t report me), to “There is a simple point about any sort neighbors in need, to the amazing and of sexual experimenting: it should be fragile old. The defused eroticism I feel done between consenting people, the in all relationships nourishes me now Jane Rule, dangers as well-known as those for more than those which require direct David Robinson (Talonbooks publisher), mountain climbing, skiing, joining the sexual acknowledgement. And I feel no Audrey Thomas (novelist) Peace Corps or voting for Reagan.” loss at all.”

9 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 The News A Series Of Dogs We Deserve JOHN ARMSTRONG The Transformation of Canada’s Media Landscape Pretty much marc edge guaranteed to Longlisted, George Ryga Award “Edge dissects in detail the fracturing make you laugh out elemental facts about Canada’s media . . . An important examination of what can loud...a memora- be done to nurse Canada’s media back to public health. It is a provoking primer of ble compendium of what is and what might be.” philosophy, social —Barry Craig, Winnipeg Free Press commentary, slobbery kisses and love. —Heidi Greco, Soviet Princeton Vancouver Sun Slim Evans and the 1932–33 Miners’ Strike jon bartlett & rika ruebsaat Finalist, BC Book Prizes Armstrong evokes a life immea- surably enriched by one best friend Finalist, BC Lieutenant Governor’s after another, with boyhood tales of Medal for Historical Writing romping along the railroad tracks When mine owners slashed wages in with Spooky the mutt, touching Princeton, B.C., the miners called in accounts of Sluggo the Rottweiler notorious labour activist Slim Evans, who befriending sex workers, howl- led the newly formed union in a dramatic inducing memories of laying a months-long battle against the owners, the police, the local board of trade, treasured friend to rest during a and the KKK. rain- and beer-soaked night, and many more stories both moving Armstrong and Bob, circa 1957. Also available as a Kobo or Kindle ebook and hilarious.

new star books incendiary poetry & prose since 1974 newstarbooks.com | [email protected] | @newstarbooks

10 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 P OVERTY & TECH RITISH COLUMBIA’S LIBRAR- be crippling to someone who has never ies were recogniz- been familiar with a keyboard, or who ing there was a can’t afford an iPhone, or who still need for internet doesn’t know what the heck an “app” is. B access to be made As PovNet user Gisele Guay writes, available to people “There’s a very thin line when you’re without computers dealing with technology—you can take by the mid-1990s. an attitude when you start using the But affording access to keyboards internet saying to someone, ‘Well that’s and screens was only half the battle. easy—just go and look it up online.’ Poor people needed to be shown the I’ve tried to be careful not to do that. ropes. Enter longtime activist Penny There are still a lot of people who can’t Goldsmith. or won’t go online.” For decades Goldsmith has main- By taking into account such sensi- tained a book publishing imprint called tivities to the learning curve for people Lazara Press, with literary offerings without much money or experience, from the likes of Helen Potrebenko. It PovNet has grown to become a major is lesser known that for 18 years as a resource for activists. freelance editor Goldsmith has doubled Here are some examples that Gold- as the executive co-ordinator of PovNet, smith cites as to how it can be effective an online anti-poverty network based as a conduit to empowerment: in B.C. with links to the rest of Canada •A disability rights organizer in and elsewhere. Nelson goes to the PovNet web site to So what the heck is PovNet? OVERCOMING the DIGITAL DIVIDE get some information for a community To answer that question, Goldsmith workshop she is doing that night about has produced Storming The Digital changes to disability bus passes. Divide: The PovNet Story (Lazara The first email was sent in 1971. By 1994, •A tenant in Vancouver goes online $12.95), a graphic telling of how PovNet about 18% of Canadians were using the internet. to find an advocate to help him deal activists and advocates have worked In 1997, anti-poverty advocates in B.C. with a landlord trying to evict him. together. With illustrations by Kara met in Vancouver to create PovNet. •Workers at a women’s centre in Sievewright and Nicole Marie Burton, a small northern B.C. town take a her book is a collection of activists’ PovNetU course about dealing with stories about using PovNet to connect me, how can you talk about computers “Working with them taught me that debt because they have so many clients with others advocating for the rights and poverty in the same breath?” no one was ever going to be in a posi- being harassed by a collection agency. of poor people, farmworkers, First Na- Indeed. But attitudes can be a hin- tion of not being able to use PovNet Storming the Digital Divide also il- tions, fishermen, immigrants, refugees drance to learning about computers as because they didn’t think they could lustrates how austerity measures have and those with disabilities. much as lack of dough. “I used to teach use the technology we offered.” impacted grassroots social justice ac- As for that phrase, The Digital secretaries how to use computers,” It is nowadays taken for granted, es- tivists when the Canadian government Divide, it can be explained in one says Goldsmith. “Highly skilled women pecially by younger people, that nearly began restructuring social welfare poli- sentence: “When PovNet first started,” were scared of losing their jobs because everyone knows about the internet and cies from 1971 to the present. Goldsmith writes, “people often asked they were intimidated by computers. how to access it. This assumption can 978-0-920999-11-0

“A witty and freewheeling time-traveling romance that packs an emotional wallop.” —MARIA SEMPLE, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Today Will Be Different

TheThe Vancouver Writers Fest presents: A SPECIAL INCITE with Elan Mastai Monday, March 20, 7:30pm (Doors at 7pm) • FREE EVENT VPL Central Branch – Alice MacKay Room, 350 West Georgia Street

Photo © David Leyes

11 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 ou’d like to be self-sufficient, but #homegrowncitylife Ythe space you have available is tighter than your budget. If this sounds The Urban Homesteader Hacks series from New Society Publishers familiar, Urban Homesteader Hacks was created just for you! Our authors will help you navigate the wide world of homesteading, regardless of how big (or small!) your space and budget may be. Topics range from cheesemaking to gardening and composting—every- thing the budding urban homesteader needs to succeed!

XIncrease self-reliance

XTake back DIY skills

XWork with the space you have, from apartment balcony to suburban Worms at Work Food Lover’s Garden The Art of Plant-Based backyard Harnessing the Awesome Power Growing, Cooking, and Cheesemaking of Worms with Vermiculture and Eating Well How to Craft Real, Cultured, Learn about fermenting, crafting, Vermicomposting JENNI BLACKMORE Non-Dairy Cheese growing, preserving and other skills CRYSTAL STEVENS $29.99 Full Colour KAREN McATHY $19.99 PB ISBN 978-0-86571-842-5 $29.99 Full Colour for the urban homesteader. PB ISBN 978-0-86571-840-1 PB ISBN 978-0-86571-836-4

TOOLS FOR A WORLD OF CHANGE c BOOKS TO BUILD A NEW SOCIETY

The Permaculture The Clean Money Revolution Dumbing us Down Homegrown and Handmade Market Garden Reinventing Power, Purpose, The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory A Practical Guide to More A Visual Guide to a Profitable and Capitalism Schooling – 25th Anniversary Edition Self-Reliant Living – Revised 2nd Edition Whole-systems Farm Business JOEL SOLOMON with TYEE BRIDGE JOHN GATTO DEBORAH NIEMANN, ZACH LOEKS $29.99 $24.99 Foreword by CHERYL LONG $39.95 Full Colour HC ISBN 978-086571-839-5 HC ISBN 978-0-86571-856-2 $24.99 PB ISBN 978-0-86571-826-5 PB ISBN 978-0-86571-846-3

Building Natural Ponds Power from the Wind Essential Building Science The Food Forest Handbook Create a Clean, Algae-free Pond without A Practical Guide to Small Scale Energy Understanding Energy and Moisture in Design and Manage a Home-Scale Pumps, Filters or Chemicals Production – Revised 2nd Edition High Performance House Design Perennial Polyculture Garden ROBERT PAVLIS DAN CHIRAS JACOB DEVA RACUSIN DARRELL FREY & $24.99 $29.99 $34.95 MICHELLE CZOLBA PB ISBN 978-0-86571-845-6 PB ISBN 978-0-86571-831-9 PB ISBN 978-0-86571-834-0 $39.95 PB ISBN 978-0-86571-812-8 new society PUBLISHERS www.newsociety.com

Available at fine bookstores and ebook retailers, online at www.newsociety.com or call 1 800 567 6772 for a full catalogue.

12 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 MEMOIR NCE UPON A TIME A LOT of folks in B.C. wanted to try liv- ing in communes. O Judith Plant was one of them. As a single moth- er of three, she had gravitated from Fort McMurray (Fort JudithJudith PlantPlant McMud) to the West Coast where she was wooed and pursued at Simon Fra- recallsrecalls goinggoing ser University by a kind, handsome, English-born journalist and fellow backback toto thethe communications student, Chris ‘Kip’ Plant. land.land. He had just spent seven years in the South Pacific helping Melanesian islanders liberate their small nations from the claws of colonialism, both French and English. “Add to this the misery of the diabolic, American nucle- ar testing in Moruroa and the Kwajalein Islands,” she writes in her memoir, Culture Gap and Beyond: Towards a New World in the Yalakom Valley (New Star $19), “and Kip was near-to- Judith Plant and seething with rage by the time we met.” her children on the The soon-to-be romantic pair en- way up to the rolled in Fred Brown’s 400-level com- Camelsfoot munications course on community commune in the and society and it changed their lives. early 1980s. An idealist who had bizarrely accepted Fidel Castro’s personal invitation to serve as head of a new philosophy de- partment in Havana after the Cuban Revolution, Fred Brown and his partner Susan also hosted lively Wednesday discussion groups at their “Clark “COURAGE DID NOT QUAIL” House” residence in East Vancouver. Fred Brown’s wandering, intimidating intellect kept returning to one obses- sion: “What is community?” of B.C. in the Sixties, Seventies and one. Having your ex-husband try to their own periodical, The New Catalyst, Kip and Judith married in May of Eighties, hers is a very necessary and take your kids away. which they published from Bridge River 1979. “Kip and I both agreed that the fascinating document. It was all exhilarating and… ex- Valley for four years. There, Judith nuclear family is just too thin-on-the- Every commune—as they were ubiq- hausting. also edited a groundbreaking book on ground,” she writes, “too fragile to uitously called in those days—was very Then Fred Brown, the patriarch, sustainability, Healing the Wounds: support our children and ourselves.” different; and they were all the same, died. The gradual dissolution was The Promise of Ecofeminism, published Kip was fed up with political solutions invariably disintegrating. painful. This, too, is universal for by New Society Publishers in Philadel- and Marxist theorists. Their combined In fifty fascinating pages Plant de- communes. As the commune began to phia in 1989. Fascinated with a new idealism and estrangement from con- scribes how the intellectually-driven unravel, outsiders could say, I told you movement called Bio-Regionalism, the ventional society led Judith to accept a but prudently practical Camelsfoot so. “We couldn’t defend our beautiful couple was well ahead of the curve and job with Northwest Community College enclave learned how to milk goats, dream of community to anyone,” she had already organized the third-conti- in Terrace as the first adult educator kill pigs and make head cheese while writes, “most importantly not even to nent-wide North American Bioregional in New Aiyansh, a Nisga’a village in the simultaneously engaging in heady, ourselves. We were crushed. I started Congress in 1986. By 1990 they were Nass Valley. philosophical banter. to cry, and I cried every day for a long operating a Canadian adjunct of New As a couple, with three kids in tow, Her family slept in fire pit-heated time. Kip and I almost split up.” Society Publishers. they left behind the concrete of SFU to tipis with the temperature dipping to A year after Fred Brown’s death, In 1996, with the help of a silent live in a renovated trapper’s shack, in a minus twenty. Her kids learned how the Plants left the commune, buying partner, they eventually bought the cedar and spruce forest, on the banks to use an adz and a log a little cabin at the foot bankrupt, Quaker-led publishing of the Tseax River. Meanwhile Fred, peeler. Everyone helped of the Camelsfoot trail, in imprint based in Philadelphia, New Susan and some cohorts, most notably with the ambitious hydro- close proximity, but inde- Society Books, and soon moved their Van Andruss and his partner Eleanor electric project. They made pendent. publishing headquarters to Gabriola and their baby girl, had similarly moved their own music. It was The idealism of that Island as New Society Publishers. By “back to the land” to a 160-acre quar- one for all, all for one, but shared Yalakom Valley 2005, they became the first publisher ter section in the Yalakom Valley, 30 she questioned the divi- experiment endures. Van in North America to become carbon kilometres from Lillooet, known locally sion of labour. Andruss has written an neutral, pioneering the use of recycled as Camelsfoot. “While I sometimes in-depth biography of paper for books. Kip Plant died in Fred Brown wrote to them, quoting thought I knew why I was Fred Brown, A Compass Nanaimo on June 26, 2015 after cou- the idealistic “back to the land” char- at Camelsfoot and other and a Chart: The Life of rageously living with Progressive Su- acter Miles Cloverdale from Nathaniel times I was much less Fred Brown, Philosopher pranuclear Palsy and Multiple System certain,” she writes, “I and Mountaineer (Lillooet: Hawthorne’s novel, The Blithedale Judith Plant: a life of Atrophy for nine years. But the New Romance, “...our courage did not quail. could only guess what idealism and publishing Lived Experience Press, Society imprint continues to serve as We would not allow ourselves to be de- motivated others and even 2012) and he continues to one of the most progressive and influ- pressed by the snowdrift trailing past that guesswork would probably end up live with his partner in the Lillooet area ential, hey-let’s-hurry-up-and-save- the window...” being superficial.” where he publishes his journal of non- this-planet publishing companies in After Judith and Kip had taken their Feeding the firebox. Feeding the fiction and poetry, Lived Experience. North America. 9781554201334 family to visit Camelsfoot in the spring chickens. Feeding twenty people ✫ ✫ of 1982, they learned that their rented (there were often visitors) pancakes or EVEN THOUGH GETTING INTO CAMELSFOOT COINCIDENTALLY ANDREW SCOTT HAS PUBLISHED trapper’s cabin would be sold. They porridge. Debating if cows were bet- from Lillooet usually required a gru- an expanded second edition of his had to vacate in August. They decided ter than goats. Canning 85 quarts of eling hike—a description of which The Promise of Paradise: Utopian to join Fred Brown’s commune in July. applesauce, pears, cherries, peaches, opens Plant’s memoir as she attends a Communities in British Columbia Judith Plant’s Culture Gap and apricots, tomatoes and plums. Escap- recent Camelsfoot reunion—the Plants (Harbour $24.95) featuring Doukhobor Beyond describes how that isolated ing to the Reynolds Hotel in Lillooet became involved in the Fed Up food co- farmers, Finnish coal miners, Quakers commune of sixteen people—more or for a clubhouse sandwich and fries. op that was first funded by a $20,000 and hippies. Scott sifts through the less—survived and often thrived in Getting horses. Getting lost on a solo grant from the NDP government in wreckage of the utopia-seekers’ dreams the Bridge River Valley. Given that hike up Independence Ridge. Tolerating 1972. Twice a year Fed Up published a and delves into the practices and phi- there are too few books on the counter- the triple-seater outhouse. Shooting a broadsheet called The Catalist. In 1985, losophies of contemporary intentional culture, back-to-the-land movement deer. Vowing to never shoot another the Plants were inspired to publish communities. 978-1-55017-771-8

13 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 ENVIRONMENT By Graeme Wynn Case studies on the mill in Quesnel. THE ORMSBY REVIEW impact of logging Rajala follows, filling out the re- HE SUSTAINABILITY DI- impact of logging mainder of the book with a pair of case lemma: Essays on studies focused on the impact of the on ecosystems. .

on ecosystems. S British Colum- forest industry on freshwater ecosys-

bia Forest and , 1970 tems. Dealing with the controversial Environmental Stellako River log drives in the central NITINAT

T History (RBCM , interior in the 1960s and the Riley $34.95) explores Creek/ Rennell Sound landslides on PHOTO

and revisits contested Haida Gwaii in the following decade, issues, policies and campaigns con- these are long (over 100 pages each) MCQUINN cerning the management of B.C. forests and detailed exegeses. DICK and the forest industry’s impact on Griffin has the lighter touch. His freshwater ecosystems. FROM SUSTAINABLE YIELDS TO SUSTAINABLE 30- to 50-page chapters move the story To do so, authors Robert Griffin along and, in my view at least, his dis- and Richard A. Rajala plunge into a cussion of the Western Plywood/ Weld- vast assortment of departmental files, wood ventures is a valuable contribu- parliamentary debates, official records, tion to understanding the development and contemporary commentaries per- of the forest industry in B.C. in the taining to the forests of B.C. DEVELOPMENT third quarter of the twentieth century. Beginning with Royal Commissioner Read The Sustainability Dilemma Gordon Sloan’s support for forest doctoral dissertations on B.C.’s forests. efforts to implement the guiding prin- for a deft interpretation of the reasons management on “Sustained Yield” prin- Griffin served as history curator at the ciple of sustained yield while meeting for, and the challenges posed by, the ciples in his Royal Commission report Royal BC Museum with special inter- industry’s diverse needs, responding to rise of the pulp and paper industry, of 1945, and proceeding through the est in the mining and forest industries shifting government directives, reflect- and for the book’s “definitive” accounts expansion of pulp-milling operations for more than thirty years, and Rajala, ing different regional conditions, and of the Stellako and Riley Creek contro- in the 1960s, to consider controver- an associate professor in the history doing so with inadequate information. versies. Admire and ponder its many sies over extensive clear-cutting in the department at UVic, has devoted his Griffin’s second chapter limns in- illustrations. But always remember 1970s and 1980s, they offer an ac- scholarly career to understanding B.C. dustry’s response to the government’s that history is at its best, most power- count centred on the political debates Both know the province’s archives sustained yield policies by tracing the ful, and most useful when it fires the over, and policy choices pertaining to, intimately and here they join together to efforts of the Western Plywood (later imagination rather than when it rests provincial forests during these years. focus on “historical events… [that] have Weldwood, then West Fraser) Company content with recounting facts. In broad outline, this is a familiar been largely forgotten by the public and to establish a dominant position in 9780772669742 story, rooted in political economy but largely unexamined by scholars.” B.C.’s central interior, and his third with evident “political-environmental” The Sustainability Dilemma is a book chapter centres on Forest Minister Historical geographer Graeme Wynn dimensions. Jeremy Wilson, Gordon in two parts, each reflecting the particu- Ray Williston’s introduction of Pulp has had a career-long fascination with Hak, Patricia Marchak, Roger Hay- lar interests of its authors. Griffin wrote Harvesting Areas to promote economic and involvement in environmental his- ter, and others, have provided (inevi- the three chapters that make up the development through the construc- tory. He was editor of BC Studies (2008- tably incomplete) interpretations of it first third of the book. The first of these tion of pulp mills. Here Griffin again 2016). In 2017 he will become president in the last 30 years or so. traces B.C. forest policy through the focuses, by way of illustration, on the of the American Society for Environmen- Both Griffin and Rajala completed labyrinth of regulations produced by Weldwood company’s efforts to build a tal History for a two-year term.

14 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 A refugee family’s flight to freedom, uniquely illustrated.

“Ruurs writes purely and warmly, with the text set in both English and Raheem’s Arabic translation…An astonishing book that allows the humanity of refugees to

hardcover speak louder than politics and introduces readers to one of Syria’s incredible artists.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“A unique offering that will open eyes and soften hearts.” —Booklist 9781459814905 • $20.00 9781459814905 • $20.00

Partial proceeds from every book sold will be donated to Syrian resettlement. In the 5 months since its release date, stepping stones has raised $30,000. Find out how you can be part of the fundraising movement here: www.steppingstonesthebook.com

Reaching More Readers www.orcabook.com

15 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 SPRING AWAKENINGS

HOME AND AWAY BLOOD, SWEAT AND ROUGH PATCH EVERYTHING IS AWFUL SCARBOROUGH Darcy and Randy Shore FEAR Nicole Markotić AND YOU’RE A TERRIBLE Catherine Hernandez 978-1-55152-673-7; $24.95 Eve Lazarus 978-1-55152-681-2; $15.95 PERSON 978-1-55152-677-5; $17.95 A cookbook by Vancouver Sun 978-1-55152-685-0; $21.95 A young-adult novel about Keira, a Daniel Zomparelli A poignant, multi-voiced novel about columnist Randy Shore and his wife The fascinating story of Inspector teenaged figure skater who’s intrigued 978-1-55152-675-1; $15.95 life in the inner city. Winner of the Darcy, inspired by how food from John Vance, Vancouver’s first foren- by the idea of kissng both boys and A disarming, tragicomic debut story Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop’s around the world connects us all. sics investigator, by the author of girls. April 2017 collection by the Vancouver poet, Emerging Writers Award. May 2017 May 2017 Cold Case Vancouver. May 2017 about looking for true love in a cess- pool of weird dysfunction and bad dates. April 2017

A PLACE CALLED NO FEMALE TROUBLE THE LAST GANG IN TOMBOY SURVIVAL

HOMELAND Chris Holmlund TOWN CONFLICT IS NOT ABUSE GUIDE Kai Cheng Thom 978-1-55152-683-6; $14.95 Aaron Chapman Sarah Schulman Ivan Coyote

978-1-55152-679-9; $14.95 A Queer Film Classic on John 978-1-55152-671-3; $24.95 978-1-55152-643-0; $19.95 978-1-55152-656-0; $17.95 A fiery poetry collection that jour- Waters’ 1974 campy dark comedy A BC Bestseller: Aaron Chapman’s The acclaimed book on the culture A poignant and illuminating hymn neys to the place where forgotten starring the extraordinary Divine. epic story of Vancouver’s infamous of scapegoating, victimhood, and the to the tomboy. An American Library May 2017 < ancestors live and monstrous women Clark Park Gang in the 1970s. supremacist bully, now in its third < Association Stonewall Honor Book roam. April 2017 Available printing. Available Award winner. Available

ARSENAL PULP PRESS arsenalpulp.com

NEW IN PAPERBACK

“A detailed, insightful, and thought- provoking examination of government and political communications as conducted under the Harper Conservatives. More importantly, Brand Command explores whether anything will change, whether it can, and how it might be changed to better serve the public interest. – Scott Reid, Principal at Feschuk.Reid, CTV News political analyst, and director of communications for former prime ” minister Paul Martin

978-0-7748-3204-5 | paperback

ubcpress.ca thought that counts

16 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 MEMOIR By Hugh Johnston Ujjal Dosanjh was the second provincial ed deep wounds to his head requiring THE ORMSBY REVIEW 84 stitches to repair. This attack hap- pened at the end of a working day in a N JOURNEY AFTER MID- premier of non-European descent ever to darkening parking lot and ended only night: India, Can- when Dosanjh’s law partner arrived on ada and the Road hold office in Canada. The first was Prince the scene, scaring the attacker off and Beyond (Figure saving Dosanjh’s life. I $34.95), Ujjal Edward Island’s Joe Ghiz, whose father For some time before that, Dosanjh I Dosanjh recounts had been receiving threats to his life his journey from a was a Lebanese immigrant. Dosanjh, in and to the lives of his family. These village in the Punjab to threats continued. Dosanjh says that London in 1964 and to Vancouver in contrast, is an immigrant himself. his near death experience in that park- 1968, to become the 33rd premier of ing lot attack gave him a renewed sense B.C. as well as federal cabinet minister. of life’s purpose. As premier of B.C., Ujjal Dosanjh and starting a family. of race, gender, gay rights Dosanjh was a lumber union or- visited his homeland at the invitation Dosanjh puts his com- and liberal values. His early ganizer, an advocate for Punjabi farm of the Indian and Punjab governments mand of English when he Canadian experience also workers and an NDP party worker al- during the Christmas break of 2000- first landed in London at reinforced his inherently most from the start. But at the summit 01. In his home state of Punjab he a rudimentary grade four secular worldview. of his career he was still dismissed by naturally visited his birthplace village level. But he quickly be- The narrow religious na- some opponents as an “ethnic” candi- of Dosanjh, named for his ancestral came a news junkie and an tionalism that he encoun- date, although his success at election family. enthusiastic user of local tered within his own Sikh time and his handling of issues in The Government of Punjab paved public lending libraries. community was something government belied the charge. Ujjal Dosanjh’s 1964 a broken, pothole-filled lane of half-a- His political outlook was passport photo. he quickly rejected. He ap- He makes it clear that the Sikh kilometer into the village of Dosanjh shaped by the examples plauded the opposition to and South Asian community was the just so he could drive there, rather of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther French Canadian nationalism that de- base that launched him into politics, than walk in or be flown by helicopter. King, and Pierre Trudeau. But he had fined Pierre Trudeau’s politics. Dosanjh but when in 1991 he was first elected Dosanjh left India at the age of also grown up with family members in came to see the growing religious-eth- as an MLA — after two unsuccessful eighteen, encouraged by the example of Punjab who had a powerful commit- nic nationalism of his own Sikh com- tries — it was in a riding that was fifty another student from his local second- ment to progressive and revolutionary munity and the provincial nationalism percent Chinese and that was only five ary school. His declared purpose was ideals: his maternal grandfather had of French Canadians as comparable percent Sikh and South Asian. to enroll in an electrical engineering been prominent in the anti-British and similarly negative forces. Dosanjh deserves great credit for the college in London. movement before Indian independence Dosanjh’s memoir reminds us of principled role he played in the provin- Dosanjh concedes that he was basi- and had served time in jail as a politi- the appalling troubles of Punjab and cial and federal governments between cally an economic emigrant, like many cal prisoner. the Punjabi diaspora in the 1980s and 1991 and 2011 as an NDP member of others, attracted mainly by the afflu- In Vancouver, Dosanjh educated 1990s, when nearly the whole Punjabi the legislature, caucus leader, cabinet ence of the West. His father was the himself on contemporary questions community in Canada was intimidated member, premier of B.C., Liberal mem- founder of the village primary school by the presence of terrorists in their ber of parliament, and federal minister but he did not have the means to pay midst. of health. He made difficult decisions for a university education overseas for Dosanjh and his wife Rami had been in major portfolios and gained general an adult son. booked to fly to Delhi on Air India’s respect in the process. Dosanjh had a one-way airfare to tragic flight 182 in June 1985. This As a young man, Ujjal Dosanjh had London, paid for by his father who had was the flight carrying 329 passengers unrealized ambitions as a writer in obtained the money from a maternal and crew that was blown up over the Punjabi, and it is not surprising that aunt. When he stepped off his plane at Atlantic by a bomb that terrorists had he writes with sensitivity and telling Heathrow airport in 1964, he had little placed on board in Vancouver. They effect. He records the best and worst of money of his own. Relatives and for- fortuitously cancelled their his political career frankly and mer fellow villagers living in London booking a few days before. convincingly. gave him initial shelter and helped A few months ear- Dosanjh tells his sto- him find work. lier, Dosanjh had ry with disarming Dosanjh describes a succes- been assaulted by honesty and mod- sion of low-level jobs: in a railway a turbaned Sikh esty, superbly in yard, in a crayon factory, and as wielding an iron English, a language a lab assistant running a projec- bar who inflict- that he ultimately tor. None of these jobs enabled mastered as an adult. him to pay tuition fees, let alone 978-1-927958-56-8 take any time off work for a col- lege education. After three-and-a- Hugh Johnston’s books half years he re-migrated to B.C. include The Voyage of An aunt and uncle in Vancou- the Komagata Maru: ver sponsored him as a land- The Sikh Challenge to ed immigrant. They found Canada’s Colour Bar; him work in a sawmill. The Four Quarters of the Within eight years of Night: the Life Story of his arrival in 1968, an Emigrant Sikh (with he had completed Tara Singh Bains); and a BA, graduated Jewels of the Qila: The from law school, Remarkable Story of and been called an Indo-Canadian to the bar, all Family. while marrying PHOTO

TOULGOET

UJJAL’SDAN ODYSSEY

17 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 18 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 INTERVIEW HOWHOW BIRTHDAYSBIRTHDAYS VARYVARY OR TAYL

NikkiNikki TateTate (left)(left) NICOLE

BY andand daughterdaughter

DaniDani Tate-StrattonTate-Stratton PHOTO

ROM THE GET-GO, personal and that to be a writer is to Dani Tate-Strat- A mother and daughter team explores a have a job, one where you grind away ton [interviewed common tradition that most people take harder than most people imagine. below] knew it BCBW: So you and your mom are F was tough to for granted in Birthdays: Beyond Cake and co-workers. make a living as Yes. Initially maybe she was more the an author. Ice Cream. Egyptian Pharaohs celebrated general manager and I was a new hire, Nikki Her mom, but that’s OK—I can learn from her Tate, worked at Bolen Books in them — Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t. And and I’m sure she learned something Victoria and has written more than through working with me. You’d have thirty books. if you reach 60, you’re ambivalent. to ask her if she thought the division But now, having participated in a of labour was equal. national celebration of Adults Day in BCBW: What about giving them? be some of the first to have any sort of BCBW: Maybe we should do an issue Tokyo to honour those who are turn- I have always loved planning birthday ing twenty, she and her mom have consistent and accurate calendar. Be- of BC BookWorld devoted to other co-authored Birthdays: Beyond parties for others, like my mom’s 50th fore we were able to keep track of time, mother/daughter or father/son or Cake and Ice Cream (Orca $24.95). where we managed to surprise her with it was certainly difficult to keep track father/daughter or mother/son col- Aimed at pre-teens, this richly il- about 50 friends and family members of specific dates, such as birthdays. laborations. lustrated investigation of how other and my grandfather’s 80th, where we Birthday celebrations for ‘regular’ I’m sure there are more of us out there! cultures observe the rite of getting arranged for him to have a letter from people came awhile after calendars— My friend Xan Shian contributed pho- another year older is loaded with stuff Prime Minister Trudeau. You can see initially birthdays were celebrations for tos to her mom Marilyn Bowering’s to also fascinate adults. a photo of Grampa holding his letter Gods, Pharaohs, and other culturally- book in the last year or two... in our book. significant deities or leaders. A regular BCBW: Did you long harbour the BCBW: This is a smart and simple BCBW: And your mom? citizen might have celebrated his or her notion that you would become an idea for a book. How did you come She has never been the type to bake birthday on their Saint’s Name Day, so author? up with it? fancy cakes and arrange delicate goodie even though they could have known NO! I loved growing up in the stacks at I was lucky enough to spend my 20th bags, so her favourite birthdays for me the day they were born, they wouldn’t Bolen Books. My mom worked there birthday in Tokyo and took part in were probably some of my favourites to necessarily have marked it. for years while I was growing up. I was Adult’s Day, a national holiday celebrat- attend—camping at Goldstream, build- BCBW: How did your mother and lucky enough to tour with her and ing everyone who turns 20 that year. I ing driftwood forts on French Beach, daughter collaboration work out? hang out at the edges of the Canadian dressed up in a formal kimono, went to and a murder mystery where we turned Great! We have worked together on sev- book scene. But I saw what a struggle the speeches at city hall, learned about the entire living room into a train car. eral shorter things in the past, and our it was for my mom and most Canadian all the good luck rituals to take part in BCBW: Is there any place in the first book together was Take Shelter, authors. I was not at all interested! at the local shrine, and really felt a part world where people never celebrate At Home Around the World, also with The story in our family is that with of something significant. or recognize birthdays? Orca. With that book, Birthdays, and such creative parents, mom ‘rebelled’ I started to wonder about other We were actually surprised just HOW our forthcoming Christmas book, we by getting an honours neuropsychology countries and cultures and what their prevalent birthday celebrations of one find that if one of us goes back to read degree. While I wasn’t so extreme in key milestone birthdays were. After just sort or another are, both all around the final, edited text, we can’t remem- my ‘rebellion,’ I did study both graphic a bit of research I realized that there the world and throughout history. ber—or tell—who wrote which sections. design and contemporary cultural an- was more than enough to write a book That said, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not BCBW: Given that Nikki, your mom, thropology. I knew I didn’t want to be about, and sharing some of those things celebrate birthdays, as they believe has done about thirty books, were an author! Funny how the things we with mom convinced her of the same. it would displease God for various you content to play second fiddle? ‘know’ can change... BCBW: Did you like having birthday reasons consistent with their religious Or was there complete harmony BCBW: Having done a book on birth- parties? beliefs. throughout the process? days, what’s next? My birthday falls in the lee of the BCBW: Before there were calendars Ha! I’m sure it’s been thought before, As someone who firmly believes that Christmas holidays. Sometimes it was and people understood the lunar but you’re the first to put it in so many 364 days of the year are just in the the first day back at school after win- year, did ‘pre-history’ people ever words, so good on you for the honesty. way of Christmas and who starts their ter break; not a day my friends and I have some ‘natural’ recognition for But yes, it was harmonious. And I don’t Christmas shopping in January, gift were particularly eager to celebrate! We becoming one year older? think either or us thinks of us in terms wrapping in July, carol listening in mention it in the book. Growing up, I We found instances of birthday recog- of first or second fiddle. One thing I August, and baking in November, I solved the problem by ‘time shifting’ nition dating back to the Pharaohs of learned VERY early on from watching couldn’t be more excited about re- and celebrating my half-birthday dur- Ancient Egypt, but as you imply this my mom write and have her critique searching a book on the origins of ing the summer. makes total sense—they are thought to my early writing, is that editing isn’t Christmas. 9781459812970

19 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 MEDIA Owners and publishers of Canada’s media are villains for failing to keep pace with the times, says Ian Gill. In No News Is Bad News he scathingly attacks complacency and greed.

By Beverly Cramp the advent of “that darned thing called the Internet,” newspaper revenues, pri- marily from advertisers, are spiralling THE NEWS ABOUT CANa- da’s print media is ever downwards. Gill quotes research grim. Maclean’s that between 2000 and 2008 revenue newsmagazine, drifted gently downward, but then in T over 105 years old the next five years plunged another and a weekly since third, from $5.8 billion to $3.7 billion. 1978, will reduce its frequency to monthly. Chatelaine, around since 1928 and long-touted as Canada’s largest magazine in paid circulation, will be printed six times a ALL HAIL year instead of monthly. Other Rogers Media publications will cease to be printed altogether and instead will only appear online and through apps, including titles: Flare, Sportsnet, MoneySense and Canadian Business. One of the few Rogers Media publi- cations that will remain untouched by cutbacks is their celebrity gossip rag, Hello! Canada. All hail piffle. Across Canada newspapers are also getting thinner, whether it’s The PIFFLE Georgia Sraight or the once-dominant PIFFLE Vancouver Sun. Puffery masquerading as content is increasingly common. So who will cover all the crucial In No News is Bad News (Greystone news beats and public meetings? Politi- $18.95), former newspaper editor and cians? Corrupt businesses? Gill quotes TV documentary reporter Ian Gill a New York Times article asserting that claims the “real villains” are “the own- “nonprofit news organizations, digital ers and publishers.” He alleges dim- start-ups, university-based centers and the casket is their own.” upon having our best independent jour- witted media owners “have bankrupted public radio stations are beginning to fill Gill abhors Ontario-based The Wal- nalists cozying up to rich people, as Gill and/or destroyed the value of Canada’s the gap... But they probably won’t fully rus magazine as “a flaccid, self-satisfied appears to suggest in No News Is Bad great media companies, and they’ve take hold while newspapers, even in kind of poor man’s New Yorker.” News, some might argue the future of been getting away with it for decades.” their shrunken state, remain the domi- The only smart people in Canadian media in Canada will be even grimmer. One group that’s really been turned nant media players in local markets.” journalism, it would appear, are David But he has done a great service to the off by Canadian media are the millen- Much of Gill’s overview bristles Beers, founding editor of The Tyee and Canadian media community by provid- nials who, Gill says, have the least with gleeful invective and scorn. “That Gill himself, a columnist for The Tyee. ing this feisty diagnosis of Canadian confidence in the media. Without giant sucking sound you hear?” he In the fourth chapter, and arguably journalism, getting vital conversations them, he writes, “there won’t be two writes, “Oh, that’s just the implosion the weakest section of Gill’s otherwise started. As he noted on a CBC Radio in- newspapers left in Vancouver—or in of Canadian media.” He dismisses lo- highly entertaining romp, called Wither terview, if Canada’s roads and schools Calgary, Edmonton, or Ottawa—in just cal newspapers like those managed the Future? they foresee the road ahead and hospitals fell into such decay, the a few short years. In some cities there by the David Black chain foisting could or should be paved by philan- public would not stand for it—and might not even be one.” “truly execrable fare” on the public. He thropies. Gill was able to undertake yet the news services of a nation are The loss of as many as ten thousand bashes the CBC with equal ease. Our research for his analysis of Canadian equally essential services to guarantee journalism jobs, he says, has hugely media landscape is a horrid and almost media due to a senior fellowship in the well-being of a country. diminished the quality of our news. hopeless mess. “It’s as if Canada’s jour- 2015 provided by the J.W. McConnell 978-1-77164-268-2 The erasure of billions of dollars of nalists were assigned to cover a state Family Foundation. shareholder value from large media funeral,” he writes, “and only now are If the future of high quality Cana- Beverly Cramp is associate editor companies spells further decline. With wising up to the fact that the body in dian journalism is going to be reliant of BC BookWorld.

Available May 1st from

9781771871310 • $20.00 9781771871303 • $20.00 9781771871327 • $20.00 9781771871297 • $20.00 9781771871266 • $20.00 Wayman offers poems that directly New and selected poems on breath, A slicing open of hookup culture to English/Cree poems honouring Four Cree friends living in the city consider music’s power and how it empty space, and the prairie. probe the real demands of love. women’s traditions and relationships. and reconciling their rez heritage. carries us through life. www.thistledownpress.com

20 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 Naturally Great Books greystonebooks.com

Just Cool It! The Climate Crisis and What We Can Do   &  

“David Suzuki is one of our wisest ecological experts and storytellers, and he has created yet another one-of-a-kind resource. This is an unflinching look at the meaning of the climate crisis and an impassioned call to rise up, with joy and confidence in our collective ability to forge a just future.”  , author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine 978-1-77164-259-0 • $24.95

The Vegetarian’s Guide Best Places to Bird in Demon in My Blood Big Fit Girl to Eating Meat British Columbia My Fight with Hep C—and a Embrace the Body You Have A Young Woman’s Search   Miracle Cure   for Ethical Food &     Foreword by     978-1-77164-166-1 • $22.95 978-1-77164-170-8 • $22.95 978-1-77164-212-5 • $22.95 978-1-77164-274-3 • $22.95

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIES since 1990 COMING THIS by Christopher Gudgeon FRESH SUMMER: In these sixteen stories, Christopher FROM THE Gudgeon—bestselling author of the LONG RIDE YELLOW critically acclaimed Song of Kosovo— FORGE! by Martin West takes a heartbreaking and hilarious look The debut novel from the into the lives, loves, sexual obsessions author of Cretacea & Other Stories from the Badlands, Long and delusions that inform a grand cast SPRING ’17 Ride Yellow explores the limits of off-kilter characters. of sexual desire. Nonni is a $20 | 224 pgs. | 978-1-77214-075-0 | Stories | March dominatrix who likes to push [email protected] | www.anvilpress.com the boundaries; she is also BAD ENDINGS easily bored. Her disdain for all that is conventional and by Carleigh Baker “vanilla” launches her on a A TEMPORARY STRANGER journey of personal discovery. Carleigh Baker likes to make light in $20 | 256 pgs. | 978-1-77214-094-1 | Novel | May the dark. Whether plumbing family ties, by Jamie Reid the end of a marriage, or death itself, A Temporary Stranger is a collection YOU ARE NOT NEEDED NOW she never lets go of the witty, the ironic, of homages, new poems, and selected by Annette Lapointe and perhaps most notably, the awkward. articles from the late BC poet, Jamie You Are Not Needed Now is In Bad Endings, Baker takes troubled Reid. In Homages we find poems a brilliant new collection of characters to a moment of realization of reverence and honour, tributes to stories from Giller-nominated author Annette Lapointe. or self-revelation, but the results aren’t writers who had opened up the world Often set within the small always pretty. Despite the title, the resolution in these of poetry to Jamie. At the centre of A towns of the Canadian stories isn’t always tragic, but it’s often uncomfortable, Temporary Stranger are the new poems, the Fake Poems, prairies, the stories in You unexpected, or just plain strange. and the third section, Recollections, is an assemblage of Are Not Needed Now dissect and examine the illusion of $18 | 160 pages | 978-1-77214-076-7 | Stories | March articles—paeans to mentors, influences, peers, and other appearances, the myth of artists and writers who the author admired. normalcy, and the allure of artifice. BAD ENGINE $16 | 64 pgs. | 978-1-77214-098-9 | Poetry/Essays | April $20 | 224 pgs. | 978-1-77214-093-4 | Stories | May by Michael Dennis LEAVING MILE END ESCAPE FROM WRECK CITY Michael Dennis has been hammering his by John Creary by Jon Paul Fiorentino love, his anger, his grief, and his awe into Escape from Wreck City is a poems for over forty years. With seven Leaving Mile End is Jon Paul Fiorentino’s debut collection of poetry books and nearly twenty chapbooks to his seventh collection of poetry and tenth from Calgary author John Creary. Creary’s language is credit, Dennis isn’t exactly a household book—a collection of poems that potent, lush, playful and witty, name in Canadian poetry, but he is a documents the daily din and clatter of and demanding of attention. natural heir to poets like Canadian icon Al cafés, galleries, and dive bars that make Sharp with insights that cut Purdy and American legends Eileen Myles and Charles up Mile End in Montreal, perhaps the to the core of the matter, the poems in Escape from Wreck Bukowski. His poems are his life made into poems: most artistically vibrant neighbourhood City—like the people who direct, emphatic, honest. in the world. inhabit them—are ecstatically alive. $20 | 176 pgs. | 978-1-77214-077-4 | Poetry | April $16 | 72 pgs. | 978-1-77214-097-2 | Poetry | Available now! $18 | 96 pgs. | 978-1-77214-096-5 | Poetry | May

21 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 HISTORY & ART of eight siblings who were sculptors, includ- ing Vernon March who was chiefly commis- sioned to undertake a World War I memo- ONE MAN’S PASSION rial in Ottawa that was commenced in 1926 and not completed un- til it was finally dedi- cated by King George VI in 1939—just before World War II started. “Sidney March’s Vic- Bronze statue in New Westminster by A. Fabri toria soldier takes a back seat to none of his other sculptures,” MacLeod writes. “The soldier is unique—in contrast to most of his stone and bronze comrades across the country, he is not handsome, he is not young, his face is one only a mother could love. “He is a worn, weathered, ancient-looking infantry- PASSCHENDAELE man wielding his Lee-Enfield, bayonet mounted, ready It wasn’t exactly Steve Fonyo running all to deal with the enemy. Weather-beaten face notwith- standing, this is one the way across Canada, but Alan MacLeod’s of the finest war- monument soldiers in Canada.” transcontinental Great Canadian Statue Hunt ✫ also required dedication and stamina. APPROXIMATELY 60,000 Canadians died as “The soldier is unique a result of the so- AVING HAD A GREAT UNCLE WHO FOUGHT IN statues credited to Hahn’s design that can be found called Great War. in contrast to most of World War I, Nova Scotia-born-and- across the country. The original that first appeared For a new generation his stone and bronze raised Alan MacLeod of Victoria at Westville, Nova Scotia in 1921 was something of a of Canadians who commenced an unprecedented Cadillac, a status symbol for communities who wanted have never heard of comrades across the H odyssey in 2011, searching across to show how much they cared, but only one other Ypres, the Somme, country, he is not hand- Canada to document and showcase copy was bronze like the original. The other eight were Vimy and Passchen- “ all military statuary erected between 1918 and 1929 granite, carved by craftsmen using the same scale and daele, Remembered some, he is not young, that features a figure of a Canadian soldier in bronze Hahn design. Some have since suffered due to preser- in Bronze and Stone his face is one only a or stone. vation issues. “The imitations are not all equally well is a novel approach mother could love.” His resulting compendium, Remembered in executed,” MacLeod writes, “and not every carver felt to education. Bronze and Stone: Canada’s Great War Memorial obligated to pay slavish homage to the Hahn original.” The project began — ALAN MACLEOD Statuary (Heritage $24.95), profiles 130 Great War MacLeod writes that 7,000 people gathered in New after Alan MacLeod memorials with family histories of the fallen and Westminster on Remembrance Day in 1922 to witness came across a remarkable bronze war statue in West- biographies of the craftsmen who made the statues. the dedication of a new board of trade-sponsored war ville, Nova Scotia. MacLeod became curious about find- Coeur de Lion MacCarthy’s Winged Victory memorial representing a bronze, wounded soldier ing similar statues, gathering materials for illustrated statues commissioned by the CPR for their rail wearing a head bandage and no helmet. With his talks he presented to members of the Western Front stations in Montreal, Winnipeg, and Vancouver bayonet mounted, he peers over the crowd, seem- Association and other organizations. After a talk for are perhaps the most recognizable. There are ingly ready for action, but also contempla- the WFA’s Pacific Coast branch, military historian- statues from each province, representative works tive. A soldier named Major Jackson envisaged turned-novelist Sidney Allinson of Victoria urged by well-known sculptors such as Alfred Howell in the design and A. Fabri was the Italian sculptor him to write a book. Allinson became an enthusiastic Ontario and New Brunswick; as well as statues who produced it. supporter along with two other significant and prolific by Sydney March and George William Hill; but “The figure wears the green patina typical B.C. authors who are WFA members, Wayne Ralph, most of the sculptors are unheralded. Many of of bronzes exposed to the elements for an ex- who served as a critical reader, and Barry Gough, the sculptors were unnamed artisans in Italy tended time,” MacLeod writes, “a patina that helped him find his publisher. where many of the statues were made. only enhances its effect. Because it is bronze Alan MacLeod studied English at Dalhousie Univer- British Columbia has relatively few statues rather than marble, the head-bandaged sity and worked in Nova Scotia and British Columbia erected in comparison to the number of those soldier of New Westminster retains all of in the field of labour relations prior to retirement.

who served—but the B.C. statues are no its 1922 physical integrity—it is as 978-1-77203-152-2 less interesting. vivid, evocative and impres- The book’s cover shows sive as it was on Emanuel Hahn’s the occasion of its “grieving soldier” stat- unveiling.” Winged Victory ue located in Fernie. The striking by Coeur de Lion MacCarthy:MacCarthy: It’s one of ten similar bronze soldier on a Bronze statue (7’ high and granite base at the 3,000 pounds) erected in Alan MacLeod northeast corner of Vancouver in 1921 to describes this the B.C. Legislature commemorate the 1,100 bronze statue in Canadian Pacific Railway front of the B.C. grounds is credited employees who lost Legislature in to Sydney March Victoria as “one their lives in the of the finest war- (1876-1968). We First World War. The “grieving soldier” statue in Fernie monument sol- learn he was one diers in Canada.” by Emanuel Hahn.

22 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 23 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 UNFORGETTABLE BIOGRAPHY These stories each and every one a gem……One of the most captivating biographies I have ever read……Story telling at its finest…… Truly a remarkable piece of art written by an incredible man…… By far the best book I have read in a long time... see more reviews at www.vistapublishing.net

COMMON MAN / UNCOMMON LIFE is a collection of true stories from the life of Canadian adventurer, writer and award win- ning filmmaker, Stan Walchuk Jr. A former guide and outfitter, his life has been one wild, hilarious, hair raising adventure after another. Grizzly bear charges, being swept down rivers, Bigfoot and brawls. Taking horses over remote mountain passes, getting lost on ice, getting lost in love. And so much more….. A unique journey through city streets, across parklands, over mountains and lakes. The serenity, drama and hardship of adventure. Walchuk’s vivid story telling voice varies from strong to sensitive but it’s always distinct.

BIG! 33 Chapters, 700 pages, 6″ x 9″, laminated gloss cover $26.95 Visit your local bookstore or order at 1 250 569 3423 or email [email protected] ISBN 978-0-9734694-4-8 more information at www.vistapublishing.net or www.bcoutfitter.com

The Best of BC Writing

Staging Modernist Lives H.D., Mina Loy, Nancy Cunard, Three Plays and Criticism The Rules of the Kingdom SASHA COLBY JULIE PAUL Paperback, eBook • $37.95, 338pp Paperback, eBook • $16.95, 130pp Abenaki Daring “… valuable both for the way it newly illuminates “These poems are strong, delicate, risky The Life and Writings of modernist work and for how it explores new Noel Annance, 1792–1869 research methods grounded in performance. as fire. So much fire in this beautiful Colby makes a strong case for the importance collection, so many bright poems, JEAN BARMAN of approaching – and researching – the work so many clear flames.” Cloth, eBook • $39.95, 400pp Arleen Paré, author of Lake of Two Mountains of these modernist writers through the genre of The life and work of an Abenaki dramatic biography.” man illuminate the troubled history Miranda Hickman, McGill University of Indigenous peoples.

McGILL-QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY PRESS mqup.ca Follow us on Facebook.com/McGillQueens and Twitter @Scholarmqup

24 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 COVER

MADDIE’SASCENTSunrise over Tiananmen Square. Wong-Chu now be- Madeleine Thien lieves her editorial themes were a precursor to her future writing, leading to Do Not Say We Have Nothing. never showed her writing to Another issue she edited featured Indonesian anyone before she entered the writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesia’s leading novelist who had been imprisoned 16 years without MFA writing program at UBC. a trial. He was interviewed during a stopover in Van- couver, resulting in ‘The Mute’s Soliloquy: Pramoedya Now she’s the only B.C.-born author ever Ananta Toer and the literature of survival.’ shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. “I was so hungry for everything, all the ideas that Madeleine Thien’s third novel, Do Not Say We were coming towards me at full speed,” says Thien, Have Nothing (Knopf) has also won the Gover- “My own sense of identity was changing.” And so her nor General’s Award for Fiction and the $100,000 overriding concern for justice and her opposition to Scotiabank Giller Prize—an unprecedented feat intolerance were kindled by her editorial mindset. for a B.C.-born author. If there was a turning point, it might have been when the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop launched its Emerging Writers Award. The first year By Allan Cho Now living in Montreal, “Maddie” Thien had her for- mative years on the West Coast where she grew up, the jury selected Rita Wong’s manuscript, Mon- ADELEINE THIEN FIRST HEARD OF RICEPAPER, worked for Press Gang Publishers and Ricepaper. keypuzzle. In 2001, the jury unanimously selected Canada’s first Asian Canadian Thien’s first fiction collection, Simple Recipes. publication, when she was work- fluence of the magazine. This award attracted interest from publishers, ing for Press Gang Publishers, “I wanted to learn, I wanted experience, and I was resulting in a bidding war won by McClelland & a feminist collective, in the late still asking myself many questions about race, iden- Stewart. Still a prestigious imprint at that time, M&S 1990s. tity, politics, and art,” she says. “I was in my twenties, agreed to publish Simple Recipes, as well as her first M Ricepaper’s founder, Jim living away from home for the first time, novel, Certainty. Wong-Chu, hired her in 1999, during working almost 30 hours a week in ad- Simple Recipes won the Ethel Wilson the magazine’s fifth year of operation. He now recalls dition to studying, and I had very Fiction Prize, the City of Vancouver her as a very quiet, soft-spoken young woman with little contact with my family.” Book Book Award and the VanC- inquisitive and intelligent eyes. Thien profiled inter- ity Book Prize for best book “She was very passionate and enthusiastic about national artists like pertaining to women’s issues. wanting to work for us,” he says. Shuibo Wang by ex- This triple success resulted Ricepaper had started as a newsletter for members amining his Os- in her receiving the Cana- of the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop (ACWW) to car-nominated dian Authors Association connect to writers from other parts of Canada. “This documentary, Air Canada award for was the best way to do that before the Internet,” he most promising writer says. “Up to that time we were lucky to even have a under age 30. few journalism grads come through.” Certainty won the It was a serendipitous match. Wong-Chu soon 2006 Amazon.ca/ discovered she had a keen eye and innate tal- Books in Canada First ent for running a magazine but Thien Novel Award and it needed mentorship. “I remember was nominated for the going to meet Jim,” she says, “and 2007 Kiriyama Fiction being amazed at all the knowledge Prize. at his fingertips, all the stories and And the rest is her- memories he had.” story. Having supervised a revolving ✫ door of editors, Wong-Chu con- MADELEINE THIEN WAS siders Thien’s short tenure as rejected the first time editor as the most influen- she applied to UBC’s tial in the evolution of the Creative Writing MFA pro- publication. “Those three gram, but she was neither issues of Ricepaper with upset nor angry. Maddie [Volumes 5.1 “Maybe doors would to 5.3] were the high open and maybe they point of our magazine wouldn’t,” she recalls, “but there in terms of an artic- were so many things that I needed ulate, distinct edi- to understand through writing, torial and literary and those needs and desires quality. Flipping weren’t going to go away. through those “I am no longer convinced early copies, I that a writing program or recognize the an MFA program is the way fingerprints of forward. A good reader is nec- Maddie’s intel- essary, a library, and one’s own lectual curiosity stubbornness, humility, and cour- in the types of age with the work.” articles she selected.” Madeleine Thien completed her Under Thien, Ricepaper Masters degree in 2001 and relocated began exploring the diver- to Quebec City in 2005 after her Dutch- sity of writers and artists born husband, Willem Atsa, took a job who refused or could not there. be defined by cultural labels, marking a Allan Cho is a librarian at UBC and festival turning point in Madeleine Thien administrator at LiterASIAN Festival, Canada’s the tone and in- with her Giller first Pacific Rim Asian Canadian writers festival. prize in Toronto.

GEORGE PIMENTEL PHOTO / COURTESY OF THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE

25 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 FICTIONBC ROUND-UP WW I heroine • Adam Pottle, The Bus (Quattro Fiction $18) Land Rover John Wilson revisits World World • Shannon Mayer, Venom & Vanilla; I for his 32nd book, A Dangerous Mayer, Fangs & Fennel (47 North heroine Game (Doubleday $14.99), a novel $21.95 each) for ages 8-12, which pays tribute • Ahmad Danny Ramadan, The AS HIS TRIBUTE TO A MODEL OF LAND ROVER to the resistance and spy network Clothesline Swing (Nightwood $19.95) in Belgium called Le Dame Blanche known as the Defender—the pro- • Cary Fagan, Wolfie & Fly (Tundra (The White Lady) whose name was $19.99) Illustrations by Zoe Si. duction of which was discontinued in derived from a legend that predicted • Deborah Willis, The Dark and Other that the fall of the German monarchy 2016—Land Rover mechanical whiz Love Stories (Penguin Random House would occur with the appearance of a $29.95) woman dressed all in white. Ray Wood’s first novel, Stalking • Lori McNulty, Life on Mars (Goose By the end of World World I, there Lane $19.95 Geraldine (MW Books $33.95) fol- were an estimated 13,000 agents in • Susin Nielsen, Optimists Die First this underground resistance network, lows freelance journalist Giles Jack- (Penguin Random House $21.99) including many girls and women. • Janie Change, Dragon Springs Wilson’s protagonist is a teenaged son on a plum assignment to Africa Road (HarperAvenue $22.99) student nurse, Manon, who enjoys • Elle Wild, Strange Things to track down a specific, vintage cycling beautiful Bruges. After she Done (Dundurn $18.99) becomes a conduit for information Land Rover nicknamed Geraldine. • Anna Pitoniak, The Futures (Lee to the British, she uncovers crucial Boudreaux Books $34) While on the trail of its enigmatic details about where deadly German Alisa • Iona Whishaw, A Killer in King’s weaponry is stored—only to discover Smith Cove (Touchwood $16.95) owner, Sarah Oakes, Giles learns of that innocent people are being killed • Dan Dunaway, Heart Like a Wing on both sides of the front. Sarah’s character from ex-lovers, complice, never named, who assisted (Ronsdale $11.95) 978-0-385-68307-4 on some of his heists and Smith had • Susan J. Crockford, Eaten (Cre- friends, mechanics and even her a great aunt who worked as a code- ateSpace $21.95) cat, Horatio. WW II heroine breaker on the west coast during • David Funk, The Last Train to Len- In Alisa Smith’s debut novel, Speak- World War II. 978-1-77162-066-6 ingrad (CreateSpace $16.99) “If you’ve ever wondered how to easy (D&M $22.95), heroine Lena • Rachel M. Greenaway, Cold Girl Stillman works as an elite code- Also published (Dundurn $17.99) fix your vehicle’s water pump while breaker at the Esquimalt naval base • Eden Robinson, Son of a Trickster • Claire McCague, The Rosetta Man outside Victoria during WW II—and in a war in Eritrea or pondered how (Penguin Random House $32) (Edge $19.95) nobody knows she was formerly a • Elan Mastai, All Our Wrong Todays • Nathaniel G. Moore, Jettison, to winch a van out of muddy water,” member of a bank robbing outfit. Her (Penguin Random House $26) (Anvil $20) world turns topsy-turvy when her old Coast Reporter • Zoey Leigh Peterson, Next Year for • Martin West, Long Ride Yellow writes reviewer Jan underworld boss, Bill Bagley, is sen- Sure (Doubleday $24.95) (Anvil $20) tenced to hang. An infamous bank DeGrass, “then this book is for you.” • Mabel Hartley, A Sap- • Christopher Gudgeon, The Ency- robber in the 1930s named Bill phire Moon (Gentle clopedia of Lies (Anvil $20) Ray Wood is a Land Rover ex- Bagley did have a female ac- Soul $8.99) • Kat Rose, The Loss (CreateSpace pert who once explored the spine $13.13) • Robert Pepper-Smith, The Orchard of Africa on a Vespa Scooter. Now Keepers (NeWest Press $22.95) • Andrea Spalding, Finders Keep- he lives in a heritage ers (Dundurn $11.99) grocery store in West • Robyn Harding, The Party (Scout Press $26) Vancouver when he is not sailing a 37-foot Land Rover sloop or traveling afi cionado Ray Wood has made a the world in his el- Land Rover named Geraldine into a derly, Australian-built central character. Photo taken in Land Rover. Tanzania 9780995277809

26 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 review The pyrotechnic debut from ttwo-timewo-time JJourneyourney Prize nomineen FICTION FORMALDEHYDE & BURLAP Roy Innes’ The Extra Cadaver Murder has an opening that is hard to beat.

The Extra Cadaver Murder ory, from forty years earlier. He re- by Roy Innes (NeWest $15.95) called a dark-eyed, serious little girl calmly climbing into his examining chair. This image sparked his imagina- BY JAMES PALEY tion for the murder plot.

ICTURE THIS. A FIRST-YEAR MEDI- Inspector Coswell is assigned Cor- cal school class gathers poral Bostock, a female detective, to in the old anatomy lab at help with the investigation, which en- the University of British ables Innes to explore sexual harass- P ment within the RCMP. Columbia. Many have never even seen a dead Corporal James, who is gay, also body before—let alone cut into one. serves as a confidante to Corporal Soaked in formaldehyde and Bostock. The duo empathize with one MeetMMeetet LoriLori McNultyMcNullty at thethhe followingfollllowiingg VancouverVaannccoouuver events: wrapped in burlap, these cadavers another over the prejudices faced in their professional lives. are real. But wait a second. The med LaunchLauauncnchhPa Party Partrty InciteIncite students literally uncover a problem. Bostock proves to be an exemplary Why is there an extra corpse? officer at every turn, performing above 6:30 pm 7:30 pm At the outset of Roy Innes’ fourth and beyond Coswell’s expectations of Wednesday 15 March Wednesday 29 March Inspector Coswell novel, The Extra her. Gradually he is won over after his Book Warehouse Alice MacKay Room Cadaver Murder, we learn the un- initial dismay when she was assigned 4118 Main Street VPL Central Branch invited, very dead, very naked, extra to him. 350 West Georgia Street guest is Dr. Patrick Kelly, head of The investigation veers off campus UBC’s department of surgery. Given to locales around Vancouver. Eventu- ally an undercover visit to an Irish that he’s both a cruel perfectionist and for more events visit a drunken, gambling troublemaker, pub leads the team to Larry, a gang his murder is not as surprising as it member, whose boss, Conor Donohan, gooselane.com should be. is named by a prostitute as Kelly’s Six suspects ultimately emerge, gambling connection. each investigated with Coswell’s The three detectives also explore characteristic intensity. Kelly’s ex- Roy Innes’ old UBC stomping grounds wife could well have done him in for such as the student residence, the Pit his philandering. Or maybe it was Dr. Pub and the Endowment Lands, as Struthers, next in line for his job. well as Vancouver General Hospital 3 CATEGORIES | 3 CASH PRIZES | ONE DEADLINE Coswell, the great detective, is where Innes did residencies in internal slipping. On occasion, he’s actually medicine and then eye surgery. The Extra Cadaver Murder forgetting a suspect’s name. Whenever is a Corporal Bostock or Corporal James multi-faceted novel, with complex catch something he has missed, there’s characters and realistic details, dou- a double sting to his pride. He is only bling as a sympathetic portrayal of the 58 years old but he worries about early difficulties faced by women and gay Alzheimer’s disease. It doesn’t help officers in the RCMP. 978-1-926455-72-3 that he can’t keep abreast of technol- James Paley is a Vancouver ogy, even ignoring the convenience of freelance writer. the average smartphone. His formerly keen mind is further befuddled when he becomes besot- ted by the victim’s ex-wife, also a professor in the medical school and a stunningly beautiful woman. ✫ READERS OF ROY INNES’ FIRST three mysteries had urged him to generate a plot utilizing his medical back- ground. Recalling his own medical training at UBC, he had a great beginning $3,000 but got stuck after that IN CASH PRIZES opening scene. Then an unexpected FICTION MAXIMUM 3,000 WORDS email on Innes’ website CREATIVE NON-FICTION brought back a clear mem- MAXIMUM 4,000 WORDS POETRY SUITE OF 5 RELATED POEMS

Roy Innes during his days at UBC as DEADLINE SUBMIT: a medical student. FOR ENTRIES: MAY 15, 2017 www.subterrain.ca INFORMATION: [email protected]

ENTRY FEE: $2750 INCLUDES A ONE-YEAR SUBTERRAIN SUBSCRIPTION! PER ENTRY YOU MAY SUBMIT AS MANY ENTRIES IN AS MANY CATEGORIES AS YOU LIKE

PAINTING BY REBECCA CHAPERON www.thechaperon.ca

27 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 review FICTION

The Performance before Christmas so Hana more than she cares for him. concern for the vagrant Jac- with her illness, her father will by Ann Eriksson (D&M $22.95) seeks out Jacqueline with a As Hana’s mother’s demen- queline comes to the fore when remain afar for reasons that sleeping bag. When her char- tia moves towards a crescendo Jacqueline is badly injured in should not be revealed here. JAMES PALEY ity is refused, Hana remains of its own, there is palpable a mugging. Hana tracks her Will Jacqueline prefer the BY persistent, going so far as to tension between Hana and down in the hospital as the streets? Will Hana reconcile ANN ERIKSSON’ S FIFTH NOVEL sleep outside with Jacqueline her sister Clare regarding staff is about to release her, re- with her sister? The Performance contrasts the under a tree in Central Park. their mother. Hana must gardless of her poor condition, The Performance is a wise worlds of elite classical piano In the morning the obstinate pay a price for being the star during a harsh New York win- and deeply rendered novel with urban homelessness. Hana old woman relents and accepts pianist when she goes home ter. Hana puts her up at her about Hana’s evolution be- Knight, a privileged and talented an offer of coffee and a shower. to visit. The Knights are a stately Manhattan apartment. yond the ambitions of a self- young pianist, develops a tenu- ous friendship with Jacqueline, Meanwhile Hana is getting musical family. The children By this point, it would be centred artist. Chopin can a homeless woman who collects closer to Mrs F.’s son, Michael, improvise scores with each giving away too much to say be perfected; charity cannot. empty bottles and cans to buy a confident rich kid who effort- other, play songs backwards what happens next—so let’s Ultimately she gains an under- tickets to Hana’s concerts. Hana lessly sweeps Hana off her feet as an exercise, performing just say it’s an astonishing standing that empathy is the is blessed with a magnificent in only three meetings. Kenji mini-concerts. It’s a playful and disturbing twist in the soul-food for decency. Steinway piano, a place at Juil- quits school and goes back but competitive atmosphere. power dynamic between the 978-1-77162-125-0 liard, a Manhattan apartment to Tokyo, rudderless and de- The contrast between Ha- two women. and a patron who arranges ev- erything, including a European feated, but Michael will soon na’s inability to take care of Just as her mother remains James Paley is a Vancouver tour, but there is a dark mystery discover Hana loves her piano her mother and her increasing on the periphery of Hana’s life freelance writer. from her past that needs to be faced. She puts her privileged life at risk to do so. ANA KNIGHT’ S THE mother is in the grips of de- Hmentia when the story be- gins. Clare, Hana’s sister, PianistPianist takes care of her mother back in Vancouver. Hana tells ev- eryone her father is dead. As Hana ascends towards & THE stardom as a classical pianist, she feels some guilt about her aloof position in her family as a pampered musician with a rare level of talent and a Knitter Chopin Knitter passion for , but she tempers such feelings with thoughts of her struggles dur- ing her career’s outset. Without any money of her own, Hana’s music career is being supported by her patron, Mrs. Flynn, whose billions come from mining. As one of New York’s most promi- nent elite, Mrs. F.—as she is sometimes called—provides Hana with everything from her apartment to her wages and her performances. As her star rises, Hana starts to take more notice of New York’s homeless popula- tion. In particular, her atten- tion is drawn to an older wom- an who reminds her vaguely of her own mother. This woman often waits outside Hana’s concerts to see her. Initially Hana only identifies her as ‘The Knitter.’ Although she is clearly im- poverished, this knitter named Jacqueline is a proud woman who refuses any help, no mat- AA wisewise ter how badly it is needed. When Hana runs into Jac- andand deeplydeeply queline at Riverside and 72nd rendered Street, she tries to talk to her rendered and offers her some money, novel,novel, but Jacqueline packs her things and walks off without TheThe PerformancePerformance a word. Jacqueline will only accept donations in exchange byby for her hand-knitted clothing. AnnAnn ErikssonEriksson As for a love life, Hana has one friend remaining from her time in school, a Japanese cellist named Kenji. The two Ann Eriksson of them slept together a few lives on times. Hana broke it off, to Thetis Island. prevent any complicated feel- ings. At Kenji’s insistence, they sleep together again but Hana wants to keep her distance. There is a dump of snow

28 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 review FICTION

The Griffi n in the Griffi n’s partly because Scobie visited Wood by Stephen Scobie Germany several times in the (Ekstasis Editions $29.95) 1980s and ’90s as a poet/ lecturer and guest professor BY CHERIE THIESSEN CANUCK SPY IN of Canadian literature. “At first, these visits were IKIPEDIA WILL mostly to Kiel,” he says, “but tell you, a GREIFSWALDGREIFSWALD later concentrated on Grei- griffin is a fswald. And I have been to Wmythical There is intrigue afoot in Lübeck, and to the border site, creature which is the setting for the with the head and wings of “Griffin’s Wood” as the Berlin Wall first and last chapters of the an eagle and the body of a book. I was also in Lübeck for lion. It is typically depicted is about to fall in 1989. a weekend just two weeks after with pointed ears and with the the Wall came down.” eagle’s legs taking the place of Scobie has returned several the forelegs. times since. “Both Kiel and In northern Germany, on Greifswald are cities very dear the shores of the Baltic, Grei- to my heart—due perhaps to fswald is a university town their proximity to the sea, named after a legendary Griffin and the cleansing effect of the Stephen Scobie who lived in a tree in the town, Baltic winds.” & Berlin Wall seizing and devouring children Stephen Scobie has been and eventually chased away invited to speak abroad be- centuries ago by monks. arising from that modern, ✫ and disregards orders. cause he is diversely talented Hence Greifswald in Eng- technological griffin. It’s THE TALE BEGINS ON A DARK AND Ultimately Carpenter will as a critic, scholar and poet lish means Griffin’s Wood. 1989. The Berlin Wall is stormy night in Lübeck as meet up with a family member who won the Governor Gen- In that town lives Helga coming down. There is confu- a captured western agent whose shadow has always eral’s Award for Poetry in Brandt, a university employee sion and intrigue in the two named Peter Felsen is about loomed large in his life. 1980. He has also written and informer for the Ministry Germanys. to be released from the eastern This novel is dark, funny, critical studies on Bob Dylan for State Security in East Ger- Frank Carpenter, spy, is a side of the infamous border. and—at times—intentionally and Leonard Cohen. many. She believes the Griffin relatively new Canadian intel- Group 7 has gathered to re- predictable. Scobie skillfully Scobie is not known pri- has returned to devour the ligence officer based in West ceive him. Shots ring out. empowers the reader with in- marily as a novelist. Tense next generation—only it has Germany who has recently It appears Peter Felsen has formation the characters don’t and wisely drawn, The Griffin resurfaced under the guise been assigned to Group 7, a been killed. But who fired the have. (We know the history of in the Griffin’s Wood is his of a dicey nuclear reactor in bungling attempt to coordinate shots and why? It becomes the Berlin Wall; they don’t.) first and probably only novel, nearby Lubmin. intelligence operations along the inexperienced Carpenter’s Mostly I enjoyed being im- he says. In Stephen Scobie’s ‘spy the Baltic Coast for France, job to go under cover into East mersed in a realistic sense That would be a shame. fantasy,’ The Griffin in the the USA, Western Germany, Germany to find the answers. of place. Greifswald, where 978-1-77171-105-0 Griffin’s Wood, the fate of Britain and Canada. No one But before he gets there, he Carpenter spends much of Europe, and perhaps even takes Canada’s role seriously, falls in love, survives an at- his mission, is portrayed with Cherie Thiessen reviews humanity, hinges on events including its young agent. tempt on his life, is betrayed precision and empathy. That’s fiction from Pender Island.

Louis Riel: Finding John Rae Alice Jane Hamilton Let Justice Be Done Hamilton follows Rae as he discovers not only the missing link David Doyle to the Northwest Passage but evidence of cannibalism within the Franklin Expedition—his report to the Admiralty sending shockwaves throughout Victorian England—and into his later life as he fights to restore his reputation.

978-1-55380-481-9 (PRINT) ¼ 978-1-55380-482-6 (EBOOK) 6 x 9 ¼ 230 pp ¼ $21.95 Collecting Silence Ulrike Narwani In this moving debut volume of poetry, Narwani travels paths of disconnect and connect, loss and renewal, from North America to Asia, with a stop at the Berlin Wall—listening to the silence in which our deepest experiences talk to us in a “language we all know without speaking.” In this re-enactment of his trial, Riel is 978-1-55380-487-1 (PRINT) ¼ 978-1-55380-488-8 (EBOOK) ¼ ¼ finally given the opportunity to respond 6 x 9 94 pp $15.95 to his conviction for treason. Using new historical research, Doyle shows how The Nor’Wester John A. Macdonald created a show trial, and David Starr we see for the first time Riel’s inside political A Scottish boy has to flee to Canada, where he is taken on by manoeuvring at Batoche and Red River— the North West Company and is sent by brigade canoe across showing why he is now a Father of Manitoba the country. Here he joins Simon Fraser on his epic 1808 journey and deserving of exoneration in 2017. to the Pacific down what Fraser mistakes for the Columbia, With 15 b&w photos & maps. encountering death, danger and treason along the way.

978-1-55380-496-3 (PRINT) 978-1-55380-493-2 (PRINT) ¼ 978-1-55380-494-9 (EBOOK) 978-1-55380-497-0 (EBOOK) 5-1⁄4 x7-5⁄8 ¼ 214 pp ¼ $11.95 6 x 9 ¼ 240 pp ¼ $24.95

Available at your favourite bookstore ¼ Distributed by PGC/Raincoast Ronsdale Press Visit our website at www.ronsdalepress.com

29 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 FICTIONBC ROUND-UP

International death Gail Anderson-Dargatz In Not a Clue (Touchwood $14.95), the with a ghostly image in the second installment in Janet Brons’ hallway. She will be at the Forsyth & Hay mystery series, the head Word On The Lake Writers of the Canadian High Commission’s Festival, May 19-21 trade section has been found brutally in Salmon Arm. murdered in London. Detective Ste- phen Hay of Scotland Yard teams up with RCMP Inspector Liz Forsyth to investigate an international conspiracy and militant nationalism. A second death raises the stakes. From Ottawa and London, the duo investigate the puzzling murders of two young women —a Canadian backpacker in London and a Chechen woman shot by a hid- den assassin during a protest outside the Russian embassy in Ottawa. Brons had a seventeen-year career in the Ca- nadian Foreign Service with postings in Kuala Lumpur, Warsaw, and Moscow. 9781771511476 Sleeping murder According to Publishers Weekly, Hough- ton Mifflin Harcourt signed a six-figure deal to acquire Eileen Cook’s twelfth book, With Malice (HMH $17.99 US) a YA, psychological suspense novel about the misfortunes of 18-year-old Jill Char- ron who survives a terrible mishap while on vacation in idyllic Italy. Evacuated by her wealthy father, she wakes in a North American hospital in a leg cast, with stitches, unable to remember the previous six weeks of her life, let alone the fatal car crash that results in her be- ing accused of murder. After she needs a doctor, then a lawyer, she needs a press agent. North Van’s Cook is a mentor at SFU Writers Studio. 9780544805095 PHOTO

KRUPP Painting dusk Winter Wren ($18) by Theresa Kish- MITCH MOREMORE TOTO LIFELIFE kan, a novella set on Vancouver Island, has been released via her new imprint for novellas called Fish Gotta Swim THAN MEETS THE EYE Editions. In 1974, in the disrupted midst of her life as a painter in France, Grace Oakden comes home to Canada Gail Anderson-Dargatz’s affinity for the inexplicable and buys a cabin on a west coast beach. A friendship with the dying, results in ghosts and spirits in her stories. embittered son of a famous artefact col- lector, and an affair with a local potter In Gail Anderson-Dargatz’s breakthrough my mother said, ‘We’re not real.’ But they both felt so working in the Bernard Leach tradition, real, so very real. I hugged them and said, ‘I miss you novel, The Cure for Death by Lightning, a buttress her awakening engagement both so much.’ with a chosen place and a discovered female character is chased by a transforming Gail Anderson-Dargatz woke, heart-wrenched, purpose: to paint the view at dusk. convinced she had spent a few precious minutes with 978-0-9780054-5-0 spirit. In A Recipe for Bees, a female protago- her parents. “These are the moments in which we say our good- nist travels through time. In her Turtle Valley, byes,” she says. a woman and her family are haunted by ghosts. So it’s an obvious question to ask: Do you believe in ghosts? So fans of her fiction shouldn’t be too surprised to “No,” she says. “I don’t believe our souls survive learn that in her latest novel, The Spawning Grounds death. But, yes. We see the ghosts of those we love in (Knopf Canada $32)—very significantly set in the Ad- our dreams, and in our grief, and we see them walking ams River area of the B.C. interior—there’s a wandering on the street. They appear at the foot of our bed in soul who slips back and forth from “watery boundaries” the wee hours hovering in that space between sleep in the river to inhabit the bodies of people. and wakefulness. Fiction and dreams are close cousins. And so, as the “Sometimes these encounters frighten us. But for late writer Margaret Thompson pointed out, ‘magic the most part I believe that within these final visits with realism’—premonition, dreams, synchronicity, second our beloved dead we find solace and closure. I know sight—is an integral part of her novels, as much as her for a fact my mother’s spirit lives on, in the stories I rural B.C. landscapes. tell, in the bits of wisdom I pass on to my children. “In the years immediately after my mother died,” “I see my mother in my own lovely daughter, in her Anderson-Dargatz recalls, “I dreamed of her. In these haunting grey-blue eyes, in her grace, her humour, her dreams, we often walked a familiar street and talked will, and her ability to read the emotion of a room. I about writing, about my kids. My mother offered ad- know when my life ends, my daughter will carry my Theresa Kishkan will be vice as she always had. Then we embraced and she stories and sensibilities forward. She will see me in her in Salmon Arm at the left me, again. Once, my father was with her. In one own children. And just as I carried on my conversa- Word On The Lake Writers of those lucid dreaming moments that are so rare, I tion with my own mother long after she was gone, my Festival, May 19-21. asked, ‘How can you be here? You’re both dead.’ And daughter will visit me within her dreams.” 978-0345810816 continued on page 33

30 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 review FICTION Carmen Aguirre • Najwa Ali • Gail Anderson-Dargatz • Elizabeth Bachinsky • Marie Annharte Baker • Juliane Okot Bitek • Monique Bosco • Kate Braid • Nicole Brossard • Cyndia Cole • Ivan Coyote AWOL IN • Lucas Crawford • Su Croll • Lynn Crosbie • Lorna Crozier • Danielle Daniel • Amber Dawn • Junie Désil • Sandy Frances Duncan • Dorothy Elias • Marian Engel • Christine Estima • Tanya Evanson • CBSCBSB
àOEMBZ
r
$ZOUIJB
'MPPE
r
$IBOUBM
(JCTPO
r
-FPOB
(PN
Ikea • Jane Eaton Hamilton • Wasela Hiyate • Nancy Holmes • Renovation or teardown: Anna Humphrey • Mindy Hung • Aislinn Hunter • Carole Itter He loves me, he loves me not. • Amy Jones • Helen Kuk • Matea Kulic • Naoko Kumagai • Fiona Tinwei Lam • Doretta Lau • Evelyn Lau • Jen Sookfong Lee Teardown by Clea Young into her supplicant role. Are they (Freehand $19.95) reverting to old programming, or are • Tracey Lindberg • Dorothy Livesay • Annabel Lyon • Vera Manuel • Pete’s meanness and power over Mia Daphne Marlatt • Robin Blackburn McBride • Carmelita McGrath BY irrevocable? SHARON KURTZ Parenting takes centre stage in • Cara-Lyn Morgan • Erín Moure • Susan Musgrave • HE TWELVE STORIES IN CLEA “Chaperone” when Holt’s daughter, Alessandra Naccarato • Kellee Ngan • Monica Pacheco Young’s debut collection Beth, and her school friends push the Teardown are largely boundaries of the rules on a school • M. NourbeSe Philip • Helen Potrebenko • Sina Queyras • concerned with friend- trip. Holt is forced to confront his par- Eden Robinson • Constance Rooke • Rebecca Rosenblum ship and betrayal. Best enting abilities. Tfriends can become strangers, or Rachel and Rory, the characters in • Devyani Saltzman • Sigal Samuel • Nilofar Shidmehr • Carol Shields • worse, sworn enemies. “Firestorm” are attempting to rebuild Serena Shipp • Carolyn Smart • Susan Stenson • Anna Swanson There are childhood friends, jealous a trust that they developed in high friends, friends who sleep with hus- school. Rachel is not only the victim of • Souvankham Thammavongsa • Audrey Thomas • Ayelet Tsabari • bands, friends who were never really her high school sweetheart but also her friends at all. best friend. What will Rachel’s revenge Chimwemwe Undi • Betsy Warland • jia qing wilson-yang Some stories centre on love: love look like, and who will be the target of lost, love discovered, the love of sib- her revenge? lings, the love of children and babies, A plastic, pregnant body and her and love betrayed. pretend plastic baby become a prop in Babies, thinking about having “Congratulations and Regrets.” Feel- babies, and other people’s babies are ings of the protagonist are hurt by an a central theme to a number of the ex-roommate, a forced move, a strange stories. In the title story “Teardown” room in a strange house with a strange Marni is stressed during her last days landlord, a temporary job and, yes, of pregnancy. As she and her partner misplaced love for a plastic baby. visit IKEA, they find themselves quar- The surprising possibility of ro- reling over a light fixture. Sometimes mance infuses the final story, “What this sort of domestic meltdown in a are You Good at, What Do You Like to public place can be forgotten; but other Do?” when the main character, who times it can be a game-changer. is looking for work and love in all the With Young’s deft handling, we wrong places, finds herself being pur- realize that one partner wants to put sued by a loveable character as a result down roots, to improve their home; the of her job search. other is not entirely keen on making The main characters are usually in a a nest. Marni disappears; so Marni’s time of flux, moving forward, sometimes male partner and the IKEA employee, by choice and other times driven by the Julian, try to find her. Is their relation- desires of others, as they are thrust into ship going to get renovated? Or is it on new and unfamiliar territory. How they the verge of a teardown? deal, or don’t deal, with these new situ- MAKING ROOM In “Juvenile,” one person’s pain is ations provides the storyline. another person’s pleasure. Pete holds These stories in Teardown proceed the power; Mia has none. When they at a quick pace; rich in complexity, Forty Years of Room Magazine meet again on a BC Ferry after ten description and dialogue. They can be depressing or uplifting, and often years apart, you’d expect some grow- Making Room: Forty Years of Room Magazine celebrates the history and ing up would have happened. But Pete conclude with a surprise ending. The remains a dislikeable dude. Mia is so complexity of relationships is at the evolution of Canadian literature and feminism with some of the most exciting shaken by see- core of all of them—at times raw, BOE
UIPVHIUQSPWPLJOH
àDUJPO
QPFUSZ
BOE
FTTBZT
UIF
NBHB[JOF
IBT
QVCMJTIFE
ing him and other times romantic and hope- that she ful. Some stories readers may hate, since it was founded in 1975 as Room of One’s Own. This collection includes slips some they will love, but none of QPFNT
BCPVU
NFO
OPU
UP
CF
GBMMFO
JO
MPWF
XJUI
USBOT
XPNBOIPPE
UIF
NPSOJOH back these stories can be dismissed BGUFS
QJMM
UIF
USBVNB
PG
CFJOH
SBQFE
CZ
B
SPNBOUJD
QBSUOFS
BOE
B
USJCVUF
UP
UIF
as boring. Teardown succeeds by revealing how scary and XPNFO
XIP
XFSF
NVSEFSFE
JO
UIF
.POUSÊBM
.BTTBDSF
*O
POF
TUPSZ
B
HSPVQ
PG
resilient love can be. sexual assault survivors meet weekly and come up with a unique way to help Clea Young’s work has been included three times QPMJDF
DBQUVSF
UIFJS
BTTBJMBOU
XIJMF
JO
BOPUIFS
B
EJOOFS
QBSUZ
UVSOT
UP
XJUUZ
in The Journey Prize Sto- UBML
PG
SBDJTN
TFYJTN
QPSOPHSBQIZ
BOE
UJNF
USBWFM
0OF
BVUIPS
SFDPVOUT
IPX
ries, as well as the pub- TIF
MFBSOFE
NVMUJQMF
MBOHVBHFT
JO
PSEFS
UP
DPOOFDU
XJUI
IFS
GBUIFS
BOPUIFS
lications Event, Grain, The Fiddlehead, The reluctantly walks down the aisle in order to stay in Canada with the man she Malahat Review, and MPWFT
'PS
GPSUZ
ZFBST
Room has created a space for diverse voices. As Amber Room . 978-988298-01-6 %BXO
TBZT
JO
IFS
PQFOJOH
FTTBZ
i5IFSF
JT
Room
8F
EP
àUu Sharon Kurtz is a Vancouver writer. Now Available in Bookstores and at: roommagazine.com/anthology

Cover art by Emily Cooper Clea Young

31 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 BY AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR TANYA LLOYD KYI

illustrated by Belle Wuthrich

Who is watching you … and why? “‘Valuable’ is an understatement.”—School Library Journal Ages 10–13 / 978-1-55451-910-1 pb / 978-1-55451-911-8 hc Sample chapter available at www.annickpress.com

British Columbia Historical Federation annick press | available from your favourite bookseller

Light within the Shadows ǀŝƐƵĂůĂƌƟƐƚ͛ƐŵĞŵŽŝƌ Pnina Granirer

20 plus

varieties ϮϱLJĞĂƌƐĂŐŽ͕WŶŝŶĂ'ƌĂŶŝƌĞƌ ĐŽͲĨŽƵŶĚĞĚƌƟƐƚƐŝŶŽƵƌ Yoka, DŝĚƐƚ͕ƚŚĞĮƌƐƚsĂŶĐŽƵǀĞƌ the beekeeper, KƉĞŶ^ƚƵĚŝŽƐǁĂůŬ͘ is engrossed in ƵƌŝŶŐŚĞƌϱϮLJĞĂƌƐŝŶ Mark sĂŶĐŽƵǀĞƌ͕ƐŚĞŚĂƐĞdžŚŝďŝƚĞĚ Winston’s ǁŝĚĞůLJ͕ďŽƚŚŶĂƟŽŶĂůůLJĂŶĚ Bee Time: ŝŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůůLJ͘ Lessons From the Hive 978-1-926991-84-9 / $24.95 (Harvard U Press). 308 + 16 col pgs / May 2017

dŚŝƐůŝǀĞůLJĂŶĚŵŽǀŝŶŐŵĞŵŽŝƌŽĨĂŶĂƌƟƐƚ͕ĂǁŝĨĞĂŶĚĂŵŽƚŚĞƌƵŶĨŽůĚƐ ĨƌŽŵZŽŵĂŶŝĂ͕/ƐƌĂĞů͕WĂƌŝƐ͕ƚŚĞh^͕DŽŶƚƌĞĂůĂŶĚsĂŶĐŽƵǀĞƌ͘/ƚĚĞƐĐƌŝďĞƐ ŚĞƌĞdžƉĞƌŝĞŶĐĞƐǁŝƚŚǁĂƌƐĂŶĚƵƉŚĞĂǀĂůƐ͕ŚƵŐĞůŝĨĞĐŚĂŶŐĞƐĂŶĚĐŚĂůůĞŶŐŝŶŐ ƉŽůŝƟĐĂů͕ ƐŽĐŝĂů ĂŶĚ ĐƵůƚƵƌĂů ƐŝƚƵĂƟŽŶƐ͘ dŽůĚǁŝƚŚ ǁƌLJ ŽƉƟŵŝƐŵ͕ ŚƵŵŽƵƌ ĂŶĚĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶĨŽƌůŝĨĞ͕ƚŚŝƐŵĞŵŽŝƌŐŝǀĞƐĂŶŝŶƐŝĚĞǀŝĞǁŽĨŚŽǁĂƌƚŝƐ ĨŽƌŐĞĚĂŶĚƌĞůĞĂƐĞĚŝŶƚŽƚŚĞǁŽƌůĚ͘'ƌĂŶŝƌĞƌ͛ƐǁŽƌŬƐĂƌĞĨŽƵŶĚŝŶŵƵƐĞƵŵ ĐŽůůĞĐƟŽŶƐŝŶĂŶĂĚĂ͕^ƉĂŝŶ͕ŚŝůĞĂŶĚ/ƐƌĂĞů͘ dǁŽŽƚŚĞƌŬƐƉƵďůŝƐŚĞĚŽŶ'ƌĂŶŝƌĞƌ͗dŚĞdƌŝĂůƐŽĨǀĞďLJWŶŝŶĂ'ƌĂŶŝƌĞƌ ;'ĂĞĂWƌĞƐƐͿĂŶĚWŽƌƚƌĂŝƚŽĨĂŶƌƟƐƚďLJdĞĚ>ŝŶĚďĞƌŐ;ZŽŶƐĚĂůĞWƌĞƐƐͿ

#5 - 1046 Mason St. Victoria, B.C. V8T 1A3 New Authors WƵďůŝƐŚĞĚĂŶĚĚŝƐƚƌŝďƵƚĞĚďLJ (just off Cook Street) • Tel: 1-250-384-0905 are always welcome! Hand sorted for premium quality • Full selection of exotic teas • B.C. honey and Belgian chocolates • Mail orders welcome ŽǁŶůŽĂĚŽƵƌĐĂƚĂůŽŐƵĞĂƚ ŐƌĂŶǀŝůůĞŝƐůĂŶĚƉƵďůŝƐŚŝŶŐ͘ĐŽŵ www.yokascoffee.com WůĞĂƐĞĐŽŶƚĂĐƚƵƐĂƚŝŶĨŽΛŐƌĂŶǀŝůůĞŝƐůĂŶĚƉƵďůŝƐŚŝŶŐ͘ĐŽŵ dĞů͗ϲϬϰͲϲϴϴͲϬϯϮϬdŽůů&ƌĞĞ͗ϭͲϴϳϳͲϲϴϴͲϬϯϮϬ&ŽůůŽǁΛ'/W>ŬƐ

32 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 FICTIONBC ROUND-UP

Ahmad Danny Ramadan was Grand Marshal at Syria to Canada the Gay Pride Parade

FORMER SYRIAN REFUGEE AHMAD DANNY RAMADAN OF VAN- in Vancouver. couver is a journalist with bylines in the Wash- ington Post, The Guardian and Foreign Policy. He has also been Grand Marshal for Vancouver’s Gay Pride Parade. Prior to his first novel in English, The Clothesline Swing (Nightwood $19.95), he published two collections of short stories in Arabic. The Clothesline Swing draws inspiration from Arabian tales in One Thousand and One Nights, as two lovers lament their separation from Syria. From the mountains of Syria, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the characters describe jour- neys through the valleys of Lebanon, the seas of Turkey and the heat of Egypt before reaching Canada. Hakawati, a storyteller, tells fables to his dying male partner. Meanwhile Death, a looming character in a dark cloak, shares a house with the two men, eavesdropping on their secrets. 978-0-88971-332-1

continued from page 30 her hunt for a silver mine. Upon her civilian population is forced to evacuate Open relationship discovery of another gunshot victim their homes. After three days of walk- Zoey Leigh Peterson has published in an abandoned mine, she fears she ing, the Mollen family take refuge in Being gay in Iraq her first novel, Next Year, For Sure could be next. All eyes are on the dams, an empty barn for the remaining eight God in Pink, the debut novel by Hasan (Penguin Random House $22) about but she discovers the true threat lies months of the war. Namir, won the Lambda Literary Award longtime romantic partners Kathryn elsewhere. 978-0-9949377-0-4 During the “Hunger Winter” of in the category of best gay novel at an and Chris who ex- 1944-1945, the Mollen family survived awards ceremony in New York in 2016. periment with an on turnips, beets and acorns, and Previously it was named to the “Globe Surviving the Nazis open relationship, kept their secret radio hooked up to a 100” list of the best books of 2015 by Jack Dixon’s The Barn (Friesen Press which leads them Gestapo power line. A true story of per- The Globe and Mail. God in Pink (Ar- $16.99) describes the ordeals and brav- to reconsider every- severance and triumph, the Mollens, senal $17.95) is about Ramy, a young ery of the Mollens, a family of nine in thing they thought emboldened by listening to news on the Iraqi boy who is gay. Ramy struggles Arnhem, Holland, after their country they knew about BBC, ultimately return to the empty to find a balance between his sexual was invaded by the German army in love. The story shell of their house. 978-1-4602-3970-4 yearnings and his culture. Having lost May of 1940. The novel is based on Zoey Leigh takes place over his parents, he lives with his strict interviews that Dixon conducted with Peterson a year, and is at brother and sister-in-law, who pressure members of the Mollen family. 19th century noir times tumultuous, Ramy to marry. Eventually Ramy turns Forced to work for the Nazi Oc- B.C. novelists John Gray and Ian revelatory and also funny. Peterson to Ammar, a sheikh at a local mosque. cupation forces because he owned Weir have set dark, suspense novels was born in England, grew up in the A searing exploration of the world a garage, the father uses his wits to in nineteenth century London; now United States, and eventually moved of gay Muslims in Iraq, God in Pink resist as best he can, helplessly watch- Steven Price has followed suit with a to Vancouver. 978-0-385-68677-8 contains graphic depictions of violence ing as Jewish neighbours are brutally highly touted second novel, edited by juxtaposed against moments of beauty. arrested. the late Ellen Seligman. Partially set in Weird & wonderful Born in Iraq in 1987, Hasan Namir With the onset of the Battle of Arn- London during the 1880s, By Gaslight With her first short fiction collec- of Vancouver came to Canada at a hem in September of 1944, the entire (Penguin Random House $35) involves tion, Double Dutch (House of Anansi young age and holds a BA in English murder and mayhem $19.95), Laura Trunkey, who grew up from Simon Fraser University. with detective William in the Fairfield neighborhood of Victo- 978-1-55152-607-2 Pinkerton embroiled ria, was shortlisted for the $5,000 City Slocan lockdown in mysteries that lead of Victoria Butler Book Prize. Appropri- Katherine Prairie is the first author to the battlefields of ately dubbed as weird and wonderful, to be published by a new imprint for the U.S. Civil War and Trunkey’s stories can delve into bizarre mysteries and suspense novels, Stone- the diamond mines of storylines: An elephant named Topsy drift Press, based in Vancouver. Set South Africa. is killed on Coney Island by Thomas in the Slocan Valley, her first novel, Married to novel- Edison in 1903. Ronald Reagan’s body Thirst (Stonedrift $17.95), depicts a ist Esi Edugyan, Price double falls in love with the first lady. ‘lockdown’ of the Slocan Valley by U.S./ was instrumental in the A single mother believes her toddler is Canada forces to protect the Colum- process that resulted the reincarnation of a terrorist. A man bia River dams in the wake of a failed in her second novel, grieves for his wife after a bear takes bombing attempt at the Keenleyside Half-Blood Blues, being over her body. Other stories are touch- Dam that resulted in the shooting published in Canada. It ing and realistic: A young deaf girl visits deaths of three teens. A female geologist went on to win the Giller Niagara Falls before she goes blind. Prize in 2011. named Alex Graham evades military Steven Price will be at The Federation of BC Writ- 9781770898776 patrols to slip into a restricted zone in ers Spring Writes Festival (Nanaimo, April 27-30). 9780771069239 continued on page 35

33 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 review FICTION

Waiting for the Cyclone by Leesa Dean Alison, on holiday (Brindle & Glass $19.95) in Mexico with her husband, drinks too LEESA DEAN’S WAITING FOR THE Cyclone describes how contem- much and wakes porary girls and young women are mostly failing to establish up in bed beside a stable relationships. The millen- stranger, unable to nials in her thirteen stories are yearning to find dependable and recall what happened loving partners, but instead they encounter faithless lovers, sexual between them. predators and abusers who offer no shelter from the coming storm. more dangerous places in the Here Joan Givner responds to Middle East. The mothers in Dean’s debut collection. several stories, suffering from an unspecified but unbearable EESA DEAN’S FIRST STO- malaise, take refuge in drugs ry, ‘The Cyclone,’ or alcohol, or abandon their sets the tone. In- families. Women who drink creasingly severe become easy prey in a world weather conditions of sexual predators. Lare a given for us all; at the Amy in ‘Proverbs’ seeks same time ‘The Cyclone’ is also revenge for her lover’s infidel- the name of a Coney Island ity by having a casual date, roller-coaster that offers the only to find she has linked up most terrifying experience of with a sadistic rapist. Leslie, danger in an amusement park. FINDING THE OTHER HALF OF a college teacher, terminates As the narrator and Mike, an affair involving sadomas- her lover, stand in line to ride ochistic games, and is stalked on The Cyclone, they watch by her former partner. Alison, the couple ahead of them, THEORANGE on holiday in Mexico with her who are deaf, incongruously husband, drinks too much matched in size, shape and and wakes up in bed beside a skin colour, and yet they ap- How millennials are stranger, unable to recall what pear to be happily married; happened between them. they communicate vigorously struggling with love Leigh, who has recovered in sign language. Mike, who from being dumped, is per- Leesa Dean teaches believes in signs, takes them English and creative suaded to travel to Guatemala as an auspicious omen that he writing at Selkirk with her former lover, and finds and the narrator will have a College in Nelson. herself once more abused similar enduring relationship. by him. Erika feels bereaved Like other lovers in these The refrain from his lyric for from him until she can tell him As in the first story, there after losing the friendship of pages, initial contact was a song of that same name is face to face in order to gauge are ominous signs. Marco her lover after she ends their made through the internet. At an invitation from a woman his reaction. might well be shocked to sexual relationship. He drifts their first meeting, they kiss to a broken man, “Come in… During the Halifax storm, discover that the symmetry away from her after marrying long and passionately and I’ll give ya shelter from the she meets Patrick who is of their relationship will be and becoming a devoted father. become a public spectacle. A storm.” secretly planning to leave changed by the birth of a In general, friendships voice in the crowd cries out, We meet Chelsea who is sit- Canada for good in child. Meanwhile, seem to fare better than love “Look, they’re in love,” as if ting out a hurricane in Halifax, order to escape the Chelsea’s words “I affairs. A teenage girl, who something miraculous is tak- anxiously awaiting the return stifling love of his hope I never have a leaves her group home to cross ing place. In the words of T.S. of her lover. They had a brief, mother. Shocked kid like you,” hover the country in search of the Eliot, “Signs are taken for intense love affair in Mexico, by his ruthless in her mind. mother who abandoned her, wonders.” At the end of the and she fondly remembers the treatment of his Between these finds a supportive friend in ride, a tragic incident augurs night they took shelter from mother, Chelsea two stories, elev- a homeless street performer, a different outcome. The Cy- driving rain inside a temple tells him, “I hope JOAN en others ring the temporarily living in a bus. clone is told from the point of among the ruins of an ancient I never have a kid changes on the Millennials these days, it view of a narrator two years Mayan civilization. like you.” GIVNER torments of love. would appear, yearn for love after the carnival ride. Marco is on a cargo ship Marco has returned to port Flight from impossible circum- only to discover that it offers Dean’s collection is book- and repeatedly postpones his and is heading to the airport stances is a recurrent motif. no safe haven from the coming ended by ‘Shelter from the return, saying that he needs to fly to Halifax. He is carrying Some characters cross Can- global environmental catas- Storm’—a title that gains to make more money. Mean- a ring, engraved with part of a ada or leave the country alto- trophe. 9781927366509 some unanticipated topicality while, Chelsea is withholding Spanish phrase, eres mi media gether, seeking escape. Latin from the Nobel Prize award for a secret from him: she is preg- naranja, meaning “you are the America is the destination of Joan Givner reviews literature going to Bob Dylan. nant. She is keeping the news other half of my orange.” choice, though some head to from Victoria. Make the most of life with a cruise

MAKEMAKE THE MOST OF YOUR CRUISE WITH OUR BOOKS ColourCol photography City & port maps Author Anne GGiantia colour pullout map Ship docking locations Vipond Alaska By Cruise Ship – 8th edition Caribbean By Cruise Ship – 8th edition Hawaii By Cruise Ship – 3rd edition MediterraneanMe By Cruise Ship – New 7th edition NorthernNo Europe By Cruise Ship – New 2nd ed A journal of serious Panama Canal By Cruise Ship – 5th edition non-fiction about B.C.

Advisory Panel: Jean Barman, Wade Davis, FORFO BOATERS EXPLORING THE B.C. COAST – Cole Harris, Hugh Johnston, Patricia Roy, BESTB ANCHORAGES OF THE INSIDE PASSAGE David Stouck, Graeme Wynn Colour aerial photography Over 30 passes Over 250 anchorages Over 150 Colour maps Winner Lowell Thomas Over 100 Aw ard reviews and counting. Available at leading retail and online book stores. Richard Mackie, Distributed by Heritage Group The Ormsby Review reviews editor, Visit our website for more information: www.oceancruiseguides.com www.bcbooklook.com The Ormsby PublishingPublish travel guidebooks since 1994. Over two million cruisers now use our books.

34 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 FICTIONBC ROUND-UP continued from page 33 Bodyguard in Paris Mineral exploration Happy endings James L. (Jim) McWilliams created Robert Longe worked in mineral ex- Shereen Vedam is possibly the only a series of historical novels known as ploration for many years as a geologist, B.C. author who was born in Ceylon, The MacHugh Memoirs, about Rory consultant, and chief executive of a later renamed Sri Lanka. She came to MacHugh, a young Canadian of Scot- junior public company. His own expe- Canada in the early 1970s, eventually tish/French/Blackfoot background. riences searching for mineral deposits relocating to Vancouver Island. As an The series begins in 1792 on the Ca- in many parts of the world convinced avid reader of fantasy and romance nadian prairies then continues with him that the industry, much of it based novels, she is self-described as “a fan Rory MacHugh’s adventures involving in Vancouver, provides enough excite- of resourceful women, intriguing men, the Sphinx and Napoleon in Egypt, the ment, unique characters and engross- and happily ever after endings.” A Dev- 79th Cameron Highlanders in Spain, ing situations for an entire genre of ilish Slumber (ImaJinn $14.80) is her and at Waterloo, eventually to end in novels. His first novel, The Nisselinka first novel in a fairytale-inspired trilogy 1836 at the Alamo. Claims (Self-published $27.49), is a Kathy Page: trained as a psycho- or “historical paranormal romance McWilliams’ new novel, The Mac- therapist in the 1990s. 456-page, family saga that spans three series” set in London, England, in the Hugh Memoirs: The Assassins (Birch generations. In the early years of the year 1813. A troubled heroine must & Norgate $19.95), is set in 1803. Rory 20th century Edward Wickford, a settler undertake an extraordinary journey to MacHugh returns to Paris as the body- Double trouble in the Bulkley Valley, lays claim to a rich clear her name and protect those she guard for the mysterious Count Méhée Kathy Page’s fiction has often been vein of copper and gold in the Nisselinka cares for. It mixes humour, fantasy, de la Touche. There his affair with the bridesmaid, not the bride. The Mountains of central B.C. 978-1-4602-5294-9 romance and history. 978-1611945928 the glamorous Duchess of Abrantès Story of My Face was long-listed for lands him in the the Orange Prize in 2002. Alphabet Seeking love was a Governor General’s Award final- mountaintop prison, Never mind Hannah and Her Sisters. ist in 2005. The Find was shortlisted Tenderness the Fortress of Bitche. Hanne and Her Brother (Thistle- for the ReLit Award in 2011. After she After he escapes, he down $19.95) is Bill Stenson’s novel was long-listed for the Giller Prize in in Bombay becomes embroiled in about Hanne Lemmon who, at age 2014 for her story collection, Paradise several assassination sixteen, moves beyond her isolated, BORN A BOY, BUT A EUNUCH BY CHOICE, BOMBAY SEX & Elsewhere, Page was short-listed in attempts aimed at his home-schooled life in the Cowichan 2016 for her follow-up collection, The very personal enemy, Valley with a protective father to seek worker Madhu, at 40, can no longer support Two of Us (Biblioasis $19.95). Whereas the Emperor Napoleon. independence and love within the very the former delves into myth and the herself as a transgender prostitute in the McWilliams has different landscape of Eastend, Sas- darker territory of parable and fable, also written (with R. katchewan. red-light district of Kamathipura. Since her The Two of Us contains stories about James Steel) three Nelson-born Bill Stenson of Victo- pairs, couples, and dyads. Whether it’s teens she has managed to survive as a hija- First World War histo- ria was the driving force behind The a hairdresser and a client, a mother ries: The Suicide Bat- Claremont Review, a magazine focused and her baby, or a girl and a fox, her ra—a person belonging to the third, middle talion, Gas! The Battle on publishing literary works by teens. For Ypres 1915, and duos are united by a primal desire for 978-1-77187-114-3 sex—and now she must adapt to life as a Amiens: Dawn of Vic- intimacy. Page has lived on Salt Spring Island since 2001. 978-1-77196-099-1 continued on page 39 beggar in Anosh Irani’s fourth novel, The tory. 978-0-9917949-3-5 Parcel (Knopf $32). Her past comes back to haunt her when the most-feared brothel owner, Padam Madam, wants Madhu to take charge of a new arrival from the provinces, Anosh Irani’s The Parcel was a a ‘girl’ who has been betrayed and trafficked fi nalist for both the by her aunt. This ‘parcel’ to be trained by Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Madhu evokes feelings of tenderness in her and a Governor General’s Literary that have been long suppressed. 9780345816740 Award. He lives in Vancouver. PHOTO

MELLO ’ D

GLEN

35 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 review YOUNG ADULT Sand by Luanne Armstrong ✫ (Ronsdale $11.95) RIDE TO LUANNE ARMSTRONG HAS PUBLISHED twenty books in a variety of BY CHRIS BRAUER genres. She won the 2014 BC Chocolate Lily Award for ITTING AT THE FOR- I’ll Be Home Soon (2012) and mica table, Lu- other titles have received other anne Armstrong nominations. Among them, is buzzing with ex- Heal Horses and healing are a good fi t in Luanne Armstrong’s her book of essays, The Light citement. She has Through the Trees: Reflections Srecently read and re-read Sea- Sand, a YA novel about a therapeutic riding centre. on Land and Farming (2012) mus Heaney’s poem “North” was a finalist for The Hubert that reflects the ancient and Evans Non-Fiction Prize. modern faces of Ireland. Kootenay-born-and-raised, Armstrong eagerly discuss- 2004 Paralympics in Athens, times the characters lie to me rhythm of constantly writing. Luanne Armstrong is an or- es the mechanics of poetry, winning Individual and Team and then the truth comes out “I used to write everyday,” she ganic farmer on a fourth- her involvements with the Bronze medals.” later. I allowed the characters says, “I’d get dressed as if I generation family farm in the UBC Creative Writing Pro- Karen Brain came to Cres- to unravel the story for me.” was working a regular job and small community of Boswell. gram and a book she has just ton to teach riding workshops. Armstrong was interested cross my living room and write With her MFA degree from bought about sailing—even She is one of numerous ex- in exploring how teenagers at 9 a.m. But my brain injury UBC, she has increasingly though she doesn’t sail—be- amples of individuals who react to dealing with various forced me out of the habit. It’s taught writing (as an adjunct fore she gets around to her have regained the ability to trauma. Specifically three harder during the summer UBC professor of creative own new book, a teen novel. walk while using horses as teenagers in the book—Willy with so many visitors at the writing, at the College of the “It’s a story about Willy,” therapy. Armstrong herself and her two friends—are all farm. I’m harvesting fruit and Rockies in Cranbrook, and she says, “a teenager reacting also has an understanding of dealing with hard emotional chasing away bears. But now for evening courses at Lan- to trauma and eventually find- trauma and the recovery pro- truths: paralysis, psychosis I’m working on four different gara College). Along the way ing a place in the world where cess, having herself overcome and bullying. “It’s a sweet, projects. Still the process of Armstrong has worked as a she feels she belongs.” brain surgery. positive book,” she says, “but writing is no picnic. “Every feminist researcher, a free- In Sand we are introduced Writing about teenagers for it’s also about ferocious anger book is a book I haven’t writ- lance journalist, publisher to fifteen-year-old Willy Cam- teenagers, says Armstrong, and the emotions of teenag- ten yet,” she says, “so it takes and editor for Blue Lake Books eron who is paralyzed from has allowed her to get back ers,” says Armstrong. a lot of thinking and walk- and HodgePog Books. the waist down after a car to the habit of writing: “Writ- “Willy has to deal with pa- ing around 978-1-55380-473-4 accident. Demoralized, she ing Young Adult books is not ralysis; Ben has a psychotic before I fig- takes up therapeutic horse difficult for me. In a way, it’s break from taking drugs; and ure things Chris Brauer’s article riding and regains the use of a form of entertainment. I sit Lailla is bullied. But they out.” is adapted from the her legs, developing a bond down to write in the afternoon recognize each other for who Creston Valley Advance, with a spirited rescue horse and it carries me away for the they are, and help define each reprinted by permission. named Sand. Trouble arises rest of the day. I wonder, what other.” when she takes Sand from the will happen today? Where will Sand is part of Armstrong’s stable, against the order of the the story go? I try to write a ongoing recovery from a stable owner, to search for a great story with action and brain injury. Now she missing friend. interesting characters. My has finished the book, Named after the horse that brain gets to run wild. I didn’t she regained the helps Willy, Sand is dedicated know the ending of the book to the Creston and District while I was writing it. Some- Therapeutic Riding Centre. All horses in the book are based on real horses at the Centre. Therapeutic riding is some- thing close to Armstrong’s heart. “I remember when Karen Brain came to Creston,” she says. “She was a member of the Canadian Equestrian Team, but she had a severe accident and her spine was crushed. She was told she would never walk again—and certainly not ride—but she demanded to be put on a horse Luanne Armstrong two months after her accident. on her farm “Three years later, she represented Canada in the WANTED GENTLY USED BOOKS (CDs, DVDs, LPs too) for Everything Friends of the VPL she knew was USED BOOK SALE about to change. Sorry NO encyclopaedia sets Forever. Drop off from Mar 27 - Apr 24 at Dunbar, Oakridge, Renfrew Branches or Central (delivery bay off Hamilton M - F 10 - 4) “A powerful and chilling or The Library Store book’mark, investigation into an PLEASE BOX OR BAG & LABEL emerging global oligarchy of “FRIENDS” banks and corporations” Info: 604 331-4049 or friendsofthevpl.ca - Joel Bakan, author The Corporation FRIENDS’ Used Book Sale May 25 - 27 ● Central Library KAT ROSE Orders: www.watershedsentinel.ca Proceeds from sale donated to Vancouver Public Library kat-rose-c1r1.squarespace.com 250-339-6117

36 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 Think AUTHOR

Choose from four part-time creative writing options in Vancouver, Surrey and online: The Southbank Writer’s Program, Our summer program | Apply by May 10 The Writer’s Studio, Now available online | Apply by June 30 Specialized creative writing courses Manuscript consultations sfu.ca/creative-writing

WWW.LIBROSLIBERTAD.CA ★ WWW.LIBROSLIBERTAD.CA ★ WWW.LIBROSLIBERTAD.CA ★ WWW.LIBROSLIBERTAD.CA ★ ★ KARIOTAKIS HEAR ME I POLYDOURI OUT The Tragic Poems by Love Story Tzoutzi Mantzourani Poems by Kostas Kariotakis Translated by and Manolis Maria Polydouri Translated by Manolis $20 $20

ISBN: 9781926763453 ISBN: 9781926763408

$48 EROTOKRITOS CHTHONIAN BODIES [FOR COLLECTORS OF RARE BOOKS] Poetry by Vitsentzos Kornaros. Transcribed by Manolis Poems by Manolis.Paintings by Ken Kirkby ISBN: 9781926763361 ISBN: 9781926763408

$20

$20

$20 $18 ISBN: 9781926763439 ISBN: 9781926763385 ISBN: 9781926763415 ISBN: 9781926763378

WWW.LIBROSLIBERTAD.CA ★ WWW.LIBROSLIBERTAD.CA ★ WWW.LIBROSLIBERTAD.CA ★ WWW.LIBROSLIBERTAD.CA

37 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 review FICTION

Cluck by Lenore Rowntree “While I wrote Cluck, Yup, looking after chickens (Thistledown $19.95) I thought about that is Henry’s dream job. Except Saskatchewan for his boss, Elaine. Cluck farmer who became follows Henry to Idaho where obsessed with Anne HEN LYING Murray and travelled there’s a funky radio station, in a puddle a very long dis- CFOX, as well as a deejay, Ja- outside a tance to see her.” mie Lee, with whom the poul- Wbar after be- LENORE ROWNTREE try technician is obsessed. ing mauled Here we also meet Charity, by three rednecks who saw the Idaho knitter who holds feathers coming out of his un- unusual shows and who ini- derwear in the urinal, Henry tiates 30-year-old Henry into sees a blueprint in the sky for sex when he drunkenly con- a massive, knitted chicken fesses to being a virgin. All the cozy, one that will totally cover while, through the miracle of his mother’s house. fiction, Henry is still lying in Having seen Charity’s knit- that same puddle. ting art show, it makes sense. That radio station in Cluck Henry understands that knit is loosely modeled on Cortes items can stand for some- Island’s community radio sta- thing else. A knitted airstream tion, CKTZ, 89.5 FM, started trailer, for example, can repre- in 2004, which the author sent the home where a young dedicates her book. wife was murdered by her “I first heard it when I was husband. driving a truck on Savary Is- Places where there has land,” says Rowntree, who was been pain or evil need to be a radio junkie as a kid. “I have covered up, or need attention a cabin there, which is about brought to them in an act of 20 kilometres south of Cortes honouring and remembering. Island. I listened to the station So when he is lying there, a lot when I went to Savary to fighting back pain and tears, do a couple of major edits and Henry connects that concept rewrites of Cluck, and some of to his childhood and decides CORTES the quirkiness of the station he will cover his mother’s FROM TO crept into me as I rewrote the house with a gigantic cozy. novel.” It’s a broken place in need of The novel is an extension of healing. a short story Rowntree wrote Welcome to Cluck by Le- in the 1980s. “Because of the nore Rowntree, an entertain- Cluck evolution of this novel from a ing, sad, tragic and funny sto- short story into a longer piece, ry about a man whose bi-polar the rest of the process was a mother left him so friendless, “I have long believed isolation leads to dysfunction and spinning backwards and for- ridiculed and bullied at school dysfunction leads to isolation.”—Lenore Rowntree wards from the short story. So that he had to quit school in over the years I thought about order to get away from taunts Henry from time to time. I took and loneliness—but he stays about three years to write it as with her as her guardian. a focused effort, beginning in Cluck almost defies de- Lenore Rowntree. “I lived with times. Even when pain to corrupt his 2010. I’m one of those writers scription. It’s an upbeat, hu- someone who has a mental I wasn’t the direct basically caring who writes to find out what morous and yet also poignant illness, my sister, Beth, who target it impacted nature or distort the story is.” and strangely believable nov- has schizophrenia. She is the me because I saw his gentle sense of A graduate of UBC’s Cre- el—original but never daft. real writer in the family. She up close how it humour. ative Writing Program, Rown- Henry emerges as a likeable started experiencing symp- hurt her.” Henry could tree also has a collection of victim who struggles hugely toms as a young child. Henry cannot CHERIE have opted out of short stories, Dovetail Joint to find his place in the world “Without consciously bring himself to looking after his (Quadra Books, 2015) and against formidable odds. I thinking about it, I took my leave his mother THIESSEN mother after quit- she co-edited and contributed found myself really caring for experience of growing up close on her own even ting school. In- to the anthology Hidden lives: this confused and beleaguered to mental illness and exagger- though she is often out of stead he went after a job he Coming Out on Mental Illness protagonist, just ten years old ated it for Henry by making control and she’s always really wanted, studying hard (Brindle & Glass, 2012), a pub- near the outset, and in his him an only child living with embarrassing him, thwarting and slogging for three years lication to which her sister also fifties by the end of the novel. a single parent with bipolar any of his attempts to have a as an apprentice before fi- contributed. 978-1-77187-108-2 ✫ disorder. Because my sister social life. Although Henry is nally becoming an accredited “THE MAIN RESEARCH I DID WAS was ostracized and I was as- friendless, joyless and a bit poultry technician with Agri- Cherie Thiessen listens to actually on the chickens,” says sociated with her, so was I at weird, he has not allowed his culture Canada. radio on Pender Island.

MT MOTHER TONGUE At better bookstores New Release Submission Call P PUBLISHING LIMITED or order on-line

FREQUENT, SMALL LOADS OF LAUNDRY DEBUT Poems Rhonda Ganz $19.95

Ganz brazenly mixes darks with lights and dares to peg out the quirky and bizarre, both real and imagined. From rebelmountainpress.com spontaneous combustion to suicide, from psychopaths ...off the beaten path to pterodactyls, she is obsessed with the way people behave in moments of intimacy and domesticity.

“There has never been a poet like Rhonda Ganz… a magician of words.”–LORNA CROZIER

“These poems are breathtaking, smart, sassy, quirky, scary—and funny.”–ARLEEN PARÉ ISBN:978-0-9947302-4-4 Whether you are a newcomer or were born in Canada, Ebook ISBN: 978-0-9947302-5-1 we want to hear your story: What is it like to be LGBTQ2 Paperback: 6” x 9”, 108 pages in Canada - your celebrations, your challenges? Availability: In store or online 4th GREAT BC NOVEL CONTEST Deadline: August 1, 2017 Retail: $10.00 (net proceeds to No submission fee. Deadline: June 30, 2017 Wachiay Friendship Centre) Details: www.rebelmountainpress.com Judges: AUDREY THOMAS & JOHN LENT Email: [email protected] Guidelines: www.mothertonguepublishing.com Info:[email protected]

38 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 FICTIONBC ROUND-UP continued from page 35 Lehmann imagines contemporary dia- Dark secrets logue for all the characters as Horatio Former Monday magazine editor Grant ostensibly creates a journal that pro- Prairie marriage McKenzie now works as the communi- vides insights into Hamlet’s character Tricia Dower’s third novel, Becom- cations director for a street community from an admiring friend. 978-1-4834-2867-3 ing Lin (Caitlin $22.95), beginning centre in Victoria on Pandora Avenue in 1965, is mainly set in Minnesota that provides 1,500 meals per day as against the backdrop of the turbulent Bollywood noir well as transitional housing for the ‘Sixties’ that gave rise to the civil rights A Boston-born, New York forensic sci- homeless. On the weekends he writes movement, resistance to the Viet- entist named Elanna Forsythe George like a demon. nam War, the push for equal rights is hired by the Bollywood starlet, Sim- McKenzie’s novel, The Fear In Her for women and the unraveling of the ryn Gill, to investigate the oddly under- Eyes, introduced a new protagonist, Ian traditional marital contract. Twenty- publicized death of Rajesh Sharma, Quinn, a child protection officer with two-year-old Linda Wise despairs of a Bollywood director who supposedly Children First in Portland, Oregon. Ian escaping her overprotective parents died of a heart attack two years previ- Quinn returns in a stand-alone sequel and her hometown where far too many ously. and McKenzie’s tenth thriller, The know she was sexually assaulted as Elanna Forsythe George travels to Butcher’s Son (Polis $37.50), in which a teenager. Deliverance arrives in the Mumbai and begins to unravel a cult Quinn discovers a dark secret about form of marriage to the charismatic, that controls the Bollywood film indus- Grant McKenzie: 5 book deal his family’s past concerning the disap- twenty-six-year-old Ronald Brunson, try in N.K. Johel’s two-volume novel, pearances of both his sister and his a newly ordained Methodist minister Bollywood Storm (EFG Publishing century. She credits Toni Morrison’s father. Quinn has a tough exterior but who ignites in her a dormant passion $19.99)—that includes five Bollywood Jazz and Michael Ondaatje’s Running he’s something of a broken man within. for social justice. He sweeps her away song ‘n’ dance numbers. In The Family as strong literary influ- McKenzie signed a five-book deal from New Jersey to serve with him at a N.K. Johel is a pseudonym for an ences. Johel studied painting and fine with Polis Books of New York last year church in a speck-on-the-map prairie Indo-Canadian writer born in Duncan arts at Emily Carr Institute of Art and that brought three of his previously town in Minnesota. The constraints of in 1959. Her grandfather was a Sikh Design in Vancouver. published novels to the U.S. for the marriage do not always sit well with her who immigrated to North America dur- Bollywood Storm, Book I: New York 978-0991797738; first time, plus two new ones. evolving sense of self. 978-1-987915-07-5 ing the first decade of the twentieth Book II: Mumbai 978-0991797738 978-1943818020 Mexican noir Hamlet re-imagined Chelsea Bolan’s debut novel, The After thirty-one years as an English And in the end... Good Sister (HarperAvenue $22.99) teacher, primarily in Terrace, Alan W. was the second winner of the Harper- AS A METIS/ICELANDIC WRITER IN VANCOUVER, CARLEIGH BAKER HAS PRODUCED Lehmann has combined his admira- Collins/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction. tion for Shakespeare with his desire as stories with unexpected and strange endings for Bad Endings It focuses on contemporary Mexican a teacher to make Hamlet more acces- culture in a tourist town in the Baja, sible in Hamlet, The Novel (Lulu $24), (Anvil $18), a collection rife with bad decisions and misconcep- particularly a family whose daughter a self-published tale largely told from Gabriela Amador Prieto has been ban- tions. Salmon, bees and rivers play reoccurring roles. Animals the perspective of Horatio at Hamlet’s ished after a sexual assault, just prior castle Elsinore. The novel opens with and humans can merge, adding a touch of magic realism. Baker to her fifteenth birthday. the Norwegian Prince Fortinbras ar- Bolan was born in Spokane, WA and riving at Elsinore claiming Denmark won the Lush Triumphant award for short fiction in 2012 and received her MFA from UBC. should cede the castle to Norway. 978-1-44344-241-1 her short story “Chins and Elbows” was published in the Journey

Prize Anthology in 2015. 978-1-77214-076-7

Carleigh Baker will be part of The Growing Room Festival, a celebration of diverse Canadian writers and artists organized by Room magazine, March 11-12 in Vancouver.

39 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 BOOKSTORES

An Independent Bookstore in Vancouver for 45 years! Lloyd Kahn Small Homes: The Right Size TUES, MAY 23, 7PM FREE TALK & SIGNING at: Vancouver Public Library Alice MacKay Rm., Central Branch

3608 West 4th Ave. Vancouver, BC 604-732-7912 banyen.com

Vancouver Island business opportunity! community-minded but globally connected

The Mulberry Bush Bookstore is a long established independent book- seller operating 2 stores in Parksville and Qualicum Beach. Current owners Barbara and Tom Pope have loved their 27 years in the book business but are ready to retire and pass their baby on to someone with fresh ideas and youthful energy. Both stores are well located and have We are proud built a strong and loyal clientele of tourists and locals alike. With strong to be nominated sales, favorable leases, excellent operations software, and long estab- for a Libris award lished industry connections, for Bookseller The Mulberry Bush offers a of the Year! great opportunity for someone to take over a Parksville/Qua- licum Beach icon. O penOpen year-round year-round with with over over 25,00025,000 titles titles plus plus great a great selection selection of Canadian authors, used books, art supplies, and gifts. of Canadian authors, used books, art supplies, and gifts. For more information, Visit us at please contact: Dave Ney www.galianoislandbooks.com V isit us at www.galianoislandbooks.com Royal LePage Parksville 250.539.3340 • [email protected] Qualicum Beach Realty 76 Madrona Drive, Galiano Island, BC V0N 1P0 em. - [email protected] 250.539.3340 [email protected] ph. - 250.240.4411 Please Join Us 76for ourMadrona Annual Drive Literary Galiano Festival Island • www.galianoliteraryfestival.com BC V0N 1P0

We have a huge inventory of FIRST NATIONS titles, PEOPLE’S CO-OP THE Advertise in plus virtually every local history written BC BookWorld in B.C. BOOKSTORE & reach Canada’s Oldest Bookstore Founded 1945 100,000

The major focus of this business is to Over 16,000 new & used books to “browse” readers. provide books and archival materials to Western Canadian First Nations and university, college and regional libraries as well as the public. Please visit me at Open Tue–Sun, 11–6  1391 Commercial Dr, Vancouver 604-736-4011 1818 Quebec St. (by appointment only), Vancouver, near Main, near the Olympic Village. [email protected] Text or email for an appointment [email protected] Used book donations gratefully accepted

40 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 ENVIRONMENT By Trevor Marc Hughes finding light. The challenge to an au- THE ORMSBY REVIEW thor is describing that light. When a shaft of light hits the basalt NTHROPOLOGIST WADE THE CHILCOTIN ARK of Pipe Organ Mountain it’s hard not Davis calls Chris to cheer Harris for this ideal opportu- Harris “one of nity to capture the image through his Canada’s finest Photographer Ian McAllister identified, viewfinder. This is nature photography nature photogra- at its superlative best. A phers.” A quick In The Fjordlands and the Coastal named and then successfully lobbied glance through Har- Rainforest section, the tone changes. ris’ stunning British to preserve The Great Bear Rainforest. Here Harris looks more on the human Columbia’s Cariboo Chilcotin Coast: history of the area approaching the A Photographer’s Journey (Country Now photographer Chris Harris seeks to Bella Coola Valley. He investigates the Light Publishing $39.95) reveals that preserve the Chilcotin Ark, a 2.5 mil- ways of the Nuxalkmc (Nuxalk, previ- this stunning coffee table book resem- ously Bella Coola) people, and learns bles Davis’ opus, Stikine River Valley, lion hectare tract of B.C. wilderness the cultural uses of cedar trees for bark The Sacred Headwaters (Greystone, and planks. 2011), in that it calls attention to a cer- that he has explored and named—from He also travels The Precipice, a tain part of the province with the intent ten-thousand-year-old trail used by to welcome adventurous and respectful Tweedsmuir Park to the Fraser River. nomadic hunters in an ages-old val- visitors and discourage industry. ley of eroded basalt. Harris tells of a Harris’ book is also reminiscent forest east of Isaac Lake, provoked a reverential state depository of obsidian, a volcanic glass of Stein: The Way of the River (Talon- Harris enjoys his photog- in Harris, who decided traded extensively within Indigenous books, 1989), seeking to protect wilder- rapher’s perspective within that taking photos would B.C. ness, and Carmanah: Artistic Visions these massive trees with be sacrilege. The glacier’s What’s clear in Harris’s tale is that of an Ancient Rainforest (Raincoast diameters of five metres, awesome presence and modern industry has been short-lived Books, 1989) by the Western Canada some possibly as old as antiquity reminded him and fleeting in the Chilcotin Ark. He Wilderness Committee, published in 1,500 years. that he was following in compares the ancient obsidian trade response to the possibility that the For Harris, the perceived the footsteps of the First route with the short-lived pulp and ancient hemlock and Sitka spruce of threat to this region comes Peoples, who since time paper mill of Ocean Falls and a derelict southwestern Vancouver Island’s Car- from global warming, min- immemorial have made logging wharf in Kwatna Bay. It’s a manah Valley would be logged. ing, and development. Har- such pilgrimages without germane and fitting comparison. Throughout A Photographer’s Jour- ris argues that the Chilco- Chris Harris the need to capture images At times bordering on the poetic, ney there is mention of the Chilcotin tin Ark is inseparably and along the way. this is not an ordinary collection of Ark, a unique ecosystem extending intimately connected to the rest of The section of the book that de- photographs from the natural world. from the province’s tallest mountains British Columbia. It drains important scribes a journey through the Anahim It’s a love letter to a region the author to dormant volcanoes, ancient rain- rivers. It contains “the greatest water Volcano Belt is notable for its close admires and respects—and a letter that forests, and retreating glaciers. Harris tower in the temperate zone of the dedication to natural history, making invites his readers to appreciate it as has been a guide in this area for many earth: the Waddington Massif.” British Columbia’s Cariboo Chilcotin deeply as he has. years. The region has deepened his Part guidebook, part travelogue, Coast more than just a photographic It’s often posited that mountains, sense of place. part visual smorgasbord, this book reconnaissance. glaciers, flora, and fauna make an We travel with Harris on various is ambitious in scope. With detailed The shield volcanoes northwest of overall map of the Earth’s history. journeys through the different envi- maps to guide readers, we know where Anahim Lake defy age. Millions of years This hits home when Harris tells of ronments the Ark has to offer in the Harris and his travel companions are old, the Rainbow Volcano has with- the Cariboo-Chilcotin Grassland and Cariboo and Chilcotin plateaus and at all times. stood two ice ages. Here Harris points its endangered ecosystem, which he their incomparable mountains. Along Sometimes Harris considers it des- out the innate wisdom of these aspects describes as “one of the ecological the way he chronicles the history of ecration to photograph certain aspects of the natural world. For him, even jag- wonders of the world.” 978-0-9865818-4-7 the land and provides descriptions of the landscape, the grandeur of which ged, eroding lava remnants have their of natural solitude, ranging from the makes him feel insignificant. It is as own story, their own personalities. Trevor Marc Hughes is the author of two dip of a canoe’s paddle in the Bowron though the deep natural and human On a canoe expedition across books, Zero Avenue to Peace Park: Lakes and the call of a kingfisher to history needs to be acknowledged be- iceberg-laden Jacobsen Lake, Harris Confidence and Collapse on the 49th the jaw-dropping sight of an immense fore an image can be captured. describes the parental glacier as “a Parallel (2016), and Nearly 40 on the ancient Western red cedar. One such time is when he came moving, breathing entity.” Capturing 37: Triumph and Trepidation on the In the “Halls of Wood,” an ancient face-to-face with a massive glacier that these environments is an exercise in Stewart-Cassiar Highway (2013).

No, it’s not a painting. It’s one of Chris Harris’ photos of the Chilcotin.

41 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 LETTERS QUICKIES A COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD FOR INDEPENDENTS

QUICKIES is an affordable advertising vehicle for writers, artists & events. For info on how to be included: [email protected]

Captain Joe & Fall in Love Grateful Jake With Your Life, by Emily Madill One Week at a Time Confidence boosting by certified professional coach Joan Haggerty returns books for kids. Emily Madill to the site of her BCBW 978-0981257907 • $11.95 each 978-0988127333 • Hardcover & Kindle Winter cover image. AVAILABLE: AVAILABLE: Chapters, Amazon, Barnes & Noble Amazon, Red Tuque, Chapters, www.emilymadill.com www.emilymadill.com KIDLIT SELF-HELP

Books by by James L. WcWilliams Karyotakis/ The MacHugh Memoirs 1795 - 1798: Smithers treat Ormsby Review BLACK WAR-BONNET Polydouri A SECRET OF THE SPHINX THANK YOU FOR FEATURING ME ON THE COVER (HONOURABLE MENTION, A Tragic Love Story Whistler Independent Book Awards) of the thirtieth anniversary edition of namesake recalled THE FUGITIVES BC BookWorld THE ASSASSINS Poetry translated by . That photo was taken NOW THAT BC BOOKWORLD HAS ALSO STARTED ------Manolis Aligizakis THE SUICIDE BATTALION in late spring in our Tyhee Lake Road up The Ormsby Review, named after GAS! THE BATTLE FOR YPRES,1915 AMIENS DAWN OF VICTORY 9781926763453 • $20 field; the melt water drew me into a historian Margaret Ormsby, I remem- All books $20 each • www.jameslmcwilliams.com www.manolisaligizakis.com reflection that could be wings rather ber meeting the Ormsbys in the early HISTORICAL NOVELS POETRY than a scarf. These images connect 1990s, when I was working at Historic me to memories of the mountain that Hat Creek Ranch. I knew the name The inspired the end of my novel, immediately, having attempted to read Jake Reynolds: Sounds of the Ferry Dancehall Years . Margaret Ormsby’s devastatingly com- Against The Tide by Sara Leach Illustrated by Steven Corvello Thanks also for doing a great job of prehensive History of B.C. I thought it Full of detail, recurring by Sara Leach characters and colourful connecting our reading communities. pretty dry stuff. Frankly, I think jour- marine life, this rhyming BC adventure story We receive your publication at the nalists make the best writers of history. for ages 7 to 11. picture book takes children on an entertaining ferry ride. Smithers library and also at Speedee Harry Gregson’s History of Victoria, for Paperback $9.95 Paperback/32-pages full- Poppy Productions 2016 Interior Stationery and Books. It’s a colour • Poppy Productions example, I’ve read at least twice. Full of 978-0-9782818-3-0 978-0-9782818-2-3 • $9.95 Sandhill Book Marketing Ltd. treat when it arrives. information I could use in my articles Sandhill Book Marketing Ltd. www.poppyproductions.ca www.poppyproductions.ca Joan Haggerty one way or the other. But back to the KIDLIT KIDLIT Telkwa distinguished Ormsbys. They listened to my spiel about the early history of the House and the Ranch. Didn’t ques- Return of The Listener tion anything. They were very polite, the Convict by David Lester and obviously, good listeners. by William Alan Thomas Esther Darlington A space cadet’s “A dense and fiercely coming of age. intelligent work... Ashcroft “a crackling, well-told story... all in a lyrical and exciting, thought-provoking” stirring style.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) — Publishers Weekly (NY) Prurient Aloha fan Available in paperback & e-book. 978-1-5192-5508-2 978-1894037488 • $19.95 BY THE WAY, AFTER SEEING THE BLURB IN PHOTO

williamalanthomas.com www.amazon.ca Chuck Davis mimics Captain BC BookWorld SCI-FI NOVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL George Vancouver outside City Hall. , I obtained a copy of the TWIGG Aloha Wanderwell book (the last one of present stock left unsold at Volume Drawn To Etched in Time Hopping on a One Books in Duncan as there was so Change by Jo Manning much interest in it locally!) I have de- Graphic Histories of An artist’s remarkable life Chuck wagon voured it over Xmas—what a dynamic Working-Class Struggle over eight decades, delivered with candour, and wisdom I CAN T THINK OF A MORE APPROPRIATE BRONZE read! Been a while since I enjoyed a This evocative collection... ’ amid tragedies and triumphs, should inspire us to non-fiction read so much! I noticed successes and setbacks. statue for the city of Vancouver to ‘dream of what might be’ the BC BookWorld article says she was and to act to bring it Available: Munro’s Books, erect than one of Chuck Davis. What about.”—NOAM CHOMSKY Tanner’s Books, Volume One. a terrific idea. Being the unparalleled bi-sexual but there wasn’t any indica- 9781771132572 • $29.95 978-1460275887 • $18.95 tion of that in the book that I could see www.btlbooks.com www.jomanning.com curator of B.C. literary history for over BC BookWorld (prurient legal mind at work)! All in all, GRAPHIC HISTORY ARTIST MEMOIR 30 years, the newspaper is surely the best agent provocateur a terrific read, I regretted finishing it. for such a project. Surely there must Joe Simpson Subscribe to BC BookWorld be many others who feel the same Duncan way about Chuck Davis. I grew up in To receive the next 4 issues Vancouver and so Chuck’s dedicated, Send letters or emails to: Name...... by mail, send a cheque for $25 tireless and loving recounting of the Apt / Box#...... city’s history is precious to me. We are BC BookWorld, REPLY TO: supposed to learn from history, right? Street...... 3516 West 13th Ave., 3516 W. 13th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V6R 2S3 You’d think a statue dedicated to the Vancouver, BC V6R 2S3 City...... city’s greatest historian should be a or pay via PayPal [email protected] Prov...... Postal Code...... www.bcbookworld.com slam dunk. Susan Yates Letters may be edited for clarity & length. Gabriola Island

Aldridge Print & Media...43 Friesens Printers...43 Ney, Dave...40 Sidney Booktown...40 Annick Press...32 Galiano Island Books...40 Ocean Guides...34 SubTerrain Magazine/LUSH...27 Anvil Press...21 Goose Lane Editions...27 Orca Books...15 Talonbooks...8 Arsenal Pulp Press...16 Granville Island Publishing...32 Ormsby Review...34 Theatre in the Raw...36 Banyen Books...40 Greystone Books...21 Penguin Random House...11 Thistledown Press...20 BC Historical Federation...32 Harbour Publishing...44 People’s Co-Op Books...40 UBC Press...16 Caitlin Press...10 The Heritage Group of Publishers...6 Playwrights Canada Press...14 Vancouver Desktop...43 Chuckanut Conference...2 Houghton Boston...43 Printorium/Island Blue...43 Walchuk Jr., Stan...24 Davis, Chuck...43 Libros Libertad Publishing...37 Rebel Mountain Press...38 Watershed Sentinel...36 Douglas & McIntyre...18 McGill-Queen’s University Press...24 Ronsdale Press...29 Word On The Lake...2 AD Douglas College/EVENT...32 Mermaid Tales Bookshop...40 Room Magazine...31 Yoka’s Coffee...32 Ellis, David...40 Mother Tongue Publishing...38 Rose, Kat...36 INDEX Federation of BC Writers...2 New Society Publishers...12 Royal BC Museum...37 Friends of VPL...36 New Star Books...10 SFU Writers Studio...37

42 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 PRINTERS / SERVICES / WRITERS

reading, naturally

JorgeJ RRochah • BB.C.C MainlandM i l d • 1.877.205.72551 877 205 7255 • [email protected] @f i Gerhard Aichelberger • Vancouver Island • 1-855-324-7661 • [email protected] books.friesens.combooks.friesens.com

Printing Excellence Since 1919 709 43rd Street East • Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada S7K 0V7 Ph: (306)664-3458 Fx: (306) 665-1027 www.houghtonboston.com

FIRST NATION BOOKS FICTION

ANNUALS 911 Fort Street • Victoria • BC • V8V3K3 • T 250-385-9786 • TF 1-800-661-3332 NON-FICTION

TRAVEL BOOKS Family owned & operated for 105 years POETRY

GRAPHIC NOVELS MEMOIRS

COLOURING BOOKS BC’s Book Printing Experts CHILDREN’S BOOKS Building Trust in Client Relations

20th Anniversary of Chuck Davis’ Self-Publish.ca Your Story. The Greater Vancouver Book and Compensation to Authors Your Legacy.

Due to financial constraints at the time of Memoir Publishing
     publication of The Greater Vancouver Book Video Book Trailers and Urban Encyclopaedia   in 1997, a num- Audio & eBooks ber of authors were never fully paid for their " ' '(  submissions. To honour Chuck Davis’ legacy, &)*$+$#,+-
funds have been made available to partially compensate unpaid authors. Chuck was one ./( of the most irrepressible personalities ever 
 
 
encountered. He was involved with television,  
 
radio, newspapers, books and internet publish- 
 
 
ing. He was generous with his time as well as  
 
 a font of creativity and enthusiasm. Eligible authors should apply to [email protected] Chuck Davis (1935-2010) www.aldridgestreet.com  !"#$%&

43 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017 Tails Don’t Lie 2 A Pack of Dog Cartoons A new collection of 340 of the best full-colour dog cartoons from bestselling author, editorial cartoonist and avowed dog-person Adrian Raeside. humour · $12.95 available · paperback · 8" × 8" · 128 pages 340 colour cartoons · 978-1-55017-793-0

44 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2017