I have always enjoyed picking up a copy of BC BookWorld and reading the latest review— until your most recent issue. Finding my mother in large relief on page 10 was the first shock. She was always a very private person. The fur- ther shock was the nasty tone of what should have been a review of Converse’s book but instead was a severely critical review of my grandmother’s character. You should have done your home- work. There were only five children in the fam- ily. Little House was torn down and a new house built. Janet is Capi’s daughter-in-law, not daugh- ter. Edith Iglauer wrote the article about Capi for Raincoast long after Capi died in ‘61. She died before her book was even published in B.C. Edith certainly never interviewed her. It is un- fortunate that Cathy didn’t mine some of Edith’s understanding gleaned about the “mysterious” Capi from her then-still-living children. It would have offered a fuller and more humane view of an incredible woman. It is also unfortunate she didn’t seek out some of the grandchildren such as your list of “10 Books to Celebrate myself who not only have living memories of time 150 Years” in BC BookWorld. I’ve had spent with Capi but also, in my own case, 47 years quite a bit of feedback from that men- of knowing my mother Joan who never once in You have really outdone yourselves tion, and appreciate being included, all that time spoke badly of her mother, and only this time. and in such good company. with love and longing for those many summers Usually I look through BC I read the article in BC Bookworld The photo you ran in BC up the coast. BookWorld while riding the ferry and about Cascadia, Douglas Todd’s book BookWorld was of biographer Evelyn Capi was fair, honest and kind. Reclusive, yes. have appreciated how you have po- on spirituality without religion in C. White, (Alice Walker: A Life), who Stern, yes. Ornery, no. She certainly did not hold sitioned B.C. writers against the back- B.C., with interest. chose the gravesite of former black her children captive, nor was she a monster. That drop of the landscape, as almost As a Christian, I can confirm that slave Sylvia Stark on Salt Spring Is- she was not a “Waterford Crystal kind of woman” frontier-type characters. There are the reviewer is correct to say that most land as her personal sacred place. I consider a compliment. I know of no other the usual motifs of home schooling, people here are not religious. That has Evelyn spoke at a book launch event woman who dared to do what she did. I have cabins on the coast and travel, in the certainly been my experience when at the gravesite, as did Sylvia Stark’s many wonderful memories of gathering firewood profiles that you have done of vari- talking about my faith in Jesus. It great-granddaughter Naidine off the beach for our evening in front of the very ous writers and their doesn’t mean of course that non-reli- Sims, who still lives on Salt large stone fireplace. My grandmother’s book has work. But the gious people don’t have spiritual feel- Spring. Evelyn said how been in print for 47 years, and, as you mention, cover of your win- ings. But I personally find it sad that amazing it was for her to be into its eleventh printing. It has been a bestseller ter issue says it all. Christianity is so alien to people in in the home of Sylvia’s de- for years. I have met many people over those years The image of Julie BC—if people could read the Bible, scendants on the night she who have read and loved her story, who keep a Angus captures they would see that it is the story of watched Barack Obama copy on board their boats and read it again every your narrative of the how God longs to save his people and accept the nomination for summer. Why, I ask, after she has been dead for B.C. writer as adven- offer them forgiveness and eternal life president of the United the same 47 years are you, and Cathy, concerned turer, close to nature, through Jesus Christ. By the way, I States, 150 years after with what kind of wood she burned in her fire- nearly savage, sexual, really like B.C. BookWorld freed slaves made their place? I find your article truly offensive. To call and evidently because Robin Arnfield way to Salt Spring to her a “piece of work” is an insult to my grand- of the work, intellec- Osoyoos build a new life. mother’s memory and to our family. I honestly tual. Your stories capture Star Weiss can’t believe I have read this in a magazine that the allure, and “lone S Victoria prides itself on supporting literary awareness in wolf” nature of creative Having finally got myself out of the B.C. work admirably. I might orchards after hauling 50 tons of ap- Capi, through her writing, is an integral part add that with some minor adjust- ples over Apple Mountain and sur- of our BC coastal heritage and in my view her ments, you could attract young peo- viving, with the help of plenty of horse own writing, for those who care to listen, offers ple into literature... I only wish that We were pleased to see one of our liniment, I came upon your issue with its own tribute to who she really was. local architects had an equally com- poets Justin Lukyn mentioned in the the lovely and powerfully arresting Roselyn Blanchet Caiden, pelling reviewer. Who’s Who, but Justin is not a coverage of the latest winner of the BA, RAc, granddaughter to William Summers “slightly cracked anthropologist of George Ryga Award for Social Aware- Muriel Wylie “Capi” Blanchet Cowichan Valley the everyday.” While there may be ness. We are absolutely thrilled with Victoria some cracked anthropologist tenden- it. Thank you for arranging for a spe- cies to Justin’s perspective, the press cial photo session with this year’s win- I always enjoy your publication. release, where the phrase comes from, ner, Leilah Nadir, and her child. Thanks for the excellent work you actually refers to Henry Pepper, the George Ryga would have been abso- do in highlighting B.C. books and fictional titular character. lutely delighted, too. And kudos to ! "# authors. Just wanted to say it was very Stefania Alexandru, your photographer. $# % & % ' ( nice to see my book Havens in a Hec- New Star Books, Ken Smedley, coordinator, tic World: Finding Sacred Places on Vancouver Ryga Centre, Summerland
'45 )& " * +,--.--/0 & 1( ($ ())/ 23.0$#.2*# 4" ( 40 52 ! " # $ % " &''# )"% ' () %"# 4 BC #)& " 6#7/--# $* (!% # BOOKWORLD &$( $" ( ($ 861.7-.3,-3 ) "# 1 )& :$ 1%6 * 9 1 !"#$" %$ 2 11 & $$ &#'( #! :;1#)*+, #+*)""#< 1 % < :)" 17 & =#* &" 1."/$)0 1S $
!"#$$% GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia
W.P. KINSELLAW.P. KINSELLA BIBLIOGRAPHY: • Dance Me Outside (Oberon, 1977) • Scars (Oberon, 1978) • Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa (Oberon, 1980) • Born Indian (Oberon, 1981) • Shoeless Joe (1982) • The Moccasin Telegraph (Penguin, 1983) • The Thrill of the Grass (Penguin, 1984) • The Alligator Report (1985) • The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (Collins, 1986) • The Fencepost Chronicles (Collins, 1986) • Red Wolf, Red Wolf (1987) • The Further Adventures of Slugger McBatt (Collins, 1988) • The Rainbow Warehouse (Pottersfield, 1989) with Ann Knight • The Miss Hobbema Pageant (Doubleday, 1989) • Two Spirits Soar (Stoddart, 1990) • Box Socials (HarperCollins, 1991) • The Dixon Cornbelt League (HarperCollins, 1993) • Brother Frank's Gospel Hour (HarperCollins, 1994) • The Winter Helen Dropped By (1995) • If Wishes Were Horses (1996) • Diamonds Forever (HarperCollins, 1997) • The Secret of the Northern Lights (Thistledown, 1998) • Magic Time (Doubleday, 1999) • Japanese Baseball & Other Stories (2000) • Ichiro Dreams: Ichiro Suzuki and the Seattle Mariners (Kodansha, 2002)
SINCE 1995, BC BOOKWORLD AND THE VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY HAVE PROUDLY SPONSORED THE WOODCOCK AWARD AND THE WRITERS WALK AT 350 WEST GEORGIA STREET IN VANCOUVER. PHOTO
SAWCHUK
LAURA
W.P. Kinsella and Barbara Turner Kinsella of Yale, B.C. celebrated their tenth anniversary in March.
FOR MORE INFO SEE WWW. ABCBOOKWORLD. COM
& !"#$$% ESTATE OF RICHARD HARRINGTON/COURTESY OF STEPHEN BULGER GALLERY
pair of legends-to- be crossed the bor- 1 1 $ der from Wyoming and wrote The Legend in the fall of 1934. of Pan Phillips and now Diana Phillips has emerged with Beyond the Chilcotin. AThey weren’t exactly Butch The new memoir gives short shrift to Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Pan Phillips’ first two marriages, but picks up steam when her mother, but both were charismatic ! , is hired to cook for the men, born to be wild. Home Ranch in 1944. After she meets her new employer Pan Phillips for the had lost his sav- first time in Quesnel, they make the six- ings during the 1929 stock market crash day, 180-mile journey on horseback, and befriended P Pan Phillips (Harbour $34.95), they ing World War II when supplies and along with Betty’s newborn son, Ken (not Q , a gregarious storyteller. would have frozen to death were it not manpower were scarce. Pan’s son). Hobson, the son of an American naval for the hospitality of a neighbour who It didn’t hurt that Hobson included The pair soon became a couple. hero, could write—having attended invited them to winter under his roof. his recurring vision of a beautiful blonde Diana Phillips was born in July of 1945, Stanford University—but it was Phillips, In the spring they crossed the woman to break the solitude. at the Quesnel hospital, and brought to the Illinois farmboy, who could talk. Ilgachuz Mountains and founded the When the two men parted company the remote Home Ranch in a Pacific Both dreamed of being ranchers. Home Ranch, later made famous by two in the 1940s, Hobson started ranching Milk box perched atop a rubber-tired ✍ of Hobson’s classic books on B.C. ranch- in the Vanderhoof area with his wife, wagon [pictured above] pulled by By the time the two greenhorns ar- ing. Gloria, leading to his final book, The horses. rived at Anahim Lake, 200 miles west of Grass Beyond the Mountains (1951) Rancher Takes A Wife. “I’m not even sure who came to get Williams Lake, in a Ford panel truck mythologized a 1937 cattle drive known Hobson died in 1966 but his stories us,” she writes, “It could have been one nicknamed ‘The Bloater,’ winter was fast as the ‘Starvation Drive.’ This story was have endured, providing stimuli for a of the hired hands. approaching. serialized in Maclean’s. CBC TV series, Nothing Too Good for a “My Dad was not known for his dedi- According to Pan Phillips’ daughter Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy Cowboy, filmed in B.C., and an annual cation to family life!” in Beyond the (1955) recalled their struggles to main- Vanderhoof stage production. Betty Phillips was the only non-Na- Chilcotin: On the Home Ranch with tain their four-million-acre spread dur- More than twenty years ago, continued on page 8
' !"#$$% continued from page 7 $! " % tive woman at the ranch and mail was their only contact with the outside world " into the early 1950s. Diana’s father called the shots. O “Since Dad did most of the grocery ' ' %& shopping, whatever was on the shopping " '% list that he figured we didn’t need, we #% "& #% didn’t get. If he liked it, he bought it.” # & %"# A photojournalist named " took superb photos at % the cattle ranch in 1956 and 1960, with & ' '" # the result that Diana Phillips had pen- 8' % R #! ' pals around the world. % &'" The high quality of Harrington’s im- #% &&% ages makes Beyond the Chilcotin extraor- & & #" dinary—as much as the character of Pan ' '# Phillips, who is revealed as a droll coun- try sage and a bit of a ham. He often % said, “A cowboy is a # "' shepherd with his " brain knocked out.” Although she writes mainly of her " % "
GALLERY #! % &
own experiences, Diana Phillips al- '"#*'" ' BULGER lows her father— % " half mountain man @& ' & STEPHEN
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and half cowboy— #8 to steal the show. "
COURTESY She ends by recall- 8" " / # ing ’s "'' # 1969 documentary 8 % HARRINGTON about her father’s " @& last cattle drive for & % RICHARD CBC’s This Land of OF Ours. ' #!
ESTATE “Dad was in sev- % ; " enth heaven with " #; 1 '%% %" ' the filming and al- ways wanted to 1 $ % ' '" #! hold centre stage,” " #8% she recalls. && Phillips supplemented his income A ' with guiding and the purchase of a port- '" #( able sawmill in 1959. The Home Ranch '% was sold in 1970. Diana Phillips doesn’t #! '% ' mention that her father later moved to " B # nearby Tsetzi Lake to run a fishing camp "% " with his son. Born on March 13, 1910 & #P in Pike City, Illinois, Pan Phillips died at N;" ' Tsetzi Lake on May 18, 1983.1-55017-447-9 GALLERY
BULGER
STEPHEN
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RICHARD
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f Woody Guthrie had vis- the mine closing and everything they’d built up at the Duthie lost, the family ited B.C. mining camps, uprooted again, a job that didn’t even he might have written a pay wages, and now this, another child.” I Howard’s narrative detours into so- song about Irene Howard’s cial history, explaining that the dissemi- / nation of information about birth parents, Alfred and Ingeborg control was made illegal in Canada un- Nelson. The stalwart couple , 0, , der the Criminal Code of 1892. (In , , B.C., the door of secrecy wasn’t , 1, in Howard’s Gold Dust On His unhinged until the radical journalist 2 * ,- '# ( started the Birth , * )%# Shirt (Between the Lines Control League of Canada in Vancou- $26.95) represent the heroism ver in 1923.) Ingeborg Nelson was worn out in of pioneer labour generating 1931, in no condition to have another profit for others. child. Her family had moved five times, from one mine to another, between 1920 Knowing only Swedish, Nils Alfred and 1930. “Who can know the turmoil Nilsson emigrated from northern Swe- in her mind,” writes Howard, “[during] den in 1905 and worked his way west those last weeks of her nine months when for the Grand Trunk Railway, reaching she no longer felt the child moving, kick- Prince Rupert, population 300, in 1908. ing in her womb? And knew that her After Nilsson changed his name to child had died.” Nelson, he married a beautiful young Three weeks after the still-born birth widow, Ingeborg Aarvik, newly arrived O at the Royal Inland Hospital in from Norway in 1913. Kamloops, Ingeborg Nelson died of a In Norway, at age 19, Ingeborg had blood clot on February 8, 1931. Nils married a village tailor, Alfred Nelson died of tuberculosis & "", who had tuberculosis. After for his songs in support of the migrant other kind of labour, childbirth. brought on by silicosis in May of 1948. workers.) Irene Howard recalls her mother and her husband died of TB in 1909, ✍ “Unaccountably,” writes Howard, “I Ingeborg succumbed to so-called father in the living room, facing one an- feel as though I share the blame for what “Amerika fever,” the desire to start anew Irene Howard was born in Prince other, in a rented two-storey house in the System did to my father’s lungs. I on another continent. Rupert in 1922. She was raised with her Kamloops in 1930, not long after the grieve because I didn’t know what to say In order to join her brother in Port brothers in mining camps, mainly Duthie Mine had closed. when I sat beside his bed, as he strug- Essington, Ingeborg left behind her in- around Smithers and the Bridge River “She is telling him that she is preg- gled for breath in an oxygen tent.” fant daughter, Inga—with hopes of area. nant. She doesn’t know that I under- Irene Howard has now found all the bringing her later. At the Duthie Mine, her father was stand what she’s saying. I’m looking at words she needed to say. Gold Dust On “Did Inga wave goodbye?” writes shift boss for a crew of miners and dou- my father’s face. I think he looks angry. His Shirt is a stunningly vivid and in- Howard, imagining her mother’s situa- bled as the family shoemaker and bar- My mother reaches out and holds me to depth family history that doubles as pro- tion. “I will never know, and Inga would ber. Her mother carried water from a her. But he wasn’t angry. I know that gressive labour history. This is a fitting remain a shadowy figure belonging to creek for washday “with a yoke across now. What he was feeling was utter dis- follow-up to Howard’s biography of la- the Old Country of my childhood, ex- her shoulders and two pails of water may and help- bour organizer and social reformer cept for this: when I was a young mother, sloshing water at her side with lessness at )! ", the first I had to wave goodbye to my two-year- every step” until her brothers the turn woman to be elected to Vancouver City old son when I stepped out of our house, Arthur and Verner were of events: Council, who not to enter that door again for a year. able to erect a flume. fought for low in- Like Kristian, I had tuberculosis.” The unremitting la- come housing and In 1917, Alfred took his family to bour of raising a family of women’s rights un- Mullan, Idaho, to take a railway con- seven—“so impossibly tax- til she died at age struction job but severe labour strife ing, both physically and 88. 978-1-897071-45-8 eventually forced them to return to mentally, that it can Canada. “You can't beat the System,” scarcely be even imag- Alfred Nelson used to say, “They'll beat ined”—was you every time.”(Swedish-born folk ultimately less singer Joseph Hillstrom, more famously demanding known as , had been mur- than the rig- dered by Utah state authorities in 1915 ours of an PHOTO
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s a child, I dreamed which the lawyers warned me I should never call a cult. But it of writing books— was only in researching and writ- the debut novel by novels. I chose ing the book that I began to ab- A sorb the magnitude of the abuse, Please visit www.cormorantbooks.com/underground journalism as a career be- the long pattern of abuse and cause I figured that work- the sheer horror of life in Boun- ing in newspapers was a tiful. Because this is non-fiction, great way to learn the skill , , not make-believe, I could not of putting nouns and verbs have written it without a number of people who not only took the risk of together—although you don’t get talking to me, but invited me into their “Beautifully written by this masterful much chance to use adjectives or homes. Sometimes for days on end, I sat storyteller, Oonagh ... is the story of at kitchen tables sorting through boxes race and class, joy and sorrow, fear even adverbs. and boxes of religious tracts, personal let- and newfound freedom writ large.” And the discipline of daily deadlines ters, unpublished family histories and helped me evolve from a reporter to a photo albums. I drank gallons of coffee and poured Karolyn Smardz Frost writer. I also rather quickly learned that Governor-General’s Award-winning author of my imagination is no match for real life. out nearly equal amounts in tears. I met women so badly traumatized that they’d I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land My ability to construct a make-believe world could never begin to compare to slipped into lives of prostitution, drug the stories in the real world. abuse and alcoholism. I met boys who In my wildest of dreams, I could never were confused and adrift, convinced that have conjured up Bountiful and the they are damned for all eternity and have world of fundamentalist Mormonism. nothing left to lose. In fact, in May of 2004, when I re- The voices of the tyrannical god-men ceived an email from ' wormed their way into my head. But for Oonagh about polygamy and young every sleepless night I had, I knew from girls being trafficked across the Canada- the pain-etched faces of the people I’d Mary Tilberg U.S. border to be concubines to older met that my bad nights were nothing men —all in the guise of religion, I re- compared to what they had suffered.... ally didn’t believe her. It has been my privilege to shine a light But she convinced me that it was true. on a dark corner of Canada, to press for Please visit www.cormorantbooks.com/oonagh And with that, I began a journey into a the rights of the women and children of dark story that had all of the things that Bountiful to be respected and protected my mother had told me were not topics and to finally see that justice may be done for polite conversation—religion, poli- in that community. But that’s the chap- tics, sex and money. ter that has yet to be written. 978-0-307-35588-1 My mother, as usual, was right. These ✍ are not topics that can be dealt with po- For an insider’s view of abuse in Bountiful, litely so for the most part we shy away see also ’s courageous from them. In doing so, we tacitly agree memoir Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy that it’s okay for old men to have dozens (Dave’s Press, 2005), winner of the Vancity of wives and hundreds of children. We Women’s Book Prize. 0-9687943-3-5 tacitly agree that it’s okay for them to take 13-, 14-, and 15-year- old girls as plural wives; that it’s okay to use young boys and men as slave labourers Winner of the National Dutch Debut Prize before cutting them adrift in order to sat- isfy the punishing arithmetic of po- lygamy. Before I started
writing the book, I’d !" # $ % written close to 100 & '() newspaper stories !"* +,-.+/0.!-," *% %#) $* *,-,. . about what was going $ 12/" Please visit www.cormorantbooks.com on in Bountiful, B.C. 3' ' This ad was made possible by a grant from the Ontario Media Development Corporation. ' 4 '( '5*6*5 ' within the group— 7 '( 3 # *
): !"#$$% Don Cherry as a Vancouver Canuck? The Maple Leafs in Victoria? And get this—a face-off circle located directly in front of the goal net. Pure hockey fantasy? Hardly. Welcome to the Western Hockey League. Between 1948 and 1974 the Pacific Cougars enter the league led by hockey Coast/Western Hockey League oper- legend / as its ated in a total of 22 cities in four prov- owner. In their first year the Cougars inces and seven states, in one of the two were a lousy team—setting records of best professional hockey leagues out- futility that drew great crowds. side of the National Hockey League. The 1951-52 season saw a prairie While some of these players went on to shift for the league with the addition have careers in the NHL including fu- of franchises in Calgary, Edmonton ture hall-of-famers such as ) and Saskatchewan. To reflect its ex- , '( and )! tended geographical range, the PCHL + , most were career grinders renamed itself the Western Hockey (like $ who played one League (WHL). The prairie franchises season for the Canucks in 1968-69) would do well for several years until the who are now at long last remembered introduction of a spoiler known as in Ice Warriors (Heritage $19.95) by Hockey Night in Canada that drew $(. live audiences away from the From 1915 to 1926, rink and onto the couch. teams from the Pacific Coast The 1951-52 season also Hockey Association and the saw the introduction of a new Western Canada Hockey look on the ice level. Instead League competed against of two faceoff circles in each NHL clubs for the Stanley defensive zone, there would Cup, with Vancouver, Seattle "!; ! be only one, directly in front and Victoria each winning of the goal. League officials professional sports’ most prestigious made the change to increase the pun- cup. After that, competition for the cup ishment for non-penalty infractions by remained largely an eastern based af- the defending team. Should the attack- fair until the 1970s. The advent of the ing club win a faceoff, officials rea- Pacific Coast Hockey League in 1948 soned, it had a better opportunity of was seen as a western counterpart to the making a screened shot on the goal. eastern-based NHL. This experiment would be tried for The Pacific Coast Hockey League three years before being abandoned in (it became known as the Western favour of the traditional two faceoff cir- Hockey League in 1952) had great as- cles on either side of the net. pirations. ! # / reported The 1955-56 season saw the addi- in the Vancouver Sun that “league di- tion of Winnipeg with its state-of-the- rectors believe that…not too long from art 10,000-seat arena. The league was now, the loop… will become a distinct constantly shifting franchises and alle- threat to the NHL and AHL as a ‘big- giances with NHL teams in efforts to time’ professional hockey organization.” become more viable. Its experiments in Actually it would die trying. various markets would eventually point ✍ the way for the NHL in its location of The inaugural season of the PCHL franchises. Although an official ‘white in 1948 would operate two five-team paper’ was signed between the NHL divisions: the San Diego Skyhawks, Los and WHL promising compensation for Angeles Monarchs, Fresno Falcons, the location of NHL franchises in WHL Oakland Oaks and San Francisco territory, this all came to naught. Shamrocks would play in the Southern The peripatetic nature of the league Division. would see it shift its prairie expansion The Portland Eagles, Tacoma Rock- of the 50s into another southern expan- ets, Seattle Ironman, New Westminster sion in the early 60s. The WHL would Royals and Vancouver Canucks would become part of a pattern of expansion, make up the Northern Division. contraction and alas, failure. The 1959- , -0 01' ( '2 $,32-42). The 1948-49 season saw Vancouver 60 season also saw another league inno- )%+%* <1 1 lead the league in attendance with New vation, a best of nine championship , / 0 Westminster close behind. The south- series. This was played between the Van- (1 , , , ern teams did not fare nearly as well, al- couver Canucks and Victoria Cougars , , - =6! though the San Diego Skyhawks would and won by the Canucks. > ( be the league’s first champions defeat- In 1963, the WHL introduced a 0 ,( " # ing the New Westminister Royals. pension plan, the first in minor league The following year saw the Victoria professional sports.
)+ !"#$$% By 1964, the Cougars were pur- chased by Toronto Maple Leafs owner (( and renamed— surprise—the Victoria Maple Leafs. They’d last three more seasons in the provincial capital before being sold to Phoenix. Stafford Smythe also had his eye on Vancouver. Smythe was prepared to build a downtown coliseum, if the city would give him the land for free. Van- couver voters turned him down. In 1965-66, when the NHL awarded six /5 new conditional franchises, Vancouver # ! was not on the list and speculation was 3 that Stafford Smythe, still miffed by 34** ** & Vancouver voters’ refusal to give him R# 663# ( % free land on which to build an arena, had influenced his fellow owners’ votes #7% R# against the Vancouver delegation. # "##** &! (Vancouver fans voiced their displeas- & 8 #R# && ure by boycotting products of Molson $ # R Breweries, owners of the Montreal # -0 9 :6 / # Canadiens and a major sponsor of & ! # # # Hockey Night in Canada). O1(P ! A total of 26 WHL players from the 5 #! 5 4 1966-67 season became NHL regulars (5 ( 634# in the first year of expansion. This led to many older players in the WHL, in- ! % # = > cluding Vancouver’s # # #!# (39), hanging in a few more years. As -!! / Stott writes, “From major-league aspirant to strong and inde- pendent professional league, the WHL was now moving toward becoming a place where NHL teams could send their aging farmhands and their not-so-brightly shin- ing prospects.” ✍ In Vancouver, the Canucks moved into their new arena, the 21 0* , (*1 *)%'. Pacific Coliseum, on January 7, 1968 O. ?*# R# losing 4-2 to Providence of the AHL before 12,403 fans. The Vancouver P# 28% Canucks played their last WHL game * ( on May 2, 1970. The team entered the # & 63 1 0 # NHL along with the Buffalo Sabres for O!(&&*! the 1970–71 season. Ex-Ranger cen- #! )# # tre , ! was named the Canucks’ first-ever captain, @#A! ! * and the team played its inaugural game *# ( ( (* #&# # against the Los Angeles Kings on Oc- 0! ## !# B tober 9, 1970, in which & * # . !# ## & + scored the first goal in fran- CC8DN! P chise history. Two days later, the squad &= & #) netted its first franchise win, with a ?*! * ! score of 5–3 over the Toronto Maple N RA# 63 N! Leafs. & # %!) ✍ # # ! As for the WHL it would struggle * #% #!( on until 1974, the ongoing expansion 2A! -O ( >%P/ of the NHL and the creation of the ! R## ! % World Hockey Association would all contribute to the demise of a wonder- ( # # %A! ful experiment that served western @ hockey well and in its way gave birth 63 G # & #+ to our beloved Canucks. ! * Jon C. Stott recounts the history of 6H %A! the league in a detailed, chronological 6H IG # #& order that honours the ambitions and # 6H: dreams of a quarter-century of ice war- & # riors. 978-1-894974-54-7 & # ! * ! 6H6
Grant Shilling is a regular contributor 63H) ) 4 3): )H from Cumberland.
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0 , ,+2 entertainment, not results.” According to Edwards, left to them- omen are from Ve- selves, women would run governments on a consensus model. The women in nus, men are from Edwards’ book also take direct aim at the Mars. Women col- near-complete cynicism of the media, which often falsely dismisses all politi- laborate, men com- cians as scoundrels and time-wasters. “I worked really hard to be out pete.W Based on her interviews there,” says one-term NDP MLA $ %! & ! & with women of all political #"/, “to keep dialogue going, meeting with groups, bringing stripes, Anne Edwards’ lively people into the office on any particular Seeking Balance: Conversa- issue. [I worked at] figuring out where da’s governing men explained their early more candidates and elected more people stood on issues by being totally tions with BC Women in Poli- opposition to granting women the fran- women provincially and federally than open to them.” chise by saying they wanted to preserve any other in B.C. “A lot of people think televising par- tics (Caitlin $28.95) reveals the the “moral purity and sweetness” of the Some of Edwards’ sources give the liament was the death knell,” says Kim extent to which legislative fairer sex, saving her from the messy impression that they felt that men Campbell. “ -! described business of exercising a franchise. viewed politics as a game. The B.C. Leg- question period as bullshit theatre, and bodies are deeply rooted in the Although the CCF and NDP in BC islature, says one-term Liberal MLA it is, but it’s an important part of the ' ( Red Planet. have most strongly championed the elec- , was like “being in a democratic process. tion of women, on the federal level it was foreign country, feeling completely from “Still, as a kind of game, it under- the Tories who gave women the greatest another planet with respect to how Although Anne Edwards’ sources mines the seriousness of what politicians advances politically. Sir ' things were run: the rules, the way deci- seem to have had common experiences do, the seriousness of most of the peo- # ’s government proposed sions were made.” vis-à-vis their male parliamentary col- ple I know who were elected to various several bills allowing universal suffrage 4$" concurs. “We leagues, Seeking Balance is not a litany levels of government.” and it was ’s which gave live in an adversarial society. Partisan of female complaints. Edwards works hard to demonstrate Canadian women the vote in 1918 and, politics, competing ideologies, and vari- Speaking of ! , for that better government for all requires re- in 1920, the right to stand for election. ous belief systems generally oppose co- instance, recalls, “The making our legislative bodies to better re- Even so, progress was slow: it was only in operation and negotiation… [The fact that she wasn’t married had become flect the innate tendencies of the other 1965, some 45 years later, that NDPer media] pits opinions against each other a huge issue. People said, ‘It’s one thing half of the human race, from Venus. ) # 4 became BC’s first to stimulate debate and elicit maximum to vote for a woman, but to vote for a As long as members must toe the female MP. Her party has put forward disagreement. It is a pattern designed for woman who’s never been married, that’s party line under a party whip, with a cau- different.’ cus system which forces voting strictly Anne Edwards “Suddenly a farmer got up from the on party lines, Sanders believes, “you may was Minister of back row and in a no-nonsense manner as well go home—we won’t have better Mines, Energy government.” said, ‘Oh, for God’s sake, if that’s such and Petroleum Collectively Edwards’ sources an issue, I’ll marry Pauline!’” Resources in Glen strongly suggest that communities— But of course sexism has been endemic. Clark’s NDP communities of interest and common Edwards recalls that during the televised government. Some concern—must become the basis for debates for the 1993 federal election, of the more than # " called 80 politicians decisions, particularly as the world’s busi- $ “Kim” and '! included in her ness continues to become more and 8 2 524 # /!" “Audrey” but he called book are: more global, and the impacts more and $ more local. 978-1-894759-31-1 “Mister Chrétien.” # @,# 0 #" 2 ,0 Historically, Manning and other # 2 A # # ( Rod Drown served for six years on the Martian males have not been receptive #@ 0# @ # 0#<2 , board of the Columbia Shuswap to the Venusian female. Most of Cana- Regional District during the 1990s.
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Rocksalt star Harold Rhenisch entertains at a book launch in Nanaimo.
GETTINGGETTING FRESHFRESH Two editors accomplish mission impossible
*,(0- Bowling, Bringhurst, Brown A., why is there a cover painting of what to make of this collection, 0 0* 0 2B ( / , ,* Compton, Cookshaw, Crozier, a jaded Viennese kaffee haus? It’s mixed as it is, like this review. No "& /01234# Kearns, Kishkan, Lane, hard to relate the image of a anthology of poetry can be rep- LOST IN Lamarche, Lau, Lillburn, New, bored, paunchy pianist as being resentational of all poetry. In 1973, Robin Skelton of Victo- Owen, Pearson, Price, Rader, relevant to the Pacific North- Many British Columbians TRANSLATION ria reviewed the new Oxford Book of Reid, J., Roberts, Shreve, west. write and never consider pub- 0 , /C Twentieth Century Poetry, edited by Stenson, Thesen, Tucker, The contributors live in all ar- lishing. The “Spoken Word” re- "5 6* /78234# Philip Larkin. Some of his comments Wakan, Webb, Yates, Zwicky? eas of the province and include surgence cannot be conveyed in were “Eccentric, uninventive, super- ✫ First Nations writers. There ap- print. Fine poets take long ! # ficial, uninformed, trivial, absurd.” The standard Canadian po- pears to be a preponderance of breaks from writing. Some write 3 *! ( ) Out of 207 submissions, Larkin had etry anthology, edited by Gary poets from the islands, especially in languages other than English ((# # ## ( accepted six poems each from twenty- Geddes, first came out in 1970. Salt Spring, home to the pub- and there are no translations in ! ?( # # 4 Now into its umpteenth edition, this volume. two poets. Skelton was not one of lisher. A significant proportion 7# & them. it must still leave a few noses out have MFAs and/or teach crea- But, to its credit, this collec- # )0>( In 2008, Hannah Main-van of joint. He chooses to include tive writing. A few wag against tion reflects the rich ethnicity of der Kamp’s submission to Rocksalt less than twenty poets with an that. the population with a span of at 6:H 0@ 66 was rejected. She writes far less pee- average of ten poems ✫ least six decades # B & vishly than Skelton. per poet, as well as a Some readers between the # # ) few pages of bio/po- might have preferred youngest and old- # ! ) UTTING TOGETHER THE FIRST, etics. to have more poetry, est. It’s generous, R#*(*# extensive anthology of The 108 poets in less theorizing. The it’s eclectic, it’s PB.C. poets in three dec- Rocksalt represent latter rarely illustrates welcome; but not * (# & # ades is an admirable but neces- about one-third of the the former. all the poems dis- ?( ## # sarily precarious project. total number who sub- /!!/ & +, The personal state- play accomplish- # ) %)# ! It’s impossible to please all mitted. B.C. resi- -().& ments of poetics ment. ( * # readers, let alone all writers, all dency was a mostly avoid posturing An opening ) ) of the time. Some worthy names requirement. The introduction and range from the predictable Dedication recog- (( . ( will always be left out. indicates “a new generation” and pedantic to the original and nizes about two GG-winner Roy Miki but not would be welcomed, with an humble. dozen wonderful * # ( ! two-time GG-winner Don emphasis on “fresh” unpub- One wonders if these state- poets who have % # # McKay? Bowering, Marilyn but lished work. ments held equal weight with passed away. Eve- Ibrahim Honjo #R #0 # ) not Bowering, George? Were True to their resolve, Mona the poems as they occupy about ryone will recog- (% #% # some writers not interested in Fertig and Harold Rhenisch the same amount of print space. nize their own favourites and *( %&?#?* contributing? have erred on the side of gen- Catherine Greenwood says loved mentors. If you’ve been reading B.C. erosity, according space to some that it’s only once in a great Editing an anthology is like % # # # poetry for a long time, you may less-known writers, but this sam- while that she is blessed with a teachers trying to identify their # A# #&*# recognize about half of the po- pling approach could leave moment of “hitting the right best students: it shouldn’t be ( #) ets in Rocksalt by name, but not some readers disgruntled. Im- note” and confesses, fetchingly, done but they can’t help doing ( ( & *! ) agine you are in a coffee shop their poems, because co-editors that writing poetry is “quite it. Somebody has to teach. ( # Mona Fertig and Harold that offers a huge variety of hard work.” Somebody has to edit. #&)* # Rhenisch limited inclusions to brews with elegant written de- John Pass volunteers this in- 978-896949-01-7 one “fresh” poem each. scriptions but you may only taste sight: “I know less and less of O * @ # @ @ Will there be a volume II? a teaspoon of each. what I’m up to, or what poetry Hannah Main-van der Kamp is a ##IPO2# ! )
And will it include Bachinsky, ✫ might make of me.” poet, teacher, columnist and reviewer #P63H463H 3 H Belford, Blackstock, M. Blaser, Speaking of coffee shops, Overall, it’s hard to know who lives in Lund and Victoria.
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SCOT GONE SOWING WILD ; H -, 1 1 0 9 (, " ; /74234#
WILD 7999 1 " S ; H - , 1 1 ; OATEN 78+ + %; 6 < ! ; Accelerated Paces is attractive for its S+ +; 2 & % inventive writing and 5 6S % perceptions, rather than PHOTO artful storytelling. ; P; Q
%% 2 BRADLEY
? + Alan Bradley
H; @ - % % SHIRLEY , ( 01 0@ " /79# + ; + MURDER im Oaten is the opposite of ; AT ELEVEN a Pollyanna. As the inaugu- 5 23A9+7+93A0B4+1C+3 ral winner of subTerrain ;, , -, J 0 0"- /04# magazine’s creative non-fic- tion award, he has collected his ALIEN TALES . ; AC far-from-sanguine memoirs for B ( 1 I, 0 ' Accelerated Paces: Travels @1 -"? - /74234# D ; % %+ Across Borders and Other Im- 6 $ + aginary Boundaries, a potpourri Jim Oaten: “Most writers generally make poor public speakers.” of exploratory confessions. ! + ; + + % $ Along the way Oaten pro- years of unfiltered cigarettes, didn’t exactly stick to the facts 6 2 ;, , vides some brilliant personal spilled cocktails and the sweaty either. Some writing is just too ; - , views of despair. “Bottom is a lot residue of dashed hopes.” good to be true—not easily clas- ; 6 ; 6 ; 6 deeper than you think it is. And Would-be screenwriters will sifiable as fact or fiction. , $ % there is, on the descent, a kind also enjoy Oaten’s account of An East Vancouverite who D ; %+ of panicked fascination as you attending writing instructor says he lives in fear of real es- , 2 %; ( keep plummeting past what you Robert McKee’s legendary tate prices, Oaten offers sen- % + 734C ; %+ + thought was ground zero.” thirty-six-hour sermon on the tences that bristle with B ( 1 I , 6 ; Some of his observations are well-told story in New York. unintentional humour. + 2 even helpful. “Depression Oaten remains transfixed for “Travel truly is a type of time- % doesn’t just refer to a feeling of three days by the hyper-confi- stamped insanity,” he writes. “In unhappiness. The key to the dis- dent McKee. He notes, “Most fact, for someone who has never # 6+ ; ; - - ; 5 order is in the word itself. De- writers generally make poor experienced it, the closest anal- ; %; S < press. To push down. Most public speakers. Their calling is ogy I can think of to a bout of % ; 0CCA depressives have learned, almost tailor-made for social isolates profound clinical depression is %; E instinctively from childhood, to whose best lines flow from the international air travel. In % 2 3A9+C+397C849+C+3 23A9+C+B94+88490+A hold down their emotional considered touch of fingertip Economy Class.” 978-1895636-93-4 selves.” and the safe distance of the Oaten has taken the lid off printed page.” in his writing. Life is one Accelerated Paces is big struggle for hon- not exactly fiction; esty. The reader but Hunter S. Mary Novik, shares in the narra- Thompson Jen Sookfong Lee tor’s amused detach- and Jane Hutton ment when he visits have supported one Metrotown, “a mega- another as novice mall that seemingly novelists. comprises about half of Burnaby, British Colum- bia,” or Las Vegas, “fifty
NOW WE THREE ARE SIX ;, 1 (, !, , 0 6 0( "/S 1 D- #$$'E * # 25 S 1 * D 1 0#$$'E* -, 9, B 6 A !*, , -, =60 6 S( 1* , - - ,, ( , *3"!D F#)E*1 , , 6 0-, --2 -<1 B - , *, 1(,, , , ;, , - - 0 S ("1 !,6
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!"#$$% ( ,)' &( Andrew Weaver’s global warming study dispels obfuscation and charts media mood swings.
(1 H makes clear, the science of glo- ( 0 + $89 1 " " /B1# bal warming is well-established, $! &!** dating back to the early 19th century with people like UCH LIKE THE DENIAL IN- Svante August Arrhenius, win- dustry that emerged ner of the Nobel Prize in chem- M in defense of Big To- istry, who developed the first bacco, there has been a con- theoretical model illustrating certed effort on behalf of how carbon dioxide can affect Herb Hammond lobbyists and politicians to spread the Earth’s temperature. uncer- ✫ tainty In 1938, a British steam en- about cli- gineer named Guy Callendar “NOW IS OUR LAST mate studied the effects of fossil fuel change. combustion on global tempera- CHANCE TO GET THE One tures, leading him to identify of the a man-made element to warm- chief ar- ing. By the 1950s, warning bells FUTURE RIGHT.” 2; !?!! chitects were already going off in the & ! # ( # *&## of this scientific community about the &# &# ( # ! 4 %# obfuscation was Frank Luntz, a possibility of continuing tem- B* &# ( 0 B# % ) conservative spin doctor who perature increases. authored a now infamous Between 1965 and 2007, > ( #% * # " memo for the Republican Party there were 30,219 scientific ! *# # # & # &#% outlining a political strategy on studies published on the topic # 0 ()! G > the environment. “The scien- of climate change. Weaver dis- 66 A # &! % 8 tific debate is closing [against tils this massive body of litera- 9 R 9 . us] but not yet closed,” Luntz ture into manageable chapters, -+! % 9:66 / ( * ( wrote. “There is still a window including everything from the ( ( *R# (# ( # of opportunity to challenge basics, such as the greenhouse the science.” gas effect and its related causes 63H)4)63 :336)4)4 Urging republicans to “be (carbon dioxide, although the ✫ even more active in recruiting main contributor to global # %#% ': R# 8 5 experts who are sympathetic to warming, is only one of many 7 #: - % 9 6 / # (# *# & your view,” Luntz played an in- greenhouse gasses) to debunk- R# & #% %# & 8 # & , # # tegral role in the Bush admin- ing common myths about sun- C# # *) istration’s attempts to spots and “global cooling.” # #!# & # * manipulate public opinion on science and the envi- While much of the recent literature on climate * #63H)4):34) H3) ronment, perpetuating a false impression that the change has now moved beyond the science, evaluat- scientific community was still largely divided on the ing potential policy solutions to the problem, there ✫ issue of climate change. is likely no better introduction to the subject than +!( ) ' If any doubt remains today, Keeping Our Cool: Weaver’s Keeping Our Cool. It records that Canada has ! ! # &#% J Canada in a Warming World by Andrew Weaver, a cli- a poor performance on emissions. In 2004, we pro- # # &( @% #) mate scientist at the University of Victoria, should duced 2.2% of all global emissions of carbon dioxide, ( ! R# ( &##N! be the final nail in the climate-change-denier cof- despite having less than 0.5% of the global popula- # # . K% fin, thoroughly dispelling any lin- tion. G ** #N gering skepticism about the +$891 " “Alberta, the home of Cana- -+#96 /63H) )H63 ) ) A.K. Hellum science of global warming. $! $ * da’s oil and gas industry, contrib- A lead author in the Intergov- utes a whopping 31.4% of total ✫ ernmental Panel on Climate Canadian emissions,” writes & &# (> )5 # Change and co-winner of the Weaver, “despite having only 10% ( # ( )&)## % ! ( # -! ) 2007 Nobel Peace prize with Al of Canada’s population.” # # # & )!#/ ! A# . *## Gore, Weaver provides an au- B.C., Manitoba and Quebec ## # # # thoritative, yet accessible, expla- produce 8.9%, 2.0% and 12.3% ( 7 -K%# 9/ K #((## ! # nation of the science behind of total emissions although they climate change and the recent represent 13%, 3.7% and 24% )* # O. # history of public debate over the of the overall population be- #R # P #%# OAR# # # & 7 matter. cause these provinces make ex- # # & % # ) According to Weaver, climate tensive use of hydro power for * # %* # # ( # scientists struggled for decades to electricity needs. 978-0-670-06800-5 !(!%P63H) ) ) 4) communicate the dangers of glo- ✫ bal warming, but the tide of pub- Martin Twigg’s blog on the environ- # * # # R % lic opinion has finally turned, ment is at www.rocksandwater.ca 7 -+! % 9 6 / # # 0! thanks in part to the success of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth J) ( * )#! %) ( ! and a flurry of terrible weather- ( (# & # ( & J # # # !) related disasters like Hurricane (# *# B ! ) ! B &#) Katrina. The media, initially wed- # #% * ( # ded to principles of journalistic 63H)4)H 3 ):)6 balance, even in the face of sci- ✫ entific consensus, is now present- $# R7 7 -K%#9 66 / )! ! ing the issue in its proper light (in 2003, 36.6% of all major news- 5 # !) ( & ( >% paper stories provided artificially # # O=! ( *# balanced coverage of climate 7# P % * .% #((# ! ># change, compared to only 3.3% && % ( ( # #** ## &) in 2006.) #%# ( % ( % #* . ✫ # 7 + " ! ! $ % While this sea change is cer- & O+! # # ( & (P tainly cause for hope, the fact 63H) ) )6 )6 that it took so long is both tragic and unnecessary. As Weaver Andrew Weaver
: !"#$$% - 1 ' +$' RELUCTANT LAND, HO With minimal pandering and maximal knowledge, Cole Harris has built his case for the uniqueness of Canada. By Raymon Torchinsky
;, 1 H 0* 9 fur-traders, pioneer settlers, West Coast sea otter population kelp. Destruction of the sea ot- 0 / "F5/B0234# Native hunters, lumber camp by the 1820s. Over 650 sailings, ters resulted in unchecked workers and merchants by viv- mainly by ships from England growth of the sea urchin popu- ETIREMENT, FOR COLE HARRIS, HAS MEANT GETTING BACK TO WORK. idly describing the environmen- and New England, were made lation, which in turn vastly re- tal, social and economic contexts to the West Coast to obtain pelts. duced the kelp beds that There is that unfinished wattle- and-daub house in the Slocan in which they lived. The combination of greed sheltered in-shore fish stocks. Harris’ somewhat detached and disdain for ‘savages’ led to Valley that should be attended to, as well as the attraction Harris contends that the sub- R style can be compelling. A good an often violent struggle to co- sequent changes in the Pacific of honing his wood-working skills, but mainly the professor emeritus example is the discussion of the erce the Native population to coast ecology, with regards to disastrous social and ecological supply the fiercely desired pelts. Native livelihoods, have yet to be has taken four years to integrate 40 years of study and geography consequences of the Pacific Even before Europeans built fully understood. teaching at UBC for The Reluctant Land, an impressive overview of maritime fur trade—the first settlements and took away land Even though events of the rush for quick profit on the West control, the impact on indig- past 140 years are not men- the character and experience of Canada before Confederation. Coast. Even if the unintended enous societies was immense: tioned in the final chapter of consequences had been fore- • Their populations were summation—about how the This is a welcome antidote to Eric Leinberger, the cartog- seeable, it is unlikely they would decimated by new diseases grounds for Confederation the simplistic renderings of early rapher, has done an excellent have posed any moral concern brought from Europe (for were prepared, both advert- Canadian history we are exposed job in preparing the many maps for the fur traders. which they had no defense). ently and inadvertently—Harris to in high school social studies that illustrate the text. And most After Captain Cook’s crew • They were forced into a glo- makes an eloquent explanatory courses, political speeches and importantly, Harris provides the accidentally discovered the bal trading network to supply argument as relevant to current CBC mini-series. reader with a clear account of value of sea otter pelts in China the demand for furs. political and social concerns as There is no March of his thinking process as he assem- in the 1780s, European trans- • Their way of life was forever anything in today’s editorial Progress, no Heroic Moments or bles evidence from a vast range portation technology and Asian changed by the introduction of pages. Triumphant Forging of a Nation. of research and emphasizes the demand almost wiped out the European trade goods (blan- “At its best,” he concludes, Instead, Harris has crafted a distinctive features of the Cana- kets, iron goods, firearms, “Canada is a society that respects deeply insightful account of the dian experience. liquor). and appreciates the differences history of what would become In stressing the unique na- Environmental ef- of which it is composed, and, Canada, “not to promote, ture of Canada’s pre-confedera- fects were also devas- ironically, in so doing establishes preach or create a national vi- tion development, Harris shows tating. Sea otters its own identity more clearly.” sion but to understand and the extent to which theories ap- feed on sea ur- The wattle-and-daub house thereby bring into clearer focus plicable to the development of chins, which in will likely have to wait. Cole what this country is and what it the American colonies, and the turn feed on Harris now plans to complete an is not.” broad forces underlying nation even broader overview: an ex- The Reluctant Land will be building in Europe, have little amination of the expansion of used in historical geography explanatory power for Canada. European society into Africa and courses for many years to Harris, an Order of Canada the Americas. 978-0-7748-1450-8 come—but it’s more than that, recipient, provides an under- because Harris set himself the standing of the country based on Raymon Torchinsky is an urban task of writing a scholarly book inter-relationships between Na- geographer and saxophonist in accessible to the general reader. tive peoples, the physical envi- Vancouver. For the most part he has suc- ronment, as well as the three ceeded. major forms of European expan- Encountering The Reluctant sion: the imperial system, com- Land is like listening to a series mercial capital and agricultural of articulate public lectures, or- settlement. ganized on a regional basis, al- This is not the Berton-esque lowing for an exploration of People magazine approach each part of the country, in turn. to history. Harris has The writing style is spare, not used illus- straightforward, free of jargon. trative stories There are no footnotes. Instead, of individuals each chapter is followed by a to entertain. succinct bibliographic essay to Rather he explores PHOTO encourage further reading. the experiences of TORCHINSKY
RAYMON “Canada is a society that respects and appreciates the differences of which it is composed, and, ironically, in so doing establishes its own identity more clearly.” — COLE HARRIS
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'/ S ; 6 D+ 6 9 "' GOING /9234# + + ( + O FOR A ; S % PIAZZA % G 1 0, % ; " ; /70234# % + 2 rateful to leave her Annabel Lyon 3A9+7+4471B+A7B+0 mother and the alter ✫ G nating “stony silences and yelling matches” that have + erupted since the death of her 6 % father, Angela goes to Italy ex- D % E pecting an uneventful summer @ < 5 with her uncle in Tuscany. %+ As described in Ann Chan- dler’s fictional debut Siena Sum- ; ; 6 S mer, Angela arrives in Siena in ; time to witness the time-hon- ; 2 5 S oured Palio, a highly competitive Bev Cooke 1 ") /77234# + and often bloody, bareback 6 horse race, staged twice each summer, during which ten rid- + ers recklessly circle the Piazza & FERAL ; del Campo. Angela’s life becomes com- TEENS ) + plicated when she discovers a FERAL CATS 2 dappled horse named B 0 "' /3234# and blows of the two- Nightside doesn’t get 3A9+7+44730+34A+8 Tempesta, awaiting a final jour- legs and faces down him there, then it’ll be John Burns ✫ n Bev Cooke’s compelling ney to the slaughterhouse, and rats, evil-fanged dogs Crew. Either way, ;! S 2( Feral, hunger forces Little and other, bigger, vi- Con’s “dead-meat.” she meets the girl this unpredict- ;1,"' /3234# able horse threw and trampled. Cat to leave the safety of ciously territorial Katherine, herself I %- 6 ; Trouble comes in the form of a dark subway tunnels for the cats. involved in the gangs broad-shouldered, dark-eyed bright but largely empty subway Candlewax, or through a shifty, un- % ;% 6 platform. “It’s the safe-time, the and devious fantino, or jockey, Con as he calls him- G 9 -' ( * trustworthy boyfriend, S < 25 named Tony. sleep-time, when the earth- self, has escaped a befriends both Con % % < The Palio evolved from me- shaker ear-breakers run seldom “worms-in-the-head and Little Cat and then 6 - % % 6 and the two-legs are few.” dieval times. Animal rights or- bad” gang leader only to be tar- unknowingly unites them for ; P + ;Q % Little Cat meets the street geted by a rival gang. The old the chilling climax of Feral, the ganizations have frequently 6 ; && 2 protested the mistreatment of kid Candlewax, “as agile and gang Nightside will kill him if he second children’s book by % % + horses at the event. careful as any cat,” who tosses goes too deep into the tunnels. Cooke who, not surprisingly, is a Little Cat a chunk of Egg % 978-1-896580-17-3 Out on the street the Crew cat-lover. 978-1-55143-747-7 McMuffin. Candlewax steals is hunting him. Stay too close to & 6 &2 candles from the church where the station, the cops will grab Louise Donnelly writes her 3A9+7+4471B+A18+C he hides out and hawks them him and it’s Juvie; and if column from Vernon. on the platform. Candlewax is young, tough, scared. Feral. Just like Little Cat. 9 9!S (' -&' () Theirs is a violent coming-of- age. Little Cat endures the kicks 9 S- - 0@" contest. And more astonish- "! ; /7A234# ing—and downright appall- ing—this woman turns out to be he latest installment of her birth mother. Joan Givner’s series Ellen hopes to never see her Tabout a klutzy, feisty, birth mother, Sarah Maslin, ever brainy heroine named Ellen again, and she believes the feel- (Ellen Fremedon; Ellen Fremedon ing must be mutual, but she Journalist; Ellen Fremedon Volun- finds herself increasingly taking teer) presents the adolescent, the ferry back and forth to Van- would-be writer from Vancouver couver. In a matter of weeks she Island with her most heart- finds herself growing closer to a wrenching challenge. new grandmother who deepens At first, Ellen’s summer is full her awareness of a Jewish herit- of promise. Pressured into com- Ellen’s Book of Life cover art age. peting in a provincial debating And so Ellen learns about tournament and dressed down at the marina where she stomps eating kosher, the sham chil- by the judge for wearing jeans on washed-up baby crabs and dren’s opera performed at the and a juice-stained t-shirt, she kills them. She throws her best Theresienstadt concentration goes home triumphant with the friend Jenny’s unopened notes camp, and the Book of Life, silver cup for best speech. So and gifts in the garbage. She opened on Rosh Hashanah, in she’s off to Toronto for a glori- rages at her Dad for encourag- which the names of the right- ous month of big-city shopping, ing Gran, her mom’s mother, to eous are listed. museums, concerts and art gal- come around more often. Ellen’s Book of Life concludes leries. Then she finds a hand-writ- with the celebratory Seder meal Best of all, Ellen will be leav- ten letter that begins, “My dear- and its symbolic foods—the bit- ing behind her little brothers est Ellen, One day you will want to ter herbs, the unleavened and their ghoulish delight in spi- find your birth mother…” bread—and a girl moving on ders. Then a call comes: Ellen’s When Ellen’s resultant with tentative resiliency and a mom, who’s been bedridden search leads her hesitantly to a slowly healing heart. with MS, has been rushed to the lawyer’s office in Vancouver, A self-described “sober aca- hospital. That’s the set-up for she’s astonished to discover the demic type,” Joan Givner lives in Cover art from Ellen’s Book of Life. lawyer is the same short-tem- Mill Bay, a seaside village much Siena Summer After her mother’s death pered, frizzy-haired judge who like Ellen’s hometown. Ellen spends a lot of time down chewed her out at the debating 978-0-88899-853-8
+ !"#$$% BC QUICKIES .- BOOKWORLD A BULLETIN BOARD FOR BC WRITERS & ARTISTS ;<= 5=9 ##% && # * &! #' ## SPOONER , &! @# %# > * ISMS Titanic sugar spoons and making love spoons
0 , -4' 41)1 - $ $1 $ 1$ $C $1 AGES 10+ Her grandmother, who had emigrated S ( 0 1 " /7B234# from Finland only five years before, was miserable in the sanatorium and eventu- er grandmother’silver sugar spoon ally discharged herself against her doctor’s started Karen Autio on the path to orders. She returned home, living alone Htwo children’s novels about the his- in a barn so no one else would be infected. tory of Finnish settlement in Canada. “She had to spend the next couple of The spoon had belonged to her years apart from my mother, watching grandmother’s friend, who claimed it had other women care for her child,” says been saved from the Titanic. The spoon Autio. She eventually recovered. When led Autio to another story about the wom- she died at age 86, she left letters she had 99 ; B ? an’s relatives, who died when the Empress written to the baby when she expected < =1 2&! H of Ireland sunk in the St. to die from tuberculosis. 2 &<% % C Lawrence River in 1914. “It was just soul-bear- &4 C $ 8(6.E225/3.-E 8(6-E7230EE-3#G.E#E3 8(6-E72000E--#G5/#7- “When I found out it ing,” says Autio, her was Canada’s worst nau- voice choking with emo- tical disaster in peace- tion. “My mom trans- time,” says Autio, “I lated them for me into $ $ AA11 $ $AC couldn’t believe I’d English so I could read never heard of it.” She these letters. At that L began researching the point, I had to know Empress of Ireland and dis- more about what had covered the ship had happened.” brought more than Saara’s Passage pro- 100,000 European im- vides an authentic por- migrants to Canada. “I trayal of a bygone era in realized, wow, there’s a Ontario, including the lot of material here. socialist history of Finn- 6 = 6D1 Maybe it could be a ish immigrants. Al- 4:)3 ):4 & & novel.” though the characters &< D B 6 Seven years later, she came from her imagina- ! %) ! "# released Second Watch tion, she gleaned details 8(6E7/./E7523,-E#G.3#E3 8(6E7/.,.5-7./-5#G2- (Sono Nis 2005), in Cover art from Saara’s Passage about daily life from in- which 12-year-old Saara terviews with seniors as Mäki is en route to Finland aboard the well as research at the archives of $ $1 1 $1A 1 $6$1 doomed Empress of Ireland—and she sur- Lakehead University and the museum at vives the catastrophic voyage. Thunder Bay, where she grew up. “I am In its sequel, Saara’s Passage, her re- a stickler for the details and being accu- turn to northwestern Ontario is compli- rate to the time period,” says Autio. cated by the necessity of having her Autio studied math and computer sci- beloved Aunt Marja move to the sanato- ence at the University of Waterloo, which rium in Toronto for treatment of tuber- led to jobs in software development for culosis, leaving Baby Sanni in need of a major corporations, including Shell caregiver. Canada and MacDonald, Dettwiler, an The story was inspired by the experi- information-services company. She moved S ence of Autio’s grandmother, who had to Kelowna in 1996, after living in Calgary 6 2' D & ( to leave her baby—Karen Autio’s and the Lower Mainland with her hus- &" & '( @ " *4*8*(<*!6%57=>> 1 $ mother—with her husband at their farm band, Will, also a software developer. Her 1 $D1 1 7%9=''?% %'6%@ < $ 8(6E7/./E7,2-5/0#G./#E3 near Thunder Bay while she was treated first child Annaliis is now 21. Autio started 8(61E7/-E7/5//5-,#G.3 8(6.,53.720/2#G55 in a Toronto sanatorium. Her grand- writing ten years ago when her son Stefan mother never talked about the tragedy, started school. 978-1-55039-167-1 but Autio pieced together the story from $$1A2 $ 1 $ $ other family members. Portia Priegert is a writer based in Kelowna. ;/9 < !" '' $F
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When not translating the Romanian poetry of Nobel Prize winner 2 ( ! or French lit- erature, ,'5 — the most vowel-rich name in Canadian literature—has used Vancouver’s Hastings Park (PNE grounds) as her focus for feria: a poempark (Wolsak & Wynn $17), an oblique examination of the legacy of )" , a little- known settler who had plans for a slaughterhouse in 1869. 978-1-894987-29-5
ism, psychological twists, and an assembly of maladjusted characters whose dark de- ( sires govern their fates.” 978-1-897235-48-5 /
Partly written Registered nurse " has edited the third during her 2007 and his wife Muriel, an English trained mid- volume in a popular series from and about " Writer in Residency wife, obtained Canadian nursing registra- B.C.’s ranching heartland, Heart of the at the Vancouver tion in Edmonton, then worked at the Fort Cariboo–Chilcotin: Three (Heritage It is rocket science. $ ) ’s Public Library, McPherson Nursing Station in the Mac- $19.95). It contains stories by Rich To a Distant Day: The Rocket Pioneers )’s kenzie Delta. As recalled in his memoir, Hobson, Paul St. Pierre, Irene Stangoe and (U. of Nebraska Press $29.95) recounts Half World (Puffin Housecalls by Dogsled: Six Years in an Eric Collier, as well as Barry Broadfoot’s dreams of space travel from Chinese gun- $20) for young Arctic Medical Outpost (Lost Moose tribute to Fred Lindsay, Bruce Ramsey’s de- powder-powered rocket experiments, to adults is described $19.95) they had two children in the north, scription of Barkerville’s Chinatown, a new the launching of Sputniks and Muttniks, as an epic gender- and a third was born later in B.C. The story by Ann Walsh, and, yes, wilderness to the first human space flight in 1961. / " bending fantasy Billingtons now live in Prince George. lover Lutie Ulrich Cochran’s story about Gainor traces the solitary advances made about a lonely, overweight only child of a 978-1-55017-423-6 her pet weasel. 978-1-894974-42-4 by America’s great pioneer of rocket devel- loving but neglectful mother who is lured opment, ); the back to ‘Half World’ by a vindictive Mr. aviation experiments of Glueskin. The heroine Melanie Tamaki , and early German rocketry; the must save her parents and protect the fu- 9 progress made by + 5 ture of the universe in the bargain. ! and the Nazis, and the further 978-0-670-06965-1 Operational for three periods between progress made by von Braun and the Ameri- 1905 and 1973, the Emerald Mine near cans. 978-0-8032-2209-0 Salmo was the first mine in Canada to use heavy diesel-powered equipment under- ( ground and also boasted a heated, Olym- pic-sized swimming pool built with Internationally respected as an expert on 0 volunteer labour. Having worked as a miner the Spanish presence in the North Pacific, for 13 years, including one summer at the former Vancouver Maritime Museum and Emerald mine, / of North Vancouver Archives curator Port Coquitlam has produced Jewel of the 4" has compiled an invaluable refer- Kootenays: The Emerald Mine (Gordon ence work, Historical Dictionary of the Soules $25). 978-0-9781640-1-0 Discovery and Exploration of the North- west Coast of With ( ', archi- America tecture and arts journalist 5 B (, (Lanham, Mary- $ has co-written the Vancouver ! land: Scarecrow Book of Everything (MacIntyre Purcell B (, Press $110), to be $14.95), a nifty guide crammed with ‘didja Thistledown Press in Manitoba has be- reviewed in our know’ tidbits and statistics, including the come—believe it or not—one of the lead- next issue. Yup, number of traffic lights in the city, average ing publishers of fiction by B.C. authors. that’s not a typo rents and ethnic population figures. Cramp Launched on Bowen Island, 2 on the price. has edited a newspaper for the Musqueam " ’s first collection of fiction, 978-0-8108-5551-9 Indian Band and served as Executive Direc- The Well and Other Stories (Thistledown ( tor of the BC Book Prizes. 978-0-9784784-7-6 $16.95), “combines sharp-witted voyeur- continued on next page
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Having co-managed the BC Book Prizes since 2001, / ! has taken a new position as manager of Richmond’s Community Cultural Development. Her husband will continue to manage Rebus Creative, the organization that manages Vancouver’s Word on the Street. Rebus has hired & 5 , former director of the Federation of B.C. Writers. PHOTO
TWIGG Long Continual Argument: The Selected Poems of John Newlove (Chaudiere Books $22), with a foreword by . 978-0-9781601-1-1
Alberta-born has worked for and with Northwest Coast First Nations in educational capacities for more than 20 years. In Totem Poles (Heritage House $19.95) she teaches how totem poles We regret to report the deaths of B.C. are made, their origin and history, the sym- authors # # , bols and ceremonies linked to them, where , # ! , to see them and how to identify recurring / and / . symbols. 978-1-894974-44-8 Please visit www.abcbookworld.com for further details. 6>1( # / 0!"'s Never Shoot a Stampede Queen (Heritage The quest for self-understanding in vari- House $19.95) is a collection of true-life ous characters percolates through the short tall tales about a rookie report- stories of Sechelt author '( er's adventures in Canada's still- ’s first fiction collection, very-wild West: “The night Mark Reckoning (Turnstone $18.95), Leiren-Young drove into a follow-up to her search for fam- Williams Lake in 1985 to work ily roots in Old Stones: The Biog- as a reporter for the venerable raphy of a Family (2003). Williams Lake Tribune, he arrived 978-0-88801-337-8 on the scene of an armed robbery. And that was before things got J1 weird.” 978-1-894974-52-3 / D)%#%6#$$.E Filmmaker and performance 2 artist ' has edited a col- lection of “subversive, witty and sexy” hor- ror stories by queer and transgressive It all started when # women, Fist of the Spider Woman: Tales found a Canadian Pacific Steamship cup of Fear and Queer Desire (Arsenal Pulp while diving under an abandoned dock site $18.95). “Instilling both fear and arousal,” about twenty years back—and now his Pa- the tales of horror encompass gothic, noir cific Coast Ship China (RBC Museum and speculative fiction genres.978-1-55152-251-7 $75) identifies more than 280 china pat- terns used along the pacific coast of North America. Marc also includes descriptions of more than 59 pacific coast shipping com- panies from the late 1800s onward. 978-0-7726-5979-8 As a project to mark B.C.’s 150th anni- versary, and / - have augmented information pub- ! lished in a 1908 edition of the Victoria Times Colonist that listed Victoria residents who had been living in British Columbia since A documentary directed by 1858. # -5 , What To Make of it All? The The 54-page booklet entitled Roster of Life and Poetry of John Newlove, features the Fifty-Eighters (Victoria: Old Cemeter- contributions by fellow poets such as ies Society $7) includes pertinent obituar- and )" ". It ies and newspaper stories related to the " was shown at the Western Front Lodge in Victoria pioneers who are listed, as well as 2008 to coincide with the launch of a post- a map marking pertinent gravesites in the humous volume edited by McTavish, A Ross Bay Cemetery.
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#! ( ! ’s Cariboo Following the recent death of his part- Trips & Trails (Fitzhenry & Whiteside ner for more than fifty years, the much- $22.95) is a 406-page guidebook covering admired UBC professor and opera critic backroads trips and recreational trails in the ( $ , 5 Gold Rush region from Hope north to +!" has reaffirmed his adher- Barkerville and from Yellowhead Highway ence to a notably English style of writing 5 west to Bella Coola. There are tables at by releasing Coming Down the Pike the end of the chapters that include GPS (Ekstasis $18.95), a volume of sonnets with waypoint data and kilometre references. The “inborn Cornish Rhythms.” Drawn from text is supplemented with 26 maps and 220 nature, literature, human foibles and gay black & white photos. 978-1-55455-031-9 culture, Watmough’s sonnets, are “loosely related to those of Milton” but also offer modern humour and irony. 978-1-897430-30-9 ; L6 A different kind of public transit: As Clinical Director of the Adler Centre of the Adlerian Psychology Association of British Years after losing his lower right leg in a Columbia, $ '( motorcycle crash in the Dominican Repub- has examined why transgendered people lic in 1985, ! traveled to a face hostility and prejudice and remote island in Patagonia’s coastal why society needs to more fully wilderness to live alone for a year. recognize “trans-related” issues in Living near a different Vancouver Transpeople: Repudiation, Island—one located in southern Trauma, Healing (UTP Chile—with only a cat as a com- $29.95). Shelley’s study is based panion, Kull wrestled with inner PHOTO on interviews with ten male-to- demons to write a diary based on females and ten female-to- his tumultuous quest for inner SCHMID males. 978-0-8020-9539-8 peace Solitude: Seeking Wisdom 2 G in Extremes (New World Library CARMEN G $23.95). 978-1-57731-632-9 >1 - With her well-illustrated The Life and Art of David Marshall (Mother Tongue $34.95), arts journalist # As co-artistic producer of 3 has launched publisher # neworldtheatre, # ! 0! "’s ambitious literary series dedicated published Adrift (Talonbooks $16.95) in- to under-recognized visual artists of B.C. spired by the novel Adrift on the Nile by A master carver who also worked extensively Egyptian Nobel laureate 2"! in bronze, Marshall pursued a modernist # !*. Set amongst hip partygoers on tradition in league with his friend a Cairo houseboat during the U.S. invasion #. A founding member of the of Iraq, the play begins as a comedy as a Sculptors’ Society of B.C., 5 petty bureaucrat falls in love with a hijab- # died in 2006. 978-1-896949-44-4 clad journalist, but tragedy arises from the friction between Western imperialism and its counterpart in the Arab world: religious < K fundamentalism. 978-0-88922-585-5
&=, never a man to K (- be at a loss for words, the 28th premier of British Columbia has self-published a 615- page autobiography called Bill Vander If people remember the actress Zalm “For The People” ($39.95 plus tax ! at all, it’s for her role as Glinda and shipping) available via his internet site. the Good Witch of the North in MGM’s 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, but before that movie she was a famous stage per- sonality, in London and New York, and as well as the wife of * = "% As the first biography of its subject, ) #* ’ Mrs. Ziegfeld: The Pub- lic and Private Lives of Billie Burke (McFarland & Company $55) has been released to mark the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz. “It is something of an ‘authorized’ biography,” says Hayter-Menzies, “as Burke’s daughter and grandchildren cooperated
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Burke’s private life.” He BRIEN '
O also interviewed actors who . J performed with her on stage and screen. EDMOND 1(,, -1 -, B0 978-0-7864-3800-6
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