Book excerpt
“While Robson’s personality is overshadowed by the unilateral authority of Sir James Douglas, or the eccentric intensity of Amor De Cosmos, Antak posits that he was just as formative in the shaping of BC. Indeed, as a social and political reformer, Robson played a driving role in the establishment of a distinctly Canadian brand of liberalism on the Pacific coast. While Antak never makes the comparison, his portrayal of Robson paints a picture of something like a Gladstone of the Pacific.” Matthew Downey reviews John Robson: British Columbian, by Ivan E. Antak (Victoria: Tellwell Talent, 2025) $25 / 9781834184142
“[Untitled],” an excerpt from Dad Era, by Jordan Abel (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2026) $24.95 / 9781552455234
“This is on the order of Monty Python with its delicious absurdity. Nawrocki is at his best when he spins these deadpan, Buster Keatonesque scenes— moments of truthful memory specific to ‘50s Vancouver. This is what makes the book work. The historical details are unvarnished yet amped up with his telling. But as we go along in Joey’s story, the memoir suffers from editorializing of a predictable nature that gets in the way of the stories despite moments of excellent scenarios.” Grahame Ware reviews The East End Rules: An East Van Memoir, by Norman Nawrocki (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2026) $24.99 / 9781551648347
“User: @JerBear83,” an excerpt from Super Castle Fun Park, by Daniel Zomparelli (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2026) $24.95 / 9781834050263
An interview excerpt with Tim Lilburn, from In The Writers’ Words: Volume III, by Laurence Hutchman (Gananoque: Guernica Editions, 2026) $24.95 / 9781778490668
“Split Nets” and “Stormy Seas,” excerpts from Rags to Riches: The Nelson Brothers Fisheries Story, by W.B. MacDonald with Stuart Nelson (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press: 2026) $27.00 / 9781773861777
“Spring 1911 Regina, Saskatchewan,” an excerpt from Wild People Quiet by Tara Gereaux (Toronto: Simon & Schuster Canada, 2026) $25.99 / 9781668060568
“Grandmother Tree, Grandfather Tree,” an excerpt from Blue thinks itself within me: Lyric Poetry, Ecology, and Lichenous Form, by Kim Trainor (Regina: U Regina Press, 2026) $27.95 / 9781779401205
“Little Brown Birds” and “Someone,” excerpts from Seventy-Two Seasons: A Memoir About Noticing, by M.A.C. Farrant (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2026) $22.95 / 9781553807438
An excerpt from Lindsay Wong’s Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2026) $27.95 / 9780735242418
Philip Holden’s “The Strange Machine of Dr Goh,” a story in Heaven Has Eyes (Singapore: Gaudy Boy, 2026), $19.00 / 9781958652220.
Evelyn Lau’s “Cursing, Flailing,” selected by Mary Dalton for inclusion in Best Canadian Poetry 2026 (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2025) $24.95 / 9781771966764
First Published: April 27th, 2015 — compiled by K. Jane Watt In 1944, Sylvia Thrupp expressed her belief that knowledge of local history is “essential for any one who professes to have a realistic approach to the political problems of the day.” Consequently UBC historian Sylvia L. Thrupp penned an article [below] in which she…
Read more #15 Thruppence for your thoughts
An extract from Dead Ends: BC Crime Stories (University of Regina Press $19.95) by Paul Willcocks First Published: February 17th, 2015 * They called him Crazy Eddie in the Okanagan Valley. Eddie Haymour complained constantly that powerful forces were conspiring against him, plotting to steal his land and his dreams, ruining his life. The provincial government, police, and…
Read more #12 BC Crime Stories: Rattlesnake Isl.