“Nanaimo was a mining hamlet of some forty-five buildings in 1857. The name was scarcely known outside Vancouver Island… The Beaver came along about every six months, the Otter more frequently, and an Express canoe occasionally… The chinks between the logs, through which the wind would sough with a shriek of triumph, were plastered up…
Read more #3 When Nanaimo was Colville
“At long last the people of Canada have suitably marked the spot where British history on the North-west Pacific Coast had its real beginnings” — H.N. Sage First published: January 20th, 2016 “It seemed as if the mists of time had rolled away and that we were back again with Captain Cook on the deck…
Read more #2 The Mecca of B.C. is Friendly Cove
Richard Mackie and BCBookLook are teaming up to provide a new vehicle for serious writing about B.C. The Ormsby Review will be named after Margaret Ormsby, the venerable historian who often met with Richard Mackie for tea and talk during her retirement near Vernon. First published September 16th, 2016 * Note: The Ormsby Review was…
Read more #1 Welcome to The Ormsby Review
With the subtitle, Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood Jan Redford’s End of the Rope (Penguin Random House $32.00), alerts us to the fact that the End of the Rope merges two subjects—ferocity and domesticity. As an unhappy young girl, Redford threw herself against a rock face in frustration with her father, climbed it, and unleashed an…
Read more #468 MEMOIR: Terror and elation over mountains & marriage
Judy LeBlanc’s debut collection, The Promise of Water (Oolichan $19.95) evokes a tangible sense of place—Vancouver Island—where the sweet fragrance of cedar mingles with the murky odours of damp mould and stale cigarette smoke can be washed away by a clean, cold blast of salt air. It is populated with fully-imagined lives, allowing us to gain…
Read more #293: Giving Vancouver Island its due
There have been ghost collections before Shanon Sinn’s new book; and there will be more after. Reviewer Carol Anne Shaw applauds his efforts.