Book #11 in the series “scrutinizes a dark chapter in Canadian history while simultaneously charming her readers with the picturesque Kootenay locale and setting their teeth on edge as her heroine comes perilously close to an untimely end.” —Ginny Ratsoy reviews Lightning Strikes the Silence, by Iona Whishaw (Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2024) $21.95 / 9781771514323
Fine books of “aesthetic delights” feature evocative poems that examine everything from the loss of a beloved pet to the tending of a garden. —Catherine Owen reviews Hey Trouble and Other Poems, by Sharon McCartney (London: Baseline Press, 2023) $15.00 / 9781928066910 and In the Warm Shallows of What Remains, by Andrea Scott (Salt Spring Island: Raven Chapbooks, 2024) $22.95 / 9781778160356
“Sveva, thus, grew up in a world of literary works not only European, British, and American but also works in comparative religion, studies of Western civilization, as well as of the history and traditions of the Near and Far East. Thus, she was an individual outside of the norm of Canadian society in Vernon.” Adriana A. Davies writes about the late Vernon-based artist Sveva Caetani.
“Putting the story back into history is certainly a good thing. But that is not all. There is also an overriding interpretation here that we should not miss, and it is rather different from the history by consensus that is now all the rage.” Robin Fisher reviews Untold Tales of Old British Columbia by Daniel Marshall (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781553807049
Probing, technical collection of poetry touches on Romantic literature, German philosophers, and the natural world as its author searches for connection. —Harold Rhensich reviews A Blueprint for Survival, by Kim Trainor (Hamilton: Guernica Editions, 2024) $21.95 / 9781771838627
“Aaron Williams was raised in logging camps in BC with an old-time logger for a father and a supportive mother and logging Grandmother Joy doing the raising. He makes good use of his youthful memories to tell us in first-person present tense the workings of various operations that make up the industry.” Ron Verzuh reviews The Last Logging Show: A Forestry Family at the End of an Era by Aaron Williams (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990776618
Sophomore novel is “a portrait of power and belief gone awry, of wishful thinking of men-as-gods, of the abuse of the idea of so-called religion, and the big and generous hearts of women who get sucked into the mire.”
—Caitlin Hicks reviews The Celestial Wife, by Leslie Howard (Toronto: Simon & Schuster, 2024) $24.99 / 9781982182403
“Hunting and fishing for survival is part of life for an increasing number of North Americans. The Port Hardy memoir reminded me that I am not of that ilk and would likely die quickly if marooned on a deserted coastal island in Drouin’s backyard.” Past the End of the Road: A North Island Boyhood by Michel Drouin (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990776670
A “must-read” collection of poems reveals the poet’s critical examination of both the worlds he belongs to and his place within them. —Harold Rhenisch reviews Teeth, by Dallas Hunt (Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2024) $19.95 / 9780889714526
Debut story collection by celebrated young author reveals him as “fully in control of his voice, confident of his reach, and utterly fearless.” —Daniel Gawthrop reviews coexistence, by Billy-Ray Belcourt (Toronto: Hamish Hamilton, 2024) $27.95 / 9780735242036
“The idea was this thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we made a list of one hundred authors from one hundred years, then put a pin in their location on a map of the Coast.’ ” Cathalynn Labonté-Smith writes The Sunshine Coast Tale Trail: Where it Fits into 100 Years of Canadian Literary Landmark Maps
With sculpted sound and rhythmic exuberance a delightful and pensive volume of poems examines the living and the lived. —Michael Greenstein reviews Talking to Strangers, by Rhea Tregebov (Montreal: Signal Editions, 2024) $13.99 / 9781550656602
Picture book for elementary school-age readers teaches “vivid ways to tell us where we live and how the world works.” —Ron Verzuh reviews The Bee Mother, by Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson) (Winnipeg: Highwater Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781774920800
“McCrory argues that the horses, known in Tsilhqot’in culture as qiyus, are ‘a resilient part of the area’s balanced prey-predator ecosystem that predates the arrival of Europeans to the region.’ ” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews The Wild Horses of the Chilcotin: Their History and Future by Wayne McCrory (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2023) $39.95 / 9781990776366
Pervaded with sadness, a novelist’s sobering debut story collection examines the disappointments of romantic relationships. —Candace Fertile reviews Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories, by Shashi Bhat (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2024) $24.95 / 9780771095115
“Every page of this beautifully presented book of images takes me home to the Kootenays with colourful remembrances of growing up amidst the old barns and discarded tractors.” Ron Verzuh reviews Abandoned Kootenays: Abandoned Buildings, Old Barns, Phantom Signs, Rusty Relics by Keith G. Powell (Cranbrook: Wild Horse Creek Press, 2023) $34.95 / 978177828220
Debut poems and capitalist criticism in the form of “intricate napkin doodles,” they are “spectacular gestures but not always particularly easy or comfortable reads.” —Harold Rhenisch reviews Tomorrow is a Holiday, by Hamish Ballantyne (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2024) $16.00 / 9781554202089
“[A]ccessible, literal, and often essential writing in lyrical form about the value of living in remote areas, the vitality of other species, and a vision for a more aware and rooted future.” —Catherine Owen reviews How Can You Live Here?, by Tom Wayman (Okotoks: Frontenac House, 2024) $19.95 / 9781989466698
A “zippy marvel of truth bombs,” the novel captures the yearning of adolescence “with hyper-specificity, on-point sonic references, and zero condescension.” —Jessica Poon reviews Sugar Kids, by Taslim Burkowicz (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2024) $24.00 / 9781773636757
In which “two astute chroniclers of pop culture … explore the fun and the monstrosity of our everyday entertainments.” —Carellin Brooks reviews You’re Gonna Love This, by Dina Del Bucchia (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2024) $19.95 / 9781772016123 and Jump Scare, by Daniel Zomparelli (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2024) $19.95 / 9781772016109