“Scholar George M. Johnson just took early retirement from Thompson Rivers University, and has he been productive. Not only is he a Children’s author, but he’s also a screenwriter and playwright. But recently, as he updates The British Columbia Review from the banks of the North Thompson River in Kamloops, it has been his social activism through his songwriting and performing that has defined him, tackling such timely topics as the debt faced by developing nations and the climate crisis facing us all.” Trevor Marc Hughes presents an interview with Kamloops scholar, screenwriter, playwright, Children’s writer….and songwriter…George M. Johnson.
“The introduction closes with three words that have stayed with me since I turned the final page: “Let’s get kicking.” With the World Cup having arrived in Vancouver and Toronto, with Canada playing on home soil for the first time in its history, that line reads less like a closing sentiment and more like an opening whistle for something we have spent our whole sporting lives waiting to hear.” Amy Tucker reviews Winning Pitch: The Canadian Men’s Soccer Team at the World Cup and Beyond, by Murray Mollard (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2026) $26.95 / 9781998526598
Surreal Toronto-set novel takes place over a single day and features prose with a hypnotic cadence, staccato passages that are “closer … to Palahniuk than Hemingway,” and characters who speak “in impulsive half-sentences.” “And in the end,” our reviewer writes, “I would prefer to engage with art that takes these big swings, even if some of them occasionally miss, than to see no big swings taken at all.” —Logan Macnair reviews I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley, by Thom Vernon (Gananoque: Guernica Editions, 2024) $29.95 / 9781771838795
“In BC, cartoonists like Len Norris, Roy Peterson, Bob Krieger, Dan Murphy, Raeside, and (more lately) Pia Guerra have demonstrated what a sharp wit can do with a sharp pencil. Nurtured for decades by daily spots on the local newspaper’s editorial/opinion page, these giants of jest created lasting and recognizable characters, styles, voices, values, and understandings of who we are.” John Belshaw reviews The Canada Handbook, by Adrian Raeside (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $22.95 / 9781550179538
“I had just finished reading Waterfall Hikes in the Canadian Rockies – Volume 1 when I reached for Volume 2 as if drawn by the gravitational pull of cascading water.” Amy Tucker reviews Waterfall Hikes in the Canadian Rockies – Volume 2, by Steve Tersmette (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2024) $25 / 9781771606882
“While the book may not feature the most extreme, off-the-grid waterfall routes, it is still an excellent reference for experienced hikers. Even for those who have spent decades on the trails, there is always something new to discover, and this book provides a fresh perspective on familiar landscapes.” Amy Tucker reviews Waterfall Hikes in the Canadian Rockies – Volume 1, by Steve Tersmette (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2023) $25 / 9781771606165
“By sharing her powerful tale of resiliency with others, [the author] proves that light in times of darkness is possible. It starts with you and the decision to allow light into your own life. The author empowers us by teasing out a shining thread of hope that lives within the dark swath of the unthinkable.” —Jazmine Roberts reviews Sharing the Light: Stories and Reflections, by Monique Gray Smith (Toronto: Anansi, 2026) $26.99 / 9781487013547
Featuring writing like “lethal and blunt arrows,” a sophomore novel tells a tale of a complex mother-child relationship, a highly troubled real estate purchase, and a vulnerable protagonist who must “accept every jab and cut life’s sharpest knife has to offer.” —Sergio Espinosa reviews The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts, by Kim Fu (Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2026) $24.99 / 9781443465878
“First-hand accounts are a wonderful way to experience history. These women were able to answer all sorts of questions that many of the interviewers and magazines from back in the day would never have thought to ask them, allowing Porter the privilege of discovering their stories. Though their stories always were valid, having them recorded as part of the larger narrative is an even more validating experience.” Myshara McMyn reviews Girl Gangs, Zines and Powerslides, by Natalie Porter (Toronto: ECW Press, 2025) $26.95 / 9781770417922
“Hiking, in her eyes, is not just about covering distance—it is about immersion, presence, and connection. It is about stepping outside daily life and into a world that moves at a different rhythm shaped by glaciers, rivers, and the slow unfurling of alpine blooms.” Amy Tucker reviews Mountain Footsteps: Hikes in the East Kootenay of Southeastern British Columbia (4th ed.), by Janice Strong (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2025) $35 / 9781771607414
“I had been helping Craig with his book. It also happened that my wife and I had plans to visit the Okanagan for a week in September which corresponded with the dates for the 2025 Okanagan Columbia run. I was very eager to be introduced to Chief Clarence and perhaps even hang out.” Richard Butler reflects on his time attending the 2025 Salmon Celebration.
“In sum, in my respectful view, too much of this book is little more than a handy compendium of familiar sources strung together to prove a point. It is reminiscent of the approach taken in Grave Error, whereby those authors seek to advance a counter-narrative.” Richard Butler reviews Reconciling History: A Story of Canada, by Jody Wilson-Raybould and Roshan Danesh (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2024) $39.95 / 9780771017230
In an inventive, queer-forward collection, stories offer “sustained engagements with a common ethical terrain.” The book’s strength “lies in its refusal to simplify moral experience.” —Michael Bigam reviews Runs in the Blood, by Matthew J. Trafford (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025) $21.95 / 9781834050140
“This publication is timely because it invites us to take a step back from the headlines, narratives, and counter-narratives, and to learn who the Secwépemc people were and are; to appreciate their connection with their lands; and to understand the social relationships and responsibilities which foster mutual belonging in their communities.” Richard Butler reviews Secwépemc People, Land, and Laws: Yerí7 re Stsq’ey’s-kucw, by Marianne Ignace and Ronald E. Ignace (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2025) $39.95 / 9780228026358 (paperback release)
The fourth volume of an epic series—with “two branching timelines that have a massive crossover of characters, cities, histories, and wars”—grabs attention for its deft and artful handling of complexity, and for its queer inclusivity. —Myshara McMyn reviews Wake (The Call of the Rift, Book Four), by Jae Waller (Toronto: ECW Press, 2023) $23.95 / 9781770414594
Phantasmagorical speculative fiction that spans centuries and jumps between dimensions, a novel unfolds as “a bold, evocative exploration of what it means to awaken to one’s purpose in a world shaped by both ancient forces and uncertain futures.” —Raeshelle Pascual reviews A Dream Wants Waking, by Lydia Kwa (Hamilton: Wolsak & Wynn, 2023) $22.00 / 9781989496756
A soulful novel set in New York City at the height of the AIDS crisis “is a meditation on the intertwined nature of love and loss”; it “confronts readers with uncomfortable truths about vulnerability, mortality, and the limits of human connection, while showing that meaning can still be found amid suffering.” —Anna Horsch reviews A Friend of Dorothy’s, by Richard Willett (Los Angeles: Magic Show Press, 2025) $25.99 / 9798992339802
In a world invaded by two powerful forces, a band of misfit wizards (vampire kangaroo among them) fight as best they can. Written “in a humorous tone that draws the reader’s attention quickly from the first page,” a sequel to a 2023 novel disappoints our reviewer only by ending too soon. —Myshara McMyn reviews The Malevolent Eight, by Sebastien de Castell (New York: Hachette Mobius, 2025) $36.00 / 9781529440911
“Judith and her husband were fortunate that so many friends had room for them to stay. They traveled back and forth across southern BC to stay in the free homes of a variety of friends, making their displacement more comfortable than those who stayed in emergency centres or sheltered wherever they could. Everywhere they went, they found people who cared deeply about their situation and offered food, shelter, or comfort. It’s one of the amazing, beautiful things about the place we live.” Myshara McMyn reviews Finding the Phoenix: An Evacuee’s Memoir of the McDougall Creek Wildfire, by Judith Lepore (Kelowna: Orion Press, 2025) $19.99 / 9781738277810
“Each of the films … considers aspects of victimization. Each also makes its contribution to the ongoing conversation around Indigenous truth and reconciliation in modern-day British Columbia.” Richard Butler reviews the films Sugarcane and Racing to keep our language alive: H̓ágṃ́ṇtxv Qṇtxv Tx̌ (We’re all we got)
