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Tag: BC author

An immigrant family’s tragedy

A missing father sparks a discomfiting family reunion in a novel that presents “an authentic, timely, and moving account of the Asian immigrant experience through a distinctly British Columbian lens—one that should resonate long after reading it.” —Daniel Gawthrop reviews The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, by Eddy Boudel Tan (Toronto: Viking Canada, 2025) $26.95 / 9780735248557

A west coast mystery maven, reprinted

Reprint series showcases an author who’s sure to satisfy if a “reader is looking for a complex psychological read that explores the murkiness of the justice system, friendship, and, well, life in general.” —Ginny Ratsoy reviews The Suspect: Murder in a Small Town, by L.R. Wright (New York: Felony and Mayhem Press, 2024) $26.95 / 9781631943164

After the (second) American Civil War

“We Are Dreams in the Eternal Machine demonstrates Béchard’s skill for thoughtful, purposeful prose in full force. Though the subject matter is challenging, and the structure is purposefully complex, elegant writing and earnest character development propel the story forward.” —Zoe McKenna reviews We Are Dreams in the Eternal Machine, by Deni Ellis Béchard (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2025) $25.99 / 9781487013356

39 good reasons to read

10 poems + 10 personal essays + 10 flash fictions + 9 short stories = 39 strong arguments for reading this appealing volume of literature. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Roots To Branches Volume 3: Federation of British Columbia Writers 2023 Anthology, selected by JJ Lee, Finnian Burnett, Kerry Gilbert, and Norma Dunning (Courtney: Federation of BC Writers Press, 2025) $17.95 / 9781069008701

A good new reason to skip the mall

A poet’s first novel features a cult, an abandoned mall, and a self-aggrandizing billionaire. It also ponders “how we cope with loss and tragedy, how we negotiate feelings of regret, and how these burdens can weigh upon us in ways that shape our trajectories.” —Logan Macnair reviews The Very Good Best Friend, by Taryn Hubbard (Surrey: Now Or Never Publishing, 2025) $26.95 / 9781989689820

Sharing the harvest

Bilingual—Tla’amin and English—picture book “inspires us to be more sharing, community-minded, and aware of nature’s abundance (and the importance of preserving it).” —Ron Verzuh reviews laget hiyt toxwum (Herring to Huckleberries), by ošil (Betty Wilson) (illustrated by Prashant Miranda) (Winnipeg: Highwater Press, 2025) $24.95 / 978177492118

Quests and complications

Debut novel traces the personal evolution of a young woman who has moved from Alberta to Haida Gwaii. Buoyed by some intriguing characters and vivid descriptions of nature, the plot is thwarted by a complicated busyness.
—Candace Fertile reviews A Room in the Forest, by Heather Ramsay (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $25.00 / 9781773861678

A world in a drop of rain

“This is what one of our master poets wants to give us now that he is an elder—this ordinariness of poetry, its roots in people, and the role of a poet as the defender of human connection, even with seemingly non-human things.”
—Harold Rhenisch reviews Out of the Ordinary: New Poems, by Tom Wayman (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $22.95 / 9781998526123

Recognition and epiphany

“Between the Bell Struck and the Silence contains poems of immense beauty while the speaker seeks redemption for psychological injuries of the past and finds it in nature. Porter’s deft handling of ‘a music of imagery’ (to borrow T.S. Eliot’s term), and her pitch-perfect tone makes this collection a poignant and rewarding read.” —gillian harding-russell reviews Between the Bell Struck and the Silence, by Pamela Porter (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2024) $20.00 /9781773861418

The marriage trap

“In a thriller populated with criminals and, possibly, a ghost, the scariest thing in this book is their marriage.” —Jessica Poon reviews Every Fall, by Angela Douglas (Toronto: Rising Action, 2025) $25.99/9781998076819

Homesteaders: Alberta, 1905

As it vividly sketches “the dailiness of farm work, country fairs, community meetings, and chores,” this historical novel “celebrates women’s independence and also their achievements in the face of hardship and opposition.” —W.H. New reviews Finding Flora, by Elinor Florence (Toronto: Simon & Schuster, 2025) $24.99 / 9781668058916

Ecstatic vessels

Referencing “graphic novels, pop-up books, make-your-own-adventures, fairy tales, Christian bedtime prayers, kids’ illustrated books, television, movies, werewolf stories, and the Internet,” an audacious, eclectic volume of poems explores and responds to binarisms. —Harold Rhenisch reviews In Your Nature, by Estlin McPhee (Kingston: Brick Books, 2025) $23.95 / 9781771316439

Of ten-planet bowling and pterodactyls

Although marketed as a YA science book, our reviewer finds something for all ages: “a sophisticated study of the universe that beats out all the experts by setting us straight in common language and with infectious humour.” —Ron Verzuh reviews The Language of the Stars: The Scientific Story of a Few Billion Years in a Few Hundred Pages, by Nathan Hellner-Mestelman (Montreal: Linda Leith Publishing, 2025) $24.95 / 9781773901718

‘Soft rains and the smell of the ground’

In a pair of picture books for kids, nature is celebrated for its wondrous complexity and vital significance. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews I Am Connected, by Kung Jaadee (illustrated by Carla Joseph) (Victoria: Medicine Wheel Publishing, 2025) $22.99 / 9781778540639 and When a Tree Falls: Nurse Logs and Their Incredible Forest Power, by Kristen Pendreigh (illustrated by Elke Boschinger) (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2025) $28.99 / 9781797218670

‘It is the 1970s. It is forever.’

Admirable for the “profound hymn it presents of childhood,” a book of prose poems celebrates “the trickster energy of boyhood, it’s inimitable curiosity and acceptance,” even as it acknowledges “the poverty of a hard farming life.” —Harold Rhenisch reviews Sprocket, by Al Rempel (Qualicum Beach, Caitlin Press, 2025) $20.00 / 9781773861654

Gothic, dark, atmospheric

“A true standalone gothic fantasy, What Wakes the Bells is full of blood and guts, action, and of course, romance”: for YA readers, a striking debut. —Myshara McMyn reviews What Wakes the Bells, by Elle Tesch (New York: Feiwel & Friends, 2025) $26.99 / 9781250322807

‘Offering, loss, self-examination, and affirmation’

In a “brilliant work,” poems “attest in every moment to the strength that new ancestors, new techniques, and new understandings brought to British Columbia by migration.” —Harold Rhenisch reviews Tabako on the Windowsill, by Hari Alluri (Kingston: Brick Books, 2025) $23.95 / 9781771316491

Oldo and Vunt, a dynamic duo

Vunt and Oldo—squabbling sidekicks, current quest-mates, accidental traffickers—arrive in a town where wizards (power-hungry or deranged) vie for supremacy. With time travel thrown in, a charming maximalist tale grows a little overwhelming. —Sophia Wasylinko reviews Henchmen, by Matthew Hughes (Seattle: Amazon, 2025) $19.99 / 9781927880463

Tough guys in Chi-town

With vicious bare-knuckle fights, illicit booze runs, and bloody tussles with Al Capone’s goons, a veteran crime novelist gives the career of Huck Waller an immense, though gritty, appeal. —Ron Verzuh reviews Dirty Little War: A Crime Novel, by Dietrich Kalteis (Toronto: ECW Press, 2025) $26.95 / 9781770417960

A ‘dream on the water’

Freshly returned to Vancouver, PI Dave Wakeland strives to keep cynicism and despair at bay as he investigates the Houseboat Massacre. Sam Wiebe’s latest excels in all the right ways. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews The Last Exile: A Wakeland Novel, by Sam Wiebe (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025)
$24.95 / 9781998526086

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