“The action never flags, and as Wakeland put the pieces together, it’s almost impossible not to keep turning the pages”: with the return of Dave Wakeland, Vancouver’s mean streets feel a bit safer… for at least a minute. —Ryan Frawley reviews Guns Across the River, by Sam Wiebe (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2026) $24.95 / 9781998526550
An excerpt from Lindsay Wong’s Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2026) $27.95 / 9780735242418
“[R]eading this novel made me livid in the best possible way. The supernatural aspects of the novel are, arguably, the least frightening; normalized human cruelty and deep-seated male entitlement are infinitely more terrifying. Prepare to flinch.” —Jessica Poon reviews The Hunger We Pass Down, by Jen Sookfong Lee (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2025) $26.00 / 9780771012853
In a Vancouver-set debut novel, “an unsettling story about victimization and forgiveness,” 29-year-old Crystal and her teenage daughter Becky struggle on the long winding path of their lives. The “restrained and understated” writing anchors a harrowing account of precarity. —Bill Paul reviews Most Grievous Fault, by Meg Todd (Madeira Park: Nightwood Editions, 2025) $24.95 / 9780889714984
Stylish novel that’s funny without trying, where “characters bleed into a procession reminiscent of reality show fuelled by primitive desires”: “Pools has no shortage of sex, drugs, and bored rich people. Forget about sentiment or ayahuasca-induced epiphanies. Prepare for a good time, follow up with a shot of Nietzsche.” —Jessica Poon reviews Pools, by Martin West (Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2025) $22.00 / 9781772142440
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
Graphic novel set in grey-hued Raincouver examines “the strange and troubling inner workings of human beings.” —Zoe McKenna reviews What’s Fear Got To Do With It?, by Ivana Filipovich (Wolfville: Conundrum Press, 2023) $18.00 CAD / 9781772620887
This fast-paced murder mystery with a “wonderfully wry” tone is “great fun.” It’s also an “animated and sharp” glimpse of Vancouver’s social landscape, circa 1929. —W.H. New reviews Mr. Good-Evening, by John MacLachlan Gray (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2024) $34.94 / 9781771623957
ESSAY: Theatre in Vancouver Today: A Paradoxby Carol Volkart First published July 8, 2017 * Everything about the Pacific Theatre is modest — from the low-ceilinged lobby with its island of couches around a coffee table, to its urns of self-serve coffee (regular or decaf), to its 128-seat alley-style theatre where a spectator who needs…
Read more #148 Pacific Theatre almost homeless
The Ghosts We Know by Sean Karemaker Wolfville, NS: Conundrum Press, 2016 $20.00 / 9781772620030 Reviewed by Michael Kluckner First published March 7, 2017 * In his first book, The Ghosts We Know, Sean Karemaker presents an artist’s recent journey through life on coastal B.C. from the quiet corners of rural Vancouver Island to the…
Read more #100 The hermit of Chemainus
The Dancehall Years by Joan Haggerty Salt Spring Island: Mother Tongue Publishing, 2016 $20.00 / 9781896949543 Reviewed by Tom Shandel First published November 11, 2016 * Joan Haggerty has always been in a vanguard of very few. Her first book, Please, Miss, Can I Play God (Methuen, 1966), was based on her teaching drama to…
Read more #41 Haggerty’s pre-Hippie Vancouver