National Network for Equitable Library Service

Shortlisted for the Governor General's Award, these first short stories from Terry Griggs herald one of the most original voices to appear out of Canada in the last several decades. The stories in Quickening are eccentric, wildly inventive, whimsical and fantastic. Her narrative energy sweeps us along, though the real delight of these stories is the gorgeousness of the writing.

In the twenty-first century, Canada has a reputation for being one of the most gay-friendly nations on earth, a pioneer in legalizing same-sex marriage, and home to enormously popular Pride parades. Yet Canada was not always so hospitable to its gay and lesbian citizens. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in Canada in 1969 and remained socially stigmatized for many years. 'Queers Were Here: Heroes & Icons of Queer Canada' will tell personal stories to illuminate the enormous social changes that have transformed sexuality in Canada.

Psychologists are people we love to hate. At best, they're compassionate detectives of the human soul, healers and diagnosticians, assessing the internal machinations that structure our lives and behavior. At worst, however, they're smug, hyper-educated, bombastic, yappy, socially deaf, thrice-divorced and twice-separated spouse-swapping cat-torturing perverts. Plus, they're all in this book. And so are their patients. C.P. Boyko's Psychology and Other Stories is a brilliant study of mental illness, mental health, and the people who try to tell them apart.

The rubble of an ancient civilization. A village in a valley from which no one comes or goes. A forest of mother-trees, whispering to each other through their roots; a lakeside lighthouse where a girl slips into human skin as lightly as an otter into water; a desert settlement where there was no conflict, before she came; or the town of Wantwick, ruled by a soothsayer, where tourists lose everything they have. These are the places where things begin.

Rebecca Rosenblum's Once is a fiercely original and assured debut, a collection of sixteen stories portraying the constricted and confused lives of the rootless twenty-somethings'students, office techies, waitresses, warehouse labourers, street hustlers'who inhabit them. These are stories grounded in the all-too-real comedy and tragedy of jobs and friendships and romances, books and buses and bodies.

C.P. Boyko (Blackouts, 2009) has been nominated for the Journey Prize and published in The Walrus, PRISM International, and The New Quarterly. Psychology and Other Stories, his second collection, was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in 2013. Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Boyko received degrees in English and Psychology from the University of Calgary. He lives in Victoria.

Strange things are happening in town, but only Nieve seems to notice that something is up. But when two strangers come to town, trailing night along behind them, and people, including Nieve's best friend Malcolm, begin to disappear, Nieve knows that she must do something. She must venture into the Black City to uncover the mystery and save her town.

From critically acclaimed novelist Ray Robertson comes a rollicking Great Gatsby of the 60s - a sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll-suffused modern tragedy. For Bill Hansen, things couldn't be better. He's got a beautiful folk-singer girlfriend, a job at Toronto's coolest bookstore and, most of all, he's got Yorkville, which in 1966 is nothing short of paradise for a boy from the suburbs.

Gillian Davies is six years old when her mother sends her to Croessfordd to escape the Blitz. But can she escape her child-molesting cousin Angus? Alternating between WWII Wales and present-day Canada, The Monkey Puzzle Tree is the story of Gillian's struggle to accept her childhood trauma, forgive her mother, and confront Angus - who, it seems, is as dangerous as ever.

An Indo-American Canterbury Tales, 'The Meagre Tarmac' explores the places where tradition, innovation, culture, and power meet with explosive force. It begins with Vivek Waldekar, who refused to attend his father's funeral because he was trying to please an American girl who thought starting a fire in his father's body too gross a sacrilege to contemplate.