National Network for Equitable Library Service

<p>Montaigne Medal Finalist (Eric Hoffer Awards)</p> <p>The stories in <i>Cretacea and Other Stories from the Badlands</i> mostly take place in hot weather, where dust and sweat envelop everyone and everything. A teenage boy spends a summer with his hard-livin’, hard-drinkin’, messed up uncle and has to fight for a position in his new, temporary “family.” A recent widower gets swept up in the world of the local swingers’ scene. A band of misfits struggles to survive at a makeshift commune.

<p>Winner, 2011 ReLit Award</p> <p>From the author of <i>Pontypool Changes Everything</i>, <i>Ravenna Gets</i> is a new collection of “wheeled” stories that continue the author’s exploration of “apocalypse ?ction.”</p> <p>In a single convulsion of homicide, the population of Ravenna tries to erase the population of Collingwood.

<p>Longlisted for a ReLit Award (2007)</p> <p>Alcuin Society Citation for Excellence in Design</p> <p>The stories in <i>Sugar Bush & Other Stories</i> deal with gender relations, love, and sex in a frank way. Most of the pieces feature female protagonists who navigate their young adult years in some questionable ways. They make some ill-advised choices, which are driven by their na?ve quests for ?individuality? while at the same time having an almost pathological need to be loved by everyone--especially men.

<p><i>Burqa of Skin</i> is a dense collection of writings from Nelly Arcan, channelling harrowing disenchantment and indignation. From her very first novel, <i>Putain</i> (Seuil, 2001), Arcan shook the literary landscape with her flamboyant lyricism and her preoccupations with such recurring themes as our culture’s vertiginous obsession with youth, and its reverse: the draw of death. Now beyond the ripples of scandal Arcan’s work has caused, here are the last echoes of her work, and it is as stunning as it is brief.

<p>Drinkin’ rye and water with Grandma. Guns in False Creek. Frat boy homies from the North Delta ghetto. Samuel L. Jackson. Phantom Lord & Metallica. A kid who’s got the hots for his mom…</p> <p><i>Hunh?</i></p> <p>That’s right.

<p>“Literary escapades enlighten and entertain in this boundary-pushing collection.” (<i>Foreword Reviews</i>)</p> <p>“The maestro is at it again” (<i>The Vancouver Sun</i>)</p> <p><i>Ten Women</i> is a new collection of short fiction from one of Canada’s preeminent writers. Each of these stories offers us a portrait of a woman with whom the author may or may not have had either an intimate and/or a meaningful relationship. You can’t really tell for sure.

<p>When jazz musicians of the ’30s and ’40s were gettin’ down, when things were really cookin’ they’d say, Yeah, make it tight like that. It meant things were good, as good as they could get. It’s a good thing in fiction, too. The stories in Jim Christy’s latest collection span time and space, taking us from the depression-era Deep South to the modern-day Vancouver commute. Private eyes. Old drunks. Yuppies, hippies, and everyone in between gets the trademark Christy work-over. He roughs ’em up until they show their mettle.

<p>Finalist, City of Vancouver Book Award</p> <p><i>Monday Night Man</i> is a back alley view of East Vancouver netherworlds. Horst Nunn, Ray Bunce, and Boyle Rupp are a trio of middle-aged, underemployed, intelligent “plungers” striving for redemption through humour and long shots at the track.</p> <p>Praise for <i>Monday Night Man</i>:</p> <p>"These stories . . .

<p>Finalist, Trillium Book Award</p> <p>The stories in <i>Animal</i> depict people on the brink of major life change. Often at a crossroads they are oblivious to, Leggat?s characters seem to be captured in a cinematic slo-mo, teetering on the edge of something unknown, heroically resisting the ever-present pull of Fate. It matters little whether the characters take action or refuse to act; life acts for them. The reader is left to wonder: When does ?meaning? cease to have meaning?

<p>Finalist, ReLit Awards (shortlist)</p> <p><i>Black Rabbit & Other Stories</i> is a debut collection of great intensity and versatility. The stories range from the fantastic to the gritty, from urban dystopias to worlds of dreamlike possibility. Even in their frequent explorations of brutality, the author remains honest and true to the motivations of his characters and the machinations of the worlds in which they find themselves.