Reviews

By Caterina Edwards The Patina of Melancholy by Carmelo Militano Ekstasis Editions (2023) Where does your need to make art come from? What sustains that urge when you are no…

By Lori Hahnel A Way to be Happy: Stories by Caroline Adderson Biblioasis (2024) The title of Caroline Adderson’s latest story collection derives from its epigraph, a passage from Chekhov’s…

By Catherine Owen Jesus is a Voyeur by Bret Crowle Frontenac House (2024) Fugue: a contrapuntal composition in two or more voices involving repetition. The plurality of everything. Jesus: purported…

By Frances Boyle Blood Belies by Ellen Chang-Richardson Wolsak & Wynn (2024) Blood Belies is Ellen Chang-Richardson’s first full-length poetry collection after six chapbooks (solo and collaborative) published over the…

By Beth Everest The Work by Bren Simmers Gaspereau Press (2024) Even the construction of the cover page predicates a main theme of Bren Simmers’ fifth book, The Work. The…

By Carmelo Militano On Writing and Failure or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer by Stephen Marche  Biblioasis (2023) A quick skim of Stephen…

By Megan Nega Take the Compass by Maureen Hynes McGill-Queen’s University Press (2023) Take the Compass is a vivid collection of 58 poems which offer guidance for navigating life’s chaos…

By Mary Vlooswyk The Oneironaut 1 by Sheri-D Wilson Write Bloody North (2024) The first thing I had to do with this book was research what Oneironaut meant, despite ONERIO…

By Catherine Owen In The Capital City of Autumn by Tim Bowling Wolsak & Wynn (2024) Tim Bowling’s body of work holds the distinction of being both diverse and consistent…

by Joni Doornenbal On Community by Casey Plett Biblioasis (2023) Casey Plett’s new book-length essay On Community is a gracious contemplation of community in its many iterations, from the catty…

By Tonya Lailey Moving to Delilah by Catherine Owen Freehand Books (2024) I just walked in, beneath the simple lintel, and the walls spoke in a definite whisper, “My name…

By Kendall Bistretzan This is How You Start to Disappear by Astrid Blodgett University of Alberta Press (2023) Short story writer Astrid Blodgett explores loss, family dynamics, and uncomfortable truths…

By Steven Ross Smith Kink Bands by David Martin NeWest Press (2023) We’re in the mountains here, or in a classroom, or touring earth … but where doesn’t exactly matter…

By Frances Boyle Siteseeing by Ariel Gordon and Brenda Schmidt At Bay Press (2023) Siteseeking is the result of a year-long conversation in poetry between two writers celebrated for their…

Michelle Hardy A Review of:   If You Lie Down in a Field, She Will Find You There Colleen BrownRadiant Press, 2023 ISBN: 978-1-98927-494-1 110 pages $20.00 CAD Remembering an…

By Skylar Kay Cocktail by Lisa Alward Biblioasis (2023) The stories of Cocktail all revolve around ideas of family, finding belonging, and the pitfalls that come with love—either familial or…

By Catherine Owen Imagining Imagining by Gary Barwin Wolsak and Wynn (2023) “I love the syncretic web of experience,” Gary Barwin states exuberantly in his essay “The Selected Walks,” from…

By Mary Vlooswyk I Have Forsaken Heaven & Earth, but Never Forsaken You by MA Hui, translated by Leilei Chen Frontenac House (2023) Have you ever played the telephone game?…

By George Elliot Clarke Faithfully Seeking Franz by Elana Wolff Guernica Editions (2023) Elana Wolff is a cosmopolitan poet—with eight collections to her credit and English, German, and Hebrew at…

By George Elliott Clarke The Walled Garden: Essays by Mark Frutkin Guernica Editions (2023) The Latin, floral epithet for the chaste Beloved in the Canticum Canticorum—The Song of Songs (The…

By Katherine Matiko Antecedent by Juleta Severson-Baker Frontenac House (2023) Juleta Severson-Baker dedicates Antecedent to her ancestors, so it was no surprise to encounter a boy coming to terms with…

By Kendall Bistretzan Who We Are in Real Life by Victoria Koops House of Anansi (2024) Who We Are in Real Life is a debut young adult novel by Saskatchewan…

By Mary Vlooswyk Among the Untamed by dee Hobsbawn-Smith Frontenac House Poetry (2023) Among the Untamed by dee Hobsbawn-Smith is an exploration of how to be a woman in today’s…

By Steven Ross Smith Surface Tension by Derek Beaulieu Coach House Press (2022) Following on and expanding upon the appearance and evolution of concrete poetry, which exploded language’s visual and…

By Katherine Matiko Circle Tour by Eva Tihanyi Inanna Publications and Education Inc. (2023) Eva Tihanyi’s Circle Tour takes readers on a spiralling journey from hope to societal and personal…

By Jennifer Cox Deriving by Jennifer Bowering Delisle University of Alberta Press (2021) While it is an unusual choice to open a poetry book with a Descartian theory on the…

By David Bateman Pieces of My Self by Keith Garebian Guernica Editions (2023) From the mauve velvet of his mother’s most stylish evening gown, to the sights and sounds of…

By Vincent Potter I Wish I Could Be Peter Falk by Paul Zits University of Calgary Press (2022) Paul Zits opens this collection with the perfect dedication: “for Me (&…

By Angeline Schellenberg Our Bodies’ Unanswered Questions by Wendy Donawa Frontenac House Poetry (2021) “Is it bravado or just cheap grace, / hoping anything can be borne / if sung…

By Annie Wesko You Look Good For Your Age: An Anthology Rona Altrows, Editor University of Alberta Press (2021) This is a brilliant collection of women’s writing about aging, some…

By Shelley McAneeley Permanent Astonishment: a Memoir by Tomson Highway Penguin Random House Canada (2021) Perhaps the words, “permanent astonishment,” are the best words to describe Tomson Highway because what…

By Angeline Schellenberg If, When by Bren Simmers Gaspereau Press (2021) The first poem in Bren Simmers’ new collection ends “You’re not in an ambulance / speeding towards emergency. /…

By Skylar Kay Blue Portugal by Theresa Kishkan University of Alberta Press (2022) Blue Portugal, Theresa Kishkan’s new collection of essays, presents life as mosaic. Kishkan stitches and mends together…

An Interview with Anne Sorbie and Heidi Grogan by Sharon Berg (M)othering: An Anthology Edited by Anne Sorbie and Heidi Grogan Inanna Publications (2022) Sharon Berg: First, thank you both…

By Bret Crowle Transcribing Moonlight by Skylar Kay Frontenac House (2022) Skylar Kay’s debut collection Transcribing Moonlight is a delicate and transcendental glimpse into the world of identity. Authenticity leaches…

By Beth Everest BEING HERE: the chemistry of startle by Barry Dempster Frontenac House (2022) From cover to cover, Barry Dempster’s latest book BEING HERE: the chemistry of startle, held…

By Ariel Gordon Bread & Water by dee Hobsbawn-Smith University of Regina Press (2021) dee Hobsbawn-Smith is somehow known both for being a Calgary chef, food writer, and single parent…

By Kimberley Gilmour Some Hellish by Nicholas Herring Goose Lane Editions (2022) Some Hellish submerges the reader into the culture of coastal people and the fishing industry on the shores…

by D.A. Lockhart Blurred Sunlight Shimmering on Wet Rocks A Review of Laurence Hutchman’s Swimming Toward the Sun. Collected Poems: 1968-2020. Guernica Editions (2020) I first heard Laurence Hutchman’s work…

J’Accuse…! (Poem versus Silence) by George Elliott Clarke Exile Editions (2021) The title of George Elliott Clarke’s book length poem, J’Accuse…! (Poem versus Silence), is borrowed from Emile Zola’s 1898…

by Bret Crowle Resurrection Fail by John Wall Barger Spuyten Duyvil (2021) Resurrection Fail begins with the disciplined and passionate detailing of personal experiences our author, John Wall Barger, but…

by Patrick Connors If I Didn’t Love the River by Robert Priest ECW Press (2022) Robert Priest’s latest collection pushes boundaries. It cannot be defined as one school or “type”…

By Beth Everest Emptying the Ocean by Kim Fahner Frontenac House (2022) Because the title, itself, of Kim Fahner’s latest book suggests the impossible, I am instantly intrigued, and Emptying…

by Jaclyn Pahl Pilgrim to No Country by Anvesh Jain Frontenac House (2022) In his debut poetry collection, Pilgrim to No Country, Anvesh Jain promises to “pen the great ironies…

by Sharon Berg Toast Soldiers by Bruce Meyers Crowsnest Books (2021) Bruce Meyers is a prolific, award-winning writer. Every story in Toast Soldiers is both insightful and serious, with protagonists…

by Shelley McAneeley Five Little Indians by Michelle Good Harper Perennial (2020) Michelle Good reminds me of my grandfather and the time when storytellers spun words into magic. Five Little…

by Shelley McAneeley Meeting Thoreau at the Gas Station Diner by Marty Gervais Urban Farmhouse Press (2022) In the mid-to-late sixties, hippies and curious seekers took off to wherever, whatever,…

By Yvonne Blomer Fields of Light and Stone by Angeline Schellenberg University of Alberta Press (2020) Fields of Light and Stone is a book of poems through which Angeline Schellenberg…

By Yvonne Blomer intertidal: poems from the littoral zone by Zoe Dickinson Raven Chapbooks (2022) The title alone of this slim volume of astonishing poems says much – both intertidal…

By Sharon Berg Waves by Diane Girard Volume Publishing (2021) What was I expecting inside this simple cover on a seemingly self-published book? I don’t mind admitting I recognized my…

By Crystal Mackenzie Home Waltz by G.A Grisenthwaite Palimpsest Press (2020) Set in 1973, in a town near Kamloops B.C, Home Waltz by G.A Grisenthwaite is a typical coming of…

By Micheline Maylor Awâsis: Kinky and Dishevelled by Lousie B. Halfe Sky Dancer Brick (2021) Awâsis: Kinky and Dishevelled by Louise B. Halfe Sky Dancer is a trickster’s book of…

By Marty Gervais Go Down Odawa Way by D. A. Lockhart Kegedonce Press (2021) I heard so much about this book by Windsor-based writer D.A. Lockhart, and looked forward to…

By Skylar Kay Music From a Strange Planet by Barbara Black Caitlin Press (2021) Barbara Black’s Music From A Strange Planet is a well-curated collection of short stories; several themes run throughout…

By Skylar Kay All the Animals on Earth by Mark Sampson Wolsak and Wynn (2020) Mark Sampson’s All The Animals On Earth is like if Orwell had mashed Animal Farm and…

By Skylar Kay For It Is a Pleasure and a Surprise to Breathe by Gary Barwin Buckrider Books (2019) Gary Barwin’s collection of poetry For It Is a Pleasure and a…

By Vincent Potter Shelter for the Damned by Mike Thorn JournalStone (2021) “They sat for hours, talking dirty in the rot and gloom. Mark had never taken so long to smoke a…

By Catherine Owen First by Arleen Paré Brick Books (2020) The topic of female friendships in literature: enduring, formative, is unfortunately uncommon. Often dismissed as a bond of fripperies by a patriarchal society, close…

By Annie Wesko Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers by Marcello Di Cintio Biblioasis (2021) Marcello Di Cintio writes of so many immigrant taxi drivers who had seen war…

By Annie Wesko If Sylvie Had Nine Lives by Leona Theis Freehand Books (2020) If Sylvie Had Nine Lives is Leona Theis’s third book, a novel in nine stories written in…

By Blaine Marchand Scan: Cancer Poems by Keith Garebian Dis/ability Series: Number Twenty-two Limited Edition, 100 copies Frog Hollow Press  In the opening to Keith Garebian’s probing, insightful and powerful…

By Carla Scarano Echo of Ash by Pamela Medland Passwords Enterprises ISBN 9780968091860 Echo of Ash is an engaging first full collection that displays a journey through bereavement after the…

By Vincent Potter Watershed by Doreen Vanderstoop Freehand Books (2020) ISBN: 9781988298597 The dystopia in Doreen Vanderstoop’s Watershed is one worryingly reasonable: it’s 2058, no one has enough water, and being…

By Skylar Kay TreeTalk by Ariel Gordon At Bay Press (2020) ISBN-10: 1988168279 ISBN-13: 978-1988168272 First of all, TreeTalk is an innovative poetry collection. While most entries are from Gordon,…

By Angeline Schellenberg Nautilus and Bone by Lisa Richter Frontenac House (2020) ISBN: 9781989466124 I’m usually drawn to poetry books that feel like old friends: collections that put music to…

By Kathryn Shalley Vermin by Lori Hahnel Great Plains Publications (2020) ISBN: 9781773370460 Though disparate in time and location, the stories in Lori Hahnel’s Vermin are bound by a common…

By Bret Crowle Riven: Poems by Catherine Owen ECWPress (2020) ISBN: 9781770415249 Catherine Owen’s Riven is a collection of poems woven together to blend the feeling of loss with the…

by Josephine LoRe Caponata Carla Scarano D’Antonio Dempsey & Windle (2020) ISBN 9781913329228  Carla Scarano D’Antonio’s Caponata arrived late last year and I devoured it in one sitting.  Enough time…

by Micheline Maylor  Forgotten Work  Jason Guriel Biblioasis Press (2020) ISBN: 978-1-77196-382-4 Trolling twitter, I find this on Jason Guriel’s feed: “When I started writing nobody rhymed-it was in utter disrepute.…

by Anne Burke Let This Lake Remember Joan Shillington Frontenac House (2020) ISBN: 9781989466117 In “Truth” the persona of the poet acknowledges the ironic veracity of illusion, based on childhood memories…

By Crystal Mackenzie No Call Too Small by Oscar Martens ISBN: 9781771681957 Oscar Martens’ No Call Too Small is a collection of short stories about moments: a flash, if you…

by Skylar Kay This Has Nothing To Do With Youby Lauren CarterFreehand Books (2019)ISBN: 9781988298542 “We were a family that kept secrets.” This quote, which opens a section late in the…

by Al Rempel I Will Be Corruptedby Joseph A. DandurandGuernica Editions (2020)ISBN: 9781771835060 Joseph A Dandurand’s thirteenth book of poetry, I Will Be Corrupted, is a powerful work in its…

by Keith Garebian  Swoon  Elana Wolff Guernica Editions (2020) ISBN: 9781771835077 Elana Wolff’s sixth poetry collection uses epigraphs that connote various meanings of “swoon:” The Living Torah’s example of Rebecca’s…

by Skylar Kay  The Last Goldfish  Anita Lahey Octopus Books (2020) ISBN: 9781771963435 Some books are page turners, keeping readers asking, ‘How will this end? I need to know!’ Lahey’s…

by Carla Scarano In her career as a writer and award-winning poet, Josephine LoRe, who is based in Calgary, Alberta, is a remarkable example of an independent and committed author.…

by Ryan Stromquist  All the Night Gone  Sabrina Uswak Stonehouse Publishing (2020) ISBN: 978-1-988754-28-4 All the Night Gone, the debut novel of Sabrina Uswak, is another addition to the pantheon…

by Marshall Gu  The Gospel of Breaking  Jillian Christmas Arsenal Pulp Press (2020) ISBN: 978-1551527970 The poems of Ontario- born, Vancouver-based Jillian Christmas’ The Gospel of Breaking range in length,…

by Micheline Maylor Glass Float by Jane Munro Brick Books (2020) ISBN: 9781771315241 Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, claimed Ginsberg, the skin is holy, the soul is holy. In Glass…

by Skylar Kay TreeTalk by Ariel Gordon At Bay Press (2020) ISBN: 9781988168272 First of all, TreeTalk is an innovative poetry collection. While most entries are from Gordon, many others come…

by Tony King Impact Statement by Bob Stallworthy Frontenac House Poetry (2020) ISBN: 978-1-989466-05-6 Imagine life interrupted. Your whole world upended in an afternoon. The future is not just derailed,…

by Joan Shillington To float, to drown, to close up, to open E. Alex Pierce University of Alberta Press (2020) ISBN 978-1-77212-453-8 In the last poem of her second collection…

by Kim McCullough A Handbook for Beautiful People Jennifer Spruit Inanna Publications (2017) ISBN: 978-1-77133-441-9 A Handbook for Beautiful People by former Calgarian Jennifer Spruit is a gentle love letter to the…

by Megan Nega Ruba’iyat for the Time of Apricots Basma Kavanagh Frontenac House Poetry (2018) ISBN: 978-1-927823-81-1 Basma Kavanagh’s Ruba’iyat for the Time of Apricots is a long-form poem written…

by John Wall Barger  Waterline Immersion  by Conrad Scott Frontenac House (2019) ISBN 9781927823972 In Waterline Immersion, Conrad Scott enacts the birth of the world using language that shifts tectonically…

by Ryan Stromquist  Tiny Lights for Travellers Naomi K. Lewis University of Alberta Press (2019) ISBN 978-1-77212-448-4 Naomi Lewis’ memoir, Tiny Lights for Travellers, begins with an epigraph from Alain…

by Nikki Reimer  Pressure Cooker Love Bomb  by Sharanpal Ruprai Frontenac House (2019) ISBN 978-1-92782-383-5 Sex, love and food: the lyricism  The Instant Pot is all the rage right now,…

by Beth Everest Common Brown House Moths by Laura Zacharin Frontenac House (2019) ISBN: 9781927823989 Common Brown House Moths by Laura Zacharin is anything but common. Already the first line,…

by Sarah Butson An Honest Womanby JoAnn McCaigThistledown Press (2019)ISBN 978-1-77187-178-5 JoAnn McCaig’s second novel, An Honest Woman, is not your average read. If you are looking for a linear…

Stella Leventoyannis Harvey is a Canadian author and the founder and artistic director of the Whistler Writing Society. Harvey was born in Cairo, Egypt and immigrated to Calgary, Alberta with…

by Skylar Kay Goth Girls of Banff by John O’Neill NeWest Press (2020) John O’Neill’s Goth Girls of Banff captures so many aspects of life in and around Banff in brilliant ways.…

by Ed Hamer Naming the Shadows by Sharon Berg The Porcupine’s Quill (2019) ISBN 9780889848665 The Stories Themselves: Sharon Berg has written a collection of short stories, really a powerful gallery of…

by Skylar Kay Hunger Moon by Traci Skuce NeWest Press (2020) ISBN 978-1-988732-80-0 Traci Skuce’s Hunger Moon is a well-crafted collection of short stories. While only two of these stories have the…

  by Skylar Kay Corridor Nine by Sophie Stocking Thistledown Press (2019) ISBN 9781771871815 Sophie Stocking’s Corridor Nine is a story of life, death, family, and rebirth. To begin, the novel places…

by Micheline Maylor Field Notes for the Self by Randy Lundy University of Regina Press (2020) ISBN 9780889776937 Field Notes for the Self, Randy Lundy’s fifth full-length collection, reaches towards…

by Mike Thorn Arctic Smoke: A Novel by Randy Nikkel Schroeder NeWest Press (2019) ISBN 978-1-988732-70-1 Randy Nikkel Schroeder’s Arctic Smoke does not simply inhabit its multiple genres, but instead…

by Vivian Hansen Lovers Fall Back to Earth by Cecelia Frey Innana Press (2018) ISBN 978-1-77133-481-5 This book is about unpacking clichés; all that has been hoarded over the years. Frey pries beneath…

by Crystal Mackenzie Left by Theanna Bischoff NeWest Press (2018) ISBN 978-1-988732-43-5 I am a sucker for a good mystery. Theanna Bischoff’s LEFT is a good mystery. Set in Calgary, AB between…

by Mike Thorn Only Pretty Damned by Niall Howell NeWest Press (2019) ISBN 978-1-988732-53-4 Niall Howell’s Only Pretty Damned is a seriously impressive debut, showcasing a sophisticated sense of craft…

by Daryl Sneath In Search of the Perfect Singing Flamingo Claire Tacon Poplar Press (2018) ISBN 978-1928088578 Lead and driving force that she is, Starr Robinson is no ordinary hero. Born…

by Sharon Berg Look at Her by Vanessa Shields Black Moss Press (2015) ISBN 978-0-88753-565-9 In Canada, selling 500 copies of a poetry book is considered remarkable. The fact that Vanessa…

by Shelley McAneeley Stained with the Colours of Sunday Morning by Rayanne Haines Inanna Publications and Education Inc. (2017) ISBN 978-1-77133-525-6 Tender, sensual and insightful, Rayanne Haines, creates a gentle journey…

by Anne Sorbie Seep by W. Mark Giles Anvil Press (2015) ISBN 978-1-77214-012-5 Mark Giles’ first novel opens and closes with explications of “once upon a time.” The approach is playful, but, rather…

by Shelley McAneeley Writing Menopause An Anthology of Fiction, Poetry and Creative Nonfiction edited by Jane Cawthorne and ED Morin Inanna Publications and Education Inc. (2017) ISBN 978-1-77133-353-5 What to say…

by Jannie Edwards On Not Losing my Father’s Ashes in the Flood Richard Harrison Wolsak and Wynn (2016) ISBN 978-1-928088-22-6 There is an invitation, a hospitality in Harrison’s work in…

by Anne Logan The Home for Wayward Parrots Darusha Wehm NeWest Press (2018) ISBN 978-1-988732-27-5 What makes a coming-of-age story? Does it simply need to cover the years from birth…

by Shelley McAneeley High Rider Bill Gallaher TouchWood Editions (2015) ISBN 978-1-77151-114-8 This is a down home story from Alberta about one of the first black settlers in the area.…

by Micheline Maylor Drolleries by Cassidy McFadzean McClelland & Stewart (2019) ISBN 978-0-77107-317-5 A poetry book should make a promise and an invitation on the opening page. Cassidy McFadzean’s, Drolleries,…

by Jamal Ali Nouveau Griot by Tanya Evanson Frontenac House (2018) ISBN: 978-1-927823-84-2 Tanya Evanson’s poetry collection, Nouveau Griot, takes readers on a journey into diverse worlds. A griot is…

by Micheline Maylor  Dunk Tank by Kayla Czaga House of Anansi Press (2019) ISBN 978-1-4870-0596-2 The poetry gods claim that a second book is much harder than the first because…

by Tia Christoffersen   What Can’t Be Undone by dee Hobsbawn-Smith Thistledown Press (2015) ISBN 978-1-927068-89-2  From the award-winning culinary writer and poet dee Hobsbawn Smith comes her first collection…

by Skylar Kay New Brunswick by Shane Neilson Biblioasis (2019) ISBN 978-192-7823675 Shane Neilson’s New Brunswick forms a story of loss, love, and return, circling around New Brunswick as a…

by Skylar Kay Narrow Bridge by Barbara Pelman Ronsdale Press (2017) ISBN 978-1-55380-508-3 Pelman’s Narrow Bridge is a musical ode to life, aging, acceptance, and rebirth in three parts. The…

Crystal Mackenzie A review of: On Huron’s Shore by Marilyn Gear Pilling Demeter Press (2014) ISBN 978-1-927335-34-5 We all have to grow up, some of us are just better at…

gillian harding-russell a review of Morning After You By Carmelo Militano Ekstasis Editions (2014) ISBN 978-177-10343 Carmelo Militano writes from the perspective of an immigrant to Canada from Calabria, Italy…

Nikki Celis A review of The New World By Andrew Motion The Crown Publishing Group ISBN 978-0-8041-3845-1 “Pride, I suppose. Stubbornness. Greed. Some defect in myself, which proves I am…

gillian harding-russell A review of Verge By Lynda Monahan Guernica (2015) ISBN 978-1-55071-963-5 In Verge, Monahan writes slender verses that carry a MacEwenesque self-discovery and wisdom. Just as MacEwen associated…

Lisa Deane a review of: The Vacationers By Emma Straub Riverhead Books ISBN 978-159463157 Gistnopsis: Middle-aged married couple Franny and Jim, 28-year-old Bobby, and 18-year-old Sylvia, along with Franny’s best…

Shelley McAneeley a review of: Do You Think This is Strange? Aaron Cully Drake Brindle and Glass Publishing ISBN 978-1-927366-387   Having just completed my usual morning talk with my…

Bren Simmers, Hastings-Sunrise Friday night at Hastings Park. Our beer in plastic cups. Pre-race, the announcer tells us to look for a big ass, a line of muscle along the…

rob mclennan a review of: Undercurrent By Rita Wong Nightwood Editions ISBN 978-0-88971-308-6 both the ferned & the furry, the herbaceous & the human, can call the ocean our ancestor.…

Jordan Simpson a review of: House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski Pantheon Books ISBN: 0-375-70376-4 Reading Mark Z. Danielewski’s “novel” House of Leaves (Feb 29, 2000) is a lot like…

Micheline Maylor A Review of Blue Sonoma By Jane Munro Brick Books $20.00 ISBN: 978-1-926829-88-3 Blue Sonoma is a collection that begins with a mantra and becomes a study of…

J.D Mersault A review of: 7 Ways to Sunday                                           …

gillian harding-russell A review of: A Private Mythology                                                   By Stephen Morrissey   Ekstasis Editions ISBN 978-1-877171-055-8 In A Private Mythology, Stephen Morrissey writes poems that are obliquely confessional while delightfully clothed…

Micheline Maylor A review of Bull Head by John Vigna Arsenal Pulp Press (2012) ISBN: 978-1-55152-490-0 $15.95 The epigraph to John Vigna’s debut short story collection begins with Flannery O’Connor’s…

Julienne Isaacs A review of The Pull of the Moon by Julie Paul Brindle & Glass Publishing (2014) ISBN: 978-1-926531-51-9 $19.95 Julie Paul’s world is small-scale, human-sized, peopled by x-ray technicians and waitresses, all…

Robin van Eck A review of Shy: An Anthology Edited by Naomi K. Lewis and Rona Altrows University of Alberta Press 2013 “If you don’t know what you’re talking about,…

Crystal Mackenzie A review of The Hungry Ghosts By Shyam Selvadurai Doubleday Canada (2013) ISBN: 978-0-385-67066-1 $29.95 Shyam Selvadurai’s The Hungry Ghosts tells the tale of a young Sri Lankan…

Shelley McAneeley, B.A., M. Arch. A review of Under Budapest By Ailsa Kay Goose Lane Editions ISBN 978-0-86492-681-4 $19.95 How does a man become a monster? That is, besides the…

gillian harding-russell a review of Redshift By Patrick White Ekstasis, 2013. ISBN: 978 1771710275 $24.00 In Redshift, Patrick White attempts epic proportions while his speaker reflects on the human drama…

Annie Vigna A review of A Root Beer Season By Inge Bremer-Trueman Crabapple Mews Collective ISBN 978-0-9920795-2-9 $17.95 The cover shows a teenage girl dressed in an A&W carhop uniform,…

Annie Vigna A review of All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews Alfred A. Knopf Canada ISBN 978-0-345-80800-4 $29.95 The title of Miriam Toews’s latest novel was taken from a…

Samantha Baldwin a review of All the Daylight Hours by Amanda Jernigan Cormorant Books Inc., 2013 ISBN 978-1-77086-261-6 Boil a cup of tea, grab your favourite slippers and sit by…

Sabrina Uswak a review of The Age by Nancy Lee McLelland & Stewart (2014) ISBN: 978-0-7710-5252-1 $22.95 Nancy Lee creates an astonishing teen-self-discovery story in her debut novel The Age.…

Bill Bunn a review of Boiled Cat by Kim Firmston CreateSpace (2013) ISBN: 9781480040458 $13.50 As the lead singer of punk band, Thrash seems to have it made. In some…

Annie Vigna a review of The Long White Sickness by Cecelia Frey Inanna Publications and Education Inc. (2013) ISBN 978-1-026708-90-4 $22.95 I attended the launch of this novel in July…

Lori Willocks a review of The Crimes of Hector Tomás Ian Colford Freehand Books ISBN 978-1-55481-109-0 $21.95 Halifax-based author Ian Colford explores the dark side of human nature in his…

Crystal Mackenzie A review of Hellgoing by Lynn Coady House of Anansi Press (2013) ISBN: 978-1-77089-308-5 $19.95 We are all going to hell–or so they say–in a tightly woven basket.…

Kate Marlow A review of Practical Jean by Trevor Cole McClelland & Stewart ISBN 978-0-7710-2325-5 $29.99 A whole life can be traced through fiction. To do this, we would start…

Robin van Eck A Review of The Better Mother By Jen Sookfong Lee Knopf Canada (2011) ISBN 978-0-307-39950-2/ 0-307-39950-8 $29.95 In The Better Mother, by Vancouver writer Jen Sookfong Lee,…

Chase Baird A review of Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner Hamish Hamilton Ca ISBN 978-0670065189 $30.00 Zsuzsi Gartner’s second short story collection, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives,…

Annie Vigna A review of The Boy By Betty Jane Hegerat Oolichan Books ISBN: 978-0-88982-275-7 $21.95 Betty Jane Hegerat is the author of two novels, a collection of short stories,…

Barbara L. Black A review of A Complete Encyclopedia of Different Types of People By Gabe Foreman Coach House Books ISBN 978-I-55245-244-8 $17.95 It’s a beautiful con from the moment…

Shelley McAneeley A review of Various Positions By Martha Schabas Doubleday Canada (2011) ISBN: 978-0-385-66876-7 $22.00 Veiled in the joy of acceptance into an elite ballet school, Georgia, our protagonist,…

Shelley McAneeley A review of Why Men Lie by Linden MacIntyre Random House (2012) ISBN: 978-0-307-36086-1 $32.00 Linden Macintyre takes us on a journey through a new relationship with a…

Marilyn Letts A review of What Disturbs Our Blood: A Son’s Quest to Redeem the Past by James Fitzgerald Random House Canada ISBN 978-0-679-31315-1 $34.95 What Disturbs Our Blood: A…

Micheline Maylor a review of the id kid by Linda Besner Signal Editions – Vehicule Press ISBN 978-1-55065-313-7 $18.00 A quick googling of Linda Besner reveals a clown-nose portrait, the…

Kate Marlow a review of Light Lifting By Alexander MacLeod Biblioasis (2010) ISBN: 978-1-89723-194-4 $19.95 Light Lifting is Alexander MacLeod’s award-winning debut collection of short fiction. It is a collection…

Annie Vigna a review of The Beauty of Humanity Movement By Camilla Gibb Doubleday Canada ISBN: 978-0-385-66322-9 $32.95 Hu’ng’s neighbours have begun to line up with their bowls. The old…

Annie Vigna a review of Memoir of a Good Death by Anne Sorbie Thistledown Press ISBN 978-1-897235-81-2 $19.95 Anne Sorbie’s novel is of duality and contrasts, of landscape—both land and…

Kate Marlow a review of Rats of Las Vegas by Lisa Pasold Enfield & Wizenty ISBN 978-1-8942839-2-2 $29.95 Lisa Pasold’s debut novel Rats of Las Vegas is engrossing, spirited, and…

Rea Tarvydas a review of What Echo Heard by Gordon Sombrowski Oolichan, 2011 ISBN 978-0-88982-279-5 $21.95   This debut collection of linked short stories illuminates the social stratification of the…

Barbara L. Black a review of Brown Dwarf By K.D. Miller Biblioasis, April 2010 ISBN 978-1-897231-88-3 $17.95 KD Miller’s book Brown Dwarf, starts out sounding like a young girl’s Dear…

Shelley McAneeley A review of The Selector of Souls by Shauna Singh Baldwin Knopf Canada (2012) ISBN 978-0307362926 $32.00 Damini, one protagonist, is presented as both murderess and goddess. Damini’s…

Annie Vigna a review of The Shore Girl By Fran Kimmel NeWest Press, 2012 ISBN 9781927063170 $19.95 I haven’t finished reading the first page of this novel and already “my…

Micheline Maylor A review of Night-Eater by Patricia Young Quattro Books ISBN 978-1-927443-01-9 $14.95 Patricia Young’s Night-Eater provides a collection of portraits, not the type of portraits you would find…

Micheline Maylor A review of YVR by W. H. New Oolichan Books (2011) ISBN 978-0-86492-668-5 $17.95 In W. H. New’s tenth book of poetry he investigates his hometown, Vancouver. The…

Lynn C. Fraser Review of Duck Boy by Bill Bunn Bitingduck Press (2012) ISBN 978-1-938463-37-2 e-book $4.99 Duck Boy is a novel filled with symbolism and Alchemy. The first symbol,…

Rea Tarvydas a review of Malarky by Anakana Schofield Biblioasis (2012) ISBN 978-1-926845-38-8 $19.95 Some novels are laid out on a grid: turn left at the careful transition to arrive…

Ryan Stromquist A review of I Know Who You Remind Me Of by Naomi K. Lewis Enfield & Wizenty (2012) ISBN: 978-1-926531-51-9 $29.95 Naomi K. Lewis’ I Know Who You…

Shelley McAneeley A review of Floating Like The Dead by Yasuko Thanh Emblem Editions (M & S) (2012) ISBN 978-0-7710-8429-4 $22.00 Yasuko Thanh creates a fascinating collection of spell binding…

Micheline Maylor A review of Particles By Michael Penny McGill-Queen’s University Press ISBN 978-0-7735-3846-7 $14.95 Michael Penny’s premise for Particles rests on William Blake’s aphorism, “To see the world in…

Lynn C. Fraser A review of Dancing, with Mirrors by George Amabile The Porcupine’s Quill ISBN 9780889843431 $19.95 This collection of eleven cantos is a memoir in verse that follows…

Annie Vigna A review of Western Taxidermy by Barb Howard NeWest Press ISBN 978-1-927063-11-8 $19.95 Western Taxidermy is a collection of sixteen new and previously published stories by Barb Howard,…

Beth Everest A review of Any Bright Horse by Lisa Pasold Frontenac House Poetry ISBN: 978-1-897181-55-3 $15.95 What intrigues me most about Lisa Pasold’s poetic narrative is the perspective. The…

Micheline Maylor A review of Ru by Kim Thúy translated by Sheila Fishman Random House Canada ISBN 978-0-307-35970-4 $25.00 Refreshing and devastating, Kim Thúy’s (pronounced two-ee) Ru is translated superbly…

Annie Vigna A Review of Red Dog Red Dog by Patrick Lane McClelland & Stewart Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7710-4632-2 $21.00 “Patrick Lane has always walked the thin ice where truth and…

“Yes” has been shortlisted for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for poetry, The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, congratulations Rosemary. Beth Everest A Review of…

As the managing editor of FreeFall I have come to know Pamela Porter through the wonderful poems that she has submitted and FreeFall has published, never guessing that she was…

Annie Vigna a review of And Me Among Them by Kristen den Hartog Freehand Books ISNB 978-1-55481-054-3 $21.95. Almost five feet tall when she starts school, Ruth towers above the…

Micheline Maylor a review of Noble Gas Penny Black By David O’Meara Brick Books ISBN: 978-1-894078-68-9 $18.00 David O’Meara’s third collection is a study in absences. This is not a…