Spring 2007 Volume 21 - No. 1 - BC BookWorld

FREEYOUR GUIDE TO BOOKS & AUTHORS • DISTRIBUTED BY 700 OUTLETS IN BCROBERT SERVICE: UNREQUITED LOVE ON VANCOUVER ISLAND P. 13VOL. 21 • NO. 1SPRING • 2007BCBOOKWORLDCARMENYUEN:COSMOS IN ACARROT P. 5FREDHERZOG:MASTER OFCOLOUR P. 5FINDMORE THAN8500B.C. AUTHORSwww.abcbookworld.comHAIR CANADA! TUGBOATLUCY:The Third Coming of Victoria’sPhoto of Steve Nash (Heritage House, 2007)UNLIKELYMOGUL P. 9Publication Mail Agreement #40010086STEVE NASHGreater than Gretzky, humble as pie. See page 20

WORLD3 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007Morna E. Gregoryand Sian James inEphesus, Turkey.Here we go loop-dee-looWhether or not they used all of the142 remarkable facilities featuredin Toilets of the World (Merrell $22.95),gleeful globetrotters Morna E.Gregory and Sian James don’t say.But the Vancouver pair have certainlygone to great ends to compile oneof the most cheeky books of the year.Their compendium examines bowelevacuation stations in the Americas(North, Central, South), Europe, Africa,Oceania/Australia and Asia.Having met each other whileshoveling horse manurein an Alberta riding stable,Gregory and Jameshave become far-flungdung management experts—providingphotosand write-ups for a delightfularray of drawerdroppingdepots.Toilets of the World includes everythingfrom a solid gold toilet belongingto a Hong Kong jeweler to a precarioushut perched on stilts above the crystallinewaters of the Caribbean.Some biffys are spiffy and ingenious—likethe see-through New Yorkcocktail bar cubicle that only providesopaque walls once the latch has beenturned.Others are crude but ingenious—likethe Bolivian toilet carved out of a giantcactus.Some johns are historic, like Johannesburg’sfirst public lavatory, built in 1911,or New Delhi’s Museum of Toilets.Others are spooky and intimidating,like a solitary toilet in the middle of aNamibian desert.After gaining a psychology degree atSFU, Morna E. Gregory spent eightyears in Brussels. Photographer Sian Jamesgrew up in England, home to ThomasCrapper & Company.1-8589-4337-XSPECIALISSUEYou won’t find it on Google.But some of you might like to knowthis year marks the 200 th anniversary ofself-publishing from or about B.C., datingfrom the first edition of JohnJewitt’s memoirs.At BC BookWorld we have consistentlyprovided coverage of independentlypublished titles since 1987. Toacknowledge this growing phenomenon,our six-page feature on do-ityourselfersopens with an essay bybiographer Peter Grauer and concludeswith a profile of street musicianTim Lander.BCVol.BOOKWORLDPublisher/ Writer: Alan TwiggEditor/Production: David LesterPublication Mail Agreement #40010086Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: BC BookWorld,3516 W. 13th Ave., Vancouver, BC V6R 2S3Produced with the sponsorship of Pacific BookWorld NewsSociety. Publications Mail Registration No. 7800.BC BookWorld ISSN: 1701-5405Advertising & editorial: BC BookWorld, 3516 W. 13th Ave.,Vancouver, B.C., V6R 2S3. Tel/Fax: 604-736-4011 • Email:available on request. Annual subscription: $12.74Contributors: Grant Shilling, Mark Forsythe, Sheila Munro,Joan Givner, Sara Cassidy, Louise Donnelly, Hannah Main-vander Kamp, Heather Ramsay, Cherie Thiessen, John Geary,Shane McCune. Writing not otherwise credited is by staff.Photographers: Barry Peterson, Laurie Sawchuk.Proofreaders: Wendy Atkinson, Betty Twigg.Design: Get-to-the-Point Graphics. Deliveries: Ken ReidWe acknowledge theassistance of CanadaCouncil and the Province ofBritish Columbia, through theMinistry of Community,Aboriginal, and Women’sServices.Spring Issue21, No. 1All BC BookWorld reviews are posted online atw w w . a b c b o o k w o r l d . c o mINDEX to AdvertisersAnvil Press...12Arbeiter Ring Publishers...29Arsenal Pulp Press...11Banyen Books...31Bolen Books...34Book Warehouse...24Caitlin Press...26Cormorant...28Crown Publications...34Douglas & McIntyre...2Douglas College/EVENT...37Douglas College...14, 17, 31Federation of BC Writers...33Ekstasis Editions...16Ellis, David...31First Choice Books...33Friesens Printers...33Givner, Joan...30Granville Island Publishing...33Harbour Publishing...40HarperCollins...26Heritage House...7Hignell Printing...33Literary Press Group...12, 36New Society...26, 39New Star Books...29, 30, 36, 37Oolichan Books...16, 26Orca Books...22Partners in Publishing...33People’s Co-Op Books...30Pink Noise...31Playwrights Canada Press...29Positive Connections...30Printorium...33Reckoning 07...15Ripple Effects Press...36Ronsdale Press...12Royal BC Museum...30TO ADVERTISE CALL 604-736-4011Save-On Foods...34Self-Counsel Press...25SFU Writing & Publishing...29Sidney Booktown...30Sono Nis Press...8Talonbooks...4Temeron...36Thomson, Ann...30Trafford Publishing...18Triple AAA Photography...29Trowbridge, Bob...18UBC Press...11University of Toronto Press...37Vancouver Desktop...33Woewoda, James...33Wolsak & Wynn...36Wood Lake Publishing...18Yoka’s Coffee...34

PEOPLE5 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007Street heartsand a candidcamera“I never went to school to learnphotography—not a single day,”says Fred Herzog, Vancouver’spremier street photographer.“My present style of street photography wasformed in spring 1957 with a bang, practicallycomplete from day one.”Since emigrating from Germany as a youngman, Herzog has taken 80,000 mostly colourimages of the city during the past half-century,against the grain of the artsy clique that has elevatedthe more contrived compositions of JeffWall.It was my goal from the start to show city vitality,”Herzog says.Replete with store fronts, cafes, barber shops,pedestrians, cars, vacant lots and abandoned cars,Herzog’s photographs collectively suggest Vancouverwas a more vibrant and unself-consciouscity in Fifties and Sixties when the working classcould still afford to live in most areas.“The images are not about important people,events or edifices,” he maintains, “but about thevitality of the city, its ambience, and the daily activitiesof the people.”Fred Herzog came to Vancouver in 1953 andworked on ships for three years before makinghis living primarily as a medical photographer.He sold his first print in 1970. Since then he hasprodigiously thrived in relative obscurity beforebeing “discovered” late in his career.“I’ve taken photographs in colour for fifty-fiveyears, and I’m still doing it with considerable motivation,”he says.This non-singingquartet at the PNE,from Fred Herzog:VancouverPhotographs, looklike they’re primedto audition for partsin West Side Story.Now officially represented by the Equinox Gallery,Herzog has catapulted into the public eyewith a major January-to-May exhibit at the VancouverArt Gallery.His accompanying coffeetable book, FredHerzog: Vancouver Photographs (D&M $45)also contains text from Grant Arnold andMichael Turner.1-55365-255-XWhat would Uma Thurman’s dad eat?Having studied Buddhism under Uma Thurman’s father, formerProvince columnist Carmen Yuen has distilled Buddhist wisdomwith nutritional information for The Cosmos in a Carrot (PublishersGroup Canada $18.50). Published while she was a secondyearstudent at Yale Law School, Yuen’s first book is divided intothree parts: What Would Buddha Eat, A Mindful Diet and A Mindful Diet in Action.Prior to publishing her zen guide for the Unified Buddhist Church Inc., the Vancouverborn-and-raisedover-achiever studied Eastern Philosophy and Religions at ColumbiaUniversity, earning her BA in three years (while completing a political science thesis onthe policies of the Dalai Lama). In February of 2006 Carmen Yuen won an entertainmentlaw Grammy for her legal paper on ringtones.Yuen has also interviewed rock bands for CTV, written captions for VH-1’s Pop-UpVideo and worked for the A&R department of Columbia Records, scouting bands thatincluded Franz Ferdinand. “I come from British Columbia,” she writes, “a province that isfamous for its small, organic blueberry farms. In July and August, the fruits are ripe andready to pick. I love to visit the farms and fill up a bucket or two, or three. The mouthwateringblueberries are as large as marbles. They’re the perfect summertime snack, eitheralone or with organic, nonfat plain yogurt and other fresh berries.” 1-888375-60-4BC’s worst air disasterCarmen Yuen at theGrammy Awards.The team of Ian Macdonald and Betty O’Keefe hasdone it again—another B.C. history title that reallyneeded to be written. This time they’ve recalledWestern Canada’s worst airplane disaster, thecrash of a TCA flight on December 9, 1956 into jaggedMount Slesse near Chilliwack, killing all 62 people aboard,including the pilot—father of mystery writer Jay Clarke,better known as Michael Slade—and five footballers whohad just played the CFL All-Star game in Vancouver.In 2003, Jay Clarke spread the ashes of his mother,Vivian Clarke (pictured at right), at the Mount Slesse crash site, as she requested,so she could join his father, Captain Jack Clarke. Disaster on Mount Slesse(Caitlin $21.95) recalls how and why the wreckage wasn’t found until five monthslater. In 1995 the B.C. government declared the debris field a Heritage WreckSite. The book marks the 50 th anniversary of the tragedy. 1-894759-21-4

FEATURE REVIEWEco-guru David Suzuki refuses bottled water at his manyspeaking engagements, requesting tap water instead.In a recent CBC interview he cited the waste and pollutionassociated with plastic containers, but he also notedthe defeatism implicit in Canadians’ embrace of packaged water.“I think that we’ve got todrink the water that comes outof our taps, and if we don’ttrust it, we ought to be raisinghell about that,” he said.A couple of dozen academicsand activists do just that, intheir eggheady way, in EauCanada: The Future of Canada’sWater (UBC Press$29.95), a collection of 17 essays(and one photo essay) editedby University of B.C.geography professor KarenBakker.It isn’t light reading, moretextbook than polemic, butEau Canada is a handbook forevery citizen worried about thesafety and security of a substanceon which literally everylife depends. It should be requiredreading for legislators atevery level, from rural councilsbalancing the needs of developmentand agriculture to federalministers and bureaucratsdickering with the U.S. overfree trade.The authors torpedo manycherished myths on the subjectof water politics. Most of uslearned as children that wewere the stewards of the world’slargest supply of fresh water,and many of us came to believethe greatest threat to that supplyis the covetous UnitedStates. And despite our addictionto bottled water, thedeaths in Walkerton, Ont. andboil-water advisories spreadinglike pine beetles, Canadians stillcling to the notion that ourwater supply is basically safe.Wrong, wrong, wrong, saythe authors of Eau Canada. In “GreatWet North? Canada’s Myth of WaterAbundance,” John Sprague, aformer fisheries researcher working as aconsultant from his Salt Spring Islandhome, points out that while Canada mayhave 20 per cent of the planet’s lake water,it has only 6.5 per cent of its renewablewater — the stuff that falls from thesky, follows its path through rivers, lakesand aquifers to the sea, and evaporatesto start the cycle again.As for the thirsty giant to the south,it may surprise you to know that agriculturaldemand for water in the U.S.southwest has been stagnating for twodecades. In his fact-packed chapter onwater diversion Laval University’sFrédéric Lasserre attributes thisto such factors as the high cost of largescalediversion projects, the rising popularityof desalinization, the flight ofagribusiness from the U.S. in the face offoreign competition and urban demandthat makes it more profitable for farmowners to sell their water rights to citiesthan to irrigate low-value crops.It turns out most of the water diversionon the continent is done by Canadians— six times more by volume thanthe Americans. Our own beaverish obsessionwith damming and diverting“makes our resistance to water exportsless defensible,” Lasserre warns.We may be good at rerouting water,but we’re lousy at monitoringand maintaining its quality. Researchersat Simon Fraser Universityranked Canada 26th outof 28 of the world’s wealthiestcountries in terms of water stewardship.And within the nation,the Sierra Legal Defence Fund’smost recent provincial rankingsplaced B.C. near the bottom, thanks inpart to the high incidence of boil wateradvisories in its small communities.Eau Canada’s authors are depressinglythorough at spelling out the haphazardpatchwork of water governancein Canada, the looming conflicts amongdifferent user groups and the tragic effectsof neglect, especially on First Nationsreserves.✍The fear of Yankee guzzling seems tobe part of our collective psyche, and theauthors of Eau Canada are not immuneto this phobia. Several suggest it wouldonly take one province to authorize bulkexports of water to make every drop inthe nation a tradable “good” underNAFTA, giving Americans the right tobuy and sell it.UH-OH,EAU CANADAWhen it comes to protecting our water,the enemy is US, not the USA“EDITH GILLINGHAM: TAPWATER DRINKER SINCE 1931.”The City of Toronto ran this photo to encourage citizens to trust their water is safe to drink.SHANE McCUNEThis phobia sometimes trumps reason,as it does in the overwrought “Half-Empty or Half-Full? Water Politics andthe Canadian National Imaginary” [sic]by Andrew Biro, from Acadia Universityin Wolfville, N.S. Struggling todefine the significance of water in Canadianculture, Biro presses the usualbuttons (Susanna Moodie, theGroup of Seven, Ian and Sylvia)to illustrate our traditional nature-basednationalism, thencontrasts that with the ironic,apolitical mindset of Today’sYouth, as evidenced by a songby satirical group The ArrogantWorms and — wait for it— the “I am Canadian” guy from theMolson’s ads.Biro refers to Lasserre’s essay, butseems to have missed the part about alldiverted Canadian water staying northof the 49th parallel. After pointing toChina and Spain as nations that employmassive water diversions as a show ofnational strength and pride, he writes:“But, in Canada, such a massive sys-tem of hydraulic transfers can be (andindeed has been) imagined only for thepurpose of diverting Canada’s water resourcessouth to the United States. Here,a transformation of the national waterscapewould serve to indicate not Canadiannational strength but, rather, itssubservience to American interests, orthe relative weakness of the Canadiannation state.” [Boldface added.]Yes, every so often some hydrologicalBarnum imagines ascheme to sell water to the U.S.But every proposal for a southboundcanal or pipeline hasbeen vaporized by a doublewhammy of public fury andmind-boggling expense thatno politician, no matter howlavishly bribed, would dare toconfront.Even Lasserre yields to thisfear, insisting the support ofBrian Mulroney and RobertBourassa for a 1985 scheme todike James Bay and steer its watershedsouth via the GreatLakes shows that “to date” politiciansare undaunted by thescale of continental water diversion— even though, todate, the Grand Canal hasbeen dead for more than 20years and Bourassa for morethan 10.✍If some contributors fearthat Americans will regard wateras a commodity, at least onethinks Canadians should do so.In a crisply written chapterasking “Are the PricesRight?” Brock University economicsprofessor StevenRenzetti offers the book’smost sweeping and practicalconservation measure: Chargeconsumers a price that reflectswater’s value, and jack it up inthe summer when use is heaviest.That’s certainly one way totest Canadians’ vaunted lovefor their aqua pura.Editor Bakker calls onCanada to follow the EuropeanUnion example of basingwater governance on “integrated watershedmanagement” (something provincescould do) and wonders if it shouldalso follow South Africa and Uruguayin granting its citizens a constitutionalright to clean water.✍Stuffed to its post-graduate gills withfacts, footnotes and those awful interrogativemain titles (“On Guard forThee?” “Out of Sight, Out of Mind?”“Commons or Commodity?”), EauCanada is a much-needed wake-up callto complacent Canadians, even thoughit will never grace the bestseller rack atthe drugstore or even the next round of“Canada Reads” on CBC radio.And after all, who needs to know thisstuff apart from legislators, policy wonksand anyone who drinks water?978-0-7748-1340-2Shane McCune is a freelance writerwho recently appeared as a contestanton Jeopardy.All BC BookWorld articles are posted online atw w w . a b c b o o k w o r l d . c o m6 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007

HISTORY10 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007TEN STEPS TO UNDERSTANDING THESEX TRADEIN VANCOUVERDan Francis, editor of the Encyclopedia of British Columbia and authorof the newly released Far West: The Story of British Columbia (Harbour 2006) foryoung readers, can never be accused of effete scholarship. While researchinghis biography of Vancouver mayor Louis Taylor, he became intrigued bythe relative lack of information about prostitution in Vancouver. With the blessingsof publisher and man-about-town George Fetherling, Francis has producedRed Light Neon: A History of Vancouver’s Sex Trade (Subway $22), fromwhich the following ten highlights—or low points—were taken. As well, Francis’overview contains three pages about acclaimed poet and ex-prostitute EvelynLau and a two-page summary of the censored book The Wendy King Story (1980)about a free-spirited prostitute and a judge referred to as Davey F.Vancouver’s first brothel1was owned by BirdieStewart and was locatednext door to the Methodist minister’shouse in Gastown near the presentsite of the Lamplighter Pub.After the city was created, in1886, city council routinely2met its budget shortfall by arrestingthe prostitutes, fining them $20apiece, and letting them go. For thewomen, it was a tax on doing business;for the city it was a windfall.3Vancouver’s first red lightdistrict was located on EastPender St., then known asDupont St., near the western entranceto Chinatown. As the city expandedin that direction, the women wereshunted into Shanghai Alley and then,by 1912, onto Alexander Street nearthe waterfront.In the interwar years, the4“King of the Bawdyhouses” inthe city was Joe Celona,an Italian immigrant whose close connectionsto the police chief and themayor created a major scandal. In1935 Celona was convicted of keepinga brothel in a Hastings Street hoteland sent to jail for a long stretch.Gerry McGeer got himselfelected mayor in December51934 by promising to clampdown on “the pimps and brothel keepers.”A year later he announced a dayof prayer in the city “to thank God forthe removal of commercialized viceand the return of peace and order.”6During the Depression it becameillegal for restaurantsin Chinatown to hire whitewaitresses because the authoritiesclaimed the cafes were fronts forprostitution and were corrupting thecity’s white womanhood. The womenmarched on city hall to protest the lossof their jobs, but the law held.7In January, 1959, in a frontpageexclusive, the VancouverSun revealed that a teamof its reporters, posing as customers,had had no trouble ordering prostitutesfrom bellhops and cabbies at avariety of local hotels. In Vancouver,apparently, sex was on the room-servicemenu.8Just before Christmas, 1975,police raided the PenthouseCabaret, a thriving centre of prostitution.In a sensational trial, owner JoePhilliponi, along with two brothersand a couple of employees, was convictedof living off the avails of prostitution,but on appeal the convictionswere set aside. Philliponi was latermurdered at his home next to the club,which thrives today as a peeler bar.9During the 1980s, streetprostitutes and residentswere at each other’s throatsin the West End, until in July 1984Chief Justice Allan McEachernpassed an injunction banning streetwalkers from the neighbourhood. Ofcourse, they just moved somewhereelse.In the fall of 1998 police receivedan anonymous phone10tip linking a pig farm in PortCoquitlam to the rash of disappearancesof sex trade workers from theDowntown Eastside. The call was investigated,but neither the Vancouverpolice nor the RCMP were able to justifya search warrant.In February 2002 a joint task forcesealed off the property and arrestedone of its owners, Robert “Willy”Pickton. In the interval between thesetwo dates, 30 more women had gonemissing. Pickton was charged with themurder of 26 women.0-9736675-2-4Call girlWendy KingNightclub ownerJoe PhilliponiWriterEvelyn LauBARRY PETERSON PHOTO

13 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007featurereviewTHE UNREQUITEDLOVE OFROBERTSERVICEON VANCOUVERISLANDRobert Service: Under the Spell of theYukon by Enid Mallory (Heritage $32.95)B Y J O A N G I V N E RStumbling on a hiddencache of letters, discoveringa secret love affair,identifying a mysterious figurein the subject’s life—these revelationsare the stuff of fictionby the likes of Henry James andA.S. Byatt. Robert Service: Under theSpell of the Yukon by Enid Malloryproves that such surprises dounravel for real life biographersas well as fictional ones.Enid Mallory is the first ofRobert Service’s biographers tomake extensive use of recentlydiscovered letters written to anearly love (although she did notfind the new material herself).For anyone unfamiliar withthe man who wrote some of themost-repeated poems ever writtenin Canada—most notably“The Cremation of Sam McGee”and “The Shooting of DanMcGrew”—Service emigratedfrom Glasgow in 1896 with $15in his pocket and his visions ofbecoming a cowboy. Service hadquit his banking job at age 21and sailed steerage class to Montreal,carrying with him a copyof Robert Louis Stevenson’s TheAmateur Emigrant, a letter of referencefrom the bank and a BillCody outfit.Recent revelations about previouslyunknown letters by Servicecame about serendipitouslywhen his previous biographerJames Mackay speculated in a1995 radio interview about theidentity of C.M., the dedicateeof Service’s first book Songs of aSourdough. One of C.M’s granddaughtershappened to hear theprogram and she called radiohost Tom Allen to tell him moreabout the relationship.✫This romantic episode ofService’s life has a special interestto British Columbian readersbecause the young womanin question, Constance McLean,was the daughter of MalcolmMcLean, who in 1886 becameVancouver’s first mayor. Althoughhis tenure as mayor wasbrief, he pulled the city togetherafter the Great Fire that devastatedthe city the year he waselected, and he set aside theland that became Stanley Park.He later served as police magistratefor the city until his deathin 1895.The love affair between Serviceand Constance McLean percolatedwhile he was working onthe Eureka stock farm inCowichan Bay on Vancouver Island.It was the biggest farm inthe district, established in 1883by George Corfield, who builtRobert Service at his two-room Dawson cabin: a tiny place, but adequate to live and write, circa 1909.up great herds of Holsteins andJerseys. When Service first arrivedat the turn of the centuryhe served as Corfield’s officialcattleman. He was relieved fromthis grueling work only after hewas tossed into the air by a bull.After he was injured, Servicebecame the storekeeper on theCorfield ranch and he was hiredto tutor Corfield’s sons. Duringhis four years at Corfield’s, Serviceattended dances, sang in thechoir at St. Peter’s Quamichan,joined the South Cowichan LawnTennis club (the earliest club ofits kind in Canada), acted in theatricalgroups and entertained byplaying the guitar.During one dance at nearbyDuncan’s Station (the forerunnerof present-day Duncan), hemet Constance McLean who wasvisiting her uncle in the district,Dr. Perry. Service was so smitten,he went back to his attic roomand wrote “The Coming of MissMcLean” and promptly mailedit to her. This previously unpublishedlove poem, which Malloryincludes in her book, was in thecache of letters that McLean’sdaughters found in 1960. Theoriginals are now in Queen’sUniversity Archives in Kingston,Ontario.The lost-and-found poem hasa characteristic Service ring toit:Yes, she’ll go away fromDuncan’s on the trainAnd their hearts will ever beata sad refrain;For the one they can’t forget, theOne they’ll e’er regret,The dancing fair, entrancingMiss McLean.✫Robert Service is world famousfor his fanciful rhymesabout the Klondike, but Mallorynotes that some of his earliestpoems were printed in Victoria’sDaily Colonist after the editor methim on a fishing trip to theCowichan Valley. ConstanceMcLean seems to have been theinspiration behind his first majorpublication, a poem called“Apart and Yet Together,” forwhich he received the princelysum of five dollars in 1903. Itappeared in Munsey’s Magazine,a New York journal with a circulationof 700,000.Service was notoriously reticentabout his personal life so theRobert Service and MarleneDietrich in Hollywood on the setof The SpoilersNON-FICTION“We all weremade or marredlong ago”identification of ConstanceMclean and the poem are significantdiscoveries. Service wrotetwo autobiographies late in thegame, Ploughman of the Moon: AnAdventure into Memory (1945) andHarper of Heaven: A Record of RadiantLiving (1948), in which hegenerally withheld the names offamily and friends. Such omissionsmay have been a legacy ofthe embarrassment he sufferedafter choosing the name SamMcGee randomly from the list ofbank clients when he worked inWhitehorse. After “The Cremationof Sam McGee” becamepopular, the owner of the nameturned up and withdrew all hismoney from the bank.Service’s other reason for notmentioning his first love was thatthe protracted relationship wasa painful memory. When theyfirst met, Service was in no positionto support a wife, let alonepropose marriage to a sociallyprominent Vancouver woman.This predicament was similar tothe frustrated romance that adverselyaffected Thomas Hardyfor the rest of his writing days.✫Robert Service left the farmand tried to enter university, butfailed the entrance exam. Hislack of professional success notonly depressed him, but alsocaused some acrimonious exchangesbetween the lovers.Constance’s descendants reportedthat her copy of Songs ofa Sourdough fell open at “Quatrain,”a poem that describes adebate between a first personnarrator who believes that “Weall were made or marred longago” and a speaker who countersthat “Thy life is thine to makeor mar.”Service’s experience as abank clerk in Scotland helpedhim to find a position at theBank of Commerce in Victoria.He and Constance continued toexchange letters and meet forsome time after the bank hadassigned him to its branch in theYukon. Only Service’s side of thecorrespondence has survived,and it indicates that during a1908 leave in Vancouver,Constance agreed to marry him.Again, Service was stymied bysocial convention. The bank hada policy forbidding its employeesto marry until they possessed thirteenhundred dollars. At the endof his leave, he wrote movinglyto her of his misery aboard a shipthat was taking him back upnorth, towards the Yukon.Service’s autobiographicalaccount of this period paints adifferent picture. There he accentuateshis delight at returningto the Yukon. Perhaps thereis some truth in both, for soonafterwards the affair lost its intensity,became a friendship,and eventually ended. Ultimatelyit appears as ifConstance’s most serious rival asService’s muse was the Yukon itself.Until her side of their correspondenceis discovered andrevealed, the true nature of therelationship can never beknown for certain. 1-894384-95-4Joan Givner writes in the CowichanValley, not far from where RobertService worked as a store clerk, tutorand self-described “cow juice jerker.”

14 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007BC BOOKWORLD: Do you rememberhow you felt when youfirst heard the news?JOHN PASS: I heard news ofthe nomination pulling into theparking lot of Capilano Collegein Sechelt on my way to work. Iwas completely surprised. Thebook got very few reviews andonly one enthusiastic one, fromHannah Main-van der Kamp atBC Bookworld. I didn’t really expectto win. I thought it wouldprobably go to Ken Babstock orSharon Thesen. So I was thrilledand surprised all over againwhen the phone call came a coupleof weeks later.BCBW: What has been the roleof Oolichan Books?PASS: Oolichan published mytwo most recent titles, Water Stairin 2000 and Stumbling In TheBloom. Both were nominated forthe GG. Ron Smith is an excellenteditor, perceptive and attentiveto detail without beingintrusive. Also the design of boththese books has respected andreflected the text admirably.BCBW: In what way?PASS: The use of a wider formatin Stumbling, for example, topermit longer lines withoutbreaking them, was risky forOolichan. Bookstores don’t particularlylike outsize books asthey’re difficult to shelve, butthe poetic values came first. Iappreciate that kind of editorialdecision a lot.BCBW: You’ve also done twobooks with Harbour—but neverany book with a “big” publishinterviewPOETRYJOHN PASS ON VICTORYBC BookWorld talks to the Governor General’s Poetry winner“You start out as a kid in hisbackyard in Calgary, daydreaming,aimlessly swinginga stick maybe, muttering tohimself, and end up on astage in Toronto before thenational media.” — JOHN PASSKEITH SHAW PHOTOTwo Toronto-centric gatherings,the lucrativeGriffin Poetry Prize andthe glitzy Giller Prize, have recentlypurchased respect withrelative ease, but the GovernorGeneral’s literary awards in Ottawaremain venerable as an institution.Winning his first English languagepoetry GG for his sixteenthtitle, relative outsiderJohn Pass of the Sunshine Coastwas catapulted into the nationallimelight for writing Stumbling InThe Bloom, published fromLantzville by Oolichan Books.Pass thanked his wifeTheresa Kishkan for her consistentencouragement and told anews conference: “Public acknowledgementof this order isremarkably gratifying. It givesme some assurance that myforty years or so writing poetryhas been worth it, not just to mebut to readers.“It’s an odd art, simultaneouslyintimate and alien, privateand public, immediate and remote.You start out wantingwords for everything, the world,and end up, if you’re immenselypersistent and fortunate, creatinga world, one in which othersmight catch convincing glimpses,intimations of their own worlds.“Or, to put it another way, youstart out as a kid in his backyardin Calgary, day-dreaming, aimlesslyswinging a stick maybe,muttering to himself, and endup on a stage in Toronto beforethe national media.”24.iii.88iThis is a timewhen the cat walks through themirror and all the mistletoe berriesfall like snowThis is a time when thered wine turns silverand the pillars of the house are black.This is the timewhen, opening the cupboards,we discover only crawling children.iiI have put out the light. The room is quiet.Only the rustle of bedclothes shakes the air,and yet a buzzing sound is nearing, circling,nearer near, ceases, then beginsonce more, and ‘There’s a fly,’ you say, ‘a fly,and I can’t sleep.’ So I turn on the light.There is no fly. No sound. No room;no bed; no house; no life, no death.Only the light.And I put out the light.ing house back east. Does thismean slow and steady can winthe race?PASS: The “big” publishinghouses in poetry are nearly alwaysthe small literary publishers.On this year’s shortlist, forexample, only one of the fourtitles was published by a “big”house, McClelland & Stewart.The others were Nightwood,Oolichan, House of Anansi (withtwo shortlisted titles). Those arethree of Canadian poetry’s BIGhouses!I don’t know that winning aGG is winning the race. Onegoes on writing, hopefully, beyondthe victory lap. I think thekey to accomplishment in poetrywas well-articulated recently bythe Anglo-Irish poet MichaelLongley, someone from thesame circle as (and until recentlyhugely overshadowed by)the remarkable career ofSeamus Heaney. He says in aninterview in The Guardian thatpoets have to remember to takepoetry seriously, not themselves.BCBW: Would you agree withour reviewer Hannah Main-vander Kamp that you are a man“besotted with a particularplace, a possible Paradise”?PASS: Yes, I’m besotted withplace alright, but I think thereare particular instances, even inStumbling In The Bloom, of morethan one possible paradise. Eachpoem reaches out to its own, andthe reader’s.0889822018—from Facing the Light a new posthumous volumeby Robin Skelton (Ekstasis $19.95) 1-894800-67-2

15 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007reviewsWELCOME TO THE HOLOGRAMMIC UNDERTOWThe pickaxe is only the virtual accoutrement of a secret aesthetics.”— ROY MIKIThere by Roy Miki (New Star $21)What’s the difference between“here” and “there”?As P.K. Page wrote decadesago in a prophetic piece aboutglobal warming, “only an inconsequentiallittle letter t.”Roy Miki, whose previousbook won a Governor General’saward, offers a kaleidoscope ofwords, neither lyrical nor confessional,in There.The words tumble and retumblein seemingly randomconnections without narrativethread except for the interconnectionsof travel.Miki’s poems are set on, atleast, three continents. In everyplace there is some collision betweenthe local and the global,the present and memory, oftentense.Readers can easily tire of beinghectored about globalizationbut Miki pulls it offbecause his modeis metonymynot lecture.“Dumbfounded associationsin the pinball micro dramahosted by a disheveled memorybank of accruing global debtsThe world bank on my backto rein deficits and cut lossesby slicing off the surplus syntax”midablebut notforbidding,these poemsrewardasecond,diligentreading;Roy Miki has won SFU’s Outstanding Alumni Award forArts and Culture. Last year he was invested into the Order ofCanada and received the Nora and Ted Sterling Prize inSupport of Controversy, as well as the 20th annual GandhiPeace Award and the 16th annual Thakore Visiting ScholarAward for his commitment to Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals oftruth, justice, human rights and non-violence.HANNAH MAIN-VAN DER KAMP“the hologrammic undertow finallyproves disarming.”As well, There contains obliquereferences to Miki’s JapaneseCanadian heritage.“O ghostly gatekeeper onthe shoreWe come from lands beyondyour lonely kenWe come on hobbled wingsof a dream of richesOur credentials stowed inthis modest furoshikiBelieve me we are not a burdenin a bundle of sticksWe never hurl idiosyncrasies atjust any crass wall...”Though neveran easy read,the multiplicityof voices inoverheardsnatches is intense.Photosand photomontagessetin the text, beautifully reproducedin colour, provide welcomevisual relief. Miki’s work isexciting! Someone has to do it;stretch the limits of language toopen up the borderlands of poetry.1-55420-036-1Seven Into Even by Jacqueline Turner(ECW $16.95)Jacqueline Turner’s thirdpoetry collection, Seven Into Even,published when she was livingnear Horseshoe Bay, was partiallywritten in Australiawhen shewas Queensland’sinauguralpoet-in-residenceat theJudith WrightCentre for theContemporaryArts in Brisbane.The book reworksEdmundSpenser’s The Faerie Queene withcontemporary settings and issues.Turner manages a literarywebzine called The News, haswritten poetry reviews for TheGeorgia Straight, and has taughtwriting at Simon Fraser Universityand the Emily Carr Instituteof Art and Design. 1-55022-746-7Jacqueline TurnerSymposium AnnouncementColumnist Hannah Main-van derKamp writes mainly from Victoria.POETRYSHORT LISTPhosphorous by Heidi Garnett(Thistledown $15.95)Born in Germany, Kelowna’s HeidiGarnett received the 2004 JoyceDunn Memorial Award and has nowpublished her first poetry collection,Phosphorous, recalling herGerman family’s devastatingexperiences during World War II andstruggling to accept the past.1-897235-13-5Decked and Dancing by Christine Smart(Hedgerow $16.95)Born in Shawville, Quebec in 1953,Christine Smart grew up mainlyon an Ottawa Valley farm. She hasrecalled her early life in Decked andDancing, a first collection that alsoincludes poems about illness, loss,grief, physical desire, love andmotherhood. 0-9736882-3-8A Thousand Women, None Like You byAlejandro Raul Mujica-Olea (MilMujueres, Ninguna Como Tú)Miki’s reeling associationsleft this reader dumbfoundedbut fascinated. Puzzling and for-From “thedeepestfibres of mybeing,”Chilean-bornAlejandroR a u lMujica-Alejandro Raul Olea hasMujica-Olea dedicated AThousandWomen, None Like You to “the loveof my mature years,” AriadneSawyer, his World Poetry ReadingSeries partner. See abcbookworld.comfor details. 0-9731479-5-4ALSO RECEIVEDReckoning 07FROM FAMINE TO FEAST AND BEYONDIllustration: David LesterContributions, registration contact:bookworld@telus.netwww.ccsp.sfu.ca orwww.vancouver.sfu.caAN APPRAISAL OFBC WRITING& PUBLISHINGSeptember, 2007,Simon Fraser University, DowntownCo-sponsored byCanadian Centre for Studies in Publishing (SFU),Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia, Facultyof Arts and Social Sciences (SFU), Pacific BookWorld NewsSociety (BC BookWorld), W.A.C. Bennett Library (SFU),Vancouver Public LibraryCoordinated by Alan Twigg, Shadbolt Fellow (SFU)* In celebration of BC BookWorld’s 20th anniversary.*3 Womenby Stephen Bett(Ekstasis $19.95) 1-894800-90-7The Octopusby Jennica Harper(Signature Editions $14.95)1-897109-10-5The Human Shore by RussellThornton (Harbour $16.95)1-55017-385-5What Goes Up Comes Outby Ian Rudkin (Brio)0-9733942-9-3Bulletin From The Low Lightby J. Fisher (Frontenac House$15.95) 1-897181-07-8Wood Mountain Poemsby Andrew Suknaski(Hagios $17.95) 0-9735567-9-XShall: ghazals by Catherine Owen(Wolsak & Wynn $17)1-894987-08-XGo Leaving Strangeby Patrick Lane (Harbour $16.95)1-55017-328-6A Passionate Continuity byElizabeth Mayne (Ekstasis $19.95)1-894800-85-0Vermeer’s Lightby George Bowering(Talonbooks $29.95)0-88922-546-X

17 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007reviewsFICTIONWinner of two Ethel WilsonFiction Prizes and three CBCliterary awards, CarolineAdderson has followed hertwo novels and one previousstory collection with Pleased toMeet You.Each of her nine new storiesreflects a differing realitywith meticulous precision, describingall-too-believable characterswho run the gamut fromsuffering and seedy, to compassionateand culpable.Pleased to Meet You by CarolineAdderson (Thomas Allen $26.95)BY CHERIE THIESSENIn Caroline Adderson’s titlestory, Hauska Tutustua—aFinnish phrase that meanspleased to meet you—David Eltonhas lost his beloved wife andfinds it hard to cope a year afterher death.As a volunteer with the HospiceSociety, he visits and assistsa dying man from Finland.Oddly touched by the bachelor’slonely death, Elton attempts tofind the daughter the dead manabandoned at birth in Finland.In Ring, Ring we meet theindolent young mother of amentally challenged boy; the lastperson who should have responsibilityfor a special needschild—the kind of parent whomakes us want to pick up thephone and call the authorities.“Dumpster stench, friedchicken stench. She flicks thelighter, dully expecting the unmovingair to ignite. A moustacheof perspiration sprouts asshe sucks the hot smokein….The balconies of the facingbuilding expose themselves: bicycles,junked furniture, mops,buckets, toys, coolers, bleachbottles, mattresses, dead plantsNINE INSIDIOUSPLEASURESCarolineAddersonportrays peopleyou want toread about,but nevermeet, inPleased toMeet You.in plastic pots. Some are fringedwith laundry. Rap musicpunches out.”By selecting images, stylesand syntax to reflect the environmentsher characters inhabit,Adderson succeeds in creatinga specific mood for each story.At every conclusion we find our-selves uplifted, disgusted, angryor depressed. Her skill is so insidiouswe’re hardly aware of it.Readers may not be pleased tomeet some of the characters inPleased to Meet You, such asManfred, the decidedly unpleasantprotagonist in Spleenless.As a shallow, selfish, and womanizingbachelor who is recoveringfrom an emergency splenectomy,Manfred suffers lonelinessand an agonizing nightmare.The ex-wife he’s decided hereally loves is not masochistenough to leave her new husbandand baby for another torturedround with him, and hiscurrent love abandons him to goon the trip the couple hadplanned to take together.In Adderson’s deftly drawnShhhh. 3 Stories About Silence,readers accompany a reporterand photographer on a frustratingassignment during which acasual relationship shifts andshimmers with the possibility ofseduction.In The Maternity Suite, a reluctanthusband, who is about tobecome an even more reluctantfather, stews over his wife’s pregnancy.The use of subtitles: TheReluctant Grandmother, The ExpectantMother, The Suspecting Father,and The Unexpected, serve theauthor well as she shifts from thevarious points of view.Adderson is also adept at portrayingher minor characters.These include the degenerateelderly woman who agrees to‘babysit’ the handicapped boy inRing Ring; the reporter’s depressed,cartoonist husband inShhh: 3 Stories About Silence; thepregnant woman’s jealous sisterin The Maternity Suite; and thefeisty dying Finn the widowerhas been visiting in HauskaTutustua.The collection also includesgentle, sympathetic storiesabout the ordinary people whoenhance our lives; people likethe underwriter in Falling, agraceful tale about a middleaged,staid husband and fatherwho is jolted out of his daily routineby his wife’s minor accidentwith his car. Forced to take a bus,he is exposed to poetry thatshares space alongside the bus’sadvertisements. Amazed thatpoetry still exists, he reads apoem fifteen times and findshimself subtly and unexpectedlytransformed towards grace.Every story delivers justenough to disturb, delight andfascinate. 0-88762-220-8Cherie Thiessen writes fromPender Island.

LOOKOUT #27a forum for & about writers:3516 W. 13th Ave., Vancouver, BCV6R 2S3 • bookworld@telus.netLOOKOUTWhy I self-publishedTruly, madly,deeply,fearfullyindependentPeter Grauer’s exhaustiveaccount of American bandit Bill Miner’syears in British Columbia—inthe venerabledo-it-yourself tradition ofGeorge Nicholson’scoastal classic VancouverIsland’s West Coast, reprinteda dozen times since1962—ranks with the selfpublisheddebuts of historianDerek Hayes,ethnographer Adolf HungryWolf and unconventionalpoet bill bissett.Based on six years of research,Grauer painstakinglyrecalls how ConstableWilliam Fernie and hisfour First Nations trackers—Alex Ignace, Eli La Roux,Michel Le Camp andPhilip Toma—tracked thefleeing Bill Miner and histwo accomplices for fivedays after their botchedtrain robbery, enabling theRoyal North West MountedPolice to capture the socalledGentleman Banditnear Douglas Lake.Not to be confused withprint-on-demand titles thatare mostly naïve, vanityprojects, Grauer’s InterredWith Their Bones, Bill Minerin Canada, 1903-1907(Partners in Publishing /Sandhill $35) is a 643-pagedefinitive work, completewith a bibliography,sources, an index and highqualityillustrations.Grauer believes a mainstreampublisher likelywould never have agreedto publish his labour of lovebecause, ironically, it is toocomprehensive and tooexpensive to produce.Also, Grauer says hewasn’t keen to endure the“interminable” waiting periodbetween acceptanceof a book project and itseventual publication.We have asked PeterGrauer to explain his pathwayinto print.JAIME KOWAL PHOTOBY PETER GRAUERInitially, while I contemplatedthe routeI should take, theoverwhelming emotionwas that of fear.It was that fear that smacksof unreasonableness; fear of rejection,fear of amputation, fearof confrontation and ridicule,and the fear of failure.I was an unknown first-timeauthor, and the thought of everenticing a mainstream publisherfrom coastal Lotusland, or anywhere elsein Western Canada, to deign to look at,never mind publish, my book wasdeemed to be almost fruitless.To have had any editorial control overthe end result would have been a ludicrousexpectation. Besides, I was convincedthat publishers wereunapproachable by first-time authors. Icould not see myself facing what I presumedto be the inevitable and personallydebilitating rejection notices orrequests for condensation. I was not pre-BC BookWorld hasconsistently coveredindependentlypublished books foralmost 20 years.More ‘indies’ arehighlighted onpages 23-28.“This writer was more resigned to the financial failure of thebook as the result of his own efforts, rather than to suffer theeffects of possible lacklustre marketing or indiscriminateediting on the part of a mainstream publisher.”— PETER GRAUERpared to “pay my dues” when I wasconvinced of the worth of what hadbeen produced.Other authors I talked to and correspondedwith have expressed theirunfailing disappointment in dealingwith mainstream publishers. Theirmost-often quoted criticism was theperceived rape of their work by unskilledand uncaring editors. This wasquickly followed by the almost completelack of monetary reward, despitereasonable sales, and a lengthy waituntil publication.I was adamant that I wanted tomaintain editorial control over thecontent of my work, and the integrityof the work as a whole. I was convincedthat it would take over 600pages to tell this story, and I alsowanted to help influence the publishingof my book, including design,distribution and marketing.Expert advice from professionals,friends and fellow writers, aswell as my own convictions, convincedme that I should exertsome ownership over such minutiaeas book dimensions, font sizeand type, paper quality, covergraphics and design as well ascover weight and surface treatment.These decisions, as well asthe actual cover design with itsfold-in flaps, were conceived inconjunction with the book designerwell in advance of the actualtime of printing.I wanted to be able to controlthe number, quality, size andplacement of all of the photographsin the book, as well as toincorporate original artwork. Thiswriter was more resigned to thefinancial failure of the book as theresult of his own efforts, ratherthan to suffer the effects of possiblelacklustre marketing or indiscriminateediting on the part of amainstream publisher.There is no doubt that the decisionto self-publish was eased bythe knowledge that a professionalbook designer and a retired copyeditor both volunteered to practisetheir various skills for thewriter, as they believed in thevalue of the project. The masterfulhandling of these responsibilitiesby all the individuals noted inthe copyright page of the book wascritical in easing the decision toself-publish.The anguish and worry thatresulted from the decision to selfpublishhas largely been alleviatedby a resulting book that hasearned many positive commentsfrom store owners and readersalike. Sales are continuing to bestrong and steady, and the responseof readers to the commentssection of author’s website(www.billminer.ca) has vindicatedmy persistence in maintaining theintegrity of the book.0-9739980-1-619 BOOKWORLD • LOOKOUT • SPRING • 2007

COVER STORYTHE GREATER ONEVictoria’s Steve Nash is one of only ten NBA players who have won the league’sMVP award back-to-back—but there’s much more to him than that.Novelist and ardentsports fan MordecaiRichler once describedWayne Gretzky as thedullest man he ever met. Noone could say the same thingabout Steve Nash.While literally looking up to 95% of theplayers in the National Basketball Association,Victoria’s Steve Nash—Canada’s other “greatone”—has ascended to almost unimaginableheights as the thinking man’s basketballer.Last season Nash, at six-feet-three-inches,became only the third guard in NBA historyto win the league’s Most Valuable Player Awardin two successive seasons, in the company ofMichael Jordan and MagicJohnson. Now having his best statistical season,Nash is on track to win his third consecutiveMVP award.The third coming of Steve Nash, the mansometimes called Hair Canada, has resulted intwo new books, Jeff Rud’s Steve Nash: TheMaking of an MVP (Penguin Puffin $12.99)and Steve Nash (Heritage $16.95), a photoladentribute by Paul Arsenault andPeter Assaff.Based on the latter, here are some of the highlightsfrom Steve Nash’s remarkable rise to fortune,fame, respect, family life and philanthropy.✍Born in Johannesburg on February 7, 1974,Steve Nash and his younger brother MartinNash—a starting midfielder for the leaguechampion Vancouver Whitecaps—were raised inthe Gordon Head area of Victoria along with theirsister Joann, captain of the UVic women’s soccersquad for three seasons. John and Jean Nash originallyimmigrated with Steve Nash to Regina becausethey didn’t want their children to be raisedin a racist society fractured by apartheid.Sports was in the genes. Before marrying JohnNash, Steve Nash’s mother Jean had played netballat the national level in England. John Nashplayed professional soccer in South Africa. IdolizingWayne Gretzky as a boy, Steve Nash initiallyexcelled in hockey, lacrosse, rugby and soccer. JohnNash recalls finding his ten-year-old son Steve inthe backyard, exhausted after juggling a soccerball more than 600 times with his feet.At Mount Douglas High School, Steve Nash ledhis soccer team to a provincial championship andwas named the most valuable player. “I’ve alwaysthought soccer was a good explanation of who heis as a basketballer,” says Martin Nash. “Soccer isnot a sport where you can be an individual. Therole he played in soccer, playmaker, basically thepoint guard, is the kind of role he played in everysport, from rugby to lacrosse to hockey.”In 2001, Steve Nash [white jersey]suited up for Victoria United as a guestplayer for a match against SeattleSaints. After attending soccer gamesat the 2006 World Cup in Germany,Nash practiced with the New York Bullsof Major League Soccer, promptingtheir coach to say, “I think he couldprobably play in this league.”The man who first placed a basketball in SteveNash’s hands, Steve Gallo, was a Hillcrest Elementaryvice-principal who ran a Wednesday eveningleague for 12-and-13-year-olds. “Within a monthat fundamental basketball practice, you knew hewas something special,” Gallo says, “[because] hegot his biggest thrill setting up the other kids.”Whichever side Steve Nash played on usually builtup a big lead, so Gallo would have to call a timeout. “I’d switch him to the other side until theycaught up, which they always did.”At 13, when Steve Nash began playing basketball,he told his mother he planned to playprofessionally in the NBA. “I didn’t doubt him,”she says. Nash proceeded to lead Arbutus JuniorSecondary to the provincial junior high championshipin 1990; then led St. Michael’s UniversitySchool to the senior high championship in 1992.For good measure, he also won his school’s chesschampionship.Toronto Raptors’ commentator Jack Armstrongwould later credit Nash with a “huge basketballI.Q., the type of genius-claim often made ofGretzky.” But Nash is clearly more sophisticatedthan Gretzky outside of sports, having earned asociology degree at Santa Clara University.New York Times writer Liz Robbins once askedSteve Nash why he was bothering to read CommunistManifesto by Karl Marx. “Nash explained,”she wrote, “as he picked up themanifesto, ‘only because I was reading the autobiographyof Che Guevara and I wanted toget a better perspective.’”✍After attending Santa Clara University inCalifornia on a scholarship, Nash was selected15th overall in the first round of the NBA’sentry draft on June 26, 1996, becoming thesecond Canadian (after Leo Rautens,drafted 17 th in 1983) to be selected duringthe first round. Others drafted before Nashthat year were 18-year-old Kobe Bryant,Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, RayAllen and Stephon Marbury.As only one of twelve Canadian players tomake it to the NBA level, the little-knownwhite kid from the Great White North wasbooed by Phoenix Suns’ fans from his draftday onward. “I was … well, I wouldn’t saymaligned in my first year there,” he says, “butI was booed at home in my second year. Thatwas a pretty amazing place to be in your career,to be booed at home as a young player,someone who is just trying to figure out whatthey can be. In some ways, it was great for mebecause it motivated me and taught me a lotabout pro sports: Keep fighting and don’t takethings so seriously.”Although his playing time was limited—just ten minutes per game in his rookie season—Nashused adversity as grist for hiscompetitive mill, improving in his second seasonprior to being traded to the Dallas Starswhere the fans didn’t like him either.After two seasons with a struggling Dallasteam, Steve Nash didn’t realize his leadershippotential until he played for Canada at theSydney Olympics in 2000. Having earned asilver medal at the World University Gamesin 1991 when he was seventeen, Nash wasprimed to catch world attention when Canada metworld champion Yugoslavia in its final game ofthe round-robin.Having beaten Australia, Angola and Spain,but losing to Russia, Nash and his low profileteammates were not expected to outdo Yugoslavia,the odds-on favourite to meet the United Statesfor the gold medal. Nash became a national hero,scoring a team-high 26 points, stunning the Yugoslaviansfor an 83-75 win, finishing at the topof Group B. Four days later, when Canada lost aheartbreaker to France in the semi-finals, Nash leftthe court in tears but he came home a winner.Having amazed the basketball world with histenacity and creativity, Nash was also inspirationalbehind the scenes. He had anonymously distributedthree thousand dollars spending money foreach of his teammates, via Olympic coach JayTriano, and he had declined the Olympic organizers’plan to have him fly first class. “If youhave to buy a first class ticket,” he told Triano, “giveit to one of the big guys.” Despite being a multimillionaire,Nash chose to sit in a an economy seatfor the duration of the 17-hour journey to Australia.In 2002-2003, Nash established a new franchiserecord for free throws, sinking 49 consecutiveattempts. After forming an important fraternalrelationship with rising German-born star DirkNowitzki, Nash transformed the attack of thePhoenix Suns and became an NBA All-Star. Heled the league in assists and was named the league’sMost Valuable Player for 2004-2005 as his teamreached the NBA finals.Having led the once-lowly Suns to the thirdlargestturnaround in league history, he becamejust the second MVP in the history of the franchise(after Charles Barkley, 1992-93). Hewas also the first point guard to win the awardsince Magic Johnson in 1990.The following year Nash shot better than 40%from three-point range, better than 50% from thefield, and he led the league in free throw percentages,shooting more than 92%. He won his secondMVP award by a comfortable margin.Steve Nash was for real. He didn’t win his firstMVP because he was a white guy or because hismain rival, Kobe Bryant, had been accused of sodomyand rape. For five years in a row, the teamthat had Steve Nash on it—whether it was Dallasor Phoenix—led the NBA in scoring.Married with twin daughtersMarried in 2005 to his Paraguayan-born wifeAlejandra (“Ale” to her friends), who formerlyworked as a personal trainer in New York, SteveNash is now the father of twin daughters, Lourdesand Isabella (“Lola” and “Bella”).Although he once posed for GQ magazine,Nash is the antithesis of glam and he finds commentsabout his shaggy appearance absurd. Hewore his hair long last year simply because his wifeliked it that way. “I really don’t care about theresponse to my hair,” he says. “This is just how myhair is. I don’t take care of it, or comb it, or putanything in it …. When people comment on it, itis funny to me that it draws such attention. Itmakes me realize how insignificant that sort ofthing is.”As the host of an annualcharity basketballfundraising game, held firstin Toronto, then inVancouver, Steve Nash andhis foundation have raisedmore than one milliondollars for charitableprojects. Recently he andhis wife succeeded insupplying modern medicalequipment to Paraguay’soldest teaching hospital, theHospital of the Poor, inAsuncion, where a newpost-operative pediatriccardiology ward has beencreated.Nash reputedly reads Dostoevsky and remainsunusually candid, humble and free-thinkingfor a professional athlete. At the 2002 NBAall-star game he took a lot of heat for wearing a t-shirt with the slogan, “No war. Shoot for peace.”He is on record for opposing the American invasionof Iraq because no evidence of nuclear weaponswas ever found.When the B.C. youth basketball program wasin trouble, following the transfer of the VancouverGrizzlies franchise to Nashville, the Steve NashFoundation, managed by Steve Nash’s sister, cameto the rescue. Now the Steve Nash Youth BasketballLeague supports 8,000 young players inB.C.As the host of an annual charity basketballfundraising game, held first in Toronto, then inVancouver, Steve Nash and his foundation haveraised more than one million dollars for charitableprojects. Recently he and his wife succeededin supplying modern medical equipment to Paraguay’soldest teaching hospital, the Hospital of thePoor, in Asuncion, where a new post-operativepediatric cardiology ward has been created.“We all love kids,” he says, “and feel their humanpotential and human resource is invaluable tosociety.” If any other sports superstar said that, cynicsalong the lines of Mordecai Richler would suspectit’s pure balderdash. But so far, we can believeeverything that Steve Nash says. Off the court andon it, he has become, without intending it, one ofthe best ambassadors that Canada has ever had.About the authors:As a Times Colonist sports reporter, Jeff Rudwrote the first book about Steve Nash, Long Shot(Polestar, 1996; Raincoast 2002). Rud has alsoproduced a basketball novel for middle-gradereaders, In the Paint: South Side Sports (Orca2005), and Canucks Legends (Raincoast $50) containingprofiles of 75 players. Essays by journalistsArchie McDonald, Tony Gallagher,Iain MacIntyre and Kevin Woodley accompanymore than 300 photos.Paul Arsenault previously wrote Sidney Crosby:A Hockey Story; Peter Assaff is a Rogers televisiontalk-show host and play-by-play announcer.Steve Nash 1-894974-25-5; Making of an MVP 978014305345320 BOOKWORLD • LOOKOUT • SPRING • 2007 21 BOOKWORLD • LOOKOUT • SPRING • 2007

23 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007INDIESBCSurvivor—The B.C.version.............................Feats of survival have beena mainstay of B.C. literatureever since American sailorJohn Jewitt described hisRobinson Crusoe-like adventures asthe “white slave” of ChiefMaquinna during nearly threeyears of captivity on Vancouver Island,from 1803 to 1805.CW JEFFREYS ILLUSTRATIONJohn Jewitt, slave to Chief Maquinna.It is seldom noted that Jewitt’s original 48-page version of his ordeal was self-publishedfrom New England—and flopped—in 1807, butan (ahem) “enhanced” version by hired editorRichard Alsop has never been out of print.✍During the 200 years since then, there havebeen numerous wilderness survival classics,most notably Eric Collier’s Three Againstthe Wilderness (1959), in which Collier recallshow his family re-introduced the beaver populationat Meldrum Creek.Similarly, Leland Stowe’s Crusoe ofLonesome Lake (1957) is an oft-reprinted accountof how Ralph Edwards and his familynourished trumpeter swans. It was mimickedby Ed Gould’s ‘as-told-to’ autobiography,Ralph Edwards of Lonesome Lake (1979),which, in turn, gave rise to IsabelEdwards’ Ruffles On My Longjohns (1981).The first female Thoreau of B.C., GileanDouglas, originally published River For MySidewalk (1953) under a male pseudonym,Grant Madison. She led the way forDeanna Kawatski’s Wilderness Mother(1994) and a superb follow-up, Clara and Me(1996), as well as the popular memoirs ofChris Czajkowski who lives alone nearNimpko Lake.More sophisticated maritime memoirs, suchas M. Wylie Blanchet’s The Curve ofTime (1968) and Edith Iglauer’s Fishingwith John (1988) are watery cousins of suchworks, emphasizing the indomitability of maverickspirits.Now the “back to the land” movement of theSixties and Seventies is bringing forth a freshcrop of rustic reminiscences, such as SunnyWright’s To Touch A Dream (2006). In this issuehighlighting independent publishers, we’venoted just two of many “Survivor” stories arisingfrom B.C.: Frank Harper’s Journeys andChristine Peters’ The Lure of theChilcotin [reviewed on this page].Tofino’sSteinbeckFrank Harper is a well-loved figurewho came to Clayoquot Sound with his young family at age forty in1970. “I was a teacher at a factory-like university in Oregon,” hesays. “I was seeking to change my life, to find a way to drop outand to drop in. I wanted to find a simple place to live, to find communityand self-sufficiency and adventure.”Frank Harper and a smallgroup OF friends settled on asouth-facing sandy beach onland below Catface Mountain,a twenty-minute boat ride fromTofino. To this day they continueto legally squat (and pay taxes) onthe Crown land beneath thisbumpy outline that can be seenfrom the Whiskey Dock of what he refersto as the “neo-classical resort” of Tofino.The story of how Harper achieved his“drop-in” objective is told in Frank Harper’sJourneys (Cherub Books $20), acharming collection of personal essays thatTatla talesGRANT SHILLINGIn 1967, Christine Peters left Ithaca, New York, with BronxbornMark Gilman, in her father’s old Studebaker Lark andheaded to British Columbia with seven hundred dollars.Living out of their car they tried sleeping one night inside theStanley Park hollow tree, only to be chased away by police. Desperatefor money, she took a teaching job at Big Creek inthe Chilcotin.Some 38 years later, having raised four sons in theCariboo-Chilcotin, mostly as a homesteader withoutrunning water, she has self-published her memoir, TheLure of the Chilcotin (Trafford $23.95) from her Tatla Lakecabin, west of Williams Lake.Peters’ twelve-year relationship with Gilman, anavant-garde saxophonist with whom she had her firstson, Otis, ended in 1977.Peters then cohabited with trapline operator RickStamford, who soon became more widely known assold out its first printing in sixmonths, despite being availablefrom only two stores. Mostsignificantly, Harper founded,edited and published TheSound Newspaper with a villageof volunteers. In business since1990, that newspaper remainsthe best record of Tofino whenit was still a fishing village at the end ofthe road.In short, Frank Harper is Tofino’sSteinbeck. His talents include a great earfor dialogue and the ability to make youfeel right there in the story with him. Il-lustrated by JoannaStreetly’s line drawings,Journeys is a collection ofHarper’s essays that appearedunder the same titlein The Sound. A few additionalstories were writtenspecifically for this collection.Journeys is book-ended bytwo stories—set thirty yearsapart—in which Harper isstruggling to get to theWhiskey Dock in his car. Inthe first tale, a dog sleepingin the middle of the roadstops him; in the second, atourist traffic gridlock holdshim up.Other stories include anamusing tale of a bogus tsunamiwarning, a canoe rescuefrom Catface, a stormjournal, life as a wildernesschef cooking moose meat,our occasional beastly attitudestowards nature and atale set in Smiley’s BowlingAlley with a pesky interviewer.Journeys is filled with amazing adventures,big and small, in which Harper isusually the central character. “But thebook deals with a more profound journeythan mine,” he notes. “An everchangingmysterious wilderness isintruded upon by the sudden, moneyhauntedglobalization of a tiny village.”Produced by Cherub Books—a loosecollection of Tofitians who have contributedboth financial and digital supportto the project—Frank Harper’s Journeysis now into its second printing. Harperneither decries nor laments; he simplyuses his keen eye and ear to help us bearwitness. 0-9780591-0-7[Journeys is available from Tofino bookstores:Wildside Booksellers (250-725-42222, wildbook@island.net)and Mermaid Tales Bookshop (250-725-2125,merbook@island.net).]Grant Shilling is a founding memberof the Catface Bodysurfing Club andauthor of The Cedar Surf: An InformalHistory of Surfing in British Columbia.From Dylan to Jesus, with love affairs in-betweenChristine PetersSage Birchwater, the Chilcotin journalist.They homesteaded and home-birthed two children, Junahand Shiney, then amicably parted company in the mid-1980s,thereafter remaining friends.A fourth son, Dylan, fathered by a neighborhood friend, waspartially raised in foster homes.Peters also met and married a man namedGeorge, moved her family to be with him in 100 MileHouse, but his drinking and violence sent her back tothe Chilcotin. When a different romance with a manin Quesnel faltered, she returned to Tatla Lake.A songwriter who deeply admired Bob Dylan,Christine Peters later found Christ and joined the ReformParty of Canada.“I believe that not only time heals a broken heart,”she writes, “but Jesus heals our wounds and disappointmentswith His touch.”1-41206015-X

24 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007INDEPENDENTSexcitingspring titles!marchBirth House (paperback release)Ami McKayaprilDivasaderoMichael OndaatjeOn Cesil BeachIan McEwanmayAnimal, Vegetable, MiracleBarbara KingsolverA Thousand Splendid SunsKhaled HosseiniWater for Elephants (paperback release)Sara Gruencurrent bestsellers•20% off•every dayevery book • bargain priced • every dayBROADWAY • KITSILANOPOINT GREY • DOWNTOWN • YALETOWNWEST END • NORTH SHOREwww.bookwarehouse.caTall ordersHaving returnedfrom Hawaii to buildhis dream home in thepeaceful farming communityof Lister, B.C.,Dave Perrin—B.C.’s tallest author—has chronicled hislatest Kootenay adventuresas a veterinarianin Never Say Die:New Adventures fromthe Country Vet(Dave’s Press / Sandhill$23.95). Sandwichedbetween two titlesfrom large publishinghouses, Never Say DieDave Perrinhas reached as high as number two inthe cross-Canada index for sales providedby TBM Bookmanager.“It’s another testimony to his strongreadership, or else a reading market thatis desperate for tales about animals anddoctors,” says distributor Nancy Wise.“With 250 stores reporting actual sales,it’s no fluke.” It’s Perrin’s fourth volumeof light-hearted memoirs as a countryvet. 0-9687943-5-1✍Insurance executive Robert E.L.Trowbridge’s autobiography Foxglove(Trafford $27.15) is focussed uponhis acquisition of a seventeen-acre equestrianestate in Langley in the Fraser Valley,bought in 2002 in the aftermath ofa series of successful real estate deals.“With its ballroom, chapel, courtyardand gardens the property has been amagnet for Hollywood for acouple of decades. BradPitt, Nicolas Cage,Donald Sutherland andDiane Lane are just a fewof the thespians who havetoiled under hot lights at FoxgloveFarm.”Humour-laden and boastful,Foxglove is a lively explorationof a natural writing abilityJean Scottthat has been yearning to be released. Itis most charming as a portrait of a marriagebut it can also be dismissed byungenerous readers as a mere advertisementfor the author’s success. The guyhas the trophy wife and the trophy house;and has been on lots of nice trips. Whydo we have to know about it? 141208019-3✍Edited by K.A. Finlay,“A Woman’s Place”: Art andthe Role of Women in the CulturalFormation of Victoria,BC 1850s-1920s (MaltwoodGallery $20) is an expandedcatalogue for the exhibition ofwomen’s art from the earlydays of Victoria that was heldfrom September, 2004 toJanuary, 2005. The book andexhibition concentrate on the “womanlyarts” of painting, drawing, needleworkand ceramics.Artists featured include paintersSophie Pemberton and SarahCrease, plus photographerHannah Maynard and historicalfigures such as educator AliceRavenhill, Martha Harris andSister Mary Osithe. Emily Carris included but not featured prominently.1-55058-288-7Alice Ravenhill✍Irish-born MargoHearne settled inMasset in 1974 andfished for 19 yearsaboard the troller/gillnetter Lady Julia.Having written columnson birds and fishfor local papers, sheused her writing skillsto help raise more than$1 million to build abridge to restore theDelkatla Wildlife Sanctuaryto its original estuarinestatus in 1995.Recently, as ExecutiveDirector of theDelkatla Sanctuary Society,she raised $350,000 to build theNature Centre at Delkatla in Masset.Hearne’s self-published book is SmallBirds Cling to Bare Branches: NestingSongbirds of Haida Gwaii ($29.95), illustratedby Janetta Pirt.0-9737394-0-1Small wondersAfter her parents emigrated fromGreat Britain, Jean Scott was bornin a grocery store in 1912, in Brandon,where she lived until age eight. As a singlemother who coped with a violenthusband and worked as a domestic servant,she evolved feminist sympathies andbecame an activist upon taking secretarialjobs with the United Steelworkersand the Vancouver LabourCouncil.Married in 1932, she finally receiveda divorce in 1951 from theman she had tried to live withfive times. After a whirlwindromance, she re-married in1958, only to discover in 1959that her second disappointinghusband was a polygamist.A co-founder of the MemorialSociety, Scott, at 93, haspublished her memoirs, BrownSugar and a Bone in theThroat ($26.95 includes postage) withthe encouragement of Elsie K. Neufeld,while living in Chilliwack.A major organizer for the ChilliwackMuseum and Historical Society and thelocal transition house for women, JeanScott has received an honorary doctoratefrom the University College of theFraser Valley and the Governor-General’sPerson’s Case Award for promotingwomen’s equality.The 1993 Violence AgainstWomen Survey found that51% of Canadian women experiencedat least one incidentof physical or sexual violencesince age 16.Lee Lakeman’s Canada’sPromises to Keep: TheCharter and Violence AgainstWomen (Vancouver: CASAC $20), reflectsa five-year project of the CanadianAssociation of Sexual Assault Centres tounite Canadian feminist anti-violencegroups, using shared crisis work, researchand political activity.Both these books would have beenprime candidates for the VanCity Women’sBook Prize—but unfortunatelyVanCity has terminated its support forthe prize.Lakeman 0-9734919-0-6;Scott 0-9739406-0-3

25 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007Idrissa Simmonds: culture writer for The Ubyssey.African/Caribbean LitAs four students who had involvementwith UBC’s Caribbean and AfricanAssociation, Keita Demmingfrom Trinidad and Tobago, New Hampshire-bornCaterina Lewis-Perry of Irish and Jamaican descent,Zambia-related Anjuli Solanki andBrooklyn-raised Idrissa Simmonds(Haitian-American and Jamaican parentage)co-edited We Have a Voice: AnAnthology of African and CaribbeanStudent Writing in BC ($15). With 17contributors, the collection was privatelyprinted in Richmond.Simmonds, the founder of the anthology,went to work in Ghana in HIV/AIDSeducation after two years as a culture writerfor The Ubyssey newspaper. 0-9780227-0-XDrive, he saidTom Johnston, a life memberof the Sports Car Club of British Columbia,drove racing cars at theWestwood circuit from 1967 to 1973.He subsequentlyentered many carsat Westwood thathe designed andmanufactured, pilotedby well-knowndrivers such asFrank Allersand Ross Bentley.Johnston hasalso run his professionalFormula Atlanticteam atdozens of other circuitsin Canada and the U.S. and representedthe interests of the Sports CarClub of B.C. in managing theWestwood race track. To compileWestwood: Everyone’s Favourite RacingCircuit (Granville Island $54.95) hehad access to the archives of the SCCBCas well as private photo collections.This coffee table book includes a portraitgallery of over 300 drivers, officialsand others from 32 seasons, along withcelebrity visitors, notable cars, big races,race schedules, lap records and results. Acollector’s edition is available.978-1-894694-49-0✍Dutch-born John Lammers immigratedto Canada in 1948 with hisyoung family and found fulfillment as aguide in the Yukon wilderness after hisSports Car Club co-founder Roy Shadboltarrival there in 1953. Formerlya part-time newspapercolumnist, he self-publishedhis autobiography A Castle onthe Frontier (Gray Jay Publications$30.95) during his retirementyears on Salt SpringIsland. Subtitled An Immigrant’sLife Journey from Hollandto the Yukon, 1921-1987,it recalls the Nazi invasion ofHolland and his 35 years inthe Yukon. The castle of thetitle refers to a base camp atthe confluence of the Pelly andYukon Rivers.Ten years in the making, hismemoirs were completedwhen Lammers was aged 82.“The idea of a biography wastempting but for a very longtime I felt that it would be littlemore than a form of conceit,”he writes. In fact, hisautobiography provides a fairmindedrecord of Yukon pioneering andexploration during the latter half of thetwentieth century. 0-9734905-0-0; Gray Jay Pub.P.O. Box 456, Salt Spring Island, B.C. V8K 2W1✍Roz Davidson, aka the GrannyRapper, has self-published Are FlowersJewish? (Talk-a-Tale $16.95 plus handling)offering glimpses into Jewish life,including Shtetl and Rabbi vignettes,Klezmer-mania, sleuthing and aFarshlepteh Poodle story.The second half is autobiographicalup to puberty, with stories about growingup in Toronto, including Bubbe-Maises (grandmother stories.) 0-9737280-1-9✍Having worked in the Antarctic fortwo years as a meteorologist in the early1960s, Michael Warr, a long-timePrince George resident, revisited theAntarctic in 2005 and learned that huskydogs were no longer welcome as an alienspecies, whereas tourism for humans hasincreased to 27,000 visitors per year.South of Sixty: Life on an Antarctic Base(Antarctic Memories$24.95) is his firstbook.0-9738504-0-X✍According to biologistand photographerJ. DuaneSept of Sechelt, authorof CommonMushrooms of theNorthwest (Calypso$12.95), mycologistsbelieve there may beas many as 10,000species of fungi living in the PacificNorthwest and up to 1.5 million speciesworldwide. 0-9739819-0-3✍After she gathered the information forMilk Stories: A History of the Dairy Industryin British Columbia, 1827-2000, FortLangley-based historian K. Jane Wattwas given the green light by the DairyIndustry Historical Society of British Columbiato compile the story of how settlershave struggled against flooding in theFraser Valley since the 1870s. High Water:Living with the Fraser Floods (DairyIndustry Historical Society $50) is a lavishcoffee table book of archival photosand oral histories that records the devastationwrought by major floods in 1894and 1948 in particular. 0968766315Personal Tax Planning2006|2007• Income tax rules ineveryday English• Tax-planning tips tominimize or defer incometax payable• The most up-to-date taxinformationSmoke & Mirrorsfourth edition!• Turn your retirementdreams into reality• Now updated for 2007• Stop making RRSPpayments – pay downdebt firstCanadianbest-seller!Writing for the Web 3.0• Hook web surfers’attention• Write persuasive content• Create dynamic sites thatreaders will bookmarkThe Border Guide• A guide to living, workingand investing across theborder• Save money with soundcross-border financialplanning• Understand the new taxand immigration lawswww.self-counsel.com1-800-387-3362

INDEPENDENTS27 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007Whistling PixieTim Lander:“I love playing music inthe street. It is my curefor all the world’s ills.”GANDALF OF GRANVILLE ISLANDIt is impossible not to feel sympathy for Tim Lander when he describes sleepingunder the Burrard Bridge and waking to discover his false teeth were stolen.BARRY PETERSON PHOTOIf you’re passing swiftly, street musician Tim Lander might appearto be a harmless simpleton or a public nuisance, or both, or even abusker who needs a handout or even a bath, but stop and talk tothe Yeats-quoting Lander, who operates a boarding house that he ownsin Nanaimo, and you’ll quickly realize he’s a gentle and sophisticatedwise man who masquerades as an over-grown sprite.Like a universal character from aTarot card deck who invites complex interpretations,Lander has lurked andlaughed for years on the perimeter ofthe West Coast poetry scene, a self-publisherwho frequently shows up at literaryevents as the real McCoy,mysteriously enduring beyond the writingdepartments and the cabals of mutuallymotivated poseurs.Or, putting it another way, Landerremains leery of what he calls “the hierarchicalfilter of the Canada Council systemof Approved Editors andPublishers.” Stapling together his ownmeditations on life, Lander functionslike the wandering minstrel of old, de-pendent upon the curiosityof the generalpublic, not the publicpurse.Educated in England,Lander describeshimself as a coward,not as a rebel, someonewho knows he cannotchange the world, buthis barnacle-like presenceon the literaryscene of the Lower Mainland and VancouverIsland has gradually earned himwidespread respect.“I was an aged man,” Lander oncewrote in his self-published memoir, TheMagic Flute, “a paltry thing, travellingevery week with my pack on my back,my hat on my head and my piccolo inmy pocket, over on the ferry fromNanaimo, to play around the market andcraft shops of Granville Island.”“At night I would unroll my sleepingbag on a thick, soft growth of ivy underthe Burrard“And in Nanaimo, thelicensed musicians,wearing their official photoidentity cards, play ondesignated spots, ondesignated days,according to some codeof by-laws dreamt of byCity Hall.”—TIM LANDERStreet Bridge,with the everpresentnoiseof trafficthuddingabove me. Ireckoned thatif I made afew dollars,why spend iton a cheapbed? I hadno shame insleeping like ahobo. I’d always secretly admired the‘gentlemen of the road’ and by natureI’m a penny-pincher.”Refusing to submit to Nanaimo’s humiliatingby-law that requires all buskersto audition in front of a by-law officerto obtain a license, as well as a nametag, Lander increasingly gravitated toVancouver to play his piccolo and pennywhistle. Some youngsters have belittledhim as a haggard version of FatherChristmas, but far more have calledout “Gandalf”—a comparison heenjoys.Most passers-by have respondedkindly. “If you can play me some JethroTull,” said one Aboriginal man in a PinkFloyd t-shirt, “I’ll see if I can find you abuck,” to which Lander responded bysaying he’s just an old hippy who onlyplays music off the top of his head. TheJethro Tull fan gave him his take-out boxof steak anyway.Another time a Vancouver cop encouragedLander to keep playing, eventhough a noise complaint had beenmade.✍One morning Lander woke under theBurrard Bridge, put his hand in his hatand discovered his false teeth were missing.This happened a few weeks prior tocontinued on page 28

28 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007WHAT IS IT ABOUT WEST COASTWOMEN AND FICTION?Praise for Giller Prize Finalist Carol Windley“Home Schooling … is as delicate as it is intelligent …nothing short of an exceptional collection of beautiful wordsand resonant insights.” — Carla Lucchetta, The Globe and MailSelected as the Best Book of 2006 by The Globe and Mail,National Post, and Quill & Quire.Praise for Linda Rogers“Rogers’ work is both sensuous and intelligent, and it’simpossible to read her without a creeping sense ofterror and joy.”— Susan MusgravePraise for Giller Prize Finalist Pauline Holdstock“This well-executed novel can sit comfortably onany bookshelf alongside works by writers like A.S. Byattand Jane Urquhart.” — The Globe and MailSelected as a Best Book of 2004 by The Globe and Mail.Winner of the Ethel Wilson Prize.Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize—Canada and the Caribbean Region.Sure. The world needs more Canada. ButCanada needs more B.C. writers.From Cormorant Books. Where Imagination Takes Flight.INDEPENDENTScontinued from page 27Christmas. He searched desperately inthe brambles to no avail. A maliciousthief or a wild animal had stolen his abilityto make his meagre living becauseLander couldn’t play his flute properlywithout his teeth.“Then … I realized that this was absolutelythe funniest thing that had everhappened to me,” he writes, “and thehumour of the whole predicament filledme with light.” The theft provedserendipitous. He found he could playhis piccolo even better withoutteeth. “I could do things withthe notes that I never could dobefore. This was my Zen moment,this was my satori. Myflute and I, we had discoveredeach other like two lovers.”For decades Lander hasconducted an erudite, onemancampaign to assert the Joe Ruggiervalidity of the humblechapbook as the purest vehicle for poets,“not dependent on the good will ofthe government,” although he has justreleased his second ‘legit’ trade bookcalled Inappropriate Behaviour (BrokenJaw Press $19). Whereas his first collection,The Glass Book (Ekstasis2000), was a gentle work,Lander describes InappropriateBehaviour as “a book full ofrepressed rage” mainly comprisedof poetry written beforehe started busking.According to Lander,homemade chapbooks havethe added advantage of displayingthe hand, judgementMona Fertigand design sense of the poet.“Chapbooks can be printed in smallquantities,” he explains, “as needed, andthey do not require a huge outlay of cash.They are cheap, unadorned, designedto be traded with other poets, and theyare affordable to the kind of aficionadosof poetry who attend readings, the educatedunderclass.” Most of Lander’schapbooks over the years have beendeftly illustrated with whimsical,minimalist sketches.Somewhat alarmed when he realizedInappropriate Behaviour is a potpourriof pieces written between six and thirtyyears ago, Lander recently released hisumpteenth chapbook, Elegy Ritten in anORL Nite Café, only available for $5 bymail, via his personal email address. Asusual, it contains Lander’s trademark adviceto the reader regarding copyright:“Do not reproduce without love.”✍In much the same tradition,unstoppable self-publisher and door-todoorbook salesman Joe Ruggier,born and raised in Malta, has operatedhis Multicultural Books, and written tentitles of his own, most recently Pope Caesar’sWake: Letters Exchanged withPope Woytyla (MBooks $36.95).Ruggier has had to invent his ownniche for himself, overcoming healthhurdles, in order to pursue his dream ofrespect for his ruminations on love, cultureand religion. Although hispersistence is remarkable, it’snot peerless.Self-publishers aren’t necessarilyinveterate egoists.Ruggier, for example, hasevolved to publish numerousother writers with his MBooksimprint, and currently he ispreparing the twelfth volumeof his poetry journal, The EclecticMuse.The precedent for Lander andRuggier is Gerry Gilbert, who soldhis anthology publication BC Monthly,founded in 1972, and organized literaryevents. “Gilbert is legendary amongthe other poets of the city as thepoet who rides a bicycle, a kindof Hermes on two wheels,”commented reviewer JamieReid in 1992.Similarly Robert G.Anstey of Sardis had producedmore than 100 titles underhis own West CoastParadise Publishing imprintsince his first book appeared in1970.Terry Julian of New Westminsterand Ben Maartman (ofFogducker’s Press in Errington) are justtwo of literally hundreds of writers whohave produced highly readable and challengingworks. Unfortunately few selfpublishershave the smarts to advertiseand market their work properly.As well, there are countless chapbookpublishers around the province, such asMona Fertig, who operates MotherTongue Press (aka (m)Öthêr TøñguèPress) with her husband PeterHaase on Saltspring Island. She’s nowseeking stories and photos from anyonewho remembers her Literary Storefrontdays (1978-1982) in Gastown. Her latestpoetry title is Invoking The Moon:Selected Poems, 1975-1989 (BlackMoss Press $15).Inappropriate 1-55391-038-9:Caesar: 0-9738392-4-4; Invoking: 0-88753-429-5EXCERPT by Tim Lander“I am an old man, time moves on, and the rock musicians with theirenormous amplified sound systems are telling the politicians how to runthe world, and the politicians pretend to listen, smile for the cameras,and go back to their agendas. What magic, what truth can emanatefrom all that digital, solid state circuitry and strutting, grandstandingrock and roll tub thumpers?“… Still the ancient struggles will not go to sleep and the armiesmarch away to war, to disappear like water in the sand. The tide ofentropy and the breaking wave of history are irresistible, but a line ofmusic in the street can give the harassed mind a small beautiful place todwell.“The magic of the flute is a small magic, like a little white floweramong the pebbles by the roadside, a lifeline thrown to the poor benightedpeople of the city in the deep heart of their suffering.”

NORTH31 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007THE END OFACHOEx-timber cruiser, scaler, forester, postmaster,guide and no-nonsense raconteur Jack Boudreauhas matured into one of the leading historiansfor the heartland of the province.In his sixth book, Sternwheelers andCanyon Cats: Whitewater Freightingon the Upper Fraser (Caitlin$18.95), Jack Boudreau recalls themen who made a living running the rapidsof the Grand Canyon of the Fraser River.Twelve steamers plied that dangeroussection of river between 1862 and1921—when more than 200 rafters losttheir lives—bringing freight and suppliesto northern B.C. prior to the onsetof the Grand Trunk Railway.“The main reason I got involved inwriting,” he says, “was because many ofthe pioneer-type people were passing onand taking an incredible legacy withthem. This has spurred me to action.”✍BC BOOKWORLD: In the 1930s,the Interior was once described as “a landof hard-drinking and hard-working menof many nationalities, many of whomlaughed at the perils of the road.” Is thatstill part of the Cariboo-Chilcotin mystique?JACK BOUDREAU: Ifeel the macho era has ended.It has no place in modern society.Years ago, if two peopledecided to go outside andsettle things, the law usuallylooked the other way. This nolonger applies.BCBW: Do you have anyspecific geographic definitionfor where “the Interior” is?BOUDREAU: I supposemy definition of the Interiorwould include an approximate piece ofreal estate stretching from Quesnel toFort Ware, and from McBride toSmithers.At the same time, I have heard otherpeople define it as being within 150 kmof Prince George.BCBW: Do you sometimes view theInterior as its own mini-nation or province,within an artificial construct calledBritish Columbia?Born & raised in Penny, between the McGregor and FraserRivers, outdoorsman Jack Boudreau has produced the firsthistory of upper Fraser River transport from 1862 to 1921.BOUDREAU: No! Instead I definethe Interior along latitudinal much morethan along longitudinal lines. I simplywrite about the area I am most familiarwith. It’s not more complicated thanthat.BCBW: When you were growing upin Penny, what were your literary influences?BOUDREAU: From childhood I alwayshad a voracious appetite for read-ing. The adventures of such people asLewis and Clark filled my world withwonder. I was never into pure fiction,possibly because I lived so close to thereality of nature.BCBW: What are some of the betterarchives for doing research on the B.C.Interior within the region itself?BOUDREAU: If I must single out onesource, I have to salute the local publiclibrary for being my greatest assistant. Ido not believe I could have been so successfulwithout their endless and muchappreciatedhelp. Canyon Cats 1-894759-20-6BOUDREAU’SPICKSCentral B.C. writers recommendedby Jack Boudreau include:Bernard McKay, Bruce Ramsey,Stanley Washburn, Mark Wadeand Bruce Hutchison.Some of his favourite books are:The History of the Northern Interior ofBritish Columbia by Father A.G. Morice,A History of Prince George by Rev. F. E.Runnalls, Bacon,Beans ‘n BraveHearts by surveyorRussell Walker,Trails, Trappersand Tenderfeet byStanley Washburnand The NewGarden of Canadaby Fred Talbot.Father A.G. MoriceSee abcbookworld.com formore info on Father Morice.Spiritual Traditions Depth PsychologyMetaphysics Inspiration The Healing ArtsRelationships Martial Arts BodyworkNutrition Visionary Arts ShamanismNew Science Ecology Family & CommunityAltar Items Yoga & Meditation AidsBanyen BOoks3608 West 4th Avenueat Dunbar, one block east of Alma in Kitsilano, VancouverBooks 604-732-7912 Music/Gifts/Tkts 604-737-8858Out-of-town orders 1-800-663-8442Open Mon-Fri 10-9, Sat 10-8, Sun 11-7www.banyen.com for reviews, author events & our entire inventoryFIRST NATIONSBOOKSRare and out-of-printtitles on theAboriginal peoples ofWestern CanadaDavid Ellis, Booksellerdavidellis@lightspeed.caVancouver 604-222-8394

NORTH32 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007Of grizzly bears & bureaucrats“I was taught that man should defeat wilderness,” said Bob Henderson, but now hefinds “that man should respect wilderness and do everything they can to maintain it.”Bob Henderson’s weathered paw is extended as hesteps into the studio, his grip firm, manner direct, buthe’s a bit apprehensive. He is too far from his naturalhabitat. There is too much traffic, too much concrete.Bob Henderson has run a five-tonsnow machine up the Stikine River asthe ice melted around him. He has babieda fully-loaded truck with no brakesdown a ten-mile hill. He has learned tofly and crash-land planes. But promotinga book in the Big Smoke is somethingelse.In Vancouver to talk about Land ofthe Red Goat (Creekstone / Sandhill$21), Henderson is too far removedfrom his fishing lodge at Tatlatui Lake,his home near Smithers and the vastSpatsizi plateau that gave rise to the nameof his memoir.Spatsizi is a Tahltan wordmeaning Land of the Red Goat,a description that arose becausegoats in the area take dust bathsby rolling on red iron slopes.Henderson’s title is slightly misleadingbecause he has been activeas a guide and pilotthroughout northern B.C. forfour decades, having joined forceswith Love Bros. & Lee, anoutfitting company based in theSkeena River watershed andKispiox Valley, as a young man.✍Bob Henderson had a relativelyprivileged background. Asa boy, he was sent from Victoriato one of Toronto’s best privateschools where he was introducedto a life of cricket and societyballs. His father was a lawyer whohad the legendary northern B.C.outfitter Tommy Walker asone of his clients.In 1963, after completinghigh school, Bob Henderson, atage 18, accepted an invitation tolive for one summer with Walker’sguiding company in thenorth.✍Born in Gravesend, Englandin 1904, Tommy Walker had immigratedto B.C. in 1929. Hehomesteaded on a farm east of BellaCoola and began to operate a sport fishingresort, Stuie Lodge, that becameTweedsmuir Lodge.In 1937 he contributed to efforts tocreate Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, thenwent to the headwaters of the StikineRiver with his wife Marion in 1948, settlingat Cold Fish Lake. After his firstseason in Spatsizi, he never hunted againwith a rifle, preferring a camera. Hismany years of lobbying for the protectionof the area led to the creation ofSpatsizi Plateau Wilderness ProvincialPark, the third largest park in B.C., afterTweedsmuir and Tatshenshini.Spatsizi Park is located 320 km (200 mi)north of Smithers, east of the village ofIskut, off the Stewart-CassiarHighway. The Walkers sold their propertyat Cold Fish Lake in 1968, but retainedtheir trading post and sawmill atTatogga Lake on the Stewart-CassiarHighway. T.A. Walker’s account ofhomesteading, simply called Spatsizi(Caitlin), has been reprinted five times.In the early 1960s, the road northstopped at Fort St. James whereHenderson jumped aboard a floatplaneto Walker’s Cold Fish Lake. “What happenedin the next two-and-a-half hourswas to have a major effect on the rest ofA far cry from privateschools and cricket: Thebeautiful Love sisters, Ruth,Esther and Dorothy, andtheir nephew Wilfred Lee,with a moose shot in thelower Kispiox Valley in 1948.my life,” he writes. “As the plane flewnorth I experienced a new sensation—the intoxication of flying low over milesof untouched wilderness. As the mysteryof valley after valley was revealed beneathus, I realized with certainty thatMrs. Henderson had raised a futurebush pilot.”Henderson’s first task was to build atwo-holed outhouse beside Walker’s newcabins. Before long he was stocking foodcaches, working horses, building huntingcamps while fighting flies and mosquitoes,and learning how to guidetrophy hunters on trips that could lastfour or five weeks.Asked how he picked up the skills tosurvive, Henderson credits Tlogot’inenatives who worked as guides and wranglersfor Walker. “They took me in andMARK FORSYTHEkept an eye on me when I hadless sense than a puppy dog,”he says. “I had absolutely noidea what I was doing.“It must have been a bit gallingfor them at the time. I wasconsidered to be the lead handat the end of the third year.They had a wonderful way of easing tensionswhen the going got tough. Likefinding yourself in 60-below weatherwith not the right equipment and havingto live off the land for several days.They never panicked, they just took itthe way it came.”Henderson’s early days included anear-drowning and the rescue of a CBCcameraman who was gathering footageof Walker’s operation for a documentary.The cameraman wanted shots of alive grizzly, so Henderson guided himto an old moose kill. He got more thanhe bargained for when a nine-foot-tallgrizzly charged. Henderson sucks airthrough his teeth recalling the moment:“I walked right into the bear. All Ican say is I have met the devil, and someonewas with me that day because I managedto kill it at 12 feet shooting fromthe hip. And when I stepped back andtook careful aim after everything wasover, I missed the bear completely at 17feet.”Mounting friction betweenHenderson and the Walkers was exacerbatedby a plane crash, an untestedmanager, lack of provisions, a foolhardyconstruction project and the duress ofbeing placed in charge of fighting alarge forest fire. After five years, BobHenderson joined Love Bros. & Lee inthe adjacent Kitchener-Tatlatui region.Jack Love, an Englishman, hadhomesteaded in the Kispiox Valley nearthe Swedish-born Hagblad brothers andtheir sister, Anna, who he married. Thecouple had six children, one of whommarried Jack Lee who had arrivedin Hazelton in the 1930s. The Lovebrothers and Jack Lee formed a familybusiness for logging, hunting, guidingand trapping. Started in 1947, theirbusiness, according to Henderson,rivaled, if not surpassed that of WalkerFrontier Services in both volume and internationalreputation.Henderson became a partner withthe Love Bros., bought his first floatplane, raised a family in the north andlearned how to navigate obstacles thrownup by bureaucrats and Greenpeacers.Along the way he did his share to helpestablish protected area status for theSpatsizi, and later helped conduct wildlifepopulation surveys.Henderson treasures a brief encounterwith writer and conservationistRoderick Haig-Brown, but travelwriter Edward Hoagland,gathering material for ‘Notesfrom the Century Before,’ stillleaves Henderson cold. “Ted, ashe preferred to be called, wasnot much older than I and, likeme, the product of a well-offfamily. But that’s where the similaritiesended. As my week withhim unfolded and he met moreof the Cassiar’s residents, I foundhe had little positive to say aboutany of his new acquaintances. Heperceived his role as that of judgerather than chronicler.”Henderson thinks too manygood people were unnecessarilyhurt by Hoagland’s portrayal.Then again, he likely didn’t endearhimself to Hoagland afterthe pickup truck they were ridingin turned turtle withHenderson at the wheel.“What’s impressed me afterhaving done this now for over 40years,” says Henderson, “is therespect for the land that most ofthe people that do this kind ofthing eventually get—whetherthey want it or not almost. Youjust can’t have that kind of associationwith the land withoutboth understanding and gettingthe respect for the benefits youget from it.”These days Henderson is anxiousabout mounting pressures to exploitmining and methane gas in the north.“That was part of my motivation forwriting the book,” he says. “Hopefullypeople going in there to try to extractthose resources have some understandingof how those of us who’ve made ourliving in a different way feel about it, andmay they show some respect for thosefeelings and values.“I was taught that man should defeatwilderness, and now at the end ofmy life, finding that man should respectwilderness and do everything they canto maintain it.” 0-9684043-9-1Mark Forsythe is the host ofCBC’s Almanac.

35 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007WHO’S WHOBCis for ArnottWhen she’s not keeping track of hersix children, Richmond-based, WinnipegbornMétis poet Joanne ArnottZenthoefer has been organizing aMothers Writing Workshop AdvisoryGroup to be held in May with MariaCampbell, author of Halfbreed (1973)and Stories of the Road Allowance People(1995). They hope to gather diverse aboriginalmothers and grandmothers to focustheir writing about pregnancy,childbirth and mothering.As Joanne Arnott, she has releasedMother Time: Poems New and Selected(Ronsdale $14.95), a reflective volumecovering her twenty years of maternity,including her years as a single mom onwelfare, unable to afford a cup of coffee,and she has contributed with 23other women to a new anthology, MyWedding Dress: True-life Tales of Lace,Laughter, Tears and Tulle (Vintage$24.95), recalling the highs and lows ofgetting hitched. Arnott describes howher Métis friends Flo Robertsonand poet Greg Scofield encouragedher to incorporate a marriage blanketceremony into her wedding atStrathcona Community Gardens. “Thisblanket covers you,” she was told, “in theway that your marriage will cover you.Treat it with respect.”Mother 1-55380-046-X; Dress 0-676-97846-0;Contact Joanne.Arnott+birth.stories@gmail.comis for BaxterSheila Baxter’s play Death in aDumpster (Lazara $14.95) was developedin a Friends for Life Mask Workshop andfirst performed by the West End PublicTheatre in 2005 at St. John’s UnitedChurch in Vancouver. Produced and directedby Ian Wallace, and featuringBaxter in the cast, this fictionalizeddrama recalls the death of Danny, a homelessman who was crushed to death in agarbage dumpster. After discovering heis HIV positive, Danny, a young fishermanfrom Nova Scotia, originally hitchhikesto Vancouver to find his mother,who abandoned him as a child. 0-920999-09-3Annual hours (hundreds)In Baychimo: Arctic Ghost Ship(Heritage $19.95), AnthonyDalton traces the history ofthe Hudson’s Bay Companyship that was seen,unmanned, at various locationsin the Arctic formore than three decadesafter she wastrapped in the iceand abandoned byher crew in 1931.Under CaptainSydneyCornwell,the Baychimousually sailedfrom Vancouverforher annualArctic traditionexpeditions.1-894974-14-Xis for DaltonGraphshowing theannualnumber ofhours workedper personaged 15-64.FromDimensionsof Inequalityin Canada.[See E forEquality.]is for EqualityRelative equality among all Canadiansis diminishing according to DavidE. Green of UBC and JonathanR. Kesselman of SFU, editors ofDimensions of Inequality in Canada(UBC Press $29.95), a collection of essaysthat examines our economic patterns.Canadians are also working longerhours than citizens of most major industrializednations, except the UnitedStates, as a graph prepared by LarsOsberg clearly indicates. 0-7748-1208-7continued on next pageis for CzajkowksiChris Czajkowskiwski, aname that rhymes with Tchaikovsky,lives near Tweedsmuir ProvincialPark, a day-and-a-half walk(at human speed) from the nearestroad, or four days walk dependingon the weather, at an altitude of5,000 feet, about 40 miles awayfrom her first cabin that was destroyedby fire in 2004 during theLonesome Lake Fire. She has recalledthat fire, from the momentlightning struck until she was orderedto evacuate, in a collectionof stories about her dogs and nature,Wildfire in the Wilderness(Harbour $19.95). 1-55017-375-8Joanne Arnott iscurrently raisingfive sons andone daughter.

36 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007Bloodstains by Diane AndersonWith captivating narrative and meticulous research,Anderson chronicles the worst multiple murders inCanadian history. Includes a chapter on Vancouver’sMissing Eastside Women.ISBN: 978-1-55059-322-8, $26.95, pbWHO’SWHOAmbiguous Selvesby Melanie FogellThis investigation into individual identity exploresIsraeli and Canadian ideas of Jewishness. MelanieFogell fascinates the reader with her candid discussionabout life in the era of fragmentation.ISBN: 978-1-55059-327-3, $26.95, pbAvailable at your local bookstore or contact:Temeron Books Inc. tel: 403.283.0900 fax: 403.283.6947temeron@telusplanet.net www.temerondetselig.comM.A.C.Farrant:beyondtyrannyS PRING 2007P OETRY ANDN ON- FICTIONWWW. WOLSAKANDWYNN. CADaakuFind it hereMy Mother Agrees withthe DeadSusan StensonPoetry$17Duthie BooksPeople’s Co-op BookstoreBlackberry BooksMagpie Magazine GalleryChaptersIndigo Books + MusicAmazon.comThe Mongoose Diaries:Excerpt’s from a mother’sfirst yearErin NoteboomNon-fiction$15Published by New Star BooksWordscapes: British ColumbiaYouth Writing Anthology 2007Ripple Effect’s 6th annual anthologyof poetry, fiction, personal essaysand visual art by B.C. teens.980-1-894735-11-7 $15192 p, 5.25 x 8.5, softcoverPrinted tree-free on 100% PCW paper.Ripple Effect Arts and Literature Societywill be hosting a launch in partnershipwith the West Vancouver CommunityFoundation and BOOKtopia May 11that the West Vancouver Memorial Library,featuring readings and gallery by youthin Wordscapes 2007. For more info:info@rippleeffect.cawww.rippleeffect.caa novel by Ranj Dhaliwal‘An excellent novel about Indo-Canadian gangs . . . a scarypeek into a subculture about which we know nothing.’— Margaret Cannon, globe & mailTERRY G. FARRANT PHOTOis for FarrantSome promotional copy begs to berepeated, such as this prose aboutM.A.C. Farrant’s The BreakdownSo Far (Talonbooks $17.95). “TheJonathan Swift of the bingo hall andelder-care, the Alexander Pope of petcareand the dinner parties of the liberalintelligentsia, Marion Farrantcontinues her assault on the unaccountablydisaffected and disillusioned of theWestern world with The Breakdown SoFar, her eighth volume of extremelyshort stories for those of us who seem tohave lost both our way and our attentionspan. Unsparing in her critique ofthe New Age syncretism the mall culturehas substituted for authentic emotionand belief, our adoption ofBuddhism appears in her work as a rationalizationfor our ubiquitous materialismof the soul, Zen as our guiltlessdoctrine of neglect. Each of these storiesis a new instance of the author’s ongoingattempt at understandinglanguage ironically—through itself—awillingness to let the deadly serious beas playful as it wants to be, a courageousshedding of what Tom Robbins called‘the tyranny of the dull mind.’” 0889225567is for GeistA former associate editor of Geistmagazine, Melissa Edwards is theauthor of The Geist Atlas of Canada (Arsenal$24.95), a collection of maps pertainingto subjectmatter such asAtwood, Beer,Doughnuts, Eroticaand Literary, manyof which have appearedin the magazinesince 1995.S t e p h e nOsborne contributesthe introduction.1-55152-216-0Detail of B.C. inThe Literary Map ofCanada, fromThe Geist Atlas ofCanada (Arsenal)is for HowesAs Professor Emeritus of Asian Studiesat UBC, John F. Howes has beenawarded the Order of the Rising Sunby the Government of Japan in 2004.His study of the founder of a Japaneseform of Christianity known as“mukyokia,” Japan's Modern ProphetUchimura Kanzô, 1861-1930 (UBCPress $85) also received a $10,000Canada-Japan Literary Award in 2006.is for Iglauer0-7748-1145-5Recently remarried, EdithIglauer Daly White has receivedher doctor of laws degree, honoris causa,from the University of Victoria to celebrateher sixty years of writing as a journalistand author.Known for her memoir Fishing withJohn and her New Yorker articles, theCleveland-born Iglauer moved toCanada in 1974. “I started writing whenI was a small girl, and I still write becauseI can’t stop writing,” she said. “Ican’t emphasize enough the importanceof good teaching at an early age.”is for JennicaWith an MFA in Creative Writingfrom UBC, Jennica Harperteaches screenwriting at Vancouver FilmSchool and has publishedThe Octopusand Other Poems (SignatureEditions$14.95).The title poem,concerning a debatebetween former loversas to the merits ofsearching for extraterrestriallife, was a finalistfor a NationalMagazine Award.Harper also worksas a story editor in thefilm industry, and occasionallyas a standupcomic. 1-897109-10-5

37 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007New from Governor General’s Award winner roy mikiMinnesota-born Ross Klatteknew what he wanted to be in life—awriter—after reading a biography aboutJack London during his senior yearof high school in 1952.While attending St. Thomas Collegein St. Paul, Klatte discovered ErnestHemingway. In 1955, the Klattefamily sold its farm and Klatte enrolledin boot camp for the navy. “I’d joinedthe Cold War Navy not to keep the worldsafe for democracy but just to see it.” Heearned a B.A. in journalism and becamea reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Klatteand his wife immigrated to B.C. in 1971and homesteaded near Nelson.After winning first prize in a CBC LiteraryCompetition in 1990, he tracedhis family roots from Quebec and Saskatchewanto Minnesota for his poignantfamily farm memoir, Leaving theFarm (Oolichan $22.95). 0-88982-237-9RossKlatteis for Klatteis for LaFaveKim LaFave of Roberts Creekhas probably lost count of the dozens ofbooks he has illustrated since 1981.Aimed for ages 4-to-8, A Very UnusualDog (Scholastic $8.99) was written byDorothy Joan Harris and hasbeen shortlisted for five awards. Newlyreissued, it’s the story of a boy with aninvisible pooch for a pal. The boy leaveshis imaginary dog at his Grandma’s soshe can have some company. 0-439-93718-3is for MagnussenHazel Magnussen’s A Doctor’sCalling: A Matter of Conscience(Parksville: Wembley Publishing $30.45includes shipping) recounts the life andmurder of her brother, Dr. DouglasGeorge Snider, and his efforts to ensurequality medical care for his communityin the Alberta Peace country. In May of1999, Snider was killed in Fairview, Alberta—whereMagnussenlaunched her book in May of2006—by a fellow physician, Dr.Abe Cooper, described as “a charismatic,driven, highly accomplishedman, but one so arrogantand selfish that he felt justified inharassing, then killing a goodman.” Magnussen suggests theCanadian justice system isweighted too heavily in favour ofcriminals and that medical regulatorsmust become more forceful in dealingwith abusive and disruptive practitionerssuch as Dr. Cooper, who was chargedwith first degree murder but convictedof the lesser charge of manslaughter.Hazel Joan Magnussen, a graduate ofthe University of Alberta, is a retired registerednurse with 35 years experiencein health care. Her primary clinical focusin the last ten years was mental healthnursing and her articles about nursingethics and nurse-physician relationshipshave been published in various professionaljournals. In addition, she has writtenarticles and presented papers onbullying and disruptive behaviour in theworkplace, and detailed the experienceand needs of victims of crime in thecriminal justice process. Her speakingtour in B.C. will culminate with an appearanceat the first Pacific Festival of theBook in Victoria on March 24, a newfestival that has gained sponsorship fromTrafford Publishing. 0-9739843-0-9is for NickelA former poetry editor of PRISM international,Barbara Nickel haswon the Malahat Review Long PoemPrize and the Pat Lowther Award for hercollection The Gladys Elegies. Also anaward-winning children’s writer and aviolin teacher, she has returned to poetryfor Domain (Anansi $18.95), a collectiondevoted to the wonderment ofchildhood. She lives with her family inYarrow, B.C. 0-88784-759-5is for OwenHaving supervised Beautiful BritishColumbia magazine for 25 years, TonyOwen has lent his photographic talentsto Government House: The CeremonialHome of All British Columbians(Sono Nis $39.95), with text by RosemaryNeering.Originally built in the 1860s, andtwice destroyed by fire, the primaryhome of the Lieutenant Governor inVictoria has a storied history and a remarkablegarden that is partially maintainedby volunteers. 1-55039-159-6is for Page“I am grateful to have grown up inan age when Grimm, Andersen, Perraultand the Arabian Nights were not consideredtoo frightening for children,”writes P.K.Page in The Filled Pen(UTP $21.95) , a collection of her nonfictionedited by Zailig Pollock.“These tales must have laid a basis formy continuing acceptanceof worlds otherthan this immediatelytangible one—worldswhere anything is possible—whereone candefy gravity, becomeinvisible, pass throughbrick walls.”P.K. Page: outlook Grimmcontinued on next pageFind it herenew & established writersThereDuthie BooksPeople’s Co-op BookstoreSpartacus BooksMagpie Magazine Gallery32 BooksAbraxas BooksMiners Bay Bookswww.bookthug.cawww.nwpassages.comPublished by New Star BooksS P R I N GThe Filled PenSelected Non-fictionP.K. Page, edited by Zailig Pollock‘What a pleasure it is to read suchbeautifully articulated, luminouswriting! The Filled Pen is a treasure.’Di BrandtPb 9780802093998 $21.95In the Days of OurGrandmothersA Reader in Aboriginal Women’sHistory in Canadaedited by Mary-Ellen Kelm et al.Collected in one volume for the firsttime, this book combines two crucialareas of Canadian History, womenand Aboriginal peoples, and exploresdevelopments in the field of Aboriginalwomen’s history.Pb 9780802079602 $35.00B O O K S‘Call Me Hank’A Stó:lõ Man’s Reflections on Logging, Living,and Growing OldHenry Pennier, edited by Keith Thor Carlsonand Kristina Fagan‘Call Me Hank is the work of a masterstoryteller who uses humour to drive hispoints home, as well as a serious work ofhistory and one of the best descriptions of lifeas a logger.’John Lutz, University of VictoriaPb 9780802094261 $24.95The Health Impact of Smoking andObesity and What to Do about Itby Hans Krueger, et al.This book offers solid evidence and practicaladvice to health care planners, decisionmakers,and frontline providers in tacklingthe key risk factors, smoking and obesity inpreventing chronic disease.New in paperbackThe Half-Lives of Pat Lowtherby Christine Wiesenthal2006 finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award in Non-fiction; Winner of the 2005 Clio Prize (BC)‘[A] substantial biography of Pat Lowther, one of our finest poets … Few poets willbe fortunate to have so intelligent and painstaking an advocate.’Gary Geddes, Globe and MailPb 9780802094803 $35.00$1,500Creative Non-FictionContestThree winners will each receive $500 plus payment for publication in Event 36/3. Other manuscripts may be published.Final Judge: Keath Fraser’s memoir, The Voice Gallery: Travels with a Glass Throat, was publishedin 2002. He is editor of Bad Trips (Vintage) and Worst Journeys: The Picador Book of Travel.Writers are invited to submit manuscripts exploring the creative non-fiction form. Back issues of Eventwith previous winning entries and judges’ comments are available for $7.42 (inc. GST and postage).Note: Previously published material cannot be considered. Maximum entry length is 5000words, typed, double-spaced. Include a separate cover sheet with the writer’s name, address,phone number / email, and the title(s) of the story (stories) enclosed. Enclose a SASE (Canadianpostage / IRCs / US$1). Douglas College employees are not eligible to enter.Entry Fee: Each entry must be accompanied by a $29.95 entry fee (includes GST and a one-yearsubscription or extension; make cheque or international money order payable to Event). Americanand overseas entrants please pay in US dollars.Deadline for Entries: Postmarked by April 16, 2007.P.O. Box 2503, New Westminster, BCCanada V3L 5B2Phone: (604) 527-5293 Fax: (604) 527-5095Email: event@douglas.bc.caVisit our website at http://event.douglas.bc.caPb 9780802094414 29.95UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESSavailable in better bookstores or visit www.utppublishing.com

WHO’SWHO38 BOOKWORLD SPRING 2007continued from previous pageTwo of the non-fictionpieces appear in book form forthe first time, including amemoir entitled ‘A Writer’sLife.’Although primarily a poet,Page notes she has written moreMargrith Schranerprose than poetry. Late last year,to mark her ninetieth birthday, she donatedmonies to The Malahat Review fora new annual prize to be named in herhonour. Initially to be judged byMarilyn Bowering, the P. K. PageFounders’ Award for Poetry is a $1000prize for the best poem or sequence ofpoems to appear in the magazine’s quarterlyissues during the previous calendaryear.0-8020-9399-Xis for QueerKwantlen College teacherBilleh Nickerson andMalahat Review editor JohnBarton have gathered thework of 57 Canadian gay malewriters, including material datingback to the 1890s, for anunprecedented anthology,Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s GayMale Poets (Arsenal $24.95). West Coastcontributors include Robin Blaser,Stan Persky, Andy Quan andMichael V. Smith. 1-55152-217-9is for RicouLaurie Ricou’s ongoinginvestigations of the PacificNorthwest as a unique culturalenvironment have continuedLaurie Ricouwith Salal: Listening for theNorthwest Understory (NeWest $34.95),a travel narrative and memoir that celebratesthe commonplace salal plant thatis often used in floral arrangements.“Relatively few people recognize theplant,” writes Ricou, editor of CanadianLiterature, “but it has surely beautifiedmost of their homes. Its wine-dark berriesdon’t burst on the tongue so much asthey crumble—but their taste will twistyour mouth into a smile.” 1-896300-43-Xis for SchranerTolstoy’s wife wrote nine versions ofWar and Peace for her husband;Margrith Schraner has publishedThe Reluctant Author: The Life and Literatureof Ernest Hekkanen (NewOrphic $25), a lucid and surprisinglyobjective appraisal of her husband’s remarkableoutput. We learn thatHekkanen originally intended to becomea playwright but realized he wasn’ta very sociable person, a quality thatstruck him as essential for the theatreworld. “I would contend that much likeKafka,” she writes, “Hekkanen haserected his own Great Wall of FictionalDefense….” But unlike his role model,she says, Hekkanen revises his short storiesand novels for each new edition. Shealso describes her pivotal impressions ofhim at the Burnaby Art Centre in 1988.Billeh NickersonSince then the Nelson-basedcouple has operated an art gallery,literary periodical and publishingimprint. 1-894842-10-3Derek Hayes's Historical Atlas ofthe United States (D&M $55) uses overfive hundred maps to tell the story ofAmerica's past, including a fanciful politicalmap called “The United States ofCanada” depicting Canada joined withthe states that voted for the Democratsin the 2004 presidential election.1-55365-205-3At the end of her anthology Nobody’sMother: Life Without Kids(Touchwood $19.95), UVic’sLynne Van Luven recallsher “nefarious mission” at age34, following a divorce, to getpregnant via a series of haphazardencounters with men inGreece. Now thankful that noprogeny resulted from those escapades,she concludes, “I admit that theolder I get, the more provoked I am bypeople’s unspoken assumptions aboutchildless women. And I am impatientwith myself for the years I spent feelinglesser because I was unchilded.I’m now of the Popeye Philosophy:‘I yam what I yam.’ Flawed,fumbling still, I yam trying to bea decent human being, a principledteacher, a caring daughter,sister, aunt and friendand, most recently, agood man’s wife.(I’ll keep trackof all those new babies’birthdays until I lose mymarbles for good.) Mostof all, in my remainingyears, I want to be a moreproductive member of thelarger society around me.That’s my crop. I’ll tend itthe best way I’m able.”1-894898-40-0is for U.S.A.is for Van Luvenis for Talonmeisteris for WoskIn response to a BCBookWorld article about LenWalker’s self-published bookabout the need for providing reliefto tsunami victims in southeastAsia, philanthropist Yosef WoskAnne Yandle (1930-2006)contacted Walker and provided$9,651.00 towards the installation oflibrary equipment in four pre-school/Moorecommunity centers in Sri Lanka.Walker’s Tsunami Haven ProjectsSociety intends to continue nurturingLangfororthese four community buildings—twoin the South (Buddhist) area and two inthe East (Hindu-Tamil) area.For info, see Len Walker’s entry at www.abcbookworld.comis for eXerciseSince age 15, Brendan Brazierhas been obsessed with maximizing thebody’s potential, competing as a professionalIronman athlete by completingthe 2.4-mile swim, the 112-mile cycleand the 26.2-mile (marathon) run. “Thebetter the diet, the better the recoveryrate,” he writes in The Thrive Diet (Penguin$24), a 12-week healthy eatingplan to reduce body fat, improve sleepand increase energy. As a vegan, he emphasizes“stress-busting plant-basedwhole foods” to purportedly reduce biologicalage. 0-14-305236-5is for YandleOne of the pillars of the B.C.book community, formerUBC Special Collectionsdirector AnneYandle, died ofcancer in December.“Friend and mentorto a multitude,unique and irreplaceable,she was a gemwith a thousand facets,”said her UBCcolleague BasilStuart-Stubbs.A tireless and sometimes fearsome lobbyistfor Canada’s writers and publishers fordecades, Talonbooks publisher Karl Sieglerof Powell River is this year’s recipient of theGray Campbell Award for outstanding contributionsto the province’s literary community.Yandle was amainstay of the B.C.Historical Societyand managed herown antiquariancompany, MarcoPolo Books. Two daysafter Yandle’s death,beloved editor andGordon ElliottSFU professor Gordon Elliottdied; and four days after Elliott’s passing,literary everyman MavorMoore died in Victoria. Obituaries forall three, as well as independently publishedKamloops novelist Ernestord and Vi i Plotnikofoff—the first Doukhobor woman in B.C. topublish fiction—are online atwww.abcbookworld.com.Karen Moe &Catherine Owenis for ZombieWomen have muses, too. In Cusp/detritus(Anvil $16), CatherineOwen recounts how she met hers—aschizophrenic and drug-addicted artistnamed Frank Bonneville whocommitted suicide at age 28 in the MontrealGeneral Hospital.Owen’s obsession to eulogize Frank,and also to recover from him, havingspent a week with him in the mental hospital,has resulted in a suite of poetry andnarrative accompanied by KarenMoe’s back-alley photos of decay anddiscarded furnishings.Herself a singer and bassist for a“blackmetal” band called Inhuman,Owen fell irrevocably under the spell ofBonneville, a bass player for the “deathmetal” band called Eulogy. In a journalentry, Owen describes their first meetingin Vancouver’s Commercial Driveneighborhood in 2000. “As soon as Ithrew open the door at Corazon, theafter-hours salon Karen’s been runningout of her 1st Ave. apartment, anddashed his eyes against me like the blind,I realized that all I had experienced untilnow of obsession and occult attachmentwas a pale rumble to afull-bore storm. With zombie devotion,I left when he left, notwith him, but behind him, as anunwanted Euridice, floating intohis hell.”Owen’s description of makinghurried love with her muse in athird-person narrative poemcalled ‘A Remedial Post-Mortem’is graphic and chilling, culminatingin the observation: “The timeof his death, she then realized,had long since preceded Jacqueline her.”Windh1-895636-74-4