BC Books From the Mainland/Southwest

When thirty-two women were hired as mounted police officers in 1974, it was a media sensation. After all, these were not the brawny heroes of Canadian history, or the dashing and handsome Mounties portrayed in over two hundred Hollywood movies. Women were thought to be afraid of guns and incapable of protecting themselves. Training officers at the RCMP’s academy wondered if the women were capable. Could they march? Could they lift weights? Would they cry? The original uniform (pumps, a pillbox …

Covering Rough Ground, Kate Braid’s first book, was published in 1991 and awarded the Pat Lowther Award for Best Book of Poetry by a Canadian Woman. Since then Kate has written extensively in prose, poetry and on CBC Radio about her and other women’s experiences in the construction trades. Her work has been highly praised by women in almost every line of male-dominated work including lawyers, accountants and engineers, and she is in wide demand as a speaker and writer on the subject of women …

This beautifully designed book features dramatic new photographs of the collections and exhibitions housed in western Canada's oldest, largest and best-loved museum. It is introduced by CEO Jack Lohman, who created the book as part of a far-reaching revitalization of the Royal British Columbia Museum. Lohman also contributes an insightful essay about the importance of museum collections and supports his argument with four more specific essays from Indigenous collections curator Martha Black, bot …

Assdeep in Wonder is a collection of new poems that explore the idea of identity in a myriad of contexts: personal, sexual, cultural, national, literary, and poetic. The poems are raw and immediate, exploring themes of addiction, sexuality, loss, love, and wonder in equal measures.

Selected Praise: "Gudgeon's first poetry collection is a quirky valentine to irreverent readers, full of stark and pretty imagery, wry quips, and glorious bursts of vulgarity. ..." (Foreword Reviews)

Montaigne Medal Finalist (Eric Hoffer Awards)

In Garage Criticism Peter Babiak eviscerates and deflates some of the cultural sacred cows of our time. From Fifty Shades of Grey ("Hot for Teacher: What Fifty Shades of Grey Taught Me About Salacious Grammar, Sexy Women and the Scandalous Conflation of Cultural and Literary Culture") to the disintegration of the "deep read" ("F You Professor: Tumblr, Triggers and the Allergies of Reading") to the Hunger Games ("The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - …

A finalist for the Alfred G. Bailey Prize, Ignite is a collection of elegiac and experimental poetry powder-kegged with questions about one man's lifelong struggle with schizophrenia. Born into a strict Mennonite family, Abe Spenst's mental illness spanned three decades in and out of mental institutions where he underwent electric shock treatment and coma-induced insulin therapy. Merging memory and medical records, Kevin Spenst recreates his father's life through a cuckoo's nest of styles that b …

Nathaniel G. Moore follows up his 2014 ReLit Award win for Savage with a diverse collection of short fiction, his first, Jettison, featuring stories which dangle somewhere between horror and romance.

"Jaws" explores a father's desire to over-share the erotic origins of his children's "Aunt" Louise; "Blade Runner" uncovers the darkest and most hilarious aspects of dating by delineating the psych ward politics surrounding a male mental patient with five girlfriends who takes apart his bed when they …

Les Faux Bourgeois Bistro is an award-winning French bistro situated at the awkward intersection of Kingsway and Fraser Street&nbspin an equally disjointed neighbourhood&nbspin East Vancouver. Founded in 2007, Les Faux Bourgeois soon became a beacon of French bistro "amor" and garnered a loyal clientele and critical acclaim to match.

Selected by the Georgia Straight as "Best French" in 2013, 2014, and 2015; Mia Stainsby of the&nbspVancouver Sun&nbspproclaimed: "It either makes you pine for Paris, …