About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
Paul Rasmussen is a young ethnographer and academic recovering from prostate cancer. Broken, he retreats to the remote forests and towns of the Immitoin Valley. As an outsider, he discovers how difficult it is to know a place, let alone become a part of it. Then, a drowned man and a series of encounters with the locals force him to confront the valley’s troubled past and his own uncertain future. As Paul turns his attention to the families displaced forty years earlier by the flooding of the valley to create a hydroelectric dam, his desire to reinvent himself runs up against the bitter emotions and mysterious connections that linger in the community in the aftermath of the flood.
An original debut novel that is meditative, raw, and exuberant in tone, Aaron Shepard’s When is a Man offers a fresh perspective on landscape and masculinity.
Editorial Reviews
"Defining masculinity and male sexuality was likely not the goal of Shepard’s novel, but he does a fine job of exploring the topic nonetheless . . . When is a Man is fine proof of the skill the author has for grafting and crafting words into a memorable journey through the human condition." —The Winnipeg Review
"Lyrical, compassionate, erotic: this is a haunting portrayal of how a man can forget —and then remember —what it means to be desired." —D.W. Wilson, author of Once You Break a Knuckle
"When is a Man by Aaron Shepard is an intimate and affecting exploration of screw-tight landscapes of the Interior. Shepard paints scenes in smoke and snow and light and dark, and the crack language and iron settings of river, mountain and forest put me in mind of the best of Ken Kesey the merry prankster. When is a Man is complex and stubborn and a serious joy." —Mark Anthony Jarman, author of 19 Knives and Dancing Nightly in the Tavern
"Virtually every beat of Shepard's prose is bang on. His sharp dialogue, well-drawn characters, and incisivie descriptions work … both gripping and sad—a tale full of tenderness and tension." —Quill & Quire Magazine
