Who is Johnny Kicker? A murderer, a prophet, a scapegoat, a puppet, a degenerate, a hero, and counter-revolutionary. Since the invention of music, those that perform it have been accused of sedition. And while rock ’n’ roll has forever aspired to become the anthem of revolution, its momentum has always petered out or collapsed upon itself. That …

The poems in this collection are snapshots of suburban fatherhood, philosophical musings on our limited temporal existence, and rants about an absurd world. McPherson reflects the world back to us as if we were seeing it through a series of wonky carnival ride mirrors. Sometimes the images are so outlandish that all you can do is laugh, and other t …

Often controversial, sometimes sexual, and not without black humour, Love on the Killing Floor opens in Toronto in 1992 with Gilchrist, a down-and-out portrait photographer, being searched on a bus in the middle of the night by police he suspects are looking for a local rapist. His town is changing. Life wasn't always like this. But now, with an es …

Whether it’s a middle-aged man travelling to Mexico in search of a troubled sister or a thirty-something restaurant manager trying desperately to hold her life together, this stunning debut collection of interconnected stories unerringly charts the emotional journeys of a wonderful cast of characters, none more charming, interesting or endearing …

Whether it's a middle-aged man travelling to Mexico in search of a troubled sister or a thirty-something restaurant manager trying desperately to hold her life together, this stunning debut collection of interconnected stories unerringly charts the emotional journeys of a wonderful cast of characters, none more charming, interesting or endearing th …

It's 1954, the Cold War has shifted into high gear, and on little more than a bet an 18-year-old lumberjack from Aleza Lake in the interior of British Columbia joins the Canadian Navy, a spur-of-the-moment decision that will radically alter the rest of his life.

Starting with basic training in Nova Scotia, The Stoker follows the exploits and adventu …

A compassionate inquiry into the psychology of obsession and the frail and befuddled mind of a deeply haunted man, this gripping, tragic and densely atmospheric novel follows the exploits of one Chris Needham as he attempts to traverse the minefield of post-married life along the pockmarked moonscape of the British Columbia coast. Examining the joy …

A deeply moving meditation on love and loss, the elusiveness of truth, and the frail and befuddled mind of a deeply haunted man, this gripping, tragic and densely atmospheric novel follows the exploits of one Chris Needham as he attempts to traverse the minefield of his life along the pockmarked moonscape of the British Columbia coast.

Examining the …

In 1980, while working in a warehouse, Lane Courtney takes stock in the family myth that he is a direct descendant of Reginald Fitz Urse, one of the knights who martyred Saint Becket in 1170. His laconic, autobiographical reflections are interwoven with numerous misadventures as he hangs out at the Hotel Isabella and the Warwick's infamous strip lo …

A penetrating and unflinching examination of the modern male, Monument is told through the eyes of Seth Wilhelm, a talented young hockey player whose career is cut short by injury, sending him spiralling out of control. A failed stint at college sets the stage for a second fall from grace, a car accident which claims the life of his new girlfriend, …

Tennis prodigy Olie Wood was once the toast of professional sports. He was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He gave prime ministers lessons, dated movie stars, and was rumoured to have been intimate with Madonna. (He'll neither confirm nor deny.) But a bizarre incident at the Australian Open involving a tragically murdered kookaburra, …

Two voices, two families, two interweaving narratives with thirty years dividing them. In 1972 Birdie Cormack enters a highly controversial experiment in Toronto. Her story unfolds piece by fascinating piece, mostly by way of a compelling series of letters written to her parents. And in 2002 Jeremy Jacks returns to the West Coast after a failed bid …

Two voices, two families, two interweaving narratives with thirty years dividing them. In 1972 Birdie Cormack enters a highly controversial experiment in Toronto. Her story unfolds piece by fascinating piece, mostly by way of a compelling series of letters written to her parents. And in 2002 Jeremy Jacks returns to the West Coast after a failed bid …

Cut loose at the end of a long and violent hockey career prolonged by steroids and numbed by liquor, ex-enforcer Billy Purdy discovers that the soon-to-be-published novel of a celebrated politician’s son is in fact Billy’s father’s own, taken word for word from the original published, and promptly forgotten, some forty years before. Allowing …

Cut loose at the end of a long and violent hockey career prolonged by steroids and numbed by liquor, ex-enforcer Billy Purdy discovers that the soon-to-be-published novel of a celebrated politician's son is in fact Billy's father's own, taken word for word from the original published, and promptly forgotten, some forty years before. Allowing the ru …