Shortlisted for the 2007 Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award

"Satisfying and resonant... John Degen has written a very fine book—rarely is an uninvited guest so enjoyable."
— Steven Galloway, The Globe and Mail

"The Uninvited Guest offers a fictional and philosophical lens on a wide range of subjects from the lives of professional hockey …

This book although carefully researched, was not written for study in anthropological circles. Rather it is intended as light and enjoyable reading to whet the appetite of those who would like to increase their knowledge of a rich ways of life which flourished in Coastal BC, and the state of Washington before disintegrating forces, spearheaded by t …

The era of Canada's Wild West has been a well-kept secret. The stories in this book illuminate the checkered complexion of Canada's Old West, and the nefarious, the heroic, and those somewhere-in-between individuals who populated it. The era of the Wild West has been a well-kept secret in Canada's history, but it is no less adventurous and intrigui …

On October 22, 1921, the American fishing schooner Elsie, just arrived from Gloucester, Massachusetts, lined up in Halifax Harbour beside a new, untested schooner from Lunenburg, ready to race over a 40-mile ocean course. The Elsie's skipper had beaten a Canadian boat decisively the previous year to win the first International Fishermen's Cup race. …

This print-on-demand title is available by request from most booksellers.

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Previously unpublished writings from Emily Carr's journals, notebooks and correspondence that provide fresh insights into the life and character of a Canadian legend. EMILY CARR (1871-1945) was an extraordinary writer and artist. Although primarily a painter, she first gain …

The spirited stories in Heart of the Cariboo-Chilcotin capture the severity and grace of the distinct pioneer culture that resides in British Columbia's rugged Central Interior. It's an area with a provocative history, plenty of colourful individuals and a wealth of literary talent. The writers in this volume come from different periods, places and …

Leechtown, Wellington, Bevan, Kildonan, Fort Rupert, Cape Scott . . .Vancouver Island's ghost towns dot the Island from its southern end to its northern tip, and their stories chart the boom and bust of the resource economy that still characterizes the region.

Well illustrated with maps and an abundance of photos, archival and modern, Ghost Towns & …

Adventures on wild waters

In Finlay's River, R. M. Patterson, whose style was described by noted author Bruce Hutchison as a a mixture between Thoreau and Jack London, tells the story of his 1949 trip up this wild river in remote northern British Columbia. Patterson uses his own journey as a framework to recount the adventures of explorers who went …

Having written books in practically every genre, George Bowering is often introduced as someone who adores baseball, yet ironically he did not begin this book about the game until he was appointed Canada’s first Poet Laureate for 2002–04. This picaresque memoir of a road trip with his fiancée through the storied ballparks of a poet’s youthf …

Finalist for the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award (Gay/Lesbian Fiction)
Shortlisted for the ReLit Award for Best Novel
The first novel by George K. Ilsley, whose first story collection, Random Acts of Hatred, was published to acclaim in 2003. Told in dreamlike fragments, ManBug unfolds as a love story between Sebastian, an entomologist wit …

This warm-hearted memoir tells the story of the dream of many North Americans: to throw up a dull job and journey into the wilderness to live off the land. Sunny Wright does exactly that when she decides at age twenty-eight to quit working at a "man-sized job for a female wage" in a Vancouver sawmill. With her young daughter Lisa and friend Betty, …

The first real look at the Canadian West

Harmon's Journal—the first published English-language journal written in B.C.-is a lively, engaging story that, unlike other early journals, captures the rough-and-tumble life of a fur trader and explorer in the western Canada of 200 years ago. Harmon's descriptions of the cultures and customs of the peopl …

Pachyrhinosaurus follows two separate stories: the discovery of Pachyrhinosaurus fossils at Pipestone Creek in northwestern Alberta, and the story of a single Pachyrhinosaurus herd and the events that led to its abrupt demise 76 million years ago. Each story is compellingly told and accompanied by dynamic illustrations and photographs.

Pachyrhinosa …

The Dreamlife of Bridges is the debut novel from Vancouver writer Robert Strandquist. Leo is a middle-aged, divorced handyman capable of mending almost anything outside of himself. The denial of his son’s death, and his inability to deal with his own pain, has rendered his life fractured and untenable. June is a single mom struggling in the bottl …

The history of British Columbia's transportation systems north of the Canadian National Railway's mainline may not be well known—but it certainly is colourful. Continuing the story he began in the first volume of Carving the Western Path, R.G. Harvey describes the development of river, road and rail routes that crossed the northern two-thirds of …

Sam Campbell's school team, the Laggan Lairds, always loses. When someone suggests that their name be the Laggan Lard Butts, Sam thinks the team should change its name. What is a Laird anyway? The basketball coach agrees, and soon the whole school is involved in an election for a new team name. Sam and his friends nominate the name Lard Butts. When …

A northern Canadian village, one of many remote settlements dotting the Quebec landscape, is in transition. Originally dependent on subsistence farming and logging, supplemented by winter hunting, its economy has gradually changed over the years: first increasingly dependent on guiding southern urbanites on hunting trips; then on providing a habita …

John Wilson has created a compelling story based on the folk hero, Albert "Ginger" Goodwin, also known as "Red" Goodwin from the colour of his hair and his radical social ideas. Goodwin was originally a miner from the north of England, who came to Canada and took up the cause of the working man during the Trail smelter strike and at the coal mines …

A collection of compelling short fiction for older teen readers.

Seeking Shelter, a novel for readers nine and up, is a sensitive and moving story of a young girl's struggle to recover from the death of her mother. When her dad lands an assignment in the States, thirteen-year-old Marcie Chisholm is sent to the Crieffs, friends and former neighbours in Montreal, for the summer. Armed with a backpack, the violin h …

That both autobiography and biography have acquired a position of unprecedented importance over the past 30 years is now obvious. Less obvious are the reasons for this phenomenon. Theorists and students of AutoBiography, a research subject now viewed as respectable in academic circles, have recently mapped the contours and shifting parameters of th …

This print-on-demand title is available by request from most booksellers.

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A remarkable and compelling collection of true stories from women in prison, told in their own words. 13 Women conveys the personal accounts of women in prison, spanning three decades and taking place in Canada, the United States and Brazil. Most of the women in these pages …

The modern era of professional hockey began in 1979 when the Edmonton Oilers became an NHL team. Over the next decade the team set the standard for successful, exciting hockey, dominating the league, winning five Stanley Cups in seven seasons, and producing some of the greatest players in the history of the sport - Gretzkey, Messier, Fuhr and Coffe …

This spectacular collection of contemporary works from 32 Maori and 12 Northwest Coast artists will coincide with a new exhibition in the Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver in February 2006. Manawa explores the cross-cultural connection, including an affinity for weaving and wood sculpture that is common to both cultures.

Forty pieces of Maori ar …

Collected in this book are the personal life histories of four female St’át’imc elders: Beverley Frank, Gertrude Ned, Laura Thevarge, and Rose Agnes Whitley. These elders are among the last remaining fluent speakers of St’át’imcets, a severely imperilled Northern Interior Salish language, also known as Lillooet, spoken in the southwest in …

Media coverage of the Supreme Court of Canada has emerged as a crucial factor not only for judges and journalists but also for the public. It’s the media, after all, that decide which court rulings to cover and how. They translate highly complex judgments into concise and meaningful news stories that will appeal to, and be understood by, the gene …

At times heart-stopping, at times heartbreaking, but always alive with a mixture of irresistible characters and real emotions, this story is a testament to the saving graces of community, of family, of tradition.

This historical biography - based on the life of British Columbia pioneer John Muir - tells the amazing story of a family from Scotland who came out to Canada in the late 1840s to work as "consignee" labourers for the Hudson's Bay Company. Daryl Ashby recreates the story of the Muirs' struggle to develop a place for themselves in the hierarchic col …

As one of the most culturally diverse cities on the continent, Vancouver is home to people from all around the world—and to their favourite foods.

Flavours of Vancouver is a sublime collection of recipes gathered from the Lower Mainland’s cbc Radio listeners. Some are traditional family specialties, others mix a particular culinary heritage with …

An extraordinary and moving book about the transforming power of family and community on "vulnerable" individuals--the mentally challenged, the mentally ill, the elderly--and how these efforts enrich us as a society.

Company of Others tells the stories, interwoven with photographs, of five such people, who are surrounded by social "circles"--friends …

Longlisted for a ReLit Award (2006)

Best Fiction of the Year, OttawaXpress

A Small Dog Barking is a startling array of stories, diverse in theme and far-reaching in their breadth of subject matter. Ranging in setting from teenage drinking parties to the apocalyptic landscape of a near-future Western civilization, this collection is both intensely per …

Across the Top of the World is a tale that rivals the story of Antarctic exploration for heroism, drama and tragedy. In the great age of Exploration, the quest for the fabled Northwest Passage lured bold adventurers to the icy Arctic. They risked and sometimes lost their lives in search of a sea route across the top of the world, connecting Europe …

The Unknown City series of alternative guidebooks turns its attention to the City by the Bay: San Francisco, where stories of notorious murders, city hall scandals, and untold tales of Chinatown, Haight-Ashbury, and Castro Street share pages with secret dining pleasures, shopping meccas, and nightclub hotspots.

From the Summer of Love back in the 19 …

In Franny, The Queen of Provincetown, John Preston created one of his most memorable characters from the more than 30 books he authored or edited over his storied career. Franny is a proud, protective friend to the gay men of Provincetown, Massachusetts, as they fight their battles against self-hatred and ostracism. Haunted by the loss of his first …

In The Big Red Machine, astute Liberal observer Stephen Clarkson tells the story of the Liberal Party’s performance in the last nine elections, providing essential historical context for each and offering incisive, behind-the-scenes detail about how the party has planned, changed, and executed its successful electoral strategies. Arguing that the …

Finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award (Publishing Triangle)

Ivan E. Coyote has developed a reputation as one of North America's most disarming storytellers; their tales of life on the roads and trails of the North as well as rural America are rich in their plainspoken, honest truths. In Loose End, their third story collection, Ivan focuses attention …

Finalist for 2006 BC Book Prize – Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize

Shortlisted for George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in B.C. Writing and Publishing

Each year, over eight million people visit Stanley Park, a 400-hectare (1000-acre) haven of beauty that offers a backdrop of majestic cedars and firs and an environment teeming with wildlife ju …

Amanda Lamarche's debut collection of poetry is a work of imaginative grace and power.

These poems topple the normal hierarchy of everyday concerns, promoting fears unlikely in the "normal" state of being--the fear of buttons, of dying to the wrong song, of houses built on corners--to the same stage and emotional impact as the more common (perhaps …

The female as represented in western popular culture has been a timeless yet culturally unstable image, construed and contested by men and women alike. Red Light is an anthology of essays, stories, and visual materials that identifies and deconstructs female icons, past and present, and re-imagines them for the twenty-first century.

For Anna, the re …

Confronted daily with decisions on how to present their stories, what to write and what not to write, journalists and the media are frequently accused of sensationalizing, of choosing to report the bad news, and of misquoting those they interview. In this substantially updated edition of Morals and the Media, Nick Russell addresses many of the conc …

The result of a cross-Canada contest for the best short stories about young people's experience of loss and grief, Dark Times is a superb anthology about a topic that often remains hidden but is crucial in the development of a child's sense of identity.

By far the largest of the Raincoast Chronicles collections at 420 pages, Fourth Five is living proof that some things just keep getting better. Containing thirty-two inimitable stories, poems and articles, the volume expounds on such diverse matters as supernatural deer, the cannery village of Ceepeecee, fishing-fleet superstitions and the coveted …

Standing Together is a powerful expression of women's collective and individual strength. It is a collection of personal stories from women who have suffered the horrors of violence and abuse and have made the hardest decision: to stand up, choose life, take control and walk away from the darkness.

The disturbing, compelling, and inspiring stories i …

2006 TRILLIUM BOOK AWARD NOMINEE & NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"A deeply humane, deeply human book."
- Michael Crummey
"Moving, funny, full of hard truths."
- Jim Bartley, The Globe and Mail

What's left of us when we're gone? In When I Was Young and In My Prime, a young woman watches her grandparents begin to decline. As she sorts through the couple's belon …