Barnabas Bigfoot: A Hairy Tangle by Marty Chan Published by Thistledown Press Review by Tavish Bell $10.95 ISBN 9781927068052 Barnabas Bigfoot: A Hairy Tangle quite surprised me. Although geared to young readers, I had difficulty putting this book down while reading it. I mean, who doesn’t want to know what the Sasquatch think about us hunting them? A nice fantasy/adventure story, this book was quite interesting, telling the story from the Bigfoot’s view; not only do we see the story from Barnabas Bigfoot’s point of view, we learn that there is a whole society of Bigfoots (Bigfeet, if you will), who live hidden from humanity. The storyline, picking up directly from Barnabas Bigfoot: A Close Shave, was fast paced and pun, but I also appreciated the level of detail in the narrative. The author of this book, Marty Chan, also penned several other juvenile novels, including The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul, which won the 2008 Willow Awards. Overall, I would highly recommend this book. It was definitely one of my favorite books to read, and it gave me a few things to think about once I was done, including the joys and difficulties of growing up, and friendship and…

The Path to Ardroe by John Lent Published by Thistledown Press Review by Justin Dittrick ISBN 978-1-927068-01-4 John Lent’s novel, The Path to Ardroe, offers a sustained, polymorphous meditation on understanding and accepting oneself, as seen in the shared memories, thoughts, and experiences of several Canadians. It offers a tapestry consisting of four strands of narrative, including those of three characters approaching mid-life, which are told in the first-person, and one of a young woman in her early twenties, which is told in the third-person. Lent’s approach in this terrain is balanced and focused, each character’s situation being sufficiently engrossing to make the experience effortlessly contemplative, highly observant, and satisfyingly rich with detail and personal insight. It is not only an enjoyable novel to read, but to sustain in the mind, as each perspective differs in its orientation to the landscape, the present, and the past, making the strands of selves form the parts of a distinct chord, the hum of the chord being unique and enjoyable, in itself. The Path to Ardroe is a novel of the themes that recur and reverberate across lives and generations, showing their tendency to enter and enrich the texture of human thought and…

Violet Quesnel: Stories by Coby Stephenson Published by Thistledown Press Review by Jessica Bickford $9.95 978-1-927068-10-6 Regina author Coby Stephenson’s first book, Violet Quesnel, is at least as unique as her title character’s name. This book of connected short stories peeks in on Violet at various stages in her life, sometimes from Violet’s perspective and sometimes those of her family and friends. The stories seem to drift and shift unreservedly between points of view, periods of time, and physical locations, but the titular character holds everything together in a patchwork of history and growth. Violet struggles with bi-polar disorder, and this leads to the inevitable conflicts between Violet and her family, and even Violet and herself. She fights for normalcy against crippling bouts of depression and family members who either refuse, or simply fail to understand what she’s up against. In each episode we learn more about Violet and her compulsions, her intrusive thoughts and how she intersects with the lives of those she meets. This slim volume of stories manages to not only illuminate an extraordinary character, but deftly and realistically navigates the challenges of mental illness as experienced by both Violet herself, and those around her. We see…

The Pious Robber by Harriet Richards Published by Thistledown Press Review by Justin Dittrick $18.95 ISBN 978-1-927068-18-2 Harriet Richards’ The Pious Robber presents its readers with eight stories that will mesmerize, disturb, and delight. Every story in the collection strikes to the bone, and is brilliantly conceived and beautifully realized. One will be tempted to read the collection in one sitting, though the depth of the stories provides much fruit for multiple readings, honest reflection, and some animated and imaginative discussion. Richards is blessed with an unimpeachable understanding of illness, childhood, family, loss, and human psychology. Her narration is cool and detached, her dialogue crisp and seamless. This work is weighty and balanced: highly observant, darkly comic, and always fascinating. This collection especially shines where it examines human frailty within the accepted boundaries that mark convention, produce (unwanted?) self-knowledge, and touch that squishy place in our psyche where we are most vulnerable and recriminatory. There are plenty of cringe-worthy moments in the stories “Tangible Reminders” and “Sometimes it Seemed”. These seem to be the moments in which intelligent people must work with the seemingly harmless social and cultural excesses that make day-to-day life a minefield. In “Tangible Reminders”, the main…

Riot Lung by Leah Horlick Published by Thistledown Press (New Leaf Series) Review by Justin Dittrick $9.95 ISBN 978-1-927068-08-3 Leah Horlick’s debut collection of poems, Riot Lung, offers its readers an inspired celebration of urban and small town experience that will perplex, transfix, enlighten, but also move, those coming of age in a radical time. Most of the poems (except one) are written in the confessional mode, that is, in the second-person. The poems are highly evocative, written with a keen eye for imagery and with a rhythm and free stanza structure that the poet has made her own. The range of subjects varies widely, from sex education in a Saskatchewan town to what the lights in St. Louis reveal in a transient moment of wishing. The poems in this collection demonstrate the complexity of feeling that the confessional poem can bring to those with a longing for life in their poetry. The poems blossom with the senses, with breaks that seldom truncate their line, but rather, extend an image’s duration and resonance. This causes the poems to flow without breath, without an inclination to pause or withhold. Yet, the poetic is somehow controlled. The images are free to arise…

Bone Sense by Laurie Lynn Muirhead Published by Thistledown Press Review by Catherine Fuchs $9.95 ISBN 978-1-927068-07-6 Bone Sense grabs the reader right from the start. Laurie Lynn Muirhead’s poetry is voiced in a rich texture of metaphors in an up-close and frank look at life on a cattle ranch. Laurie Lynn Muirhead tells her story through poetry as she weaves words with an unvarnished truth about the hard life of a rancher’s wife. She rolls out of her “warm dry bed” and takes you along on her early morning walks to the dugout as she begins a long day of daily chores and obligations. Ms. Muirhead’s poetry has the ability to touch all the senses. You can feel the frost on your skin and hear the coyotes howl in the dark as they wait to steal new life from the weak. Author Laurie Lynn Muirhead ranches in Shellbrook, Saskatchewan and she writes her poetry between the calving, the slaughtering, the 4H Fund Raiders and auctions. You will follow her story in poetry as it unfolds through the seasons. Ranching life is certainly not a life for the faint-hearted, but the poetic telling of the tale is for everyone who…

Voiceless by Caroline Wissing Published by Thistledown Press Review by Justin Dittrick ISBN 978-1-897235-98-0 $15.95 What is it like not to have a voice? To be unable to share one’s thoughts and feelings with the people one cares about? What is it like to be alone “Out There” and voiceless? Caroline Wissing’s stunning young adult novel, Voiceless, is narrated by Annabel, who was placed in foster care at Noble Spirit Farm. As the witness of a traumatic event, she has lost the ability to speak and must convey her thoughts and feelings with signs and emotional expression. The first half of the novel takes place at Noble Spirit Farm, where Annabel and her foster siblings live in a world once-removed from the violence, alcoholism, and drug-abuse that have had an effect in shaping them. Annabel recalls in shimmering detail what makes a teenager’s life on the farm so special, so formative. She lovingly describes her relationships with her companions, both animal and human, whose idiosyncrasies will seem poignant and familiar to readers of all tastes. Due to an unexpected event, Annabel must leave Noble Spirit Farm with Graydon, her first lover. The second half of the novel is set in…

The Sometimes Lake by Sandy Bonny Published by Thistledown Press Review by Alison Slowski $18.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-99-7 “My daddy used to say things about what we’re made out of to make my mom roll her eyes. Like crystals vibrating. Also energy balls.” – “Marrow”, by Sandy Bonny Sandy Bonny, a Saskatoon-based writer, creates a compelling collection of stories from all corners of life in The Sometimes Lake. These are funny, moving stories of real people in contemporary settings. They warm the heart with dynamic characters the reader can’t help but want to know more about. These stories include a pair of young, bereaved children in the exotic mountains of a Buddhist nunnery in India; the bored girlfriend of a beekeeper devoted to his vexing family; a new teacher trying to get his bearings-culturally and otherwise-with a Northern Canadian Dene community school; two lesbian university students brought together by a special mutual friend; and a little girl’s musing upon death and loss after her grandfather passes. Myth and belief intertwine when a young man who is situated at a commune becomes trapped and unable to leave, and when road builders from bygone days explore legends of their past. Bonny’s love of…

To The Edge of the Sea by Anne McDonald Published by Thistledown Press Review by Regine Haensel ISBN 9781897235850 $19.95 Anne McDonald has been writing for many years, with publications in magazines such as “Descant” and broadcasts on CBC radio. In To The Edge of the Sea, her first book, she takes us on a journey into Canada’s past, the time of Confederation, the formation of a country. Her themes include connection, loss, risk, and hope. We meet John Alexander Macdonald, future first prime minister of Canada, who walks a metaphorical tightrope as he attempts to balance the wishes of the disparate regions. Young fisherman Alex leaves his home and family on Prince Edward Island, and boards a ship to follow the circus because he is fascinated by the tightrope walkers. Alex’s older brother Reggie is left behind, but finds his own way to leave the fishing life by joining the Tenant Leaguers, in order to improve the lot of tenant farmers. Mercy Coles, twenty-six years old, encounters John A. Macdonald at a social event, then follows, with other supporters, to Quebec City. At a dinner, “All of them laughed at McGee’s story of how the tightrope walker Farini had…

A Crowbar in the Buddhist Garden by Stephen Reid Published by Thistledown Press Review by Hannah Muhajarine ISBN 978-1-927068-03-8 $18.95 I decided to try A Crowbar in the Buddhist Garden: Writing from Prison because both the form (short non-fiction essays) and the topic (prison, as one might deduce from the subtitle) are outside the usual scope of my reading. I expected to learn something, and I definitely did. The tone ranges from tragic to humorous to poignant and back, sometimes within a single essay. Alongside difficult topics such as drug and sexual abuse, there are lighter sections on writing a poem for a fellow inmate’s girlfriend (“Dear Mona, / Roses are dead / Violets are doomed / As will be you / If you don’t visit soon”) and the trials of filling out the “Psychopathy Check List Revised”. The first essay describes the failed bank robbery which led to author Stephen Reid’s incarceration. The police chase through the streets of Victoria reads almost like a heist movie. But unlike a movie, there are real consequences to Reid’s actions, and he does not shy away from writing about the harm he caused to innocent civilians, as well as his own family….