The Longest Death by Kevin Jagernauth
As a Neo-noir Neo-pulp (to coin a term), The Longest Death impressed and entertained me.
Fiction
Brown Girls, Grown Up: Stories by Sima Qadeer
Though focused on Muslim Pakistani Canadian women, there’s some DNA of Bushnell/Star in Sima Qadeer’s story collection, Brown Girls, Grown Up.
The Return of the Nish by Tyson Stewart
In Tyson Stewart’s debut novel, themes of broken family ties, reconnection, and ethical dilemmas are explored within an Anishinaabe family in northern Ontario.
The Lost Queen by Heidi von Palleske
It’s rare to read a story which manages to handle full lives like that, instead of focusing only on that which serves the primary story.
Night Birds by Margaret Sweatman
Farrar is approached by one of Zugravi’s associates who insists that Farrar accompany him to an open-pit gold mine in Transylvania with a view to becoming an investor.
Big Girls Don’t Cry: A Memoir About Taking Up Space by Susan Swan
Although Swan had begun to write an earnest book about her experience of feminism in the 1970s, Margaret Atwood encouraged her to instead write a memoir about being tall.
The Girl in the Cellar by Natalie Carter-Giles
The only problem is, The Girl in the Cellar, ended on a cliff hanger (fitting for where it took place) that works as great a marketing ploy to ensure one gets the next one as soon as possible. The difficulty is that it isn’t published yet!
Memo to Murder: An Unintentional Sleuth Mystery by Barbara Emodi
The story kicks off with Heidi MacDonald being interviewed by the Chief of Staff for the position of Research and Communications Officer with the province’s Official Opposition.
The Tinder Sonnets by Jennifer LoveGrove
I’m surprised that the woman in these poems keeps trying, but she does: “It’s embarrassing to still hope / to be loved.”
Throwback: Hey, Good Luck Out There by Georgia Toews
“Addicts don’t talk about the pain, the loss, the moments of deep sorrow that anchor us to the underbelly of society.”
Temporary Palaces by Jeff Miller
It is perhaps in the valleys between each ripple, not the peaks, that Miller does his best work. The real emotional substance of the book thrives in the quiet moments, the silence before and after the bangs.
The Fall-Down Effect by Liz Johnston
Once a family experiences a wholly destabilizing trauma, and is fractured—how does it heal or reform in the proceeding years, and is this recovery ever sufficient?
Smash & Grab by Mark Anthony Jarman
[The stories] are often framed by violence or the bizarre or both.
A Sense of Things Beyond by Renée Belliveau
A Sense of Things Beyond by Renée Belliveau is a compelling and well-researched historical fiction novel set in the wake of World War I.
The Drowned Man’s Daughter by C.J. Lavigne
A ragtag group of humans live in a small colony, on the edge of the island. In one direction is the sea, rough and unpredictable.
