Read. Review. Repeat.
Maine’s Jim Nichols is one of those authors who write of their locale (in Mr. Nichols’ case, the fictional Baxter, Maine) in a way similar to that of Miramichi’s Wayne Curtis: it transcends the small-town environs with a larger than life writing style. In other words, you don’t have to live here (or there) to “get it”.
It has been five years since Islandport Press released Mr.…
(The following article, under the title “More cultural storytelling in Peskotomuhkatik” was penned by Rachel Bryant, author of The Homing Place: Indigenous and Settler Literary Legacies of the Atlantic. It was originally published on her website on September 21st, 2019 and is reproduced here with her kind permission.)
morning brought a new piece by one of my favourite local authors, Julia Wright — one about Margaret Atwood’s new novel, The Testaments, which apparently concludes with a scene on Campobello Island, a Canadian island that is connected by bridge to the state of Maine at the entrance of the Passamaquoddy Bay.…
moving east almost twelve years ago, Maine has been one of my yearly destinations for a vacation. I have visited the coast (“Down East”) as well as the western mountain and lake districts and enjoyed it all. I have also reviewed many Islandport Press titles over the years and they never fail to impress me. In Maine by the late John N.…
Random Act is #12 in the Jack McMorrow Mystery Series penned by Gerry Boyle and published by Maine’s Islandport Press. As soon as I received this Advance Reading Copy in the mail, I eagerly started to read it, for having read most of the series, I am an unabashed fan. Number twelve does not disappoint. I read it in a few hours, only interrupted by the need to sleep.…
the son of James S. Rockefeller Sr. the successful Wall Street banker, young James’ childhood was “very privileged. There were no material wants. The food was plain but wholesome. Wealth, as I grew to be aware of it, was not be flaunted, but I didn’t know back then that my family had it.” As you read through the pages of Wayfarer, his memoirs, you definitely get the sense that none of the four children in the house in Connecticut received any special treatment, nor did they believe they were entitled to any.…
The official year of Canadian confederation is 1867, but we need to turn back the calendar to the Charlottetown Conference in 1864 when representatives from Canada West and East came to the city of Charlottetown PEI to try to convince the Maritime delegates to favour confederation rather than a Maritime union which would not benefit the Canadians at all. The role of the steamer Queen Victoria in all this was pivotal, not only as a means of transportation but as a type of floating hotel with a hold packed full of Champagne and other amenities suitable to entertaining, persuading and befriending the East Coasters.…
the healthcare world in which I work, a “sentinel event” is defined as: “any unanticipated event in a healthcare setting resulting in death or serious physical or psychological injury to a patient or patients, not related to the natural course of the patient’s illness.” In the day to day mundane world in which we all live, there is typically one (possibly two) sentinel-like events that physically, if not psychologically change our life course.…
state of Maine, on the extreme northeastern tip of the United States, ranks quite low in population density (41st amongst the other states) and with only a little over 1.3 million residents, it seems improbable that it could have (or does) contribute much to the world outside of it’s 36,000 square miles. (Source: http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/maine-population/)
Perhaps that is why a book such as How Maine Changed the World: A History in 50 People, Places, and Objects (2017, Down East Books) will come as a surprise to those who read it, even “Mainers”.…
Boyle began his writing career in newspapers, an industry he calls the “best training ground ever.” His first reporting job was in the paper mill town of Rumford, Maine. After a few months, he moved on to the (Waterville) Morning Sentinel, where Boyle learned that the line between upstanding citizen and outlaw is a fine one, indeed. His experiences as a reporter inspired Deadline, his first novel, was first published in 1993.…
Author Dean Lunt is the founder of Islandport Press, a book publisher and recently launched Islandport Magazine. He is also the author of Hauling by Hand.
As it is the closest U.S. state to New Brunswick, Maine is a popular tourist and shopping destination for those of us that live in the “picture province”. Houlton and Calais, the two principle border crossings are popular with day shoppers, but it is Bangor with its malls and big-box stores that attract shoppers from all over the northern and eastern parts of the U.S.…
Pretty Dead is #7 in the Jack McMorrow Mystery series by Maine author Gerry Boyle. It is a 2016 Islandport Press reissue of the original 2003 edition. Two of his latest books in the series, Once Burned (#10) and Straw Man (#11) was reviewed here in 2016. Of note, Straw Man was the winner of the 2017 Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction.…
William D. Andrews is the author of the Julie Williamson Mysteries of which there are three to date, the most recent being Mapping Murder (2017, Islandport Press). The stories are set in the fictional Western Maine town of Ryland where Julie is the new director of the Ryland Historical Society. They are “cozy mysteries” and I highly recommend them as such.…
Mapping Murder (2017, Islandport Press) is book #3 in the Julie Williamson Mystery series. The previous titles were Stealing History and Breaking Ground. All three books revolve around Julie Williamson the young, new director of the Ryland Historic Society in the fictional western Maine town of Ryland.
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The storyline for this instalment revolves around several thefts of precious artefacts from other Maine historical societies, and not necessarily the most valuable items in their respective collections either.…
Pink Chimneys could well be the quintessential “Maine” historic novel in that it describes life in the Bangor region in the early 1800s when the city was being developed as a primary port for shipping and other businesses. Originally released in 1987, Islandport Press has released the 30th-anniversary edition of Pink Chimneys with a new forward by the author, who states:
“I don’t know what has given Pink Chimneys its longevity, but I believe readers find in the story something that moves them, that makes them care about Maude, Fanny and Elizabeth…..Something…