adventure

Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson By Mark Bourrie

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Bourrie has written a classic Canadian historical biography. The best-selling author, and award-winning journalist, lays bare the mottled myths of colonial settlement. He weaves a compelling, sometimes lurid, but always enlightening narrative of the legendary adventurer, scoundrel, Pierre-Esprit Radisson. Bush Runner chronicles Radisson’s adventures from exploiting the expanding fur trade to finagling European imperial military ambitions to his own advantage in the 17th century Americas.…

Like Rum-Drunk Angels by Tyler Enfield

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Brunswick’s Goose Lane Editions has been branching out to include fiction titles from authors living outside the Atlantic provinces, it seems. The most recent one that I reviewed was Daughters of Silence by Toronto author Rebeccah Fesseha. Like Rum-Drunk Angels, is a novel from a Californian now living in Edmonton, Tyler Enfield. This is his second novel the first being the award-winning Madder Carmine.…

On the Edge by Lesley Strutt

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Ontario author Lesley Strutt’s novel On the Edge is part of Inanna Publication’s Young Feminist Series, and is an adventurous read for all ages, especially for those who like sailing stories. Fourteen-year-old Emma (short for Emerald) is living an overly-restrictive life on her Aunt and Uncle’s farm near Kingston, Ontario. For mysterious reasons. her mother handed over care of her to them when Emma was only a little girl.…

The Great Divide by Conor McCarthy

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the great fascination with Bigfoot/Sasquatch back in the 1970s and 80s? It seemed to die down pretty quickly, and we’ve all but forgotten about the mythical reclusive beasts living in the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the northeastern U.S.

Ottawa-based author Conor McCarthy’s self-published debut novel cleverly resurrects the Sasquatch (or in their language, Mm’tor) idea and puts them (yes, there are more than one) squarely in a story about survival, wilderness exploitation, property development and environmental issues, so that there’s more to this adventure-thriller than meets the eye.…

Sea Change: A Man, A Boat, A Journey Home by Maxwell Taylor Kennedy

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I am a landlubber, but I love all things maritime whether it is naval ships, submarines, or the days of wood and sail. It started with Joseph Conrad’s sea stories and carried on through those of James Fenimore Cooper and C.S. Forster. Then there were the classic true-life sailing experiences of Richard Dana Jr. in Two Years Before the Mast and Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World through which I lived a vicarious life on the sea.…

Arrow’s Flight by Joel Scott

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Joseph Conrad’s autobiographical short story Youth, we are introduced to Marlowe, who upon initially sighting the ship he is to join in his first commision wistfully states:

“There was a touch of romance in it, something that made me love the old thing – something that appealed to my youth!”

Similarly, when Arrow’s Flight protagonist Jared Kane sights the wooden ketch Arrow for the first time:

“She was laying into the sunset and seemed to float in a coppery sea of light, her tall amber masts suspended above her.…

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Argimou: A Legend of the Micmac by S. Douglas S. Huyghue

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Argimou_cover in 1755 at the fall of Fort Beausejour to the British, Argimou: A Legend of the Micmac first appeared in print in serialized form in The Amaranth (a New Brunswick literary journal) in 1842. It was very popular since “historical fiction was enjoying wide international popularity” at the time, according to Gwendolyn Davies informative Afterword. Sir Walter Scott’s novels were quite popular at the time and publishers were looking for similar writings to publish for their reader’s entertainment.…

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Wall of War (A Drake Alexander Adventure) by Allan Hudson

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Wall of War is New Brunswick author Allan Hudson’s follow-up to Dark Side of a Promise and is the second book in the Drake Alexander Series. I read Dark Side of a Promise, a copy of which was kindly provided by Mr. Hudson approximately one year ago, in December 2016.

While action-adventure novels are not typically my genre of choice, I nevertheless found it a ‘good read’ stating (at Goodreads):

“If you like action, adventure in various locales and don’t mind f-bombs, violence, sexual abuse and other disquieting themes then Dark Side of a Promise will appeal to you.”…

Harbinger: Book 1 of Northern Fire by Ian H. McKinley

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New Brunswick’s resident writer of fantastic realism, Ian H. McKinley, has just released Harbinger, Book 1 of his Northern Fire series. It is firmly rooted in Nordic myth and legend, a time of swords, spears, axes, bow and arrow and fearless sea raiders that pillage enemy villages along the coasts and fjords of the Northlands.

Four Children of Destiny

Four children are born in the village on Darknight (the winter solstice) marking them as special and destined for greatness, according to the villagers and seers among them.…

Full Speed Ahead: Errol’s Bell Island Adventure by Sheilah Lukins

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This is the story of a young mouse named Errol who takes a ride on a ferry and visits the mines of Bell Island. Errol’s best friend, Old Rat, has told him wonderful stories about how the mice and rats first came to Newfoundland as stowaways on the big sailing ships. Errol longs to have his own adventure but his parents are unhappy when he strays too far from their garbage box home.…