Have just recently read a number of books from the Porcupine’s Quill spring catalogue, I was very impressed with what they’ve had to offer so far in 2010. The reprinting of James Reaney’s Suit of Nettles, with wonderful accompanying wood engravings by Jim Westergard, was a nice touch after offering up a great selection of Reaney’s work as part of the Essential Poets Series last fall.
Joyce Wieland’s Writings and Drawings provided an eclectic mixture of drawings, journal entries, poetry and other writings that span nearly two decades. This book was admittedly a fun and interesting introduction to a rather quirky artist/writer with whom I was not previously familiar.
This spring also brought the 3rd installment of PQ’s Graphic Novel Series, Megan Speers’ Wanderlust. A wordless novel in the tradition on Lynd Ward, Frans Masereel, & co., Wanderlust follows a teenage girl’s punk life-style through the summer days of booze, bands, boys and the occasional bit of dumpster diving. A well laid out visual tale leaving the reader with a number of memorable engravings of anarchy and bliss.
Finally, I also greatly enjoyed the Spring/Summer issue of the Devil’s Artisan which was dedication to Jim Rimmer who sadly passed away earlier this year. The issue contains an excellent series of essays on Rimmer’s amazing career and the impact he had on his fellow printers, not to mention Canadian type and book design in general. The issue also contains an extensive checklist of his books (both authored and personally printed) as well as specimens of the many type faces he design over the years. A must have for fans of Rimmers work or those interested in Canadian type design.
With those titles now off the “to read” pile, I’m ready to see what the fall selection from the Porcupine’s Quill will bring.
France and I popped in on Von Allan’s book launch for The road to god knows… last Sunday to grab a few copies for the store and to get one for ourselves. We ended up staying longer than anticipated and had a wonderful chat with the author himself on a number of subjects including, one of my perennial favourites, the publishing and distribution side of his book. Having self published the book, Von Allan has done a great job of tapping into the right channels for its distribution and has masterfully supported it all through self promotion via tools such as a dedicated website, online social networking and a number of TV & radio interviews. Very much the model that we are seeing more and more from new writers and a topic of heavy discussion among the panels I attended at WorldCon last summer.
On to the book itself. Last night I finally had some time to sit and relax with a good book. I picked up The road to god knows… and was drawn in immediately to the story of a wrestling addicted teenager Marie as she tries to cope with her mother’s mental illness and its cascading effect on the various aspects of her life. The story is well crafted and makes excellent use of the graphic novel medium to draw the reader into Marie’s life as she experiences the frustrating mercurial nature of living with a mentally ill loved one. I also enjoyed very much the way in which Von Allan deals with such a serious issue with a mixture of brutal honesty and compassion. At times as the reader you want to jump in and help this poor girl in any way possible then with the turn of the page feel warmed by the small, yet so significantly touching gestures, by her friend to help her weather the storm. For me at least, The road to god knows… is another shining example of how the graphic novel can be used to tell a very human story with care and precision.
(photo nicked from Von Allan’s website)
As noted above, we have picked up a few copies for our booth at the Antique Market and are very much looking forward to Von Allan’s next project Stargazer.
There seemed to have been a groundswell of poetry wandering into the shop over the past week. We recieved late last week the fourth volume in the Porcupine’s Quill Essential Poets Series which provides an excellent selection of James Reaney’s work (review to come shortly). Then the weekend saw two great poetry events take place in town, the first being a performance by poet Bill Bissett at the Mercury Lounge and the second being the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair. Unfortunately, I missed out on both while busily working in the shop, but lived them vicariously through our regulars who attended.
Just in time for the Ottawa Small Press Fair, Apt.9 Press released two new offerings, Argossey by Ben Ladouceur and Two Boys by Michael Blouin. We nabbed a few copies (for ourselves and the shop) and greatly enjoyed reading them over the last couple of days. The Blouin chapbook, also Apt.9’s first foray into fiction, is exceptionally good and I looked foreward to Blouin’s upcoming second novel from which the chapbook provides us an advanced taste.
Cameron Anstee, proprietor of Apt.9 Press, also recently just had his own first book of poetry, Water Upsets Stone, released from The Emergency Response Unit Press and was kind enough to give me a copy while in the shop on Sunday.Â
It is a wonderful debut book, structured around Newton’s three laws of motion, with finely crafted sequences that provide glimpses into memory, emotion and life within a few short sentences. I’ve read it three times already and thought I’d share a little bookish excerpt from the Second Law until you get your own copy 
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I remember moving my father’s books
I remember never remove an object you find inside a book
I remember the problem becoming
how, when shelves are full, to insert new titles
& learning new ways to arrange the words
we choose to keep
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I got this book about a year ago with a large lot of Sci-fi and have always kept it off to the side as a go to now and then for a good chuckle. I’ve mentioned it to a few friends, but feel it is time to do a post. I read it again this afternoon, as the tag line, Complete with Everything: Aliens, Giant Ants, Space Cadets, Robots, One Plucky Girl, has a certain charm to it that I can’t resist. Coupled with the fact that it’s all crammed into 60pgs, how can it be a miss for an afternoon ride on the bus!
Apparently Jove did 4 No-Frills titles (Science Fiction, Western, Mystery & Romance), all plain covered, 60pg, over-priced and loaded with tongue-in-cheek generic pulp fiction.  The book pretty much nicks a number of ideas (now essentially cliched) from well known novels and weaves them into a fast-paced adventure with a young Captain Kirkish like protagonist. Just for fun, I tracked down the original NY Times review of the No-Frills series in which the reviewer sums the books up perfectly when he/she (much like the authors of the No-Frills books, the reviewer also decided to remain anonymous) said:
“On one side, these books actually satisfy the need for a garbage read. And, on the other side, they make the childish psychology and esthetics of their genres so clear that you may never read another piece of junk as long as you live.”
Not exactly a highly recommended read, but certainly worth the 1/2hr ride to purge and reset the system after feasting on some heavier literature.Â
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