Lesley Choyce, Roid Rage (Harbour Publishing) $6.95

When Craig's best friend Ray suddenly starts surpassing him and everybody else on the football field, Craig decides to start a steroid program of his own. At first the drugs work as promised, making him a football star, until he begins to experience terrifying side effects, including 'roid rage,' when feelings of aggression threaten to send him out of control. Craig must come clean with his coach and his family before he endangers his health and loses his girlfriend forever. Most difficult of all, he has to convince Ray to give up the wonder drug - before it's too late.

Lesley Choyce is the author of over fifty books for adults and young adults. The recipient of the Dartmouth Book Award, the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children's Literature, and the Order of St. John Award for Merit, he has been a finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for humour and Manitoba's Young Reader's Choice Award. Choyce lives and surfs in East Lawrencetown.

Deborah Hale, A Gentleman of Substance (Harlequin Historicals) $5.99

After Lucy Rushmore's lover was killed in battle, she wed his brother the formidable viscount Drake Strickland, to protect her unborn child. The marriage tore at her heart, yet after their vows were sealed, Lucy saw another side of her stern husband - a compassionate gentleman of substance who lured her in ways Jeremy never had. Their determination to remain aloof from one another was soon tested by a mutual attraction as unwelcome as it was compelling.

Born in Moncton and a graduate of UNB Fredericton, Deborah Hale's roots in the Maritimes go back many generations. She knows because she traced all the branches of her Kent County, New Brunswick family to their origins in Great Britain. In the process she uncovered enough fascinating true stories to fuel her romance plots for years to come. Winner of the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart Award in 1997, Deborah Hale has sold five books to Harlequin Historicals. Deborah lives in Lower Sackville with her husband and four young children.

Kim Kinrade, The Millennium Man (Picasso Publications) $9.95

When two policemen pay a visit to a revered Halifax industrialist Brian Shelby in 1999, he claims to have been responsible for a double-murder of police officers in 1916. The murder led to an 84-year odyssey through war and revolution, in which a man's salvation depends on his prowess as a aviator, his skill at outwitting his relentless pursuer, and his determination to see the new millennium unfold. Is Shelby Canada's greatest war hero, or the biggest liar in history?

The Millennium Man is Kim Kinrade's third novel after Ice Break and Beneath the Plains of Abraham. Originally from British Columbia, Kim lives in Dartmouth with his wife, Heather, a Canadian Coast Guard electronics technician, and their daughter and three sons.

Jeanette Lynes, Words Out There: Women Poets in Atlantic Canada (Roseway Publishing) $18.95

An anthology with a twist, this collection not only contains poems by more than twenty Atlantic Canadian women poets, it also contains Lynes' interviews with each poet. The poets speaking intimately about their relationship with writing include: Regina Coupar, Lynn Davies, Deirdre Dwyer, Sheree Fitch, Sue Goyette, J. Maureen Hull, Carole Langille, Sue MacLeod, Heather Pyrcz, Eleonore Schönmaier and Anne Simpson.

Editor Jeanette Lynes teaches English at St. Francis Xavier University. Her articles on Atlantic Canadian literature have appeared in numerous journals. Her first collection of poems, A Woman Alone on the Atikokan Highway is being published by Wolsak and Wynn in 1999 and will be launched in 2000.

Robin Metcalfe, Studio Rally: Art and Craft of Nova Scotia (Goose Lane Editions) $45.00

On the first weekend of October, Nova Scotian artists and artisans throw open their studio doors, and locals and tourists hit the highways to pay a few visits, Studio Rally maps in hand. Robin Metcalfe's personal journey through the arts and crafts landscape mapped by Studio Rally illustrates the connection between the aestethic of the land where these artists live and how it informs their work. Sumptuous photographs by Julian Beveridge and David Livingston show why these artists, who have built a life around creating beauty, have chosen to live in Nova Scotia.

An independent curator, lecturer and arts writer, Robin Metcalfe is contributing editor for C Magazine and a contributor to ARTSatlantic, Canadian Art, Ontario Craft, This Magazine and CBC Radio. Robin writes poetry, arts criticism, features, essays, and fiction. He lives in Halifax.

Donna Morrissey, Kit's Law (Viking, Penguin Books Canada) $22.00

It is the Fifties in an isolated outport in Newfoundland, and the Reverend Ropson is trying to send Kit Pitman to an orphanage and her mentally handicapped mother, Josie, to an institution. An uneasy truce is forged, and Kit grows to love the Reverend's son. When a notorious rapist attacks Kit in a drunken rage, it sets off a chain of events that leads to further violence, and a terrible revelation. At the centre of this stark debut novel is Kit herself, who must experience extremes of pain on her way to redemption.

Donna Morrissey left The Beaches, a small outport on the west coast of Newfoundland where she was born, when she was sixteen. She studied at Memorial University and lived in various parts of Canada before settling in Halifax. Kit's Law is her first novel.

Eleonore Schonmaier, Treading Fast Rivers (Carleton UP) $16.95

This collection of linked poems takes the reader on a journey where angels ride bicycles, wounds both grieve and heal and the imaginary borders between foreign lands and home waters continually blur. Resonant with longing, these are poems of place and displacement, sickness and health. A poet of striking maturity, Eleonore Schonmaier charts the wilds of human nature and the natural wilderness, icy depths and serene pools, with equal ease.

Born in Red Lake and raised in the nearby gold mining community of Madsen, northwestern Ontario, Eleonore Schonmaier makes her home in Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia. A former nurse and author of Passion Fruit Tea, she is the Writing Resource Centre Coordinator at Mount Saint Vincent University.

Bette Tetreault, The Northwood Journey: A Creative Response to the Challenges of Aging (Pottersfield Press) $19.95

In 1961, Ed Roach was moved by the desperation and fear of seniors living in slums, damp basements and drafty attics. He decided to dedicate his life to helping the elderley lead lives of dignity and purpose. His vision and commitment led to the founding of Northwoodcare Incorporated, which provided housing and, ultimately, a range of innovatice care and life enrichment services to help older adults make the most of life. The Northwood Journey is a success story about possibilities and creative alternatives.

Bette Tetreault is a freelance writer based in Halifax. She is a former editor of the Nova Scotia Business Journal, and has been involved in several local history book projects. Her involvement with Northwood began when she saw Queen Elizabeth II open the Centre in 1976.

Phil Thompson, All The Other Phil Thompsons Are Dead (Broken Jaw Press) $12.95

Many of the poems in All The Other Phil Thompsons Are Dead speak about life in a family in the various roles of father, husband and son, while others dwell in the harsh and beautiful Canadian landscapes of places like Petit-de-gras, Petpeswick and Pelly Bay. From the title poem to the last page, Phil Thompson's poems sing with a clear, uncompromising voice.

A poet, print and media journalist, nonfiction and technical training manual writer, Phil has won awards for poetry, songwriting, environmental journalism and alternative energy housing. Although his poems have appeared in periodicals and anthologies for years, this is his first poetry book. Phil lives on Saltmarsh Island, on the Eastern shore.