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imPRESSed! July-August 2008
In February of 1908, six cars from four countries gathered in Times Square for the pistol shot that began the first around-the-world automobile race. Gas-powered cars hadn't been around very long and roads were nonexistent as this group of hardy pioneers set out to drive from New York to Paris, hoping to cross the ice of the Bering Strait along the way. The Europeans were sure their cars were superior, but it would be the scrappy Americans in their Thomas Flyer, after braving twenty-foot snowdrifts, bandits, and many near drownings, who would win the race.
Gary Blackwood is the acclaimed author of many children's books, including The Shakespeare Stealer and Shakespeare's Scribe. His accolades are many and include an American Library Association Notable Children's Book and a School Library Journal Best Book. He lives in Tatamagouche.
This is the story of a loving marriage between two strong-minded, accomplished and well-known Nova Scotians. The artist, Mabel Killam Day, made her name as a Canadian painter, and her popularity continues to grow. The Colonel, Frank Parker Day, was a celebrated Canadian novelist (his novel, Rockbound, published in 1929, was chosen by the CBC as their best read of 2007). He was also a Rhodes scholar, Colonel of the Cape Breton Highlanders (WWI) and college president in the USA. This book chronicles the couple's struggles to make a living with their art, and their many accomplishments.
Mabel Killam Day encouraged Bill Crowell to study art and Frank Parker Day knew him as an infantry veteran and urged him towards teaching and writing. Bill Crowell's previous books include Atlantic Treasure Troves, The Raccoon Sporran, and The Best of Times, The Worst of Times. A retrospective show of Bill's paintings Sketches from History will be on display during the summer of 2008 at the Yarmouth County Museum. Like the Days, Bill and Fran Crowell have retired to the village of Lake Annis, Nova Scotia.
Michael Grove was sixteen years old when he was convicted for the murder of Lisa Conroy, the girlfriend he loved very much. The circumstances surrounding her final hours attract considerable media attention, especially because Michael and Lisa had sex just prior to her death. A public outcry against light penalties for young offenders ensures Michael is tried as an adult; he receives a harsh and severe penalty. Six months into his imprisonment, the true murderer confesses. Michael is released but quickly finds that the stigma of imprisonment and the (wrongful) rap for murder is not an easy thing to escape out on the streets.
Lesley Choyce is the award-winning author of over 65 books dealing with topics ranging from skateboarding to racism and environmental issues. Lesley surfs year-round in the North Atlantic, teaches at Dalhousie University and calls Halifax home.
Tsunami, earthquake, volcano, hurricane, pandemic - are these and other natural calamities more probable - and more frequent - than they were? Are things getting worse? If so, what can we do about it? Are the boundaries between natural and human-caused calamities blurring? Are we ourselves part of the problem? In Dangerous World, de Villiers examines these questions in a time when we truly need to understand the dangers that we face.
Born in South Africa, Marq de Villiers is the author of nine books on exploration, history, politics, travel, and environmental issues, including Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource, which won the 1999 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction. He lives in Port Medway, Nova Scotia.
Panic-stricken by the news that she needs exploratory surgery, forty-eight-year-old Mercy Beth Fanjoy drafts a monumental To Do list and sets about putting her messy life in order. She's determined to finally uncover the identity of her secret admirer; reconnect with long-lost friend and rival Teeny Gaudet; and, most importantly, get her hands on the note her father left before committing suicide all those years ago. Between fits of weeping and laughter, ranting and bliss, Mercy must contemplate the meaning of life in the face of her own death. In a week filled with the riot of an entire life, nothing turns out the way she'd expected.
Sheree Fitch is a multi award-winning writer, speaker, and educator and the author of twenty-three books in a variety of genres. She has received the Vicky Metcalf Award for a body of work inspirational to Canadian children and two honorary doctorates for her contribution to Canadian literature and issues affecting women and children. Sheree's collection of adult poetry, In This House Are Many Women (Goose Lane), was published in 1992 and reissued in 2005, and her novel for young adults, The Gravesavers (Doubleday), garnered critical acclaim and several awards. Kiss the Joy as it Flies is Fitch's first novel for an adult audience.
The few hundred loyalists who gathered at Roubalet's Tavern in New York on the night of Saturday, November 16, 1782, shared a vision of the future intended to sustain them through the nightmare of the present. Abandoned by the king to whom they had promised their loyalty, unwelcome in the land that had so recently been theirs, they had no choice but to flee. Their dream was to build a new and improved New York City. They would do this on the rocky shores of Roseway Bay, on the south coast of Nova Scotia, beside one of the best harbours in the world. The city would be cosmopolitan, but more refined, more royal, more loyal, and certainly more exclusive than the one they were now preparing to leave behind forever. At first, it seemed as if their dream would come true. Within the decade, however, Shelburne was a wasteland of abandoned homes and shops.
Stephen Kimber is an award-winning writer, editor, and broadcaster. He is the author of one novel, Reparations, and five non-fiction books, including the bestselling Sailors, Slackers and Blind Pigs: Halifax at War. He lives with his wife in Halifax.
Craig is raising his little brother while his mother and her drug-dealing boyfriend ruin their lives. Manda's parents are teetering on the edge of divorce. How will Craig and Manda learn to let go of their anger and find the courage to move into adulthood when they see only flaws in their parents?
Carol Moreira, born in the UK, has worked as a journalist in Canada, England and Asia. For the past five years, Carol and her husband, Peter, have been living and working in St. Margaret's Bay with their children, Cat and Scott, and their dog, Nikki. Carol's articles have appeared in The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Halifax magazine, Progress magazine, Open to the World magazine, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and the Telegraph (UK).
Le narrateur, un jeune garçon, décide de nous faire part d'une fascinante découverte qu'il a faite dans le grenier de la maison. Il s'agit d'un cahier de bord de l'un de ses ancçtres, le chevalier des Gastéropodes, le second du Capitaine Popaul. En 1600, ce dernier avait convaincu le roi de France d'armer une flotte afin de découvrir un raccourci pour atteindre les Indes et d'en rapporter des richesses. Après une traversée très mouvementée, le projet échoue, mais la découverte de la tribu des Lurons, dans la région du Saguenay, offre une surprenante planche de salut à l'équipage.
Le récit de ce voyage n'est pas banal du tout, il nous est transmis, en parties, comme il a été trouvé, c'est-à-dire, écrit avec le français du XVIIe siècle. Avec humour, le narrateur se permet quelques commentaires... Alors, quand l'histoire de la colonisation de la Nouvelle-France est revisitée, les interprétations les plus farfelues sont possibles !
Originaire de la France, Alain Raimbault vit en Nouvelle-Écosse depuis neuf ans. Depuis son arrivée au Canada, il enseigne à l'école Rose-des-Vents à Greenwood. Il a commencé par publier de la poésie et des nouvelles dans des revues littéraires de la francophonie. Par la suite, il a publié pour les jeunes dans la collection Plus chez Hurtubise HMH : Herménégilde l'Acadien, L'Arbre à chaussettes et Un étrange phénomène, et, pour les adultes, Roman et Anna et Confidence à l'aveugle.
Wings to Fly is a collection of 47 inspirational poems written to poetic black and white images, bound in a single soft cover book. Wings to Fly gently opens your heart and frees your mind. The captivating photographs and companion words capture the magical within you.
D. Jeanne Ripley was raised in Collingwood and currently lives in Dartmouth, NS. She has always loved language and began writing poems and essays at the age of fifteen. Her work has appeared in several publications and poetry readings.
In the last ten years, Joanne Chilton, born in Summerside, PEI has made photography her main focus of creative expression, leading to several solo and group exhibitions internationally and features in several prominent magazines. Joanne's photography received national attention in 2003 when the cover of The Antigonish Review, which featured one of her images, won a top award from the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association. That same year, Joanne was featured in a CBC television documentary program Artiste dans l'Ame entitled Parallel Worlds.
What happens when a fearless young explorer teams up with a junkyard genius and builds a submarine? Going to sea with an unusual crew, a strangely intelligent seagull with attitude and a dog that nobody wanted, Alfred unwittingly becomes the "Submarine Outlaw" and discovers that the sea is a busy place. Escaping from the coastguard when he is mistaken for a Russian spy sub, rescuing a family on a sailboat in a storm, and running from thieves who are after the gold coins he has raised from the floor of the Louisburg harbour - Alfred learns that a modern explorer must keep his wits about him as he sails on the high seas, or beneath them.
Born and raised in Antigonish, Philip Roy has five kids and two degrees in History. He's also written an adult novel and several picture book stories. In the 2004 Atlantic Writing Competition, he placed third in the Writing for Children category.
Silver Ghost is a collaborative homage to the Atlantic salmon and its rivers. Holownia and Thurston have spent years exploring the intersection of the cultural and natural history of Salmo salar through photography and literary prose. The title evokes both the physical and spiritual nature of this most magnificent of game fish and its native rivers. It also refers to the medium of black and white photography used to fix the fleeting images of this elusive species and its mercurial habitat. Finally, the title alludes to the looming fate of the Atlantic salmon if the current anthropogenic forces of extinction are not reversed.
Thaddeus Holownia has travelled to the many salmon rivers of eastern Canada, in all seasons, to capture their essential qualities. Employing his signature, large-format 7 x 17" view camera, his images memorialize and celebrate the riparian habitat of the Atlantic salmon: its geology, forests, pools and runs, as well as its cultural artifacts.
Harry Thurston was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and has lived most of his life in his native province. For the last 25 years he has travelled widely as a freelance writer for many of North America's leading magazines, including Audubon, Canadian Geographic, Harrowsmith, and National Geographic. His work has garnered several national journalism awards. He has served as a contributing editor of Equinox since its inception in 1981. Harry currently lives in Tidnish Bridge.
As Andrew Day embarks on a bicycle trip from Halifax to Kingston, his childhood home, the dual narratives of his life emerge: the slow, painful death of his father and the disappearance of Betty, who may be lost to him forever. He contemplates, too, the nature of desire. Andrew sloughs off his fears, material goods, and attachments. In episodes of intensifying violence, he leaves the highway and rides the back roads under the cover of night. By the time he arrives home, an epiphany greets him.
Darryl Whetter is the author of A Sharp Tooth in the Fur, named by The Globe and Mail as one of the top 100 books for 2003. His stories have appeared in Best Canadian Stories '05, The Fiddlehead, Prism International, broken pencil, Zygote, Exile, the Danforth Review, and The New Quarterly. He is a regular guest on CBC Radio's Talking Books and a contributor to The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, and Halifax Chronicle Herald.
