Colette Maitland and Cynthia Flood on 2014 ReLit Short Fiction Shortlist

Great news: two Biblioasis short story collections, Cynthia Flood's Red Girl Rat Boy and Colette Maitland's Keeping The Peace, have been shortlisted for the 2014 ReLit Prize. The ReLit, whose mandate is "Ideas, Not Money," celebrates yearly the best new work published by Canada's indies, and The Globe and Mail has called it “The country’s pre-eminent literary prize recognizing independent presses." This year, the ReLit has mixed things up by eliminating longlists in favour of long shortlists. The shortlists are broken down by novels, poetry, and short fiction. 

Red Girl Rat Boy was also included in The National Post's recent roundup, "2014 Things of 2014: 20 Books Plus 3 Comics," where it was distinguished as one of their top three short story collections of the year. 

Best of luck to Cynthia and Colette and all the nominees! 

Paradise & Elsewhere in The National Post

For those who missed it this weekend, there's a lovely and thoughtful review of Paradise & Elsewhere from Steven Beattie in the weekend's The National Post. "Her fiction is sensuous and verdant," he writes, "grafting lyrical prose onto stories and situations that appear almost as legends ... Page recalls Angela Carter in these stories, employing fable and myth, along with Gothic elements and moments of horror, to jar her reader out of a settled complacency." Visit the Post online for the full review!

Hoo hoo! (Or, The National Post reviews Traymore)

A phrase to join the ranks of "the rain in Spain" and
"Montcalm threw the battle."

Afternoon, folks, and happy Friday. This just in courtesy of Michael Hingston and The National Post:

One of the great joys of fiction is watching a novel set up a problem that only it has the tools to solve. With long novels, that problem also tends to involve a balancing act of the reader’s time invested vs. the stimulation received. But a novel as long and cyclical as Norm Sibum’s The Traymore Rooms wears its problem on its sleeve even more pointedly: It asks, “How little territory can I possibly cover over 600 pages?” And that comes with a built-in dare to the reader: “How long can I trick you into sticking with me?”
Fortunately, Sibum, a seasoned poet, has enough control of his craft to make even asking those questions part of the fun.

"This is Sibum’s debut novel," Hingston observes, "and it isn’t so much a dip of his toe into the world of fiction as a cannonball off a third-storey hotel balcony. You’ve got to admire his chutzpah."

Well we sure did. For the rest of the review, and to see why Hingston's convinced this may be the most beguiling book of  2013, click here.

The Citizen Aesthete: David Mason in the Post

Morning all, and happy Monday. Just a quick note for those of you who missed it this weekend: David Mason's The Pope's Bookbinder had a lovely write-up in this weekend's National Post. "The Pope’s Bookbinder strikes a fine balance between impressing with insider lore and welcoming the outsider," says Paul Franz: "The chatty digressions and omissions — sometimes hinting at truly salacious tales sealed up for the principals’ lifetimes — invite you to learn more."

And you're all officially invited to do so at any number of new and used/rare stores across the country. David's book is now available for sale both in person and online. And, of course, as Franz points out, they're for sale "at David Mason Books. Beware, though: collecting is habit-forming."

The Pluck of the Irish

Happy Friday, everybody. Business is winding down for the weekend here at the Bibliomanse, but before things unwind completely (unravel totally?)--well let's all just take a look at this lovely lucky thing from The National Post. It begins:

When Anakana Schofield was 24 years old, she got braces. 

That not enough of a hook? Check out the Post online for Mark Medley on achronological writing, the irresolution of despair, dignified poverty, and--erm--AK's introduction of oral surgery to reality TV. 


And oh yes. You may hear just a tich more about "one of the season's best reads," which was also called "quirky, raucous, and utterly unconventional" in the June issue of Reader's Digest.