save Cory!

Yeah, that's right, I've been busy and therefore not blogging. I apologize to my several readers.

Here's a little food for the eyes. My latest THIS Magazine books column is now online. In it, I disagree with the many, many gushing reviews Cory Doctorow's young adult novel, Little Brother, has attracted.

Me and Spider Robinson not in agreement? How is that possible? We're practically the same person.

Anyway, here you go:

Little Lessons

As is often the case with this column, I want to thank Evan Munday for an excellent illustration.

why I fear Ondaatje

My latest Books column for THIS Magazine is up on their website (as well as in the beautiful print magazine on newsstands across Canada). In it, I discuss Michael Ondaatje's fetish for pain and suffering. Read it at the link below (or I'll send Mike for a visit):

Kill Your Babies Beautifully


(image courtesy THIS Magazine)

sex and the forty-something

My latest Books column for THIS Magazine is now up on the web. In it, I examine youthful attitudes to sex through the lens of an excellent Canadian small press novel, Be Good, by Stacey May Fowles. See the full article at this link. And here's a sample:

To fortysomething eyes, Be Good is a postsexual- revolution folly, full of characters living a freedom won by their predecessors, yet not quite knowing how best to take advantage of it. Kids these days: they can sleep with whomever they choose, relatively guilt-free, yet still they trap themselves in cycles of denial and restraint.

*****

And speaking of Canadian small press novels... if you want one for free, why not try mine? You can download a full PDF version of The Uninvited Guest (including the controversial cover image) free of charge at the posting above.

Enjoy.

And if you like the book, consider donating to my writing:

Richer and poorer

My latest books column with THIS Magazine is online today (and also in one of those old-fashioned paper copies of the magazine found at your local, excellent magazine newsstand). You might want to read it, so I provide you here with a link to go and do that. Free, absolutely free -- no digital locks involved. Have fun -- and of course I trust you to respect the copyright. I know you will because you're good people.

It's sadly ironic, of course, that just as I get around to arguing Canada's publishing industry can make a book with the best of the world, Raincoast Books -- surely one of the more cash-rich book producers in Canada, thanks to a bespectacled boy wizard -- has decided to stop making Canadian books. This has made many folks upset, including the good people of The Writers Union of Canada and that fearsome ninja, George Murray.

I'm attempting to channel my disturbance over this Raincoast development into a more positive thought -- who needs them? There are many brave and dedicated publishers of Canadian books in our industry who have not had an international smash hit fluffing their pillows for a decade or so. They continue and, despite a strong Canadian dollar playing havoc with their already miniscule margins, the quality of their production just gets better and better. Bravo to you all.

Bye, bye Raincoast. I will miss your brilliant Jonathan Bennett, and know he will land somewhere better soon.

rising Canadian currency

My latest Books column for THIS Magazine is now on newsstands... and online.

Check it out at the following link:

A Tale of Two Realities

snake eating tail

My recent column in THIS Magazine, which mentioned the blog Bookninja.com, has been profiled on the blog Bookninja.com.

And now that I have taken note of that, the circle of web-life is complete.

THIS Books column

Starting with the current issue, I am the Books columnist for THIS Magazine, the leading alternative Canadian magazine of politics, pop culture, and the arts.

My first column can be found at the following link:

THIS Books