Blackbirds, 225 pages, $19.95 Blackbirds Two, 226 pages, $19.95 By Garry Ryan NeWest Press Reviewed by Judy LeBlanc Garry Ryan has eight novels to his name, a following for his Detective Lane series, a Lambda award and a great premise in Blackbirds and Blackbirds Two. In these first two of the trilogy he draws attention […]
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Under Budapest By Alisa Kay Goose Lane, 256 pages, $19.95 Reviewed by Judy LeBlanc Like ghosts surfacing from Budapest’s fabled subterranean regions, lives from the 1956 Hungarian uprising breathe anew in post-soviet times. Alisa Kay’s debut novel raises many questions about history. Is there really a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the city, once used as […]
South of Elfrida By Holley Rubinsky Brindle & Glass, 231 pages, $19.95 Reviewed by Judy LeBlanc The characters in Holley Rubinsky’s fourth book (and second collection of short stories) are simultaneously ordinary and quirky, predatory and loving. If you’ve ever been squished between motor homes in a roadside campground heading south, you’ve maybe shared a […]
Giant By Aga Maksimowska Pedlar Press, 211 pages, $22 Reviewed by Judy LeBlanc Reading Giant, Aga Maksimowska’s debut novel, I quickly found myself immersed in a world similar to the one inhabited by David Bezmozgis’ boy narrator in Natasha. Both books are infused with an Eastern European allure complete with culinary details, snippets of best-loved […]
A Year at River Mountain by Michael Kenyon Thistledown Press, 271 pages, $19.95. Reviewed by Judy LeBlanc The diary form in fiction invites us into the deepest chambers of the human psyche, a terrain to which I am drawn. However, it is not a form preferred by writers for good reason; it takes a compelling […]
Open Space Gallery, 510 Fort Street, Victoria January 20, 2024 Reviewed by Judy Leblanc Since I am not usually a follower of non-fiction, I wasn’t sure how I’d respond to an evening with Myrna Kostash at Open Space. The Edmonton author is known for the intellectual rigour she has applied to a body of award-winning […]
