By Martin West
Vancouver. Mid-1980s. The streets are slick with rain, and the fog is rolling in …
Mysteriously, overnight, a father disappears from his family home. A few months later, the mother vanishes too. As the police investigations go on and on and reporters descend on the home week after week, the mystery remains unsolved. Seventeen-year-old Cirrus now lives alone with his grandmother. He is unsatisfied with the reports from Detective Fielding and soon starts his own investigation into who his parents really were, or who they might have been.
The Father of Rain soon descends into a sordid night-world filled with souped-up Camaros, piles of cocaine, SM dungeons, and exoskeletal remains.
Praise for The Father of Rain:
“…this is not a book to curl up with; this is a novel that pummels you until you’re bruised and bloody.”
— Steven Beattie, The Toronto Star
“West excels with a must-be-seen-to-be-believed plot, fearless writing, witticisms galore, and a protagonist for the ages.”
— Brett Josef Grubisic, The Vancouver Sun
Praise for Martin West’s previous novel, Long Ride Yellow:
“If there were a literary prize for most fascinating Canadian setting and central character, Long Ride Yellow, Martin West’s first novel, would surely make the shortlist. Nonni, a well-to-do Calgary dominatrix with a high threshold for pain and outrageousness, takes us along on her boundary-asphyxiating adventures, first to a local members-only party venue, then, gradually, into a stranger realm of self-actualization.”
— The Toronto Star
Praise for Cretacea and Other Stories from the Badlands:
“[I]n Martin West’s impressive debut short story collection … readers will encounter echoes of Flannery O’Connor and Barry Hannah.”
— Foreword Magazine
Martin West was born in Victoria and spent his youth working and living in the Canadian west. His previous novel Long Ride Yellow, won the 2018 ReLit Award for Fiction. He was previously a ReLit nominee in the short fiction category in 2016 for his collection Cretacea and Other Stories from the Badlands (recipient of a Gold IPPY award). The title story “Cretacea” was a finalist for the Journey Prize, and his story, “Miss Charlotte,” appeared in the 2017 edition of Best Canadian Stories. Martin currently lives in Calgary, Alberta.
