“Gaps, blank spaces in the language of polite conversation—academic discourse being but one example—are linguistic manifestations of human psychology. They are like black holes into which we conveniently drop undesirable concepts referring to things we fear on the deepest levels, things we would rather not face without a hedge of psychological defences: sex, death, bodily wastes, things unmentionable in polite society. But these things do not go away by virtue of their unmentionability; and neither do the words referring to them, though most are now relegated to the status of street language, slang, or ‘obscenity.’”

Four disparate people confront each other, their memory and their responsibility at the emergency room of a hospital when brought together by the crisis of a teenager suffering a psychiatric episode.

Touched renders the emotional and intellectual implosion experienced by Jade King, a young university student. This debut novel challenges the social stigma attached to such altered states and traces the effects of physical violation and psychic trauma.

Written in the style of the “hard-boiled” detective thriller, Toy Gun is very much a literary treatment of contemporary life in one of the world’s most densely populated urban centres.

Ceramic Works by Tam Irving
Tam Irving, ceramic artist, has lived in British Columbia for the past 50 years and during this time he has been at the heart of the changing social, political and cultural relationships that have informed the development of studio ceramics in this province.

Humorous, whimsical and dipped in science fiction, Traversing Leonard is a fast-paced first novel about a friendship that grows against the odds, about ambition driven by love and a never-ending search for a sense of belonging.

Twenty-first century metalheads; twelfth century troubadours and their female counterparts, the trobairitz—what could they possibly have in common?

True Mummy is a compelling drama, which presents provocative ideas and poses difficult questions connected to issues of life and death, morality and art, ritual versus utilitarianism, and the “opposing concepts of creation and desecration.”

Sharon McCartney addresses difficult, emotionally straining subjects head-on with strength, wonder and passion in this fine collection.

From birth, the child was locked away in a minuscule cell, at #804 of level 5969 of the Edifice. Around him … only concrete, without a view of the outside world. And two people: the tyrannical father, slowly killing himself; and the mother, fearing eviction. Unmoving in his roost, the child’s life will be disrupted by a transformation that will reveal an unexpected horizon.