"Michael Fraser's expansive, generous poems, odes to being alive, recall Pablo Neruda's sensual language, alive with metaphor. Fraser takes us from the intimate all the way to the greater political world. As his poems move from the landscape of the body to the city-scapes of Edmonton, Toronto, Havana and Paris, The Serenity of Stone unfolds the progress of the making of a son and lover, a lover of the universe and universals as well as of the galaxies of words that describe them."

- Molly Peacock, Poetry Editor
The Literary Review of Canada

Rachel Morganstein forages through her library of muddled thoughts to try and find some semblance of sanity in the odd turn her life has taken. She has just discovered that her youngest child, Aaron, is about to get married and she has not been invited. In the twenty-two years of living at home with his mother and siblings it was never apparent that such a volcanic reaction was brewing in Aaron’s mind or heart.

But, at twenty-three, hell erupted and Rachel was dubbed Satan. While pondering the depth of her son’s rejection, Rachel begins to scrutinize her own childhood memories in the hope of finding a clue as to what could cause such vitriol to surface after so many years.

The tumultuous train wreck of Rachel’s life steams down the track carrying us through tunnels of dry wit, untapped sadness and sanguine arrivals. This Water Buffalo has indeed stepped away from the herd while searching for an oasis.

    

On Guard For Thee: Canadian Peacekeeping Missions is a collection of soldiers’ stories from Canadian men and women who have served overseas on UN or NATO missions from the end of the Cold War to the present day.

The stories are collected directly from the individual veterans. Contributors represent virtually every major Canadian mission, including Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Cambodia, Somalia, and Afghanistan. They represent the whole of the operational experience, from the training they undergo before the mission begins, to the moment they land on foreign soil, to the return to Canada and beyond.

The result is a raw, honest look at peacekeeping, from the legendary missions in Rwanda and Bosnia, to the slums of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to the ongoing fight in Afghanistan. The full Canadian peacekeeping experience is here, showing, from the ground level, how Canada’s international reputation was built.

“This book opens people's eyes to the daily lives of Canadian peacekeepers and the experiences they have during missions” 

                                                          - Cambridge Times         

When Aley Pierce writes, her words don’t stay on the page but spill into reality. Or so her neighbours think, who see her words as evil. Tensions escalate into an organized campaign of book banning and book burning, until Aley herself doubts who she is and what she does.

A century and a half earlier, Elizabeth Barnes’ talent for water dowsing unearths a body in her neighbour’s field. Under growing accusations that she is a witch, Elizabeth is blamed for the drought that puts a stranglehold on the small farming community.

But water dowsing isn’t Elizabeth’s only talent – she is a clairvoyant. Does she see the future or create it? Even Elizabeth doesn’t know. Beneath the unfolding of the blue moon, events resurface across time, and the lives of the two women interlink. Does Aley create Elizabeth, or is Elizabeth dreaming Aley?

“Paul is lovely writer. She uses descriptions that are brief and tightly written, yet full of importance.” 

                                                                               - The Record

Walk on Water in the World of Symptoms provides an overview of what is known as esoteric knowledge set against the background of author’s own personal experience. The book compares modern scientific findings to the ancient concepts described in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Bible and many other such sources, and finds a curious similarity between them. Walk on Water in the World of Symptoms explains the true nature of man and our purpose in life and further, gives tools to realize this purpose, contained on an audio DVD that comes with the book. It is the author’s sincere belief that true and lasting change, on a personal and planetary level, comes from understanding and experiencing our true nature and the modus operandi of the Universe. Walk on Water in the World of Symptoms explains often-misinterpreted passages of the Christian Bible. It clarifies the often-misunderstood character of Jesus and his mission on this planet.

Spanning two continents, one war and several generations, Where Lives Take Root follows the stories of three unforgettable characters as their lives become forever linked and grounded in Muskoka. First there is Nan, a grown woman and mother of two young boys who suddenly discovers her family secret: that her deceased mother was half Chippewa. Then there is Gunner, a First Nations classmate from Nan’s small rural community and the only reference point Nan has to her new identity. Finally, there is Hamar, Gunner’s father, a displaced Norwegian who escaped his homeland during the German occupation and found himself at the end of the war, still tied to the Norwegian airforce training camp in Muskoka.

Weaving together different decades and narrative points of view, Where Lives Take Root is about the universal search for identity and belonging. Suitable for both adults and young adults, this story examines the meaning of blood and ancestry and the inevitable conclusion that what really matters is not about race or religion, but about finding a place and purpose in the world.

“Kilbourne’s deceptively simple prose employs shifts of memory and point of view, place and time, to build a narrative structure that supports a gentle, sweetly moving climax. [The] story weaves disparate voices into a convincing and increasingly seductive narrative whole.” 

                                                                               - The Globe and Mail

Abandoned at an early age, one parent simply packing and leaving, the other suffering an unexpected death, Michaela is raised by her grandparents. Precocious and independent, she runs away for the first time when she is four, and for the final time when she is fifteen. To survive on the street, Michaela scams her way to food and a dry place to sleep. She meets Thomas when she hides out in a seminary library, disguising her female body in baggy clothes, passing time reading books on the lives of the church fathers and saints. A scholar and would-be priest, Thomas thinks he is simply doing a good deed when he invites the runaway to stay with him.

Michaela doesn’t look like the gypsy traveller she claims to be. Pale as the moon, body rake-thin, hair cropped short and the colour of corn silk, she weaves with gypsy ardor the tale of her Rom origin and her olive-skinned parents. With each new telling, the currents of story and memory shift like the direction of the wind along the open road.

“This is a very interesting read…. You cannot let it go. The main character is absolutely real.” 

                                                                               - Rogers TV Daytime Show

Alexandra Orlando: In Pursuit of Victory, the first book in the new series Celebrating Canadian Athletes by BookLand Press, is the story of the rhythmic gymnast who set a world record by winning six gold medals at the Commonwealth Games 2006 in Melbourne, Australia, and now has her sites set on the 2008 Olympics.

Alex The Great, as she is known, has had the Olympic dream since she was seven. She was born with great energy and a desire for recognition, and she discovered a love of competition as soon as she got into the competitive stream of rhythmic gymnastics. Coming from Canada, where her sport is relatively new, Alex has had to overcome incredible odds to join the elite of rhythmic gymnastics internationally.

Alexandra Orlando is the reigning Canadian champion, our national champion for the past five years, and the number one rhythmic gymnast in North America. Beautiful and strong, Alex is ready to take on the world.  At 19, she is poised to peak just in time for the next Olympics. Could her pursuit of victory lead to an Olympic medal for Canada in Beijing in 2008?

“It is truly inspiring for our young gymnasts to have Alexandra Orlando as their role model. This book paints a complete picture of the life of a world-class athlete. Young girls all over the country have not only enjoyed reading about Alex, but they now have a book which details both factual and historical information about their wonderful sport.”

- Maxine McKenzie, Program Manager, Ontario Gymnastic Federation