I first heard a story from Wax Boats, the debut collection of Gibsons' writer Sarah Roberts, read aloud many years ago during a writing workshop conducted by local author Andreas Schroeder.
It described teenagers, wild and free, dancing around a campfire on a remote beach. The images stuck in my memory. Apparently it impressed Schroeder as well because when the book was published this year by Caitlin Press, he commented in the cover notes that he found Wax Boats: "hilarious, profound and heartbreaking by turns."
The teen story, Devil Hunting, has been included in an all too slim collection that describes the lives, mishaps, births and otherwise quirky behaviour of the inhabitants of Smokecrest, an island not far from Horseshoe Bay.
In the first few stories, the reader meets Old Man Bridgeworks who owns the industry on the island, Mona, the native midwife who induces an 11-month pregnancy, an obsessive scout leader who encounters a scout's hatchet and a wild man who lives in the forest among the bears. Roberts understands these people, these rural inhabitants of an isolated community, and she loves them. The fact is: they are us. Each story has been gleaned from living in a small town and each offers a fresh perspective on human foibles.
Roberts will read from Wax Boats at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt this Saturday (Nov. 28) at 7 p.m. Talewind Books will be on hand to sell copies at $17.95. All are welcome to attend.
Vancouver, Living the Moment, A Photographic Essay of Metro Vancouver, is a hardcover, coffee table publication with gorgeous photos and an upbeat text. The producers, award-winning Richmond photographer Bob Herger and Gibsons writer Ken Budd (www.summerwild.ca) offer their book as "a crisp, new look at an area that has become recognized as one of the planet's best places to live and visit."
Of course it's no coincidence that the book is released just before Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics. This impressive book is just right for corporate gift giving, offers a good hit of the Lower Mainland's scenery and is printed on ecologically-friendly paper. It's a good combination.
The concept for the book originated when the two collaborators, Herger and Budd, floated the Tatshenshini River together in northwestern B.C. some 15 years ago, towards the creation of the environmental publication, Tatshenshini RiverWild.
Almost 200 photographs depict everything from harvesting green peppers in the Fraser Valley to sailing on English Bay. Whistler squeaks in there too, as do a couple of Gibsons' snowboarders in winter flight.
It opens with a note from Canadian literary icon, Jack Hodgins, a foreword by Rick Hansen, and an epilogue by media darling, Vicki Gabereau. Television personalities Bill Good and Squire Barnes also share their thoughts on Vancouver. Any other text was written by Budd who wove fictional characters into a story about finding that perfect Vancouver day.
"I got tired of the coffee table books that sound like a travelogue," Budd said. "I wanted people doing something - preferably the Vancouver hat trick - going golfing, sailing and skiing, all in one day."
Living the Moment was launched in October in Vancouver. It is for sale for $49.95 at Talewind and Coast Books and the author will be signing copies at a special event at Marketplace IGA in Gibsons on Thursday, Dec. 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
