NEW & NOTEWORTHY

Reviews by Margaret Tessman

THE ROAD TO APPLEDORE: OR HOW I WENT BACK TO THE LAND WITHOUT EVER HAVING LIVED THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE

Harbour Publishing, 2024

HOW CAN YOU LIVE HERE?

Frontenac House Poetry, 2024

TOM WAYMAN

Tom Wayman is a storyteller and poet who lives on his acreage in the Slocan Valley. He has two new books that will be released in May, one a memoir, one a collection of poetry, interrelated by theme and inspired by the land he loves.

In The Road to Appledore Wayman chronicles his transition from city to rural life, detailing the unique joys, trials and neighbourhood politics that small communities can bring. Any of us who have lived in the country can relate to the stories of funky water lines, questionable property boundaries, quirky neighbours and ambitious garden plans, all told with Wayman’s characteristic incisive wit.

Being a poet, Wayman also lets his readers see, hear and feel the natural world through his senses. Observing the changing seasons, hiking in the Valhalla range or just watching the sun rise while sipping coffee on the porch become moments of reflection and gratitude.

The chapter headings Wayman has used to structure the book anticipate the breadth of Appledore’s cyclical world: Autumn, Low Water, Winter, High Water, Spring, Fire, Summer, Earth, Air. He writes: “Ever-changing combinations of clear misty air, of light or gloom, of all the other atmospheric effects keep the prospects fresh whatever the season. These views of mountain, forest, water—up close or in the distance—unfailingly grant me much-needed perspective on my days, console and inspire me, and fill me with happiness.”

The poems in How Can You Live Here? also examine daily life on the land, reflecting more intimately on the changing seasons and the music of nature. The book is divided into four sections with prose introductions that guide the reader into the themes that the poems explore.

“I wanted to create tension between awe and wonder and the generalities of everyday life,” says Wayman. “How Can You Live Here? deals with not only my responses to a life amid the Kootenays’ incredible natural environment, but also a section of poems about going through the pandemic in the rural setting (as opposed to a zillion stories dealing with the urban experience of the pandemic).”

The Nelson Library will host a double book launch for The Road to Appledore and How Can You Live Here? on Wednesday, May 29 at 7 p.m., followed by a reading at the Nakusp Library on May 30. Tom Wayman was awarded the 2022 George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for his body of work. Find out more at tomwayman.com.

THE FOUR CHICKENS OF THE ASQUAWKALYPSE

HEATH CARRA

Self-published

December 2023

“It’s a joke-laden story about potterymaking in rural B.C., and it’s also about how we choose to behave in times of great upheaval. It’s just that it’s told through the eyes of a chicken.”

Heath Carra and his wife Victoria Henriksen run a home pottery business called ShprixieLand Studios. For the last 20 years, they’ve made one-of-a-kind pottery in their home studio on the east shore of Kootenay Lake.

They also have a flock of backyard chickens.

Carra’s novel, The Four Chickens of the Asquawkalypse, brings both elements together in a philosophical comedy/adventure.

Pyrite Chicken (known to her friends as Fools Goldie) is living her best backyard chicken life when her best friend, Luckless Chicken, gets eaten by a hawk. Luckless had been the bottom chicken of the flock’s pecking order, but with this tragedy, Fools Goldie gets bumped to the bottom, where she finds herself having an existential crisis.

“This story grew from social media posts we’d made for our chicken- and unicorn-themed pottery during the COVID lockdown,” says Carra. “As our business attempted to navigate the apocalypse of the pandemic, I spent long hours at the kitchen window watching our chickens and writing about our lives through this alternative reality.”

The titular chickens are members of a poultry punk rock band. But instead of being harbingers of doom, they’re harbingers of hope. The book is divided into four parts, one for each of them, and each part (as well as the cover) features glazed and fired ceramic platters and tiles depicting the action.

Four Chickens is available as a book, e-book and soon-to-be audiobook. For more info: shprixieland-studios.myshopify.com, facebook.com/shprixieland, instagram.com/shprixieland

BIG RIVER: RESILIENCE AND RENEWAL IN THE COLUMBIA BASIN

DAVE MOSKOWITZ, PHOTOGRAPHSEILEEN DELEHANTY PEARKES, NARRATIVE

Braided River, an imprint of Mountaineers Books, 2024

The Columbia River flows more than 1,600 kilometres across B.C. and seven U.S. states, traversing myriad landscapes, supporting diverse ecosystems and providing the economic and ecological backbone for farmers, fishers, hydroelectric industries and more.

Part coffee table book, part scientific study, part historical treatise, Big River examines the Columbia through a number of different lenses: wildlife biologist Dave Moskowitz’s striking photography takes readers on a visual travelogue; Eileen Delehanty Pearkes’ text spans time, from the prehistoric origins of the Columbia Basin to the present-day challenges the region faces; and interviews with individuals who live and work in the Basin add a personal touch to the narrative.

Pearkes’ exhaustive research takes the reader into the history of the Columbia River Treaty, signed in 1964 and due to expire this year. The treaty was a cross-border effort to control water levels on the Columbia by damming the flow of the river. The catastrophic impact on the salmon fishery by the building of the Grand Coulee dam illustrates the conflicting interests of “built capital” versus “natural capital.” As well as generating power and providing irrigation water, the dam cut off salmon from returning to their spawning grounds, wiping out a fishery with no chance of reversal.

Although the Columbia River doesn’t discriminate between national jurisdictions, the American perspective tends to predominate in the book. Hopefully, Pearkes writes, “The entire Columbia River … has the potential to dissolve the boundary. Indigenous people do not recognize the line separating the two countries but instead see one river, one ecology.”

Based in Nelson, Pearkes has been researching and writing about the Columbia River for over two decades. Her previous books include Heart of a River (2004; revised 2024) and A River Captured (2016).

mountaineers.org, edpearkes.com

FORGOTTEN KIMBERLEY: A PHOTO HISTORY OF EARLY KIMBERLE Y AND DISTRICT

ERIN KNUTSON, KEITH POWELL AND DERRYLL WHITE

Wild Horse Creek Press, 2023

Forgotten Kimberley is the second in a series of Forgotten books that began with Forgotten Cranbrook in 2022 and will continue with Forgotten Fort Steele in late 2024. The current volume showcases the best early images from the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History (CBIRH) archives, in partnership with the Kimberley Heritage Museum.

“This is a keepsake book showcasing the development of a community from its earliest years, with a special focus on the people and their activities,” says publisher and co-author Keith Powell.

Co-author Derryll White is a lifelong historian who worked as chief curator at Fort Steele for three decades. “Examining the records of community growth, listening to the stories and viewing the photographs of Kimberley-area old-timers has been our pleasure,” he says.

The CBIRH began digitizing its artifacts 20 years ago, says executive director Erin Knutson. She hopes that the importance of preserving these images will be strengthened by the publication of Forgotten Kimberley.

Copies of the book are available from retailers in Kimberley and Cranbrook, and through the CBIRH’s online store at basininstitute.org.

BODIES OF WATER

CURVESAND

Food of Love Records, 2024

curvesand are Jeremy Down (electric guitar) and Paul “Garbanzo” Gibbons (bansuri, keys/beats, percussion). They describe their first CD as “a musical conversation between two Slocan Valley artists.”

The duo’s music ranges from meditative free improvisation and avant-garde cinematic soundscapes to funk/dub grooves. “From years living, working and playing in the mountains and near the lake, we bring a wild Slocan consciousness to the music, always in the moment as it unfolds,” says Garbanzo.

The CD was mixed and mastered by Garbanzo at Food of Love Records. Check out Garbanzo’s painting, photography and words at garbanzomusic.ca and Jeremy’s work at jeremydown.com.

You can listen to clips from the CD here: https://curvesand. hearnow.com/ and stream them on Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes, among others.