Notable quotables

“Post-apocalyptic mushroom clouds hovered above Ruby’s car, billowing up like beige parachutes. Over the last half hour, the clouds had slowly transformed to jellyfish shapes soaring through the air: orangey-pink and translucent, and strangely captivating … [T]he more unstable her surrounding environment became, the more Ruby felt in control of her life.” —From Ruby Red Skies, by Taslim Burkowicz (Roseway Publishing)

“In places that have been rich through much of the twentieth century into the twenty-first, we have created a somewhat hermetically sealed bubble that has made infections almost disappear from consciousness: we think of them as unusual, rare, once-ina-lifetime events....[W]e have had the luxury of hubris, to think ourselves separate from a tangled entwinement with the ecosystems around us. But this separation is only an illusion.” —From Country of Poxes, by Baijayanta Mukhopadhyay (Fernwood Publishing)

“Social justice to [Alfred Fitzpatrick] was liberty with no class, privilege, or ethnic boundaries, and it revolved around the ideal of service. His philosophy included universal education…and that education, as Alfred frequently mentioned in his writings, was for hand, head, and heart, that is, it should equally be vocational, academic, and altruistic.” —From The Right to Read, by James H Morrison (Nimbus Publishing)

“After almost a month of tests and the incident at [my ten-yearold daughter, Maggie’s] elementary school a few days ago, the decision was made by our family doctor that we start considering alternative medicine, or perhaps consulting with a priest.” —From What Happened to Maggie Dalton? by Christopher Tobin (Flanker Press)

“She got me some dry clothes that were a little too big, but they were warm, and they were dry. She put me beside the woodstove in the kitchen to warm up and then went to the phone. I only heard one side of the conversation among the ladies on the line.

‘No, he’s not dead.’” —From Cows Out, by Dale McIsaac (Acorn Press) “That this fake had turned up in 2016 at a respectable auction house in Toronto and was listed for sale as an original Gagnon seemed outrageous. Within hours of my visit, the auction house had changed the information in its listing to note that the painting had a fake Gagnon signature. We were left with the unsolved mystery of who had painted it.” —From The Great Canadian Art Fraud Case, by Jon S Dellandrea (Goose Lane Editions)

“…while families may be the most adaptable institutions in our society, we require evidence-based, evidence-informed, and evidence-inspired workplace practices, community and social supports, public policies, and programs if families are to thrive as they strive to harmonize and synchronize their work, family, and mobility rhythms, including with their broader needs.” —From Families, Mobility, and Work, by Barbara Neis,

Christina Murray and Nora Spinks (Memorial University Press)

“Business biographies are written about successful companies and by inspirational leaders. But what happens when you take the leap, seize the day, and then discover it really isn’t as easy as all that? So few of those books, and certainly none of those memes, ever tell you about things going wrong.” —From It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, by Annabel Townsend (Pottersfield Press)

“Known as the Highland Heart of Nova Scotia, Antigonish is recognized worldwide for St. Francis Xavier University (StFX), The Antigonish Movement, the Coady International Institute, and the oldest running Highland Games outside of Scotland. Antigonish County is surrounded by natural beauty, with warm waters, beautiful beaches, hiking trails, sporting and recreational facilities as well as cultural activities, visual arts, and fine crafts; it is no wonder many love to call Antigonish home.” —From Antigonish: A History in Pictures, by Peggy Thompson (MacIntyre Purcell Publishing)