Spring 2006 Catalogue by Cormorant Books Inc

COR M OR AN T

CORMORANT BOOKS Where Imagination Takes Flight

SPRING 2006

Cormorant Books Inc. 215 Spadina Avenue, Studio 230, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2C7 T: 416.929.4957 / F: 416.929.3596 Publisher J. Marc C么t茅 cormorantbooksinc@bellnet.ca Publicity/Marketing Coordinator Bianca Spence publicity@cormorantbooks.com Design/Production Angel Guerra cormorantproduction@bellnet.ca Returns Policy Books received by booksellers that are in damaged condition must be returned within 30 days for full credit or replacement. Claims for shortage and shippings errors must be made within 30 days of the invoice date. All returns must be accompanied by a copy of the invoice or the invoice number. Books that are not in resaleable condition or which bear retailer or wholsaler marks, stickers, or stamps may not be accepted for return. All Comorant Books [with the exception of explicitly nonreturnable or final sales] may be returned to the distributor for credit three months after the invoice date and within twelve months of the invoice date. Returns of Cormorant titles may be consolidated with those of other UTP distributed publishers. By ordering books presented in this catalogue, acknowledgement of and agreement to these terms is hereby given.

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of The Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for its publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) and the Government of Ontario Book through the Ontario Media Development Corporation, an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Culture, and the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit Program.

CONTENTS NEW TITLES

The Man Who Wanted to Drink Up the Sea by Pan Bouyoucas Pure Inventions by James King 7 Greener Than Eden by Michael Kohn 9 The Perfect Circle by Pascale Quiviger 11 Targets of Affection by RG Willems 13 Day Into Night by Dave Hugelschaffer 15 Inside Toronto: Urban Interiors 1880s to 1920s by Sally Gibson The Cadence of Civil Elegies by Robert Lecker 19

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED

Strange Ghosts by Darren Greer 20 Doubting Yourself to the Bone by Thomas Trofimuk PRIZE WINNERS AND NOMINEES

22, 23, 24

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Author photograph: Marie-Reine Mattera

Pan Bouyoucas THE MAN WHO WANTED TO DRINK UP THE SEA A Cormorant Fiction Trade Paperback Original

ow far would you go to make amends? Lukas, a successful Montreal restaurateur, is haunted by the memory of his first love, Zephira. He wants to ask her to forgive him for abandoning her back in Greece forty years ago. But the girl has died. When Lukas recalls that for the ancient Greeks the sleeper’s mind was the bridge where the living and the dead met at night, he embarks on a fantastic journey through an underworld populated by ghosts from his present and past, including his dead parents, his boyhood friend Aris and his gradeschool arch-enemy Nestor; with cameos from Marilyn Monroe, and the Goddess Artemis. Pan Bouyoucas has a substantial literary career in Quebec and France where he is well known for numerous literary accomplishments. His novel, L’Autre was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Prix Marcel-Couture du Salon du Livre.

Advertising The Globe and Mail Books in Canada Montreal Review of Books Review copy mailing to key media. Press kit mailing to national media.

ISBN-10 : 1-896951-92-9 ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-92-8 Release date: February 2006 5.125” x 7.625” Trade Paper with French flaps $22.95 / 220 pages BISAC Codes FIC019000 Fiction/Literary

Author photograph: Pete Paterson

James King PURE INVENTIONS A Cormorant Fiction Trade Paperback Original

et in nineteenth-century Tokyo and twentieth-century Boston, Pure Inventions tells of the incredible adventures of Hiroshi—prankster, forger, authenticator, and artist. The son of a Japanese courtesan and an American naval officer, Hiroshi never feels at home in his native Japan. Torn by his mixed heritage, he is constantly compelled to reinvent himself, sometimes with disastrous consequences. In its recreation in vivid detail of the adventures of its enterprising, tortured hero, Pure Inventions is a story of various kinds of estrangement: from parents; from one’s native land; even from one’s best self-interests. James King has written three novels, Blue Moon, Transformations, and Faking, and twenty books of nonfiction, among them biographies of Margaret Laurence, Farley Mowat, and Jack McClelland. His biography, Herbert Read: The Last Modern, was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award. James is a professor of English at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Advertising The Globe and Mail Books in Canada Review copy mailing to key media. Press kit mailing to national media.

ISBN-10: 1-896951-94-5 ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-94-2 Release date: February 2006 5.5” x 8.5” Trade Paper with French flaps $22.95 / 280 pages BISAC Codes FIC019000 Fiction/Literary

Michael Kohn GREENER THAN EDEN A Cormorant Fiction Trade Paperback Original

very spring, hundreds of tree planters migrate north to remote bush camps. Some are drawn to the fast cash, some by the scenery, and some are on the run. Rusticated from university for protesting the felling of the campus arboretum for a parking lot, sick of the noise of urban life, greenhorn Noah Abramson flees Toronto in search of a quiet place where he can become a man on his own terms. But the camp has attracted other fugitives. At first, their mutual struggle to survive the season binds them but as spring stretches into summer, and fever and fire close on the camp, their pasts catch up with them, and some scores must be settled. Michael Kohn is a graduate of York University’s creative writing program; he credits Susan Swan and bp Nichol as authors who mentored his early development as a writer. Greener than Eden, his first novel, was inspired by his colourful experiences on tree planting crews in six Canadian provinces. He currently works as a teacher-librarian in Toronto.

Advertising The Globe and Mail Books in Canada Review copy mailing to key media. Press kit mailing to national media.

ISBN-10: 1-896951-99-6 ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-99-7 Release date: May 2006 5.5” x 8.5” Trade Paper with French flaps $22.95 / 300 pages BISAC Codes FIC019000 Fiction/Literary

Author photograph: Nick Pontarolo

Pascale Quiviger THE PERFECT CIRCLE Translated by Sheila Fischman A Cormorant Fiction Trade Paperback Original

arianne, a young Montrealer, has come to live in Tuscany to draw and write and examine her life. Here she meets Marco, a temptingly seductive man who still lives in his mother’s house in the village and who’s not prepared to commit himself to anything resembling a shared life. Though he breaks her heart, again and again, Marianne can only avoid him by returning to Canada.This first novel by Pascale Quiviger is marked by its luminous language and its unstinting look at what makes Marianne, and Marco, and, indeed, an entire village and the world beyond it, tick. The Perfect Circle is the winner of the 2004 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction (French language). Pascale Quiviger was born in Montreal. She holds both a master’s degree in Philosophy and a degree in Fine Arts . She lives in Italy, where she paints, writes and teaches visual arts. She has exhibited in both Canada and Italy, and has published a collection of short stories, Ni sol ni ciel (L’instant même, 2001).

Advertising The Globe and Mail The Gazette (Montreal) Books in Canada Review copy mailing to key media. Press kit mailing to national media.

ISBN-10: 1-896951-96-1 ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-96-6 Release date: March 2006 5.125” x 7.625” Trade Paper with French flaps $22.95 / 220 pages BISAC Codes FIC019000 Fiction/Literary

RG Willems TARGETS OF AFFECTION A Cormorant Crime Fiction Original

helby James has a soft-spot for the underdog. Sick dogs, homeless cats, hurt birds, she goes to bat for them all as a veterinary nurse. So it’s no surprise that Miranda Wall and her menagerie of needy animals appeal to her. But there’s more to Miranda than meets the eye: a silent daughter named Jessie, and a stalking husband, among other disasters. When Shelby she takes a closer look into Miranda’s life, her search takes her into the sinister world of mental illness, child abuse, and domestic violence. Set against the harsh beauty of the Saskatchewan prairie, Targets of Affection explores the link between animal abuse and child abuse. RG Willems is an award-winning freelance writer and essayist. Targets of Affection, her first full-length work of fiction, is the first in a series of mysteries set in the world of veterinary medicine. Willems grew up in Saskatoon and now lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

Advertising The Globe and Mail, Books in Canada, BC Bookworld Review copy mailing to key media. Press kit mailing to national media.

ISBN-10: 1-896951-98-8 ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-98-0 Release date: May 2006 5.125” x 7.625” Trade Paper $21.95 / 300 pages BISAC Codes FIC022000Fiction/Mystery & Detective/General FIC022040 Fiction/Mystery & Detective/Women Sleuths FIC030000 Fiction/Suspense FIC031000 Fiction/Thrillers

Dave Hugelschaffer DAY INTO NIGHT A Cormorant Crime Fiction Original

hen a raging forest fire cannot suck in air quickly enough, smoke turns black, blotting out the sun and turning day into night. To a firefighter, this false dusk is a sign of conditions turning rapidly from bad to worse. Things are about to get just as complicated as Porter Cassel hunts for a serial arsonist who waits for the most volatile forest conditions to light fires guaranteed to become unstoppable. But Cassel has more than just fires to contend with—he is a man with a tragedy in his past and the situation becomes more complex when he is framed for the murder of a suspect. Dave Hugelschaffer has spent ten years working for the Forest Service in northern Alberta, as a Ranger, timbercruiser, and firefighter. His other interests include log-building, canoeing, and dog sledding. Currently, he works for a timber company, along the east slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and is writing the next book in the Porter Cassel series.

Advertising The Globe and Mail Books in Canada Review copy mailing to key media. Press kit mailing to national media.

ISBN-10: 1-896951-93-7 ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-93-5 Release date: May 2006 5.125” x 7.625” Trade Paper $21.95 / 300 pages BISAC Codes FIC022000 Fiction/Mystery & Detective/General FIC030000 Fiction/Suspense FIC031000 Fiction/Thrillers

Sally Gibson INSIDE TORONTO: Urban Interiors 1880s to 1920s A Cormorant Non-fiction Release

ased on 260 vintage images and extensive original research, Inside Toronto: Urban Interiors 1880s to1920s is the first book to investigate the complex, interior life of a single city – the ordinary and extraordinary places where Torontonians lived, worked, shopped, and performed the rituals of daily life. Interior photographs are rare. Not many were taken; and fewer have survived. Fortunately, Toronto’s archival resources, supplemented by private and public collections elsewhere, are extensive enough to support an investigation of these interior spaces. Many images are glorious, all are informative. Text illuminates the images and provides historical background. Sally Gibson is the author of one previous book, More Than an Island: A History of Toronto Island, of which Jane Jacobs said, “city history at its best.” A graduate of Vassar, with a doctorate in Library Sciences (U of T), she is now an archivist with the City of Toronto.

Advertising The Globe and Mail The Toronto Star Review copy mailing to key media.

ISBN-10: 1-896951-95-3 ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-95-9 Release date: April 2006 12” x 9” Hardcover $69.95 / 450 pages BISAC Codes ARC003000 Architecture/Domestic ARC005000 Architecture/History ARC011000 Architecture/Public, Commercial or Industrial Buildings

Robert Lecker THE CADENCE OF CIVIL ELEGIES The New Cormorant Monograph Series

ennis Lee’s Civil Elegies remains one of the most potent long poems devoted to the nature of Canadian identity. Lee wanted us to realize that the cadence of our speaking and reading is politically charged. However, the rational problems that he raised also drove him crazy. Civil Elegies stands as one of the most disturbed and manic poems about Canada ever written. Its narrator is completely falling apart. The Cadence of Civil Elegies marks the launch of the new Cormorant monograph series, which brings unique perspectives to Canadian literary works from the country’s leading academics, writers, and critical thinkers. Robert Lecker was co-founder and co-publisher of ECW Press from 1977 to 2003, where he developed numerous titles in the fields of popular culture and popular science. He resides in Montreal, where he is a professor in the Department of English at McGill University.

Advertising Books in Canada Canadian Literature Review copy mailing to key media.

ISBN-10: 1-896951-97-X ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-97-3 Release date: May 2006 5.125” x 7.625” Trade Paper $24.95 / 120 pages BISAC Codes LIT004080 Literary Criticism/Canadian LIT007000 Literary Criticism/Books & Reading

LIT014000 Literary Criticism/Poetry

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Darren Greer STRANGE GHOSTS Essays

ISBN-10: 1-896951-63-5 ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-63-8 Release date: March 2006 5.125” x 7.625” Trade Paper with French flaps $24.95 / 320 pages BISAC Codes LC010000 Literary Collection Essays BIO02600Biography/ Autobiography and Personal Memoirs Advertising: Xtra Magazine, Capital Xtra, Xtra West NOW Magazine Review copy mailing to key media.

rom baseball to Picasso, postmodernism to American foreign policy, the essays are an appealing mixture of polemic, memoir, travelogue, and literary opinion. In a series of essays about the U.S., we see the Iraq invasion as it overshadows his mother’s life and her obsession with baseball. In another series of essays, Greer recounts his travels through India during the height of the nuclear crisis with Pakistan and follows his spiritual wanderings through Venice. Darren Greer grew up in several Nova Scotia towns, including Greenfield and Liverpool. He studied literature at the University of King’s College, Halifax, and at Carlton University in Ottawa. He is the author of two novels, Tyler’s Cape and Still Life with June, which was nominated for the Pearson Readers’ Trust Award in 2003 and won the ReLit Award in June 2004. Still Life with June is published by St. Martin’s in the U.S.

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED

Thomas Trofimuk DOUBTING YOURSELF TO THE BONE

oubting Yourself to the Bone is a story about the nature of grief, about what it means to be a parent in the face of great sorrow, the idea of re-invented love, and hope. Based in Paris and a small town in the Canadian Rockies, this narrative revolves around a horrific car crash that creates startling reverberations for everybody it touches. It’s not the question of “how could this happen?” but rather, “did it happen on purpose?” that drives this narrative.

Thomas Trofimuk is the author of The 52nd Poem, which won the 2003 City of Edmonton Book Prize and the Georges Bugnet Award for Novel. A poet, playwright, and author of short stories, Thomas is a founding member of the Edmonton Stroll of Poets and a Founding Father of the Raving Poets movement. Thomas lives in Edmonton.

ISBN-10: 1-896951-86-4 ISBN-13: 978-1-896951-86-7 Release date: March 2006 5.5” x 8.5” Trade Paper with French flaps $22.95 / 320 pages BISAC Codes FIC019000 Fiction/Literary Advertising: The Globe and Mail, The Edmonton Journal, Books in Canada Review copy mailing to key media.

22 Jacques Poulin

VOLKSWAGEN BLUES CBC Canada Reads 2005, selection ISBN 10: 1-896951-42-2 ISBN 13: 978-1-89651-42-3 $19.95 trade paper with French Flaps

Neil Bissoondath THE UNYIELDING CLAMOUR OF THE NIGHT Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction of the Quebec Writers’ Federation 2005, winner ISBN 10: 1-896951-87-2 $32.95 Hardcover

ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-87-4

Nino Ricci LIVES OF THE SAINTS Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction 1990, winner Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award 1990, winner ISBN 10: 1-896951-43-0 $19.95 trade paper

ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-43-0

Pauline Holdstock BEYOND MEASURE The Giller Prize 2004, nominee Commonwealth Writers’ Prize – Canada and Caribbean Region 2005, nominee Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize of the BC Book Prizes 2004, winner City of Victoria Butler Book Prize 2005, nominee ISBN 10: 1-896951-49-X ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-49-2 $22.95 trade paper with French Flaps

Arthur Motyer WHAT’S REMEMBERED Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award 2004, nominee ISBN 10: 1-896951-68-6

ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-68-3 $22.95 trade paper

Gwethalyn Graham EARTH AND HIGH HEAVEN Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction 1944, winner ISBN 10: 1-896951-61-9 ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-61-4 $19.95 trade paper

Darren Greer STILL LIFE WITH JUNE ReLit Award for Novel 2004, winner ISBN 10: 1-896951-73-2 ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-73-7 $21.95 trade paper

Chava Rosenfarb SURVIVORS: Seven Short Stories Canadian Jewish Book Award 2005 — Original Translation from Yiddish, winner Howard O’Hagen Short Fiction Prize, of the Alberta Book Awards 2005, nominee ALTA National Translation Award 2005, nominee ISBN 10: 1-896951-65-1 ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-65-2 $29.95 Hardcover

Sky Gilbert AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN ReLit Award for Novel 2005, winner ISBN 10: 1-896951-83-X ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-83-6 $21.95 trade paper

Matthew Fox CITIES OF WEATHER McAuslan First Book Prize of the Quebec Writers’ Federation 2005, nominee ISBN 10: 1-896332-20-X ISBN 13: 978-1-896332-20-8 $22.95 trade paper with French Flaps

Gwethalyn Graham SWISS SONATA Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction 1938, winner ISBN 10: 1-896951-62-7 ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-62-1 $19.95 trade paper

Élise Turcotte THE ALIEN HOUSE Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction (French language) 2003, winner Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation 2004, nominee ISBN 10: 1-86951-75-9 $29.95 Hardcover

ISBN 13: 978-1-896951-75-1