LITMIR.BIZ

In a tumble-down house carved out of the dunes lives an old man with second sight. He is the sifter of sands, the man who separates the sparkling mica, black lava, golden-reds, and misty grays. And as he sifts he mesmerizes Jessica and Andrew with his tales of the trickster-creator Raven and how a lonely young man lived to be 300 years old.

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Advance Praise from Carol Shields, author of Unless and The Stone Diaries "I read The Moor Is Dark Beneath the Moon with great pleasure and with a particular appreciation for its narrative energy; one wants to go on turning over those pages. I loved the Cornish stuff and felt affection for the kids, the teenagers–well, more than affection, more like an instant recognition." – Carol Shields After decades in Canada, Davey Bryant returns to Cornwall, England, for the funeral of a mysterious relative and lands in the middle of a property-inheritance squabble that threatens to escalate into something far worse. Distraught by the changed landscape of his beloved homeland, Davey wanders the lonely moors and is soon sleuthing his way through a farce of megalithic proportions in which a midget couple driving a Morris Mini van might or might not be reincarnations of an evil Camelot dwarf and his consort. In the course of his investigations, Davey becomes ever more dislocated in time as he tries to fathom the nature of a gay family tree that besides himself may include a spinster aunt and a good-looking teenage cousin named Quentin. Magic's in the air, and it's not just the glint of the BBC cameras shooting a mini-series about Merlin and King Arthur in Tintagel. As Davey says about the moors, «Lots of things have died out here. And not just bodies, but hopes and strange loves. Nothing is really quite as it seems.»

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Inappropriate Behaviour has a magnetism as alluring as the sirens, summoning readers to revel in the coy seduction that preludes desire, the truths women deny and the longing they supress, unleashed in startling moments of betrayal, loss, and reclamation. Mock widens the threshold–exposing a desire not only for touch, but for understanding, for family, for a love which satiates more than the physical appetite. With wry humour and tender intensity Mock unveils heroic acts of domestic courage which transform and confront modern marriages, divided loyalties and sexual politics as few contemporary writers have dared. Each of these 11 stories, whether haunting or heartbreaking, alights on the tongue ripe with the bittersweet perfection Eve enjoyed in sampling the forbidden fruit. Mock pushes the limits of emotional intimacy, tempting us to admit what we have guarded with precious secrecy–we want it all. In this collection, we may have found it.

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This is the story of the creation and first four decades of one of Canada's pre-eminent cultural organizations. While it documents the history of Canada's National Arts Centre in Ottawa, it also tells the story of the arts in Canada from the 1960s to 2006. The story breaks down into three parts: the years of creation and early growth, fuelled by the talent and resources generated by Canada's 1967 Centennial celebration; the turbulent middle years, marked by a dearth of funds and political disinterest; and finally the «renaissance,» when the decision is made to restore and recast the organization to provide continuing benefit to the performing arts in Canada's capital and the country at large. Written in a documentary style, moving from episode to episode, the story is enriched by the personal memories of those who participated in it, including the leading artists, managers, officials, and politicians who were involved.

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Due to circumstances beyond her control, 12-year-old Peggy Henderson has to move to the quiet town of Crescent Beach, British Columbia, to live with her aunt and uncle. Without a father and separated from her mother, who's looking for work, Peggy feels her unhappiness increasing until the day she and her uncle start digging a pond in the backyard and she realizes the rock she's been trying to pry from the ground is really a human skull. Peggy eventually learns that her home and the entire seaside town were built on top of a 5000-year-old Coast Salish fishing village. With the help of an elderly archaeologist, a woman named Eddy, Peggy comes to know the ancient storyteller buried in her yard in a way that few others can – by reading the bones. As life with her aunt becomes more and more unbearable, Peggy looks to the old Salish man from the past for help and answers.

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Long-listed for the ReLit Award, 2009 Reese Larkin is desperate to find the perfect mattress. His job is in jeopardy and he’s been forced to separate from his wife and children, but he believes that if he can find the ultimate sleep system his life will begin anew. In her seventh novel, Cordelia Strube grabs readers by the neuroses with a dark but wickedly fun story about a former Greenpeace activist forced to turn marketeer who battles against a world in which he is confronted by shift mattress sales clerks, a Fred and Ginger-obsessed strip-bar waitress, derisive colleagues, and a wife who has mysteriously turned cold and is keeping his children from him. Alone in his damp basement apartment with his daughter’s hamster, he longs for a good night’s sleep and, though faced with despair, begins each day hopefully as he grips tighter to the edges of his life. Engaging, enlightening, and always entertaining, Planet Reese is an intensely personal and endearing tale of a man holding on to his sanity against all odds in an increasingly unhinged world.

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Just when Vancouver commercial photographer Tom McCall thought he’d got his life back on track, a complete stranger shows up dead on the roof deck of his floating home. No one seems to know who he is, he has no ID, and there’s not a mark on him. If that isn’t bad enough, a prospective new client seems to have had one Botox injection too many, his ex-wife wants to take his daughter off to Australia for a year; and someone’s leaving mutilated dolls on his front step. And, of course, he’s in lust again. No wonder he’s feeling a little overexposed.

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Peter Ellis is a rookie probation officer in interior British Columbia when he gets saddled with a file that goes sideways. He’s not in the best headspace to start with, since his marriage broke down last winter. Now it’s the middle of summer, the rodeo’s coming to town, and the one solid thing left in his life, his job, suddenly bucks him hard. Former NHL player Todd Nolin is Peter’s new «client.» Peter’s job is all about risk management, and Nolin is a good bet to commit more mayhem. The victim is Todd’s wife, Marina Faro, who has been badly beaten and feels her estranged husband is bent on killing her. Peter grapples with his need to keep Marina safe while maintaining a rein on his own attraction to her. There’s no doubt that the local hockey hero is dangerous, but Marina’s something of a puzzle herself. All Peter knows is he’s drifting outside the line, and what lies beyond may be death.

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Napachee is tired of Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories. He is tired of the traditional Inuit hunt and of fighting with his father, who shuns snowmobiles for dog sleds and tents for igloos. When two men from the Edmonton zoo fly in to capture a polar bear cub, Napachee spies his chance at a trip to the big city, but soon discovers that life there is not what he had expected.

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Short-listed for the 2009 Golden Eagle Book Award To the Gwich’in First Nation, Shildii Rock near Fort McPherson in the Northwest Territories is a place of deep mythological significance.When 12-year-old Robin Harris, the son of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, spots someone on the rock staring at him, he just knows something is wrong. Robin and his friend Wayne Reindeer, a Gwichin youth, set out to discover what’s going on and to gain the respect of their fathers. But Robin is notorious for his overactive imagination and has a hard time getting anyone to believe him. To make matters worse, there’s a crazy Dutch trapper with an ugly disposition and murder in his eyes. And whenever possible a new boy in town throws wrenches into Robin’s plans. When murder comes their way, Robin and Wayne realize its too late to turn back. Will the boys unlock the secrets of Shildii Rock in time? Or will they, too, fall victim to a killer?

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