In Gus Van Sant’s new film Last Days,
a rock star closely resembling former Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain
drifts inexorably towards his suicide. That’s the popular (and
official) perception of Cobain’s demise in 1994. But in Love
& Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain — now in paperback (Atria,
2004, $14) — Max Wallace, BA (journ.) 90, and Ian
Halperin, BA (journ.) 90, present shocking and conclusive evidence
that the 27-year-old was murdered and that his wife, Courtney Love,
was likely involved in the killing and cover-up. Wallace and Halperin
are both award-winning investigative journalists who have worked separately
and together on books, films, TV and publications.
Colleen Curran, BA (Eng) 76, is a former playwright-in-residence
at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre and is now co-artistic director
of the Triumvirate Theatre Company in Montreal. Her first novel, Something
Drastic (1995), was a finalist for the first Prix Parizeau, and
her second, Overnight Sensation (2000, both University of
Toronto Press), continued the story of Lenore Rutland, a former singing
waitress who owns a theme restaurant in Montreal. Guests of Chance
(Goose Lane Press, 2005, $29.95) completes the trilogy in high
fashion, following Lenore’s comedic adventures at home and in
England, still populated by Curran’s eccentric, endearing characters
and brisk writing.
Howard E. Johnson, BComm 88, earned an MBA
from McMaster University, and holds several professional designations.
He is president of Veracap Corporate Finance Limited, which specializes
in shareholder value enhancement, and is an in-demand speaker. Johnson’s
new book, Selling Your Private Company: the Value Enhancement
Framework for Business Owners (Veracap Corporate Finance Limited,
2005, $39.50), is intended for owners of mid-size, privately held
Canadian companies looking to sell, regardless of which industry a
company operates in or whether its revenues are $5 million or $200
million.
Ouche! la douche! (Les 400 Coups, 2004,
$9.95) by Nathalie Ferraris, is sure to cause a splash, and a laugh.
This colourful, comical French children’s book, illustrated
by Marie-France Landry, BA (comm. studies) 92, depicts the
story of a young teenage boy who becomes quite frustrated because
his little brother always bothers him when he takes a shower.
Frédéric is about to take revenge on little
Alex, and show him how to really take a shower. Caution, don’t
try this at home! Although her dad was a fiddler in a country band,
Marie-Hélène Mainville, Cert (ed.) 95, GrDip (trad.) 00,
was not all that familiar with the genre of music that’s really
taken off here in Quebec. She shares some of what she rediscovered
about country music in A Short History of Country Music / La Petite
Histoire De La Musique Country (ViséeSanté,
2005, $20). This bilingual account of the origins and evolution of
the music covers the past century, describes the instruments used
in country music, looks at different American, Canadian and Quebec
artists, and also explores the various sub-genres, such as hillbilly,
honkytonk, Western Swing and alternative country. The book includes
an audio CD.
Americans wonder, “Where were you the day JFK
died?” We Canadians, instead, will forever ask, “Where
were you when Trudeau died?” Set in Montreal, Satie’s
Sad Piano (Signature Editions, 2005, $14.95) is a long poem dealing
with the convergent deaths of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a love affair
and a fetus, through the overlapping voices of an improbable group
of characters. Carolyn Marie Souaid, MA (Eng.) 95, is author
of three previous collections of poetry, Swimming into the Light
(1995), October (1999) and Snow Formations (2002),
all from Signature Editions, and has had her poetry produced on CBC
Radio.
In our search for inner peace or happiness, we travel
the cities, the countryside and even the depths of our own souls,
longing for more than just home, but a sense of belonging. Marci
Denesiuk, BA (Eng. & cr. writ.) 96, MA (Eng.) 00, is no stranger
to the journey that many find themselves on. Born and raised in Edmonton,
she has crossed this country several times by train, and has travelled
the continent by motorcycle. In her collection of short stories, The
Far Away Home (NeWest Press, 2005, $18.95), Denesiuk peels away
the surface layers of the everyday to reveal the hidden lives of women
who are wrestling with their inner demons. The dark and beautiful
characters who inhabit the pages of this collection are the isolated,
displaced and unnoticed, united by their simple and desperate quest
for home.
Moving out to live on one’s own for the first
time can be tricky, even for the most savvy of young adults, but imagine
being a 19-year-old who’s never had a boyfriend, and doesn’t
even know how to do laundry. Nellcott Is My Darling (Coach
House Books, 2005, $17.95) is the heartwarming story of Alice Charles,
who has just entered her first year at McGill University. Golda
Fried, MA (cr. writ.) 96, in her follow-up to Darkness Then
a Blown Kiss (Gutter Press, 1998), tells the tale of Alice’s
unlikely romance with guitar-playing, black-eye-makeup-wearing Nellcott
Ragland. Set in Montreal against a backdrop of cold nights in unheated
apartments and turbulent undergraduate life, this honest and compelling
story sheds a light on freshman relationships in flux and the way
lives can so easily be hitched and unhitched without warning.
Sherwin Tija, MFA (studio arts) 03, is a
Montreal-based poet and painter who has exhibited widely and works
as a medical illustrator for McGill University. He previously published
the comic novel Pedigree Girls (2002) and Gentle Fictions
(2002), a book of poetry, both from Insomniac Press. His latest literary
offering comes in the way of a small poetry collection, The World
Is a Heartbreaker (Coach House Books, 2005, $15.95), in which
Sherwin reinvents the traditional haiku and inaugurates a new literary
sub-genre: imposter poetry. Rather than the conventional 5-7-5 syllable
haiku form, he creates bite-sized chunks of poetic goodness. The collection
of more than 1,600 pseudo-haikus was penned over a five-year period,
and the pieces are aimed at the busy, distracted masses. The poems,
when read sequentially, leave an impressive cumulative effect. Concerned
with the fleeting, often overlooked moments of life, they are observant,
sly and often seductive.
