FFWD Weekly
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| BOOKENDS Halloween is all about fantasy and the existence of unguessed-at worlds that may even overlap with this one - like the world of the walking dead, or a world where clones of a single in-the-news character populate every party you attend (scary!), or a world where strangers give you eerily small packages of candy just because you look weird and you asked. A fantastic season like this is a good time for the writers of IFWA to make an apparition. More than just a bisyllabic blurt designating writers of "what-if-there-was?" fiction - as in science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and magic realism - IFWA really stands for Imaginative Fiction Writers Association. It includes a group of writers publishing in American and Canadian magazines and anthologies, such as Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy, and Tesseracts. Some have had work broadcast on the CBC or have published novels. Six members read at IFWA's Halloween Reading on Thursday, October 29, at 7 p.m. at Memorial Park Public Library. Treats? Maybe. Who are they, these bloated pale figures who fatten on the lifeblood of others, perpetuating their strange half-existence by paralyzing their victims with strange spells and terrifying stories? Beats me. The image just popped into my head while I was thinking about Stevie Cameron's book On the Take, a supposed "exposé" of Brian Mulroney's government. As if there could be anything to expose, eh, in the life of someone who has not only the Order of Canada, but also the confidence of Canada's financial elite. My gosh. (Those bad thoughts were all a nasty dream, go back to sleep.) Cameron's new book, Blue Trust, is about lawyer Bruce Verchere, and she reads from it at the Castell Central Library on Thursday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for this Ex Libris event are $5 in advance at Pages on Kensington. Saskatoon's improvisatory sound poet, and editor, (see, without that comma, you get the phrase "improvisatory sound editor," a thought scary enough that it's worth the odd comma to exorcise) Steven Ross Smith launches his new book Fluttertongue at Pages on Kensington, Thursday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m. Then on Monday, November 2, storyteller Andy Russell saunters up to the Kensington campfire round about 7:30 p.m. There's a pair of readings that should put a stop to any discouraging words about the range of writing round these parts. The Banff Mountain Book Festival is a celebration of mountain literature which brings together writers, publishers, editors, photographers and - of course - readers. The feature presenter at the fifth annual festival, which runs at the same time as the Banff Mountain Film Festival, is Greg Child, considered by many to be one of the most accomplished all-round climbers in the world. The book festival runs from November 4 to 6 and includes guest speakers, readings, seminars, a book fair, book signings and book launches. For more information visit the Web site at www.banffcentre.ab.ca/CMC/ or phone the centre at 762-6675, and to purchase tickets call 1-800-298-1229. |