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Bookends by Harry Vandervlist After years of painstaking research conducted in the archives and bars, in the airports and cavernous train-termini, in the gloom of old-world museums and new-world dungeons, at the parties and on the stages of Vancouver, London, Calgary and sundry other centres, Dr. S. Wilson presents her most recent findings in a public lecture entitled... um, no: wrong tone entirely. Okay. Canada's doyenne of declamatory diva-gations dares speak the name of pleasures and torments hitherto sans tongue, of mooncalf moments monstrous or magnificent, of rhythmic insistences sibilant and insinuating.... (Phew, are we trying hard enough yet?) How about this: brainy, rude, twisted, furious, comic – so many adjectives, so many pillars in the echoing gallery of voices conjured by Calgary's Sheri-D Wilson in her just-released book The Sweet Taste of Lightning (Arsenal Pulp Press). Darting between personae far faster than Ronnie Burkett can switch marionettes, this mischievous mercurial sprite pops out where we least expect her: in the turn of a page she'll whipsaw from tongue-tingling ero-phile to romance-trashing wry dominatrix. Then just when we're laughing comfortably along with her humorous side, she turns serious on us. Not serious like a sermon – serious like a bad prognosis. Nowhere-to-hide serious. To really get where the imp of her singular muse has led Wilson lately, drop by the cabaret book launch for The Sweet Taste of Lightning on Tuesday, January 19 at 8 p.m. at Beat Niq. The supporting cast includes poets Billeh Nickerson, Myra Davies, T. Crane, Kirk Miles and Christina Willings, all emceed by none other than Aritha van Herk. Expect the unexpected from the author of Restlessness, herself known to advance masked on occasion. And this "night in the bunker," to use Wilson's own words, oughta be one of those. A jazz quartet featuring Gib Monks on sax and a cash bar complete the cabaret ambience. Admission's $5 and Pages co-sponsors the event. (If your have information for Fast Forward’s weekly Bookends column, fax it to 244-1431.)

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