ECW Press,Canada

A wandering meditation on motherhood, language, and art and a parallactic and slow amble through private rooms and interiors. The result is a woman ricocheting off the bounds of a marriage, memory, and herself. The latest book by Gillian Sze, author of the Pat Lowther Memorial Award-winning book Quiet Night Think. This prosimetrical work is a meditation on motherhood, language, and art. The central speaker witnesses the earliest utterances of her child and launches into a poetic inquiry of words themselves, asking, How to measure one''s mouth by its words? The speaker seeks an answer amidst the language that surrounds her - words misspoken, mispronounced, remembered, unwritten - and, in doing so, struggles with signification and significance. Each prose poem in the five-part collection darts between the many meanings of ''fit'' - as in ''a sudden burst of emotion'' or ''to be the right size and shape,'' and the archaic ''fytte'' (a section of a poem). A text becomes an open mouth, a square day of a calendar, or a bare fragment of a narrative. The final section of the book is an intimate and ekphrastic engagement with the work of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershoi. Drawn to Hammershoi''s paintings of the empty rooms of his apartment, the speaker recognises a familiar space of art''s insistence. An Orange, A Syllable details a period of maternal and artistic transformation.

These poems explore the tension between the synthetic and authentic, raising hope for an escape from MCHNCT (Machine City) to NMLCT (Animal City), where ''real life'' might still exist. Imagine The Matrix retold by the reanimated cyborg bodies of the Brothers Grimm. Fables and fairytales collide with virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and monstrous myths in a world where no one knows what to believe. In his eighth book of poems, Paul Vermeersch responds to the increasing difficulty of knowing what is real and what isn''t, what is our genuine experience and what is constructed for us by The Algorithm. In a ''post-truth'' society rife with simulations, misinformation, and computer-generated hallucinations, these poems explore the relationship between the synthetic and the authentic as they raise hope for the possibility of escape from MCHNCT (Machine City) to NMLCT (Animal City), where the promise of ''real life'' still exists. These poems - all precisely 16 lines long, identically formed as though mass-produced - are themselves artificial creations, products of the imagination, sometimes disorienting but always vivid. They hold up a mirror not only to nature, but also to its unnatural distortions and facsimiles. In NMLCT, Vermeersch gives us his answer to an existence in thrall to the artificial. But it also foretells a different future, one where the air and the grass and the trees, and all the life they engender, might always be genuine and sensed and safe.

From dealing with the cantankerous and cheapskate owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs to hosting radio hotline shows to anchoring a revolutionary late-night program, Sportsline, Mark Hebscher finally tells the unheard stories from his 45 years in the bizarre business of sports broadcasting. How would you react if hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky sweated all over your dress pants during a live TV interview? What if heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks threatened to harm you if you didn''t dance with his wife? These are just two of the occupational obstacles faced by Mark Hebscher during his checkered career in sports media. From covering Harold Ballard, the cantankerous owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, to helping lead a cultural revolution in sports broadcasting on the late-night program Sportsline, Hebscher tells stories of his 45 years in the business in his new book, Madness: The Rise and Ruin of Sports Media. This is a compelling look at the evolution of sports journalism and how today''s media coverage drastically differs from the days of newspapers and magazines. At the same time, it explores the effect that radio, TV, and later technology has had on sports coverage, and how men like Howard Cosell changed the way sports was reported on. How did Wide World of Sports and Hockey Night in Canada become so ingrained in popular culture? What was it about Sportsline that made it mandatory viewing? Who were the athletes, sportswriters, sportscasters, reporters, and play-by-play announcers that fueled his desire to be a part of the sports media landscape? In the end, Hebscher''s encounters with the Great One, MC Hammer, Youppi!, Doug Flutie, and Doug Gilmour are more than mildly amusing ... and his unparalleled knowledge of the sports media universe shines throughout.

Accidents After Happening is for anyone who has a taste for immediate, meaningful poetry that sings, laments, and decries but also celebrates life in our modern world. For readers of Leonard Cohen, Sharon Olds, Gwendolyn MacEwan, Jacques Prevert, George Elliott Clark, Sylvia Plath, Warsan Shire, and Natalie Diaz. The accidents of Priest''s collection are definitely not all ''happy.'' They move through a full range of human emotions: dread, grief, anger, ecstasy, lust and empathy. Plus some magic levity. This is poetry you will want to recite aloud: lyrical love poems, sonnets, satires, ghazals, curses, and bitter invective. These are not snobby poems - they want and welcome readers who love euphony, who enjoy tasteful eroticism, who rage at injustice. People who grieve and gush - smart people who think critically and form their own opinions. And for those with a taste for ''brevity forever.'' Accidents After Happening also contains a whole new catalog of Priest''s aphorisms, proverbs, maxims, and sayings - the kind of work that recently prompted Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood to take to Twitter and praise Priest''s ''snappy funny spot-on micro poems - plus much more.'' Priest is a people''s poet who believes that humanity harbors a deep and ancient biological need for the spirit and time-binding experiences of the incantatory and shamanistic and that these can only be acquired through the poetic outlook. His words have been quoted in the Farmers'' Almanac, posted in the Toronto transit system, sung in churches, denounced in the legislature, embedded in pavement, and turned into two hit songs. ''Sometimes,'' as one of Priest''s micro poems has it, ''it is the book that opens you.''

Discover the untold story of Canadian men''s basketball, from Steve Nash''s breakthrough at the 2000 Olympics to two decades of struggle, controversy, and missed opportunity. The Golden Generation follows the Canadian basketball journey from obscurity to resurgence as a new generation of NBA stars, like Andrew Wiggins and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, propel Canada back to international glory. When Steve Nash led underdog Team Canada to the quarterfinals of the 2000 Olympics, many assumed the golden age of Canadian basketball was at hand. Instead, it took 24 years for the Canadian men to get back to international basketball''s biggest stage, with a wave of immigration pushing the sport into every corner of the country and a new generation of superstars blossoming into household names. How did we get here? And why did it take so long? In The Golden Generation, sports journalist Oren Weisfeld uncovers the growth of Canadian basketball through the lens of Team Canada and its most influential figures, alternating between chronicling key moments in the rise of the Canadian men''s national team and profiling key figures in the grassroots basketball landscape. Through over 100 original interviews with athletes, coaches, and behind-the-scenes power brokers, The Golden Generation explores the role racism played in the national team''s early struggles, how pioneers like Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson paved a new path for high schoolers to follow before Jamal Murray recreated it, the enigma that is Andrew Wiggins, and the backstories of the core group of players that brought Canada back to the Olympics, including superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Canadian basketball has come a long way over the past two decades, with a record 24 current NBA players, a sophisticated grassroots infrastructure, and a top-ranked national team. But many trailblazers had to take their hits to lay the foundation for the current generation to thrive. The Golden Generation puts all the pieces and players together to explain how Canada became a basketball country with a bright future ahead.

From award-winning author Jamal Saeed comes a collection of stories written in the dark of a Syrian prison. These gripping tales highlight his work as an activist, artist, and author, shedding light on Syria''s ongoing humanitarian crisis and the enduring power of hope. Jamal Saeed wrote the stories in this collection during different stages of his life, but most originated while he was a prisoner of conscience in one of the worst prisons in the world. Other stories were composed after the Syrian uprising in 2011. One story - written in 2009 when he was still in Syria - is about a mythical olive tree that the Syrian military would eventually destroy. Canada plays a role too: Two of the stories were rewritten after his family finally escaped Syria and landed in Kingston, Ontario. In these stories, reality and imagination coexist, and again and again the reader arrives at the truth by exploring the imaginary. Most of Saeed''s pieces include a poetic scene that enables the reader to engage with various characters'' fresh dreams (or their scattered and shattered dreams, as the case may be). Love, beauty, despair, hope, the longing for freedom, the search for lost time, and the impact of the past all coexist and vie for supremacy. Here too there is betting on the future (along with mockery of every kind of bet). In the end, these stories open windows to the inner world of the human soul - and it is also true that every one of Saeed''s stories is based upon a solid fact.

Offering the atmosphere of Twin Peaks and the queer camaraderie of comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, Veal is a thrilling exploration of friendship, fear, and the thin line between justice and vengeance. Delores ''Lawrence'' Franklin is a failed capitalist and a runaway headcase. Following a corporate meltdown, she decides to start fresh in Mistaken Point, a small town known for two things - Mistaken Point University, where she and her best friend, Anastasia Lanes, are now enrolled, and the grisly murders of countless young women. At her new part-time arcade job, Lawrence meets Francesca ''Franky'' Delores - gritty, off-putting, and chronically serious, as opposite to Lawrence as her name would suggest. Soon, Lawrence discovers Franky is convinced there is a monster on the loose, a patchwork creature born of hatred and responsible for the supposedly solved string of violence haunting the town. Against the advice of Franky''s closest friend, Pippa, Lawrence and Stasia join Franky in a sticky, summertime search for a yellow-eyed monster between classes, shifts at the arcade, and eating popsicles by the pool. Motivated mostly by her unquenchable attraction to Franky, Lawrence allows herself to be pulled in strange directions, trying to appease Franky''s mania. Through the trials of hunting a monster only some of them believe in, Pippa, Lawrence, Stasia, and Franky discover truths about womanhood, relationships, and the reliability of urban legends.

A vital account of the life and many names of Robert Cree, and his plan for a peaceful, sincere, and just path to reconciliation in an angry and chaotic world. His mother called him ''Bobby Mountain.'' Elders called him ''Great Man.'' His people called him ''Chief.'' Oil men called him ''Mr. Cree.'' But the government called him ''Number 53.'' Robert Cree was all of these while facing his people''s oppressors and freeing the ghosts of tortured spirits. The Many Names of Robert Cree is his first-person account of survival in a brutally racist residential school system designed to erase traditional Indigenous culture, language, and knowledge. It is also the story of an epic life of struggle and healing, as Cree takes the wisdom of his ancestors and a message of reconciliation to the halls of government and to industry boardrooms. In the storytelling tradition of his people, Cree recounts his early years in the bush, his captivity at a residential school, his struggles with addiction, his political awakening as one of Canada''s youngest First Nation Chiefs, and the rising Indigenous activism of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He also recounts the oil industry''s arrival on his poverty-stricken reserve and the ensuing struggle to balance economic opportunity with environmental challenges. Throughout, Cree''s leadership is rooted in his unshakable commitment to the sacred traditional teachings of his people. His beliefs give him the strength to focus on hope, dignity, and building a better future for his community. Now a respected Elder and spiritual leader, Cree champions forgiveness as a powerful force that can bring healing and transformation for all.

For Larry David, success was no sure thing. A frustrated New York comic who was known to walk off the stage in disgust, David was barely making a living. At least until his friend Jerry Seinfeld asked him to create a new kind of television sitcom for NBC. The result - Seinfeld - started slowly but became a gigantic hit. But most people didn''t know that the real genius behind the show was Larry David. Rich beyond his wildest dreams, David still had something to prove - and some television boundaries to push. And so he created Curb Your Enthusiasm, the improvised comedy that cast aside political correctness and made for hilarious, cringeworthy TV, a show that dared to relive the disastrous Seinfeld finale and turn it into a triumph. This second, fully updated edition of Pretty, Pretty, Pretty Good offers a complete episode-by-episode guide to the series and recounts David''s early struggle to succeed in television and movies, the creation and development of his hit sitcoms, and his later success starring in the HBO film Clear History and the Broadway hit Fish in the Dark. It also explores Larry''s on and offscreen relationships with famous pals like Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, and Jerry, Jason, Julia, and Michael. Filled with candour and humour David himself would respect, Pretty, Pretty, Pretty Good is an essential companion to a comedic force.

For readers of sports broadcasting tell-alls like Jay Onrait''s Anchorboy or James Duthie''s The Guy on the Left comes Andi Petrillo''s candid memoir: She explores the sexism she''s faced and the relationships she''s built, offering an underreported, crucial perspective on sports broadcasting from one of North America''s top female sportscasters. Petrillo''s story is both heartbreakingly honest and deeply insightful, providing a roadmap for future broadcasters navigating similar challenges so that female voices in sport are the norm, not the exception. When Andi Petrillo decided to pursue a career in sportscasting, a woman offering her opinion on sports was still a novelty. She was constantly being criticised, scrutinised, and sexualised, but her love for sports - and her determination to prove she deserved to be doing what she loved - propelled her into a successful and historic career. From becoming the first woman to be part of the Hockey Night in Canada in-studio broadcast, to being the first woman to host a daily sports radio talk show in Canada (Leafs Lunch on TSN), to being the first woman to win a Canadian Screen Award for Best Sports Host, she''s come to see her perseverance as inspiration for young women who now believe they too can achieve great things in sports broadcasting. Just Call Me ''Andi'' shares many of the obstacles Petrillo''s faced, as well as the incredible friendships she''s made, and the lessons she''s learned along the way. It also provides a behind-the-scenes look into the industry, explaining why editorial and broadcast decisions are often made and how the broadcasting world has evolved in the era of streaming and social media. Women have come a long way in sportscasting, but it may surprise people to learn about the pervasive sexism and the downright ridiculous requests that are still made of women that are not made of men... Petrillo''s story is both heartbreakingly honest and deeply insightful, providing a roadmap for future broadcasters navigating similar challenges so that female voices in sport are the norm, not the exception.

Amateur sleuth Joanne Shreve finds herself caught in the middle when her friend Vera Wang, the owner of a discreet escort service, The Right Woman, calls in a favour. Howard Dowhanuik, another long-time friend of Joanne''s and the former premier of Saskatchewan, has been a loyal client for years. That is until he started badgering Vera''s employees, trying to discourage them from performing their ''meaningless'' work. Given his recent verbal attacks against any and all opponents on his podcast, Joanne knows his erratic behavior must be part of a larger issue. Can Joanne talk Howard down and make him see sense before he goes too far? To complicate matters, the release of scandalous photos with threatening demands targets both Howard and Calista Wallace. Having quit the escort service, Calista is now engaged to Noah Wainberg, a close member of Joanne''s inner circle, but the past could put their future together in jeopardy. Is this hate mail from a heartbroken ex-client or a disgruntled listener of Howard''s podcast? Or worse, could the culprit be someone closer to home? With her loved ones'' happiness - and their very lives - at stake, Joanne races to find the source of the mysterious messages before they make good on their menacing ultimatum.

Alma Alt, the sheltered youngest daughter of an interfaith, interracial Jewish-Mexican couple, rarely ventures far from her home on a wealthy tree-lined street in Ottawa, where nothing ever happens. The one time she did, striking out to visit her older sister, Marnie, in Montreal, things ended in disaster as she found out that beautiful, blonde Marnie had been lying about their family''s background, trying to pass herself off as white. The unintended fallout from that betrayal leads to a devastating accident, one that claims Alma''s arm and someone''s life. Alma is now stuck in a holding pattern, unable to move past the grief, trauma, and injury she suffered that night, all while the bonds that hold her family together crumble, the guilt and resentment between the sisters simmering beneath the surface. But Alma''s life is turned upside down by an encounter just steps from home with an impossible person, the boy she watched die. With keen human insight and stark and honest prose, Other Evolutions is a literary debut with a dark, speculative twist that reveals the uncanny in the mundane, seeing us through the worst parts of our lives toward the weird and wonderful things right in our own backyard.

In 1970, Scott McIntyre cofounded what became Canadian publisher Douglas & McIntyre. In the intervening years, he has watched the rise and fall of publishers, booksellers, and book trends from every corner of the industry. He saw the founding of a significant independent Canadian publisher in British Columbia, the growth of Indigenous literature and government support for publishers, and the increasing global demand for Canadian books. Scott McIntyre has lived the story of Canadian book publishing. Beginning his career at McClelland & Stewart in 1967, he went on to cofound his own publishing house, Douglas & McIntyre, in 1970 and made his mark on the industry amid the country''s exhilarating literary coming-of-age. Becoming one of Canada''s largest and most respected publishing houses and among the first to embrace Indigenous issues, Douglas & McIntyre and its associated children''s publisher, Groundwood Books, published some 900 authors and 2,000 books in less than 50 years. For McIntyre, the authors always came first, and he worked closely with many important figures, including Doris Shadbolt, Wayson Choy, Richard Wagamese, Anna Porter, Will Ferguson, Doug Coupland, Hugh Brody, Robert Bringhurst, Wade Davis, and Farley Mowat. Telling stories featuring a colourful array of characters who rebuilt the publishing world following WWII and anecdotes about how book publishing works, McIntyre touches upon the guiding philosophy and historic traditions still animating the industry today. More than the story of one publisher and his company, this is a first-person account of the buoyant period when writers, their books, and the companies who published them changed the nation.

''One of the most unique and engaging voices in genre fiction.'' - Booklist. ''In this rich and nuanced universe, Mohamed offers an emotionally fierce and human story that takes the time and space to personalize apocalypse.'' - Quill & Quire, starred review. After making a grievous mistake that ended in death, Henryk Mandrusiak feels increasingly ostracised within his own community, and after the passing on of his parents and the departure of his best friend, Reid, there is little left to tie him to the place he calls home. Henryk does something he never expected: he sets out into the harsh wilds alone, in search of far-flung family. He finds his uncle''s village, but making a life for himself in this unfriendly new place - rougher and more impoverished than the campus where he grew up - isn''t easy. Henryk strives to carve out a place of his own but learns that some corners of his broken world are darker than he could have imagined. This stunning novella concludes the story Mohamed started in The Annual Migration of Clouds and continued in We Speak Through the Mountain, bleaker than ever but still in search of a spark of hope in the climate apocalypse.

A crucial figure in the development of what would eventually become the juggernaut known as WWE, Robert ''Gino'' Marella, better known as Gorilla Monsoon, has never had his whole story told - until now. From his wrestling days as the rampaging monster who sold out Madison Square Garden and challenged world champion Bruno Sammartino dozens of times, to his pivotal role behind the scenes as part owner and would-be successor to Vince McMahon Sr., to his days as the beloved television commentator who narrated the memories of millions of young fans, Gorilla Monsoon is one of the most fascinating figures in pro wrestling history. It''s a story that starts with the aspirations of the son of Italian immigrants who becomes a national standout in collegiate wrestling and an Olympic hopeful, then takes an unlikely trajectory through the bizarre world of pro wrestling, eventually landing him in what was then known as the WWWF. He wound up owning one-quarter of the company before his 33rd birthday, and after a Hall of Fame career that saw him wrestle Muhammad Ali and box Andre the Giant, among many other things, he settled into a very high-profile position during the golden age of WrestleMania and Hulkamania, forming fondly remembered commentary teams with Bobby ''The Brain'' Heenan and Jesse ''The Body'' Ventura. His name and his voice are etched deep in the memory of wrestling fans the world over. This is his incredible story.

For readers of Our Wives Under the Sea and The Once and Future Witches comes a feminist gothic tale with a tough-as-nails female protagonist who must find her elderly aunt, long suspected of being a witch. A spooky, atmospheric, and fast-paced feminist tale about women called witches and the parts of our history we''d rather forget. Madeline is missing. Ordered to find her, Madeline''s estranged niece Fade must return to the lonely forest of Willow Sound, Nova Scotia. There, Fade discovers her aunt''s once-cosy cottage empty and rotting. The ominous smell of something burnt hangs in the air. In her search for answers, Fade clashes with the people of Grand Tea, a nearby village struggling under the shadow of a massive, looming rock that could tip and crush them all at any time. For generations, they''ve invented bizarre lore about Madeline, calling her a witch and blaming her for their misfortunes. They''ve had more misfortunes than ever lately. And a hurricane is coming. Inspired by real East Coast traditions and witch lore, The Witch of Willow Sound is a modern gothic tale that explores family lost and found and throws firelight on dark truths about what societies do with the people, and the past, they don''t want.