I was asked recently what my new collection, Godless but Loyal to Heaven, is about. I thought about it for a few seconds and my reply was, “Faith.”

This is my third collection of short stories, and I’m so proud of it because these stories braid so many of my essential characters together–like Torchy, Sfen, Snowbird and Stephanie from “Mermaids”, Grant, Clarence and Brutus from “Let’s Beat the Shit out of Herman Rosko” and “Dogrib Midnight Runners”, Kevin and Dean Meddows from The Lesser Blessed and “The Last Snow of the Virgin Mary”. It also introduces a new character, Bear, who is on a path of revenge.

I think it’s safe to say that most of my characters have faith in humanity, a respect for the Creator and a wish for a “master plan” that finds them all at peace: you see how in “Mermaids” from Angel Wing Splash Pattern, Torchy asks the blind medicine man Snowbird to bless his hands to win a bingo game, but we see a larger picture in play in “Godless but Loyal to Heaven.” My characters are always welcomed into more than they ever dreamed: sometimes for good (“Mermaids”); sometimes for the horrible (“Snow White Nothing for Miles) ; and sometimes for the mysterious (“I Count Myself Among Them”).

In Godless but Loyal to Heaven, we have stories that take place in Vancouver, Fort Smith, the fictional town of Fort Simmer, Behchoko, Nunavut and the future.

All of these characters in Godless but Loyal to Heaven are at the crossroads: a young Clarence is torn between his childhood friend, Brutus, but wants to hang with the cool kids in “Children of the Sundance”; “On the Wings of this Prayer” is the ultimate warning of what may happen to all of us if the Tar Sands of Alberta are allowed to burn wider and deeper into the earth; “The Fleshing” is about Bear having to choose to stand his ground with a Wheetago in order to save lives; “Tony Toenails” is about how nicknames are sometimes given and earned at the same time; “Love Song” is about Grant wanting the best for a friend in order to take from a sworn enemy; “Devotion” is about a wish for a deal with the mysterious white caribou people; “Lizard People” is about an infiltrating race who may be leading us. “Godless but Loyal to Heaven” is about Torchy in the fight of his life and his inheritance as a brother and adopted grandson to Snowbird; “The Contract” is about Bear on a path of vengeance and “Feeding the Fire” is about two warriors who want to punish the Fort Simmer principal for doing the unthinkable.

Yes, there’s intended violence here, but there’s also hilarity and where there was pain you’ll find the Great Mystery at play for all of these characters.

My greatest joy in writing this collection was realizing how deeply I adore these characters: Snowbird, Torchy and Stephanie already have a new story I’m working on right now titled “Furnace”, in which you learn more about Torchy and Sfen’s Uncle Frank. Bear is already submerged in a new story called “Blood Rides the Wind” and Kevin Garner has a story called “Born a girl”, which you’ll be able to read very soon in the NorthWords anthology titled Coming Home: Stories from the NorthWest Territories, also published by Enfield & Wizenty.

Godless but Loyal to Heaven confirms what I’ve been suspecting for some time: while I may be the author of the these books, it’s always the characters who lead me, and I can’t wait to see where they are taking me next. They have faith in me and their stories confirm my faith in humanity and the Creator and a “Master Plan” that we set in motion with our actions, thoughts and intentions.
Our first print run of Godless but Loyal to Heaven is a collector’s edition of 750 hardcovers. I’m grabbing as many as I can for myself because they go fast. After that, we switch to soft cover and I’m proud to say we will be an E Book very soon.

I am grateful to Enfield & Wizenty for publishing me, and I’m grateful to Maurice Mierau and Catharina de Bakker for all of their editorial help. Great editors make superb writers. Mahsi cho to you both for pushing me so hard to make this a collection we can all be proud of.

Mahsi cho, everyone. I can’t wait to hold this collection in my hands. Our due date for delivery is September 20, 2012.

I hope these stories blow you away!

With respect,

Richard Van Camp

That project has gone very well, and although there is no stopping the migrations of authors (Richard Van Camp as one relatively recent migrator-away-from-the-coast, and Greg home to the coast & river once more), there is also the opportunity to welcome the incoming: very happy to hear that Daniel Heath Justice has taken up residence on the left & west coast.

Daniel will come along to help launch two new Kegedonce books at the Rhizome Cafe in Vancouver, and the BC-based indigenous  authors contingent for Kegedonce swells tremendously:

book launch & literary celebration  

    7 to 9 pm 

    Saturday June 9, 2012

    Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver, BC

Garry Gottfriedson,  Jimmy Tames Horses

Celu Amberstone, The Dreamer’s Legacy

with David Campbell, Songmaker

+ Daniel Heath Justice, author of The Way of Thorn & Thunder Trilogy

+ a variety of performers from the Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast

I see none of my links are working, sigh… if they don’t activate for you, just run a search on us all, and you will find out all you need to know: Kegedonce authors & titles all in bold, with more info available on this website.

A family-friendly event for all our relations! Hope to see you there!

I had the pleasure of sitting in on a conversation this morning, listening to Maria Campbell, Jeannette Armstrong, and Margo Kane, addressing the question “Why do we do it?”As creative artists, activists and organizers, each one a hub of widespread communities of thriving artists at work in diverse fields, how did each one arrive at this place of creative leadership?

The panel’s official title, Sharing Perspectives: The Paths We’ve Travelled, was entirely descriptive: each woman spoke of the paths travelled, from family and girlhood through schooldays to crisis points, defeats, and early accomplishments. Who were the important teachers and friends who led each one along the path, what were the compromises required, and the plums of luck that arrived so deliciously?

Through the conversation, each of us in the witness chair could locate and identify our own experiences as they interwove with the trends and the times discussed, so that by lunch time, our places in the oral history of the indigenous lit of Canada– where our individual streams join with the larger collective stream– had been clarified.

I had to scoot homeward after lunch, so I missed the second half of the interactive day.  I did arrive at my children’s school to find everybody outside, celebrating Anti-Bullying Day with a flash mob performance. (That was cool, too.)

Talking Stick Festival is hosted by Full Circle Performance, on Coast Salish territories in Vancouver, B.C. This year is the eleventh annual celebration of indigenous arts and artists of Turtle Island, featuring visual arts, music, dance, theatre, literature and new media workshops and performance.

Our local group, Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast, enjoyed a day together participating in a “Wish Come True” Writing Challenge, details of which I have posted on my blog, http://joannearnott.blogspot.com/2012/02/tsf-2012-wish-come-true-writers.html

Events continue in venues around town, concluding Sunday March 4 @ Zawa Restaurant on Commercial Drive (After Party). For details on artists and events please visit the website,

http://fullcircleperformance.ca/

I’m so disappointed with The Junior Boys’ “It’s All True.” We crank “This is Goodbye” all the time here at the house. I was expecting the same brilliance or even better for “It’s all True”, but all I do is press skip, sigh, skip, sigh, skip. If this was the 80′s, I’d leave the cassette in a library somewhere and walk away. Because I bought it on I Tunes, it’s on my computer and who can I pay it forward to now? Lame.

I just discovered Washed Out and downloaded a few tunes off of the “Within Without.” I was a huge fan of Slowdive in the 90s and it appears so was the lead singer of Washed Out! This is so Slowdive it’s comforting and blanketing and layered and dreamy. Love it. But if you want to go to the source, check out Slowdive. They tanked with their Mojave 3 project for me but I guess I’m just picky, hey?

The Drums have also stolen my heart. I love their energy, their lyrical wit.

The last She Wants Revenge (Valleyheart) was also a disappointment. How does anything on “Valley Heart” even come close to their first album? I love “Maybe She’s Right”, but that’s about it.
In fact, let me praise She Wants Revenge right now. Here are my top 10 She Wants Revenge songs (so far!)

1. Red Flags and Long Nights
2. These Things
3. Out of Control
4. Tear You Apart
5. What I Want
6. She Will Always Be a Broken Girl
7. Pretend the World Has Ended
8. Rachel
9. Suck it Up
10. Maybe She’s Right

I’m rooting for you, Gentlemen!

I’ll keep adding more as I think of it, but that’s what I’m listening to as I tour and write.

Mahsi cho

Richard

I’m the luckiest guy I know: I am sent great books and graphic novels by authors and publishers I believe in–often by nagging. I’m currently reading Dawn Dumont’s novel/memoir Nobody Cries at Bingo (Thistledown Press), and here we have a new Aboriginal voice of a young Cree and Metis girl growing up in Okanese First Nation country with a real family with real challenges. It’s funny, moving, honest. Dawn has the wit of Lee Maracle and the humour of Eden Robinson. I’m four chapters in and giggling. I am going to ease into this novel slowly as I can tell it’s a winner.

I was just sent Nate Powell’s Any Empire (Top Shelf Books), and we have another work of dizzying brilliance by an artist who can fold time and throw it in the air so you’re loving where he takes you but layers it in a way you can read this illustrated story of our species’ fascination with war (collecting war toys and military memorabilia, bullies who torture small animals, etc.) over and over. I can always count on Nate to bring me back to my childhood: the power of reading, music, dreaming, throwing stars and ninja possibilities. I give this new Top Shelf release a hats off for the brilliant artwork, the time Nate puts into everything he does and for the way the graphic novel ends. Nate Powell is always pushing the boundaries of where a graphic novel can take us and it’s always like gravity and causality don’t always apply when you expect them to–and I don’t mind at all.

I’m also enjoying D.W. Wilson’s short story collection: Once You Break a Knuckle (Penguin Books). If you think you need to set your stories in Toronto, Paris or New York to make a statement, read this collection of stories about growing up in the Kootenay Valley in western Canada. I’m a fan. Reminiscent of Craig Davidson’s collection, Rust and Bone, this is a gritty read and a gorgeous one. I look forward to talking to Shelagh Rogers at the end of the month in her “Between the Covers” radio series on CBC praising this collection.

For comics, I’m reading Jeff Lemire’s “Sweet Tooth.” I miss Jeff’s artwork in the recent issues. I’m not convinced Matt Kindt and his watercolours with softer portraits are cutting it for The Taxidermist’s arc as the art is too soft for what the story is calling for. “The Walking Dead” is humming along horrifically. I’ve always said that the brilliance behind “The Walking Dead” is it’s not the dead or the “roamers” you have to worry about: it’s humanity and what it becomes when there’s no law–just pure survival for you and your family or the family you become. This is why I’m fascinated by Briane Keene’s “The Last Zombie” (Boom Studios). You have a military outfit with two APC’s carrying scientists and military personnel. The machines that carry them can go forever on solar panel power, but the human toll on what’s happening outside the safety is terrifying: radiation poisoning, leprosy, hundreds of rabid dogs, families walking alongside you hoping for food and water. The series begs the question: why carry on when there’s so little to hope for? IDW’s “GI Joe” on the I PAD is fantastic now that real Joes are getting killed by Cobra icons like the Baroness and Zartan as they compete for the new role as Cobra Commander and whoever can kill the most Joes wins. Eek!

The most anticipated series for me right now is IDW’s “Monocyte” by Menton3 and Kasra Ghanbari. This is dark, otherwordly and I’m hooked. Reminiscent of Tim Conrad’s darkest work in Toadswart d’Amplestone (Eclipse Books), I cannot wait to see where this four issue series takes us all.

My champion (I’ve actually rearranged my bookshelf so this torch of brilliance is close to me at all times) is Top Shelf’s Lucille by Ludovic Debeurme. I’ve ranted about this before, but I’ll say it again: this is a love story that I’ll never forget: two youth who’ve lost so much find hope again through each other. This is a literary work of forever, and this pushes both the literary form and the illustrated form to new heights for me.

On a side note, I’m noticing a trend with myself and collecting: a comic book takes me three minutes to read. If it costs four dollars and it’s ad heavy (as in “The Punisher”) and if a series places a sneak peek at a new series I’m not interested in (like “Return to the Planet of the Living Dead” in “The Last Zombie” or “A flight of Angels” in “Sweet Tooth”), it turns me off as a collector. What’s encroaching the industry of collecting right now–and I’m talking about the bricks and mortar stores–is Comixology, the app where you can download comics for half the price without ads or fluff. Because I’m now buying more of my comics on Comixology, this is hurting the comic shops where I live and travel to. Once I know I can buy it for half the price and carry it with me in my I Pad, I have a feeling more comic shops will go under, just as we’ve seen with Blockbuster.

A note to Boom Studios: you have a winner with “The Last Zombie.” This series can really take your franchise efforts internationally. Briane Keene is a creator to invest in. Rather that insert a third of the comic book with another preview I personally am not interested in, take the time to get Brian Keene to add more story for what we are buying with each issue. I’m finding less and less story with each issue I’m buying and this is hurting the series. I’m happy to wait a few months for more story and less ads and inserts. “The Last Zombie” could be your “30 Days of Night” or your “The Walking Dead.” Please invest more in this title.

So! The rallying cry to comic shops and comic book publishers is how can you offer something that we can’t buy electronically? Once comic book publishers figure this out, it will get collectors like me to race to the comic shops and fork out the full price for what they are selling.

For all you business entrepreneurs out there, I’ve just been inspired by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson’s Rework (Crown Business). This is a manifesto of simplifying your work in a way that completely disarmed me. It’s not about doing more; it’s about doing less. I won’t give away a lot of the mandate the authors propose, but this book is a reminder of what’s most important: time, family, friends, a happy workplace, focusing on what’s working and letting go of the rest. I look forward to returning to this collection of affirmations again and again. If Timothy Ferris’ The Four Hour Work Week is the sexy, sleek rabbit of vagabonding bliss, this is slow and steady turtle who’s common sense approach to business these days is one that has certainly benefited me since reading it.

For rock biographies, I’ve so enjoyed Vince Neil’s Tattoos & Tequila, Steven Adler’s My Appetite for Destruction, Mustaine’s Mustain, Red by Sammy Hagar and I thought Nikki Sixx’s This is Gonna Hurt fell short of the brutal impact of The Heroin Diaries. It was a good read, but it wasn’t great and I wanted way more photography with different models. It seems the power rockers of the 80′s and 90′s are all finding peace in their own ways, and it’s a joy to read what really went on behind all those glorious songs we grew up to.

Happy reading, everyone.

Richard

It was the first page of Kate Schatz’s interpretation of ‘Rid of Me’ that won my attention as I picked the book up at Coachella years ago. I couldn’t believe that there was a series that would allow authors free range on writing about their favourite albums in any way they wanted. Kate opens with the same lines PJ opens with in Rid of Me: “Tie Yourself to Me.” Our main character is Kathleen who hates her life and has just been released back to her family for a crime which is unclear. Together, Mary and Kathleen vanish together in a secret world of bondage and espionage as the world ends in fire with “Rid of Me” as a soundtrack. To know that this is Kate Schatz’s first work of fiction and that she was allowed to take her first book wherever she wanted to is astonishing and soul inspiring.

I always wondered why The Afghan Whigs’ album ‘Gentlemen’ never reached the heights it deserved. It’s one of my all-time favourite albums. I wore it out as a cassette and it’s been with me through all my numerous moves. It is a classic! Thanks to Bob Gendron who did the research and interviews with the band, I now know it was a number of reasons-–both internal and external of the band and label—-that ended the Whigs and gave birth to The Twilight Singers.

I didn’t know that Greg Dulli whipped off six of the vocals in one night in the studio: “Fountain and Fairfax”, “When We Two Parted”, “Gentlemen” and “What Jail is Like” and “Debonair.” One of my favourite songs “Be Sweet” was written in Bordeaux (one of my favourite cities!) and debuted in Paris on the Congregation tour.

Ben Sisario got to drive around with Black Francis to interview him for The Pixies’ ‘Doolittle.’ To know that Charles Thompson (aka Black Francis aka Frank Black) is happy as a dad at 40 with a wife who adores him brings me comfort. The Pixies were the perfect band for me in my college years and it’s great to know Mr. Thompson is a happy man these days with these reunion tours.

I read Dai Griffiths’ interpretation of Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ and, honestly, I couldn’t understand most of it: “The Radiohead contribution is a firmly dilineated four-part form, with a slower third section and a curtailed coda”. (What?!). But I do agree with Dai’s that Thom Yorke has an “angelic register” in Karma Police. This was not the book for me, but I appreciate the technical everything about the album.

The other books I am looking forward to in the series is Marvin Lin’s interpretation of Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’, Joe Pernice’s take on The Smiths’ ‘Meat is Murder’ and Mike McGonigal’s diving into My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless.’

For a full list of all the books in the series, please check out: http://33third.blogspot.com/p/complete-list-of-33-13-series_27.html

I can’t think of any other series quite like this, and I look forward to updating this blog as I read the rest of the books that interest me. Wow!

I also can’t think of a series I would love to write for more. I would write about three of the albums that changed my life forever: The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’ and The Sisters of Mercy’s ‘First and Last and Always’ and ‘Floodland.’

As we count down toward the launch of Kegedonce’ new website, I have a few stray snips of news to weave for you, up-to-the-minute reports on my character development (joking) and interesting facts from the rest of the world.

I really enjoyed reading the article in the Link, “Indigenous Righters,” thank you for that!

I wanted to send out big thanks to Neal McLeod & his crew at Trent U, for the wondrous Sounding Out Indigenous Poetics project.  It was a great gathering and it will be a great book, when it grows up. Also in the big thanks category, Niigon Sinclair & Warren Carriou’s Narratives of Manitowapow project had a big impact on me, and I look forward to seeing the final polished text in it’s chichi published version.

Here in BC, we are putting the finishing touches to our Salish Seas project, both an art show at Gallery Gachet and an anthology of BC-based indigenous writers & artists, collaboratively designed by members of the Aboriginal Writers Collective west coast. We have two readings planned at the Gallery Gachet, 88 East Cordova Street, on Feb 4 (opening night) and Feb 26 (book launch), and a coffee house gathering under the auspices of Talking Stick Festival at The Pond on Feb 7 @ 7 pm, 1441 Commercial Drive (all Vancouver venues). Exciting!

For twenty years, people have been taking to the streets of Vancouver on February 14th, for the Women’s Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women. There will be local events for the first two weeks of February, as well as events in other cities and provinces. Check your local calendars and please participate, in whatever ways are possible and meaningful for you. It’s a family matter.

Last but not least, my thoughts and participations on this blog have brought good results. First, I figured out how to post a second time on my original blog, spoken of in an earlier post, and have carried on doing so. Then, having the new skills needed to express a whoosh of feeling that occurred when fellow AWCWC writer and collaborator, Vera Manuel, passed into the spirit world last January I initiated a tribute site in her honour.

I have over the last year posted quite a lot on both of these sites, Vera Manuel Tribute gathering bibliographic and poetics information that relate to Vera’s work and to indigenous theatre & poetry in Canada, and my quirky Joanne Arnott blog, gathering whatever attracts my crow attention: more about love and local events and poetry, and arts links generally.

Meantime, my collapsing computer continues her shenanigans, and my book projects continue to be stayed and slowed by that hand: call it a maturing process, new nonfiction & poetry collections continue to gestate… a slow perk on the back burner, scenting up the house: not ready yet, but soon!

yr affectionate j.

I have roared with laughter and marveled at his brilliant humour in “Incredible Change Bots” (If you love Transformers, you gotta read this to believe it. He nails the magic of Transformers and I guarantee you will laugh out loud. And I see there’s an Incredible Change Bots II? You gotta be kidding me).

But if you’ve never heard of Jeffrey Brown, here’s the deal: Jeffrey Brown documents his life: the good, the bad, the embarrassing. His female equivalent in the honesty and fearless department is Arial Schrag’s “Potential” (Arial is my favourite female biographer graphic novel artist).

If you’re looking to discover an incredible artist who bares all or if you’re a fan who’s lost track of what he’s been up to, “Undeleted Scenes” is a must read for all comic book fans. This collection of Jeffrey’s work finds him becoming a father, living through 911, the invasion of Kuwait, heartache, heartbreak, picking himself up, hanging with friends, doodling at Earwax–his favourite cafe, and longing for love.

One of the reasons I adore Jeffrey’s writing is he has this incredible sense of recall. This is probably because he records his life as it happens in doodles and sketches. For me, his ability to be honest with what he’s thinking or capture his excitement or dread about what’s facing him in life is a gift that I don’t see a lot in the comic book medium.

What’s also great about “Undeleted Scenes” is the entire collection of “Be a Man” is in here–and that’s a hard to find smaller book that I first discovered Jeffery in. “Undeleted” also has material from “Miniature Sulk”, “Feeble Attempts,” and more.

“Undeleted Scenes” is Jeffrey Brown’s opus and reading it made me hungry to buy his entire catalogue:

Cats are Weird
Incredible Change Bots I and II
Sulk 1 through 4
Funny Misshapen Body
Little Things
Cat Getting Out of a Bag
I am Going to Be Small
AEIOU: Any Easy Intimacy
Bighead
Clumsy
Unlikely

If you’re looking for the perfect gift for any guy, buy this book. Buy all of his books. Jeffrey Brown is a treasure and so is Top Shelf Productions for publishing him.

Richard Van Camp

Bravo to Susan Juby for her memoir and account of sobering up from drugs and alcohol. This book starts hilariously and with as much honesty as she can muster, and I applaud her courage to tell most of what she can remember. I found myself really enjoying the first 150 pages, but then something happened: Susan Juby left her own story. Where did she go?

My concerns for the book are I wish Susan would have gone deeper. The first 150 pages led me to believe I would read a fearless and moral inventory of Susan’s addiction and recovery and we get that–for the first half. I wish Susan would have slowed down (or had her editor slow her down) to take at least a page for things like the use of cocaine and what it was like the first time she used it. I wanted as much insight into her psyche as the first half of the book throughout the entire journey, but I found the more I read, Susan left the narrative, and I ended up with a pamphlet on AA (which I have utmost respect for) and the illumination of various other avenues for harm reduction. But where is Susan in the last half of the book?

Also, what was her relationship with her father? Why is this left out? How is her relationship with her mother now? I would have loved to have read the ‘morning after’ scene where she chipped her front tooth and why is her sexual assault never dwelt on? It’s given a paragraph. The last 40 pages are skimmable and I didn’t want that. Because the first half is so strong and so personal, I wanted to share in her victory with sobriety–and I do. This is an important book, but I felt like I was reading a near final draft from a tremendous writer who should have been pushed harder to dig deeper.

Great resources for recovery:

Some Kind of Monster: the Metallica movie (I love this movie!)
Clean and Sober (the Michael Keaton movie!)
The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx
Gail Giles’s novel “Right Behind You.” (a great novel on recovering from the unthinkable)
Beckylane’s memoir: Where the Rivers Join
Brian Maracle’s masterpiece: “Crazy Water.”
Rudy Wiebe and Yvonne Johnson’s narrative: Stolen Life.
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, the book.

Bottom line: a great start, a fabulous voice, but then, well, we are robbed of the author’s final say about her own self-acceptance and focus on a hopeful future. I recommend this book completely. I think it’s a great resource and an important book. I just wanted more of Susan right until the end.

just got back to kamloops, bc, after the awesome launch of the new anthology by Kegedonce Press,
“W’ daub Awae” = Speaking True………

i got to meet the one, the only Al Hunter, and the Fabulous Gregory Scofield, and the Matriarch, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm !!

it was fantastic, and Warren Cariou did a fabulous job putting the book together and Tania Willard did an amazing task of designing a cool book!

I’ll see you who weren’t in Winnipeg at the Vancity Launch at the end of May!!

WOOT!

Thanks for everyone who made it, and all who helped organize it, sooo much fun!!

cheers,

chrisbose.