surface-digital

[bookaddict24-7]

RECO OF THE WEEK!

Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez

Synopsis:

"City of Toronto Book Award finalist Scarborough is a low-income, culturally diverse neighborhood east of Toronto, the fourth largest city in North America; like many inner city communities, it suffers under the weight of poverty, drugs, crime, and urban blight.

Scarborough the novel employs a multitude of voices to tell the story of a tight-knit neighbourhood under among them, Victor, a black artist harassed by the police; Winsum, a West Indian restaurant owner struggling to keep it together; and Hina, a Muslim school worker who witnesses first-hand the impact of poverty on education.

And then there are the three kids who work to rise above a system that consistently fails Bing, a gay Filipino boy who lives under the shadow of his father's mental illness; Sylvie, Bing's best friend, a Native girl whose family struggles to find a permanent home to live in; and Laura, whose history of neglect by her mother is destined to repeat itself with her father. Scarborough offers a raw yet empathetic glimpse into a troubled community that locates its dignity in unexpected a neighborhood that refuses to be undone."

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Check out my review on Goodreads here.

Add this book to your TBR on Goodreads here.

Add this book to your TBR on The Storygraph here.

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Have you read this book? Would you recommend it?

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Happy reading!

[bloodtiesstilllives]

Strange Encounters #4

Today Henry will be traveling to Toronto, but not just any Toronto. Toronto in the 90s.

And who will be hosting him this time?

One Nicolas Knight AKA Sir Knight Nicolas de Brabant

Just a bit of background on Nicolas. He was born in France at around 1200. Life happened and he ended up fighting in the Crusades. The war roughed up his mentals, got him questioning God and all that. This lead him to being seduced into becoming a vampire. He was turned in 1228. Things were going ok for a hot minute, but there's only so much killing (accidental or on purpose) one can do before something's gotta change. He goes through the centuries trying to get right, but then slips, but hey at least he is trying. Finally, by the time of the show, he is in Toronto living his life as a police detective. He aims to not only to pay back humanity for his past actions, he also wants to become human again.

He got vampire married for about a century to the woman who seduced him into vampire life, Janette (She brought him into the fold but didn't turn him.)

But in present day he is working with a doctor in the coroner's office to get back to humanity, even though it pisses off his vampire family.

The doctors name is Natalie. She is in the gif below.

So yeah that's the background on who Henry is going to be hanging around with for the week. Oh by the way...Nicolas is the type of vampire that can't really be around crosses like that...so yeah...

Ok Let's Begin

So to set the stage, Nicolas gets a series of dreams that tell him if an important visitor that will be coming. Nick doesn't doubt that there is something sending him visions. He's been around. The vibes aren't sinister, just an information dump. He gets a visual if Henry.

He even gets a date and time, shown to him via a clock and calendar.

Nick takes the appropriate action to prepare for the arrival. He uses his paid time off for the dates the vision gave him and he even hangs around Janette to get her used to him being around. He isnt going to be drinking from anyone at Janette's club, but he must make sure his guest is provided for.

The date comes and the time approaches. Nick is kinda pissed because he was given damn near every bit of information, but not the where.

He paces his livingroom, wondering about what to do about that as the minutes tick by. He actually got so lost in his pacing that the time came. He stopped his pacing once he heard someone clear their throat.

He turns toward the noise and sees the visitor from his dreams, right there standing in his apartment. It's lucky for Nick that Henry was not wearing his cross around his neck, because that would have been awkward.

They introduce themselves by name. Nick is older by 300 years, but Henry is pretty much royalty and so Nick acts accordingly.

He was going to give Henry the couch, but offers him the bed instead, and Henry happily accepts.

They do the thing where they show each other their vampire faces.

It's cool, they put them away just as quickly as they took them out. Both just wanted to see what's what.

Nick has to lay down the rules. He doesn't know Henry, but again he can read vibes and Henry is pretty chill, but you never know.

He takes Henry to go to the food spot, AKA The Raven.

He sees to it that Janette hooks Henry up with dinner. They hit it off, but Henry is still a little wary. He isn't used to the idea of multiple vampires coexisting in the same territory. And add on top of that, that they are in an alternate Toronto and it takes a moment to get used to. There is no hostility so he goes with the flow, but he is trying to be prepared for anything.

Everything goes well. Henry basically eats and goes. Nick let Janette know they will be back tomorrow. She is super intrigued but will wait for Nicolas to tell her what's going on. Henry is glad that Nick wanted to get out of there because his haunches were up being around so many vampires at once.

The night is still young so they go driving around. Henry tells Nick about 2007 Toronto and they just go to places that Henry hangs around to see what's different and what's the same. Mist of the street names are the same, but all the stores and buildings are different. That's just how they spend their first night. It's pretty easy breezy and entertaining for them both.

Over the course of the week they swap stories. They laugh. They speak full conversations in French, other times in English.

Henry talks about Vicki, her eye problems that took her off the force, and her new life as a Private Investigator.

Nick asks the natural question after seeing Henry all heart eyes while talking about Vicki.

"Are you going to turn her?"

"It would only end in disaster."

Henry just tells Nick everything. First about his turning and the one year time limit. Turning Vicki will not give him a life with her forever.

Nick is shocked. He looks at Henry with a new level of respect, because he can not imagine NOT being able to interact with other vampires. Sure he is trying to become mortal, but that is a choice. He is humbled by the idea of the sheer loneliness Henry must feel.

Yeah there was tense awkward silence for about an hour, but they just went out cruising again after Henry got something to eat, free range. Nick trusted him to not kill, even though he watched him closely.

Henry had a great time, Nick had a great time. They hugged before Henry disappeared. Nick went back to work and everyone commented on how relaxed he looked after his vacation.

[tweedsmuir-library]

Richard Wagamese

Richard Wagamese, the celebrated Indigenous Canadian writer, was born October 14, 1955. Wagamese was Ojibwe and a member of the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations. He was born in Ontario and lived there for much of his life. In later years he lived in British Columbia, where he died in 2017 at the the age of 61. Keeper’N Me was his debut novel, published in 1994. Richard Wagamese was perhaps best…

[theaskew]

World of Wonders, a novel by Robertson Davies (1913–1995). (Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, 1975.)

[bookjotter6865]

Witchery of the Week #350

An end of week recap “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” – Bertrand Russell It has become something of a tradition at Book Jotter to spookify the wind up nearest to Hallowe’en. Thus, with the festival only three days away, you may well find sinister doorways leading to frightful features secreted amongst…

[spacefruitpress]

Peach Season, Catherine Fletcher's debut short story, set in the Niagara wine country, is a taste of summer on a long December evening.

BUY NOW

spacefruitpress.com

[gildedbearediting]

A Look At: The Bully

Written in first person past tense by James Reaney. The story is set in the small town of Partridge. The main character lives there with his sisters Noreen and Kate, his father, and aunt Coraline in a small farmhouse. His mother died of TB, and he describes his father as an ‘afternoon farmer’ that sleeps in the kitchen. Jargon and Flowers Clapboard are the thin, flat pieces of horizontally…

[protagonistspub]

Sign of the Cross by Anne Emery

Sign of the Cross by Anne Emery was a find on Kindle*. It is Catholic fiction and falls into the Legal Thriller genre best. It is the first book in the Collins-Burke series and was published in 1990. When I say it was a find on Kindle, I mean that quite literally. Finding Catholic fiction on Kindle or really any platform or online retailer is a true challenge. These platforms and retailers…

[noroomforallourthoughts]

from Passion by Alice Munro

[scuffedgrannysblog]

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

A glimpse of the fading days of the dominance of the Hudson's Bay Company, woven into a gripping tale of murder, lust and individual courage

If I write a debut novel, I want it to be as good as this one. Stef Penney’s tale of Laurent Jammet and his unexpected murder leads us, through two different perspectives, into a stark world of rivalry and greed, addiction and control, wilderness and downfall. I have to say that I was very taken with this book. The subject matter always appeals to me – the hardness of life in the days of…

[theworldofwars]

A British padre saying a prayer over a dying German, near Epehy - France, 18th September 1918.

[rhetthammersmithhorror]

Overdrawn at the Memory Bank | 1983

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Underrated actor spotlight: David Hewlett

I’m so used to seeing him as David Worth in “Cube” that it was so weird seeing him play someone who actually smiled and was having fun, that character being Rodney McKay in “Stargate Atlantis”.

Here he is in Cube:

Here he is in SGA:

[spacefruitpress]

Take the scenic route with Catherine Fletcher’s WLW short story Baggage for Two, about a couple finding passion is still possible, even in a snowstorm.

BUY HERE

*Use code CRANBERRY25 to get 25% off any of our short stories or anthologies 'til Dec 24th!

[gildedbearediting]

A Look At: The Meaning of Marriage

The Meaning of Marriage was written in first person. The narrator is the granddaughter who’s looking at her own mother’s life. Then there’s Mrs Perren and her sister, the grandfather, the ‘motherless’ mother, the children, and the tom cat. The theme for the story is trauma, and family. It depicts generational trauma with a faded father, absent grandfather, and a harsh step-mother. The grandfather…