in the North Atlantic Sea,

some very Randomanimals

are hiding in the trees…

So begins Ashley Fayth’s delightful nonsense poem in which readers meet a range of “wild and wondrous” beasts—like the sniger, the floose, the squiffin, and the butterflabbit. With its playful rhymes and rollicking rhythm, this book is a perfect read-aloud. Yet even in its silliest moments, The Sniger and  the Floose is a gentle reminder to respect and preserve the beauty of the natural world around us, and a joyous celebration of imagination.

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The Smeltdog Man is the story of how a Cape Bretoner marshalled his accidental invention, a marijuana-induced, munchie-inspired Smeltdog, into the most successful fast food franchise in Canada. As president of his newly formed Good Karma Corporation, he tells the tale of how his business empire grows beyond his control, turning him into a billionaire.

While the business booms and the narrator's wisdom is being constantly tapped for new ideas and strategies, he consults his Granddaddy Blue, whose pragmatic mixture of horse-trader economics and 1960s hippie ideals provide his grandson with the guiding principles and necessary scams he needs to survive in the corporate world.

From the simplicity of its origins to the ecological disaster of its success, The Smeltdog Man details the influences of country music on our narrator's understanding of himself, the longing of unrequited love and the accumulation of wealth possessing more zeros than our hero can count.

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Exploring Shakespeare’s dictum, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players,” Bill Carr proves it isn’t just dramatic hyperbole but true. During his life, Bill has tried to live authentically while being very conscious he was acting. We are all acting, he claims, and some are better actors than others.

The same skills that work on the stage also work in life. Each requires the same attention to detail and a co-ordination of the inner life with the outer manifestation of that life. So Bill decided to improve his use of theatre techniques to better manage his own life. Now he shares those discoveries with readers.

Through exercises in the Play Journal and relating (often hilariously) his own life lessons, Bill will help you take the performance of your life to the next level – whatever you conceive that to be. Acting Up is about self-creation, taking control of the creative energies in and around you to be who you want to be in any given moment on your life’s stage. It asks you to follow Socrates’ advice, “Know thyself,” and challenges you to manifest that self in each moment. This is no easy task, but the alternative can be too costly.

The ideas here are gifts Bill received throughout his life from mystics, philosophers, seers, artists and seekers, who, like him, have experimented along the way, each offering bits and pieces that resulted in this book. Acting Up is part of an ongoing experiment in living. As you take part in the exercises, you join a company of artists dedicated to the adventure of self-discovery and, ultimately, self-expression. Perform your life as it was meant to be performed. It’s your show, so start acting up. 

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The book is like a dose of good old-fashioned relationship counseling, helping Frenchy’s fans rekindle the romance with their favourite stores. It addresses some of these burning questions. Do you still feel that tingle of anticipation as your eyes sweep the bins? Does a superbargain find still make your heart beat faster? And, the ultimate relationship question: do you find yourself casting a roving eye on Wal-Mart or The Bay?

Readers of Pardon My Frenchy’s can rely on a wealth of ideas such as Six Bring-Back-the-Thrill Techniques, Ten Surefire Ways to Pull Out all the Stops, Four Ideas to Put You in the Frenchy’s Mood, Three Ways to Add Zest to the Experience, Four Tips for Initiation Virgin Frenchy’s Shoppers, plus the Ultimate Definitive State-of-the-Art Frenchy’s Self Quiz. There’s even a Frenchy’s song lyrics that are perfect for a shopping crawl with the gang.  

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Not merely razor sharp, Lesley's wit is also ocean wide, taking in everything from the humiliations of breast pumping to the indignities of aging, from the frantic excess of holiday preparations to the homey irritations of a long marriage.

As precise in her observations as Jane Austen and as fractious on occasion as Oscar the Grouch, Crewe also has a sweet, tender centre, taking us from a hearty laugh to a good cry in a single paragraph. Readers will relate to Crewe's ache at missing her mom, her nostalgia for her childhood, her frustrations at raising teenagers, and her impatience for terrible parking lot etiquette in equal measure. The book spans sixteen years' worth of columns for The Cape Bretoner Magazine, Cahoots Magazine, and The Chronicle Herald.

Are You Kidding Me?! is a side-splitting, heartwarming, Cape Breton–flavoured celebration of the little things.

An exclusive Collector's Edition featuring—not even kidding!—bonus material:
A bookplate, signed by Lesley Crewe
A letter from Lesley to her fans
An essay about how Lesley's writing career began
A Q&A between Lesley and her long-time editor
A brand-new bonus column

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Scottish Highlanders, and their descendants all over the world, are no better and no worse than any other people where “sinful” behaviour is concerned. Standards of morality and social conventions changed dramatically during the 19th century – and most of the people engaged in recording and commenting upon Highland life and tradition were puritanical ministers and priests who left out the racy bits. So, while there are many useful books that provide a wide range of Scottish Gaelic vocabulary to express many aspects of daily life – for the most part, they leave out the naughty bits.

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