Book publishers: IF YOU and a willing publisher surfaced during the past month with a new book for the market, your product would compete with over 50,000 titles published in North America this year. No bookstore — and few libraries — could store them all. Casualties among bookstores, publishers, binders, printers and authors are far more numerous than even the survivors, let alone the success stories. A Canadian hardcover book is considered a triumph if it sells 5,000 copies. This will generate a gross income of $15,000 for its author. Writers who net minimum wage from their labor are one ina thousand. Yet the books keep coming. The dominant sales season is, of course, Christmas. With that in mind, we'll outline some Cana- dian selections. | ee Bill Deverelt’s first effort at non-fiction, Fatal Cruise, reads like a long apology to his client. This is the story of the now deceased Robert Frisbee, the gay private secretary who was con- victed of murdering his elderly female boss, ostensibly to capture the inheritance. The tale is more bizarre that Deverell’s fiction. The author was Frisbee’s lewyer, in a trial that featured Dr. James Tyhursi as an ‘expert witness. ~ Tyhurst is the star attraction of novelist Christopher Hyde’s non- fiction book Abuse of Trust, about the psychiatrist’s conviction on sexual offences. We suggested to Hyde that he might have sold more books if he called it Whips & Chains, but Hyde replied that respectability was more important. According to Vancouver Sun reviewer Phil Needham, a court- room pro, Hyde blew his credibil- ity-anyway, when he wrote that the Tyhurst case lawyers pranced around the courtroom wearing wigs, and that the accused sat at his lawyer’s table. Tyhurst was in the docket dur- ing the trial. Canadian lawyers don’t wear wigs. ~~ For those who like murder stories, Maggie Siggins, who chronicled the tragedy of Saskat- Gary Bannerman OPEN LINES chewan’s Thatcher family, is back with another strange prairie story, Revenge of the Land. The most important book this fall is not Mel Hurtig’s Betrayal of Canada or Peter Newman’s ongoing Hudson’s Bay saga, it is A Capital Scandal, by Robert Fife. and John Warren. The authors will outrage you with their detailed analysis of the financial abuse and self-serving obsessions of just about every icderal politician. Uf it is true in politics that one is insignificant until attacked, a new book on Preston Manning places him on centre stage. The venom drips from the pages of Murray Dobbin’s Preston Mann- ing and the Reform Party. More fun is Met Rothenburger’s Friend 'O Mine, an even-handed biography of the inimitable Rev. P.A. Gaglarai. In a non- judgmental way, it chronicles not only Flying Phil’s astonishing achievements, but also the embar- rassments inflicted upon his friends. Canadian Civil Rights Associa- tion lawyer Alan Borovoy, in- creasingly viewed as a national in- stitution, offers a little book with Sunday, December 22, 1991 ~ North Shore News - 9 God bless them everyone a good deal of useful advice for those who are ‘‘mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.”” Uncivil Disobedience is worth a read. Geoff Meggs, who works in the B.C. trade union movement, has turned out a comprehensive histo- ry and analysis of the West Coast fishery: Salmon. A deeper text is People of the Pines, by the Globe and Mail’s Geoffrey York and Loreen Pindera, the story of Oka. eoce A series of great belly laughs can be had from Portfoolio 7, the latest conspiracy by Canada’s car- toonists. The newspaper political humorists from coast to coast have their best selections on display. W.P. (Bill) Kinsella’s Box Socials has been riding the best- seller lists for weeks. There may never be another triumphant movie for him like Field of Dreams, but Kinsella continues to evolve a unique and delightful lit- erary style. Quicker and lighter is the debut of the world’s first Ukrainian Ca- nadian detective, Dan Rudnicki, the creation of former magazine journalist Paul Grescoe. One of the author’s previous books was the biography of Jim Pattison. Flesh Wound is slightly com- mercial: it involves Vancouver, homosexuality, heterosexuality, transvestites, sex change surgery, the Hollywood movie set and murder. It’s a comedy. it’s back to business with an important new text from Victoria, The Dunsmuir Saga, by Terry Reksten, an acclaimed history of the most prominent family in the first half century of this pro- vince’s life. {t is a story of triumph and ultimate sadness as a family’s for- tune and stature are frittered away to insignificance as decades pass- Another book from Kamloops adds yet another good resource to the history section of the archives. Lynne Stonier-Newman documented the 92-year lifespan of the British Columbia Provincial ings From — North Shore /[IBERAL MLA’s - DANIEL JARVIS North Vancouver-Seymour 23 YEARS ~ SERVING Police. Finally in 1950, the 500 remaining officers were sworn into the RCMP, a cost-cutting move greeted by many tears in its day. eee Earlier this fall I had the pleasure of reading two fat books in the same week. They both ad- dressed ‘‘power’’ in Canada. Sherrill MacLaren of Vancouver (wife of businessman Woody MacLaren), produced Invisible Power, The Women who Run Canada. Toronto business writer James Fleming’s Circles of Power is simply a who’s who, without gender definition. MacLaren details the careers of hundreds of dramatically suc- cessful and influential women. But, before we end this subjec- tive and partial list, we will give honorable mention to one special book and a full fanfare for another: Artist Michael Kiuckner’s sensitive story about British Col- umbia heritage, Paving Paradise, demands thought and attention. Liv Kennedy of Nanoose Bay deserves everlasting gratitude for her splendid new coffee table book, Caastal Villages. Finally, a sincere merry Christmas to those who love books; to the folks at Douglas & McIntyre, Harbour Publishing, M&S, Harper Collins, Key Porter, Doubleday, Whitecap Books, Lit- tle Brown, McGill-Queens, Toronto Seal Books, Random House, Bantam and many others who put their money behind wor- thy gambles. And to three special friends whose liaison with media helps make Vancouver the best book market in Canada: North Van- couver’s Keith Sacre of Harper Collins, and from Stanton & McDougall, Pat Crowe and Linda Garrett. God bless books, and those who make them happen. a A Place To Go When You're Pregnant And Need Support: GIRTHRIGHT | grail 987-7313 « Free Pregnancy Test « § 4 229 Lonsdale in Vancouver Call & North Vancouver 68-7223 & LYNN VALLEY LIONS Wish to thank the Management, Merchants and Patrons for thelr continued support of our Christmas tree lot at * Lynn VatLey Centre Starting Boxing Day. 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