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Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Writer’s Block with Jacob Wren
Jacob Wren’s fothcoming novel Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim (Book*hug Press) blends real-world politics with inventive storytelling in an anti-war narrative that critiques complicity in violent global systems while also highlighting the hope that propels resistance. Today, Jacob shares one of the most eloquent answers we’ve heard to why he writes and tells…
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All Lit Up Turns 10!
All Lit Up is ten! In internet years, we’re basically 100. For our first double-digit year, we look back on some memorable All Lit Up moments over the past decade. And, as a thank-you to all our readers, we’re taking 10% off books all weekend long with promo code alu10. Read on for ten highlights…
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Excerpted: Chandelier by David O’Meara
In his propulsive debut novel Chandelier (Nightwood Editions), award-winning poet David O’Meara gives us a three-part portrait of the dysfunctions of one modern family as they navigate profound loss. In this excerpt, we find one of the main characters, Hugo Walser, waiting to board a flight when he receives a mysterious phone call.
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Poetry in Motion: Ashley-Elizabeth Best + Bad Weather Mammals
In her new collection Bad Weather Mammals (ECW Press), Ashley-Elizabeth Best navigates the challenges and joys of living in a disabled and traumatized body and looks at how medical systems dehumanize our most vulnerable citizens. Hear Ashley-Elizabeth read “Proud Flesh” and “Absence” from the collection and some words about her poetic style.
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“Like my films, these stories seemed childish, but were written with both children and grown-ups in mind”: An Interview with Paul Driessen
Award-winning director/animator/cartoonist Paul Driessen has spent over 50 years making animated films, including the hit animated Beatles feature Yellow Submarine. We chat with Paul about his new book My Life in Cartoons (At Bay Press), the fun and fascinating world of animation, and his love of writing and storytelling.
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Excerpted: All Hookers Go to Heaven
Head inside the grimy-yet-liberating Supersexe strip club of legend in Angel B.H.’s novel All Hookers Go to Heaven (Invisible Publishing): a destination for her protagonist’s early years in Montreal.
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“Our lives reflected in stories should never be banned”: An Interview with Cait Gordon
Speculative fiction writer Cait Gordon’s disability-hopepunk adventure book Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! (Renaissance Press) has one of the most diverse set of characters around: “Blind, disabled, neurodivergent, Deaf, selectively speaking or nonverbally speaking, and/or they manage mental illness.” We chat with Cait about the importance of representation in literature and…
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Under the Cover: The Cipher that was Genni Gunn’s father’s wartime past
In her research to discover her father’s wartime past, Genni Gunn made a stunning discovery: he was one of a handful of highly-trusted operatives in the Special Operations Executive, an covert Allied effort in World War II. As she tells us below, her research spawned her new novel The Cipher (Signature Editions): although, as you’ll…
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ALU Staff Picks this Fall 2024
We’re breaking out more than our fall sweaters this month. Check out what books our staffers will be reading as cozy season begins.
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Excerpted: Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction
A collection of fourteen of the Palestinian diaspora’s best voices in speculative fiction and edited by Sonia Sulaiman, the anthology Thyme Travellers looks at Palestinian pasts, presents and futures through a speculative lens. Today we share the short story “The Third or Fourth Casualty” from the anthology.
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Two Poems: Attic Rain by Samantha Jones
Samantha Jones’s debut collection Attic Rain (NeWest Press) puts obsessive-compulsive disorder centre stage through explorations of time, space, and relationships. Lines and words repeat, write over themselves, and read top to bottom and back again, emphasizing themes of self-doubt, anxiety, and negotiation for control. Below we share two poems from the collection that call out…
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ALU Summer Book Club: What to read after The Rage Letters
So you loved our August book club pick The Rage Letters (Metonymy Press)… now what? We offer four follow-up reads – plus one bonus! – for your continued reading (and raging) pleasure.
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“All my characters come from some small or large part of myself”: An Interview with Hollay Ghadery
Multi-genre writer Hollay Ghadery’s deftly crafted short story collection Widow Fantasies (Gordon Hill Press) takes an unflinching look at family life and the interior lives of girls and women. The flash worlds in this fierce collection of super-short stories explores the subjugation of women through the often subversive act of fantasizing. We talk with Hollay…
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“People are fundamentally mysterious when you get down to it”: An Interview with Damian Tarnopolsky
In his short story collection Every Night I Dream I’m a Monk, Every Night I Dream I’m a Monster (Freehand Books), Damian Tarnopolsky plays with style and storytelling, giving us an original collection of linked stories that offer insights into the human psyche. We chat with Damian about his approach to writing characters, how he…
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Poetry in Motion: Trisia Eddy Woods + A Road Map for Finding Wild Horses
In her debut collection A Road Map for Finding Wild Horses (Turnstone Press), Trisia Eddy Woods examines the relationship between humans and horses, and how we trouble their natural environment (in particular, the Rocky Mountain region of Alberta). Hear Woods read “Surrender” and “Long Exposure” from the collection.
Got any book recommendations?