Gift Guide Week with Greg Rhyno

Picks by Greg Rhyno

The Perfect Holiday Reprieve from the Inevitable Apocalypse: Heat Wave by Maureen Jennings (Cormorant Books)

Someone once said, “I read the news today. Oh boy.” It was probably my mom. She always says things like that. But I have to admit that lately, when I check in on the twenty-four hour news cycle, I get a similar vibe (except it’s more like, “If the giddy rise of neo-fascism doesn’t destroy our society, then global warming surely will. Oh boy.”).

So, if your mom feels like my mom (or me, for that matter), you may want to consider buying her a copy of Maureen Jennings’ first Paradise Café Mystery, Heat Wave—a tightly-plotted thriller from the creator of the popular Murdoch Mysteries. Set in the summer of 1936, private investigator Charlotte Frayne puts her sleuthing skills to the test when she investigates a café run by three veterans of the First World War. Yes, it deals with the global rise of Nazis, and yes, it takes place during an unseasonable scorcher, but isn’t it nice to imagine, even for a little while, that it’s all just historical fiction? Oh boy.

The Perfect Holiday Distraction from Your Murderous Impulses: Widow Fantasies by Hollay Ghadery (Gordon Hill Press)

“If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.” Few people understand this old expression better than today’s modern wife. For the most part, today’s modern wife is too busy balancing family and career to make time for non-essential crimes. Especially if that crime is killing your husband. Who has time to plan, execute, and tidy up a murder? Not today’s modern wife, that’s for sure.

Leave it to the Poet Laureate of Scugog County to find a solution. While Hollay Ghadery’s latest outing, Widow Fantasies, is not a mariticide manual per se, it might just be the next best thing. Ghadery’s collection is a kitchen knife block stuffed with thirty-three razor-sharp stories. Through her exploration of extra-marital affairs, in vitro fertilization, nose jobs, catheters, and loveable goldfish, Ghadery seems to beg the question: are some women better off without the men in their lives? Disappointing hubbies beware—you might learn the answer sooner than you think!

The Perfect Holiday Excuse to Ride the Pleasure/Shame Merry-Go-Round: Revolutions by Hajer Mirwali (Talonbooks)

According to Hajer Mirwali, her debut collection of poetry is for any young woman “who has spent her entire life waiting for her life to start.” I know how she feels. Sometimes, I’d wait all Wednesday to watch Young Sheldon, only to realize it didn’t air until Thursday!

Revolutions is a series of poems in conversation with Mona Hatoum’s self-erasing sculpture + and -. Mirwali’s inventive use of repetition, shape, and redaction explores the endless cycle of pleasure and shame that informs the identities of many Arab women (notably, pleasure and shame are the exact same primary responses to any episode of Young Sheldon). Throughout Revolutions, Mirwali uses a kind of casual intimacy to illustrate the generational differences between living and surviving: “The trick is to let the garage door fully close before you enter the house/ After all the wars Baba’s a very light sleeper.” Her precise and careful use of language demonstrates a wisdom far beyond her years. Kind of like a slightly older Young Sheldon. (Hey, what a show that would make!)

The Perfect Holiday Opportunity to Finally Embrace Cats*: R.I.P. Scoot by Sara Flemington (Nightwood Editions)

How many times have you looked at one of those “Hang in There” posters and thought, Huh. Maybe that cat should just let go? Exactly. Zero times. That’s because cats are beautiful, resilient creatures, and while they can sometimes act like lazy little sociopaths, you know they could hang onto that branch until the end of recorded time. Even if it’s just to spite you.

The titular kitty in Sara Flemington’s R.I.P. Scoot is scabby, lice-ridden, and missing half a paw. (Nobody’s putting this cat on an inspirational poster!) But maybe that’s why I kind of like him. Austin, Flemington’s rudderless protagonist, seems to like him, too. And after poor Scoot lets go of the proverbial branch, Austin becomes obsessed with all nine of the dead cat’s past lives. He investigates a sprawling web of bizarre coincidences that connect his fallen feline to a Walmart squatter, a Japanese ASMR sessionist, and a Greek shipping route. Along the way, he even confronts a few of his own troubles. Hang in there, Austin!

*Not literally—they will tear you to shreds.

The Perfect Holiday Substitute for that Long Overdue Chemical Peel: Skin by Catherine Bush (Goose Lane Editions)

These days I hear a lot about skin care routines. Especially mine. Did you know it’s apparently “bad” to wash your face, hair, and body every week with the same bar of Irish Spring? Honestly, I blame the unrealistic beauty standards imposed on us by social media. 

Healthcare professional and occasional Hollywood actor Gwyneth Paltrow once said, “Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin.” While this may sound like sensible advice, Catherine Bush’s new short story collection, Skin, seems to suggest the opposite—that we often find beauty in our discomfort. And while Bush’s stories have surprisingly few tips about toners or hydrating face masks, they do examine the effects of the world on our precious epidermis. Throughout her stories, skin is prodded, protected, worshipped, seared, and changed. In the extraordinary title story, a woman soothes her ex-husband on his death bed. The narrator describes how she “pressed her fingers slowly and methodically into his wasted flesh.” Gross. But also beautiful? 

Bush’s collection is a tender exploration of what takes place on our surfaces and directly below, where—as I’m told by the experts—it’s especially important to moisturize.

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Greg Rhyno is the author of Who By Fire, a finalist for a Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence, and To Me You Seem Giant, which was shortlisted for a ReLit Award and an Alberta Book Publishing Award. His latest novel, Who by Water, is now available from Cormorant Books.

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Thanks to Greg for his delightful book recommendations. You can order any of these books through All Lit Up, or click the “Shop Local” button on the book listings to discover them at your local indie bookstore.

Keep up with this year’s gift guide here, and stay tuned for picks from Lindsay Zier-Vogel, next!