Your cart is currently empty!
Off/Kilter: 2025 Spring Preview
One of our favourite posts of the year is back! Off/Kilter previews these eight new, wonderfully weird books that bend genre, subject, and style to look forward to this Spring season.
Dead Writers by Jean Marc Ah-Sen,
Michael LaPointe, Cassidy McFadzean,
Nabem Ruthnum (Invisible Publishing)
About the book: In this collaborative omnibus-style fiction project, four writers navigate the protean concept of the “bargain” in novella-length stories.
What people are saying: “Though the four novellas comprising Dead Writers vary tremendously in style and subject matter, they all evoke a delicious, spine-tingling sense of dread…This is a collection that will keep you turning pages, but that will also make you wonder: Are the pages turning you?” —Allegra Hyde
Pre-order Dead Writers on All Lit Up or at your favourite indie bookstore.
R.I.P. Scoot by Sara Flemington
(Nightwood Editions)
About the book: A literary mystery – centred around a stray cat that passes away – that asks us to examine what stories, real or fiction, become the metaphors we use for working through our own challenges and uncertainties.
What people are saying: “Follow RIP Scoot‘s disappearing red bean scented pawprints as it trespasses time zones, borders, and the boundaries between what is human and what is animal, and what is alive or dead. Let this misfit sphinx of a novel scoot through the broken window of your feral tender heart.” —Brooke Lockyer
Pre-order R.I.P. Scoot on All Lit Up or at your favourite indie bookstore.
Horsefly by Mireille Gagné,
translated by Pablo Strauss
(Coach House Books)
About the book: Loosely based on historical fact, Horsefly is a terrifying tale about the ways in which we try to dominate nature, and how nature will, inevitably, wreak retribution upon us.
What people are saying: “It strikes a perfect balance between past and present, and even includes clever little chapters that present the point of view of the hated insect. The plot is rather clear and can be devoured in one go.” —L’Actualité
Pre-order Horsefly on All Lit Up or at your favourite indie bookstore.
Lowfield by Mark Sampson
(Now or Never Publishing)
About the book: A police officer on leave to deal with the recent loss of his colleagues moves into his family’s ancestral home of Applegarth, on Prince Edward Island. Dark secrets soon emerge, both in the house and in the nearby town of Lowfield.
What people are saying: “A dark story that really does fit into the cosmic horror genre. I am used to New England as my setting for a great deal of this type of horror but it was refreshing to have a different setting, in this case Prince Edward Island.” —Lona O., NetGalley Reviewer
Pre-order Lowfield on All Lit Up or at your favourite indie bookstore.
The Last Band on Earth
by Elaine M. Will
(Renegade Arts Entertainment)
About the book: Nat and her bandmates in The Dead Layaways want to go on tour, but the demonic entities who run their city have other idea, not to mention the dark cloud that hangs over everything stifles their creativity. Much like the author’s previous work, The Last Band On Earth draws on themes of mental illness and attempted recovery.
What people are saying: The Last Band on Earth was a Kickstarter Project We Love!
Pre-order The Last Band on Earth on All Lit Up or at your favourite indie bookstore.
Wildwoman by Kat Sandler
(Playwrights Canada Press)
About the book: Based on the shocking true story of Catherine di Medici and her “wildman” that inspired Beauty and the Beast, Kat Sandler brings her trademark rapid-fire wit to this salacious saga of an infamous bad girl who could not be tamed.
What people are saying: “Sandler’s play questions what it means to be a monster, and invites audiences to consider how power might itself be the monster. It is daring, seductive, and unafraid to be absolutely unhinged: you will laugh, and you will be shocked.” —Intermission
Pre-order Wildwoman on All Lit Up or at your favourite indie bookstore.
He Who Would Walk the Earth by
Griffin Bjerke-Clarke
(Fernwood Publishing)
About the book: Sparse and dreamy, Griffin Bjerke-Clarke’s debut novel explores memory, identity, trauma, and healing through a timeless journey. Métis storytelling methods and elements of horror infuse He Who Would Walk the Earth, an anti-colonial western that powerfully evokes a mood reminiscent of twentieth-century classics like Waiting for Godot.
What people are saying: “He Who Would Walk the Earth is an anti-imperialist adventure that explores the strange and beautiful gifts of becoming who we are-and how we exist-in our individual and collective power. Bjerke-Clarke deftly blends western and fantasy genres in this innovative debut novel where relationality shapes reality.” —Tiffany Morris
Pre-order He Who Would Walk the Earth on All Lit Up or at your favourite indie bookstore.
The Midnight Project by
Christy Climenhage (Wolsak & Wynn)
About the book: In this near-future science fiction thriller, Christy Climenhage has created a frighteningly real world on the verge of collapse. As disaster strikes, the two friends need to decide whether to cling to their old life or to let go and embrace a new path for humanity.
What people are saying: ”Darkly prescient, but never giving into despair, Climenhage’s debut science fiction thriller, The Midnight Project, is an absolute triumph. In a near future where every breath is taken in a pre-apocalypse of terrifying credibility, the author draws us into the journey of two isolated scientists who, charged with designing a new kind of human, discover the best of humanity in themselves and their creations. An incredible story and a must-read for us all.” —Julie E. Czerneda
Pre-order The Midnight Project on All Lit Up or at your favourite indie bookstore.
* * *
What Off/Kilter pick are you most excited to read this spring? Let us know on social media by tagging us @alllitupcanada.
Tagged:
9780369105516, 9780889714823, 9781552454992, 9781773637228, 9781778430541, 9781989689813, 9781998408184, 9781998489398, Christy Climenhage, Coach House Books, Dead Writers, Elaine M. Will, Fernwood Publishing, Griffin Bjerke-Clarke, He Who Would Walk the Earth, Horsefly, Invisible Publishing, kat sandler, Lowfield, Mark Sampson, Mireille Gagne, Nightwood Editions, Now or Never Publishing, off/kilter, Pablo Strauss, Playwrights Canada Press, Renegade Arts Entertainment, RIP Scoot, Sara Flemington, The Last Band on Earth, The Midnight Project, Wildwoman, Wolsak & Wynn
