A Busman’s Holiday for Book Collectors

Whenever my wife and I travel to other cities for work or vacation, we always check out the local bookstores. It’s a natural thing, as we both are book collectors and our house is overflowing with our combined collections, which were each large enough before we married and moved in together.
We’ve been to places like [...]

The passing of a mentor: Chester D. Cuthbert

It is with heavy heart that I write these words. I regret to inform the Canadian book collectors and publishing community that Chester D. Cuthbert has passed on. He died today, March 20, 2009, at the age of 97.
Chester was my mentor. He was the librarian and archivist of the Winnipeg Science Fiction Society. He [...]

Book Launch: A World of UFOs by Chris Rutkowski

McNally Robinson Booksellers &
Dundurn Press
present
Chris Rutkowski

Launching his new book
A World of UFOs

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Polo Park in the Events Alcove
Reading at 7:00 pm

Although many of the best-known UFO sightings have taken place in
North America, amazing stories of witnesses’ encounters with strange
disc-shaped objects – and their occupants – have come from every
corner of the globe. One [...]

Nearing Hallowe’en…

In 1915, physician, politician and community leader Dr. T.G. Hamilton was president of the Manitoba Medical Association and was an elected a member of the provincial legislature. In 1918, soon after his young son’s death, he began to experiment with psychic phenomena. His aim was the scientific investigation of paranormal phenomena such as rappings, psychokinesis, [...]

Invisible poverty

During a conversation with friends over dinner the other night, I was shocked to learn that one of them had at one time lived in his car. While still a low-income earner, he is doing much better than he was several years ago during a crisis time of his life. His stories of life back [...]

An author’s tribute

This afternoon, I assisted in a ceremony marking the opening of the Carol Shields Memorial Labyrinth Quotation Wall in King’s Park in Winnipeg. Quite a large crowd was on hand, and dozens of schoolchildren read quotes from Shields’ works and led us through the labyrinth. (I’m told it’s the largest in Canada, or perhaps Westen [...]