Update: February 8, 2008

compiled by Nathaniel G. Moore

HAVE LUNCH WITH BARRY CALLAGHAN & RAY ROBERTSON

Authors Barry Callaghan (Between Trains) and Ray Robertson (What Happened Later) will be discussing their work at Keep Toronto Reading's Lit Lunch at the Deer Park Branch of the Toronto Public Library on Wednesday February 13 at 12:30 p.m. Toronto Public Library - Deer Park Branch, 40 St. Clair Avenue East. You can buy a lunch there for five dollars of bring your own tuna fish sandwich in tinfoil with a thermos of strawberry Kool Aid. The choice is yours. It's just a bit east of St. Clair and Yonge, right across from the McDonalds/TTC bus and breakfast.

ONE BOOK (WE GET TO SHARE IT)

If you've been to one of the near 100 branches of the Toronto Public Library system this month, you've likely seen some promotion of the One Book project. "We encourage all Torontonians to read Consolation by Michael Redhill. Then join in discussions and events throughout the city about its themes, issues and sometimes controversial ideas."

MATRIX 79: THE NEW UNDERGROUND

Edited by Maya Merrick and Ian Orti, the latest issue of Montreal's notorious Matrix features over a dozen new entries into the Canlit canon. A nice smattering of reviews plus poetry by Stuart Ross, Dennis Lee and fiction by Matrix ex-patriot Sarah Steinberg to round things out. Cover art by Susan Moss. On stands now!

LWOT vs. AWOT

ECW author and Quill & Quire reviews editor Mr. Nathan Whitlock headlines the latest edition of the ruthless Lies With Ocassional Truth with an excerpt from his highly anticipated April 2008 first novel A Week Of This. Plus your chance to join their team, or pitch a terrible Canadian television show.

Related TDR Interview

"Canadian wrestling star Chris Benoit's brain resembled that of an 85-year-old man with dementia when he killed himself and his family last summer." The controversial double-murder-suicide got a Canadian tweak lon CBC as gruesome insight into the abject afterlife of a pro wrestler continues to unravel. The recent airing of Fight To The Death was a horrific tell-all. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) boss Vince McMahon flat out refused to participate in the documentary (though clips of McMahon on the news in previous interviews did appear) and the WWE was referred to as World Wrestling, which I found strange. 

Author and ex-wrestler Bret Hart has been saying he wants to turn his bestelling book Hitman (Random House, 2007) into a feature film, but how would you ever cast it or shoot it with 20,000 seat arenas? I can't help but think this would make such an amazing feature film, the Stampede Wrestling scene is depicted as such a macabre, frozen setting, and that is where a lot of top wrestlers got their start back in the 1980s. Dynamite Kid's ex-wife (Kid was Benoit's hero) and Jake "The Snake" Roberts make for chilling interview subjects on this "it's not over yet" macabre subject. 

The CBC pillaged a lot of footage from 1998's High Road production "Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows" but did bring some light and sad insights into the dangers of brain damage in sports, not just pro wrestling, but pro football as well. A few books on the subject, most of which are published in Canada, touch on these dangers and provide some more first-hand accounts of things vaguely touched on during The Fith Estate. Most notably, Benoit (ECW, 2007) and Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling by Heath McCoy, also from ECW.

Here's a look ahead at what will certainly be an entertaining discussion with writer Joey Comeau. When TDR asked Joey Comeau about his writing (in particular a story where one of his characters tries to return a coke to a food court vendor, accusing the proprietor the drink has made him gay), Comeau replied in amusing, albeit guarded fashion"

I wanted to start off a huge spiraling ever-increasingly cartoony descent into ridiculous awesomeness, and when I get into that headspace these things just come to me. I am channeling terrible powers, is how it feels, though probably there are more reasonable explanations having to do with manic depression. There are probably reasonable explanations for the loch ness monster too, but I am not interested in having magic explained away, thanks.

According to one of his biographers, I would suspect either Comeau or the agents at Loose Teeth Press in Vancouver, his mother kidnapped him when he was very young. I asked the author if his mother is still practising the art of the 'nap, so to speak. 

No, that was just a one time thing. You hear about those women who can lift up whole cars when their kids are trapped underneath, and they're heroes. My mom is exactly like that, except instead of having super strength she committed what was probably a felony.

Comeau says his main influences tend to influence his life more than his writing. The list includes; Jane Bowles. Helen DeWitt, Kathy Acker and Patricia Highsmith.

These people reassure me that crazy people can still be good writers. I love their books, but I'm not interested in writing books like that. I love biographies of self destructive sexually demented geniuses. The stuff that influences my writing is more likely TV, old comic books. Calvin and Hobbes. Peanuts. Stand up comedians like Mitch Hedberg, Sarah Silverman. Steve Martin. Old John Candy movies. I think comedy is better with tragedy.

CANADA TO CITIZENS: LET'S READ THESE BOOKS

Another year another book singled out. It's Canada Reads. It reminds me of the time I worked at Indigo and someone saw the new Leonard Cohen book and said, "Oh look, they're publishing poetry again." And no he didn't say 'He's publishing poetry again,' the civilian clearly said "they" as in, poetry was suddenly being published once again, and publishing Canada's only known poet. 

My point is, these promotional vehicles are great, but again, they should be doing this sort of thing every month, in different levels of publishing, genres, and regions. But it's good nonetheless, to get "Canada" reading something besides tabloids and blogs. "Five great works of Canadian fiction. Five celebrity panelists. One week of heated debates about CanLit. Let the battle of the books begin…" 

Somehow, even when said in a monster truck voice, this jingle just isn't all that catchy. But the winner gets a sticker on their book, and that does seem to create sales retention in stores. 

Jian Ghomeshi should bring some much needed charisma to this literary telethon.