Compiled by Katelynn Schoop

A comic novel about AIDS, The Steve Machine by Mike Hoolboom (Coach House, Oct), centers on Auden, fraught with identity crisis and HIV positive, hiding in the streets of Toronto and surrounded by eccentricities named things like Wrik and Orlan. In true experimental fiction form, content echoes theme, with the novel functioning as do the art-machines its title character creates. In any case, this out of context quotation does more for the book than a summary ever could: "I love this book" (The real-life Steve Reinke). The prolific and always witty Jim Harrison releases The English Major (Anansi, Sept), the story of a man’s identity crisis, subsequent solo road trip across America, and noble but (maybe) futile journey to rename all the states and state birds – maybe the narrator can team up with Sufjan Stevens, and at least knock Michigan and Illinois off the list as having been creatively repurposed. Award-winning poet, novelist, and essayist David Manicom’s novel Anna’s Shadow (Véhicule, Sept) takes a look at terrorism and love worldwide while Giller-nominated novelist and cultural critic Neil Bissoondath releases The Soul of All Great Designs (Cormorant).

Valmiki’s Daughter, by Shani Mootoo (Anansi, Sept) is described in the catalogue as – among other things – juicy, sexy, and beautiful. Sold. The novel sees Mootoo tackling themes (themes that admittedly need repetitive tackling) from her earlier work, addressing the tensions between race, class, and sexuality through the heartfelt lens of family. DC Books’ new Punchy Writers Series imprint releases Eva Moran’s Porny Stories (DC Books) which, undoubtedly, has an extremely intriguing title. Set in Toronto, the stories focus on female protagonists the catalogue identifies as Woody Allen-esque. And really, who doesn’t love a little neuroticism? Moran’s intimate and first-hand style of narration makes the bad boyfriends and poor decisions especially funny and relatable. Poet Michael Blouin re-imagines the broken family in Chase and Haven (Coach House, Oct), a novel blending together impressionist vignettes into narrative. Weighted character names such as Chase, Haven, and April point to a care and deliberate craft that ensures this "haunting story of suffering and love" will be worthy of a read.

She doesn’t really need an introduction, so it’s suffice to say that Margaret Atwood is publishing another book. This time around it’s non-fiction, in Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (Anansi, Oct), an inventive look at the ways in which debt functions to structure social relationships and our understanding of the human imagination. Part of the CBC Massey Lecture series, the book doesn’t promise to help you with your actual debt (see Oprah instead), but it will likely rock your world in the abstract. October will also see the release of another Massey Lectures title, More Lost Massey Lectures (Anansi, Oct), featuring pieces from some big names including Claude Lévi-Strauss.

Mary Soderstrom’s The Walkable City (Véhicule, Sept) thoroughly examines the relationship between city organization and the citizen – offering a much-needed substitute for all those urban planning articles in the Toronto Star. Soderstrom’s interest ranges from Paris to North Vancouver and Singapore, ensuring a well-rounded argument for pedestrians, beyond the price of gas (have you seen the price of gas lately?). Likewise, Tim Lilburn’s Going Home: Essays (Anansi, Sept) explores the impact of land on individual lives through essays ranging from the intellectual to the personal. Comic memoir The 30 Second Commute: The Perks and Perils of Being a Freelance Writer (ECW, Nov) by Stephanie Dickison is about, well, the perks and perils of freelance writing, detailing the highs, lows, and free stuff. The secret lives of writers are exposed again in Closer to Home: The Author and the Author Portrait (Véhicule, Sept), a photography collection by Terence Byrnes that includes a brief history of the author portrait, photos of authors in habitat, and literary gossip.

Award-winner Margaret Christakos releases What Stirs (Coach House, Oct), a playful collection exploring the postmodern dilemma of attachment in the digital age. The work toys with the problem of virtual identity, and ways in which the distance we create between our selves and the selves we represent can explicitly expose vulnerability. In Penny Dreadful (Véhicule, Sept), Vancouver poet Shannon Stewart takes on sexuality, taboos, and the story of Robert Pickton, all without compromise. Also from the Punchy Writers Series, Unisex Love Poems (DC Books) by Angela Szczepaniak piece together recipes, etiquette, love letters, and the law into a "verse-novel" that engages the mind and heart equally. Plus, there are very tiny lawyers and diagrams of human anatomy. You just cannot go wrong here. The Laundromat Essay (Coach House, Oct), a debut collection by Kyle Buckley, plays with its narrator’s perception of memory and space while its form simultaneously runs rampant, creating a unique and innovative reading experience.

Biblical allegory runs wild in Adam Sol’s Jeremiah, Ohio (Anansi, Sept), a narrative poem constructed as dialogue between two diametrically opposed characters – demonstrating Sol’s dexterity with language and tone. The Bible gets toyed with again, this time by Robert Priest in Reading the Bible Backwards (ECW, Oct), a collection of cultural narratives reversed in the name of sharp-witted cultural satire.