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Syllables of Recorded Time is a lively look at the development over the last six decades of a national authors’ association, with all its problems and foibles. Personalities such as Bliss Carman, Nellie McClung, Stephen Leacock, B.K. Sandwell, W.A. Deacon, Mazo de la Roche, John Murray Gibbon, Helen Chreighton, Watson Kirkconnell, Charles G.D. Roberts and Duncan Campbell Scott figure prominently in the amusing anecdotes of the early days, and Hugh MacLennan, Pierre Berton, Dorothy Livesay and Arthur Hailey in the later years.

At the turn of the century Sudbury was a town set on the railway line, with a population of about 2,000. The community was smaller than Sault Ste. Marie and Copper Cliff to the west, and to the east, North Bay and Pembroke. Now, nearly 100 years later, Sudbury is the largest city in northeastern Ontario. it is also the centre of many governmental, business, social, educational, media, medical, and other professional services in the region.

Immigrants and immigration have always been central to Canadians’ perception of themselves as a country and as a society. In this crisply written history, Valerie Knowles describes the different kinds of immigrants who have settled in Canada, and the immigration policies that have helped to define the character of Canadian immigrants over the centuries. Key policymakers and moulders of public opinion figure prominently in this colourful story, as does the role played by racism.

This is a chilling collection of 50 accounts of truly unusual events and experiences that are told by the people who experienced them. Are there ghosts here? Yes. Are there strange coincidences here? Yes. Are there strange creatures of the forest here? Yes. Are there conspiracies here? Yes. Are there horors here aplenty? Yes, yes! The accounts come from many regions of Canada and cover the last hundred or so years.

Once again we are blessed with yet another collection of Jim Foster’s ravings. His first book, I hate to complain, but … with its views on everything from bank mergers to the author’s 30-year love affair with Sophia Loren, is being hailed as a classic example - though of what no one is quite sure. Readers will be amazed at the depth of the author’s knowledge on just about any subject and his total inability to keep it to himself. What should you do if a comet falls on you at 1000 mph? What are the best pick-up lines for the man or woman looking for romance?

Peter C. Newman called him "the Totem of the Titans." From a small Prairie town, Daryl K. "Doc" Seaman became an icon of Canadian business and hockey. He is one of the last of a breed of postwar entrepreneurs and sportsmen who forged modern Canada, striking deals on a handshake and always keeping their word.After flying 82 combat missions during the Second World War, Doc Seaman worked in the oil industry with his brothers, turning a small Alberta drilling business into a global giant, Bow Valley Industries.

"You’ll like Louis Mayer," Mary Pickford told Charles Foster in 1943. "He is from Canada, too." As Foster was soon to discover, Mayer was not alone: a great many of those who helped shape Hollywood into the movie capital of the world were Canadian. Stardust and Shadows brings together the stories of 18 Canadians who were celebrities during Hollywood’s formative years.

They come from the cities and farms, military bases and tourist towns, seaside bungalows and urban apartments. All are ordinary people who did extraordinary things. Not one of them sought recognition, yet all are worthy of our admiration.

In 1934, fifty-three-year-old beer tycoon John Sackville Labatt was kidnapped from his Lake Huron summer home and held ransom for three days. His captors, a group of ex-rumrunners, desperate in the days following prohibition and the Great Depression, were hoping for a big payday. This bizarre true crime story traces the abduction through to the trials of the abductors. From a heavily populated hideout to a case of mistaken identity, follow the story of Labatt, the first person in Canada to be kidnapped for high ransom.

What do Northtrop Frye, French dairy cows, and Historic Fort York have in common? They’re all part of Ward McBurney’s lyric and personal stories from CBC Radio’s Fresh Air, which are now available for the first time in print. Broadcasting live on Saturday mornings, with Jeff Goodes as host, Ward has been performing his own work for over four years.