After willing himself back to life with sheer stubbornness, ninety-year-old John Alexander MacNeil finds Death sitting at his kitchen table.

Selected as 2011 White Ravens Title "If you think life makes sense, do not read this book." It's this credo that sixteen-year-old Joe Campbell lives by. You see, his birth parents were killed in a car accident, and four years later he's still trying to work his way past that loss. His new parents are as supportive and loving as he could wish. But Joe is still trying to figure out whether there is any pattern or purpose to his existence, and remains doubtful that there is an answer. Yet all around him patterns and purposes gradually take shape, and this compelling novel traces the thought processes and the people that eventually make a difference in Joe's life. The story is of Joe's digging into his past, and looking around the present, as he seeks to make sense of the world. But it's not a solitary quest as his good friends Gloria and Dean - both outsiders in the high school they all attend - accompany him on this quest for meaning. Random will resonate with many teenagers who,...

A varied and spirited collection of work by the Mi'kmaq writers of Atlantic Canada, this volume brings together young and old and includes short stories, autobiography, poetry and personal essays. Valuable as a landmark of an ancient culture, The Mi'kmaq Anthology also delivers to a wide audience the wealth of creative talent within the Mi'kmaq community. Although many voices here are new to the reading public, this volume radiates with deep spirituality, social awareness, intellectual energy and a passionate concern for preserving the Mi'kmaq way of life.Authors include Don Julien, Lindsay Marshall, Murdena Marshall, Mary Louise Martin, Elsie Charles Basque, Shirley Kiju Kawi, Noel Knockwood, Helen Sylliboy, Marie Batiste, Theresa Meuse, Isabelle Knockwood, Katherine Sorbey, Daniel N. Paul, Sunset Rose Morris, Harold Gloade and Rita Joe.

Nick was used to being good at everything. Hockey, football, track, they all came easy to him. Surfing was his latest passion. That is, until the accident. Now partially paralyzed, Nick is angry, depressed and getting far too fond of his prescription meds. But his frequent visits to his physiotherapist, a Syrian refugee, and a budding friendship with a partial amputee who has also experienced firsthand the horrors of war help him start to piece his life back together. A story about overcoming the odds and changing your life for the better.

After three years abroad, sixteen-year-old Blake Pendleton returns to his old high school and is shocked to find that the world he knew has turned upside down.Everyone at school wears a military-style uniform now and Blake soon learns the hard way that independence in any form is not encouraged. After questioning something his teacher tells him, he gets locked up in an isolation room.Once he's released, Blake goes looking for allies and finds Ming and Gina, two students who have learned how to play along. From them, Blake learns about the school's "induction education," a mind-training program set up by the government to train students to be teachers, cops and other types of community leaders. It's brainwashing and job training all in one. Somehow, Blake and his new friends must find a way to escape their predetermined fate. But who can they trust?

Taylor Colby and his childhood sweetheart, Laura, abandoned their Nova Scotia coastal village home for a life in the high-octane world of rock music in California. Now, after Laura's drug-related death, Taylor has returned to his roots to live once again with his noble but isolated boat-builder father. Complicating matters further, Taylor's mother, who has been battling cancer, attempts to reconcile with both her husband and son whom she deserted decades earlier. As Taylor grapples with family dysfunction, he becomes involved with Jillian, a feminist professor from Philadelphia, and her troubled twelve-year-old son, who are also on the run from the past they can't seem to escape.

Tyler and Mason dream of escaping to the big city and getting started on their lives.One night, Mason convinces Tyler to help him steal a car and they are soon having the adventure of a lifetime. Until they run out of gas. Stranded on the side of the highway, Mason blames Tyler, Tyler blames Mason and their argument turns physical. Their fight is broken up by a scruffy-looking guy who offers them a ride to the city. Eventually the teens realize their rescuer is none other than Sean Dakota, a heavy-metal musician who suddenly disappeared from the spotlight the previous year. Tyler is intrigued by this music legend, but Mason wants to take advantage of him. Listening to Sean and the lessons he's learned from his own life choices, Tyler starts to realize how dangerous and damaging his friendship with Mason is. But will he find the courage to branch out on his own?

17 Nova Scotia writers explore through fact and fiction the myriad ways in which a love story exists

Josh knows he's riding recklessly when he knocks down an old man on a logging road. But he is shocked when the old man walks into the forest with his dirt bike. A week without his beloved bike motivates Josh to hike into the woods to confront the crazy old man he suspects is the hermit of Loggerman Creek.

Colin is tired of school bullies and other students' refusal to speak up or "rat" on the real troublemakers. When Colin does speak out against a couple of school thugs, they post an embarrassing photo of him on a social networking website. Colin makes some new enemies in the process but also a few new allies, including the VP, Mr. Miller. One of Colin's new unwanted allies, though, is Jerome, who is selling weapons to kids at school for "self defense." Colin threatens to turn Jerome in but backs off, tired of his growing reputation as the school rat. When Jerome is shot and killed, Colin regrets not speaking up earlier. Jerome's killer is now known but has not been located by the police. When the police show up, Colin tells them what he knows, and while he realizes that he has some enemies, he also has some real admirers as well.

When Zach finds out that his girlfriend is pregnant, he is terrified. What will they do?

Sixteen-year-old Cody was born and raised "off the grid" deep in the wilderness by idealistic parents. When his father becomes seriously ill, the family is forced to move into the city so he can get treatment. Attending high school for the first time, Cody is an oddity and has a hard time adjusting. He finds unlikely allies in DeMarco, an inner-city kid, and Ernest, a philosophical homeless man, and he begins a tentative friendship with Alexis. When he comes to DeMarco's defense in an altercation at school, Cody finds himself in trouble with the police. A second confrontation puts Cody in more trouble with the cops, and he is convinced he must escape to the family homestead or be arrested. But Cody is torn between fleeing the city or staying with his ailing father and facing whatever consequences come his way.

The Summer of Apartment X is a beach book for grownups who remember how they got that way. Fred, Richard, and Brian, intend to take the beach resort town by storm. It's the fateful summer between high school and university, early 1970s version. They plan to rent a suave apartment, get cool jobs, meet girls, and lose their virginity. Dream and reality diverge immediately. The Summer of Apartment X lurks in everyone's past: the first foray beyond the view of elders, the first attempt at self-support, the shocking recognition that adulthood involves more than sand, sex, and cars. Lesley Choyce is the founder of Pottersfield Portfolio and the publisher of Pottersfield Press. A prolific writer, he hosts Off the Page with Lesley Choyce. Maritime Fiction, Literary Fiction, Canadian Author.

Greg tries to do the right thing - and gets more than he bargained for. (RL3.2)

Novelist Lesley Choyce weaves together his real-life adventures living by the sea at Lawrencetown Beach on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore. He writes of his love for the rugged coast and tells tales of the ordinary and the extraordinary. His story includes accounts of what it's like surfing in the Canadian North Atlantic through all four seasons including the frigid depths of winter. Also threading its way through this narrative is the story of Minnie's piano. There is music here in word and spirit along with the lessons learned from the old and the young. Driving Minnie's Piano is an eloquent personal memoir about the precious and fateful moments that change our lives. It is an exploration of what makes us tick and prompts us to be both heroes and fools in the daily enterprise of living.