May the ORB be with You
Finally, things are warming up in the Great White North! People are taking their travel trailers out of storage, opening up their summer cottages and planning exciting trips. Or they're just kicking back for a staycation with a cool drink. Whatever your plans, make room for a good book. Perhaps one of this month's selection will interest you? In our May issue, our core reviewers offer their insights on four exceptional books: Pay No Heed to the Rockets by Marcello Di Cintio;
Pay No Heed to the Rockets by Marcello Di Cintio
Reviewed by Ian Thomas Shaw Although not a new book—it was published in 2018—Marcello Di Cintio’s account of his encounters with Palestinian writers continues to leave an indelible impression on readers. Rather than offering a sweeping history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or a journalistic catalogue of atrocities and diplomatic failures, Di Cintio approaches Palestine through its literature, its storytellers, and the fragile persistence of cultural life under occupatio
Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies by Lindsay Wong
Reviewed by Wayne Ng Many writers begin with the premise that families are complicated and surviving trauma is a lifelong odyssey. Lindsay Wong’s Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies makes that maxim seem quaint. Her latest novel is one of the boldest and most original Canadian works in recent memory: a grotesque, darkly funny, emotionally intelligent book that fuses immigrant family saga, savage social satire, supernatural folklore, historical reckoning, and body horr
Doubles by Nora Gold
Reviewed by Jerry Levy The unnamed protagonist in Nora Gold’s Doubles is a math whiz, akin to a prodigy. Only 12-years-old, she is highly adept at it, loves the process, its complexity, and is able to make sense of the world with numbers. She attributes human behaviour to them. The number 1, for example, goes hand-in-hand with loneliness (and also the number of teeth left in her grandma’s mouth!), 0 with being a “nobody.” She’s all over prime numbers, indicating people whose
As the Earth Dreams edited by Terese Mason Pierre
Reviewed by Robert Runté Editor Terese Mason Pierre has collected ten fabulous (in both senses of the word) stories by Black Canadians into what has instantly become one of my all-time favourite anthologies, As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories. The opening story, Chimedum Ohaegbu’s, “Ravenous, Called Iffy”, sets the tone. There is a dream-like quality to the writing: each individual moment is clear and meaningful and relatable, but subject to absurdist seg
ORB April 2026
As the April showers fall abundantly, our core reviewers offer their insights into four recent books by Canadian authors, one of whom is now our prime minister. It's difficult to be more on the record than by writing a 464-page book on values, economics, and politics. This book is definitely a fact-checker for Canadian voters. We have also reviewed works by Brendan Kelly (sports history), Douglas Smith (fantasy) and JoAnn McCaig (general fiction). We hope you enjoy the issue!
Value(s): Building a Better World for All by Mark Carney
Reviewed by Ian Thomas Shaw Mark Carney has arrived in elected politics with remarkable speed, but not from obscurity. For decades, he has moved in the highest circles of power in Canada and internationally, serving as a senior federal official, Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and a prominent voice in global financial forums, where he helped shape markets, regulation and international economic strategy. While he was well known to political and corporat
Habs Nation by Brendan Kelly
Reviewed by Timothy Niedermann The subtitle to Habs Nation reads: “A People’s History of the Montreal Canadiens.” But while the book is indeed a history of sorts, it would be more accurate to describe it as a meditation on the relationship between the team (colloquially known in French as “ les Habitants ”, or simply “the Habs”) and the people of Quebec, particularly francophones. Author Brendan Kelly starts by describing the heyday of the Habs, the years roughly from 1950 t
Beneficiary, by JoAnn McCaig
Reviewed by Ann Cavlovic In one of his short stories, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them..." This quote is often coupled, somewhat inaccurately, with Ernest Hemingway’s retort: “Yes, they have more money.” JoAnn McCaig’s novel Beneficiary introduces us to Seren, a daughter from a rich family. As an adolescent, Seren rebels against her privileged upbri
Borderlanz: Tales from the Edges by Douglas Smith
Reviewed by Robert Runté A four-time winner of the Aurora Award (for Canadian speculative fiction and fantasy) and shortlisted for the Sunburst Award (a more literary, juried Canadian Speculative Fiction Award), Douglas Smith is one of Canada’s most successful speculative fiction writers. I favourably reviewed his Dream Rider Saga in previous issues of ORB, and his stories have been widely reprinted, including internationally in dozens of other languages. Smith has literally
