What's New: January – June 2010

04 March 2010

Lone Pine Publishing

Lone Pine continues to lead the way when it comes to publishing outstanding gardening and nature guides. Among new spring releases is the beautiful Birds of Canada, featuring over 500 species found north of the 49^th parallel. The book is sumptuously loaded with both colour photographs and hand-drawn, full-colour illustrations. The book is being released in both hard cover and soft cover versions.

Other new nature releases include the British Columbia Nature Guide and the Saskatchewan and Manitoba Nature Guide. Both books feature around 400 species of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, fish and plants, all illustrated with hand-drawn full-colour images.

On the gardening front, a number of exciting new titles are out this spring. New Perennials for Canada and New Annuals for Canada accomplish two objectives: they substantially update the collection of new varietals being stocked in Canadian greenhouses and garden centres, and they respond to the expectations of a new generation of gardeners with their emphasis on colour and shape co-ordination in overall garden design.

Stateside, Edible Gardening for Washington and Oregon and Edible Gardening for California help western gardeners plan and plant with confidence. These books meet the needs of the gardening revolution sweeping the U.S. and Canada, that of returning to the edible garden. According to the National Gardening Association, 37% of American households grew their own vegetables, fruits or berries in 2009, up 19% from the year before. All signs are that trend will continue upwards this year.

Lone Pine has a new imprint out this spring – Canadian Currents. The imprint will feature books that cover complex public policy issues and current affairs in easy-to-understand language and with a lay orientation. The first book out the gate in this imprint is Canada’s Arctic Sovereignty, written by journalist Jennifer Parks and with a Foreword by Dr. Robert Huebert, Associate Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary and one of Canada’s leading authorities on Arctic sovereignty.

By the way, Lone Pine Publishing on March 19^th will mark the 30^th anniversary of its founding by western Canadian newsman Grant Kennedy. The company is still in the family with son Shane Kennedy serving as vice-president and general manager. The Kennedys recently announced that veteran publisher Glenn Rollans was joining the firm as a senior partner. Rollans has an extensive background in educational publishing. Lone Pine has grown considerably from its humble beginnings as a small regional publisher based in Alberta. Today Lone Pine has offices, warehousing and sales representation across Canada, the U.S. Pacific Northwest, California and the Great Lakes states.

Quagmire Books

True crime publisher Quagmire Books is about to release the gritty Gangs in Canada. Author Jeff Pearce provides a comprehensive overview of the criminal organizations that have sprung up across the country and what law enforcement is doing to try to contain them. Also on Quagmire’s spring roster is Canadian Con Artists, a collection of stories about some of the biggest scams ever pulled by Canadian crooks.

Folklore Publishing

History publisher Folklore Publishing also dabbles in crime in its spring line-up with the fascinating book Crimes and Capers of the Northwest. This collection features high-profile crimes and quirky capers that have made headlines in Washington, Oregon and Idaho over the past 150 years. Folklore also is releasing two books of humour: My Canada, a spoof of Canadian history penned by Geordie Telfer, and Newfie Joke Book, which finally dares to assemble in one place many of the jokes that have been told over the years across Canada about the Newfoundland arm of the family. It should be noted that the lion’s share of those jokes were crafted by Newfoundlanders themselves.

OverTime Books

Montreal sports publisher Editions de la Montagne Verte, which publishes under the OverTime Books banner, has a revised edition out of its Sidney Crosby biography. The revised edition of Sidney Crosby takes the reader up to the Pittsburgh Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup victory. Who knew Crosby was going to score the winning goal for Team Canada in overtime at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver? Still, Sidney Crosby – Revised and Updated is a good overview of the superstar’s life and accomplishments thus far. OverTime Books also is releasing this spring Great Canadian Golfers, which covers pretty much all the great pros that Canada has produced over the years, and Washington Sports Trivia, which collects some real sports oddities that have taken place over the years with teams from the Seahawks and Mariners to high school basketball.

Blue Bike Books

The humour and trivia catalogue at Blue Bike grows again this spring with two new stateside collections of trivia: Tennessee Trivia and North Carolina Trivia. And Blue Bike will soon have a juvenile non-fiction collection out entitled Canada’s Biggest, Smallest, Fastest, Strongest. Look for that title in April.

Happy reading!