Where do I go when I get lost in a book? I might go out to the seawall, where I can see others lost in pages or screens and wonder if their worlds might be worth a visit. The skytrain offers a dark journey down to the platform, and I can pretend I am in Japan where everyone reads as they travel. Or, I can take my perfect story into the den and wink at the tv which doesn't wink back as it is off, unable to engage. And what is the perfect book? What is it that brings me to stillness, immersion in different worlds and the exciting possibility of meeting new people? These three titles are perfect reads for me because they are Canadian, set in Vancouver and elsewhere, and written by well known Authors, including one, Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho, who has just published her first book, The Astronaut Children of Dunbar Street. Crime/Detective Fiction is a favourite and fedora or not, PI Dave Wakeland stars in Sam Wiebe's Guns Across the River, as well as five others: Invisible Dead (2016), Cut You Down (2018), Hell and Gone (2021), Sunset and Jericho (2023), and The Last Exile (2025).
Beneath Dark Waters, is an intriguing title, and I thought it might be a Mystery. Having read previous books by Investigative Journalist and Writer, Eve Lazarus: Cold Case Vancouver (2015), Murder by Milkshake (2018), Vancouver Exposed (2020), Cold Case BC (2022), I am amazed by her extensive research and her ability to bring history to life, especially in Beneath Dark Waters (2025) where the story, starting in Quebec City, details what really happened in the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck, in many ways a Canadian Titanic disaster. So, yes, there is mystery here, but also so many people to meet and learn about. I met all three Vancouver Writers at an event: Extravaganza, 20 Vancouver Authors - 1 Fun Day, Saturday July 11 at Indigo Robson and organized by Lisa Brideau whose book: Adrift is also a great read. My reel is on my instagram I encourage you to attend bookstore events, the INCITE series at Vancouver Public Library and of course, Vancouver Writer's Fest (whose 2026 lineup is already posted) so that you can meet Writers and hear them read from their latest.
My book vacation is usually planned around genre, story (fiction or nonfiction) based on a real problem faced by real people, book cover, and the dedication and acknowledgements.
The cover for Guns Across the River, by Sam Wiebe, is black and white, a night scene at a marina nearby, the lights like eyes in the looming dark apartment buildings, seen through a windshield riddled with bullet holes, like spider webs (traps, danger, death) and deep water, menacing, almost pulling everything down. The title is blood red. I love the red Canadian sticker that seems to shout: "Here's our flag. Here we are." The dedication is a quote from Thomas Hardy, "A Broken Appointment": "And Love alone can lend you loyalty". I like to ask Writers about the dedication and how it relates to their work. In this case, I have to say that the quote is compelling and fits with PI Wakeland's deep loyalties, in terms of his work and his work partner, Jeff Chen, his confidants/sources, and initially to people, until they prove they deserve otherwise. And about love interests, ...love, intense, and from heart, just might be on loan, short term, for the length of the story, but always in the near future and one day, maybe long term. So here you have commitment to honesty, justice, an appointment with love, solving real problems like guns, associated violence, gun making, gun selling, close calls and death... oh and racing minds and broken hearts. And did I mention appreciation of great literature and yes, great writing? Here is Sam Wiebe's hope, expressed in the Acknowledgements: "My hope is that I've depicted the legitimate world of shooting and hunting accurately and dfifferentiated it from the absolute insanity of assault rifle kits and ghost guns." He thanks a huge list of those who helped along the journey. And he thanks us. "Thanks to the readers, always." Thank you, Sam Wiebe for helping us get away, but not far from home!
The Astronaut Children of Dunbar Street, a Memoir by Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho, is a personal story, about coming to Vancouver from Taiwan, a circuitous route, for sure, and surviving with her brother and sisters, here, without parents. As a former teacher, I am very familiar with the very real experiences of kids on their own, here, while parents work and live abroad. Often the stories don't get told because of the fear of being 'discovered and reported'. There are such high expectations for students to excel, to go to university, to avoid trouble and to provide a home for the rest of the family to return to, even only for holidays. Oh, and everyone should be happy that they got this opportunity and never express sadness, lonliness, fear or resentment. The cover of Wiley's book shows the mountains and trees and a neighborhood of city apartments, viewed from a big house in Dunbar. Wiley, as a young teen is looking out of the window of her house (not a home, yet) upon a city that seems far away, remote. I think she is wondering how she will survive in this new place, by herself. I like that the words A Memoir are also written in chinese characters and when she signed her name, she had a red Chinese name stamp, too. Two languages, two cultures. I like the dedication: "For my parents, who undertook different journeys to make mine easier, and for all astronaut families trying to make their way home." One of her quotes really invites the reader further: "The first generation thinks about survival; the ones that follow tell the stories.." -Hua Hsu, Stay True. I think of my own relatives, who came as single workers or as married couples and settled on the prairies to farm. But they were older and certainly had communities here and families back home. Wiley thanks many, many people who helped along the way. She thanks all of her family and says they are her "refuge and her fuel" She encourages them and us to "Eat. Eat" She provides a hug of a recipe for all of us. She connects with us, as readers, and encourages us to tell our stories as we all come from other places. Thank you Wiley, for sharing your story in The Astronaut Children of Dunbar Street.
The cover of the book: Beneath Dark Waters, by Eve Lazarus, shows the doomed ship, The Empress of Ireland, in a sea of letters and notes, the colours of blues, greens and blacks, the colours of an unpredictable ocean. I knew about the Titanic, but had never heard of our own maritime disaster. The true story is told through the letters of survivors and families of those who perished. (1,000+) The passenger lists and where people came from to take the journey from Quebec City to England, make you want to know more about each and what happened to them. There are so many details about the ship, it was a 'safe ship', the crew and the safety equipment and procedures, and how quickly disaster occurred when the ship was struck by a Norgwegian ship and went down in 14 minutes. All new learning for me and making me think twice about cruise ship dreams. This is dedicated to people close to the Author, "And in memory of the passengers and crew who travelled on the Empress of Ireland on May 28, 1914". Lots of thanks to those who helped along the way; I liked her thanks to Librarians and Archivists, who are often unsung heroes. I also like her shout out "to Canada Council for their funding to make her research, travel and writing possible." And to her team at Arsenal Pulp Press "...for making the whole process so much fun." Eve just loves research, in fact her face just lit up when she talked with me about the process.
And as for me, I love to read and meet the Writers. And about doing research and sitting down with a pen, well I say: "Let's get lost", and I will do that on a seawall, with a marina and other readers, nearby. I might look up occasionally, though to see if I can spot these local Writers or their characters. I might be wearing a fedora, shade from the sun, you know.
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