Raincoast Chronicles 19: Stories and History of the British Columbia Coast

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Description

A Pacific Northwest publishing tradition since 1972, the "Raincoast Chronicles" series is still a perennial favourite with its funny, fiery depiction of British Columbia's past. This latest issue includes more of what made "Raincoast Chronicles" famous - an eclectic and entertaining mix of stories and characters. Sheryl Salloum contributes a fascinating history of squatters in Vancouver, from the Dollarton squat that Malcolm Lowry made infamous to the Finn Slough squat on the Fraser River that still exists, 70 years later. Then there's Keith Hancock's strange-but-true story of Boat Harbour, BC's capital of the bizarre. Located between Ladysmith and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, this small village is renowned for being the one-time home of the enigmatic cult leader Brother Twelve, and for its equally colourful later resident, 'Nick the Pirate' who had six toes and a habit of firing his personal cannon at unsuspecting trespassers. And let's not forget Peter Fletcher, a former Saturna Island lightkeeper, who tells us what it's like to have a diabolical pet crow almost destroy his marriage.

Reviews

As a vehicle for recording our elders' memories and a public display of archival photographs, Raincoast Chronicles preform the valuable service of making coastal history accessible to everyone and providing a prospective on modern life.
-Diana Mumford, Wave Length
Eleven fasinating stories, ...every one will engage your attention and widen your awareness of our coast.
-Annie Boulanger, The Royal City Record

Author Bio

Howard White was born in 1945 in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He was raised in a series of camps and settlements on the BC coast and never got over it. He is still to be found stuck barnacle-like to the shore at Pender Harbour, BC. He started Raincoast Chronicles and Harbour Publishing in the early 1970s and his own books include A Hard Man to Beat (bio), The Men There Were Then (poems), Spilsbury's Coast (bio), The Accidental Airline (bio), Patrick and the Backhoe (childrens'), Writing in the Rain (anthology) and The Sunshine Coast (travel). He was awarded the Canadian Historical Association's Career Award for Regional History in 1989. In 2000, he completed a ten-year project, The Encyclopedia of British Columbia. He has been awarded the Order of BC, the Canadian Historical Association's Career Award for Regional History, the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, the Jim Douglas Publisher of the Year Award and a Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree from the University of Victoria. In 2007, White was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He has twice been runner-up in the Whisky Slough Putty Man Triathlon.