The Human Scale
Michael Lista

Whether investigating a gruesome triple-murder, a fairy tale marriage gone horribly wrong, or a brilliant con artist, Michael Lista has proven himself one of the most gifted storytellers of his generation. In his belief that crime reporting thrives the closer it moves to the human scale—where every uncovered secret reveals the truth of our obligations to each other—Lista builds his compulsively readable narratives from details (fake flowers, a little girl's necklace) others might pass over, details that provide a doorway into the extreme situations he is drawn to. The Human Scale not only includes Lista's most celebrated magazine stories to date, but comes with postscripts that describe his process in writing each piece, and the fallout from publication. Here is long-form journalism in its most hallowed form: brilliant and bingeable.
The Beginner’s Guide to Making Wine from Juice and Grapes
Daniel Pambianchi

From the author of Modern Home Winemaking and Techniques in Home Winemaking, Daniel Pambianchi’s The Beginner’s Guide to Making Wine from Juice and Grapes is for novices keen on making their own wine at home. It guides aspiring winemakers through the process, from crush to bottle, with step-by-step instructions using simple, modern techniques to craft consistently great wine. The book includes many illustrations, tables and examples to highlight the use of equipment and tools, and a comprehensive chapter dedicated to solving common winemaking problems.

National Animal
Derek Webster

National Animal, Derek Webster’s second book of poetry, inhabits a wider public space than his acclaimed debut Mockingbird. In poems that extend beyond the biographical toward the political, Webster’s quiet, sharp-eyed narrator—a man “tripping / my way forward, trying to lead my own life”—watches history being erased in favour of more socially palatable ideas and comforting self-portraits. Uncompromising and substantial, National Animal explores our “civic moment” where "birds sing oblivion / estranged from all things," and meditates, in a final image-rich sequence, on our place in a science-based cosmos.

One Long Line of Marvel
Alan Hustak

There are parades and then there is Montreal’s St. Patrick’s parade, which has marched through the streets of the city and into Canadian history for 200 years. The street carnival has outlived the Patriote Rebellion of 1837, Fenian infiltration, Orange animosity, strained relationships among Roman Catholic priests who wanted it cancelled, two world wars, two Quebec independence referendums, and two centuries of howling March winds and chilling sub zero temperatures.

With One Long Line of Marvel veteran journalist Alan Hustak has dug up untold nuggets about the parade and nested them with historical certainty and an imaginative flourish in the setting of a Montreal that he knows. Although the author is not a son of Erin, he is considered an honorary Irishman and in 2006 walked the parade route as Chief Reviewing Officer. With this book he continues to honour Montreal’s Irish community by celebrating its personalities and by telling its stories. One Long Line of Marvel enlightens, entertains, amuses and perhaps above all superbly chronicles a long and worthwhile tradition in Montreal’s history.

States of Emergency
Yoyo Comay

States of Emergency is a book-length poem about the apocalyptic present, written in a language whose meaning is liquid and full of slippage, always spilling out from its container. In Yoyo Comay’s hands, words roil, churn, and surge. By taking on different mood and modes, from the prophetic to the colloquial, he has created a form that is a constant unravelling—a leap of faith into intuitive meaning, a letting go into ongoingness. “I am catapulted into where I am,” he writes, “and the air concusses around me.”

Comay sees poetry as a visceral experience: a state of immanence, embodiment, emergence, emergency. This is poetry as diary and seismograph, an infinite scroll for the end of days. It is a debut like no other.

Press

On Quicker Than The Eye:
Praise for Joe Fiorito: "[Fiorito] is a master of sparsity—there are no wasted words here, no lingering sing-song rhymes or repetitive pentameter. Each word is carefully chosen, shaping each line with sometimes delicacy, sometimes bluntness. His pen is a scalpel. With a cool surgical incision he dissects memories."—Michael Sobota, Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal

On Because:
"As anyone who has tried can testify, it's dauntingly difficult to capture the essence of music, and the experience, in print. Some may even argue that it is impossible by definition. But Andrew Steinmetz nails it." Ian McGillis, CNQ

On States of Emergency:
"Yoyo Comay's States of Emergency

On The Human Scale:
"Michael Lista brings a poet's heart and a philosopher's eye to the darkest parts of human behaviour. The Human Scale

News

APRIL NEWSLETTER (click for link)
Congratulations to Signal Editions poets Rhea Tregebov and Derek Webster, who launched their new books Talking to Strangers and National Animal this month! We are also celebrating the publication of Blaise Ndala's novel The War You Don't Hate, translated by Dimitri Nasrallah. It will be launched on May 5th at the Ottawa International Writers' Festival. And speaking of Dimitri Nasrallah, Hotline is this year's selection for the One eRead Canada digital book club!

DECEMBER NEWSLETTER (click for link)
'Tis the season to give the gift of books and we have just the thing for every book lover. From pulp fiction to pop culture, true love to true crime. As we approach the end of our 50th year, thank you to everyone who supported our mission of publishing quality Canadian writing. We can’t wait to share our new 2024 titles!

FÉLICITATIONS HOTLINE!
The French translation of Dimitri Nasrallah's Hotline (translated by Daniel Grenier, published by La Peuplade) has made the longlist for the Prix des libraires du Québec! Félicitations Daniel et Dimitri!

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER (click for link)
Join us on Sat. Nov. 25 at Paragraphe to launch our fall Signal Editions poetry titles Cathedral/Grove, Quicker Than The Eye, and States of Emergency. Looking for a pulp fiction holiday gift? Buy the latest six Ricochet Noir books in a special bundle for only $75! And our books will be at the Salon du livre de Montréal courtesy Saga Bookstore from Nov. 22-26.OCTOBER NEWSLETTER (click for link)
Join us for the launches of our fall lineup! The Word hosts Spirits in the Dark author H. Nigel Thomas on November 1 in Montreal; on November 8, in Toronto, Lisa Whittington-Hill will be at Supermarket with Girls, Interrupted; then on November 25 at 2 pm Paragraphe welcomes our fall poets and their books Cathedral/Grove, Quicker Than The Eye, and States of Emergency. And on November 3 and 4, we will be at the Concordia McConnell Building Atrium for the Read Quebec Book Fair!
Discover

Click here to see Kaie Kellough read from his QWF Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Award winning book Dominoes at the Crossroads

Click here to listen to Rosalind Pepall's interview on CBC's All in a Weekend about Talking to a Portrait: Tales of an Art Curator.

In Periodicities’ fifth series of videos, Sadiqa de Meijer reads a few poems from her new book, The Outer Wards. Click here

Read “The Silence of A.M. Klein,” an incisive essay by our editor Carmine Starnino in the April issue of The New Criterion.



SODEC, Québec  Canada Council for the Arts Canadian Heritage
The Canada Council
Véhicule Press acknowledges the generous support of its publishing program from the Book Publishing Industry Development Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, The Canada Council for the Arts, and the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles du Québec (SODEC).