Hit the books this fall with these four hot Canadian titles

There are plenty of new Canadian books to choose from this September, including these red-hot picks.

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Fierce Attachments: A Life With Cats
Rosemary Sullivan, art by Colleen Sullivan
Douglas & McIntyre

Thanks to fellow cat lady Rosemary Sullivan (Stalin’s Daughter), I discovered “crying while flying” is a common occurrence, possibly due to a slight oxygen deficiency during a recent trip. I also learned a few fascinating facts about our feline companions and quite a lot about Sullivan’s two cats, Negrito and Ensueño. Only a few months old when their heroic mother Chiquita rescued them from a house fire, their long lives, distinct personalities and amusing antics are lovingly recalled in this slim homage. Expect it to fly off bookstore shelves this December.

Fold Catastrophes
Peter Watts
Tachyon Publications

Award-winning author Peter Watts (Blindsight) writes “hard” science fiction, meaning the science in the fiction is rooted in, according to AI, “accuracy, logical consistency and plausible technological advancements.” All of which makes the 11 stories in this collection more than a wee bit scary.

In the somewhat prescient opener, the sight of a Google logo triggers murderous rage in a normally mild-mannered man. In another absorbing tale, a woman named Iris contracts a virus during a rainstorm and it seems to give her physical superpowers, along with the brainpower of a hive mind. There’s a story that Watts wrote as a memorial to David Bowie, in which corpses are recruited into a Zombie army. And the title of another, Test 4 Echo, winks at Rush fans. Some stories will give some readers technical difficulty, but there’s something for everyone.

Exit Party
Emily St. John Mandel
HarperAvenue

In the year 2031, the United States has collapsed into a chaotic assortment of warring militias and peacekeeping forces. In Los Angeles, ex-con Ari Waker is eager to celebrate when a local curfew is lifted, so she convinces her young roommate to take her to a party. Before long, Ari realizes something is amiss. She sees a woman dancing, and then sees the woman’s doppelgänger emerge from another room. She watches the party’s host walk into the kitchen, then realizes he has vanished, seemingly into thin air.

Author Emily St. John Mandel (Station 11, Sea of Tranquility) follows Ari’s journey from low-level gunrunner to highfalutin art dealer as she explores the mysteries behind that Exit Party and what may be a portal to other versions of her world.

Lords of Serendipity
Randy Boyagoda
HarperPerennial

Billed as a hilarious, timely satire poking fun at the absurdities of modern academia, this novel centres on the experience of two teenage girls — a Sri Lankan with Harvard ambitions, and an American who is destined for an elite college.

Author Randy Boyagoda (Beggar’s Feast) has said he aims to “spark informed discourse about the hypocrisy of higher education,” and he writes as an insider. A longtime professor of English, he is also director of the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto.

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