One of the things I love about small presses is their willingness to take on authors with big imaginations who come up with stories rarely found in mainstream publishing. These books are not likely going to make it to the big displays at the Chapters/Indigo store, but are more likely to be placed into your hand at an independent book store upon asking for a recommendation. These are original, smart stories, hard to compare with any other books out there.

The Boulevard by Jerrod Edson

You are not imagining things – the three highly recognizable figures on the cover of this book are, in fact, Satan, Ernest Hemingway, and Vincent van Gogh. Only in The Boulevard is there a world in which these three have anything to do with each other.

Things in Hell are chugging along nicely–Satan is thinking ahead to the wonderful festivities that will be had for the six thousandth’s anniversary–when his assistant presents to him an unprecedented email from God; He is coming for a visit. Satan looks out his window “upon the sprawling metropolis of Capital City, the endless grey waves of concrete and steel divided by a river… Straight ahead, stood the mighty Gates at the city’s entrance, and beyond them, the black hills and the long winding road to purgatory.” But most importantly, Satan looks upon the Boulevard, “an illuminated sixty-block route cutting needle-straight from the gates to the foot of his tower, every building transformed into a giant mural, some as high as fifty stories and so vibrant their glow brightened the entire city.” Satan’s masterpiece, his miracle. And now it must go.

“…the Boulevard really was a miracle, how its light shone over the entire city in such a way that it felt as though Hell, in all its gloom, had somehow acquired a tiny piece of the sun.”

Satan boards the train for the Foothills – he must go to Van Gogh and tell him in person that the Boulevard will be dismantled, after so many years in the making. Not to mention plunged back into darkness. But it can’t be helped.

Once on the train, it’s brought to Satan’s attention that Ernest Hemingway is also on board. Satan invites Hemingway to his quarters and begins to tell him the story (he is a very good listener): the story behind the creation of Hell and the Boulevard, as well as Satan’s centuries-long search for the perfect artist to bring some light to the dark streets of Hell. There’s more to everyone than meets the eye – even Satan.

The Boulevard is a surprising story of good and bad, love and loyalty, shame and forgiveness. Not to mention the power of nature and art.

A Favourite Quote: “The reds must burn, he thought. And the blues and greens must cool. And the yellows breathe. The yellows and greens and blues and reds must all breathe and move and be more real than the real thing.”

Grantrepreneurs by Jake Swan

Another entirely original and clever story, Grantrepreneurs borders on the absurd with its grant-obsessed employees, its koi-stealing researchers, its condiment-only dieters, and its skewering of Douglas Coupland. Just thinking about it makes me laugh.

Nick has left his job as a physician in New Brunswick to take a job as a medical researcher at a new company in Vancouver. He is caught off guard to discover that his new job (and life) involves very little research (or actual work at all) and a lot of shenanigans. His new coworkers are a bunch of “rogues of the business world who have created a financing model based entirely on the outrageous exploitation of public grant and subsidy programs.”

“”What are those big goldfish called?” he said. “You know, the ones you see in ponds at rich peoples’ houses?”

“Koi?” I asked.

“Yeah – those are the ones. Can you guys pick up, let’s say, three hundred koi for our water feature?”

“Um, sure,” I said. “You know I’m a medical doctor, right? I can do research for you and whatnot.”

“Just the koi for now, Michael.””

Eventually people catch wind of what’s really going on at A.I. Womxn’s Health Solutions and become angry that the government’s money is being spent on a company that doesn’t seem to be doing anything. Will A.I. Plus Womxn’s Health Solutions be able to defend itself? Is all this talk about cultural and racial fluidity “progress” or is it “cultural appropriation?” And what does Margaret Atwood have to do with any of it? Confused yet about what this book is all about? If you want to know more, you’ll have to read it.

You will laugh. You will scratch your head. You might even start to care, as these characters come to care about each other. You will definitely try to guess which condiment is made up of the list of ingredients at the beginning of each chapter. Or maybe that’s just me.

(I was hooked after reading the “Forward,” in which Swan talks about having written this book for his father as he was going through chemotherapy, and in which he points out that, despite poking a lot of fun at Douglas Coupland in this book, Coupland is actually one of his favourite authors. He highly recommends Microserfs. There is no actual website called “www.dissingdoug.com.”)

An excerpt from http://www.dissingdoug.com:

“A Review of “Gumhead“

OK, Gumhead is a funny concept. It’s a big statue of Coupland’s head and you’re allowed to stick gum to it. I like the name. But here’s the thing. He used his own f*cking head. Now maybe he used his own head because he didn’t want to offend anyone else. But I suspect he used his own head because gumball by gumball he wants to cement his place as the darling of the Canadian art scene and by doing so, become a favourite for future grants and endowments.”

Both of these novels took me down a rabbit hole (or two) as I was reading them. The Boulevard had me googling all the great artists, particularly Van Gogh. And Grantrepreneurs had me looking up Asian Carp, as strange as that may sound – they play an integral role in the novel. And they really do jump.

Do you love the weird and wonderful? Or would you rather stay on the safe side?

Thank you to Galleon Books for providing me with copies of these books!