Jabbering with Bing Bong


Book Description

Poetry. Most Anticipated Poetry Selection, 49th Shelf (2015). Kevin Spenst's much- anticipated debut collection of poetry opens as a coming-of-age narrative of lower-middle class life in Vancouver's suburb of Surrey, embroidered within a myriad of pop- culture and "post-Mennonitism." JABBERING WITH BONG BONG interrogates memory and makes its way into the urban energies of Vancouver. Language is at play with sit-com sonnets and soundscapes of noise; videogame goombas and an Old-Testament God; teenage longing within the power chords of heavy metal and the complicated loss of a father to schizophrenia. JABBERING WITH BONG BONG, chronicles the heartbreaking and slapstick pursuit of truth in the realms of religion, mental health, and poetic form itself. The poems in JABBERING WITH BONG BONG are formally inventive, emotionally charged, and teeming with ideas. "Belief and disbelief rub up against each other in this startling and flawless debut collection by Kevin Spenst. JABBERING WITH BONG BONG's urban and suburban-scapes vibrate with a controlled hysteria; a music at turns ebullient, ribald, somber. These important poems do not redeem so much as allow the possibility of redemption: Sometimes words/mean nothing and everything. Open your mouth and see.'" Jen Currin ..".JABBERING WITH BING BONG is a keen and courageous first outing. Spenst attacks his narrative with intelligence, compassion and wit; his is a voice that would lure even the most cautious character home a voice which one would be well-advised to listen for in the future." Arc Poetry Magazine "Each of these powerful poems is a facet of the surreal. It's not bad either that they're witty, tough and funny. Surrey and its many locales has arrived as literary territory. Fleetwood. Cloverdale. Guildford Mall. Surrey Place. Johnston Heights. The Port Mann. Coast Meridian Road... The work here is in a variety of forms, including a few prose poems. The tone varies but the situation is the same. Here are 24 more reasons for jabbering with Kevin Spenst." The Vancouver Sun"




Ignite


Book Description

Poetry. A finalist for the Alfred G. Bailey Prize, IGNITE is a collection of elegiac and experimental poetry powder- kegged with questions about one man's lifelong struggle with schizophrenia. Born into a strict Mennonite family, Abe Spenst's mental illness spanned three decades in and out of mental institutions where he underwent electric shock treatment and coma-induced insulin therapy. Merging memory and medical records, Kevin Spenst recreates his father's life through a cuckoo's nest of styles that both stand as witness and waltz to the interplay between memory, emotion and all our forms of becoming. ..".with a fearless layering of voice, IGNITE is upfront and unswerving. A novel- esque torrent tracing a troubling history of illness, part confrontation and part chronicle, this collection is daring with its dark narrative. Here is a willingness for, and enviable strength in, extending poetic range. Ignite heals and ascends. There are books that need to be written and this is one of them. This is a collection which gives more and more with every read." Sandra Ridley, judge, Alfred G. Bailey Prize A selection of poems from IGNITE won the Lush Triumphant Award for Poetry."




Archaic Torso of Gumby


Book Description

Archaic Torso of Gumby is a series of interlinked stories and essays by Geoffrey Morrison and Matthew Tomkinson that explore the gooey, prickly, sticky materials of late-capitalist pop culture, from video games to claymation to children's picture-books commissioned by oil and gas companies. Here lyric essay, personal memoir, fable, pseudohistory, and science fiction all coexist alongside more conventional short story forms. Each part reveals unlikely connections between subjects as different as a sentient wallet, a gathering of headless saints, abject descriptions of 3D-printed food, a sixteenth-century courtier who thinks he's a horse, a virtual reality religious experience, and a couple with a fetish involving crustaceans. By turns cerebral, goofy, and heartfelt, Archaic Torso of Gumby is a delirious rabbit hole for the adventurous reader.




The Creative Instigator’s Handbook


Book Description

Flash mobs come and go, but purposeful creativity can change communities. Are you a creative (aspiring or otherwise) who is curious about how you can apply your skills to activist, socially engaged art projects? Whether you paint, sew, sing, build, weld, or rhyme, Make It Meaningful explores how to take that big project you’ve been dreaming about and actually make it a happen. In response to the challenging times that we live in, Make It Meaningful will inspire readers to use their creativity to spur change in the world around them. Guiding readers through the various aspects of a project from ideation to final documentation, the book examines the relationship between creative leadership, community art projects, and social justice, and includes the perspectives of 23 creative instigators who have stretched the boundaries of what “art” should or shouldn’t do. Bold and imaginative, Make It Meaningful will appeal to creatives willing to expand their comfort zone by jumping into the fray and doing some outrageous, inspired rabble-rousing of their very own. Full-color throughout.




Hearts Amok


Book Description

Poetry. In language that twists together hobo slang and flights of troubadourish diction, HEARTS AMOK scrutinizes the history of the love sonnet in Surrey, England and simultaneously celebrates the tickings and tollings of one love-struck heart in Surrey, British Columbia. Examining the underpinnings of love, this book journeys from the Middle Ages to the present where Spenst dates his way through Vancouver to finally find the love of his life.




Practical XMPP


Book Description

Unleash the power of XMPP in order to build exciting, real-time, federated applications based on open standards in a secure and highly scalable fashion About This Book Learn about the fundamentals of XMPP and be able to work with the core functionality both server-side and in the browser Build a simple 1-to-1 chat (the “Hello World” of XMPP), explore multi-user chat, publish subscribe systems, and work with a decentralized social network Author Lloyd Watkins is a member of the XMPP standards committee Who This Book Is For If you want to learn about the fundamentals of XMPP, be able to work with the core functionality both server-side and in the browser then this book is for you.No knowledge of XMPP is required, or of TCP/IP networking. It's important that you already know how to build applications of some form, and are looking get a better understanding of how to implement XMPP for one or more of its many uses. You should be interested in the decentralized web, know HTML, and likely know JavaScript and NodeJS. You will probably know JSON, and hopefully XML (this is the native output of XMPP). What You Will Learn Install and configure an XMPP server and use it to connect from a traditional desktop client and send a message Build a simple server-side application that will respond to messages from our logged in desktop client Install and run XMPP-FTW, connect to the server from the browser, and handle incoming/outgoing messages Connect to a multi-user chat room, send/receive stanzas, add a room password, join a protected room, set the room's subject, and change a user's affiliation Get to grips with the publish-subscribe extension of XMPP and use it to build a pusher system that can make any website real-time Build a simple XMPP component and create an extension for XMPP-FTW that allows you to use your own custom format Build an XMPP version of the classic game “Pong” In Detail XMPP (eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) is a messaging protocol that enables communication between two or more devices via the Internet. With this book, developers will learn about the fundamentals of XMPP, be able to work with the core functionality both server-side and in the browser, as well as starting to explore several of the protocol extensions. You will not only have a solid grasp of XMPP and how it works, but will also be able to use the protocol to build real-world applications that utilize the power of XMPP. By the end of this book, you will know more about networking applications in general, and have a good understanding of how to extend XMPP, as well as using it in sample applications. Style and approach Through a number of hands-on projects, this book shows you how to build usable applications that highlights a feature of XMPP.




Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland


Book Description

Queensland classic edition, originally published by Watson Ferguson & Company in 1904. These stories, first appeared in the “Queeslander” in the form of articles, many of which referred to the Aboriginal People. These articles were then recorded and published by his daughter, Constance Campbell Petrie, in 1904. This book also provides a brief sketch of the early days of the colony of Queensland from 1837, through the eyes of Tom Petrie. He was considered an authority on the Aboriginal people and in this book there is a wide range of interesting and important information about them, including some vocabulary words.




Fahrenheit 451


Book Description

Set in the future when "firemen" burn books forbidden by the totalitarian "brave new world" regime.




The Help


Book Description

Original publication and copyright date: 2009.




The Malahat Review


Book Description