New Releases by Lesley Choyce

Carrie wants to be part of the cool crowd. Becoming friends with them means getting a new image for herself but it also means ignoring her old friends. That''s when Carrie starts to see that there are friends, and then there are good freinds.

In Beautiful Sadness laughter often simmers under a rueful - or strangely joyful - melancholy tone. These poems are the songs you might sing on street corners if, reaching beyond the troubles of daily life, you discover the resiliency of the spirit.

Lesley Choyce writes rings around most Canadian authors. This collection of short stories, Dance the Rocks Ashore, is certainly choice Choyce. Dance the Rocks Ashore contains substantial new stories including "Dance the Rocks Ashore," a bittersweet account of an elderly couple''s decline; the hilarious and bizarre "My Father Was a Book Reviewer" "The Third or Fourth Happiest Man in Nova Scotia," with a peculiar hero reminiscent of Noah; and "The Wreck of the Sister Theresa," in which spring fever hits like "a handshake in hell." Favourite stories from previous books include "Losing Ground," the pivotal chapter in Choyce''s acclaimed 1989 novel The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson, as well as "The Cure," "Dancing the Night Away," and the complex and disturbing "Conventional Emotions."

Grade level: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, i, s, t.

Combining the age-old science-fiction gambit of time travel and a new-age belief in reincarnation, this novel follows the adventures of a soul through various incarnations spanning 25 centuries. Drawing inspiration from myth and religion -- Celtic, ancient Hawaiian, Hebrew, Egyptian, Micmac -- as well as scientific concepts of geological evolution, psychic telepathy, drug therapy, astronomy, and computer interactivity, Choyce transports his protagonist to nineteenth-century Maui, Europe during the Children''s Crusades, ancient Mesopotamia, and future eras in search of spiritual fulfillment. The quest for spiritual fulfillment is the distinguishing motif of Choyce''s work, most notably in his essay collection Transcendental Anarchy: Meditations of a Metaphysical Traveler and in his photonovel Magnificent Obsessions. At the renowned Toronto Harbourfront International Authors Festival in 1996 Lesley Choyce was featured along with Timothy Findley, Margaret Atwood, George Bowering, Tobias Wolff, Andre Brink, Nancy Huston, and Maeve Binchy. Like many of these authors, Choyce is prolific and versatile, publishing over forty books in his forty-five years, ranging from lyrical poetry and personal essays through young adult adventure novels to realistic novels and now new-age science fiction.

Tara''s got it made - good grades, cool parent''s, a weekend job, and a boyfriend, Ron. Then there''s her friend Janet who lives on the street when she can''t get on with her parents. Along with other street kids, Janet panhandles for money and spends nights at an abandonned building called Hell''s Hotel. Ron wants the world to know that it''s adults who force the kids on to the streets - parents, teachers, police - and he asks Tara to help him publish his opinions in his alternative newspaper, The Rage. As Ron confronts authority, Tara begins to question his motives. Then, quite suddenly, many of the pieces of her perfect life start to crumble, including her stable, happy home. Her grades slip, her friends desert her and her mother leaves town. Where will Tara turn for help.

Randy can surf the waves better than anyone else at Lawrencetown. When his beach is invaded by townies, he''s willing to show them how to catch waves, and he''s quickly accepted as one of the gang. With the money he''s earning at his summer job, he can even afford the latest gear - and a flashy car. Every day Cathy comes to the beach with her boyfriend Brian. She seems to like Randy, and he doesn''t mind the attention. That leads to complication ... and some wild adventures out on the waves. In the water Randy is a hero, but on dry land - it''s a whole lot trickier!