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Born and raised in Port McNicoll, John Arpin discovered his musical talents early: at the age of four he could pick out tunes on the piano that he had heard on the radio; by ten, he had been identified as a child prodigy by a Royal Conservatory of Music adjudicator. He would go on to become one of Canadas finest keyboard virtuosos, playing at concert halls around the world. Equally at ease performing solo piano concerts, being accompanied by a full symphony orchestra, jamming with jazz greats, or accompanying opera singers, he was, perhaps, best known as the premier ragtime pianist of his day.

This authorized biography is based on more than 40 hours of conversation during the last four years of Johns life and supported by extensive research. Included are his friendships with Glenn Gould, Gordon Lightfoot, and others, his years as the designated artist for Yamaha, and his rise to prominence as a veteran of the concert stage. His stories represent pure Canadian music history.

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Ronald Turpin, Arthur Lucas, and the End of Capital Punishment in Canada

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Short-listed for the 2008 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Non-Fiction

Although they committed separate crimes, Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin met their deaths on the same scaffold at Torontos Don Jail on December 11, 1962. They were the last two people executed in Canada, but surprisingly little was known about them until now. This is the first book to uncover the lives and deaths of Turpin, a Canadian criminal, and Lucas, a Detroit gangster. The result of more than five years of research, The Last to Die is based on original interviews, hidden documents, trial transcripts, and newspaper accounts.

Featuring crime scene photos and never-before-published documents, this riveting book also reveals the heroic efforts of lawyer Ross MacKay, who defended both men, and Chaplain Cyril Everitt, who remained with them to the end. What actually happened the night of the hangings is shrouded by myth and rumour. This book finally confirms the truth and reveals the gruesome mistake that cost Arthur Lucas not only his life but also his head.

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Grand Tours, Minor Visitations, Miraculous Journeys, and a Few Good Meals

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From Istanbul to New Delhi to Boulder, Colorado, through Venice, Paris, Rome, and points between.

As travellers, we are always walking backwards, forever on the verge of stepping into the unknown, never knowing what waits around the next corner.

You could be lost, forget your passport, fall ill. You could be served a bowl of food and not know whether its animal, vegetable, or mineral. Even flushing the toilet can be an adventure.

You are a child again, innocent and hoping for the best, forced to trust strangers. Quite often this works out. Not always.

Walking Backwards is a return to 10 cities and what happened there. Whether inadvertently smuggling cloth into Istanbul, reading poetry in New Delhi to a crowd expecting a world-famous pianist, or wandering endlessly through Mantua searching for a non-existent hotel on a street thats fallen off the map, Mark Frutkin is a master at rediscovering the magic at the heart of all travel.

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Canadian Accounts of Weird Events and Experiences

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Here are over 40 scary, hair-raising, and frightening stories of the supernatural and the paranormal. These are first-person narratives that are unexplained and possibly inexplicable. All of them have been reported to John Robert Colombo, Canadas Master Gatherer of the Arcane, by men and women from various parts of the country, and theyre published here in the words of the informants themselves, the witnesses to these wonders.

Here, you will have the opportunity to read about:
A woman from Ottawa who is visited nightly by her dead husband.A man from Quebec who is haunted by visions of the past.The couple from Regina, Saskatchewan, who commune with spirits through a Ouija board.The woman from Newcastle, Ontario, who finds the house of her dreams with a terrible secret.

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The Story of Red Hamilton and Other Forgotten Canadian Outlaws

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This book picks up where The Desperate Ones: Canadas Forgotten Outlaws left off. Here are more remarkable true stories about Canadian crimes and criminals most of them tales that have been buried for years. The stories begin in colonial Newfoundland, with robbery and murder committed by the notorious Power Gang. As readers travel across the country and through time, they will meet the last two men to be hanged in Prince Edward Island, smugglers who made lake Champlain a battleground, a counterfeiter whose bills were so good they fooled even bank managers, and teenage girls who committed murder in their escape from jail. They will meet the bandits who plundered banks and trains in Eastern Canada and the West, and even the United States. Among them were Same Behan, a robber whose harrowing testimony about the brutal conditions in the Kingston Penitentiary may have brought about his untimely death in "The Hole"; and John "Red" Hamilton, the Canadian-born member of the legendary Dillinger gang.

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Scarce Heard Amid the Guns tears the curtain of myth away, providing a rare, visceral inner perspective of the various Canadian peacekeeping missions.

In the Service of Peace simple words that adorn the obverse of every United Nations medal, yet behind this eloquence lurks violence and an unheralded heroism invisible to an often misunderstood quarter of Canadas military history. The Canadian contribution to peacekeeping is enormous but ensnared in a lethal mythology that has seen it abandoned to popular folklore. From the early and intrinsic Canadian contribution to the U.N. Emergency Force in 1956, through the blur of the frenetic 1990s down to the anemic level of contemporary Canadian participation, it is difficult to make sense of the wide circumference of this significant legacy. Until now.

Scarce Heard Amid the Guns provides an incisive perspective on the various Canadian missions: their omnipresent doubt and un-telegraphed terrors. This insiders guided tour of our military at war in peace introduces us to some of the men and women who carried the day ordinary Canadians who did extraordinary things and continue to bear the scars of forgotten fields in their bones.

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More than a whodunit detective story, Picasso Blues is a gripping tale of missed opportunities and hidden desires set amid rampant cynicism, fear, and deadly danger.

In this sequel to Free Form Jazz, Ray Tate and Djuna Brown are reunited in a city being ripped apart by fear, paranoia, and racism. With the police force decimated by a SARS-like disease, Tate and Brown are assigned to a task force targeting a series of murders that seem to be racially motivated. As the city riots around them, can they fashion a future for themselves in their dreamland of bohemian Paris?

Far more than a whodunit detective story, Picasso Blues is the gripping tale of a civil society that flirts with anarchy a society where the very defenders of order risk losing themselves to chaos.

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When Clair discovers a book of spells, she quickly learns that she cant solve her problems with magic.

Teased by her older brother, bullied by the popular girls at school, and plagued by a blistering pimple that has surfaced on the tip of her nose, twelve-year-old Claire Murphy wishes she could shrivel up and die or spontaneously combust. But when a mysterious book appears at her feet in the checkout aisle of a grocery store, Claire is confident all her troubles are over. Following the instructions carefully, Claire dives nose-first into reeking remedies, rollicking rituals, and silly spells. Its only when she recklessly disregards the Law of Three that the line between good and evil blurs and Claire must race against time to undo all of the trouble shes caused.

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No amount of drama between the Dark and Penhallow families can prepare them for what follows when Aunt Becky bequeaths her prized heirloom jug - the owner to be revealed in one year's time. The intermarriages, and resulting fighting and feuding, that have occurred over the years grow more intense as Gay Penhallow's fiance leaves her for the devious Nan Penhallow; Peter Penhallow and Donna Dark find love after a lifelong hatred of each other; and Joscelyn and Hugh Dark, inexplicably separated on their wedding night, are reunited. Hopes and shortcomings are revealed as we follow the fates of the clan for an entire year. The legendary jug sits amid this love, heartbreak, and hilarity as each family member works to acquire the heirloom. But on the night that the eccentric matriarch's wishes are to be revealed, both families find the biggest surprise of all.

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First published in 1960, in Morning at Jalna it is 1863 and the American Civil War is raging south of the border. Still in its early years, the Jalna estate seems far away from the despair and destruction. Philip, who will grow up to become the master of Jalna, has just come into the world, while Augusta, Nicholas, and Ernest are children. Life  at Jalna is as peaceful as usual until the Sinclairs come to visit. They arrive with the polished manners and soft accents of Old Carolina and quickly appeal to Adelines sense of hospitality. However, as the burden  these distant cousins bring grows, the Whiteoaks begin to suspect that  the Sinclairs have a deep and dangerous secret. This is book 2 of 16 in The Whiteoak Chronicles. It is followed by Mary Wakefield.

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The greatest human problem is that we are all born in the condemned cell. Money and medical science can extend the human lifespan significantly perhaps up to one thousand years via cloning and cryogenics but in the end, when the last medical miracle has been exhausted, Death still waits patiently for us.

In Death: The Final Mystery, Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe take their investigative skills to those last moments of life and beyond, exploring such puzzling topics as near-death and out-of-body experiences, reincarnation theories, hypno-regression, and automatic writing and other phenomena of the seance room. Evidence is drawn from trance mediums, the writings of mystics, and clear, hard facts reported by reliable eyewitnesses.

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Canadas Silent Siren, Americas Sweetheart

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Mary Pickfords ambition, passion, innate talent, and savvy business acumen sent her career into the stratosphere and set the blueprint for the modern movie star. Born Gladys Louise Smith in 1892, Pickford was raised in a house on University Avenue in Toronto and began her acting career on the stage. However, her determination led her to the new world of motion pictures, where she not only revolutionized acting method but negotiated her own terms for the highest salary for any actress and complete creative control over her films unheard of behaviour for a woman of that period.

Pickford co-founded United Artists in 1919 with Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, which turned the existing studio system on its head. The actresss subsequent marriage to Fairbanks incited a fan frenzy comparable to todays obsession with couples like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Although Pickfords star faded with the advent of talking pictures, she was the catalyst for the culture of Hollywood celebrity that enthralls us today.

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Short-listed for the Forest of Reading Red Maple Award, 2012

Before you judge me, there are two things you should know about why I did it.

Shana Tremain is a good kid. She knows right from wrong and shes never been in any serious trouble. But when her best friend, Carrie, comes to her for help, Shana agrees to break the law to save Carrie from a molester. She even feels good about it for a while.

Then trouble starts. Someone in their group of friends is stealing from the others. As she searches for the truth, Shana uncovers evidence that raises a terrifying question: Has she made a horrible mistake?

Faced with the reality of what shes done, Shana finds herself trapped in a web of her own lies and deceit. Can she convince the right people that shes telling the truth now? Either way its clear someone is going to pay a terrible price for her crime.

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A day-by-day celebration in words and photographs of the young couples first tour of Canada.

On April 29, 2011, Prince William of Wales married Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London. The newlyweds first royal tour took place in Canada from June 30 to July 8. People across the country rejoiced with the couple as they made their way through a land that holds special significance for the Royal Family, emphasizing and renewing the bond with Canada. This was not the Duke of Cambridges first trip "home to Canada," since he accompanied his parents, Charles and Diana, in 1991 and his father and brother, Harry, in 1998. This journey included such highlights as Canada Day in Ottawa, dragon boating in Prince Edward Island, visiting homeless youth in Quebec City, street hockey in Yellowknife, and a side trip to help bolster the courage of fire-devastated citizens in Slave Lake, Alberta. The Duke and Duchess presented the vibrant, modern face of the Royal Family, and excitement followed them everywhere as they travelled across Canada.

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Written by the foremost authorities, The Canadian Federal Election of 2011 provides a complete investigation of all aspects of the campaigns and the outcome of the election.

The Canadian Federal Election of 2011 is a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of the campaign and election outcome. The chapters, written by leading academics, examine the strategies, successes, and failures of the major political parties the Conservatives (Faron Ellis and Peter Woolstencroft), the Liberals (Brooke Jeffrey), the New Democrats (David McGrane), the Bloc Qubcois (Eric Belanger and Richard Nadeau), and the Green Party (Susan Harada).

Also featured in this volume are chapters on the nature of local campaigning (Alex Marland), the polls (Andre Turcotte), the campaign in the new social media (Mary Francoli, Josh Greenberg and Christopher Waddell), and the nature of modern conservatism (Jonathan Malloy and Jim Farney). The book concludes with a detailed analysis of voting behaviour in 2011 (Harold Clarke and Tom Scotto) and an assessment of whether Canada is headed for a Stephen Harper dynasty (Jon H. Pammett and Lawrence LeDuc). Appendices contain all of the election results.

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Increase Your Profit and Joy in Your Work

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Through this easy reading, multi-faceted book, business author Julie V. Watson offers up invaluable tips and hints for home-based, micro, and small businesses. Her suggestions will help you save time and money, use creative planning and new ideas to increase profitability, create a rewarding business environment, and increase sales through effective marketing and promotion.

Drawing on her more than 20 years of experience as a home-based entrepreneur, as well as the stories of a number of other successful business owners across Canada, Watson offers up practical, priceless advice. "These are jump-start-your-brain-type offerings that get people thinking creatively about a new business, or about improving and streamlining the one they have," says the author. "My belief is that we constantly need to trigger our brains, refresh what sets us apart, to create a business that compliments the lifestyle we want to achieve."

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Home child Mary Janeway runs away from her farm placement, grows into adulthood, and ultimately comes to terms with life in Hamilton, Ontario.

Sixteen-year-old Mary Janeway, a home child, is desperate to escape from her rural home child placement and flees to London, Ontario, to find a domestic position. When conditions become unbearable, she moves on, vowing never to relinquish her freedom again.

After she arrives in Hamilton as a young bride, she quickly adapts to the urban conveniences and the marvels of new inventions that include electric sewing machines, sulphur matches, street stoplights, a one-horsepower Brunswick refrigerator, the advent of the zipper, and the beginning of radio. But even the latest technology cant stop the ravages of disease and other family tragedies.

Mary lives through two world wars, the Spanish Influenza, and the Great Depression. In spite of many hardships, she remains a strong, resilient woman well into her senior years and makes many contributions to Hamilton, the city she calls home.

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Paul Heinbecker has a compelling vision for the future of Canadian foreign policy and argues that Canada still has a role to play in the rehabilitation of global governance.

Has Canada lost its place in the world? Are we destined for a future as a middle power, denied a seat at the "grown-ups table"? Some would argue yes, that decades of neglect and inattention have rendered Canadian foreign policy ineffective at best and non-existent at worst.

Paul Heinbecker disagrees. The golden days of Lester B. Pearson may be long gone, he contends (and perhaps they werent quite as "golden" as wed all like to remember), but Canada still has a part to play.

In Getting Back in the Game, Heinbecker presents his compelling vision for the future of Canadian foreign policy, a future in which Canada can work both with the United Nations and apart from it; in which our government can take a stand and effect change on issues of the day from climate change to the Middle East; in which this country has a key role to play in the rehabilitation of global governance.

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This is the story of Isaac Brown, a slave who was accused of the attempted murder of a plantation owner in Maryland, escaped, and ultimately made his way to freedom in Canada.

In the early to mid-nineteenth century, Isaac Brown, a slave, was accused of the attempted murder of a prominent plantation owner, despite there being no evidence of his guilt. Brown, after enduring two brutal floggings, was shipped to a New Orleans slave pen. From there the resourceful Brown was able to make a daring escape to Philadelphia in the free state of Pennsylvania. His biggest error was writing a note informing his free wife and eleven children in Maryland of his whereabouts. The note was intercepted and led to his arrest and attempted extradition back to Maryland.

While engaged in researching an ancestor named Isaac Brown, Bryan Prince encountered the very high-profile case of what turned out to be a different Isaac Brown. The story of this slave, with its culmination in Browns dramatic escape and ultimate success in crossing the border into Canada, is the riveting subject of historian Bryan Princes latest book.

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2013 Information Book Awards Long-listed

Harriet Tubman encouraged enslaved Africans to make the break for freedom and reinforced the potential of black freedom and independence.

Born in the United States and enslaved as a child, Harriet Tubman (circa 1820-1913) is one of the best-known figures connected to the Underground Railroad. Through her knowledge and outdoor survival skills, honed through her unpaid labour in the fields and through the later connections she made in the abolitionist community, Tubman was well poised to command her followers. By her discipline and example, she never lost a "passenger."

Tubmans exploits helped to empower those opposed to slavery and enrage those who supported it. Her success encouraged enslaved Africans to make the brave break for freedom and reinforced the belief held by abolitionists in the potential of black freedom and independence. Referred to as "General Tubman" due to her contributions to the Underground Railroad and to the Union Army, Tubmans numerous rescue missions ending in Canada helped to build the interest in escape and reinforce the position of Canada as the final stop on the journey to freedom.