Toronto’s famed Bakka Phoenix Books drew an unexpected guest to its April 20 launch party for Masked Mosaic: Lord Stanley’s Cup, the championship trophy of the National Hockey League. Click here to see a photo.
I’ve heard it claimed that hockey is such an ingrained part of the Canadian identity that I doubt a visit from the Stanley Cup would be equalled in significance if the San Francisco 49ers were to loan the 2013 Vince Lombardi Trophy to the Bay Area’s Other Change of Hobbit bookstore.
In the event neither sports reference has the slightest meaning for you, don’t forget there’s still a perfectly good short story collection to consider.
The Bakka launch party was on behalf of Masked Mosaic, a collection of Canadian stories featuring masked vigilantes, superpowered antiheroes and super scientists, edited by Claude Lalumière and Camile Alexa. Writers Mike Rimar, Emma Vossen, Michael S. Chong and Michael Matheson were on hand to sign.
The collection’s full slate of contributors is — A.C. Wise, Alyxandra Harvey, Camille Alexa, Chantal Boudreau, Claude Lalumière, D.K. Latta, David Nickle, David Perlmutter, Derryl Murphy, E.L. Chen, Emma Faraday, Emma Vossen, Jason S. Ridler, Jason Sharp, Jonathan Olfert, Kevin Cockle, Kristi Charish, Lisa Poh, Marie Bilodeau, Michael Matheson, Michael S. Chong, Mike Rimar, Patrick T. Goddard, Rhea Rose, Rhonda & Jonathan Parrish, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
[Thanks to John Mansfield for the story.]
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
I know Dave Nickle — nice guy. He’s a journalist by trade, and a thorn in the side of local politicians. I’ve even read a book that he collaborated on with Karl Schroeder (who I also know) — “The Klaus Effect.” But, I’m pretty out of the loop as far as minor Canadian genre writers go. As far as I’m concerned, the rest of the names in that collection might as well have been drawn from the phone book.
I’ve seen the Stanley Cup in person. It’s kept in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, so it’s not that difficult to imagine its presence at local sporting events. A book launch does seem a little odd, though.
In fact, there are three Stanley Cups. One is the original, kept in the Hall of Fame. The second is an “authorized” copy that I think may be possessed by the cup winner that year. There is a third cup that is “unauthorized” — but that only means that an official seal of some sort isn’t stamped under the base. It is still made by the NHL, it’s otherwise the same as the “authorized” cups and there’s nothing fraudulent about it. In fact, it’s likely that the third was the cup loaned to Bakka for the book launch.
Ironically, despite the original cup being on display in a museum in Toronto, it’s been nearly 50 years since the cup was won by the Toronto team, the Maple Leafs. There was an attempt mounted by certain partisans to move the museum (and the cup) out west, to Edmonton or Calgary, but it failed to gain traction. If anyone want to know more, I’m sure they know how to find Wikipedia online.
The Klaus Effect? Okay, this I have to know about. Taral, please elucidate.
David: Sadly, the title is a little off. It’s: The Claus Effect.
Details here: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?37211
I see. Thank you, sir.
“Claus” and “Klaus” (and “Klaas” along with other variant spellings) have the same root, the second half of “Nicholas”. It means “of the people.”
The first half of “Nicholas” derives from the Greek “Nika“, which means “victory”. From that we also get “Nike” (which is why the athletic shoe company took that name and why the U. S. used it in the names of a series of anti-aircraft missiles), and the French Mediterranean city “Nice”.
I will presume it was just a typo rather than an attempt to get my goat. Good will to all (one of the things Santa Claus brings), and as they say in MinneAPA, “S,AS” (“Smiliing, Always Smiling”).
David: to paraphrase Johnny Cash “I keep a close watch on this goat of mine.”
It seems appropriate at this point to say, “Baaaaaaa! Humbug!”
Klaus or Claus, either way the book is an expansion of a short story written a couple of years earlier. It’s about a little girl who climbs to the roof when Santa lands, and asks to be an elf. His reaction is not what you might expect. No “Ho, ho, ho, you don’t want to be an elf, little girl. Here’s a dolly, now be off to bed.” In fact, he appears quite psychotic, and say something more like “You wanna be an elf? Okay, Sim sim ala bim, you’re an elf,” and she was. Then he spirits her away to his horrible slave factory at the north pole, where things only get worse. The novel picks up from the short story and the destruction of the north pole … and things only get much, much worse.
“Claus Effect” is still in print – or at least actually stocked by Amazon.
From Taral’s description of the plot, I doubt it’s something I’d enjoy reading.
When my boys were in pre-school and Kindergarten, their classmates would look at my hair and beard, and having been told by my boys that I was “Mr. Klaus,”, they would ask if I was Santa Claus. I always told them, no, but I was his 2nd Cousin, and he asked me to ask them to be good boys and girls.
And they always were.
David: When asked “Hey Santa, what are you giving me?” I quite often reply “What you deserve.”