Brian Busby
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brianbusby.bsky.social
Brian Busby
@brianbusby.bsky.social
Writer, écrivain public, anthologist, literary historian, bibliophile, and three-time winner of the Ice Capades Colouring Contest.

Author of Character Parts (Knopf), A Gentleman of Pleasure (McGill-Queen's UP), and The Dusty Bookcase (Biblioasis).
A surprising discovery made while working on returning Nova Scotia novelist Jan Hilliard's Morgan's Castle to print. Sometimes a last novel is not a last novel.
#canlit #cdnhist

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-...
The Great Lost Canadian Mystery Novel?
'Four To Go' Kay Grant [Hilda Kay Grant] The Star Weekly (24 - 31 March 1973) I once thought that Hilda Kay Grant's bibliography could be d...
brianbusby.blogspot.com
February 16, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Every once in awhile, research leads to surprising, somewhat confusing findings. Case in point, this popular 1944 volume of ribald Australian wartime verse. The past is indeed a foreign country. #booksky
February 10, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Constance Beresford-Howe's third novel, written at twenty0five while working on her PhD.

I'm a lazy sod.

#canlit #canadianliterature

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2026/02/let-...
Let the Right One In
The Invisible Gate Constance Beresford-Howe New York: Dodd, Mead, 1949 241 pages I met Constance Beresford-Howe at the 1991 opening of a Tor...
brianbusby.blogspot.com
February 4, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Time to waste? There's a 1980 film available on YouTube based on a Ross Macdonald novel, adapted by the screenwriters of Flashdance and Meatballs, featuring the cast of SCTV (including Catherine O'Hara).

#cdnhist #cdnfilm #canlit

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-ro...
A Ross Macdonald Sunday Matinee Mystery – With Guest Appearence by Catherine O'Hara
It's been a remarkably cold winter, made more so by news Friday that Catherine O'Hara had died. Apparently, she was seventy-one. Who knew? S...
brianbusby.blogspot.com
February 1, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Every word featuring in the Canadian Oxford English Dictionary, of course.

RIP, Lola Heatherton, I had such a crush on you.
January 30, 2026 at 10:04 PM
I know, I know, I've been going on about Nova Scotia novelist Jan Hilliard for years now, but his week sees Morgan's Castle, her final novel, return to print after a fifty years as part of the Véhicule Press Ricochet Books imprint. I wrote the intro.

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-...
The Jan Hilliard Ricochet
Let the revival begin! I first read Jan Hilliard three years ago. The book was  Dove Cottage , her third novel. It may not be the best place...
brianbusby.blogspot.com
January 28, 2026 at 9:23 PM
"A demented U.S. president demands the Nobel Peace Prize after converting the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, sending troops into American cities, threatening Canada, and abducting the president of a Latin American country by force." open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
Greenland?
Monty Python would have a field day
open.substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 10:41 PM
And I believe Minnesotans will understand that the best outcome is for the Canada to receive control of Minnesota.
WELKER: Is military action on the table?

BESSENT: I believe the Europeans will understand that the best outcome is for the US to receive control of Greenland
January 18, 2026 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Brian Busby
WELKER: Is military action on the table?

BESSENT: I believe the Europeans will understand that the best outcome is for the US to receive control of Greenland
January 18, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Massive snowstorm today, but I've seen worse.
January 15, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Brian Busby
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” —George Orwell (1984)
January 8, 2026 at 3:32 PM
January 8, 2026 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Brian Busby
January 7, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Brian Busby
If you were Canada, you'd know how to spell behaviour correctly.
January 4, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Brian Busby
For no particular reason, I'm reposting this Atlantic piece about why America would not survive an attempt to conquer Canada. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
The U.S. Threat Looming Over Canada
The consequences if Trump followed through on his belligerent rhetoric about a “51st state” would be catastrophic.
www.theatlantic.com
January 4, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Solidarity!

Let us not forget that Trump has posited the idea of an invasion of Canada and Greenland. As long as Trump is president, the United States is our enemy.
January 3, 2026 at 10:30 PM
The Mar-a-lago situation room:

"Throughout the years, people have tried to come up with a gold paint that would look like gold, and they've never been able to do it. They've never been able. They've never been able to match gold with gold paint. That's why it's gold." - Donald J. Trump, March 2025
January 3, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Brian Busby
Right now Greenland and Canada are watching the world's response to the motherfucker doing the illegal invasion he said he was going to do.
January 3, 2026 at 9:59 AM
My New Year's resolution was to read and review books by women only in 2026. So far, so good.

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-...
The Woman Who Didn't (and the Man Who Very Much Wanted To)
The Woman Who Didn't Victoria Cross  [Annie Sophie Cory] London: Lane, 1909 159 pages The narrator is a British soldier who is returning hom...
brianbusby.blogspot.com
January 2, 2026 at 8:48 PM
From today's New York Times.
December 31, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Netanyahu is employing the "royal we."
Netanyahu: We've never had a friend like President Trump in the White House. It's not even close. I think Israel is very blessed to have President Trump leading the United States.
December 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM
My annual roundup of the three best old #CanadianLiterature reads, along with three recommended books that should be returned to print forthwith.

Publishers take note!

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-...
The Three Best Reads of 2025 (two are in print!)
An annus horribilis , wouldn't you say? Strange, too! Never thought I'be be flying the flag of Greenland from the porch of our Upper Canadia...
brianbusby.blogspot.com
December 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
An international bestseller!
Who says old books don't relate to life today?
December 21, 2025 at 4:28 PM
The new name suggests that Donald J. Trump is dead.
I’m currently outside of the Kennedy Center:
December 19, 2025 at 8:09 PM