It’s bound to be a classic
Modern true crime story by local journalist published as gorgeous collectible hardcover
Hingston & Olsen Publishing have created some of the most beautifully designed and intriguing books ever published in Alberta: namely their annual Short Story Advent Calendar and horror-themed Ghost Box series.
Stepping out from under their own shadow, they just released in book form one of the most harrowing yet luminous newspaper stories written in recent memory, Jana G. Pruden’s Fear on the Family Farm — the story of a family living in terror under the capricious and violent reign of the farm patriarch, which ended, inevitably, in murder.
A modern true crime classic sharing DNA with Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, it’s the story of Holly Crichton who, as Pruden writes, “had known for a long time that someone would have to die. She hoped her husband would die of a stroke or a heart attack, but expected he would probably kill her instead.”
The multiple award-winning work of investigative journalism ran in the Edmonton Journal, going on to be published on Longform, with Slate naming it one of the year’s best crime stories.
Michael Hingston, the Edmonton-based author and editor of H&O (and former Journal books columnist) makes a good point about why a book version of this story matters when one can simply read the story online.
“The nature of journalism on the Internet is that links eventually go dark, and when they do, a lot of great work gets lost. Our goal with Fear on the Family Farm was to pull it out of the digital ether and give it the permanent home it’s always deserved.”
The book itself, like everything the Alberta company publishes, is a work of art: intense yellow pages bound in neutral grey with crisp illustrations inside, including a succinct map of the relevant Alberta locations. It also includes a new afterward by Pruden, updating us on the surviving Crichton family. You can buy it online at hingstonandolsen.com.
Speaking of our fascination with true crime, which is seemingly growing in the podcast age, Pruden notes, “Instead of abandoning true-crime stories, or fighting our own interest in them, we should be holding them to the highest standards, ensuring that reporting of true crime is responsible and accurate and thoughtful and fair.
“And, most importantly, we all need to remember these are real stories about real people.
“They are true crimes. And that is exactly why they matter.”
In other Edmonton Journal expat news, Stephen Notley — whose gonzo Bob the Angry Flower appeared in the pages of this and almost every other Edmonton publication through its 27-year run — has a new comic anthology, the intentionally flat-named Exciting Space Adventure. And, yes, it’s damn funny.
While steeped in geopolitical satire, where Bob continues to either completely endorse or dismantle neo-cons and/or the political inverse’s hypocrisy depending on Mr. the Angry Flower’s mood, the book also delves into horrifyingly autobiographical examinations of the author’s aging body, as well as the loneliness we all so ironically collectively feel in this age — Marshall Mcluhan’s worst nightmares of we the audience becoming the gladiatorial entertainment fodder.
I say this every time, but this collection is Notley’s finest effort yet. And yes, it does contain that rather pre-emptively confident strip about his sister — anyone in Canada might recognize the last name — taking out her political opponent. But can you blame a guy for loving and supporting his own family? I’m sure the worst of you will happily go for it — have at er, I guess.
Notley lists various reasons to pick up his 11th collection: “It’s got colour in it! It’s got a space story about consensual sex! It contains angry cartoons decrying that gaslighting dips — Donnie! It’s got a bunch of cartoons about D&D drawn from real life experience! It’s loaded up with tiresomely self-loathing annotations!
“Do you want good reasons?” has asks, quickly adding, “The cartoons read way better in a book than on the stupid ol’ internet!”
That’s actually true in that as a historical document of sorts, Notley
The cartoons read way better in a book than on the stupid ol’ internet!
weaves in and out of some of our worst moves as a species in the 21st century, pants-ing all the way in a slightly coherent narrative. (Haha, now there’s a back cover quote.)
Seeing as you’re probably not at San Diego Comic Con this weekend, where he’s hawking BTAF: ESA in Small Press booth K16, Aisle 11, you can easily buy the book on amazon.ca, so take that, America!
In the meantime, Bob the Angry Flower runs weekly on gigcity.ca, occasionally also showing up on stapled-up posters down Jasper and Whyte alongside gig posters and poorly-designed ads for various local mystics and masseuses.