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).
Solidarity.
November 24, 2025 at 12:23 AM
November 19, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Don't mean to alarm, but Montreal's unseasonably cold and gloomy weather makes me wonder whether we're on the path to full Quintet.
November 15, 2025 at 9:44 PM
The Long November first appeared in 1946 as a Dutton hardcover. In the next decade, five paperback editions followed, culminating in a pirated edition. After 67 years, it was returned to press by the Véhicule Press Ricochet imprint. Given the title, it seems almost the poster child for #Noirvember.
November 14, 2025 at 10:33 PM
It was fifty years ago this evening.
November 11, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Watching the movie because you didn't feel like reading the book and other mistakes made in high school.

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2025/11/wild...

#oldhollywood #silentfilm #canlit #cdnhist
November 1, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Having fun researching Ruf der Wildgänse, a fairly faithful 1961 Austrian film adaptation of Martha Ostenso's 1925 Manitoba novel Wild Geese. That said, I do have some issues with the movie poster.

#canlit #cdnhist #film
October 30, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Two ways to destroy the White House:

1) invade Canada;

2) elect Donald Trump.
October 22, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Two ways to destroy the White House:

1) invade Canada;

2) elect Donald Trump.
October 22, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Two ways to destroy the White House:

1) invade Canada;

2) elect Donald Trump.
October 22, 2025 at 7:20 PM
October 10, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Revisiting a novel I liked at twenty to find it is not as I remembered.

#canlit #cdnhist

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2025/10/dont...
October 7, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Every weekday for five years, this hardworking Canadian would pass a house an hour from Ottawa flying these two flags, one above the other. This continued even after Trump started talking about the 51st State and wouldn't rule out invasion. But when the tariffs hit, they came down pretty darn quick.
October 2, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Yes, for real.
September 30, 2025 at 9:41 PM
From the pen of a 20-year-old who went on to write and produce NYPD Blue, Deadwood, and Homeland.

#canlit #cdnhist #bchist

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2025/09/ted-...
September 30, 2025 at 1:34 PM
A shame that Ace no longer publishes double-backs.
September 16, 2025 at 8:57 PM
A 58-year-old thriller about a secret organization intent on sabotaging Expo 67.

Starring Agent 18-67!

#canlit #cdnhist #expo67 #thrillers

brianbusby.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-fa...
September 15, 2025 at 7:03 PM
My very favourite is Ethel Wilson's The Innocent Traveller (1949). The first book I ever read by the author, it made me a fan for life.
August 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Further to yesterday's Ziggy Stardust "star," "starman," "stardust" observation, word counts for the Psychedelic Furs' debut LP:

Love - 47
Stupid - 17
Useless - 7

"Stupidly" features once.

Love conquers all!
August 20, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Remembering that lovable eccentric Amor De Cosmos (né William Alexander Smith), the second premier of British Columbia, born 200 hundred years ago today.

. #cdnhist #bchist
August 20, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Strolling through the market square, procrastinating, today I put together this count of words used in The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars:

Star - 9
Starman – 6
Stardust – 2
Superstar - 2

To my surprise, all feature in just one song & "Stardust" isn't in Ziggy Stardust.
August 19, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Front page of this morning's Globe & Mail.

Maybe don't take the kids to Disney World.
August 14, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Lennon is interesting. Despite being on the left, I'm not one for his politics, though he did have some very nice things to say about Pierre Trudeau (whose politics I do admire). Must say, I always get a kick out of this photo. That's some tie!
August 9, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Damn those careless workmen!

Montreal Gazette, 19 December 1914

#BookHistory
July 31, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Someone should tell Ana that only Americans spell honour without a u.

I see what she''s doing here. Looks like a BC Delicious.
July 29, 2025 at 4:44 PM