If you’re like me, and love to spend time combing the stacks of a great independent bookstore like City Lights in San Francisco or the now dearly departed Gotham Book Mart in Manhattan (with its iconic sign, “Wise Men Fish Here”), I am pleased to tell you that the great independents in Calgary and Edmonton, including Pages, Owl’s Nest, Audreys and Greenwoods’, are always well stocked with a good selection of my titles. People tell me they can never find my books in Coles or Chapters-Indigo, even though the computers at these chain stores say the books are supposedly on their shelves. Shop at the independents, I say. You will never be disappointed. You can also order my books directly from my publisher by clicking here. But there’s nothing to beat the enjoyment of going to a good, independent bookstore, where the staff are always friendly and knowledgeable, and bringing home more books than you originally intended to buy.

The Calgary Public Library has just ordered eighteen copies of The Good Steward. Library patrons have already submitted requests for thirteen of them. Copies are also on order at the Edmonton Public Library, the Chinook Arch Regional Library System, the St. Alberta Public Library and Strathcona County Public Library. The word is getting around. Click here to find out which branches of the Calgary Public Library have ordered The Good Steward.

It’s been a good-news weekend for The Good Steward. The Edmonton Journal picked up the Catherine Ford review from the Calgary Herald (see below) while the book, after dropping to the No. 9 spot last week, rebounded to No. 2 on the Herald’s local bestseller list. I’ll never understand how bestseller lists work — a literary agent told me once that certain booksellers have been known to manipulate them so they can move surplus stock — but in the interests of self-promotion I’ll take advantage of them whenever I can.

Hugh Dempsey, the eminent Alberta historian, has written in the Winter 2009 issue of Alberta History magazine a review of The Good Steward that begins: “When you read this book, you will understand why Brian Brennan is one of the best history writers in Canada …” This is wonderful praise indeed from a historian for whom I have the greatest respect and admiration. Click on the image to view his full review ->

Provincial steward

By Bob Blakey
Fast Forward Weekly Books

“I have to confess that when I heard Calgary author Brian Brennan was writing a biography about former premier Ernest Manning, it didn’t exactly get my pulse racing.” Read more …