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Just Words #1
Just Words Volume 1
Celebrating 34 Canadian authors and their work as featured during the first year of Blank Spaces, a literary arts magazine birthed out of small town Ontario.
Filled with creative non-fiction, short stories, and poetry, Just Words Volume One is a true reflection of the heart, humour, and depth of Canadian creatives; capturing, in its text, the very pulse of Blank Spaces.
Filled with creative non-fiction, short stories, and poetry, Just Words Volume One is a true reflection of the heart, humour, and depth of Canadian creatives; capturing, in its text, the very pulse of Blank Spaces.
176 pages, Paperback
Published September 24, 2017
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Alanna Rusnak
18 books54 followersAlanna was born in the wrong decade and dreams of abandoning everything to live in a van and travel across Canada. She’ll call it "a book tour," but it’s really an excuse to unleash her inner hippie. A collector of typewriters and John Travolta VHS movies, she believes life is too short to not indulge in the things that bring you joy and in keeping with that philosophy, she left a stuffy office job of 18 years to launch a full-time indie press out of a chicken coop on her childhood property. An author of literary and speculative fiction, Alanna likes to play in dark spaces, but always leaves room for redemption. Her latest novel is about burning down the world in order to set things right. Settled in West Grey as a four-year-old, it has always been her home and source of inspiration and she’s working hard to build bridges between the various arts communities. With no immediate plans to abandon this, she will certainly leave it all behind the moment her husband gets on board with the van-life idea.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 9, 2017
A beautiful collection of the *best* new work from Canadian writers coast-to-coast, as discovered in Blank Spaces magazine. Volume One features the work of Ann YK Choi and other emerging authors. Fiction, non-fiction and poetry, this anthology shows off the talents of up-and-coming literary stars! Well worth the read! Bodes well for the second year of this exciting CanLit magazine! blankspaces.ca
September 10, 2017
This collection of Canadian voices from creatives coast-to-coast will make your heart sing. Proud to be counted among the talent that Alanna Rusnak has discovered and encouraged every step of the way. Here, we celebrate the diversity and simplicity of all things good about Canadian literature and arts; and move forward, together, in sharing the very best of Canadian writing, poetry, art, photography, and creative works that this formidable Canlit magazine Blank Spaces has to offer.
September 8, 2017
A gorgeous collection that truly reflects everything the Blank Spaces magazine stands for.
June 2, 2018
Just Words Volume 1 showcases the work of over thirty new, emerging, and established Canadian writers. The book is an anthology of writing previously published in the literary arts magazine Blank Spaces, and it delivers more or less that which one would expect from a new literary publication: focused passion and fervent authenticity in deeply personal bursts.
There are a few outliers, but the theme intentionally or unintentionally tying most of the stories, essays, and poems together is that of writing: the dream of writing, the act of writing, the love of writing ... being a writer. Many of the authors reveal themselves to be wrestling with their artistic egos; there is a shaky elision between pride and self-consciousness, talent and self-doubt that winds throughout the entire volume. The result is that the book will likely appeal more to "writers" than to "readers".
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in new Canadian writing, or anyone looking for a volume of short, often inspirational works to pick up and put down throughout the day. I am pleased to have discovered a budding new arts publication, and I am sure we will be seeing more from Rusnak and Blank Spaces. -RH
There are a few outliers, but the theme intentionally or unintentionally tying most of the stories, essays, and poems together is that of writing: the dream of writing, the act of writing, the love of writing ... being a writer. Many of the authors reveal themselves to be wrestling with their artistic egos; there is a shaky elision between pride and self-consciousness, talent and self-doubt that winds throughout the entire volume. The result is that the book will likely appeal more to "writers" than to "readers".
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in new Canadian writing, or anyone looking for a volume of short, often inspirational works to pick up and put down throughout the day. I am pleased to have discovered a budding new arts publication, and I am sure we will be seeing more from Rusnak and Blank Spaces. -RH
October 14, 2017
What a wonderfully eclectic collection of Canadian literature! This is one of those books you can pick up in any mood knowing, with confidence, that there will be a story just right for the moment. Sci-fi, poetry, vulnerability, laughter, insight, and so many meaningful memories are found in these pages. I recommend getting a few copies. One for your car, one for your coffee table, and one to gift to a friend. Thank you, Alanna Rusnak, for seeking Canadian talent and delivering it so beautifully to us!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews