Cloudy skies and wet weather have officially arrived in British Columbia, after another long, hot summer. It’s the perfect time to slow down, make a cup of tea and settle in under a cozy blanket with a good book. 

And good books are kind of a specialty here in B.C., where local authors are working hard to bring stories featuring this province to your home. 

CBC British Columbia has put together a list of some recently-published titles by B.C. authors and in many cases about B.C. locations, to add to your TBR pile this fall. 

The Tiger and The Cosmonaut by Eddy Boudel TanA composite image that shows a blue book cover showing the moon shining over a home courtyard and a headshot photo of a man wearing a striped shirt on the right. The Tiger and the Cosmonaut is a book by Eddy Boudel Tan. (Penguin Canada)

Since its release date in April, author Eddy Boudel Tan’s debut novel The Tiger and The Cosmonaut has been the talk of the town, having been shortlisted for the Giller Prize this fall. 

The story centres on Casper Han, who is brought back to his remote B.C. hometown when his father disappears. The father is later found wandering the nearby woods, confused and clutching a pair of scissors, trapped in the memory of the tragic night when Casper’s twin brother went missing, 20 years ago.

The son of immigrants from Brunei, Boudel Tan said he wrote the book during the pandemic, when he started to realize his parents were aging and might not be around forever.

“I felt hunger to hear more about their stories … so I started asking them all these questions and learning about their history, which is really my history,” he said. “The past in the book really converges with the present, similar to how I was feeling at the time I was writing the book.”

The Deepest Fake by Daniel Kalla A composite image of a black book cover with a melting wedding ring in the middle and on the right is a headshot of a man with short brown hair. The Deepest Fake is a book by Daniel Kalla. (Simon & Schuster, Michael Bednar Photography)

There’s something about a good thriller in the days before Halloween, and Vancouver’s Daniel Kalla always has something to offer on that front. His latest, The Deepest Fake, follows an AI pioneer as his company launches an innovative app allowing people to speak with lost loved ones. But at the same time, he gets his own terminal diagnosis and learns his wife has been cheating on him. 

But the tension doesn’t end there: as he prepares for end of life, turning to an AI avatar for support, he learns things that make him question his diagnosis, and the world around him. 

Kalla, a long-time emergency room physician, often uses the medical system to inform his writing, but said this is his first novel where the characters aren’t connected to health care at all. While the story does have medical aspects to it, he said The Deepest Fake is all about humanity. 

“I think my years in emergency medicine has given me a front row seat in the theatre of humanity and I get access to stories and personal lives and intimacy with people that never happen anywhere outside the emergency department.”

Still by Joanna CockerlineA yellow book cover with a dandelion on it, next to a black and white headshot of a woman with long blond hair.Still is a novel by Joanna Cockerline. (The Porcupine’s Quill)

Having spent years working for non-profits and doing street outreach, Kelowna, B.C., author Joanna Cockerline’s debut novel tackles what life on the streets looks like for many. 

Still, which made the Giller Prize longlist this fall, centres around an unhoused sex worker who, while searching for a friend who’s gone missing, learns about her own past and the community she now belongs to. 

Cockerline, who is also a creative studies lecturer at UBC Okanagan, hopes the book “cultivates empathy.”

“It could sound like a depressing book, but it’s actually a book that’s filled with hope,” she said. “Part of that is seeing the beautiful in unexpected places and unexpected moments — and in moments that are painful, still being able to find that beauty and find that joy.”

Songs for Ghosts by Clara KumagaiA composite of two images, with a woman with a wavy bob haircut and colourful bomber jacket on the left and a book cover of a girl in a kimono on the right. Songs for Ghosts is a YA novel by Clara Kumagai. (Tundra Books)

Inspired in part by the famous opera Madama Butterfly, Canadian Japanese Irish writer Clara Kumagai’s YA novel Songs for Ghosts introduces readers to a young boy who finds a diary in his attic, detailing the life of a young woman in Nagasaki many years prior. When he dismisses her concerns of ghosts that are haunting her, he is in turn haunted by her spirit in Kumagai’s delightfully haunting tale, perfect for this time of year. 

“I can’t watch a horror movie, I don’t like gore, but a ghost story to me is a very perfect form of oral storytelling,” Kumagai said.

Kumagai, recently named writer in residence at UBC’s Green College, said ghost stories are always about the past, and the past is something people use to better understand their own identity — another key theme of Songs for Ghosts. 

John Horgan: In His Own Words by John Horgan, with Rod MickleburghA photo composite that shows a man wearing a blue dress shirt on the left, a book cover of the same man's photo on it, and on the right is a headshot of man wearing a red dress shirt. John Horgan: In His Own Words is a book by John Horgan, left, with Rod Mickleburgh, right. (Wikimedia Commons, Harbour Publishing, The Globe and Mail)

The death of former premier John Horgan rocked British Columbians in 2024, when he passed away at the age of 65. 

Horgan was in charge as the province enshrined UNDRIP into provincial law, and he was at the provincial helm through the COVID-19 pandemic. He stepped down from provincial politics in 2022 citing health challenges, having been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2021. 

WATCH | Rod Mickleburgh on John Horgan memoir:

Co-author of memoir on late B.C. premier John Horgan reveals favourite anecdotes

On Tuesday, excerpts from the memoir John Horgan: In His Own Words were published in newspapers. Longtime journalist and co-author Rod Mickleburgh reveals how the book was written over the course of many interviews with Horgan, who died last year and was remembered as one of B.C.’s most popular premiers.

With the help of long-time reporter Rod Mickleburgh, Horgan compiled his story, from a self-proclaimed wayward jock to his long career in Canadian politics, prior to his death. 

John Horgan: In His Own Words hits store shelves Oct. 14.

The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong LeeA colourful book cover of a woman looking over her shoulder on the left. A headshot of a woman with a black bob wearing a burnt orange top on the right.The Hunger We Pass Down is a book by Jen Sookfong Lee. (Erewhon Books, Kyrani Kanavaros)

Horror lovers, listen up. Vancouver writer Jen Sookfong Lee’s The Hunger We Pass Down has been billed as a cross between Jordan Peele’s Us and Jessmine Chan’s The School for Good Mothers, as it explores intergenerational trauma though five generations of women in Hong Kong and East Vancouver.

In The Hunger We Pass Down, someone — or something — begins to clean up the house for single mother Alice Chow. While unsettling, Alice is grateful for the extra time to spend with her mother, who starts sharing stories about her family’s history — and demons. 

Sookfong Lee said the title speaks to two things: the hunger for survival, the resilience of the women who keep going despite being haunted, as well as the trauma that is passed down through generations.

“We all talk about whether our children look like us, in my case, my son is a pretty good writer … but they also inherit all of our bad stuff, they inherit all of those bad memories, all of that body trauma.”

Three Parties by Ziyad SaadiA book cover featuring a birthday cake, party hat, and flowers in a vase, and a black and white photo of a man with short hair. Three Parties is a novel by Ziyad Saadi. (Penguin Canada, Melissa Toh )

If ghost stories and mysteries aren’t your thing, Ziyad Saadi’s debut, Three Parties, might be more your speed. Firas Dareer, a Palestinian refugee, plans to come out at his 23rd birthday party. But, as you know, things don’t always go as planned. 

The story mirrors Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway in some ways, where the titular character prepares for a party she’s hosting, exploring themes of sexuality, happiness and time. 

“It can so easily be adapted for a modern audience,” said Saadi, who has been named a finalist for the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s $12,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for 2SLGBTQ+ emerging writers. “These things still apply to today’s world in so many different ways.”

Saadi hopes Palestinians feel seen by the novel. 

“A lot of different industries, including the media, whether it’s film or literature or what have you, in many corners of these industries, Palestinians are being ignored. Whatever book we can get out there obviously won’t be enough, but hopefully it will be something and hopefully it will mean something to someone.”