Alberta Readers' Choice Award

Alberta Readers' Choice Award Top 5

"Fishing for Bacon"
by Michael Davie (March 2009)

My name's Bacon Sobelowski, and I'm trying to find my someone. Kenny Rogers sings a song that says there's someone for everyone, and in Bellevue where I live, Kenny Rogers' word is gold. It's just too bad my mother thinks girls turn boys into pigs, but that's probably just because my father had enough of her Eggos and walked out.

But maybe she's right. I'm not sure if Sarah is my someone because she got mad and smashed chili peppers into a cut on my head, and maybe my someone wouldn't do that. Karla could be it because she lets me stay at her condo, but she might be too old to be my someone. Then there's Mr. Kwon's daughter, but she's sort of my cousin and I'm not sure if sort-of cousins can be someones at the same time.

I think it might all come down to timing, and if that's true then I'm in trouble. I'm Bacon Sobelowski-who knows if I'll ever find my someone.

Reviews
" Fishing for Bacon is raw, pungent, funny, and strangely poignant. Michael Davie is one of the most engaging authors to emerge in some time. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a sudden craving for beef dip." -Will Ferguson, author of Spanish Fly

"I wish success on any book that has the word 'bacon' in the title." -Dennis Cass, author of Head Case: How I Almost Lost My Mind Trying to Understand My Brain

"The dialogue maintains a nice rhythm for humorous emphases, the gags are well placed and developed, and the plot keeps all its balls in the air for the duration. . . [it] makes for a fun ride, with many laughs along the way." -Quill & Quire

"Bacon's story, told in the first person, is funny but painful, not unlike adolescence itself ... Davie's ability to create bizarre, intriguing and yet believable circumstances make this a unique story. Fishing for Bacon is a charming and promising debut." -Alberta Views

"Fishing for Bacon, with its cast of eccentrics, has some terrifically funny moments, and is never boring. Pick it up and you won't put it down until it's done, even if you cringe a bit at Bacon's escalating fortune. Poor Bacon." -Legacy Magazine

"... a sudden burst of comic energy that, like a field of canola on the Prairie, just goes on and on ... It's also fun to watch Davie, whose first novel this is, exercise a love of the unlikely that boots him out of the predictable and into fresher and much suppler territory. [Davie] has placed himself squarely in the tradition of various classic Prairie writers." -The National Post

Media
Fishing for Bacon Website

Fishing for Bacon Book Trailer (video)

Interview with Michael Davie on CKUA (audio)

About the Author
While Michael Davie has lived in South Korea, it was his years spent in the Rocky Mountain towns of Waterton, Banff, Canmore, and Jasper, living immersed in an often eccentric resort subculture, that most influenced his creative output, first in publishing a cartoon series, The Last Resort, then in literature with his first novel, Fishing for Bacon.

Davie graduated from the University of Lethbridge with a Bachelor of Management, and studied Creative Writing at the University of Calgary and the Victoria School of Writing. He now lives in Calgary with his wife, Shantael, and their son, Samuell.

About NeWest Press
Emerging from the buzzing cultural climate of western Canada in the 1970s, NeWest Press has published radically rewarding literature for over thirty years. The Press was launched at the same time as the NeWest Review, a monthly journal of politics, arts, and culture focusing on the prairie provinces.

Today this unique non-profit book publisher continues to thrive, publishing ten to twelve titles annually. While still a western press in focus, in recent years NeWest has expanded its mandate to publish work from all across Canada. The editorial board continues its commitment to developing and publishing first-time writers, as well as ensuring the availability of Canadian classics. At thirty years, NeWest Press has established itself as one of the country's most enduring and respected literary presses, a reflection of the many years of dedication, passion, and perseverance that have kept its original publishing vision alive.

For more information about NeWest Press, visit http://www.newestpress.com.