Green Glass Ghosts - Softcover

Spoon, Rae; Hall, Gem

Softcover

ISBN 10: 155152838X ISBN 13: 9781551528380

Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022

Synopsis

At age nineteen, the queer narrator of Green Glass Ghosts steps off a bus on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver, a city where the faceless condo towers of the wealthy loom over the streets to of the east side where folks are just trying to get by, against the deceptively beautiful backdrop of snow-capped mountains and sparkling ocean. Rae Spoon's third book and first novel, Green Glass Ghosts takes place in the year 2000, when the world is still mostly analogue - pagers are the best way to get hold of someone and resumes are printed out on paper and dropped off in person, but what's this new fad called webmail? Armed with only their guitar and their voice, our hopeful hero arrives on the West Coast at the beginning of the new millennium and on the cusp of adulthood, fleeing a traumatic childhood in an unsafe family plagued by religious extremism, mental health crises, and abuse in a conservative city not known for accepting difference. They're eager to build a better life among like-minded folks, and before they know it, they've got a job, an apartment, openly non-binary friends, and a new queer love, dancing, busking, and making out in bars, parks, art spaces, and apartments from Commercial Drive to Wreck Beach. But their search for belonging and stability is disrupted by excessive drinking, jealousy, and painful memories of the past, distracting the protagonist from their ultimate goal of playing live music and spurring them to an emotional crisis. If they can't learn to care for themselves, how will they ever find true connection and community? The haunting black-and-white illustrations by Gem Hall conjure the moody, misty urban landscape and represent a deep collaboration with the author based on their shared experience of seeking safety, authenticity, and acceptance on the West Coast. Green Glass Ghosts is an evocation of that delicate, aching moment between youth and adulthood when we are trying, and often failing, to become the person we dream ourselves to be.

About this title

About the Author

Rae Spoon is a non-binary performer, composer, music producer, and visual content producer/director. They are the co-author (with Ivan Coyote) of Gender Failure and the author of First Spring Grass Fire. As a musician, they have released 11 albums, and is the founder of the music label Coax Records. They were the subject of My Prairie Home, a National Film Board of Canada documentary that premiered at Sundance in 2014.

Gem Hall is a Vancouver-based artist and illustrator.

Edition details

• Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 155152838X
• ISBN 13: 9781551528380
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248