The Stacks

Please note that you may be seeing a filtered view of our stacks.
Check the url to confirm, or click “The Stacks” above at any time to reload the full contents.

SSAC2022 Day 1 - “Bread of Lifers” by Caroline Kim
Bookish Calendar Stacey and Winston Bookish Calendar Stacey and Winston

SSAC2022 Day 1 - “Bread of Lifers” by Caroline Kim

December 2022 started out a little crazy here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library, much as the whole year kind of went, and as a result we kind of skipped our Head Alien’s long tradition of opening and sharing the Short Story Advent Calendar through the month. So instead we are introducing – possibly just for this year, possibly as a new tradition, only time will tell – the Butterflies & Aliens Non-Denominational Advent in January…

Read More
Embracing the Prairie Witch
Book Life Winston Pei Book Life Winston Pei

Embracing the Prairie Witch

Book mail is one of our highlights here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library, but today’s package is especially exciting, an anthology edited by our very own Stacey Kondla, Prairie Witch published by Prairie Soul Press…

Read More
Lego Lost at Sea
Rando Selections Winston Pei Rando Selections Winston Pei

Lego Lost at Sea

On February 13, 1997, the cargo ship Tokio Express encountered a one-in-a-hundred year storm that knocked sixty-two shipping containers off its deck and into the waters of the North Atlantic. One of those containers contained 4,756,940 pieces of LEGO, many of which soon started washing ashore, especially on certain beaches in the UK.

imagine my delight at discovering a beautiful little book on the topic, a meeting of nerdoms, a moment of Books & Bricks out in the wild…

Read More
Puck's Arena
The Book as Performance Winston Pei The Book as Performance Winston Pei

Puck's Arena

My introduction to artist’s books, and altered books in particular, started with an undergraduate field trip to the Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta, and one work in particular.

At first glance, it seems innocuous enough, perhaps even a bit boring or common? But if there was ever a time to apply the broader advice to not judge a book by its cover, this would be it.

Read More
Frankensteining Frankenstein
The Book as Performance Winston Pei The Book as Performance Winston Pei

Frankensteining Frankenstein

At the When Words Collide festival in 2021, towards the end of a workshop on Altered Books, I mentioned that the next project I was pondering was something to do with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, riffing off the central theme of the story to assemble a copy of the book made up of parts of different editions.

My small but mighty audience was intrigued, and we decided to plan a workshop around that idea for WWC 2022…

Read More
Happy Towel Day 2022!
Bookish Calendar Winston Pei Bookish Calendar Winston Pei

Happy Towel Day 2022!

Last year, for our inaugural Towel Day here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library, it made sense to share the book series from whence came the Towel Day name.

But as much as I love The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to honour Adams this year I thought I’d shout out his lesser known Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and its sequel The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.

Read More
The Art of the [_____]: A Life in [_____]
Book Life Winston Pei Book Life Winston Pei

The Art of the [_____]: A Life in [_____]

I just finished reading a great book, but I don’t want to tell you what it is.

Or rather, I don’t want to share the full title or the name of the author of it, just yet. I think the full title distracts from what the book is really about, which is the part of the title I am sharing as the title of this post: The Art of the [_____]: A Life in [_____].

Read More