Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness is a funny, poignant, and provocative collection of short stories about 2SLGBTQ+ characters in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. They are astonishingly relevant today. A gay teenager comes out in high school in the seventies. A lesbian puppeteer becomes an activist in the early years of the AIDS epidemic. A transgender sex worker retaliates when women keep going missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. A sister comes to terms with her brother’s death from AIDS. Three connected tales follow two queer con artists as they travel across the U.S. in a series of ridiculous get-rich-quick schemes. Finding themselves adrift in an increasingly absurdist, media-saturated world, the vivid, strong-willed characters explore the possibilities and power of hope, humanity, and humour.
Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness explores how the human heart stays afloat in a society that is entertaining, informing, and networking itself to death.
Review -
Although fictional, the nine stories shared in Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness focus on real experiences within the 2SLGBTQ+ community, opening a window into their world. Some characters appear in several stories - a chronological following of their misadventures. Others appear in a single powerful tale. Themes are often inspired by events normal to 2SLGBTQ+ lives during this time in history. The AIDS epidemic and disappearance of at-risk women are sadly a true happenings, though placed in a fictional tales.
Story telling is both a gift and a skill honed over time. Author Guy Babineau brings both to this revised and expanded edition of Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness. The characters come alive, as do the places and times they inhabit. Their stories unfold in unexpected ways. While reading, all my senses alive. I felt like I met the people and stood in their shoes. I experienced their joy, their sadness and the anger.
This book drew me in and kept my attention from first page to last. I hope to read more from this author in the future.
Buy the Book: Pre-order at Amazon.ca ~ Amazon.com(launching May 18, 2024)
Meet the Author -
Fab Author Interview HERE!
Guy Babineau is a writer, freelance journalist, and educator in fashion marketing and communications. His fiction, articles, and reviews have appeared in The Globe and Mail, Descant, The Georgia Straight, Xtra!, Xtra! West, Vancouver Magazine, The Vancouver Sun, and more. He is the recipient of a Vancouver Fashion Week Award for Journalism and a Vancouver LGBTQ+ Community Award for Writer of the Year. He loves photography and working out, is a superfan of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and is passionate about sustainable fashion. He was born in Toronto, Ontario and now lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Fab Author Interview HERE!
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