PAUL:		Time for Wordworks, our regular peek at local matters literary.  
		Joining me for the first time in months, it seems, is popular author and critic, 
		Kathleen Hanrahan.

KATHLEEN:	Paul.

PAUL:		Kathleen, how I've missed you.

KATHLEEN:	It's nice to be back.  I heard you had a nasty summer season.

PAUL:		It's behind us, pray to God.  Not unlike the summer books.

KATHLEEN:	It was rough - the usual selection of low-brow pulp and 
		scurrilous biography for the beach or cottage.

PAUL:		The nadir, I suppose, was local starlet "Veronica's" tell-all 
		memoir...

KATHLEEN:	"Some Good Tale," yes.  Alleged to be "the life" ... as an 
		actress in Newfoundland and more recently as she rocketed to fame and 
		fortune in Europe ...

PAUL:		But in truth ...

KATHLEEN:	An account of time spent on her back.

PAUL:		And otherwise.  Makes Klaus Kinski look like a Trappist.  
		It's incredible the number of local artistes and culture vultures 
		she's taken to bed.

KATHLEEN:	Of all genders ...

PAUL:		Professions ...

KATHLEEN:	...political persuasions and social stations.

PAUL:		I noted that she was quite impressed by the sexual prowess 
		of Newfoundlanders.

KATHLEEN:	Well, those who managed to stay awake.  More than a few legendary 
		local lays get their balloons bust in this book.

PAUL:		Kathleen, Kathleen, even a lifetime .300 batter has the occasional 
		bad trip to the plate.

KATH:		Fanned, did we, Paul?

PAUL:		She was throwing heat, with a lot of movement on it -- I was caught 
		lookin', she blew it by me, all I heard was the sound of the ball in the glove. 
		What can I say.

KATH:		A woman of extraordinary talent, certainly, but as a book, well ...	

PAUL:		Total trash.

KATHLEEN:	Utterly without merit and read cover to cover.

PAUL:		Natch. 

KATHLEEN:	"Some Good Tale", published by Viva Electra, at $19.95.

PAUL:		Autumn's upon us now, so you have the initial release of the 
		new ... quality books.

KATHLEEN:	Yes.  First, "My Dark Passage."

PAUL:		If you insist.

KATHLEEN:	A memoir of spiritual awakening ...

PAUL:		I'll bet.

KATHLEEN:	... in the Newfoundland Wilderness.  It's by noted British 
		Columbia author and naturalist, Hillard Lawrence. 

PAUL:		(flipping through pages)  An exquisite volume, certainly.

KATHLEEN:	It's an account of self- discovery in a very poetic prose style, 
		with photographs and illustrations by the author.

PAUL:		You wouldn't fault it for being a little ... self indulgent?

KATHLEEN:	Oh no!  Though the focus is kind of inward, I suppose. Lawrence 
		had a very ... "uplifting" experience, finally even communing with Beothuck 
		and Mic Mac spirits

PAUL:		YAWNS

KATHLEEN:	... and coming to terms with his relationship to his mother.

PAUL:		I'd prefer to employ the courts.

KATHLEEN:	Sorry.

PAUL:		Good snaps and doodles, I grant you.

KATHLEEN:	It's an attractive book and environmentally friendly.

PAUL:		Recycled paper, then?

KATHLEEN:	No, it's printed on hemp paper.

PAUL:		How B.C.  (sniffs)  Hmph, what do you know.  Perhaps this question is 
		a little juvenile, Kathleen, but ... well, this is a complimentary copy, right?

KATHLEEN:	Yes.

PAUL:		Were you tempted at all to ... try smoking a couple of pages?

KATHLEEN:	Paul!  Don't be ridiculous.

PAUL:		Frankly Kathleen I couldn't have it in the house.

KATHLEEN:	"My Dark Passage - A Spiritual Awakening" with drawings and 
		photographs by the author, Hillard Lawrence, published by "Out There" 
		Press of British Columbia at $29.95.

PAUL:		Next ?

KATHLEEN:	From the University of Newfoundland at St. John's Art Gallery, 
		a large format ... 

GRUNTS

PAUL:		Let me help you with that Kathleen.

GRUNTS

KATHLEEN:	... large format book, "Beyond Measure - The Visionary Architecture 
		of Rodney 'Duff' Wheeler."

PAUL:		Now this is exciting.

KATHLEEN:	Perhaps not as well known outside Newfoundland ...

PAUL:		Oh, I'm sure most Canadians are familiar with the work of Duff Wheeler, 
		Kathleen.

		Look at these sketches.

KATHLEEN:	Duff Wheeler, of course, did some of our most memorable conventional 
		architectural work: The Rendering Plant at Baie De Mort ...

PAUL:		The BCN Coal Fired Transmitter ...

KATHLEEN:	The Badger Incinerator ...

PAUL:		The Church of Economology Temple ...

KATHLEEN:	The Land-Mine Park ...

PAUL:		What a legacy.  I only learned recently that the BCN Coal Fired 
		Transmitter actually looks like a giant radio.

KATHLEEN:	Yes, but you can't see that from any of the approaches to the 
		facility up on Mount Scio.  Duff Wheeler's original plan called for the 
		defoliation of the entire hill to afford a proper view of his work.

PAUL:		And he found compromise impossible. 

KATHLEEN:	Yes.  He burnt his commission for that design when the City 
		Fathers refused to kill the forest.  And he died, of course, crucified on 
		Atlantic Place, a retail property here in St. John's that he found aesthetically 
		unacceptable.

PAUL:	That's integrity!  Wow.  He was great ... but insane.

KATHLEEN:	Indeed. But Wheeler is perhaps most highly thought of for his 
		conceptual work.

PAUL:		They're here in all their glory.  The Inverse Pyramids... my favourite, 
		the proposed Newfoundland Legislature - the melted building ... the cathedral 
		of string ... the fixed link to Prince Edward Island.

KATHLEEN:	Fascinating, if whimisical.

PAUL:		I don't get whimsy

KATHLEEN:	No ?

PAUL:		How to explain this ... when I was young, I thought, wow! a melted 
		building.  Then I "matured" and considered it "whimsical," and now in my 
		middle years I think, "a melted legislature ... how entirely appropriate.

KATHLEEN:	We grow, we change.

PAUL:		Yeah?  I don't know what's happening to me.  Anyway, a tremendous 
		book, and long overdue.

KATHLEEN:	"Beyond Measure - The Visionary Architecture of Rodney 'Duff' 
		Wheeler," from the collection of the New School of Architecture at UNSJ, 
		published by their Art Gallery.  And it costs $250.

PAUL:		Thanks for coming in.

KATHLEEN:	A joy to return.

PAUL:		And we should mention that Kathleen now has her own show on BCN.  
		It's called "Her Nibs", and it's on at eight o'clock Sunday night.

KATHLEEN:	Yes, a weekly literary programme where I'll be afforded the 
		opportunity to look at issues in more depth than we do here.

PAUL:		There's nothing wrong with concise analysis.

KATHLEEN:	Of course not.

PAUL:		And you'll still be here with Wordworks.

KATHLEEN:	Maybe not as often.

PAUL:		Sorry?

KATHLEEN:	When I find the time.

PAUL:		Fine.  Thanks.