Böcker utgivna av Heritage House Publishing Co Ltd

Today, the streets of Victoria are busy thoroughfares. Yesterday, they were simple trails, used by the Hudson's Bay Company men and the First Nations people who traded with them and helped build their fort. Then came the gold miners, followed by the bankers and businessmen, sailors and saloon-keepers, poets, postmasters, architects and astronomers. They're remembered in Victoria's city's streets . . .and every street name tells a story: Courtney Street is a misspelled memorial to Captain George W. Courtenay, whose Constance was one of the first of Her Majesty's vessels to sail into Esquimalt Harbour in the 1840s. Fan Tan Alley provides a tantalizing glimpse into 1800s Chinatown, where Fan Tan gambling dens existed alongside brothels and opium factories that fuelled the gamblers' fortunes. Rattenbury Place is named for the ill-fated architect who designed the Empress Hotel and the Parliament Buildings. Danda's knack for colourful, no-nonsense writing makes history come alive. You'll sympathize with the characters she writes about, enjoy them and through their eyes experience 19-century Victoria in a way you've never experienced it before.

The Heart of the Cariboo-Chilcotin anthology celebrates this beautiful and remote region of British Columbia. From the days of the gold rush through to modern times, the stories in this collection capture the spirit of a place whose beauty and wildness have inspired its people throughout its history. Legendary tales include: a husband''s promise to his dying wife that he will not let her body languish in what to her is an alien, inhospitable land how the theft of a nugget pin in Barkerville led to a murderer''s capture the ill-conceived plan to use camels on the Cariboo Road First Nations traditions and skills handed down through generations the wild and woolly early years of the Cariboo stampedes a sasquatch-sized bear that inadvertently became a cash cow for one hunting guide These accounts of Cariboo-Chilcotin life are as diverse as they are fascinating: some nostalgic, some deeply moving, and some that will tickle the funny bone in a most agreeable way.

In a remote valley near the BC-Alaska border lives a remarkable group of grizzly bears who have never learned to fear humans. When logging threatened this valley, people from all over the world joined a battle to save the bears. In 1994, their efforts paid off with the establishment of the Khutzymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary, one of the world''s most important protected wildlife areas. Dan Wakeman, a core member of the Save the Khutzymateen campaign, was one of only two guides licensed to take visitors into the heart of this ecological reserve. Photographer Wendy Shymanski, who worked with Dan for many years, amassed a folio of exquisite colour photographs of the bears in this special part of the world. In Fortress of the Grizzlies, these avid naturalists share what they have learned and seen during years of respectful interaction with this community of grizzlies.

Through a selection of her stunning photographs, Alexandra Morton portrays life on the central British Columbia coast.She arrived in the area in 1984 as a whale researcher, and at first, she was absorbed in studying the orca and admiring the magnificent scenery. It is a coast with a long history: dolphins have pulsed in and out for 10,000 years; First Nations people have lived here for almost as long; European settlers arrived a scant century ago. As time passed, Morton began to observe the lives of other creatures that share the sea and land--humpback whales, bears, salmon, eagles, deer, and humans--and understand how they are all interconnected. As one example, "Bears drag salmon beneath the trees of the forest, feeding the giant plants that shade the river nursery, protect its banks and allow it to make more fish." In Beyond the Whales, Alexandra explains what is going on beyond the beauty of the images: "One of the joys of watching a place for 20 years is being able to read the signs upon the sea--bubbles on the surface mean tons of herring below; three birds over an orca mean the whale has brought fish to the surface; shearwaters in Blackfish Sound mean autumn is here. The ocean feeds the rivers and the rivers feed the ocean."