Justin John Doherty’s independently funded and published 424-page hardcover devoted to Nicolas Roeg’s DON’T LOOK NOW is an absolute beast of a book, filled with rare and unseen images, storyboards, concept drawings, floor plans, new and archival writings, interviews and more. Breathtaking! Nicolas Roeg is probably my favourite director so you know I jumped on this, but this is such a lavishly-produced book that it would make a beautiful addition to any cinephile’s collection. You can get it at the official website here: https://dontlooknowbook.com/

Dave Barber, iconic longtime programmer of the Winnipeg Film Group’s Cinematheque (which is now named in his honour) left behind a treasure trove of writings, drawings, programmes, post-it notes, correspondences and half-baked ideas that offer a perspective on half a century of Canadian cinema that is unique to Dave’s weird brain (this was a man who loved fried Klik, the poor man’s Spam). Lovingly and humourously assembled by editors Clint Enns and Andrew Burke, this book functions as a gateway to the kind of self-deprecating in-joke that could only come from Winnipeg. Available from the Winnipeg Film Group’s website HERE >>

Another chunky and essential tome, this time a 600-page treatise on the visual confrontations of ‘70s and 80s industrial and noise culture by Nicholas Ballet, art historian and curator at the Centre Pompidou. As expected it’s full of rare posters, flyers, event and exhibit documentation, but it also dives into the contexts and contradictions of this imagery with both historical knowledge and theoretical heft. Published by Intellect Books.

A heads up: author Nicolas Ballet is doing a live Zoom talk about the project with V Vale of RE/SEARCH Publications Tuesday, Dec 2 via City Lights Books. Info HERE>>

I read a lot of true crime, I watch a lot of true crime – the good, the bad, and the awful. I love all of it. I’ve read a couple standout true crime books this year (not released in 2025, but Claudia Rowe’s THE SPIDER AND THE FLY is especially recommended) but MURDERLAND is a special one because it’s not focused on a case but on a phenomenon, something in the air – literally. Author Caroline Fraser begins with a question – “Why are there so many serial killers in the Pacific Northwest?” – and then traces the roots of many serial murderers born on either side of WWII, makes maps documenting their movements and proximity to eachother, and importantly, to clouds of sulpher dioxide, arsenic and lead emanating from nearby smelting plants. Get ready to go down a million environmental rabbit holes, guided by Fraser’s grave and dramatic voice, because this is a big story, much bigger than you think going in.

Aside from heaping praise on Robert Dayton’s pioneering book that goes coast to coast investigating the Great White North’s gummiest and glitteriest bands (there’s a lot more than Sweeney Todd!) I would also like to heap shame on the Canadian arts funders who routinely miss the boat when it comes to supporting history-based projects like this. Luckily Feral House, planet earth’s gutsiest publisher, recognized the insane amount of firsthand research that went into making this book, by someone who knew a thing or two about that corner of showbiz from his time in July Fourth Toilet, Canned Hamm and his current incarnation, The Canadian Romantic.

A book about nuclear power stations? I’m as surprised as you. But about a year ago I randomly picked up the book GHOSTWAYS by Robert MacFarlane and Dan Richards (illustrated by Stanley Donwood, perhaps best known for association with Radiohead) which is essentially a pair of landscape-based prose-poems, one of which is set in the abandoned military base Orford Ness. It reminded me a lot of that 1939 animated Christmas film PEACE ON EARTH about the animals who inherit all the bombed out spaces when the humans all kill eachother… which is a very roundabout way of saying these various internal references are why my interest was piqued when Strange Attractor announced this book by author and architect Tom Bolton. While the book is essentially a travelogue of these sites around Britain, its interest in landscape and walking culture intersects with hints of occult folklore which naturally spring from their structural strangeness and the ostracizing barrenness around them. “Are they cathedrals of science or temples of doom?” asks the back cover blurb. You’ll have to buy the book to find out!

The latest book by television scholar Helen Wheatley (whose TELEVISION GOTHIC is equally recommended), this one opens with the unexpected death of comedian Tommy Cooper on live television before various chapters that explore both accidental and deliberate deaths on live news programs, euthanasia documentaries depicting people’s last days and final moments (there are way more of these than I thought!), and various approaches to death in narrative television from sitcoms to soap operas. In the book’s final section she explores the complicated emotions surrounding the posthumous presence of the dead in the television archive. Wheatley does a lot of first-hand interviews with producers and programmers of this content and for an academic book it is quite moving at times.

Author and filmmaker Ross Lipman spent 17 years as the senior film preservationist at the UCLA Film Archive, where he was responsible for the much-lauded and conversation-changing restorations of WANDA, KILLER OF SHEEP, THE EXILES and more. In this collection of essays, lectures and archival documents, we get a glimpse into Lipman’s practice through various case studies that examine, in the words of the author, “the ways in which the intangible concept of an artwork dances with the physical world in the creation, and re-creation of it.” From both practical and theoretical perspectives, he interrogates the unavoidably subjective aspects of film restoration, looks at the distinction between photochemical and digital restorations (or remastering, as he justifiably prefers to call the latter), the restoration of films that have no authoritative version, and the effect of various presentation methods on audience reception. THE ARCHIVAL IMPERMANENCE PROJECT comes from Sticking Place Books, the publishing imprint of documentarian Paul Cronin, who has a pivotal role in restoration studies himself – having been a major force behind the re-discovery of Peter Whitehead’s film catalogue nearly 20 years ago, among other things. Definitely an imprint you want on your radar if you are a film fan.

Full disclosure, this book hasn’t arrived yet at the time of this writing. But I don’t think it’s particularly contentious to assert that Jimmy McDonough (THE GHASTLY ONE, SHAKEY) is the world’s greatest biographer, and this 30+-years in the making investigation into the life of honky tonk singer Gary Stewart is bound to be another earth-shaker. Based on hundreds of interviews with Stewart, his family, his friends, colleagues and hangers-on, and wrapped in the black veil of Southern Gothic (I’ve heard a bit of this story), I will a hazard a guess that this will end up being my book of the year. Immaculately housed in a large format hardcover with limited edition slipcase (the latter is sold out now, unfortunately), its presentation is matched only by that of the boundary-breaking Ormond Family biography he published a few short years ago with Fab Press, but this time working with journalist/author Chris Campion’s brand new publishing imprint Wolf + Salmon (I’d also keep an eye out for Campion’s SATURATION ’70, coming down the line).

Come on, you knew I was gonna have to include this one, the first-ever anthology of essays about the films of satirist Robert Downey, Sr. (PUTNEY SWOPE, GREASER’S PALACE), examining every film he directed from a variety of perspectives. Full color with a crazy collage design by Luke Insect and edited by yours truly and merry prankster Clint Enns. Available in our shop HERE but order before Dec 5 if you want it for Xmas!