From Canada comes a lively sampling of short stories and poems by four gay and lesbian writers of coffeehouse and 'zine fame. Sonja Mills's ``Thicker Skin in Thirty Minutes'' includes a short, beguiling prose piece in the form of a help-wanted advertisement for sexual partners and ``Someone to fall in love with. This miserable, mutually masochistic and hellish position is available sporadically. The pay is lousy.'' Sky Gilbert follows with a diverting series of energetic and clever satirical poems about the vagaries of gay love and sexual desire (in his ``Some Denial,'' a middle-aged man sorts through his feelings about an ex by detailing the qualities of the man he insists he no longer misses). In Timothy Archer's short story ``Closure,'' a young man on the way home from a Christmas party serendipitously accepts an offer of money for sex, with some darkly picaresque results. And in Margaret Webb's poem ``Memories of Beef,'' a woman looks back ruefully on a rural adolescence spent watching cattle raised for slaughter. What unifies the writers is their accommodation of smooth literary intellect with coarser modern erotics.

A collection of poetry, prose and short fiction by authors both famous and up and coming who performed at during the first three years of the famed Toronto literary festival.

Beneath the Beauty is Philip Arima's first collection of poetry. His work is gritty and rhythmic, passionate and uncompromising. His writing reveals themes like love, life on the street and addiction. Arima has a terrifying clarity of vision in his portrayal of contemporary life. Despite the cruelties inflicted and endured by his characters, he is able to find a compassionate element even in the bleakest of circumstances.

What Passes for Love is a collection of short stories about the dynamics of male-female relationships. These 10 short stories by Stan Rogal resonate with the many mating rituals of men and women: paranoia, obsession, voyeurism, and even assimilation. Rogal's writing reflects his honesty and brashness previously seen in two books of poetry and published stories. What Passes for Love is illustrated with the paintings of Kirsten Johnson.

A story of incestuous love and biting satire on Catholicism.

A collection of prose and poetry on homosexual and lesbian themes. From Sky Gilbert's Some Denial, which is a reflection on a romance that soured, to Closure, on a man who takes money for sex.

The Last Word is a snapshot of the next generation of Canadian poets, the poets who will be taught in schoolsNvoices reflecting the '90s and a new type of writing sensibility. The anthology brings together 51 poets from across Canada, reaching into different regional, ethnic, sexual and social groups. This varied and volatile collection pushes the notion of an anthology to its limits, like a startling Polaroid. Proceeds from the sale of The Last Word will go to Frontier College, in support of literacy, programs across the country.