Ray Smith

Set in the small German city of Waltherrott, this novel is a madcap excursion from the 1980s back to 1848, the year of revolutions, then back to the time of the Black Death in the late 1340s. A startling comedy, A Night at the Opera is a tour de force in the unexpected, the bizarre, and the serendipitous.

First published in 1969, Ray Smith's Cape Breton is the Thought-Control Centre of Canada remains as refreshing, innovative and important today as it has in every previous incarnation. Sophisticated, playful, crafted, sly, self-referential and extremely funny, it marks the beginning of a long and important, if unfortunately under appreciated, career by one of Canada's best humorists and innovative story-tellers.

Old photographs allow us to relive the past a little and this excellent collection of more than 200 photographs of Blackburn will bring back memories for many. The author has chosen the earliest images of the town for the book from his own extensive collection of old picture postcards and used a selection of press photographs borrowed from the photo-archives of Wally and Howard Talbot to provide some very evocative images of Blackburn in the 1950s and 60s. Through these pages the reader has the opportunity to see again the old Blackburn, its industry, schools, churches, theatres and people, at work and play, and, perhaps most poignantly of all, old streets and buildings that were lost in the great demolition days of the 1960s. This is a timely volume that will appeal to all Blackburnians, young and old.

After fictional excursions abroad to Germany, France, Scotland, Italy, Africa, and Australia, and back to the 1920s, the nineteenth century, and the Middle Ages, Ray Smith has come home to English Montreal in the 1990s. "The Man Who Loved Jane Austen" is a penetrating story of a Montreal with only the lingering effervescence of its past; a Montreal of loss, or regret, of sadness; a Montreal where nationalism corrodes every event, every relationship, every soul; a Montreal of lies and betrayal. Smith's work combines astonishing inventiveness with a warm and gregarious humanity. His first book, "Cape Breton is the Thought Control Centre of Canada" (1969, reissued by The Porcupine's Quill in 1989), burst upon a largely uncomprehending world in an explosion of post-modernist experimentation and whimsy. The novel, "Lord Nelson Tavern" (1974) is an odyssey of love and friendship; it conceals its equally innovative structures behind a surface reality of poignant characters and memorable incidents. Smith again extended his range with "Century" (1986), a novel which explores the horrors and beauties of the modern world. His most recent book, "A Night at the Opera" (The Porcupine's Quill, 1992), is an exploration of the preposterous German city of Waltherrott, a delightful cavalcade of fools and knaves, grouches and maniacs, frumps and tarts, heroes and clowns.

A state of the art review of rice husk ash cement technology in the Indian subcontinent, highlighting its effectiveness as an alternative low-cost binding material. Includes case studies of field-testing in local institutions.