Books by Ron Kearse

Queer Elders Tell Their Stories. In Canada, much has changed for LGBTQ-identified people over the past generation. This project has allowed older LGBTQ+ adults to share their stories - with each other, with their loved ones, and with the LGBTQ+ youth who have been integral to Sharing our Journeys. The stories in this anthology are of the pain and ridicule of being different, courage in the face of ostracism, of same-sex love when it was illegal. Contributing Authors: Tom Dekker - Fernando Esté - Ken Sudhues - Cyndia Cole - Greta Hurst - Brian Baxter Claude Hewitt - Marsha Ablowitz - Michael Yoder Pat Hogan- Val Innes - Harris Taylor

It's the spring of 1979 and change is in the air. The disco craze is waning as is the heyday of gay liberation, and an invisible beast called AIDS has yet to make itself known. In the midst of all this, an adventure begins for two young men. Recently laid off from his job in a small Ontario town, Neil is looking for a change in his life. Contemplating what to do next he meets Bryn, a young officer facing personal struggles of his own. Their adventure begins, as they travel west across Canada seeking a new life together. But societal pressure is not as kind to them as they are to each other, and rifts begin to appear. These are two separate stories about Neil and Bryn, as their lives intertwine, part, then carry on to new adventures. It is a story of acceptance and bravery while under fire for living freely along life's road without end.

This is a book about a specific time in the history of Vancouver's street art, 1985, the artists who made it and, unbeknownst to one and all, the local history that emerges from the images that were created on walls that no longer exist. It is a book about how street art and local history combine to create a unique story that is only obvious when you stop to examine it. 1985 is unique because this was the year before Vancouver was to change drastically and forever with the advent of Expo 86. Since then Vancouver, once Canada's quiet, provincial city on the west coast, has become a modern cosmopolitan, multicultural boom center with towering glass and steel buildings stretching to the sky, replacing the sawmills, low-rise buildings and parking lots that once were plentiful on the landscape. We invited the world, the world came.