Here's how the world works: currently doing a stint at the Quatsino Lighthouse on Northern Vancouver Island, BC BookWorld contributor Caroline Woodward first met poet and novelist Paulette Jiles in 1983 at David Thompson University Centre in Nelson. They collaborated on Starving Artist Dinner parties, the Kootenay School of Writing and CBC radio pieces. When Woodward worked as a publicist for Polestar Press in the Kootenays, in the late 80s, Jiles had just published Sitting in the Club Car Drinking Rum and Karma Kola and several books of poetry with them. Over many decades, they stayed in touch. When Woodward sent Jiles one of her partner Jeff George's annual wall calendars, Jiles loved his spooky, fog-bound night image of the Lennard Island Lighthouse near Tofino, which she had visited while researching her latest book. Jiles emailed the image to her New York editor. Now HarperCollins has bought the image so it can adorn Jiles' new dystopian novel, Lighthouse Island (HarperCollins $19.95), set in a formidable North American future. Larry McMurty has bought the screen rights for Jiles' previous novel, The Colour of Lightning.

Lighthouse 9780062293596