Neil Aitken has operated Reflections Publishing with Ruth Loomis. A lifelong local history buff, Aitken had been compiling his own manuscript on B.C. place names when his work was pre-empted by the publication of a similar work. With Aula Agnes Louise Bell, he nonetheless wrote and self-published Gabriola Island Place Names (Reflections, 1996. 70 p. $12.00). The Gabriola Island publisher didn't encounter any such competition for his one-of-a-kind, idiosyncratic guide to B.C. bookstores, The Hunted Bookshop (Reflections 1997 $15). "Biblomaniac booksellers are their own worst enemies," he says. "I haven't met one who hasn't been absolutely delighted when a new independent bookshop opens nearby." Aitken's miscellany includes memoirs by booksellers Merlyn Bigham, Lawrence Eddy, Pat & Eileen Kernaghan, Laura Krown, Diana Leeming, Janet Murdoch, Shirley Naylor, Betsy Nuse, Phyllis Reeve and George Sipos. Aitken has also published chapbooks of poetry.

[BCBW 2003] "Advice" "Local History" "Place Names"