{"id":25597,"date":"2024-07-05T09:11:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T16:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=25597"},"modified":"2024-07-25T10:04:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T17:04:06","slug":"channel-surfing-in-the-sea-of-happiness-gets-launched-at-long-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2024\/07\/05\/channel-surfing-in-the-sea-of-happiness-gets-launched-at-long-last\/","title":{"rendered":"Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness<\/em> gets launched at long last"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local writer and former fashion columnist Guy Babineau launched his debut book of short stories on Wednesday, July 3, just in time for Victoria\u2019s pride season. The book, Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness<\/em>, collects material from Babineau\u2019s life as a young gay man, and builds those experiences into a series of fictional vignettes striving to transport the reader to the times, places, and subcultures that nurtured him.<\/p>\n

Held at The Bent Mast in James Bay, the book launch was an intimate gathering, consisting mostly of Babineau\u2019s longtime supporters in the writing world. David Bowie’s music echoed from downstairs to accompany tales of queer misadventures, and many restaurant-goers lingered to hear more of the stories that Babineau read out loud. What the party lacked in numbers they made up for in enthusiasm and rapt attention. And the attention wasn\u2019t just for the writing\u2014the book itself had taken quite a journey to arrive at this launch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Guy Babineau reading at his recent book launch (photo by Mackenzie Gibson\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Channel Surfing on the Sea of Happiness<\/em> was almost originally published in 1998; Babineau recounted the story in his speech ahead of reading from the book.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the publishing company went bankrupt just when my book came out,\u201d he said at the launch. \u201cSo people were phoning me saying they just went into this bookstore or that bookstore and they didn\u2019t have any copies because the distributor refused to distribute them\u2026 All of these reviews and then I\u2019m having to tell people, well, my publisher went bankrupt and then explain that I was not the reason why.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, with several new stories and revisions, Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness<\/em> is ready to set sail. Between a gay teenager hiding a bad haircut to a trans sex worker on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with a bedazzled motorcycle helmet, and from academic words like \u201cantediluvian\u201d to made-up ones like \u201cC\u00e9line Dionysian,\u201d the stories take you in with their characters and settings. Babineau viscerally takes us back to the past, both the comforting moments of solidarity and the bitter truths of the AIDS crisis.<\/p>\n

Despite the quasi-autobiographical aspects to his stories, Babineau resists the idea that the book is a literal reflection of his history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s like a big drag act, you know?… Drag and writing is kind of a similar thing,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re putting on a persona.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preferring to lean into his theatre roots and put on a show, Babineau insists that art will give a more honest reflection of the past than a cut-and-dry recounting ever could.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can convey a lot more about history through art often than through a textbook,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you can\u2019t trust a textbook, but you can trust art\u2026 So the thing is it\u2019s a portrait of what it was like for those people during those decades that is a direct mirror of what young people are going through now.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the book\u2019s original launch wound up sinking before its maiden voyage, this second edition carries new promise and even more relevance today than when it was first written. As the world faces an attack on the gay rights people have fought so hard for, we are encouraged to look to the past for inspiration on how to navigate the ever-more-threatening future.<\/p>\n

One of the key takeaways from Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness<\/em> is the need for humour to prepare us for that navigation. Even in the face of uncertainty, one thing queer people have always known how to do is find the fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local writer and former fashion columnist Guy Babineau launched his debut book of short stories on Wednesday, July 3, just in time for Victoria\u2019s pride season. The book, Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness, collects material from Babineau\u2019s life as a young gay man, and builds those experiences into a series of fictional vignettes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25597"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25613,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25597\/revisions\/25613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}