books
THE REASON FOR TIME, an historical novel set in July, 1919, in Chicago. Allium Press of Chicago, April, 2016. (Finalist for the Foreword Reviews "Indie" award; "Must read" Chicago book, Bookriot; Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Revew
SHINNY'S GIRLS, the Trilogy, a compilation of the first two Shinny’s Girls novels (Shinny’s Girls and Flashing Yellow), and a third, YOU AGAIN, which completes the trilogy. Published by burningBooks as an ebook, June, 2013.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DKCZKFU
FLASHING YELLOW, a novel which continues the story of the character Shinny, from SHINNY'S GIRLS. Turnstone Press, April, 2001
" Fast paced and funny and a pleasure to read." Winnipeg Free Press
http://www.turnstonepress.com/fiction/flashing-yellow.html
THE PRIVATE EYE, a study of the Wrangel Island snow geese and how they are perceived by the various artists, scientists, naturalists, hunters and native people who come into contact with them as they migrate south to winter on the Fraser and Skagit River deltas, UBC Press, October, 1996. (Shortlisted for the Science in Society Book Award)
(http://www.ubcpress.ubc.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=503)
CENTRE/CENTER, Talonbooks, 1992. A trilogy of novellas.
"Another novel about American baby-boomer angst over the 1960's legacy and the repercussions of Vietnam, you say? But wait, this one is really good. In fact (Centre/Center ) is a wonderful example of a novel that both illuminates and transcends the plight of a particular group of people in a particular place at a particular time. Tolstoy would have been proud." Language and Literature
SHINNY'S GIRLS, Talonbooks, 1989. Eight stories and a novella.
"A superb novella, Shinny's Girls demonstrates a large, robust talent, nicely matured. Books in Canada....."a strong collection of stories by a considerable talent." Toronto Star
SUBURBS OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE, Penumbra Press, l986. Ten stories. ("Writer's Choice" award, l986 Literary Press Group panel.)
"Mary Burns is a story teller who knows what she knows and how to tell it. She gives us the north as exotic yet banal; the far reach of the Canadian experience, and yet its centre. Suburbs of the Arctic Circle is an accomplished and memorable collection."(Katherine Govier, Literary Press Group's Writer's Choice Panel)
SHORT STORIES(selected)
Gayla Stairs, BBC Radio 3, 1987
The Star and the Scorpion, The Seattle Review, fall, 1987
A Trip Somewhere, Quarry West 22 (Santa Cruz, CA), 1986
Romance, BBC Radio 3, 1985
Living With Nuclear Weapons, Quarry 34:3, 1984
The Circle, University of Windsor Review, Vol. XVIII, 1983
How it Happened, BBC Radio 3, 1982
Links, Harvest, 1981
Lady of the Ocean, Event 9:2, 1981
A Joint Communique, CBC Hornby Collection, 1980
After Hours, Northward Journal 26, 1981
Greta, Northward Journal 23, 1979
The Men on my Window, Prism International, 16:1, 1977
STAGE PLAYS
A FABLE WITH CELLPHONES, a three-act promenade play commissioned by Deer Crossing, the Art Farm, and performed there August 6, 7, and 8, 2010.
IMPERFECT, a two-act, 30-character play about institutionalization, inspired by the old government-run schools for the developmentally disabled. Commissioned by Douglas College for the Laura C. Muir Theatre, March, 2009 Produced by the University of Windsor Theatre Department, March, 2010, and Dalhousie University in 2011. http://www.playwrightsguild.ca
CASTING THE ANGEL, a two-act, five-character play developed with assistance from the Playwright's Theatre Centre, Vancouver and presented as part of the PTC's "In-Process" series of new plays, Winter, 2006. Presented as a staged reading to benefit PAL Vancouver (the Performing Arts Lodge), in July, 2008.
STEVE AND DAVE HIT VEGAS This one-act satire about non-profits asks the question, do you have to be good to do good? In development.
RADIO DRAMAS
"El Premio", produced by Heather Brown, for CBC's Studio 94, broadcast November, 1994.
"I'm Sorry", produced by John Juliani for CBC's Studio '93, broadcast June, 18, 1993.
"A Yukon Quintette", produced by John Juliani for CBC Morningside, broadcast April 1-5 ( five fifteen-minute episodes), 1991. (Published in Take Five: The Morningside Dramas, ed. Dave Carley, Blizzard Publishing, 1991 )
"Suburbs of the Arctic Circle", produced by John Juliani for Sextet and broadcast on CBC's Sunday Matinee, November 26, 1989.
ANTHOLOGIES (selected)
"On the Wing, on the Plate", in WILD MOMENTS, ed. Michael Engelhard, University of Alaska Press, fall, 2008
"Suburbs of the Arctic Circle" in A CORNER IN EACH LIFE, REFLECTIONS IN FICTION, ed. Armstrong and Corbeil, Nelson Canada, 1994.
"The Circle" in FIRE BENEATH THE CAULDRON, ed. Geoff Hancock, Thistledown, 1991.
"Suburbs of the Arctic Circle" in the Harrowsmith collection of stories from rural Canada, Ed. Wayne Grady, Camden House, 1991.
"Yukon Quintette" in TAKE FIVE, the Morningside Dramas, ed. Dave Carley, Blizzard, 1991.