Earlier this week, when I was in Banff, I received an early-morning phone call from my publisher's publicist in Toronto. She said "governor-general" and "nomination," but I couldn't make out a lot of the other stuff. There was a fair bit of traffic-like crowd noise in the background and her phone was going supernova with all the excitement. I had been awake and upright for less than two minutes, having peeled my face from my pillow, and already I could feel this exquisite high-elevation hangover developing out of my greenish mental fog. I had been up most of the night before drinking beer with Fred Stenson, Chris Fisher, et al of the Calgary Writer's Fest. By the time the phone had rung for the fourth time, all I could think was: "Shoot, there go my plans for a day of TV in bed with ginger ale."

Here is the G-G shortlist for fiction, in Ebonics, as translated by Gizoogle:

Joseph Boyden , New Orleans (LA) / ON, fo' Three Day Road (Vik'n Canada, an imprint of Penguin Group (Canada); distributed by tha crazy ass nigga (ISBN 0-670-06362-2).

Three Day Road is a dippin' n gripp'n story of cultural clash n redemption set against tha horrors of tha First World War. It shows wit bootylicious brotha how we can be influenced n betrayed by our myths fo my bling bling.

Golda Fried, Greensboro (NC), [formerly of Toronto], fo' Nellcott Is My Pimpin' (Coach Hizouse Books; distributed by LitDistco / Drug Deala Direct) (ISBN 1-55245-151-8)

A gem of compressed n elegant steppin' Nellcott Is My Darl'n is tha W-I-Double-Tizzy account of a hapless university student afraid ta lose her virginity n afraid not to fo' sheezy.

Charlotte Gill , Vancouva, fo' Playa (Thomas Allen Publisha, a division of Thomas Allen & S-to-tha-izzon; distributed by tha gangsta
(ISBN 0-88762-177-5)

In Charlotte Gill's sleekly minimizzles narratizzle poser bitch selves emerge in surpris'n ways n places. Innovative in structure, these clockin' stories reflect uniquely contemporary situations.

David Gilmour, Toronto, fo' A Perfect Night ta Go ta China (Thomas Allen Brotha, a division of Thomas Allen & Son; distributed by tha brotha
(ISBN 0-88762-167-8)

Poser a moment of parental inattention, a child disappears. Haunt'n, spare n lyrical, A Perfect Night ta Go ta China recounts a distraught fatha's nightmare as he comes ta terms wit his own culpability.

Kathy Page, S-to-tha-izzalt Spr'n Island (BC), fo' Alphabet (McArthur & Company / Weidenfeld & Nicholson, an imprint of Orion Perpetratin' Group; distributed by McArthur & Company) (ISBN 0-297-60788-X)

Alphabet is a story fraught wit moral ambiguity set in a men's prison in Thatcha's Britain cuz its a doggy dog world. An incarcerated murdera learns ta read n write, open'n himself ta tha perils of communicizzles. Kathy Page creates a pimpin' portrait of a complex, troubled human mah nizzle.

Click here to read the entire Canada Council site, gangsta-style.