Guy Maddin has won over everyone from Roger Ebert and John Waters to the New York Times with My Winnipeg, his cinematic docufantasia of his hometown. Now he's set to seal the deal with the print version.

My Winnipeg (Coach House Books) contains the script - with Maddin's annotations - movie stills, essays, an X-ray and an interview with Michael Ondaatje.

"I'm hoping it can stand on its own," Maddin says. "It came about by way of anecdotes and conversations with friends. It seemed quite natural," he adds.

"When I was doing the narration live, which I did quite a bit, I found myself repeatedly interrupting myself. Just making long rambles.

"I like the freedom an author has to digress any way he wants."

What the book can do is give insight into the movie by offering features such as a revealing portrait of its star, film-noir terror Ann Savage. (Check out 1945's Detour for a performance that might frighten Joe Pesci and Michael Madsen at their most sadistic.)

The book has several photos of the octogenarian actor. Two stand out, both of which show Maddin with a camera zooming in on Savage. In the first, she looks like a nice old lady in her living room. In the second, a close-up, Savage has tilted her head and squinted an eye and looks ready to release the hounds. It's a remarkable transformation.

Maddin knew he wanted Ann Savage for his film.

"I spent about six weeks phoning her regularly," he says. "When I was in the process of wooing Ann to come to Canada, every one said she was a sweetie. But I didn't want a sweetie. I wanted her to spit rivets - and I wasn't disappointed. She really is a force."

The book and film continue Maddin's explorations into personal and public mythologies. Maddin's Winnipeg has sights Winnipeggers might recognize - an arena, a swimming pool - but they're presented like dreams or memories.

"I almost didn't want them to see the city exactly on the screen or on the page," he says. "I wanted those places to be transformed, the way San Francisco was transformed by Hitchcock in Vertigo.

"The actual places are mythologized. If you go to those places in person, they're just places. I'm not using these places to pin the city in its place," he adds. "My concerns are quite the opposite. I always complain that Canadians are too literal-minded."

. . .

Jon Paul Fiorentino seems determined to become a bad boy of Canadian Literature, ready to spit in the eye of the establishment.

His new book, Stripmalling (ECW Press), is a novel. At least, that's what he's calling it. 

Raised in Transcona, Fiorentino now lives in Montreal and teaches at Concordia University. He's published several collections of poetry and the humour book Asthmatica.

Stripmallings' main character, Jonny, lives in Transcona and works in the neighbourhood strip mall. He dreams of being a writer and in the meantime sells drugs to the local skaters.

Its author says there's little connection between Fiorentino, established writer, and Jonny, struggling writer.

"It's kind of silly," Fiorentino says. "It's like treating Phillip Roth as if he were Portnoy.

"My life is really not like that. It's really peaceful and reserved, with the usual binge drinking. I just hang out with my kid and read and teach.

"All of the maladjusted material is not autobiographical," he insists.

Jonny maybe a heel, but he's a charming one, at least according to some readers.

"A lot of people are fond of him," Fiorentino says. "I think maybe it's because he gets to do things they can't."

Stripmalling might not have the most complex plot or characters, but what it does offer is a dizzying array of narrative and writing styles. There's storytelling, fake travelogue and bad poetry. Jonny finally tells his story by means of a graphic novel.

"The original idea was to have a novel about a slacker who's writing a novel but then he gets lazy and needs someone to finish it for him," Fiorentino says. "For me, it's about getting away with it, as story-telling. I knew there must be a way to write a story when you're not genetically wired for storytelling."

The book is a collaboration with Toronto-based illustrator Evan Munday.

"I chose Evan because I liked his self-published comics," Fiorentino says. "They've got this really strange aesthetic. I thought it would be fun to see him doing something with a more literary sensibility and see what happened.

"He listened to my direction and then did his own personal take."

Stripmalling is another strike at what Fiorentino sees as the seriousness of much Canadian writing.

"There seems to me to be this notion that you can't write literature that's fun," he says. "It's meant to be fun, an antidote to Can Lit. I hope it is."

WINNIPEG VS. TRANSCONA: Guy Maddin and Jon Paul Fiorentino Book Launch
May 20, 7 p.m., Salisbury House (50 Provencher Blvd.)