Bunnyhug Cynic (Non-fiction Humour)
In Bunnyhug Cynic, Craig Silliphant serves up a collection of comedic essays about pop culture, the crushing absurdity of existence, and the glory days of Bonanza Steakhouse.
With irreverent humour, Gen X cynicism, and rock n’ roll prose, Silliphant muses about God, swearing as an art form, and what Gord Downie’s death meant to Canada. He spends a weekend with the Stanley Cup, questions why we’re still Saskatchewan Roughrider fans, and nurses a grudge for an overplayed Bob Seger hit. He’s attacked by a murder of crows, cursed by cheap furniture, and exasperated by everything from censorship to Gen Z fashion to the modern multiplex.
At the heart of the book is the standout essay Salad Bar Days, a nostalgic and hilarious tribute to his teen years bussing tables at Bonanza.
Bunnyhug Cynic is a prairie-spun salad bar of truth bombs, with croutons of cultural critique, smothered in a rich comedy sauce. It’s in the vein of writers like Chuck Klosterman, David Sedaris, and David Foster Wallace, with a deeply Saskatchewan point of view.
Nothing You Do Matters (Short Stories)
Space and time are vast and we’re tiny parasites clinging to a rock hurtling through space. We exist for a blink of an eye. Nothing You Do Matters. You can let that idea terrify you. Or you can let it free you.
In Nothing You Do Matters, Craig Silliphant presents twelve short stories, bringing along his infamously sardonic tongue, subversive humour, and penchant for media and pop culture references.
Nothing You Do Matters is modern and alive. With rock n’ roll prose and Swiftian satire and profanity, Silliphant tells stories that charge forth into the dualities of humour and melancholy, love and hate, the sublime and the sordid.
From the unpaved streets of Saskatoon before it was a city, to the suburban malls of today, most of these are prairie tales. Some of the stories are light and funny, others are serious and thought-provoking, skewering the dark side of concepts like fame and social media. Heck, there’s even a couple of prairie ghost stories for good measure.
Exile Off Main St. (Non-Fiction)
Exile Off Main St: Random Dispatches from the Saskatoon Music Scene was written by Craig Silliphant and other Saskatchewan writers and musicians.
Originally released in 2013, Exile Off Main St is a snapshot of what music and exile does to a small prairie city and the souls that inhabit it. It’s full of memoirs, essays, quotes, and articles about many genres of Saskatoon music.
Through these stories, we realize our geographic isolation and horrible winters are incubators for all kinds of art. That ultimately, Saskatoon is a supportive community that is brought together by music and the arts. There’s no secret handshake to be a part of it; all you have to do is get involved.
