Double Helix (by Stephen Cain and Jay MillAr) is a new genetic-literary hybrid. Using the structure of DNA (which has its own language using paired molecules) as a model, Stephen Cain and Jay MillAr's new book employs a sequence of speak and respond pieces to read and write their way through the alphabet and discuss everything from the geography of Southern Ontario to why Ezra Pound is the true author of American Psycho.

Living in different cities for a year, the two authors kept their ongoing conversations about poetics, relationships, and culture in the early 21st century alive by writing a collaborative project through correspondence, based on a simple alphabetic constraint.

 The result is Double Helix, a series of 52 micro-fictions, in which each writer meditates on a word beginning with a set letter of the alphabet. Molecular strands of concepts, arguments, and narratives twist about each other, yet also match, much like the double helix of human DNA. The final text mixes two lives, two writing styles, and two consciousnesses, that come to resemble a third mind--an act of literary meme-splicing.

Praise for previous books by Cain and MillAr:

"American Standard/Canada Dry establishes Cain as a major figure in an emergent 21st century Canadian poetry and poetics." — filling Station

"[MillAr] wants the poems themselves to have an organic quality, and the potential to grow in the reader's mind in any number of directions." — Toronto Star

The Mercury Press is an independent, 100% Canadian-owned trade publisher, specializing in the finest in Canadian cutting edge fiction and poetry. The press' national list encompasses Canadian writing from coast to coast. Our books are aimed at an adult readership from a broad range of communities. We have an excellent reputation for our commitment to high quality production, long-term involvement in the development of writers, concentrated editing, and a balanced list that includes a focused range of books from avant-garde poetry to culturally significant non-fiction. Mercury books have won and been shortlisted for many awards for both design and content, and been widely critically praised.

The Mercury Press is dedicated to continuing the development of our essential mandate, the publication and dissemination of innovative Canadian fiction and poetry, which we believe rivals anything being written in English in the world today.

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Media Development Corporation's Book Fund, and the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit Program. The publisher further acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage?s Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.

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