RED: The Island Story Book

09/16/2026

The back cover photo never gets the attention it deserves, but there have been some absolute beauties on the back over the years. This is one of our favorites. From RED volume 2.

09/10/2026

This one is for all you hard working parents out there, dealing with whatever life throws(up) at you. From RED volume 28.

The Mighty Burp
by Michael Brothers

It was Valentine's Day. Our first one since moving back to Montague from Ottawa in the fall of 2011. Any potential for romance on this idyllic day was impeded by our children. Emmett, who was not yet Emmett, was gestating within Sara's innards - he was a good two months away from taking his first breath. And Matilda, who was only two, was going through a phase wherein she needed to sleep every night cuddled between her parents in our new king-size bed.

Talk about first world problems.

While a younger me would have resented the lameness of this evening, I thoroughly enjoyed the mellow satisfaction of snuggling into bed with a safe, healthy and growing family. Life was pretty good.

Until about 2 AM.

It was flu season, and our household had been otherwise untouched until this moment. Matilda, who had had more than one hearty serving of spaghetti that evening, sat up abruptly in bed and began projectile vomiting viscous, steamy bile all over the duvet. Every square inch of the bed, including my wife's head, was thoroughly soaked. I imagined Matilda's head spinning around in the dark like a scene from The Exorcist.

I scrambled into a sitting position. The smell hit me hard and nearly knocked me out of bed. I gazed at my toddler's silhoutte in the darkness. Her shoulders were slumped, and she looked, as my mother would have said, like a limp dish rag. This was only a brief lull in the storm. She opened her moth to speak, but paused for a moment - exploring her vocabulary for the proper words to describe what had just happened to her.

"I burped. . . " she moaned, having no context in her short life to understand what power-puking was.

After a quick chuckle, I grabbed Matilda and dragged her to the bathroom where she continued spewing into the toilet. Despite the shock of it all, I couldn't help but wonder where it was all coming from.

Sara was on the scene with towels, and began stripping Matilda down and cleaning her up. She had already stripped the bed sheets. I think we burned them later. Soon, Matilda seemed fresh as a daisy. Sara and I managed to clean ourselves up a little too. And now it was time to attempt a return to the bed. Since I expected more barfing, I ran to the kitchen and fetched a bucket to catch the next wave of hot sick.

When I returned to the room, a startled Matilda looked up at the bucket as though it were some medieval instrument of torture; a means of punishing her for inflicting her torrential rush of puke upon us.

"Please!" she sobbed, "Don't put me in the bucket!"

08/27/2026

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Call for submissions for RED volume 42!

RED: The Island Storybook is now accepting submissions for the Autumn volume, due out in November.

We'd love to hear from you. Doesn't matter if you've never written anything in your life, we're here to help you through the process if you've got a story to tell.

Deadline is Friday, September 25th.

For inquiries or submissions, reach out to: [email protected]

08/19/2026

Made in the 80s

Patrick Ledwell Comedy is back in ye ole' RED Storybook, volume 41, in stores now!

In the latest installment of Made in the 80s, Patrick packs us into the wood panel station wagon (no seat belts required) and takes us on a time travelling ramble to the Old Home Week of the 80s, the Exhibition of his youth.

Here's just a small excerpt:

A now outlawed contraption, the Zipper put two teenagers in a rotating cage shaped like an apostrophe that itself rotated unpredictably around a zipper-like oblong boom.

For cantilevered weight, it had to be two people in each Zipper cage. The hope was that the line-up would randomly put you in a booth with the bearer of hairsprayed bangs of your dreams. There in this caged apostrophe, would you momentarily belong to each other? Somehow, with Haywire's Dance Desire booming in your ears, the force of being hurtled upside-down and sideways could push your uppers arms together for a moment.

It was all innocent, no actual zippers involved. But flipping upside-down against the night moon, with a horse call echoing in the near distance, you could half believe that the chaos would allow the smallest start of love to break through into this dusty, everyday world.

Go on grab the latest RED and get down to RED earth.
tally-ho REDheads!

08/07/2026

FAMOUS ISLAND SAYING
"It's not too bad once you're in!"

-RED vol. 41. IN STORES NOW

07/24/2026

G'day REDheads! It's a gorgeous summer day on paradise Island. Just wanted to drop a reminder that RED 41 is now in stores Island wide, and also wanted to take a moment to thank all of our advertisers. We are a small local operation and we couldn't do it without all of the local support. Many thanks, we tip our hat to you:

The Root Cellar PEI
Buns and Things
Proude's Shoes
Co-op Country Store
mikesislandmarket Mikes Island Market
Repeats Used Clothing
Broad Strokes Painting
Harmony House
Beltone
Charlottetown Farmers' Market Co-operative
Bookmark
Forever Healthy
PEI Mutual Insurance
Kings County Tractor
The Buzz - PEI's Guide to What's Going On
RE/MAX Kris Fournier/Catherine Fournier
Michael Stanley Pottery
Receiver Coffee Co.
Geneva Villa
John's Home Brew Shop
Red Clay Construction
Lillibets Gift Shop (QEH)
In The Mix Bakery
Callbecks Home Hardware
Good Guys Autoglass
Dalmac
KJL Select Meats Charlottetown

We're proud to have these amazing Island businesses on-board, many thanks for choosing RED. There's always room for a few more, if you'd like more info about advertising in RED, reach out to us at [email protected]
Get out there and support these fine local businesses, keep it in the community, keep it local.

Tally-ho REDheads!

07/14/2026

Where we off to today Captain Emard? Brand new RED coming to a store near you and we're enjoying the island views along the way I tell ya.

07/13/2026

Me and Mr Emard Court are making the rounds today. Deliveries have begun Island wide for the newest volume of RED. This seemed like an appropriate spot for a pit stop and a pic. Keep your eyes open for the captain on the cover of RED 41, coming soon to a store near you.

07/06/2026

Hello REDheads, how do you do?
Hope early summer on the Island is hitting the sweet spot, there's truly no better place in the world to be for the next 3 months.

The brand new volume of RED is on its way, we've had a minor holdup at the print shop. Sorry for the delay, but we think it will be worth the wait, so don't panic, it's on the way. Until then, here's another look at the fantastic cover shot, and a list of our contributing author's for this volume:

Ray Brow: The Only Day it Could Have Been Found.
Wayne Simpson: Treasured. (Story on Emard Court. Also, the photographer who took the cover shot)!
Kate McQuarrie: PEI Untamed. Flying Squirrels
Patrick Ledwell: Made in the 80s. The Exhibition.
Keith Milligan: Silver and Gold. Part II.
Georges Arsenault: Shutter Stories. An Airplane in our Backyard.
Frank Gillan: The Necktie.
Davy Weale: Well, That Was Awkward.
Jean Ward: The Ferry.
Neil Stanley: Chance Encounters.
Jake and Diane Rennie: The Hill Overlooking Home.
Ian Scott as told by Ken McInnis: The Trophy in the Window.
Brendon McCloskey: The 45 Chicken Thieves.
Judy Finlayson: Groovin.
David Weale: Keepsakes. Donald MacDonald.
Jennifer Shields: Swarmed.
Dale DesRoches: Sweatin' it Out at the Laundry.
Callum Beck: Faces in the Riot. Part V.
Wayne MacKinnon: The Not so Humble Potato.
Tex MacDonald: A Manure Pile with a Story.
Jenny MacDougall: Constructive Tenderness.
Randall J. O'Connor: What Ever Happened to John Scott O'Brien.
Glenda Landry: Our Maudie.
Ian Petrie. Rural Roots. Lets be Citizens, Not just Consumers.
Laurie Rayner Langford: The Forgotten Women of the PEI Silver Fox Boom.
Gary Evans: Waiting Room Woes.
Mike O'Brien: McAskills.
Gregory Bowles: The Locavore Feed.
Wayne MacDonald: Hands of a Fisherman.
Ed MacDonald: The Geography of Home. Spring Training.

That's what I'd call an embarrassment of literary riches.
Coming soon to a store near you.
Tally-ho REDheads!

07/03/2026

The Charlottetown Farmers Market forever! Get out and support hard working locals.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1HZYkeYYMg/

Local businesses supporting local businesses + local folks supporting local businesses...

THAT, friends, is how we keep our money circulating in the PEI economy and help strengthen the fabric of our communities.

Pictured here is Angel of with a large load of chives she just purchased from Aman of A-OK Gardens.

Those chives will go straight into Angel's Cheddar and Chive Sourdough loaves, which YOU can purchase on Saturday and enjoy with friends, family or all on your own!

Angel is dedicated to sourcing as many of her ingredients from the Market and other Island suppliers as possible and you can truly taste the difference it makes in every slice of her bread and other baked goodies/