Imagine you’ve wanted to kill someone your entire life but both you and your mortal enemy are immortal. K.R. Wilson’s dramatic and emotionally compelling new novel vividly evokes the very human but very long lives of two such ancient enemies and the vibrant times they experience. From classical Troy to modern-day Toronto, Stan on Guard is a truly epic, keenly observed and witty chase through history.
— Gary Barwin, Leacock Award winner and Giller & Governor-General’s Literary Award Finalist; author of Yiddish for Pirates and Scandal at the Alphorn Factory.
Stan on Guard is a gorgeous read. As a protagonist, Stan is an unforgettable combination of calloused irreverence and heart. Throughout the millennia, through Stan’s sprawling life, Wilson explores touchstones of human experience, tenderness, and struggle. To my mind, Stan is one of the most thrilling and masterfully created antiheroes in literature.
— Hollay Ghadery, award-winning author of Fuse
K.R. Wilson’s Stan On Guard is a genre-bending, time-warping triumph that hurls immortal wisecracker Stan—formerly Ishtanu—through 3,000 years of civilization, from Troy to Toronto, armed with biting wit and zero tolerance for human nonsense. But when a vengeful Trojan princess resurfaces, ancient heartbreak and mythic justice come crashing into the present. Fiendishly clever, razor-sharp, and fiercely original, this is a daring tale of historical vengeance, speculative science, and the absurdity of living forever.
— Wayne Ng, author of Johnny Delivers
Stan on Guard is a gripping double helix, braiding through time from Bronze Age Greece to modern-day Toronto. Two immortal beings tell their stories, one driven by revenge, the other by a healthy talent for self-preservation. Through the tapestry of their adventures, we can stroll with Nietzsche, dupe Odysseus, and inspire the art of Rodin. History has never felt more alive.
— Matthew Sullivan, author of The Garden of Flowers and Weeds
Stan On Guard: A Two-Part Invention by K.R. Wilson is a welcome sequel to the Leacock nominated Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millennia. Wilson has once again revisited a breadth of historical events and characters, combining them with wit and irreverence to formulate a compelling and entertaining narrative. Stan is a three thousand year-old immortal and has much to say about Homer’s version of Odysseus, the Teutonic Knights, Nietzsche, Rodin, Isadora Duncan, Renault, Rilke, Matisse, Coco Chanel and WW I. Following Stan on his adventures is to breeze through history not only as an intimate observer but also from vantage points that provide perspectives and voices other than the canonical. This is an extraordinary work by a tantalizingly gifted writer.
— Lucy E.M. Black, author The Marzipan Fruit Basket, Eleanor Courtown, Stella’s Carpet, The Brickworks, Class Lessons: Stories of Vulnerable Youth
With what must be Wilson’s characteristic intelligent historical humour, he’s given us a sequel to CALL ME STAN that is somehow funnier – how is that possible? When we get the asides describing the first book as Stan’s big mistake – that in allowing K.R. Wilson to write his story from a police interview, [vengeful fellow immortal] Tróán learns all she needs to find him and kill him once and for all, it just feels as though there can’t be any other way to perfectly blend these two sagas. Capturing unique moments in history that make the reader feel as though they’re walking the streets of Paris or trudging along the unpaved roads of ancient times, Wilson has given us (once again) an epic historical novel that is a thoroughly enjoyable read.
— Alison Gadsby, author of Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive (read the full review here)