Authors: Paul Yee
A S
UPERIOR
M
AN
A SUPERIOR MAN
Copyright © 2015 by Paul Yee
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any part by any meansâgraphic, electronic, or mechanicalâwithout the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may use brief excerpts in a review, or in the case of photocopying in Canada, a license from Access Copyright.
ARSENAL PULP PRESS
Suite 202â211 East Georgia St.
Vancouver, BC V6A 1Z6
Canada
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council for its publishing program, and the Government of Canada (through the Canada Book Fund) and the Government of British Columbia (through the Book Publishing Tax Credit Program) for its publishing activities.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to persons either living or deceased is purely coincidental.
Cover photograph:
Chinese work gang on the C.P.R
.,
Glacier Park, BC, 1889
© McCord Museum
Design by Gerilee McBride
Edited by Susan Safyan
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication:
Yee, Paul, author
A superior man / Paul Yee.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-55152-591-4 (epub)
1. ChineseâBritish ColumbiaâHistoryâ19th centuryâFiction. 2. Railroad construction workersâBritish ColumbiaâHistoryâ19th centuryâFiction. I. Title.
PS8597.E3S86 2015
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C813'.54
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C2015-903342-X
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C2015-903343-8
D
EDICATION
This book is dedicated to the Nlaka'pamux First Nations people, on whose lands most of this story occurs, and to the memory of Yee Fook, a railway labourer who worked near Lytton, 1883.
CONTENTS
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1
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When Running, Know Head from Tail (Fall 1885)
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2
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A Superior Man Moves Swiftly (1885)
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3
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A Fear of Corpses on the Railway (Spring 1881)
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4
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Better to Trust Your Own? (1885)
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5
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A Dream of Riches on the Railway (1881)
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6
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A Father Never Sleeps (1885)
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7
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The Road Ahead Always Slopes Up (1885)
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8
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The Trials of Workers on the Railway (1881)
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9
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Is It the Mountain or Railway that Kills? (1881)
10
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On the Road, Gentlemen Are Rare (1885)
11
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Boats Can Cross the Deepest Rivers (1885)
12
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The Poor Fare Better at Home than on the Road (1885)
13
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Fire Can Warm You or Leave You in the Cold (1885)
14
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Promises Ought Not to Be Dodged (1885)
15
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A Superior Man Merits a Second Chance (1885)
16
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Three Hands Are Better than Two (1885)
17
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An Unused Road Is Not Smooth (1885)