Reel Potential: Alberta books that deserve a screen adaptation

Here at Read Alberta (like everyone else), we’re obsessed with Heated Rivalry. The runaway hit show (and book!) is funny, it’s romantic, it’s well acted, and most of all, it dispels the myth that Canadian stories aren’t marketable to a global audience.

This got us thinking about what Canadian book should get the Heated Rivalry treatment next? Here are just four of our suggestions. Movie and tv producers, listen up!

Modern Asian Family: Straight Outta Busan

A collection of short cartoons from Stefano Jun chronicling his experiences growing up a Korean immigrant in Western Canada. Having moved to Canada as an 8 year old with no knowledge of English, Stefano encounters culture shock, family love, friendship, and ultimately finds a place for himself in the vast country he has called home for 20 years now.

These slice of life stories are a keenly observed insight into the experience of growing up in an unfamiliar place.

Straight Outta Busan

Stefano Jun

Published: Apr 16, 2025 by Renegade Arts Entertainment
ISBN: 9781998489152

Northern Bull

It’s a cold, dark January day in Yellowknife. A down-on-his-luck fisherman, Jacques, needs to convince his landlord not to tear down his ramshackle house. But when his volatile hunting buddy, Craig, accuses him of stealing a prized moose head, Jacques must put everything aside to find the bull before midnight, or there’s no telling what Craig might do. Meanwhile, Jacques’s next-door neighbour Maggie is trying to face her fears by writing a story for the annual community burlesque show. But when she accidentally breaks Jacques’s window, she is determined to help save his home and find the moose head—and maybe something more.

Over a single day, with flashbacks to the hunting trip that started it all and culminating in a wild night no one in Yellowknife will ever forget, we follow Jacques, Maggie and a quirky cast of supporting characters as they race against time—on snowmobiles—to find the moose, brave the stage, and take a chance on themselves and on love. A hilarious and charming ode to life in the north.

Northern Bull

Michelle Swallow

Published: Jan 21, 2026 by Freehand Books
ISBN: 9781997534051

Cobra Clutch

“Hammerhead” Jed Ounstead thought he’d traded the pro-wrestling world for the slightly less dangerous one of a bar bouncer and errand boy for his father’s detective agency, but the squared circle wasn’t quite done with him yet. When his former tag-team partner draws upon their old friendship for help in finding his kidnapped pet snake, Jed finds himself dragged back into the fold of sleazy promoters, gimmicky performers, and violence inside and outside the ring. As the venom of Vancouver’s criminal underworld begins to seep into Jed’s life, a steel chair to the back of the head is the least of his problems. Cobra Clutch is the first book in the “Hammerhead” mysteries series, featuring an unstoppable combo: a signature move of raucous humour with a super finisher of gritty realism.

Cobra Clutch: A “Hammerhead” Jed Mystery

A.J. Devlin

Published: Apr 15, 2018 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781988732244

Florence Kinrade: Lizzie Borden of the North

In 1909, Florence Kinrade is, by all appearances, the dutiful daughter of a wealthy Hamilton, Ontario land-owner, engaged to the parson’s son. Intriguingly, she also leads a double life as a vaudeville showgirl in Richmond, Virginia. Holding many parallels with Lizzie Borden, another famous mystery involving a family murder and an inscrutable young woman, Florence becomes the central figure in a gruesome crime—the murder of her sister, Ethel.

By digging deeply into contemporary accounts and the testimony from Florence’s high-profile court inquest, Frank Jones’ masterful narrative details the challenges of an upper-class woman seeking a showbiz career, reveals the racism and the little-known “tramp menace” feared by people of the era, and exposes Florence’s mental diagnosis by a famous psychiatrist. Florence’s adventures span the cities of Hamilton, Toronto, Calgary, and Lethbridge, as well as the American locales of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Richmond, Virginia. In the book, you’ll discover, for the first time, the secrets of Florence’s inner life, suppressed emotions, and romantic escapades.

Florence Kinrade: Lizzie Borden of the North

Reel Potential: Alberta books that deserve a screen adaptation