Mike Alvear's Urge & Merge

From The Guardian: Alexander the Great’s bare bottom is keeping a highly-praised debut novel off shelves in Canada.

Annabel Lyon’s The Golden Mean is the story of Alexander’s childhood, told through the eyes of his tutor Aristotle. Praised as “a triumph of erudition and story-telling” by The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author John Boyne and shortlisted for Canada’s top literary award, the Giller prize, it was published last year in Canada and is just out in the UK where the Financial Times has admired its “eerie earthiness”.

But apparently its jacket – featuring a naked man lying on the back of an equally naked white horse – is offensive to some. Although stores across Canada and the UK are selling the book, Lyons revealed on her blog that British Columbia ferry company BC Ferries is not stocking it “since the trade paperback still features a bare bum on the cover”.

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