Victoria’s favourite humourist returns with a hilarious collection of observations on Island living.

For more than twenty-five years, Jack Knox’s weekly humour column has captured the essence of life in BC’s picturesque capital city, a.k.a. Dysfunction-by-the-Sea. In Fortune Knox Once, as in his previous humour collections, Knox gathers together his favourite Times Colonist pieces that best sum up the absurdity of our times.

The subject matter is all over the map: the lost art of handwriting, the sexiness of the Canadian accent, phone addiction, the Rogue Cow of Metchosin, ugly trucks, ugly people, a parody of end-of-school announcements, and a letter to Prince Harry. The chapter on Pi Day is some of the best math-based humour you will read all week. And while are a dozen pieces on plague-related topics—from dog shortage to doomscrolling to the time Knox dropped his credit card into the saltchuck—COVID appears only in brief glimpses, like a moustache-twirling villain occasionally creeping onto the stage in an old-style British pantomime.

Whether you are a born-and-bred Islander who thinks this is all completely normal, or a Mainland transplant lured by the myth of lower housing prices, Fortune Knox Once is the laugh we all need right now.

Jack Knox is the author of two bestselling humour books, Hard Knox: Musings from the Edge of Canada and Opportunity Knox: Twenty Years of Award-Losing Humour Writing, both based on his popular column at the Victoria Times Colonist and both long-listed finalists for the Leacock Medal for Humour. His latest book is On the Rocks with Jack Knox: Islanders I Will Never Forget. Knox’s career highlights include being blasted with blowhole spray by Luna the orca whale, interviewing a nude porn star, and getting a phone call from Barack Obama four days before the 2008 presidential election. In his spare time he performs in a rock ’n' roll band with members of his Tour de Rock cycling team.

Jack Knox's profile page

“Jack Knox brings his Fortune Knox Once to our table like everyone's fun uncle who shows up and makes us feel better. He spins a merry web around the absurdity of our lives lately and it's a relief to giggle and know we're all in this together!”
—Lesley Crewe, bestselling author of I Kid You Not: Chronicles of an Ordinary Family

“Each essay is a short staring contest daring readers not to laugh. Witty, irreverent, and occasionally tender, Knox crafts stories with comedic precision. Fortune Knox Once offers a funny and relatable glimpse into West Coast Island life––think pastoral love letters written with the grit of an over-caffeinated downtown Torontonian. Prince Edward Island would certainly run Jack out of town if he wrote about Charlottetown this way.”
—Shawn Hitchins, comedian, actor, and author of A Brief History Of Oversharing: One Ginger's Anthology of Humiliation

"Once again, Jack Knox knocks it out of the park. Or, in keeping with previous titles of his books, maybe that should read Jack "Knox" it out of the park. Easily one of the best writers in the country and certainly one of the funniest, settle down and laugh your way through this terrific collection!"
—Ian Ferguson, bestselling author of The Survival Guide to British Columbia and winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour

“It is always a treat to visit the comedic treasures in Fort Knox. Ooh, did I just name his next book?”
—Mark Leiren-Young, winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour for Never Shoot a Stampede Queen

“I smiled, chortled, and laughed out loud. This book is hilarious. Jack has a wonderful ability to turn the seemingly mundane into truly entertaining prose. I love how some of the humour builds—from kernel to crescendo—while at other moments, it hits on the blindside, provoking a sudden spit-your-coffee-out snort of laughter.”
—Susan Lundy, bestselling author of Home on the Strange: Chronicles of Motherhood, Mayhem and Matters of the Heart