The Peak: a university student newspaper with a hard-hitting mix of inflammatory editorials, hastily thrown-together comics and reviews, and a news section run the only way self-taught journalists know how—sloppily.

Alex and Tracy are two of The Peak's editors, staring down graduation and struggling to keep the paper relevant to an increasingly indifferent student body. But trouble looms large when a big-money free daily comes to the west-coast campus, threatening to swallow what remains of their readership whole.

It’ll take the scoop of a lifetime to save their beloved campus rag. An exposé about the mysterious filmed-on-campus viral video? Some good old-fashioned libel? Or what about that fallen Hollywood star, the one who’s just announced he's returning to Simon Fraser University to finish his degree?

With savage wit, intoxicating energy, and a fine-tuned ear for the absurd, Michael Hingston drags the campus novel, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century.

Michael Hingston is the books columnist for the Edmonton Journal. His writing has also appeared in the National Post, Alberta Views magazine, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Born and raised in North Vancouver, Hingston now lives in Edmonton with his partner and two kids. The Dilettantes is his first novel.

Michael Hingston's profile page

• Short-listed, Alberta Trade Fiction Book of the Year
• Winner, Alberta Book Design Award
• Short-listed, Alberta Readers' Choice Award