2018 Short Story Advent Calendar Unveiling: December 17

The swelling is slowly abating in my mouth, plus, I enjoyed today’s story. Things are looking up for me!


I can’t remember ever reading a book or story by Alistair MacLeod before today, but I do know I should be ashamed of this fact because he’s one of Canada’s greatest writers. Although he died in 2014, his legacy still lives on in his writing, as well as through his son Alexander MacLeod (pictured below) who is…
This book is a bit of a departure for me, not only in tone and format, but also in publisher. Everything is So Political boasts a topic I typically wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot-pole. Why? Because politics make me nervous, I don’t like discussing them in group situations, and I usually find the subject terribly…
I love reading short stories, and because they’re not as popular as they deserve to be, I’m always taking advantage of a little air time to talk about how great they are. You can click here to listen to my latest segment on CBC’s Homestretch. For those of you who listened to my radio spots…
I love reading short stories. I seem to flip through them faster than a novel, simply because it it forces you to reach the end of one story before you put your bookmark in. I also find (and I know I’ve said this before) that they’re typically better written than novels, because the writer has…

Well my Wordfest 2017 experience was WAY better than my Wordfest 2016 experience which was basically non-existent due to the fact that I contracted hand foot and mouth during last year’s festival (the joys of having young children in daycare never end!). But I was relatively healthy this year, which allowed me to take in…

Having read a few reviews of Householders by Kate Cayley, I started to view this book that Biblioasis sent me (bless them) as a hidden gem that only people ‘in the know’ were reading and writing about. A starred review in Quill and Quire cinched it for me – I had to see what all…
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I remember a friend loving Rufus W. around 2000, so you’re likely not far off!
phew!
Agree to disagree about this story. This one wasn’t for me. I’m not really sure what the point of it was, but at least the female protagonist seemed to be in charge this time. There were some clever turns of phrases throughout, but I liked the writing at the beginning of the story better than the end. I loved his description of nature, and it was hard to tell from the way the first encounter was portrayed whether he was writing about an actual deer, e.g., page 5, “He got down on his haunches, laid a hand to his long, skinny knee…”. But no magic realism here…nothing magical at all, really.
I agree; it does leave the reader more in and of the moment when you don’t place the story in a specific time.
I wouldn’t say I LOVED this story, but I did like it more than others. The calendar seems to be quite polarizing this year, which is half the fun :)
Kevin Barry was recommended to me by another reviewer years ago as a newcomer to watch – needless to say, I never got around to reading any of his stuff! Apart from the swearing, this sounds good. I may even add one of his short story collections to my wishlist…