A “wildly variable” collection of stories is marked by emotional extravagance and an abundance of figurative language. The ‘too-muchness’ and iffy copyediting result in a book that’s a challenge to appreciate. —Candace Fertile reviews Love’s Lonely Pursuits, by Marina Sonkina (Garden Bay: MW Books, 2025) $24.95 / 9781069534606
A debut collection of “spare, sharply focused” and “intensely male” short stories depicts a “world of physical work, training for it, engaging in it—or suffering from its absence.” —Theo Dombrowski reviews Cane Wood: Based on True Stories, by Stephen L. Howard (Altona: Friesen Press, 2025) $13.49 / 9781038326300
First published May 4, 2018. The Two of Us by Kathy Page Windsor, Ontario: Biblioasis, 2016. $19.95 / 9781771960991 Reviewed by Paul Headrick Kathy Page’s fiction has often been the bridesmaid, not the bride. After she was longlisted for the Giller Prize in 2014 for her story collection, Paradise & Elsewhere, Page was longlisted…
Read more #297 From Gallant to Kafka
The Summer Book: A Treasury of Warm Tales, Timeless Memories and Meditations on Nature by 24 BC writersby Mona Fertig (editor) Salt Spring Island: Mother Tongue Publishing, 2017.$24.95 / 9781896949611 Reviewed by Howard Macdonald Stewart First published July 1, 2017 * Mona Fertig of Mother Tongue Publishing has gathered 24 warm and poignant summer stories…
Read more #146 Poignant ruminations of summer