Four More suggested Books of Short Fiction, Re: It Being National Short Fiction Month.

Lisa Moore’s Degrees of Nakedness

So you’ve read Open. Of course you have, my God, who hasn’t read what might the most critically acclaimed book of shorts this decade, right? But have you read this one yet? Degrees of Nakedness, one of the best titles and most attractive designs I’ve seen, and it’s Lisa Moore. What more is there to say?  Trust me and The Globe and Mail, this is “supple, sensuous prose.” 

“Stunning … shot through with riffs of startling and vivid imagery, Moore’s stories are urbane, off-beat and sophisticated.”
GG-winning author, Douglas Glover.

Leslie Vryenhoek’s Scrabble Lessons

Scrabble Lessons is deeply affecting and gorgeously written. No detail is left blandly described, and it is all so fresh and vivid. A new voice, and I loved it. This is a perfect collection of short stories: punchy, top-notch creative writing that makes you feel something. Jammed in around all these skilfully constructed sentences is raw emotion you feel, seeping out through the words.

“It all works and leaves an uneasy smile. Perfect.” -Jim Barley, Globe & Mail

Ryan Turner’s What We’re Made Of

Shortlisted for the 2008 Metcalf-Rooke Award.

For fans of Michael Winter

Ryan Turner’s What We’re Made Of, a collection sharing the same protagonist, is an Olympic leap into what will be a well-regarded career. Turner has such a honed eye for detail. It lets him confidently shed all filler so that his stories are pure punch. He skillfully captures the nuances in the fine threads that bond (or do not bond) his characters together. This economy of words, his spare style, is what makes his writing remarkable, and a pleasure to read. That and how some of his more aphoristic lines beg to be read twice.

Joan Clarke’s From a High Thin Wire

What Makes This Book Unique: This book, originally published in 1982, was Joan Clarke’s well-received debut. Twenty years later, Joan Clark, now a nationally acclaimed writer,  revised her debut collection from the perspective of a more mature writer. Moreover, Goose Lane’s website shares that “The ten frank yet subtle fictions in this collection are loosely based on Joan Clark’s own life.”

“Delectable tales of family life, tension, love and resolution, focusing on how childhood experiences shape adult lives.” – Globe and Mail

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