Darryl Whetter’s A Sharp Tooth in the Fur  

For every pack of young writers out there striving to be the next Lisa Moore or Michael Winter, there ought to be another hoping to be as fresh and crisp as Darryl Whetter. Though critically acclaimed (this book was a Globe and Mail Book of the Year), Whetter remains undersung, in that each and every Canadian who hasn’t read a story like “Profanity Issues,” has missed out on the kind of literary entertainment only a finely crafted short story can offer up.

Joey Comeau’s Overqualified 

People use the term “very original” too freely. They waste it as a descriptor. Example: Joey Comeau has written a collection of linked short stories, all of which are in the form of cover letters to places like Irving Oil and HBO. THAT’S original. And Goddamn funny. If you haven’t read Joey Comeau’s Overqualified, it is a lesson in innovation, a laugh-out-loud stab North America, an occasionally unexpected heartbreaker. It is a book for everyone with an iota of life in them.