What happens in the small prairie town of Tuckahoe?

Neil McKinnon_s debut collection kicks up some dust, skews small town hokum, and offers a wrap on the knuckles for the individuals of the classic prairie town of Tuckahoe. Thoughout the desperation and adversity rides an undercurrent of sly humour.

Neil McKinnon was raised in Saskatchewan and served in the Royal Canadian Navy before working as a businessman, archaeologist, university lecturer, and freelance writer in China, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. His articles have appeared in Canadian, Japanese, Mexican and U.S. publications, and his book Tuckahoe Slidebottle was short-listed for the Stephen Leacock Award for humour and for the Alberta Book Award for short fiction. He has served on literary juries and has also edited and published academically. He is a pensioner and long distance runner. When not visiting family in Vancouver, McKinnon and his wife of fifty years, Judy, live in Mexico.

Neil McKinnon's profile page

"While the young reader may not like all the characters the novel depicts, he or she will be treated to the author's keen observational skills, ear for dialogue, as well as the poetry of his writing.
Highly Recommended. "
-- CM Magazine, June 2007

Small Town - Prairie Roots

by bilro160

Anyone who has ever lived in a small town knows they have the same mix of compassion, carelessness, curiosity, callousness, crime and courage as big cities but in a far less anonymous way because everybody knows everybody. The 20 stories affirm, with a mix of humor and heartbreak, that people are people no matter where they live. The universe keeps throwing down challenges and people rise or fall to the occasion in their own unique ways, whether they live in Toronto or Tokyo or Tuckahoe.

Between the covers of Tuckahoe Slidebottle, McKinnon delivers the answers to some of life's great questions: How does a man break an engagement and still get the ring back? Is a free press important in a civil society? Can a philosopher find enlightenment through meditation, and what would it look like? How can a small, mute boy outwit the combined forces of law, order and probability and find redemption? How do you snare your true love with only a slough pump for bait? Whatever happened to that girl you knew in high-school, the one who got pregnant? How does a child cope when forced to take on a grave responsibility shirked by an adult? Will “it” really make you go blind?

There are many more burning questions and surprising answers in Tuckahoe Slidebottle, and exploring them makes for a satisfying journey.