Despite the tensions Canadians hear and read about, Quebec's English-language literary scene has burgeoned over the past nine years. English fiction is a reality in Quebec. Future Tense is a delectable sampling of new short fiction writing. Included are stories by Julie Keith, George Szanto, Carolyn Marie Souaid, James Boothroyd, Robyn Sarah, Irene Friedman Karafilly, Teresa Jurkowski, Connie Barnes Rose, R. John Woolfrey, and F.C. Salevsky.

A former senior editor at The Montreal Gazette, Raymond Beauchemin is the author of Salut! The Quebec Microbrewery Beer Cookbook and editor of several anthologies of Quebec literature in English. He has taught creative writing and international journalism at Concordia University in Montreal. A Massachusetts native, he has lived and worked in Abu Dhabi and currently lives in Ontario. He is married to the writer Denise Roig.

Raymond Beauchemin's profile page

Denise Roig moved to Montreal from Los Angeles in 1989 when her twelve-year-old daughter, Ariel, convinced her they should run away so Ariel could join the circus. Ariel went to study with Montreal's Cirque du Soleil and Denise spent the next 20 years as a Montrealer. A Quiet Night and a Perfect End is Roig's first published collection of short stories, but she has been writing professionally for twenty years, specializing in corporate magazine writing. She taught magazine writing and editing at Concordia University and story-writing for more than a decade in Quebec high schools. In addition to A Quiet Night and a Perfect End, Roig has published Any Day Now, a book of connected stories, and Butter Cream: A Year in a Montreal Pastry School, both with Signature Editions. After three years freelance writing for The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, Roig now makes her home in Hamilton, Ontario.

Denise Roig's profile page

"These short stories exemplify creative writing at its best. All the authors show remarkable deftness in character portrayal. Their prose is supple, invariably conversational, and at times racy...Whatever the future may hold for the English language in Quebec, Future Tense makes enjoyable reading." -Edward Edmonds, Canadian Book Review Annual