Canadians on the Frank O'Connor Longlist
By kileyturner
Boundary Problems
In his confident debut, Greg Bechtel offers ten charged stories about the impossible-turned-possible'secrets, paranoia, sex, conspiracies, and magic?that the strangeness of the world around us.
Boundary Problems vibrates on the edge of meaning, as carjackers, accidental gunrunners, small-town cabbies, and confused physics students struggle to wring meaning from the strange events that overtake them. Bechtel's worlds of mystery, physics, and magic constantly challenge his characters' pursuit of lo …

Hellgoing
Winner of the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Selected as an Amazon.ca Best Book and for The Globe's Top 10 Books of 2013.
With astonishing range and depth, Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist Lynn Coady gives us nine unforgettable new stories, each one of them grabbing our attention from the first line and resonating long after the last.
A young nun charged with talking an anorexic out of her religious fanaticism toys with the thin distance betw …

Savage Love
An Amazon.ca Best Book of 2013
A Globe and Mail Top 100 for 2013
A Quill & Quire Best Book of 2013
Longlisted, Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
Savage Love marks the long-awaited literary return of one of Canada's most lauded and stylistically brilliant authors. Slyly holding forth with subversive wit, Glover skewers every conventional notion we've ever held about that cultural&emotional institution of love we are instructed to hold dear.
Peopled with forensic archaeologists, members …

Oh, My Darling
“Exceptional stories . . . a joy to read. Lambert’s language and characters shine on every page.” —BARBARA GOWDY
Oh, My Darling features ten remarkable stories about contemporary life, family, children and love. They circle loosely around the love cry of the title story: the exaltation and heartbreak, the subtle acts of revenge and the moments of revelation that make up relationships.
The stories include a tale narrated by a woman’s own breast cancer, which speaks to her in a mesmerizing …

How Does A Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun?
Building on the success of the Journey Prize-shortlisted title story, the stories of How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? present an updated and whimsical new take on what it means to be Canadian. Lau alludes to the personal and political histories of a number of young Asian Canadian characters to explain their unique perspectives of the world, artfully fusing pure delusion and abstract perception with heartbreaking reality.
Correspondingly, the book's title refers to an interview with …

All Saints
Shortlisted for the 2014 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Longlisted for the 2014 Frank O'Connor Award
In a linked collection that presents the secret small tragedies of an Anglican congregation struggling to survive, All Saints delves into the life of Simon, the Reverend, and the lives of his parishioners: Miss Alice Vipond, a refined and elderly schoolteacher, incarcerated for a horrendous crime; a woman driven to extreme anxiety by an affair she cannot end; a receptionist, andher act of imp …

Are You Ready to Be Lucky”
Are You Ready to Be Lucky? If so, meet Roslyn, a spirited divorcée eager for new beginnings. Meet Duncan, a British conman with a penchant for collecting ex-wives. Meet Floyd, a hard-living contractor who can fix anyone's house but his own. Irritating, vulnerable, hopeful, they ricochet off one another, trailing a mess of family and friends, all of them trying to beat the odds and find happiness. With razor-sharp wit, Rosemary Nixon takes on the chaos and absurdity of friendship, marriage, divo …

The Glorious Mysteries
At the heart of every story in Audrey Whitson’s collection is a character seeking personal purpose amongst the deep mysteries of self, and a wholeness amid the fractious nature of life. Whitson’s evocative narration guides us effortlessly through these often turbulent journeys, seamlessly taking in a vast range of time and place along the way. An admirable authenticity of voice lends an intimacy and honesty to her carefully constructed tales. The vividly depicted Mexican terrain and culture …