The Journey Prize Stories, 16: From the Best of Canada's New Writers

Kimberly J. Frail is a librarian in the Science and Technology Library
at the University of Alberta.

Public Services Librarian
University of Alberta Libraries
Bibliothèque Saint-Jean

The 13 stories in this latest Journey Prize anthology have been
previously published in Canadian literary journals. As with previous
editions, the volume contains author biographies, information about the
contributing journals, and a list of previous contributing authors and
prizewinners dating back to 1989.

In their introduction, the jury for this 16th edition state that for
their selections “[they] were looking for nerve-scraping suspense and
bone-deep pleasure. We wanted to read stories that were heartbreaking or
hilarious, or stylistically brazen.” A common thread this reviewer
noticed involves male characters who have experienced violent or
traumatic events as the victim, inflictor, witness, or all three. For
example, in Michael Kissinger’s “Invest in the North,” a son
finally learns the true nature of his father’s occupation as he
accompanies him on a nightly round of collecting debts with an aluminum
bat. In Adam Lewis Schroeder’s “Burning the Cattle at Both Ends,”
a farmhand, whose stepfather also has a predilection for aluminum bats,
can no longer tolerate being taunted by his boss’s spoiled son and
runs over his leg with a tractor. Before he can begin to sort out his
budding homosexuality, an 11-year-old boy’s first crush is killed in a
gruesome traffic accident before his very eyes (Michael V. Smith’s
“What We Wanted”).

Fireworks erupt in the sky and blood flies in the kitchen in this
year’s prizewinning story, Devin Krukoff’s “The Last Spark,”
which features a wonderfully taut and explosive narrative. Elaine
McCluskey’s deliciously caustic “The Watermelon Social,” one of
this year’s three finalists, exposes the imperfections and betrayals
that bubble beneath the surface of familial relations. Other
well-written contributions include Lesley Millard’s “The Uses of the
Neckerchief,” Anar Ali’s “Baby Khaki’s Wings,” Neil Smith’s
“Isolettes,” Kenneth Bonert’s “Packers and Movers,” Patricia
Rose Young’s “Up the Clyde on a Bike,” Jennifer Clouter’s
“Benny and the Jets,” Daniel Griffin’s “Mercedes Buyer’s
Guide,” and William Metcalfe’s “Nice Big Car, Rap Music Coming Out
the Window.”

All in all, The Journey Prize Stories, 16 is an impressive sampling of
works from Canadian writers who aren’t afraid to tackle messy subjects
and stories with loose ends.