Core Samples

Linda M. Bayley is a freelance writer based in Sudbury, Ontario. She is
the author of Estrangement: Poems.

Core Samples is an apt title for Patti Grayson’s collection of short
stories. Although the title may have been chosen to imply a drilling to
the heart of the matter, much of the work seems only to sample the
stories that could have been dynamited from the greater ore of
Grayson’s imagination. For example, the narrator of “Jackpot
Jungle” and the main character of “Mining It (For All It’s
Worth)” are both widows given only two pages each upon which to unfold
their dramas. Other stories, such as “Indebted” and “The Gift,”
don’t seem to have conclusions; they just end.

There are a handful of stories, however, that really stand out. Take
“What Jeanie and Ella Canned” and “Shorn,” two great tales of
jealousy and revenge with characters you can root for. Take “Ice
Maker” and “Anytime You Think You Matter…,” excellent portraits
of the small mining town of Hematite in which all of the stories are
set. These, along with “Caution: Mother Playing” are enjoyable and
satisfying reads that might make the reader wish that Grayson had
drilled a little deeper a little more often.

Patti Grayson clearly has a vast body of raw material and the talent to
bring it to the surface, but she hasn’t exploited them fully this time
around. For her next book, I hope she mines it for all it’s worth.