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

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta. He is co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, author of The Salvation Army and
the Public, and editor of “Improved by Cult

The three dozen authors represented in this comprehensive anthology of
poetry and prose reflect both the diversity of British Columbia’s
Fraser Valley and attempts to find “new ways to sing the old
storytellers’ songs.” It is in this vein of exploration and
experimentation between past and present that John Carroll recalls “My
father’s taste for ice-cream sodas,” Kuldip Gill portrays “Mrs.
Spilsbury at the Plough—Whonock 1911,” and Hilda Harder immortalizes
her brother’s 75th birthday in “Remembering When.” Ron Dart turns
to the protest over the Sumas Energy Two Power Plant for inspiration,
while Robert Martens, “with appreciation to e.e. cummings,” reflects
upon “even the powerlines.”

The prose selections, from essays to memoirs to short stories, are
equally diverse and entertaining. Walter Neufeld’s story,
“Kroeker’s Glory,” is bound to make any reader think twice about
ever eating a hamburger again. David Phillip Bennett contributes a
captivating tale about “real people employed at the Hudson’s Bay
Company’s Fort Langley in the 19th century.” Andreas Schroeder
presents delightful recollections of his father. May La Chance recalls
her unique vacation in the hop fields of Chilliwack. Donald White
focuses on “the great flood of British Columbia’s Fraser River
Valley in the spring of 1948.” Allan Bailey spins an endearing yarn
about an unfulfilled musician’s search for his soul.

As a “first valley collection,” editor Trevor Carolan’s harvest
is richly rewarding in both its poetry and its prose.