Breathing Fire 2: Canada's New Poets

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta. He is
the author of Calling Texas, Earth Prime, and Mind the Gap.

The Journey Prize was created by the late James A. Michener, who donated
the Canadian royalties from his book Journey to fund it. Now worth
$10,000, the prize is awarded annually to a new writer, based on short
fiction submitted by (and already published in) Canada’s literary
magazines. The 14 pieces republished in this anthology (mainly short
stories) represent the best of the lot as chosen by the two
distinguished judges. Reading them, one must concur with Grainger and
Lee that fiction writing is indeed “alive and well in Canada.” All
these writers are accomplished stylists, adept at creating tonal
variations, and have (according to the criteria set out by the editors)
mastered the short-story form. Where they seem to fail is in their
inventiveness: with one or two exceptions, the stories are very similar
in their choice of subjects. Dysfunctional families, drug-happy
characters, broken marriages, and psychological misfits seem to be the
norm, and, when so often encountered, their stories become boring. The
best of the lot, the most original, is Sandra Sabatini’s “The
Dolphins at Sainte Marie.” Her sure sense of irony is refreshing, and
one wishes more of the stories were as original.