Dance the Rocks Ashore

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

In the late 1970s, American Lesley Choyce emigrated to Canada, finding a
more civil society in rural Nova Scotia. Since then, he has established
a reputation as a television host and a prolific author. Dance the Rocks
Ashore, his latest short-story collection, includes selections from his
previous books.

Satirical fantasy is not Choyce’s forte. Even if “The Dream
Auditor” is a completely original concept, its execution is inert.
When the title character reads his ledger to the protagonist—“
‘Here it is. February 12. Plane crashes in the South Pacific on the
way to the international cheerleaders convention in Malaysia. Only one
male, the pilot. You’ ”—readers are vaguely reminded of ancient
men’s magazine cartoons.

What Choyce can do is to describe with picaresque humor situations in
realistic settings. In “Dragon’s Breath,” Everett McQuade and his
son Ian confront local bully Burnett McCully over his dogs’ attack on
a neighbor. After the uncooperative boor tells him to leave, McQuade
picks up a dog and releases it in a manner that causes it to chomp on
McCully’s privates, noting, “ ‘Can’t blame the dog ... Can only
blame the master’ ”—the attack victim’s view of that incident. A
new dimension of cheekiness is established by McQuade’s profession,
“a politician, a Tory.” A Nova Scotian might think twice about such
a choice in the decade of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Premier John
Buchanan.

Although the adopted Maritimer writes the obligatory sea/shore tales,
he also examines the book critic’s own world. In “My Father Was a
Book Reviewer,” a critic’s baby daughter eats a chapter of a review
book, forcing him to fudge his assignment. Such audacity may mask the
author’s weaknesses.