Coming Attractions, 3: Stories by Sheila Delany, Frances Itani and Judith Pond

Fran Ashdown was the Head of the Children's Department, Capilano Branch, North Vancouver District Public Library.

The 1985 edition of Coming Attractions is the sixth anthology in a series which promotes and showcases the talents of new Canadian writers. The three authors currently featured are Sheila Delaney, Judith Pond and Frances Itani.

Delaney, who returns to fiction after publishing several scholarly books, writes from a strong feminist viewpoint. She highlights specific moments in relationships or, rather, points of contact between strangers, neighbours and friends.

Judith Pond began writing fiction in 1983 and poetry a year later. Her stories concern the distillation of memory — poignant moments caught and delicately described. In “Tolerance,” for example, a young girl’s naiveté is abruptly shattered by one cataclysmic event.

Death in its many forms is the subject of Frances Itani’s writing. Itani has published in numerous Canadian literary journals and has won an award in the 1984 CBC literary competition. “Songs for the Children,” this reviewer’s favourite story of this collection, portrays a woman reminiscing about her childhood as she sits at the side of her dying sister.

This anthology is a fortuitous combination of competent writing and an attractive format. It is to be hoped that it will bring these promising writers to the attention of a wider audience than the readership of literary journals.