Aphid and the Shadow Drinkers

Susan Merskey is freelance writer in London, Ontario.

“The valley was settled at the turn of the century. First came the
English gentry, the Italian stoneworkers, the fruit growers; then came
the refugees from Europe. All of them carried secrets from the past:
guilts and horrors that coiled beneath their beds like children’s
nightmares. These are the shadows that stir into life as the modern
world, the highways from east and west, cut through the hills.”

Set in a valley in British Columbia, the stories in this collection
traverse cultures and generations. Aphid and the Shadow Drinkers
comprises seven short stories and the novella “Aphid and the Rocket
Lawnchair.” (Each work was first published and critiqued at the
literary meetings of the Kalamalka New Writers.) Clearly drawn
characters and frenetic pacing draw us inexorably along, even though we
may be utterly repulsed by some of the author’s descriptions (included
in the novella is an account of how Aphid comes to have his left index
finger permanently implanted in his nostril). What shines through is
Aphid’s link with the spirit world and all he learns from it,
including the instructions for making and flying the Rocket Lawnchair.

The stories are by turns realistic, mythical, funny, and horrifying. If
you like imaginative writing, you will find plenty of it here.