Extremities

Burning Rock Writing Collective

Killick Press

Often I have yearned to go to Newfoundland, as part of an east­ward rever­sal of the migra­tion of the six­ties. I felt that yearn­ing again when I read Extremities, a col­lec­tion of short fic­tion by the ten Newfoundland writ­ers who make up the Burning Rock writ­ing col­lec­tive (Killick Press). There are twenty-two sto­ries in this book, which is a lot, but won­der­fully they are all great sto­ries. And beau­ti­fully pro­duced — inter­spersed through­out the text, images of edges and extrem­i­ties remind us of the lim­its of land and body. This is regional work only inso­far as all strong writ­ing finds itself rooted in place and time. Proof that, although Cod may be dead, cre­ative life goes on.