Short Stories

Circus Girl

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:01:00 GMT

Jenny didn’t have to run away to join the circus—it came to her. But not with midgets, bearded ladies or elephant men in tow. No sir, the circus had gone out and bought itself some style.

Show Business

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:49:00 GMT

A young girl gets a taste of show business by acting as Sleeping Beauty in a sideshow.

Another Ventriloquist

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:11:00 GMT

In this excerpt from Adam Gilders' Another Ventriloquist, a father builds his daughter a swan's nest, a ventriloquist revises his act, and a beaver terrorizes a neighbourhood.

Fireman's Carry

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:40:00 GMT

In this excerpt from Steven Heighton's new book The Dead Are More Visible, a firefighter must decide what lives are worth saving in the heat of a four-alarm fire. The official line is that firefighters save people - but what about reptiles?

To Be Read by My Children in the Event of My Demise

Thu, 03 May 2012 13:17:00 GMT

In Katie Daubs' short fiction, a father writes a deathbed letter to his children, explaining the surprising way he really met their mother.

Calypso

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:20:00 GMT

An orchestra, an audience and a conductor dancing the calypso to the national anthem in David Albahari's Calypso.

Tilly Starblanket

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:00:00 GMT

"And if you haven’t yet learned which colour you are, it shouldn’t matter, one tends to think."

Rat Lake

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:19:00 GMT

Another classic story from Geist's 20th Anniversary Collector's Issue.

Import-Export

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:19:00 GMT

The Halifax mafia never had to sell cornpuffs to meet Morris' quota.

The Natural Elements

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Men left women and women left men and it was all perfectly legal—even natural.

Talent Night

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Sometimes my dad played cribbage in the evenings with Mr. Coward. They just sat there like two old men and drank rye whisky from juice glasses.

Western Girl

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

I met Ryan at the smoking section before school. He had on his best jeans and a button-up shirt. Neither of them fit. He looked me over. Nice clothes, he said. Little tight, though, don’t you think? Better tight than too loose. Is that your dad’s s

The Last Note

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:00:00 GMT

She opened her date book. One Post-It Note said, Pick up alfredo sauce and the other said, Have sex with a stranger.

Antonia

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Was it fever or was it the heat that made Antonia perspire so heavily?

Dave Is Dead

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:13:00 GMT

For a man who’d once picked a shard of glass from his cheek while laughing, Dave sure could write a pretty melody.