2 New Nova Scotia Short Story Collections

For your reading consideration - two new short story collections from local writers:

White Eyes : 16 stories (M)
by Larry Gibbons

"Larry Gibbons spent ten years on a Mi'kmaw reserve-held there by his love for a woman, not by any typical white role such as priest or social worker or teacher. Stirred by the tenderness, tenacity, and flexibility of Mi'kmaw extended family, and challenged by a native spirituality so different from his own upbringing, Gibbons found his voice as a writer. Out of that he created the remarkable stories in White Eyes.In a writing style that is casual but rigorous, Gibbons' voice-always passionate, often confused, frequently marvelously comedic-offers a unique bridge between white and native culture, even as he entertains with a sharp, self-deprecating eye." - Publisher

The Men's Breakfast: 19 stories from Cape Breton Island (M)
edited by Ronald Caplan

"The Men's Breakfast is built out of short stories by the likes of Frank Macdonald, Bill Conall, Dave Doucette, D. C. Troicuk and more-plus remarkable novels-in-progress by Maureen Hull, Brian Tucker, and Stewart Donovan that stand alone. In a shocking scene that turns on a breath, Joyce Rankin trumpets the challenges to which a woman rises to protect her children, and Phonse Jessome pulls off the tough-guy bravado of the best of crime writing.Caplan found the most fragile magic delivered out of the hands of Russell Colman and Tim Vassallo, and then some remarkable brute force masterfully carved by Paul MacDougall and Victor Sakalauskas.

Sharp wit and compassionate insight abound in this book, as The Men's Breakfast flowers forth with the finest in human relationship: a hard-bitten father's affection for his wayward son, a teenage youth caring for a dis-abled woman, a pack of kooky apartment-dwellers on a road trip to a funeral.As Caplan points out in a poignant introduction that explains the book's title, "Some of these 19 writers have achieved a bit of fame, others will be happy discoveries-and all are worth reading in this entertaining and thought-provoking book that has been built to last, to be returned to, and to share." - Publisher