Tag: Canadian short fiction

Interviews

Interview with Alyssa Bushell

Pauline Shen

In this post, we’ll be hearing from Alyssa Bushell, mystery novel author, blogger, and baker. Alyssa is a Canadian writer located at Lake Huron in Southern Ontario. In this interview, Alyssa shares an overview of her story writing process, publication history, and some advice for fellow aspiring writers.

Your fiction has been published in journals such as Reckon Review and LEON Literary Review. How long did it take before you started receiving acceptance letters for your work? And has publication changed how you view your own writing?

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Story Reviews

It’s Not About the Guardrail. Commentary on Desiree Nippard’s “An Early Thaw”

Pauline Shen

In Desiree Nippard’s “An Early Thaw,” the reader witnesses a group of schoolchildren sending lanterns into the sky while playing a send-off tune on recorders. In this ceremony for the deceased, “[y]ou could hear every pause for breath, every off note from the shifting of small fingers as we all allowed the melody to seep into our souls.” (54) This coastal town is grieving, and the narrator reveals the cause with deep sensory descriptions that guide the reader with the right amount of grace and gentleness.

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Story Reviews

Poverty or Clarity? A Tax Return that Delivers. Commentary on Cadence Mandybura’s “Regarding Line 25600 of Your Income Tax Return”

Pauline Shen

It’s Sunday morning and there’s a knock at the door. Who else would it be but two representatives of the Canada Revenue Agency. Yesterday, you see, was the tax filing deadline. This morning, however, is no routine follow-up. In “Regarding Line 25600 of Your Income Tax Return,” Cadence Mandybura pulls the reader into a scene reminiscent of the liver donor segment from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. It’s wacky. It’s zany. But it’s also poignant in presenting a man’s deep struggle with a different sort of tax—that on the heart.  

Continue reading “Poverty or Clarity? A Tax Return that Delivers. Commentary on Cadence Mandybura’s “Regarding Line 25600 of Your Income Tax Return”” →