literary journal, vol 25, #2, 130 pgs, $12, Barry Callaghan (editor), Box 67, Station B, Toronto, ON M5T 2C0
Most writers live in self-imposed exile, but it is the good ones that have the courage and patience to exile themselves to uncharted territories. As expected, this is a wonderful collection of short stories, poetry and visual art that leads readers into the unexplored regions the mind, into the darker, more hidden corners of desire and frustration. Each contributor speaks from a different place of his or her own making. The opening story by Nancy Huston, A Prologue in Heaven, is a beautiful piece that uses the writer-as-creator theme to set the mood for the beginning of the adventure. It describes the artist as a being full of contradictions, with a particular vision of creation. The longing to perfect the writing is powerful, yet the God is imperfect, “I can see that it is good but it is never good enough.” A series of poems by Shannon Bramer provide a hauntingly intimate look at the life of a scarf-saleswoman. This is a very sexy issue and a special nod must be given to Peter Holka’s Love as a Crime, in which the main character lives in a wild, questionable reality, and Hal Niedzviecki’s The Sexographer, where seduction is art and laconic language reveals the multiple facets of lust. Each piece leads down a different road of experience, showing how in a way we are all exiled by our own headspace. This must be read. (Heather Ball)