The Sicilian Wife
Edmonton writer Caterina Edwards’s latest book is both an intriguing mystery and a sharp critique of how men often expect women to behave. As a mystery, The Sicilian Wife is a departure from [...]
Fiction
Fiction
No Small Thing
Baxter wakes in the cab of his truck, right there in the slaughterhouse parking lot. He swings both feet out the door right as his forehead splits open. Sweet Jesus. Baxter groans and vomit [...]
By Tom McMillan
Haircut
You are sitting on the sand at Golden Beach. You are trying to finish a hamburger that your father has cooked—barely—on the hibachi. You are balancing a paper plate on your knees. On the plate [...]
Northside Delacroix
A homeless man once grabbed Shannon by the ponytail and tried to drag her into the trees in Rundle Park. It happened a few months after her mom drank herself to death; Shannon was just eighteen [...]
The Sandbox
The earth is a reluctant storyteller. Unless prodded by a backhoe or the blades of a plough, the soil retains its secrets. Perhaps today our inquisitive shovels will loosen its tongue. The [...]
Breathe In
Her face adorns a thousand trinkets. Lockets and charms. Fine bone china and votive candles. Paper fans and one-size-fits-all T-shirts. All bear Her revered image—eyes closed, serene and smiling. [...]
Spirit-in-Stone
As the priest stood in the wind, struggling to nail that bit of paper to his church door, Spirit-in-Stone thought he looked more than ever like a flightless crow. “What are you nailing up there, [...]
By Lorie White
Turtle Room
Craig trails behind Jim and Penny as they enter Denny’s. Coming here was Jim’s idea. Penny wanted to stay in bed like always, but Jim made her get up and drag herself to the truck. When they get [...]
By Holden Baker
The Last Mean Sunlight of Spring
It cleared again, the last mean sunlight of spring. It was summer now. The crows flew away from the river mouth, inland over the church, above the house, high above the white pine, and past [...]
By Joe Fero
The Hanged Man
12:10 a.m. “Mom’s breathing funny.” “She always breathes funny. What’s she doing?” “Standing in the hall, breathing funny.” “Fine. I’ll be right over.” Richmond Road is a maze of craters and [...]
By Kat Main
MOST READ
MOST READ
Beyond Belief
Dianne Macaulay sits at a picnic table in front of the brand new, $42-million St. Joseph’s Catholic High School at the northeastern edge of Red Deer. Across the road, new tracts of suburban housing and retail centres gradually take over slow-rolling farmland. Built to accommodate 900 students, the school will ...
Shattered Dream
Shortly after noon on July 29, 1985, a careless driver reaching for a dropped cigarette veered onto the shoulder of the Trans-Canada Highway near Calgary, slamming into a group of teenage cyclists headed to Kananaskis for a camping holiday. He killed three and injured six.
A horrified witness, Bill Pratt, president ...
Blowing Away the Magic
Why is it that we choose so often to replace the sublime with the ridiculous?
Take, for example, the miracle of photosynthesis. It arose, scientists believe, almost 3.5 billion years ago. Life was little more than a precarious experiment until organisms first began to harvest the sun’s light to create organic ...