Her speculative short story collection, “Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive” (Guernica Editions), combines the macabre and mundane as if they were perfectly matched literary bedfellows.
asserted
they → stay → macabre
In “The Deal with Roger,” Mirabel endures an abusive relationship with a humanoid life companion whose psychology is imprinted from a deranged police officer.
asserted
psychology → endure → officer
In “Yesterday’s Gone,” three siblings return to their family home after their father’s suicide so they can put the house up for sale.
asserted
they → go → sale
In varying measures, workaday realities are turned askew by sci-fi and crime-fiction elements, creating an unsettling milieu in which characters must confront their innermost fears and desires.
The book is anchored by a literary sensibility versed in plumbing the depths of human suffering; and while the collection includes time travellers and sentient robots, there is a groundedness to the stories that will prove charming.
asserted
that → vary → stories
Gadsby’s writing has been published in failbetter, Literary Heist, the Temz Review and the Ex-Puritan.
asserted
writing → publish → failbetter
Her forthcoming novel, “Dreams of the Weary,” will be published next year by Palimpsest Press.
asserted
novel → publish → Press
She also interviews authors for the CIUT-FM radio program “HOWL.
asserted
She → interview → program
What did you last read and what made you read it?
asserted
you → read → it
I just finished Jordan Abel’s new poetry collection, “Dad Era.”
asserted
I → finish → collection
There is a poem in small print snaking around photo cut-outs that made me take a picture so I could zoom in on “SometimesIampunchedintheneckbyyourtinyfists.”
uncertain
I → be → SometimesIampunchedintheneckbyyourtinyfists
I love this kind of interaction with a book.
asserted
I → love → book
Poetry is a privilege for a reader, and I am grateful for these deeply personal poems that explore the beauty and joy of dad-hood.
asserted
that → explore → hood
What book would your readers be shocked to find in your collection?
asserted
readers → find → collection
I have many books about carnivals and sideshows (research for an upcoming novel), but this book is a deep and multi-faceted exploration of the history of the human body on display, especially in understanding the ways we have viewed different and uniquely formed bodies.
asserted
we → have → bodies
When was the last time you devoured a book in one, or very few, sittings?
asserted
you → devour → sittings
I read Jane Park’s “Inheritance” in a morning.
asserted
I → read → morning
I opened it about a week before, read five pages, got distracted, and then sat down and devoured it.
asserted
I → open → it
Forgiving, forgetting and guilt — I love novels that explore complex families and the history they hold.
asserted
they → love → families
Who’s the one author or what’s the one book you’ll never understand, despite the praise?
asserted
you → ’ → praise
I hate that I’m going to write this, because hating this book is as cliché as loving it.
asserted
hating → hate → it
I just saw “Infinite Jest” on an indie bookstore shelf, and thought, “When is this book going to die?”
asserted
book → see → shelf
No need for this book to be 1,000 pages, and no need for anyone else to read it.
asserted
anyone → read → it
What’s the one book that has not garnered the success that it deserves?
asserted
it → garner → that
When I read “Gutter Child” by Jael Richardson, we were still not leaving the house much, and the confinement of this speculative dystopian novel gripped me.
asserted
confinement → read → me
It sits on my shelf warped from the rain because I carried it everywhere for two weeks.
asserted
I → sit → weeks
What book would you give anything to read again for the first time?
asserted
you → give → time
I don’t read books twice (too many on my TBR list) but when I first read this collection, I didn’t have my writer’s brain switched on; it was just me, myself and the girl who loves short stories.
asserted
who → read → stories
The spectacular awe of reading that collection for the first time makes me miss reading as a reader.
asserted
me → read → reader
It would be a Nancy Drew book, whichever one takes her to a summer camp.
asserted
one → take → camp
I also treasured an anthology of poetry my dad brought to Canada from the U.K.
asserted
dad → treasure → U.K.
I memorized “Ozymandias,” “Daffodils,” “To a Mouse” and more, and then recited them to him.
asserted
I → memorize → him
I wanted to be a poet.
asserted
I → want → ?
What fictional character would you like to be friends with?
asserted
you → like → character
I want to be friends with Ruby, the camp counsellor in Aaron Kreuter’s “Lake Burntshore.”
asserted
I → want → Burntshore
I never went to camp, but if I did, I’d like to go with a kick-butt anti-Zionist like Ruby.
asserted
I → go → Ruby
Also, Tróán from K.R. Wilson’s “Stan on Guard” because a 3,200-year-old immortal Trojan princess would up my cool factor!
asserted
princess → up → factor
Do you have a comfort read that you revisit?
asserted
you → have → that
I often pick up my favourite short story collections to remind myself how to write.
asserted
I → pick → myself
It is filled with unique characters surviving life, each with a very particular flair for the dramatic.
asserted
It → fill → dramatic
What was the last book that made you laugh or cry?
asserted
you → make → ?
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
