Blurred Line

Sometimes, inspiration is where you least expect it. I've got this essay due tomorrow (and yes, I am procrastinating - gasp!) in my Canadian short story. The topic is entirely our choice, but has to be written on stories not in either of the anthologies used in class. So, I took a trip to the library yesterday, tracked down the Canadian short fiction section and picked out a few volumes, mostly at random.

One of them was this tiny little blue book, roughly the size of my hand, with a non-descript cover and a non-descript title (Modern Canadian Stories). Moreover, being published in 1975, it had more than a few years on our class texts. Needless to say, it wasn't at the top of my list. However, having made my way through most of the book, I feel as if I want to disappear off the grid, go live in a log cabin somewhere and write short stories by a roaring fire. I've always been a big fan of the short story, though most of my experience with the form has come in genre

fiction, but this little book is simply amazing. I've already ordered myself a copy from some used bookstore in the States. What really surprises me (even though it shouldn't at this point) is how little attention the short story gets. The two stories I'm writing on are Elisabeth Harvor's "Magicians" and Don Bailey's "A Few Notes For Orpheus", both of them absolutely wonderful, and yet I've never heard of either author before. A quick look at the Amazon rankings of their books confirmed I wasn't the only one. So, go find yourself a short story. Online, in a collection at the library. Whatever.

Of course, sometimes inspiration is exactly where you expect it to be. That's right, the acting/writing/directing team of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright - the guys behind Shaun of the Dead - are reteaming for cop spoof Hot Fuzz. And it looks fantastic. I can't wait until March.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - Unexpected Sometimes, inspiration is where you least expect it. I've got this essay due tomorrow (and yes, I am procrastinating - gasp!) in my Canadian short story. The topic is entirely our choice, but has to be written on stories not in either of the anthologies used in class. So, I took a trip to the library yesterday, tracked down the Canadian short fiction section and picked out a few volumes, mostly at random. One of them was this tiny little blue book, roughly the size of my hand, with a non-descript cover and a non-descript title (Modern Canadian Stories). Moreover, being published in 1975, it had more than a few years on our class texts. Needless to say, it wasn't at the top of my list. However, having made my way through most of the book, I feel as if I want to disappear off the grid, go live in a log cabin somewhere and write short stories by a roaring fire. I've always been a big fan of the short story, though most of my experience with the form has come in genre fiction, but this little book is simply amazing. I've already ordered myself a copy from some used bookstore in the States. What really surprises me (even though it shouldn't at this point) is how little attention the short story gets. The two stories I'm writing on are Elisabeth Harvor's "Magicians" and Don Bailey's "A Few Notes For Orpheus", both of them absolutely wonderful, and yet I've never heard of either author before. A quick look at the Amazon rankings of their books confirmed I wasn't the only one. So, go find yourself a short story. Online, in a collection at the library. Whatever. Of course, sometimes inspiration is exactly where you expect it to be. That's right, the acting/writing/directing team of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright - the guys behind Shaun of the Dead - are reteaming for cop spoof Hot Fuzz. And it looks fantastic. I can't wait until March. Cavan blogged at 9:54 PM \| 2 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart