The Coin Collector by Michelle Proulx
I don’t often reblog reviews of my own works, but in this case it’s just too beautiful not to. Dave Higgins is truly a master of the writing craft. I also like that he makes my random whims as I wrote the short story into apparently deliberate acts of clever plotting and phrasing :D
Originally posted on Davetopia:
Combining a good ear for humour with sound logical arguments, Proulx creates a short story about taxation that is neither lumpy with tedium nor spattered by absurd ranting.
Mr Quimbly is the Tax and Revenue Agency’s newest investigator. Eager to do well on his first assignment, he girds his metaphysical loins and sallies forth to the warehouse of Mr Green to discover why he is stockpiling legal tender. But Mr Quimbly is not the first investigator to have this file; will he fall prey to Mr Green’s razor-sharp negotiation style?
While the earnest government official in a fantasy world is not a new trope, Proulx manages to make it her own, inviting comparison with Pratchett, Asprin, and other such authors without descending into pastiche.
This is in great measure due to the firm basis of logic upon which the plot is built. While there is fantasy in the world, the…
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