Knucklehead & Other Stories

by W. Mark Giles

A debut collection, these stories are set in the corporeal world of adult endeavour: the mall, the office, the subdivision. Ita s these settings that W. Mark Giles exploitsa locking his sights on eerily familiar characters, excavating their fears, intimacies, and the dark machinery behind their actions. He taps into our collective longing for moments of clarity and awe, recognizes our thwarted potential for wonder, and sees our secrets played out in cruelty. A strangely unified collection, unsettling and surprising, "Knucklehead" resides where the lines between real and imagined blur. Gilesa s penetrating view and unsentimental honesty shape these stories and push the readera s expectations of the a ordinary.a These are mature and compelling narratives that encapsulate everything great about short fiction. They freeze a moment, but upon closer examination reveal something more, a message that resonates long after that story has been read."

Genres: Short Stories, Canadian Literature

238 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

After many years mired in the middle-management muddle of transnational corporations, Mark is now a writer and an educator. He's taught writing (creative, academic, and professional) at Dalhousie University in Halifax, UBC – Okanagan in Kelowna, Alberta College of Art + Design, University of Calgary, and on-line in cyberspace.

His first book Knucklehead & Other Stories was honoured with the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Award. His book Seep has been shortlisted for the 2016 Amazon.ca First Novel Award. His writing — fiction, poetry, and non-fiction — has appeared in magazines in both Canada and the U.S.A.

Saskatchewan-born, Edmonton-raised, with stops in Victoria, Kelowna, Montreal, and Halifax, W. Mark Giles now calls Turtle Island (Calgary), Alberta home.

Reviews

[Barth Siemens · Rating 1 out of 5]

I mistakenly started reading this collection because I thought it was on the Canada Reads 2017 long-list. It's not. Therefore, I have no reason to try to appreciate these short stories over my longstanding preference of longer works. And what a good thing, because the first story was irredeemably unpleasant.

[Jody MacPherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable.