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My White Planet: Stories
Mark Anthony Jarman is one of Canada's most original and compelling writers of short fiction. "My White Planet" is his latest collection of fourteen new stories, many of which have previously won or been short-listed for literary magazine awards. Jarman's use of language and metaphor is unique in the Canadian literary pantheon. With extraordinary linguistic energy, he pushes the boundaries of fiction and story-telling. Every sentence reverberates with subtle meaning and every reading of a Jarman story brings out ever deeper layers of complexity and nuance. Here is a protean writer who bends form and enters into worlds and people with panache and a verve that is breath-taking. The range of his fiction is troops undertake a nightmarish march following Custer's last stand; a father's dogs tear apart his son and he is accused of cowardice and neglect; seven marooned men at a remote polar station save the life of a naked young woman.
224 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2008
About the author
Mark Anthony Jarman
36 books24 followersMark Anthony Jarman is the author of Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, My White Planet, 19 Knives, New Orleans Is Sinking, Dancing Nightly in the Tavern, and the travel book Ireland’s Eye. His novel, Salvage King Ya!, is on Amazon.ca’s list of 50 Essential Canadian Books and is the number one book on Amazon’s list of best hockey fiction.
He has won a Gold National Magazine Award in nonfiction, has twice won the Maclean-Hunter Endowment Award, won the Jack Hodgins Fiction Prize, and has been included in The Journey Prize Anthology and Best Canadian Stories and short-listed for the O. Henry Prize and Best American Essays.
He has published in Walrus, Canadian Geographic, Hobart, The Barcelona Review, Vrij Nederland, and reviews for The Globe & Mail. He is a graduate of The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a Yaddo fellow, has taught at the University of Victoria, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and now teaches at the University of New Brunswick, where he is fiction editor of The Fiddlehead literary journal.
A.S. BYATT on Mark Jarman:
At last. It is very irritating to discover a wonderful book published too long ago to be an official "book of the year". I was talking to a German friend, a few years ago, and we were trying to think of the greatest short story ever. We agreed enthusiastically that it was Henry James's "The Beast in the Jungle". Martin then said reflectively, "Unless it is 'Burn Man on a Texas Porch'." I had never heard of that, nor of its author, Mark Anthony Jarman, a Canadian. (Canadians specialise in great short stories - Munro, Atwood.) Jarman's collection is called 19 Knives, and it is brilliant. The writing is extraordinary, the stories are gripping, it is something new. And now I can say so.
—The Guardian, November 24, 2007
He has won a Gold National Magazine Award in nonfiction, has twice won the Maclean-Hunter Endowment Award, won the Jack Hodgins Fiction Prize, and has been included in The Journey Prize Anthology and Best Canadian Stories and short-listed for the O. Henry Prize and Best American Essays.
He has published in Walrus, Canadian Geographic, Hobart, The Barcelona Review, Vrij Nederland, and reviews for The Globe & Mail. He is a graduate of The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a Yaddo fellow, has taught at the University of Victoria, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and now teaches at the University of New Brunswick, where he is fiction editor of The Fiddlehead literary journal.
A.S. BYATT on Mark Jarman:
At last. It is very irritating to discover a wonderful book published too long ago to be an official "book of the year". I was talking to a German friend, a few years ago, and we were trying to think of the greatest short story ever. We agreed enthusiastically that it was Henry James's "The Beast in the Jungle". Martin then said reflectively, "Unless it is 'Burn Man on a Texas Porch'." I had never heard of that, nor of its author, Mark Anthony Jarman, a Canadian. (Canadians specialise in great short stories - Munro, Atwood.) Jarman's collection is called 19 Knives, and it is brilliant. The writing is extraordinary, the stories are gripping, it is something new. And now I can say so.
—The Guardian, November 24, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 3, 2025
This is the first time I have encountered this Canadian author and his very distinctive short stories. It proved a different experience for someone like me whose focus is often character and plot. Among the fourteen selections in this small book are several which have appeared in other publications and have been awarded honors and prizes.
Assessing the entire collection, I have several favorites:
The lead piece in the collection “Night March in the Territory” takes readers deep into unnamed territory during a war, as a troop of soldiers struggles to stay alive. They stumble in the dark, transporting their wounded on their backs and on litters, trying to avoid the enemy hidden in the surroundings. They are filthy, nervous and tired, well aware of the butchery that will follow if they are discovered by the “hostiles”. They dream of war clubs smashed against their heads and their brains scattered about, a horror that drives them on despite their exhaustion. Jarman does not spare the reader from the ugly reality of the soldiers’ situation, as the men try to stay alive. They feel the mens' fear as the power of Jarman’s words brings an unavoidable intensity to this piece, immersing them in the men’s edgy dread of the various possibilities of their violent end.
In “Bear On A Chain” a young boy falls from his skateboard and drowns in the Saint John River. Did he fall or did he jump? It appears Kevin had many friends and several have left messages written with black sharpie pens on the wooden planks of the bridge. Some thought Kevin was cool and others promised never to forget him, although in a year all those messages will have disappeared. As he writes, the narrator reflects on his own life, feeling down, temporarily depressed and reconsidering whether he wants to stay in this town.
In “A Nation Plays Chopsticks”, Jarman describes the rough game of hockey with its vicious jabbing, shoving, poking, punching and wildly hurled elbows. It leads to massive bruises, bad backs, broken noses and creaky knees, so players must have the grit to take the punishment and endure the pain. The body hurts both when punishments is meted out as well as when it is received. The narrator describes how he loves the action, the speed of the players as they race across the ice, yapping at each other and calling each other stupid nicknames. He loves the comradery of the team, the bad jokes they share and the cold beer they drink in the locker room after the game, dressed only in their boxers and navigating their way over the equipment scattered everywhere. The beer always tastes great whether they win or lose. He knows it’s just a game, but it allows him and the others to enact the rage and violence they often feel but must keep hidden behind the civilized demeanor they show their everyday world.
The last two stories “In Terminal Three” and “Our Stewardess Swims Over the Sea” are called bonus tracks and are not only sarcastic but hilariously funny, especially if you have recently traveled by plane.
These are not “typical” short stories, if indeed there is such a thing. These are stories in which words and sentences have priority over a linear plot, where time sometimes moves back or forwards, thoughts skirts around memories and locations sometimes switch Some may find the style quirky and unusual, but layered within the lines of these pieces are jeweled descriptions of places and things as well as generous does of comedy. Not all may appreciate Jarman’s style, but all will agree on the writing which is very, very good.
Assessing the entire collection, I have several favorites:
The lead piece in the collection “Night March in the Territory” takes readers deep into unnamed territory during a war, as a troop of soldiers struggles to stay alive. They stumble in the dark, transporting their wounded on their backs and on litters, trying to avoid the enemy hidden in the surroundings. They are filthy, nervous and tired, well aware of the butchery that will follow if they are discovered by the “hostiles”. They dream of war clubs smashed against their heads and their brains scattered about, a horror that drives them on despite their exhaustion. Jarman does not spare the reader from the ugly reality of the soldiers’ situation, as the men try to stay alive. They feel the mens' fear as the power of Jarman’s words brings an unavoidable intensity to this piece, immersing them in the men’s edgy dread of the various possibilities of their violent end.
In “Bear On A Chain” a young boy falls from his skateboard and drowns in the Saint John River. Did he fall or did he jump? It appears Kevin had many friends and several have left messages written with black sharpie pens on the wooden planks of the bridge. Some thought Kevin was cool and others promised never to forget him, although in a year all those messages will have disappeared. As he writes, the narrator reflects on his own life, feeling down, temporarily depressed and reconsidering whether he wants to stay in this town.
In “A Nation Plays Chopsticks”, Jarman describes the rough game of hockey with its vicious jabbing, shoving, poking, punching and wildly hurled elbows. It leads to massive bruises, bad backs, broken noses and creaky knees, so players must have the grit to take the punishment and endure the pain. The body hurts both when punishments is meted out as well as when it is received. The narrator describes how he loves the action, the speed of the players as they race across the ice, yapping at each other and calling each other stupid nicknames. He loves the comradery of the team, the bad jokes they share and the cold beer they drink in the locker room after the game, dressed only in their boxers and navigating their way over the equipment scattered everywhere. The beer always tastes great whether they win or lose. He knows it’s just a game, but it allows him and the others to enact the rage and violence they often feel but must keep hidden behind the civilized demeanor they show their everyday world.
The last two stories “In Terminal Three” and “Our Stewardess Swims Over the Sea” are called bonus tracks and are not only sarcastic but hilariously funny, especially if you have recently traveled by plane.
These are not “typical” short stories, if indeed there is such a thing. These are stories in which words and sentences have priority over a linear plot, where time sometimes moves back or forwards, thoughts skirts around memories and locations sometimes switch Some may find the style quirky and unusual, but layered within the lines of these pieces are jeweled descriptions of places and things as well as generous does of comedy. Not all may appreciate Jarman’s style, but all will agree on the writing which is very, very good.
December 12, 2017
MAJ is a dexterous writer who never seems to care about being tasteful or even comprehensible.
After most of these sttories I either felt that the rug was just pulled out from under my feet or simply what was the point of that? I actually hated a few of these stories and only one I'm glad I read.
Oddly, even in this book there are many great one liners and I am curious to read what he comes up with next.
I am an optimist. I believe in so many possible worlds; yet really, there is no evidence. p163
After most of these sttories I either felt that the rug was just pulled out from under my feet or simply what was the point of that? I actually hated a few of these stories and only one I'm glad I read.
Oddly, even in this book there are many great one liners and I am curious to read what he comes up with next.
I am an optimist. I believe in so many possible worlds; yet really, there is no evidence. p163
August 26, 2008
This is quite a collection. On finishing it, I had to wonder why Jarman isn't better known.
The answers to that are obvious. First, he writes short stories, which many people view as a training ground for beginning novelists rather than a serious discipline in its own right, and so he doesn't get wide exposure. Second, he's at odds with the conventional "Canadian short story," which is realist and character-driven -- see Munro, Alice. (Not that I have anything against Munro, Alice.)
But Jarman is so, so good. His prose crackles. Jarman lives at the level of the sentence, and often seems more concerned with sentences than with plot or character, and the results are remarkable.
Furthermore, he's drop-dead funny. "Fables of the Deconstruction," in which a professor struggles to interpret the intentions of a student who removes her bra from under her shirt, is not only drop-dead accurate but hilarious. "If Derrida didn't exist, we'd have to invent him," she remarks, borrowing from Voltaire, "and then beat him up at recess."
Highly recommended.
The answers to that are obvious. First, he writes short stories, which many people view as a training ground for beginning novelists rather than a serious discipline in its own right, and so he doesn't get wide exposure. Second, he's at odds with the conventional "Canadian short story," which is realist and character-driven -- see Munro, Alice. (Not that I have anything against Munro, Alice.)
But Jarman is so, so good. His prose crackles. Jarman lives at the level of the sentence, and often seems more concerned with sentences than with plot or character, and the results are remarkable.
Furthermore, he's drop-dead funny. "Fables of the Deconstruction," in which a professor struggles to interpret the intentions of a student who removes her bra from under her shirt, is not only drop-dead accurate but hilarious. "If Derrida didn't exist, we'd have to invent him," she remarks, borrowing from Voltaire, "and then beat him up at recess."
Highly recommended.
February 23, 2009
These stories are amazing. I feel uselessly inarticulate trying to explain why. I read many of them twice or three times, and have photo-copied three in anticipation to reluctantly having to hand Alex back her copy. The store "Bear on a Chain" really touched me, and structurally it is something I have been trying to write and has provided a bit of a break-through for my own writing. The first story (can't recall the title right now) was one I wish I had read before writing a play last year for a museum about western settlers. Such atmosphere...so harsh and eloquent. Why don't I go buy the damn book already? I can't wait to read for Jarman.
April 22, 2016
Reading a collection of short stories vaults a reader from one scene to the next and with it one emotion to another. It can be disconcerting for a reader but that is not necessarily a bad thing. If a reader is open to emphasizing with the protagonists in the stories, then the collection can be a personal enlightenment for the reader. And My White Planet by Mark Anthony Jarman is a great collection of short stories for doing just that.
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June 18, 2009
Then we're on a country highway, we're by pine woodlots on a salmon river, and a smell wracks us from the feed plant on Vanier AVENUE. I seem to have travelled from BC's restless army of addicts to New Brunswick river towns - a challenging country.
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June 17, 2012Each story now offered as a cStories eBook Single! Check it out - http://win.cstories.ca !
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews